Hugs to Neatorama for posting about this amazing man and photographer. He was born without legs, and takes pictures of people staring at him during his daily life. He travels the world with camera in hand. Be sure to check out the artists' website.
Just after posting a huge rant, I run into this on PerezHilton.com of all places!
Instead of distancing themselves from her vitriol, Republicans in the state of Oklahoma are applauding congresswoman Sally Kern for saying such small-minded and hateful things like….gays are worse than terrorists.
Really!
Kern told reporters that her fellow Republicans in Oklahoma gave her a standing ovation on Monday.
And, she has vowed not to apologize for her hateful words.
Insane!
Sad. Just sad.
I have been working with the public for over 10 years. I like people. I do. Well... I like most people. I like people who are patient and understanding. I like people who treat others with respect and above all, I like people who admit when they were wrong. Why couldn't I have run into any of these people today?
Lets start early in the morning about 7:15 am, roomie and I stop by a gas station for coffee and gum, and get in line for a cash register. There are not many people in the little market, so I figured we wouldn't be there long. Boy was I wrong. The guy in front of us was just yelling and screaming at the poor lady behind the counter because his credit card was declined. Why is that her fault? I immediately broke into the conversation and stuck up for her and told the asshole that he should put his stuff back and leave the nice lady alone. How dare he? She was just doing her job. She was almost in tears by the time the guy left screaming that he was going to tell everyone what bitch she was. Amazing. Roomie and I pay for our stuff, I give my new friend a hug, and we head off to work.
We got onto main street and we were immediately cut off by some girl (who couldn't have been older than 17 tops) not paying attention to the road because she was screaming into her cell phone. We could have been killed. She could have been killed. Cell phones while driving should be outlawed everywhere in the world.
We pull into our place of employment, clock in, and work.
4 hours later we are off on our lunch break. We decided to go to a fast food place and get something totally bad for us for a change. It was delicious. We were sitting in the parking lot enjoying our meals of greasy hamburgers and tater-tots, when we saw a guy in a huge SUV pull up through the drive-thru. I don't know what could have happened to set this guy off, but he started honking his horn and yelling at the speaker for about 5 minutes. It was the first time since I moved to Utah that I wished I had a cell phone. The guy then threw his morning coffee all over the display unit/speaker of the restaurant. Nothing should make you angry enough to freak out that bad. If I wasn't concerned for my own physical safety I would have said something.
We go back to our place of employment, clock back in, and work.
On the way home we needed to stop at the grocery store. It had been a long time since I had been to this particular store, and I got a little turned around. I stopped and asked a worker if she could tell me where to find the stationary, and she couldn't. She didn't offer to help me find it, or to find someone to help me find it... she just left and said, "Sorry." That is so messed up.
When we were checking out roomie asked for a pack of cigarettes and the checker rolled his eyes at us because he had to go and pick up the cigarettes. For the record, I don't smoke, I never have... and I am trying my hardest to get roomie to quit the cancer sticks. Checkout boy comes back and asks roomie for his ID. There is no way in the world you could look at roomie and not think he is over 18. Roomie complied and took it as a compliment. Checker boy studied his Florida ID (Yeah, we have been lazy and we still haven't renewed our liscenses in Utah) and stared at his face for a really long time. It was so dumb. Just look at the birthdate kid... it's right there.
On our way home we couldn't help but think about how many people had pissed us off that day. We agreed to chill out at home tonight and watch television. We just want to be around sane people for the rest of the day.
I hope everyone else had a better day than I did.
-Sydney
Do you ever feel like you blinked and half a year went by? The sayings that "Time flies when you are having fun," and "It seems like just yesterday..." struck me today.
Less than a year ago I moved back to Utah after spending 7 years living and working in Orlando, Florida. Roomie and I packed up his Toyota with as much as we possibly could and put our (then) two cats in their carriers and drove across the country to start fresh. The drive was long, very long... practically endless. Kansas and Nebraska were barren, and when we reached Wyoming we were so happy to see mountains we could have cried.
We got to Logan, Utah after 4 days of driving. We were exhausted, and then we realized that we had to haul everything packed into his truck up two flights of stairs. Just when we thought we were done with the hard work we realized we needed to go to a supermarket and get something to eat. We were starving, and roomie certainly deserved a couple cans of beer to relax and chill out before the madness of unpacking started the next day.
Little did I know that trip to the grocery store would change my life forever...
Roomie and I were walking down the beverage aisle and we received glances of shock, horror, and utter disgust after we put the Miller Light in our shopping cart. The checkout girl was more than friendly to us until she saw the beer inching it's way to her hands to scan. When she finally did scan them, she did it quickly, as if she would catch alcoholism simply by touching the side of an aluminum can.
Roomie and I walked out into the parking lot and he asked me what that was all about. I turned to him and said, "Don't say I didn't warn you. Welcome to Utah."
The conversation started in the truck on the ride back to our box-filled apartment. He couldn't believe how some of the people reacted, and it didn't really shock me because I had grown up this way. It was instant judgment of our character. Roomie asked question after question about the Mormon Church. He became interested in learning about Mormon's beliefs and culture. Unfortunately, I didn't have all the answers to his questions.
Roomie popped in a frozen pizza and I set up our computer. I went online (free with our new apartment... yay) and looked up the answers for his questions. As exhausted as I was, I was up all night long. I kept learning new things, and I was in complete shock.
Joseph Smith translated the plates with his head in a hat?
Brigham Young said those horrible things about blacks?
There were multiple accounts of the first vision?
The information kept coming, and I couldn't tear myself away from my computer screen. It gives new meaning to the words, "shock and awe."
After a few weeks of chilling out, unpacking, and studying real Mormon history, I emailed my Mom with some questions I had about the church. She was the first person I knew I could go to because she was raised in a strict Mormon household... family home evening ever Monday night, scripture reading with the family... you get the picture. If someone knew about the Mormon Church it would be my Mom. She was much more faithful than I had ever been, and she had sent the missionaries on me a couple times when I lived in Orlando... I still give her hell for that.
My questions shocked my Mom, and she decided to do some research on her own and get back to me. Imagine how surprised I was when I saw someone on postMormon.org that sounded a lot like her... even her username reminded me of her. I shot her an email asking if she was chatting in the forum, and she was. We were both on our way out of the church, and we couldn't have been happier about it.
The journey has been long, and harsh. I don't think many TBMs understand how hard it is for people who realize Mormonism isn't all it's cracked up to be. Someone told me online that the difference between TBM's and PostMormons is the fact that one of the groups has walked in the other's shoes. It's very hard to realize that everything you thought was right, turned out to be full of horse manure. It's almost as if someone punches you in the stomach and knocks the wind out of you.
I started my blog to keep track of my feelings and thoughts about leaving the church and the emotions I was going through. I knew there were many people out there who were going through the same thing, and even though I was going through so much I knew I wanted to reach out and meet and talk with these people. We all needed each other for support that we knew we couldn't get from our Mormon families and friends. It's a horrific thing to have your belief system yanked from you, and to have someone out there who not only understands you but loves and accepts you for who you are (belief system or no belief system) was priceless.
The more I learned about the real church history, the angrier I got. Many people have accused me with having anger management issues, and they tell me to see a shrink and leave the church alone... thing is, I have a right to be angry. I have a right to be extremely angry. If the church told the correct stories about it's history it would be different. It's like realizing a loving friend or family member you have known your entire life was lying to you the whole time.
If I were married and I found out my husband was lying to me about his past, would you not think I deserved to be a little angry?
I am not out to bring the church down, I just want them to know that they can't get away with not giving the full truth. There are no excuses. None.
Soon, I will be sending in my resignation to the church. I am looking forward to it, and I have no doubts its the right thing to do. I am proud of my decision, my conscience wouldn't allow me to be associated with an organization that would lie and deceive so many people out of so much.
Not too long ago I started on a journey across the country, and it ended up being a journey that would change my life in more ways than one.
I doubt getting my notification that my membership in the LDS Church will change my emotions, or make me feel like things are even... that I didn't have to think about the church anymore. It's still a goal of mine to be here for people who are going through what I went through, and no amount of "Anti-Sydneys" could ever change that. People are leaving the church every day, and they need the same support that I got in my time of confusion... and I will be here for them.
In case you haven't seen this story on the news or read about it in the newspapers, 3 Mormon Missionaries allegedly vandalized a shrine and committed sacrilegious acts in a Catholic Church. Here are a couple links to news articles: Deseret News Examiner.com
Here is my take on the situation...
Mormon missionaries are usually 19 year old males. They go out on 2 year long missions and the LDS Church decides where to send them. They don't get a choice. Many missionaries (at least 4 of them I know personally) were very upset that they didn't get a foreign language mission to another country, but were sent to places like Orlando, Washington DC, and believe it or not Salt Lake City.
These kids are fresh out of high school, and they don't have a whole lot of experiences under their belt. They are young, and they don't make bright decisions sometimes. Hell, when I was 19 I made more than one big mistake... and so did everyone else reading this blog.
They are probably all now married off in that lovely temple marriage to a true blue Mormon girl who wants tons of babies. They are probably working great jobs, or finishing their education (hopefully the latter,) or both.
The Mormon Church didn't really have anything to do with this incident. It was just a bad decision made by some kids. That is really how I feel. This could have easily come from another religion, it just happened they were Mormon.
These missionaries should have to pay for what they did. They are not exempt because they didn't mean it, or because they are really good people now. They should have to go back to this church and volunteer at that very facility to teach them some respect of other cultures and beliefs.
Just my take on it.
I found this article via the Consumerist and thought it was worth sharing...
Reader Monique says that she used Crest Pro-Health Mouthwash and woke up with brown spots on her teeth and no sense of taste. How terrifying!
Crest Pro-Health Mouthwash turned my teeth brown! And on top of that, I can't taste anything! I can't believe this stuff is even on the market. My wisdom teeth are coming in painfully, and I am prepping to get them removed next week. So while at Rite Aid last night, I picked up a bottle of Crest Pro-Health mouthwash. I typically use Listerine, but as I said my wisdom teeth are killing me and this Crest CRAP advertises "No Alcohol". Cool.Yikes! We took a look around the internet and found a lot of people complaining about this issue.
Except that after using it for ONE day (in the am and then before bed) I woke up today with brown spots on and in between my teeth and I cannot taste anything at all. After being scared almost to the point of tears, I started googling these symptoms. You wouldn't believe how many website there are that are dedicated to this nonsense. Crest should be sued for this!More people need to be informed about this. On top of that, if you read the comments on the site I am linking, Crest wont even reimburse you for the lousy 4 dollars you spend on this poison. Never mind the expensive dental bills I am going to face whitening and repairing my teeth. Spread the word Consumerist.
Here are some highlights from Amazon.com:
David Case from Flint, MI says:At the beginning mouthwash was fine. Nice not having the alcohol burn and the breath, that my girlfriend hated. So that was nice. But after extended use for a month it stained in between my teeth brown. It looked terrible and it cost me a one hundred dollar trip to the dentist to scrape that junk off. The dentist advised that it was my mouthwash after hearing it was this Crest mouthwash that I was using. I was surprised that a mouthwash that is suppose to help clean your teeth actually does the opposite.
This garbage put dingy yellow and brown stains on my teeth, especially near the gums. A dental cleaning failed to get them off. If I had known this mouthwash could cause stains, I would never have used it in the first place. If my next dental cleaning fails to remove the yellow on my teeth, P&G may have a lawsuit on their hands. It's to the point where I don't want to even talk or smile. These Pro Health products should be illegal.
The first thing I noticed was a buildup of white gunk on my tongue. I had just brushed my tongue until it was a nice pink before using the mouthwash, which annoyed me. But it wasn't just gunk -- this stuff was solid. It was annoying, but I could live with gunk. I can't live with what else it did, though.
Let me put this as simply as possible: This mouthwash destroys your sense of taste. Not just immediately after you spit it out, (it ruins it then too, since water tasted strange when I had a drink before bed) but the next morning as well. I COVERED my eggs in ketchup, yet the normally puckering taste of a mouthful of ketchup was missing. I ate kiwis, pineapple, apple, tea, and nothing. It was like a mouthful of sawdust, or water, or watery sawdust.
About 12 hours after the rinsing, I finally started to regain some taste. I looked up the "active" ingredient in Crest Pro-Health online, called cetylpyridinium chloride. This is what the Materials Safety and Data Sheet has to say about this ingredient: "Toxic if swallowed. Very toxic by inhalation. May cause severe eye irritation. Respiratory and skin irritant," with a large TOXIC warning at the top of the page. I'm sure the concentration in this product is low enough to be harmless in a single dose, but imagine years of using this? Hopefully this won't be on the market long enough for that to be possible.
This is easily the most disturbing thing I've ever had happen to me. I've never had side-effects like this from ANY over the counter medicine, much less an oral product. My bottom teeth now have visible brown spots between them and I'm worried that they won't come off (or that it'll cost me a lot of money to remove them). I don't think I've ever felt so screwed over like this before... this is simply inexcusable. Crest should not be allowed to have a product like this on the market without a huge sticker warning you about its side-effects. Sadly I don't think people will see this, and they too will get brown garbage in between their teeth. No one googles or looks up mouth wash on Amazon, though I sure wish I did now..
I have no idea why, but I have ghosts on the brain again. I find these photos fascinating whether they are real or fake. As always the photos come from GhostStudy.com, a fantastic website that I love. It's worth checking out.
Mark writes, "This a picture of my girlfriend that I took with my camera phone, while we were out at a restaurant at the Burswood Casino in Perth Western Australia. I took it on the 16th Feb, 2005 but to be honest didn't really notice anything until just recently, about a month after it was taken. I've had friends tell me its probably just light glare, or dust but the image there looks way too defined and detailed for simple dust or light refractions. Nearest I can tell, its a head of girl or old lady, possibly even an orange dress of some sort, maybe. Understand I'm a little skeptical myself but I just cant explain it. You can see the table behind it, through it, even the edge of the table is slightly distorted, refracted even when it passes behind her. Size wise, it would of had to be right behind my girlfriend, on the chair the its head hovers above. Though what makes it even weirder, is the location. A casino restaurant? I don't know, I leave it up to you to decide what you think, but it was just too weird for me to ignore. My girlfriend wouldn't even look at it. Also there is a guy sitting behind her, you can see part of the grey t-shirt he's wearing. Now this is a non smoking area, its illegal here to smoke in enclosed restaurants. SO that rules out cigarette smoke. Though I bet a lot of smokers wish they could blow smoke faces."
The two at the castle are taken at different angles at different time's! You are going to have to zoom in on these two on the second floor on each side are windows next to each other! Look at the figure in white in the middle window. Again in the other photo but standing different looking out at sea! Could you explain this to me am I imagining this? This is taken at the Camelot Castle Hotel (King Arthur's Castle Hotel) Thanks.
I am going to talk about something that isn't unique to Mormon families. It happens in every culture, religion, and country. It's something all humans deal with, my perspective will obviously come from a Mormon point of view because thats what I know.
I was a teenager in an extremely small town. My graduating class had 17 kids in it, and most of the kids I went to kindergarten with graduated with me. We had to drive 40 minutes over a mountain to get to McDonald's and Wal-Mart. Everyone in my town knew everyone else, what they ate for breakfast, the name of their dogs, and whatever they were going through at that particular time. It's not that we were nosy, you just couldn't help but know things in a town that small. It wasn't just the Mormons, it was everyone.
There were families in the community who were dealing with bad situations. Some of these families decided to choose their faith over their own children.
One of my young women's teachers/leaders was very, very religious. Her daughter used to baby-sit me when I was a kid, and I liked her a lot. She wasn't like the normal babysitters who sat in front of the television for 7 hours, she played games with us and read us stories. She was a really good person. Well, imagine my surprise when I found out that my babysitter had suddenly been kicked out of her home and disowned. When I asked about her in church to a friend of mine I was told to forget about her. Can you believe that?
What could she have possibly done to deserve this? She met and dated a black man behind her parent's back and she became pregnant at the age of 17. Her mother was so consumed with what her religion believed that she tossed her own kid out of the house. I do have to say that this woman was very racist, and not all Mormons would react this way. She made the decision because she believed that is what God would want her to do. Would God want you to ever throw your own child away because they disagreed with you? Would that even cross God's mind? No, it wouldn't. I know there are times when you should show "tough love," but this isn't one of them. If anything, it's important to be there for your child during times like this.
About 6 months ago I was going through a training class for my job. I met people from all over the state of Utah, and became close with a 19 year old boy who was living out of his car. His family lived close by, but wouldn't let him live at home. Why? Because he was gay. His mother and father decided that God wouldn't want them to support their son's decision (there is no decision involved, trust me) to live that kind of lifestyle. They refused to help him financially, or emotionally until he "came around" and decided to go on a mission for the LDS Church.
This guy was a wonderful person. He was warm, friendly, creative, and smart. Anyone would be honored to have him in their family, but his family chose their religious beliefs over their own son.
This is another reason why I find temple weddings and sealings to be bad displays of family togetherness. Would God want half of your family to not see you get married simply because they believe in something else? Would God want a mother to be outside the temple while her own son gets married? It does nothing but divide the family into the "haves" (having a temple recommend) and the "have nots" being without a temple recommend and being left outside.
It's incredibly painful for those family members being left out. They are being openly shunned by the very people who helped raise them. The very mothers who gave birth to these children, turned their backs on them in a heartbeat. Is this something God would want? I have to say no.
It all comes down to one question, what matters the most? Your religion, or your family? Which do you love more? I will never stop being surprised at how some people answer that question.
