Little Girl

I just spent an evening with my neice, Lilly Grace. At two-and-a-half years old, she jabbers as much as any full grown woman that I know.

All of the sudden it hit me. It's amazing how much I love this girl. Seriously. Most other children that would have spent an hour showing me all their toys, I would have gotten bored and left. But I couldn't get enough! I just kept asking her more questions and she just kept answering them...she's talky for sure. My brother said that the day before I was there, she was laying in her bed, before her nap, saying, "Uncle Pat is coming tomorrow," over and over. Of course, I get there, and the first thing she says is, "where's Granna?" Kids.

Also, my sister-in-law is pregnant with their second, a boy. John asked LillyGrace what she wanted to name the new baby, and she, of course, said, "frog." So, the new baby's name is Frog. So be it.

I just spent the fourth of July weekend with my mother, which was cool. More about that later. Also, my roommate Matt and my friend Ju Mi just got back from the Phillipines. Matt brought me a fricking butterfly knife. I almost peed a little bit.

Well, bedtime. Happy 229th, America. You aren't aging gracefully, but I still love ya.

Ps...I decided that the name of my blog isn't the 'desert island' thing anymore. Did you notice? Observant, no?

HAHAHA! Eat it, Supreme Court!!

I'm so proud of the House of Representatives right now, I could cry. (And Pelosi can kiss my tailfeathers) They passed a bill today (Friday) that all but nullifies the eminent domain ruling upheld by the Supreme Court this past weekend. (READ ALL ABOUT IT!!) In a nutshell, any governmenal body that engages in taking someone's home, they will lose federal funding.

Alright Senate, your turn.

General Viscerant Epheral Nerves?

GVE - 3, 7, 9, 10

Shout out to my third reader, Virginia. Welcome to the wardrobe door.

aLSO! I just connected with my good friend Bri Irwin, who lives in Kansas (beautiful state. congratulations.). "boulevard wheat girl" and I worked in colorado together. good times. her blog is now listed at the right side of the page, and it is good stuff. Bri, i guess, is now my fourth reader! I'm taking over the world!!!!

I'm so embarassed!

I've done something so embarassing and repulsive, I don't even know if I should say it. I was having a conversation with my mother on my cell phone, and you know how that is. So anyway, I said something, and as soon as I said it, I realized it. Of course my mom didn't notice. It's bad because I try very hard not to sound hick-ish, being from the south and all. And so, I said something so grievous and hideous, I'm scared to put it out on the internet. Sigh...

So, here it is. Please don't judge me. After all I caught it right away and I felt just AWFUL. I said, and I quote, "Well, she can't never say we never gave her nothing." That's right. A QUADRUPLE NEGATIVE. The most hideous thing I have ever said, I think. In my defense, I was talking about my aunt. She and I don't get along that well, and if using a quadruple negative against someone is an insult, well then I just don't feel that bad about it. However, it still happened, and I think I'm going to be sick.

Well, eventually I will talk about Rodger, comic books, girls, and a new job, which William is helping me with (thanks, man), but not today. Today I feel like hammered dog poo.

Eminent domain my butt

So, finally I'm pissed at our government. I mean, REALLY pissed.

Our government has made it legal to take whatever they want, no questions asked. YES I understand that they are paying (fair-market value? whatever.) , but if I wanted to sell my land, I would have freaking done it already!

Here's how it goes as I understand it. The city or county can seize any private land, as long as they can prove that it is better for the people. PRIVATE land. "Hey. We think we can use YOUR property better than you can. Give it to us. No? Oh yeah? We'll just see about that!"

I was talking to my friend about it, and he made a good point, and I agree. If they actually ARE using it for a reason where EVERYBODY benefits and nobody is really profitting (profiting? profitting? getting paid.), then that's ok. For example, if they need the land for a highway, or a dam to block water from flooding a neighborhood (in my friend's case), then that's ok. A highway benefits people, and nobody's making money off of it. But if they want to put up an office building or a Target, then some people will benefit in the way of jobs and convenience, but to most people it won't matter and a few men are making MILLIONS.

The problem with the city taking it is that they give you what THEY think the land is worth. They aren't even really giving you "free market value." You have no choice. Now if a big company wants to give you 20 times what it's worth, to me, that's ok. Yeah this land has been in my family for 120 years, but for $10 Million, I'll go deal with my grief in Barbados. And the big companies can do that, because they are pretty much allowed to spend whatever they need to get location, location, location. But the problem is, the big company can just say, "hey, instead of us paying $10 Million, let's get the city to get it for us!" So they go to the city council, tell them they can't get the land from John F. Publicguy, and the big bad city council says, "Well, hell, we can get that for you!" City council gets a donation from big company and envision huge property taxes for them to spend, and John P. barely gets rent money. This is actually happening! I linked an article below. Read it.

Honestly, I don't own land, but I was planning on buying some sooner or later. Now, what's the point? If the government can just come and take my land away from me without so much as a "how's your father?," then what good is it for me to buy land, expensively, might I add, and then LOSE money five years later when Hometown, USA wants to build a GloboGym. Way to go, Supreme Court! Now if I may be so bold....

"[The Proletariat's] mission is to destroy all previous securities for, and insurances of, individual property...

The distinguishing feature of communism is not the abolition of property generally, but the abolition of bourgeois property. But modern bourgeois private property is the final and most complete expression of the system of producing and appropriating products that is based on class antagonisms, on the exploitation of the many by the few.

In this sense, the theory of the Communists may be summed up in the single sentence: Abolition of private property."

-- Karl Marx and Frederick Engels, The Communist Manifesto

To quote Austin Powers, "yay capitalism." Lastly, a good read is this column by Neal Boortz at TownHall.com.

The ONE Campaign

I got this email from Switchfoot (the band, you know) and this is pretty awesome, so I did it and I think everybody else should, too. Click on the link below and follow through. (It's just one page, a letter campaign)

Thanks, you two!

http://www.one.org/addmyvoice.aspx

Finally!

Well, I've finally moved into my new house with my two roommates. And I'm back on the internet. woo hoo.

I think i'm gonna come up with a new nickname for myself. Dump. Is that a good nickname? We'll see.

So my friend Dottie is reading all the way from Cairo. Egypt, not Cairo, Georgia. There IS a Cairo, Georgia. But she's in Egypt.

Anyways. That's it for now. I have to get back on my golf cart and "work."

Next issue: politics and comic books. and girls. and rodger.

groggg!!

I am now working 6am to 3pm...it's actually good because i have more time for myself, but God doesn't even get up until 5:45, so why should I have to get up at 5am?? Oh well.

I like a new girl. I think. I don't know. We'll see.

Ps. Pedro the Lion 'effing rocks!! They are playing in Atlanta on May 15 and I'm going, even if i have to go by myself. So ha.

the Winter of my discontent

I hate girls. Well actually I love girls, but I'm not very happy with your gender as a whole right now, ladies. Not to say that we dudes are awesome, but what the hell?

So, now I know what it feels like to have your heart ripped out of your chest (a la Indiana Jones), thrown down on the floor and kicked around like a soccer ball. THREE TIMES. Yes, three girls have done this to me. I've given as well as I've taken, but I don't deserve this. This is sixth-circle-of-hell type stuff.

Anyway, job: good. Girls: bad. Money: pretty good. Car: hanging in there. Living situation: soon to be improving!

Hopefully, I can learn contentment, and once I do that, I will find what I'm looking for.

Geezz...

It's only been a month and already i'm forgetting to do this.

I just spent four days in Chapel Hill, NC. HEELS!!! It was crazy. Some friends of mine are thinking of starting a church there. ChapelHill is crazy, and very amazing. Walking around campus at night reminds me of Milledgeville, where I went to school, but moreso of my hometown Athens, GA. Athens is much, MUCH cooler than Chapel Hill, but they are trying. Nice restaurants, cool people, beautiful women.

But one sad thing I noticed. Everybody was walking around with their I-pods on. My friends and I kept thinking, how do people get to know each other if they are spending all of their time self-involved and introverted? It made me kinda sad. Not that Ipods aren't cool, but seriously...

So my birthday was this past sunday. And happy birthday to me, the girl that I thought I wanted to marry told me, two hours before my birthday, that she no longer wanted to be with me, that "that's just not where her heart is." So you know. It's a whole long story that needs many more drinks, so I wont bore you with it.

I did read Catcher in the Rye yesterday and today. It was amazing. And I'm starting a Joseph Conrad novel called "Nostromo." Never heard of it? Think you may have? Well not only is "Nostromo" a Conrad novel, but it is also the name of the ship in Alien (Sigourney Weaver's ship).

I also just watched the movie "Saved." I've never gone to a Christian school, but my roommate has gone to three, and he said that, while funny, it's not a very accurate look at Christian school life. I did notice, however, that it's a good look at Christian life in general. It's sad that so many people that claim the same faith that I do have to act so damn stupid.

Anyway, I'm depressed because of the girl, so I'm gonna go to my birthday party now.