Religion

Religion. A pretty serious subject. Yeah, this is the actual subject for this post.

I think its good to believe in something. I am friends with Atheists, Christian, Pagans, Agnostics, Hindus, I know people who are Sikhs, Muslims, Jews, and Wiccans. (I recognize Wicca as a religion. Because it is.) Most of these people believe in something, I know atheists that believe in love or music. They don't believe in God, but they believe in something.

Here's another thing that really annoys me. When people call religion a race. I hear all the time, people saying "You look Jewish" or "I'm half-Muslim." How can a person be half a religion? By that standards, I'm half Grace-Brethren. People don't say "You look Episcopalian" or "I'm half-Pagan." (But I have heard someone say "You look Mormon.") It doesn't make sense to consider yourself or another person half a religion, or by saying another person looks a religion. It doesn't make sense to call a person "half-Sikh" or "you look Agnostic." A person can convert to another religion if they want. I know a woman who was Protestant, but converted to Judaism. I hope you see my point.

Another thing that annoys me about religion is when people get in your face about it. You know the person who really, really, REALLY tries to get you to join their cause, whether it be awareness for something you've never heard of, or get you to convert to their religion? Yeah, I think everyone knows that person. Here's what I say to them: I'll do my thing, you can do your thing. As long as no one hurts each other or gets out of control, you be nice to me, and I'll be nice to you. It all comes down to respect.

So does this mean that no one should eat this or do this because another religion does it? No, but you should respect that. There are too many religions to count, and that's the reason we have diversity in this country. There are Kosher markets, and vegetarian stores.

The other thing about religion also comes down the being nice to people. If we as a species could get over our hate of other people, we would have no problems. If people just respected each other, there wouldn't be any wars. Religious wars...seriously, why do they exist? Because when you think about it, war is pointless.

If a person distorts their own religion to the extreme, and to the point it doesn't make any sense to anyone else, there's a problem. This does nothing but fuel hatred and prejudice against whatever you're doing. In the end, it doesn't work and you look like an idiot. And no one really likes you.

Religion is a very touchy subject, and I know I'm probably going to get floods of hate mail after this is posted. (Yeah, right.) But whatever religion you practice, just respect one another. Just about every religion involves some kind of writing about respect. So it all just comes down to the golden rule.

(By the way, I'm Roman Catholic, but my dad is Grace Brethren. So you might call me half-Grace Brethren. Mull that over in your head and realize how little sense it makes.)

Muse

I am going to say right now that Muse is my favorite band. If you don't know what Muse is, YouTube search it. If you don't like Muse...I can't be your friend. Just kidding, but Muse is pretty freaking awesome.

I've been listening to Muse since the summer of 2009, when my friend showed me "United States of Eurasia" and the first thing I thought was "They sound like Queen." And I like Queen. So I listened to their songs. And I fell in love. I fell in love with Muse. I have at least 30 of their songs on my iPod, and spend quite a bit of time listening to their music. As I write this, I am listening to their song "Hoodoo".

If I was asked to describe Muse, I would say that they are a mix between alternative rock, progressive rock, alternative metal, and classical. AND IT IS AWESOME.

Lead singer, guitarist and pianist, (among other instruments such as keytar, organ and synthesizer) Matt Bellamy has the voice of a god, using both vibrato and falsetto in many of their songs. He is also very attractive. Scratch that, he is damn sexy. So damn sexy that I do not feel worthy to have him as my Forum Family lover, and even less to add him as my husband.

Chris Wolstenholme, (bassist and backing vocalist) and Dom Howard (drummer) are perfect. In my opinion, they are the greatest on this Earth. This is what made me think of Queen when I first heard them. When Matt and Chris do the harmonies, with Dom just being an awesome drummer, you have the greatest band on the face of the Earth.

Several of my life's dreams are Muse-related. Being able to play "Butterflies and Hurricanes" on the piano is one of them, along with seeing them perform live and losing my virginity to Muse playing in the background. It is that awesome.

Just YouTube search "muse". You will not regret it.

You're welcome.

Harry Potter

My childhood is over. My life is over. MY CHILDHOOD IS DEAD. HARRY POTTER HAS ENDED. I cried. I CRIED. I CRIED WATCHING HARRY POTTER. THE LAST TIME I CRIED WAS WHEN I WATCHED "THE WIND THAT SHAKES THE BARLEY".

My emotions are all over the place because of this. My voice is shot from shouting about how my childhood is dead and Harry Potter has ended. Carmen, Tina, Pat, Jimmy, Hilary, Lorenzo, Kate and I had a huge group hug while screaming and crying about how our lives are over. We spent an hour after the movie ended, taking pictures, talking about the movie, talking about how the series influenced our childhoods, and hugging. People thought we were drunk, but we didn't care. We made tee shirts and E wore a Gryffindor scarf while wearing glasses and holding a wand. N wore a Hufflepuff hat.

This is both the best and worst night of my life. Harry Potter made me want to learn how to read. I saw the first movie opening weekend when I was six years old. I read every book, watched every movie, bought every book and movie, went to the film and book releases. When I turned eleven, I awaited my Hogwarts letter. I believed that a world such as the world of Harry Potter existed. Harry Potter was everything to me.

The movie was amazing, the books were phenomenal, and everything is fucking fantastic. Nothing, I repeat, NOTHING will ever match up to Harry Potter. I will buy the audiobooks, every book in Hardcover, every movie poster, the soundtrack for every movie, and I will go to the Wizarding World of Harry Potter at Universal Studios.

Nothing will beat Harry Potter. Nothing will match up to this amount. I will look back on Harry Potter with fond memories, and everything that it was to me. I will keep every Harry Potter merchandise I have. I will keep the tee shirt I made. I WILL BE FORTY-FIVE AND STILL HAVE HARRY POTTER.

J. K. Rowling is a freaking genius. She created a world within our own, brought it to life, and did everything absolutely perfectly. Her works influenced young authors worldwide and inspired children everywhere. She is the most wonderful person in the world.

I now now that Harry Potter is is not dead. Harry Potter lives on in those who were in the Harry Potter Generation. Children like me who lived off Harry Potter. Children who lived and breathed Harry Potter. Children who learned to read from Harry Potter. Harry Potter is not over. Sure, there are no more movies or book releases. But Harry Potter lives on in the hearts of children of the Harry Potter generation.

Hopefully, they will make it a required reading in schools 20 years from now.

The Party

Tonight (technically last night) I went to an almost all-guy part. Two guys with the same name, we'll call them Jimmy and Marley, and I'll use fake names for everyone else. Pat held the party, invited me, Hilary, Tina, Jimmy, Marley, Justin, and Owen.

I got to Pat's house about half an hour late, because the only way my mom had any clue where his house was is because of a nearby church. After thirty-five minutes of driving to wrong locations and back roads of suburbia, we finally found Pat's house and met Hilary, Jimmy, Marley, Justin and Owen. I met Kate, Pat's older sister, and  Pat's parents. I had known Hilary, Jimmy and Owen from school, and Tina came about half an hour later. Jimmy, Marley and Pat were setting up Rock Band, which Jimmy brought. Once Tina came, we played Rock Band for about an hour.

Owen, Pat, Tina and I played Vocals and Guitar for a short while, and were then standing in the kitchen talking about guitars, when Pat tells us that he has a recording studio in his basement. We followed him into a surprisingly well-lit basement, which was filled with various recording equipment, six guitars, a banjo, a keyboard , a xylophone and a drum set. Tina had what can only be described as a nerdgasm. She squealed for a full ten minutes when he showed us around. I was not as excited by the equipment, because the piano was upstairs. There was a second half to the basement, which was used as a game and exercise room. I fell in love with the air hockey table.

After watching Pat play his $800 guitar for about twenty minutes and talking, we noticed that the music had stopped upstairs. Hilary, Marley, Jimmy and Justin had found us. We told them what we had been doing, Jimmy joked about a possible orgy in the basement he was missing out on, and we realized that it was pouring rain outside, and we needed something to do until it passed. Pat suggested Apples to Apples, which we played for hours, and Kate played music boxes and snow globes,. She also spent some time distracting Tina with different books.

After finishing Apples to Apples, (I won, by the way) we spent a few minutes annoying Jimmy for not bringing his Ouija board. It was still pouring down rain. We were desperate for something to do. Then we noticed the second half of Pat's basement. Kate showed everyone the VHS tapes, while I fell in love with air hockey table, and Owen tried using the elliptical. When he got off, I jumped on. I did not realize that it was broken, the handles gone and no controls at all. I started slowly, but then Owen grabbed the handles and shook them violently. I tried to stay on, but fell off. The entire time, Kate was flickering the lights so it changed from visible to pitch-black. I banged my shin on the machine when I fell off, swearing the whole time. After a few minutes I got over it. Owen said thing like "Holy shit, sorry." I did have to blame him for my pain.

Tina suggested we go outside. Then someone (Pat, Jimmy or Owen) suggested we play Manhunt. I did not know the rules of the game, so Jimmy and Owen told me it was basically Hide-and-Seek, just at night. Marley and Justin stayed inside. It was still pouring down rain. Tina took her shoes off and shared a jacket with Pat. They ended up looking like the two-headed dragon from Quest for Camelot.

(Short dragon - Tina, tall dragon - Pat)

I put on my hoodie and we were ready to hide. Hilary was the warden, while Tina and Pat, were seekers. Then Jimmy, Owen and I ran off into different directions. I hid in the woods behind his house and Owen hid behind the garage. Owen was found, but ran into the woods to find me. We talked, but kept our voices low to avoid being caught. We failed and ran towards the driveway. Pat disbanded from Tina and caught me. I was put in "prison". (Next to the recycling bin) By then, everyone was found except for Jimmy. Tina and I searched the yard and around the house while Pat and Owen searched the woods.

They came up with nothing. There was no sign of Jimmy. We began to panic, calling out his name, calling his cell phone and telling him that he won. There was no answer. We continued looking. Hilary then passed Jimmy's car. Jimmy was inside his car the whole time. Of course, we were ready to kill him. We banged on the door, the doors being locked, and Owen jumped on the trunk. Jimmy finally got out of his car and we went inside. We faced a scolding from Pat's mother telling us that we're crazy, and we should have dressed better. She did offer to put our clothes in the dryer, which we gladly accepted.

We continued to play Rock Band, with Pat's younger sister Mary until everyone left or their parents came to pick them up. I called my mom and my sister to pick me up at 10:13. My mom has a very bad sense of direction, especially at night, so it took her an hour and twenty minutes to get to Pat's house.

So I finally went home, and it was no longer raining. I noticed the pain again in my shin. Now I'm sitting here blogging about the party I went to, and there is a two-and-a-half inch area of my right shin that is swollen.

Thanks Owen.

The American Dream

In English class this past school year, one subject always stayed in the back of our minds, one phrase that we spent 18 weeks going back to, three words that mean so much - the American Dream. We talked about why different people came to America - religious freedom, freedom from war, the opportunity to start anew, and so on. That's why people still immigrate to America today.

I won't give you a lengthy lecture on why people from other countries come to America, or what they find here. I'm talking about what happens to the American Dream as time goes on. As their grandchildren and great-grandchildren grow up.

My great-grandparents came to America for their own reasons. They came from Italy, Ireland, Slovakia, and further back, Germany and England. They cam for the opportunity to start a new life, prosper and give their descendants a life easier than their own.

Now look at me. I'm a middle-class, white, teenager living in suburbia with a sister, a dog, a cat, a picket fence and an above-ground pool in the backyard. This is only three generations or so later. Sure, my life is easier than that of my great-grandparents. Yes, this year is the first time my dad's had a full-time job since 2007, and yes, we've had to cut back since then.

Now imagine an immigrant coming to America for the chance of a new life. He would give anything to have a life like mine. The definition of the American Dream is the idea that everyone in the United States has the chance to achieve success and prosperity. (From Microsoft Encarta Dictionary.) Essentially, its being able to bring yourself up from nothing.

When asked what the American Dream is in English class, most of the class mentioned impossible fantasies, like marrying Kim Kardashian, or having a mansion in Beverly Hills. I wrote on the board "being able to bring yourself up from nothing." Guess who got points that day?

The American Dream is not dead. People still believe that they can make something of themselves, when they don't have much to start with. America gives people hope. And hope is the greatest thing you can give a person.

Neverland

No, this post isn't a review of J. M. Barrie's Peter Pan. It's moreover talking about life and childhood dreams and facing that you have to grow up.

Yesterday, I spent a whole day with my friend. We walked around our development, played music on her guitar, went to Wawa, talked about everything, hung out on the playground, went for a walk at 10:00, watched various videos and had fun. The only thing we didn't do is swim and eat ice cream. If we had, that day would have been the second greatest day of the summer so far. (The first was everything mentioned above, only with swimming, ice cream, piano, pizza, and with two of my best friends. That was two weeks ago.) I wanted the day (two weeks ago) to last forever.

I told my friend last night about how that day was possibly the best cure for end-of-the-year stress, and that I never wanted it to end. She agreed.

After thinking about last night and the night a few weeks ago, I realized that like Peter Pan, I never want to grow up. Being fifteen, and it being summer, I have just about all the freedom in the world. Of course, I have parents, and have to obey law enforcement and gravity, but I can do whatever I want. I can do whatever I set my mind to. If I work hard enough, I can be in Women's Ensemble and Concert Choir if I work on my pitch and volume. I can perform at the Guild if I practice at least daily on piano.

I digress.

Right now, life is great. I have little responsibilities, I can sleep in until noon, I don't have a job, and honestly, I don't have a care in the world. I have nothing to worry about. And because it's summer, I don't have to care. I just have to do a few household chores and practice piano.

When I was a kid, my idea of a perfect childhood fantasy world was a mix between Alice's Wonderland, Peter Pan's Neverland and Willy Wonka's Chocolate Factory. And I wanted all of it. I still do, but reality is now slapping me in the face because I have braces. If I didn't have braces, I would still be imagining a candy-infused Wonderland where I never had to grow up.

What I've been saying the whole time is because life is great right now, I never want to grow up. I can fly away to Neverland and never have to grow up.