Think the thoughts, feel the feels...write it down

I've decided to do a Year in Review of my blog posts.  I'm going to choose my favorite post for each month of 2012.  Some months have only one post, and that one is my favorite. 1)  January.   This is unusually pessimistic of me, but it's so true.  Bullying is a problem, but I think it's approached all wrong. 2)  February .  I'm not entirely sure who I'm talking about in this, but I was hurt by whoever it was.  Still true.  Not the hurt part. 3)  March .  I still have a few jobs and this list should still be posted in every place requiring some kind of customer service. 4)  April .  This is a reflection on a movie I had watched with a friend.  The movie had a much different outcome from what we expected, much more serious.  There's a heavy message, a message of humanity. 5)  May .  I, seriously, wish men took this advice.  I think it'd be very beneficial to them.  They're always like "What do women want?!  It's so hard to please y

Yesterday was Christmas, which means people got new games and gaming consoles.  My family is included in this group of people; they got the PS3 and, I guess, some games just come with it.  When I arrived to my family's house yesterday morning, they had already opened their gifts and my 17 year old brother was playing  Mortal Kombat  on the new console while everyone else was watching.  I'm pretty familiar with Mortal Kombat, it's an old game and I grew up seeing it being played.  I'll be the first to admit that I am terrible  at video games, I just don't get them.  All the buttons and the combination for them all to get someone/thing to jump/roll/shoot; it all seems superfluous...and hard. I'm not really against  video games, I just don't like a lot of them.  I'm not a fan of violence, in real life or in the media.  I'm not a fan of objectifying humans (it's usually the women who are objectified).  There's a lot of that, violence and objec

Well, it's Christmas Eve's Eve, something I used to get excited about as a child.  Now, I don't really feel any difference.  I figure I might as well put a Christmas list out to the Internets.  So here's my grown-up Christmas list that's pretty impossible. 1)  Car.   I already have one, but if someone would just make all the payments/pay the rest up front.  I'll pay the insurance and the maintenance bills 2) An End to Genocide.   It's an SNL sketch; but it's also pretty true.  I'd like for people to stop killing other people, in every way possible.  It's really unacceptable...seriously. 3) Full Time Job.   I would like ONE full time job that I really enjoy and that has full benefits, instead of the multiple jobs that have no benefits that I don't even really like. 4) Benefits.   I'd like to have an insurance company that actually pays for a simple doctor's visit.  I'd like vision and dental as well.  I'd like all of t

Today, a man, 20 years old, went into the school in which his mother was a teacher's aide and shot several people .  He shot 27 people, 20 children, six adults (school personnel), and himself.  Meanwhile, in Central China, a 36 year old man stabs 23 people (22 children and one elderly lady).  Initially, I heard about these in bits and pieces and was a little confused.  But I've heard and read about them throughout the day and still don't understand it any better. I am a teacher; and though I often comment on the lousy bureaucracy of the US educational system and have endless stories of my students' ridiculousness, I love teaching and I love those kids.  I don't have maternal feelings towards them, but I do feel a common humanness and a sense of duty in helping to grow them into wonderful adult humans.  So when someone, anyone, hurts a child, or many children, I am baffled.  I don't understand how a person can purposefully hurt another, especially a child.

Something that no one knows about me is that I have a fascination with international flags.  I really enjoy learning about the story behind the flags because I think it speaks accurately of the country it represents.  Last week one of my roommates and I were at the mall when we came across a flag store.  I got all excited and asked if we could go in and she humored me and we went in.  The nice man, who, I'm assuming, is the owner of the store, handed me a paper with (I guess) all the flags of the world pictured as well as USA state and historical flags.  Every time I'm getting dressed I check out this paper and admire the flags.   Here's a list of my favorite flags. 1) Marshall Islands.   I know absolutely nothing about this place, these islands.  I had never even heard of them until this paper.  But I think their flag is somewhat reminiscent of Disney Land/World in perhaps the '70's or '80's.  I don't know why.  Perhaps it's the orange and whi