Category Archives: Rant

Another Sleep-Deprived Post

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I have been catching up on my sleep a little bit, I promise.  I still feel tired right now, though.  I guess because I should be asleep, right? NO.  OF COURSE NOT.  THAT WOULD BE THE MATURE THING TO DO.

You know what one of my pet peeves is?  Not returning a shopping cart to its appropriate cart return corral.  I mean, seriously, how long does it take? Maybe a minute at the most?  Instead, people are assholes and leave them wandering like lost cows all around the parking lot, crashing into parked vehicles and just being a nuisance.  I fully believe in karma , and I feel like I will invoke tons of bad karma by not returning my cart to the corral. And I park way out in the boonies, y’all.  If I can return my cart to the corral after parking five miles away from the store entrance, then no one else should have an excuse.  Way to be lazy, America.

I went for a run today and it was full of pain. I was trying to work out this week in my hotel gym because running in these small towns is a no-no unless you want to get raped.  I didn’t have my iPod charged, which meant I lasted maybe two minutes on the treadmill before being all, “THIS IS ALL MY BODY CAN PHYSICALLY HANDLE FOR TODAY.” (God, I hate the treadmill).  So yesterday, in a mad effort to do a workout before heading to a casino (more about that in a future post), I ran up and down three flights of stairs for five minutes. That may not sound like much, but I was really sore today, which meant calves were in pain during said run.  I ran so slowly. It was pretty sad.

Oh man you guys, I don’t know if I’m overtraining or if this is just my body reacting to the wimpy Texas winter or what, but all I want to eat is CARBS.  Two snacks I am in danger of overconsuming are Central Market Sweet Potato Tortilla Chips and HEB Whole Wheat Crackers. OMG.  I don’t even care how uppity and hipster I sound by saying that I am eating cinnamon agave sweet potato tortilla chips, they are AMAZING and HEALTHY (or, they would be if I didn’t have like five servings already today).  If you live in Texas, check them out without shame.  You will not be disappointed.

In case you are wondering about my “Tom Sawyer” progress, I’m on page 2.  Yep.

Goddamn it, is it Friday yet?

I need to sleep.

For real.

Night night.

What Are We Really Celebrating?

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When I was a little girl, I would go over a friend’s house and see an inordinate amount of presents under their tree while on Christmas Day, Pat and I would get one or two presents.  As a child, I couldn’t help wondering why some children had a lot of gifts under their tree, and we didn’t.  I didn’t understand at the time that we didn’t have a whole lot of money, and that my parents wanted us to celebrate the spirit of the season instead of focusing on material wealth.

As I’ve gotten older, I’ve become very appreciative of the way I was raised.  My parents never defined life by how much material wealth we did or didn’t have.  Instead,  they emphasized that family always comes first, followed by education.  This attitude has really affected my life.  I really love the holidays because it’s all about spending time with my family and friends.  I don’t get stressed out buying gifts for a bunch of people I don’t care about. I only buy gifts for my family.  Not even my closest friends and I exchange gifts.  We all know that we love each other; we don’t have to buy each other gifts to prove it.  Spending time together during the holidays is all we need.

I am writing this post because I’m completely disgusted by the rampant materialism and commercialism that has consumed this country.  What an embarrassment it is to log into Youtube and see ridiculous videos of people acting like monsters at a Walmart, tearing up displays because something is on sale.  Pepper-spraying everyone because you want something?  Seriously?  Black Friday-type sales really bring out the worst in humanity, and I completely dissociate myself from these people.

Yesterday, my friends, brother, and I Skyped with Tap’s sister, a writer who travels the globe.  She is currently in Turkey, and she said that while the news was reporting serious issues from other countries, it focused on Black Friday for the United States.  Is that really what we want to be?

I had an amazing day yesterday.  Tap’s mom hosts a belated Thanksgiving every year – yesterday was our third with them.  Tap’s mom, like my mom, is European and an amazing cook.  We then had our second-annual Songwriting Showcase, where we split into teams, compose a song in two hours, and then perform it for Tap’s parents. Afterwards, we jammed while Tap’s parents watched.  It was such a beautiful evening.

After we left Tap’s house, Pat and I went to jam with some musician friends of his.  These guys are ridiculously talented, and I include my brother in that category. You guys don’t know how intimidating it was to walk into that room and listening to them all play – just two years ago, Pat and I would go out to their shows.  And now I was expected to jam with them?  They are on a whole other level than I am (more like 20 levels above mine), but they were really encouraging with my contributions.  It was such a fun night, and several hours of jamming just flew by.

As I watch people get stressed out over the holidays, camping out in tents so they can be the first in line for some ridiculous deal, I can’t help feel like they are missing out on what makes life really great.  They are celebrating commercialism and materialism – what empty causes to be celebrating.

The holidays are really about celebrating life, love, and happiness with your family, closest friends, amazing food, and good music. That’s what life is all about. I’m sad that people see these holidays as a way to spend money or to get gifts from people because, damn, they are really missing out.

I’m Starting to Hate Celebrity Gossip

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I was initially hesitant to discuss this, because why should I give this bitch more attention? But I’m in a ranting mood, so here we go. Apparently Snooki, a best-selling “author,” does not know who J.K. Rowling and Maya Angelou are.  Am I surprised?  No.  Do I think it’s an act? Hell no.  I read a NY Times interview that basically said conversing with her is like talking down to a child.

Why do we love watching these people again?  And it’s not just Americans – even my Italian cousins, who still live in Italy, post favorable things about Jersey Shore on Facebook. WHY, COUSINS, WHY? YOU’RE BETTER THAN THAT.  Do my cousins not realize that these people are an insult to our very culture? Apparently not.

You all already know of my intense dislike for Jersey Shore, and reading this article encapsulates everything I detest about that show and our celebrity-obsessed culture in general.

And I say this as a regular reader of People.com, of someone who used to troll celebrity gossip sites in college, when I didn’t have much of a life.  You’re talking about someone who can still list the names of Angelina Jolie’s children, middle names included (WHY DO I KNOW THIS?)

I’m not trying to put myself on a lofty perch, because I can understand the interest in these people’s lives.  As much as I like my celebrity gossip, I have my limits, and I find that the older I get, the less tolerant I am of it.  Someone was trying to discuss with me the disintegration of Ashton Kutcher’s marriage recently and I couldn’t help thinking, “Why are we talking about this? Who cares? We don’t know these people.” I absolutely cannot handle any news about a Kardashian or Real Housewife or the Jersey Shore imbeciles.  At least Angelina Jolie has done incredible things with her life.  She’s not a waste of oxygen like these idiots are.

And you have to ask yourself – why do we care so much?  It’s not like we can relate with these people.  Sure, they’re people “just like us!” but not really.  They will make more money than we will likely ever experience in our lives.  And they have a unique perspective of living in a fishbowl that we will never know.

Why do we put so much of our energy into learning these useless facts about celebrities (as I admittedly have done) when there’s so many more important issues at stake? The economy, the potential recession, the upcoming election, the Arab Spring, the Occupy Wall Street movements.

No, America just wants to hear about stupid-ass Snooki and how she apparently doesn’t know what a book is.

I can’t wait until the day when America gets bored with these trashy people and moves on to another person of interest…but I’m sure it will just be another reality TV idiot undeserving of the adulation and attention.