The Hunger Games & Racism

Raise your hand if you read The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins. I would raise three if I had three hands because I read all three books of that amazingly entrancing suspenseful series. I even went to the midnight premiere (never doing that again by the way).

It was so good! Despite the lack of a lot of details found in the book, which I know is physically impossible unless you wanted the movie to be 20 hours long, I found it was pretty spot on. There wasn't any big changes or huge shockers near the end. It was straighforward.

So you can imagine my surprise when I read this article>>>>Racist Hunger Games Fans Are Very Disappointed. Um, what? Thank you Dodai Stewart for pointing out a major problem that still exists in the world we live in today.

About 20 million people strapped on their boots and headed to the theaters everywhere to watch the most awaited film since Twilight. And a few of those people were, shall I dare say it, racist.

As viewers flocked to Twitter, Stewart was scouring for comments about the film that was sure to be all the rage.

It was there that she found comments like this: "why does rue have to be black not gonna lie kinda ruined the movie" and "why did the producer make all the good characters black smh" and "call me racist but when i found out rue was black her death wasn't as sad #ihatemyself." And that's not all. People are even quoted calling the character a "black bitch" and a "nigger." Wow...really!?

Courtesy of manilovefilms.com.

Now call me crazy but when I read the book I pictured Rue to be a black person. The author clearly states that she has dark skin and my mind conjured up a little black lanky girl with long black hair. So you can imagine how angry I was to see that Rue had short hair. I mean that really pissed me off!...

Uh, not!

Why the anger people? It's a movie with some black characters in it just like you live in a world with black people in it. Maybe you should seriously consider stepping a little further than your front door step and experience real culture, instead of mindlessly walking through the ethnocentric bubble you have created for yourself.

Use this as a wake up call. It's time to broaden your horizon.

Suffering

I've been thinking a lot about suffering lately. Especially since I made the mistake of watching this video.



Really? A ball is something he's always wanted and never had.

Or what about this guy?



A hard-working man who faces a daily struggle.

So many stories like these are going on all over the world and I give such little thought to the affect it has on these people.

I live a very comfortable lifestyle. I don't just have clothes on my back, food in my belly and a shelter over my head. I have a very comfortable king size bed that drifts me away to dreamland every night. I have warm running water that I can stand under and waste on my not-so-dirty body every day. I hold all the knowledge of the world right at my fingertips 24/7. I have shoes. Not just one pair but lots of them--shoes that are comfortable, shoes that look sexy, shoes in every color.

My biggest concern on a daily basis is wondering if I will be able to get my workout in for the day or what we will eat for dinner because of course "we never have any food in the house."

Sure, I grew up a little poor. I've known what it's like to go without, but not in the way that most people experience it.

Why? Why do I live in the lap of luxury and others are sentenced to a life of suffering?

I know that there are millions of charities to donate to, to help the less fortunate. But that's not at all what I'm advertising. Sometimes I just feel as if I don't suffer enough.

Yes, I do have trials. I just don't feel like they compare to what the rest of the world may be is going through. We are supposed to learn from our tribulations, but am I learning as much as Richie or Rique? I don't know.

A Day of Love

Awwww...Valentine's Day.

Many people claim that it's just a Hallmark holiday—

something created merely to sell candy, cards and flowers.

While others believe that it's a centuries-old tradition that can be traced back to Pope Gelasius I.

Do you want to know what I think?

Who cares where it came from or why it exists?

It's a designated day to celebrate love. (Something we should strive to do every day.)

And we should celebrate not only with our lovers but all of our loved ones.

It doesn't have to be anything huge or expensive or dramatic.

Has anyone seen Google's elucidation of the heart-filled holiday today?

The moral of the story: just do something together, spend time with one another.

My hubby and I will have a simple dinner at home tonight,

and then we will deliver flowers to all the lovely widows in our lives.

Happy Valentine's Day!

Something Beautiful

Indulge with me in a sunset...

The hubby and I go on dates.

Each week we take turns planning the date.

Most of the time it's a surprise (or at least when it's my turn because I love the suspense).

This one was my turn. And it was surprisingly beautiful.

What's Your Work Ethic?

Recently, I heard that good writing requires you to write about something in particular that bothers you but doesn't seem to bother anyone else. I try to implement this characteristic when I'm blogging. However, I have found that there are lots of things that seem to bother me whilst they don't bother anyone else. But surely I can't write about old men who drive sports cars or people who simply choose not to respond to your message on Facebook or your text. It's like hello, I know you got the message...just flippn answer me! But I will spare those Corvette-driving old men and the I-got-your-message-but-I'm-either-avoiding-you-or-too-inconsiderate-to-reply people.

Today, I will address work ethic. Without being too divulging or incriminating (possibly self-incriminating) I would like to state that the work ethic of my fellow employees SUCKS! There, I said it.

Side note: I would like to affirm that obviously  not 100% of the workforce has bad work ethic, but it would be a safe bet to say that the majority does.

Not to mention, that these really sucky employees cannot be fired--their immune and they know it, which only perpetuates the situation.

I work with over 1,000 people and for some reason this indolent issue doesn't seem to bother anyone else. I don't know if they have just been here too long so they're used to it or if they just choose to ignore it because they don't want to be the ones to put an end to all the "fun" people are having at work.

I'm considered very young, a baby even, when it comes to our country's workforce. And with the reputation my generation has you would think that I wouldn't have a problem joining in on the "fun." But I just can't allow myself to sincerely accept a paycheck every other week if I know I haven't done a single thing to improve the organization that I work for. But why not? None of these people have a problem with it.

I think I was just raised to be a working bee. My mother always put us to work on something, whether it was cleaning the house (quite a task with six kids running around), gardening or cleaning the pool. And even after the cleaning and gardening was done and there was nothing to do, she would start remodeling the house. It was constant work growing up. And my grandfather never allowed us to do anything, in his own words, "half-ass." Constantly working towards perfection--that's how I was raised.

So you see I can't help but to be bothered by people's lazy work ethic. It's quite laughable actually when you think about all the money that's going to waste in this place. It's like come on people, if you don't have anything to do then create something, better your work environment, make a name for yourself, be successful.

Some days, I think I might scream.

New Year, New Me

It's that time of year when I feel the earth's atmosphere shift a tiny bit as I reflect on the past year and focus on the changes I will be making in this new one. I feel rejuvenated, optimistic and courageous. There is nothing that I can't handle this year. Because this year I'm going to be more prepared.

The very first item on my to-do list for 2012 was to purchase a new planner/notebook. I've been researching high and low since November for the perfect fit for me. I'm not one of those techy geeks who looks for a solution in a palm pilot (obviously, by my use of the word palm pilot you can tell). I like something more tangible with pages I can mark and scribbly notes I can make...oh, and drawings :) Plus, I like the idea of being able to flip something open instead of waiting for a gadget to start up.

You see, as an extremely busy person, I have to carry a small planner with me at all times. I literally write down everything in there. It looks something like this.

And as a writer, I have to have extra paper with me at all times. Not to mention, they need to be lightweight so I can lug them around with me. So I think of course, they will have some type of planner and notebook all-in-one...WRONG!

I searched everywhere, and on January 2, I ended up with this duo.

A great find at Barnes & Noble that has proved to be quite satisfying and worth every penny of the $25 spent (it came with two small notebooks). Plus, I heard that the color purple is supposed to be calming, which is what I'm aiming for in 2012.

Bound together by the greatest invention of the millennium (the rubberband of course!) and I have my planner-notebook-all-in-one.

As soon as I got back from shopping, I opened the notebook to the first page and me and the hubby started brainstorming our new year's resolutions as a couple. I won't bore you with those, but once we were done I jotted mine down too. I like to divide my resolutions up into three categories: spiritual, mental and physical.

They go something like this...
Spiritual (always first because to me it's the most important)
1.) Read New Testament-1.1 pages per day (That's it!)
2.) Pray morning and night
3.) Prepare Sunday school lesson each week
4.) Visiting Teaching each month
5.) Plan Family Home Evening every other week
Mental
1.) Blog once a week (yes, I promise to be better at this)
2.) Find a hobby (like I don't have enough, right?...always looking for ways to expand my mind :)
Physical
1.) Tell the hubby how grategul I am for him regularly
2.) Save money/make better financial decisions
3.) Make less/wiser commitments (something I seriously have to focus on this year...I promised the hubby)
4.) Take my camera everywhere

I hope your year has been great so far. And remember, there is still time to make new resolutions. You have 353 days left (thank goodness for leap year...we always need an extra day :)

Post-Christmas Depression



Picture found here.

I just hate it when the holidays are over. I just love wearing Christmas pajamas, drinking hot chocolate, listening to Christmas music and riding around to look at all the lights. Of course, I know that I can do these things all the time if I wanted to (especially in the South where the rednecks leave their lights up year-round). But the feeling isn't the same. I can barely handle the great anticipation of opening gifts (for me the greater anticipation of watching people open the gifts I gave them), singing Christmas hymns at church and wondering whether or not the snow will make its appearance this year. 

The moment my eyes flitter open on December 26th, all the excitement is gone and I'm left with extra pounds to burn off and a very comfortable head resting on my Christmas present that makes me not want to get out of bed for another 365 days.

I'm just thankful that the new year has begun. It gives me so much to focus on. I have a few changes I want to make in my life. I already have my list started. More on that to come...