The Life of Me

I'm an "honors student." I'm in several honors classes. I've always been an "honors student." I get pretty good grades, I'm supposedly going to get into not-crappy colleges. But you know what?

I never asked to be an honors student.

I'm not ungrateful that I'm an honors student. I'm glad that I've been gifted with the ability to retain information, even if, to be honest, I don't understand any of it a good portion of the time. I'm not an incredibly smart person when it  comes to the important things - politics, history, war, money... But I'm able to remember facts and dates and equations and utilize them on tests. And so I'm an "honors student."

You'd think that phrase would make me proud, make me smile. But it's been given a very negative connotation. Whenever we do poorly on a test, "you're honors students. I expected more from you." If a teacher gives a truckload of homework and the classroom groans about it, the teacher shakes a scolding finger and says, "You guys are honors students. What'd you expect?"

Again: I never asked to be an honors student.

Not to mention that, along with most of my fellow Honors Students, I have a job, and I do extra curriulars. This past week was a particularly long week of work and rehearsals, so I got a grand total of 10 hours of sleep in 4 nights. And I had barely any time to myself, to do what I wanted to do, which, as it happens, would've been writing and cooking, which would've given me practice for the career paths I hope to take.  My school is very college-focused, so why, I wonder, would they decide that I should spend my time doing chemistry and algebra 2 and other subjects' worth of busy work that have nothing at all whatsoever to do with my college plans?

Sure, that's a little harsh. It's good to have that information on hand. But still, I shouldn't have to stay up till 5 am writing essays and figuring out what x equals and memorizing the names and formulas and charges of 23 polyatomic ions, only to get up an hour and a half later to get even more work to do, and to be looked upon like a disobedient child and told that "I'm an honors student."

I never asked to be an honors student.

And I will admit, this whole thing is very biased. I do respect teachers. They get paid next to nothing to put up with obnoxious, ungrateful kids/teenagers (eg me) all day every day. But still... I want sleep, and I want me-time, and I want people to stop making me feel bad about the gifts I've been given.

-Sue Donimm

So, I was talking to my mom the other day about something or other, and somehow we got on the topic of forgetting. I do this a lot. I only ever remember the most unhelpful names--the flavor of Popsicles I got in the hospital when I got stitches when I was 2 (grape and cherry, in that order), the code for chocolate milk in my high school vending machines (E5-E10, and they were $1.25), the name of the person I technically haven't met yet so I really shouldn't know... You get it. But, like everybody, I always always always forget the name of the person in front of me, the answer to the first question on the test, what I was going to write on the shopping list (and every time, without fail, I remember that very-important-object as soon as I get home from the grocery store)...

So, we were talking about forgetting. Specifically, about forgetting what you were about to do when you walk into a room. And my mother informed me that that's actually a legitimate thing. Like, it's not just, "oh, no, I forgot what I was gonna do. How random." It's actually the door doing that  to you. It's (supposedly) a scientific fact. (I say "supposedly" because I just realized that I don't know where she heard this, so I don't want to be all "fact!" and then everybody's all "your mom's lying.") Like, when you walk through a door, your brain does a big dump and leaves all your thoughts from the previous room in that room. Kinda like when you're in school learning some complex stuff and as soon as you leave the classroom and your brain is like "what was s/he lecturing on again?"

So, when you walk into a new room to get, say, the TV remote, your brain's like, "Let's leave the whole remote concept in here." So you walk into new room and you're like "hmmm..." Then you go back into the old room and your brain's like, "Ooh, a memory!" and picks it up and you're like "oh!"

Yeah. Your mind is blown, right?

Now, obviously, this doesn't apply to every situation or to every thought. You don't get totally brainwashed when you walk into a room. It's just that doors screw with your brain, and you lose some stuff. Then you walk back into the original room and remember it (sometimes). Pretty sick, huh?

-Sue Donimm

Just a quick note.

I've been noticing everywhere online that when people post cute things, people comment with "awe!!!" "AWE" IS A NOUN AND A VERB YOU DIM-WITTED, CLUELESS DWEEBS!!! IT IS A FEELING OR THE CAUSE OF SAID FEELING!!! IT IS NOT A REACTION!!! WHAT YOU MEAN TO SAY IS "AW"!!!!

Awe: noun a feeling of reverential respect mixed with fear or wonder; verb inspire with awe (according to Google)

Aw: interjection 1) used to express sentimental or sugary approval; 2) used to express protest, disbelief, disgust, or commisseration (according to dictionary.com b/c Google didn't have it)

So get a clue! Goodness!

Also, something that really!!!!! bugs me, and has for years, is this: "I could care less."

NO YOU COULDN'T!!! THAT'S WHAT YOU'RE TRYING TO SAY!!! Obviously, if you could care less, then you MUST care, but you're trying to say that you don't care!!! I figured this out when I was 7 years old for crying out loud! I heard a GROWN PERSON say this, and I was like, "based on the context, you don't care, but based on what you said, you do. I am utterly befuddled." And then I thought the world had realized its mistake a few years ago, because people started to say "I couldN'T care less," and I was like, yesssss! But then it made a fricking comeback, and I'm like, "HUMANITY!!!!! WHY THO?????"

So yeah. Sorry. I just had to rant there.

(That was really fun and really satisfying. Everyone needs a blog. It's like therapy.)

-Sue Donimm

P.S. Sorry about that last post. I sound so depressed. I'm absolutely not. (Accidentally typed "I'm absolutely hot" there, and I almost left it, just like, "oh, yeah, I am." But I didn't.) I'm too lazy to delete it, though.

In my opinion, the world isn't in a great place right now. I believe that abortion, homosexuality, premarital sex, drugs, and a lot of other popular things are wrong. Unfortunately, as I just said, those things are popular, which would put me and my opinion in the minority. Which means that there's pretty much nothing I can do to stop these things on my own at the moment. Of course, I pray that they'll stop, but God seems to have a different plan than the one I'd prefer, so... I'll just wait.

But I have so many opinions and arguments for why these things are wrong, but there are two big problems: 1) I can never seem to put them into writing well, and 2) I have no way of being heard. Everybody's always saying, "Be careful what you put on the internet." But it seems that I could really put whatever I wanted on here, and nobody would care, because as far as I know, nobody's reading this.

I have so much to say, even not about all these problems in the world. Just about random things, you know? Like my last post, about how other people actually have feelings? I had so much more to say in there, but I couldn't seem to get it all into writing--plus the post would've gotten way too long.

And then there's the fact that not everybody thinks like me, and shares my beliefs. I've never had any reason to be tempted to have sex, so I tend to automatically assume it's easy for everyone to resist, but quite frankly, it's not.

You know that moment when you're in the shower contemplating your life, and you realize all these incredible, deep things, and you want to tell the world, but as soon as you get out of the shower, it all seems to be less amazing, and there's really no point in sharing any of it? (The shower is a magical place where I've come up with every amazing idea I've ever had. I honestly believe that the water seeps into your brain and feeds you deep thoughts and mind-blowing existential ideas.) That happened to me today.

But then, sometimes you're contemplating your life, and you realize some sad stuff... I've been noticing lately that my life is becoming rather monotonous. I never have any really exciting things happen to me, and I'm at this awkward age where I'm too young and poor to do really awesome, exciting stuff, but I'm too old to do all that fun stuff kids get to do. Do you ever wish you could go back in time, and be a little kid again? I do. I do that a lot, actually. I'm nearly certain everybody does. It sucks, because nobody ever takes advantage of their current stage of life. We're constantly looking forward to the next step, and we always realize too late that we had it so good back then. It's rather sad. And we always regret having taken things for granted, but we never seem to learn from it.

Well, on that somewhat depressing note...

-Sue Donimm

I've just discovered something: Other people have feelings.

I know--whaaaaat??? I thought everyone else was just here to make my life easy and happy, and I could do and say to/about them whatever I wanted, because the world revolves around me! Mind. Blown.

I'm just kidding. I've been aware of this for a long time. However, I seem to be part of a precious few who are aware that other people have feelings, some feelings more fragile than others. Some people are good at hiding the fact that their feelings are fragile, some are not. I realize this. Why doesn't everyone?

I've experienced a lot of things that have made (or still make) me feel insecure--I'm overweight, sarcastic-but-not-always-funny, not all that smart when it comes to everyday things (like sports, pop culture, etc), and I talk a lot, making me very prone to saying stupid things. All these things have gotten me laughed at and made fun of, so I am very familiar with embarrassment. And, for those who don't know, embarrassment sucks. A lot. It's hard for people not to notice me, seeing as I'm a big, loud person, so when I do something stupid, a lot of people notice. Honestly, it's humiliating. And I'm not good with humiliation. Now, I'm pretty good at laughing it off and pretending it doesn't bother me, and oftentimes I've forgotten about it or gotten over it soon after, but sometimes it just kinda piles up, and you just gotta explode and cry and get it out.

Some people aren't so good at laughing it off, and they just react right then and there. Which may be embarrassing. So don't make fun of them for it.

What I don't get is why people think it's okay to be so thoughtless when dealing with other people. If someone has an idea that you disagree with, the fact that you disagree does not make that person an idiot. Heck, maybe it makes you an idiot. Believe it or not, you're not omniscient. Neither am I. So if you want to disagree with someone, be nice about it, please.

If someone is doing something annoying, or won't stop talking, or something like that (in other words, acting like me), don't be all snippy about it, please. No matter how confident they may seem, the smallest negative reaction could ruin their day. Trust me. I've felt this way far too many times. It is very difficult for talkative people to know when to stop talking, no matter how many times they're told to, so don't assume they're talking to annoy you, if that's what you're assuming. It's just a habit. I assume it's a bit like smoking or something.

*Little side note here: I'm not assuming everyone's like this. This post is just directed to people who are like this. So... Yeah.*

(Continuing where we left off...) Like, once we were about to start taking a test, and someone shushed the class. Someone else echoed the shush. Someone else echoed that shush. It went on for a little while, and after a very slight pause, I shushed, and the girl next to me sighed exasperatedly and snapped, "Oh my gosh, Sue, stop!" I was mortified--did I just annoy the entire class? Was I always annoying to everyone?

I try not to be snippy with people when I'm annoyed. Really, if I'm annoyed, I just try to ignore it. If I can't, I usually just say "Can you stop?" or something. If it's really getting on my nerves, and especially if I don't like the person bothering me, I may be a bit ruder, but I don't think I'm too mean usually. I mean, really, people rarely take what I say seriously, so I don't think they'd be too offended unless I got super angry, or if they were kind of sensitive.

I wish we could all spend a day in each other's shoes, just to give us all a little reality check, so we can feel other people's reactions to different situations. But that's kind of an unrealistic wish, like many of my dreams, so... I guess we'll just have to keep reminding ourselves.

-Sue Donimm

I will never, in my entire lifetime, understand why I am considered my mom's body. I mean, technically, I'm not even my own--I'm God's. I'm just borrowing this until He takes me back.

But really--since when am I my mother's body? She's already got her own--or does she? Is she my grandmother's? Do none of the bodies we walk around in, use to think, eat, sleep, move, speak belong to us? Why is it a valid argument to say that abortion is okay because "it's your body?" IT'S NOT. Just because that baby cannot yet fight for itself and live on its own does not mean it doesn't have rights to life. It breaks my heart to see all these people taking away innocent children's lives so that they can go to school, have a career, just have an easier life. Look, it's not complicated. If you think it is, let me clear it up.

If you don't want a baby, don't have sex. Just don't. Condoms and birth control aren't 100% reliable, and they very frequently mess up your body.

Even if that baby inside you isn't "alive," everybody knows how this works. Step 1) You have sex. 2) Sperm fertilizes egg. 3) You become pregnant. 4) Your stomach starts getting bigger. 5) You go into labor. 6) A baby comes out. 7) The baby is a human being, with rights, who will hopefully grow up and have rights of their own.

Oftentimes, pro-lifers ask, "When is the baby 'alive?'" I'd like to add a second question: "When is the baby itself?" What gives you dominion over your own skin? Newsflash: Babies have FEELINGS, have LIFE inside the womb! So yeah, sometimes they can feel the abortion happening. And it HURTS. They are in pain.

If I ripped a newborn baby to shreds, would that be okay? The baby can't live on its own. The baby can't speak. The baby can't walk. It's pretty much the same as a third-trimester fetus, isn't it? So if I came to your house, took your new daughter or son, and ripped him/her limb from limb until s/he was nothing but a pile of blood and guts and skin, and said it was for you, so your life could be less hectic, would you thank me, and not have me arrested? I kind of doubt it.

Another big argument I hear from pro-choicers/pro-abortionists is "The world is overpopulated." Then why are you having sex? If you don't want any more humans to exist, why risk it? A lot of contraceptives only work about 80% of the time. And, of course, everybody always says, "Oh, I won't be in that 20%. That's such a slim chance." Everybody who has sex frequently's got the same odds as you, honey. And a freakin' ton of people are sleeping around, which means a freain' ton of people are getting pregnant. I mean, think about it. Roughly 1.2 million babies are aborted per year in the US. Per day, that means 125,000. Put into smaller increments, 5,208 babies per hour. Which is 87 babies per minute. And 3 babies every 2 seconds.

I know, this may look like I'm saying, if we'd let all these babies live, the world would be even more overpopulated. But what I'm actually saying is that if we didn't have so much sex, we wouldn't have such a huge massacre of defenseless babies on our hands.

Today's US is an irritatingly, horrifyingly, utterly unideal place to fight the urge to have sex. People use sex to sell hamburgers. People put sex in movies and books. People are walking around half-naked. You can't turn your head without seeing a billboard with an unrealistically hot model wearing a bra and thong. It feels like a stretch. But I am praying with all my heart that somehow, God will do something crazy and change it all. I know the chances are pretty much nonexistent that I'd be able to make such a big change as this, or really that any group of people would be able to, unless everybody agreed, which, you know, would probably never happen. Unless God helps. So please, pray. Just think--if people stopped sleeping around and getting pregnant, abortion would be almost nonexistent (I say "almost nonexistent" because <1% of abortions occur because of rape, so most are just accidental pregnancies after intentional sex), and we wouldn't have to be in this constant pro-life vs. pro-choice feud. People would stop hating on each other so much. I cannot stand seeing arguments from either side of this fight that tear people down like they always do. I see a lot of pro-lifers calling women who've gotten abortions terrible things, and I'm trying not to do that... It's hard for everybody. Pro-lifers call pro-choicers murderers and selfish, and pro-choicers call pro-lifers haters. Don't fight hate with hate. Firefighters don't put out fires with flame throwers.

-Sue Donimm

Socks are incredible things. They keep your feet cozy, they let you ice skate in places containing no ice, they look cute, the word itself is fun to say... ("Socks! Socks! Socks! Socks! Socks!") (Sorry... Got a little excited there.)

I recently discovered this AWESOME store in an AWESOME mall called Sock World Boutique. As the name suggests, they only. Sell. Socks. (And a few scarves and a couple shirts... But mainly socks!) They had every kind of sock ever: Toe socks, crew socks, ankle socks, knee-high socks, solid-color socks, polka-dot socks, cow-print socks, animal socks, fuzzy socks, normal socks, thick socks, thin socks! I walked in and I just wanted to shriek. It was so exciting. I was in awe. I mean, have you ever walked into a store whose walls are completely covered in SOCKS? It's a wonderful feeling. I love socks.

I have these 4 awesome pairs of socks. I wear them all the time. They're ankle socks. I have a blue pair with yellow polka-dots, a pink pair with green polka-dots, a purple pair with yellow polka-dots, and a gray pair with black polka-dots. I used to have a black pair with white polka-dots, but I seem to have misplaced them, which is a shame, 'cause I love the classic black-with-white-polka-dots look. But whatever.

I also got this pair of socks from my sister for Christmas this year, and I've worn them pretty much costantly since then. They're called Ugly Sweater Socks. They're thick, green crew socks. They've got two horizontal rows of penguins whose white tummies are made with this funny-looking white yarn-y stuff that poofs out from the socks. There's also a stripe of snowflakes made of the same white yarn-y stuff, and holly, and some other designs. They're really comfy!

I also love shoes. Shoe shopping is the best. One of  my favorite quotes ever is "Life is short. Buy the shoes." (It's not so much a quote as just, like, a funny little thing, but... It is to me what "Hakunnah Matata" is to Timon and Pumba.) Payless is the best store ever for shoes. I don't believe in buying a pair of flats for $40. At Payless, you can get a pair of flats for $15 or $20. Hmmm... Which one is best...?

I have this amazing pair of heels. They're not anything too special... Just glossy, 3-ish inch heels. But they're TURQUOISE!!! And I LOOOVE them! I also have these sandals with coral straps and a zipper thing on the back of my ankle. And then there are these gray off-brand Uggs that are really fuzzy inside and they're just really simple and cute, and I have these black, cork-heeled, open-toe wedges with cute little bows on top, and these other entirely-black wedges with little cut-outs all over them, and these Airwalks (personally, I like the look of Airwalks better than Converse...) that look like there's bright painst splattered all over them (there is some real paint mixed in from set constructions for plays)... *sigh* Shoes rock.

But my current favorite shoes are my black high-top Airwalks. They're simple, but I laced them really cool-ly, and they're all nice and broken-in and perfect. I wear them all the time. Granted, they're a pain to get on and off, partially because they're high-tops and Airwalks, and partially because I laced them the way that I did, making the laces harder to loosen/tighten. But the laces look really cool, so I keep them like that.

So, if ever you meet me and befriend me and want to get me a present for some reason ('cause, unless we didn't know each other well or you're just a weird, sketchy person, I'd never turn down a present), here are some ideas: Payless gift card, socks, Sock World gift card. You're welcome.

-Sue Donimm

Wow! I apologize from the very deep depths of my soul! It's been almost 3 months! I've been busy and forgetful of the fact that I have a blog... We'll try not to go 3 months without a post anymore, shall we?

I do believe that the #1 thing on the list of Things I Don't Understand is People Who Dislike Reading. Now, I do agree with them if they dislike reading those long, boring, school-assigned books, or poorly written books. But just reading in general? What the heck is not to like? Reading lets you live in another world, be another person, meet dozens of new people, experience an infinity of new things. Not to mention the smell of a book... *sigh* That's one of my favorite smells in the world, after baking bread and freshly mowed grass (that's Hermione Granger's favorite smell--but you wouldn't know that unless you'd read Harry Potter or watched the movie... But watching the movie before reading the book ought to be a crime.)

Here's a list of reasons why one should read:

1. Percy Jackson and the Olympians

2. The Fault in Our Stars

3. Paper Towns

4. Harry Potter

5. Heroes of Olympus

6. Mara Dyer Trilogy

7. The Host

8. The Outsiders

9. The Hunger Games

10. Legend

11. To Kill a Mockingbird

*Please note: This list is in no particular order. It's not like I'm saying TFIOS is better than Mara Dyer Trilogy (though I think it is silghtly better...)

*Please also note: Twilight is not in this list. (Because, let's face it, Twilight is nowhere near as good as these books.) (Sorry, Twilight fans.)

I could go on and on and on and on. There are so many amazing books. Just think--if I hadn't read Percy Jackson and the Olympians or Heroes of Olympus, I never would have met Percy Jackson or Annabeth Chase or Grover or Tyson or Leo Valdes. And DON'T YOU DARE suggest that I just watch the movie to meet them. I saw the movies. And I wanted to claw my eyeballs out and vomit up all of my organs onto whoever made those freaking movies. Did they even read the synopsis of the books??? They didn't even get the right lightning thief, and THAT'S THE TITLE OF THE DAM MOVIE! (That was a Percy Jackson pun. If you didn't get it, you need to read those books.)

If I hadn't read The Fault in Our Stars, I wouldn't smile every time I heard the word "okay" or cry every time I--nope. I won't spoil it. You have to read that book. (It's not a nerdy astronomy book... I thought it would be... You know, 'cause "stars") If I hadn't read The Outsiders, I wouldn't know that "stay gold, Ponyboy" was the saddest line ever because of the circumstances under which they are said. If I hadn't read The Hunger Games, I wouldn't have hated Gale as much as I do--and it's a good thing that I hate Gale, 'cause he sucks--and I wouldn't have enjoyed the last 2 movies so much, because they completely cleared up the books, 'cause Katniss was a little bananas in the last book, so it was a bit confusing...

I suppose, though, that the reason some people don't find pleasure in reading is because some people read lightly. I read deeply. I let myself be sucked into the book, so that, when I stop reading, I have to take a minute to collect myself, and remember that I'm not a witch at Hogwards, I'm not a tribute in the Hunger Games, I'm not inhabited by a soul, I am just me. I forget that my boyfriend isn't dead (Ha--I don't even have a boyfriend) ('cause fictional men have given me unrealistic standards for boys). I forget that I'm not a fugitive.

Letting a book pull you in and engulf you in itself, is sometimes painful, I'll admit. When the character you've been falling in love with slowly but surely all through the book dies, it hurts, especially when the author just gets it, and they write how the characters left behind feel. (*cough* *cough* John Green *cough*) It just... It's like a slap in the face, a knife to the heart. And it hurts like hell. And I cry a lot. But I think that book-crying is great. It means that the book affected me. It means the author is a freakishly talented writer. It means that I will remember that story. It'll stick with me forever, and I can recommend it to my kids.

That's what I'm really excited for. When I have kids, and when they're old enough to enjoy reading, I can't wait to give them beat-up old copies of my current favorite books. I hope the covers are falling off, the spine is cracked to the extent that you can hardly read the title, the pages are all tearstained and dog-eared (I believe in dog-earing pages--I want my books to look read), with my very favorite quotes underlined and circled.

So... Read. Read and read and read. Reading changes you, in amazing ways.

"Books are the quietest, most constant of friends; they are the most accessible and wisest of counselors, and the most patient of teachers." -Charles William Eliot

"A reader lives a thousand lives before he dies. The man who never reads lives only one." -George R R Martin

-Sue Donimm

So, this Kim Davis lady from Kentucky... You know, the religious one who refused to marry a gay couple? Yeah, her...

WHAT THE HECK IS WRONG WITH THAT??? WHAT HAPPENED TO FREEDOM OF RELIGION? Why was nobody okay with her freely living out her faith, but everybody celebrated when she was imprisoned for using her rights?

It just so happens that it's against Catholic beliefs for a man to marry a man, or a woman to marry a woman. Does the phrase "Freedom of religion" ring a bell? Well, it also just so happens that Catholics and Christians try to keep people from sinning. It's not "forcing your religion on someone," it's "keeping someone from going to Hell, because that's what will happen according to your religion if they go through with this homosexual marriage." You're welcome from Kim Davis, gay couple!

(And really, they could've just found another marriage counselor and left it--though I DO NOT SUGGEST THAT. I suggest that you just go find someone of the opposite sex to marry. But I'm NOT shoving Catholicism down your throat. I'm just not going to marry you, either, if you ask me to.) (Not that you would, 'cause I'm not a marriage counselor)

I saw an analogy a little while ago: "It's like getting mad at me for eating a donut because you're on a diet." (Though really, if you're eating a donut in front of a person on a diet, it's not very thoughtful of you. But that's not the point.) She's not refusing to marry them because she's mad that they don't share her religion, she's just obeying the laws of her religion, and trying to protect them.

Another one had a picture of Wesley from "The Princess Bride," laying on that bed when he just un-died. The caption was, "Mostly dead; still did his job." There were a few different things like that. But really? Are you saying religion is like dying? Are you saying she should've abandoned her beliefs because somebody disagreed with them? Gosh, this is so infuriating!

People aren't even trying to see this from Kim's perspective. They're just attacking her. The world is far too quick-to-judge. Why does everybody always have to assume that everybody else is a hater, sexist, racist, homosexual-ist, everything-ist??? Why can't we all just trust each other and try to walk in someone else's shoes for once? To be perfectly honest, I'm scared for the world. I'm concerned that we're spiraling down into a pit of despair, and we're doing nothing to stop it.

So, please remember that the vote to okay homosexual marriage wasn't unanimous. Also, please remember that no federal law EVER trumps religious law.

-Sue Donimm

P.S. Kim Davis? You're not hated by everyone. You go, girl.

Naturally, being female, I want women to be respected. Women and men are equal, just as peole with black skin are equals with people with white skin. We're all human. We all deserve respect.

That's what I think "feminism" is--being respected. "Feminism" isn't being able to do whatever I want, and all men being push-overs to me because I lack a Y chromosome. It's not "sexist" to say that women can't walk around shirtless. I've seen multiple things on Facebook etc. arguing that it's not nice of people to not let girls show their cleavage online or go around shirtless. These people all claim to be "feminist," and say that those people are being "sexist." What? No, that's actually what I'd call "respectful." I'm so confused by this. Why do you want all that showing, anyways? I'm genuinely baffled, and honestly, a little embarrassed to be female.

I think we've gotten so consumed in women's rights and getting women to be able to vote, own property, have all the jobs that men have, that we're ignoring the fact that we've come so far! We've gotten all these rights. I think we can be just about done begging for more. We need to focus more on being grateful than being naked.

People don't want women to cover themselves because they're sexist and want to make women feel bad about themselves. It's a rule because a) no guy is supposed to see all that except for your husband (unless you have a medical thing or something, and a doctor needs to), and b) sorry to break it to you, 21st Century, but premarital sex isn't moral! It's wrong! Okay? It's disrespectful to you and your future husband/wife, and to God (even if you don't believe in Him). And letting guys see that tempts them. It's human nature for that to happen. And while I do agree that we do need to focus a little more on teaching guys AND girls self-control, it won't help them at all if girls start going around topless!

-Sue Donimm, a woman who'd like to keep her shirt on all the time, thank you very much.

If you're a guy who wants a girl like me--and I know you do ;)--there is one HUGE thing that I am certain will win a girl-like-me's heart:

CHIVALRY.

(Gosh, I hope I spelled that right... It looks misspelled...)

Now, I'm not totally into the whole push-my-chair-in-for-me-all-the-time (I don't want you to push it in too fast or too slow--if I'm already sitting down, you're going to have a tough time pushing it in, to be honest), but I am all for holding a door for me when convenient. Now, if you're driving me to dinner, you don't have to run around the car, open my door, close it, run around the car, get in, drive, run out of the car, open my door, close it. That's just too much. But if we're walking into a building, get the door. If I'm carrying a heavy bag, offer to carry it for me, please. (Manners are great, too, for guys and girls to use.)

Freshman year of high school, we frequently went to the chapel to pray during Theology. I often held the door as we walked in and out 'cause, you know, I'm a nice person. Almost every single time, this awesome guy would come take the door and say, "I've got it." It made me so happy! It also helped that this guy appreciated good music--like, when the teacher played Bach for us, he'd actually be brave enough to admit that he enjoyed the music--and he seemed pretty holy. (He wasn't too bad-looking, either...)

But I do not want guys to be doormats for girls. I think some--notice: some--women are slowly starting to think that for a guy to "respect" her, he should do whatever she asks him to do. This is incorrect! If you do something nice for me, I do hope I remember to say thank you. If I repeatedly neglect to show my gratitude for your awesome gentleman-ly-ness, please tell me, especially if it's offending you. I want a kind boyfriend, and I want to be a kind girlfriend.

If chivalry isn't "your thing," but you still want a girl like me (and, again, I know you do), please at least make an effort. I absolutely do not want a guy who constantly showers me with compliments and never says anything he doesn't mean, and is always bowing down to me. That would just get annoying. I adore sarcasm, and I honestly believe it should be a love language. Sarcasm and s'mores need to be added to the list. (It's sort of an inside joke with me and some friends... But it's still t-r-u-e!) I love joking around with people--guys especially, 'cause I feel like girls tend to be a bit too self-conscious, and too worried about what people will think if they make a lame joke. Which is totally fine! I'm that way a lot, too... I just tend to not worry about it until after I've said the stupid thing, and then I worry 138,490,872,345x more than necessary for the next three years. So be sarcastic, genuine, and chivalrous, and girls like me will love you!

You're welcome, gentlemen.

-Sue Donimm

Are miscarriages murder? No. N-O. No, no, no, no, no. When a woman miscarries, her baby dies without her consent/help. Pro-life people get this. We aren't mad about all pre-birth deaths! (Well, we're mad, but we aren't saying they're all horrible things to do, and it's all so-and-so's fault...) (We're really not saying it's so-and-so's fault for any pre-birth deaths, really... We're not trying to blame someone, we're trying to save several million someones.)

Multiple times within the past 24 hours, I've seen/heard someone slamming pro-life people because the slam-ers think pro-life people blame women for miscarriages. For Pete's sake, people, we're not that ignorant. We're not stupid. It's stupid and ignorant of you to think that's how we think, if you do. (No offense.) (I know--"no offense" never helps. But still...) If an old woman were to die of old age, was she murdered? No. But if any human at all is stabbed and dismembered and sucked through a vacuum, is that ever okay? Let's face it: it's not.

Let's say you find out the child you're pregnant with has a mental condition. Is it okay to kill that baby? Heavens, no! Maybe it probably won't live more than a few hours after birth--the key word being "probably." Heck, even if the doctor says "Your child WILL NOT live more than an hour or two." The doctor is saying that based on science, the baby will not live. I hate to break it to you--actually, I don't--but miracles exist. Trust me. My best friend was practically dead. She couldn't move a muscle voluntarily. She couldn't eat, she couldn't make any noises, she was going to die. The day before she was scheduled to receive a surgery that could save her, paralyze her, or kill her, she came skipping down a flight of stairs to make her own breakfast. She ate the food by herself. The doctors had no explanation. You know why? Because SCIENCE ISN'T EVERYTHING. Yes, science has provided us with a heaping amount of incredibly valuable information, but it isn't omniscient. Murder is never okay. Ending a human life is never okay, unless your own life is seriously at risk, and you're hurting someone in self-defense, and there's no other way to save yourself. In nearly every circumstance, pregnancy won't kill you. Taking care of a child won't kill you. Or, putting a child up for adoption. Giving a sick kid at least a chance at life won't kill you. Thousands of women are aching to have a child of their own, but they can't, because they keep miscarrying, or simply cannot become pregnant for some reason. Give them a kid! Someone out there wants your baby if you don't, I guarantee it. Millions of mothers and fathers have cared for sick kids. I promise you, you can do it. If you don't think so, that's okay. Just please, let them live.

Another huge problem I keep seeing: pro-choice people, pro-lifers are NOT anti-woman or anti-family. Nor are you. None of us are. We all think we want what's best. You want rights for women, we want women for rights. You claim to be pro-woman. Why, then, do you fight to let roughly 1/6 of the women in my generation die? We want to take 1 measly so-called right--right to take life--from women and give millions of women a right so many didn't get: LIFE.

I just now read an article by a girl whose mom had a baby die in her womb, and a pro-life hospital wouldn't let her have him removed, so she almost died. The girl spent most of the article cussing me and my fellow pro-lifers out. (She didn't call me out personally--she didn't even know me--but I'm pro-life, so I was offended.) To be honest, I agree, it was horrible of the hospital to not let her have the baby removed, but perhaps they had a reason. If not, that is absolutely wrong. But it's not pro-lifers' fault that your brother died. It's natural. People die. Trust me, I know that. It's no one's fault when something like that happens. But having a dead fetus removed from your womb is different from abortion. Abortion is killing the fetus. So, the fetus is alive, and you make it not alive. Not, the fetus is dead, and you remove it from your body. That's perfectly okay, and I certainly hope the hospital had a medical reason for leaving him in your mom, 'cause if not, I have no clue what they were thinking.

Also, if you've decided to slam pro-lifers or pro-choicers, please at least have a small idea of what their thinking is. I hope I do, and I hope I don't seem like I'm slamming pro-choicers, 'cause I'm not, I'm just trying to get rid of one more thing dividing humanity, and I'm trying to save some lives. But if I do, then I'm guessing I just made a ton of people mad, which makes me mad, and probably makes all the pro-lifers mad because I've only made things worse... But come on. Pro-lifers aren't trying to destroy women's rights. I'm a woman! But I'm aware of the fact that, just because the fetus is in my body, that doesn't make the fetus my body! Am I my mom's property? If she feels like it, is my mom entitled to have me killed, or sell my foot? No. So why is it okay pre-birth?

Now onto Planned Parenthood. Seriously, why are we even arguing over this? Planned parenthood is selling body parts. That is disgusting. I don't care if it's "for science," how can you put a price on a human body? Life is priceless, no matter how crappy or short it may seem. It doesn't matter if you're fat, skinny, depressed, optimistic, religious, anti-religious, pro-life, pro-choise, your life is priceless. It's beautiful. It's precious, and it's something to be honored. It goes above and beyond a price tag.Your body is the same way. So stop selling it. Stop marring it. And please, stop killing it.

-Sue Donimm

(First of all, I'm sorry I'm bombarding you with deep posts! I'll try to post some random ones soon... I guess I'm just feeling really "Make the World a Better Place"-y lately...)

I suppose this is more like "Science and Reason" than "Science and Faith," but the latter sounds so much cooler.

A lot of scientists are aethiests. Not all, but a good amount. Is there some reason for this? Yeah. For a lot of the un-believing scientists, it's because there is no evidence of God, or of souls, or anything of the sort. I beg to differ. Or, at least, I have a question: What is your definition of "evidence"? What if my friend had stage 4 cancer. S/he is dying. S/he is unconscious, and cannot be healed by medicine or science. Then, one day, s/he wakes up, and is completely healed. Explain that to me. "Well, most likely an enzyme or something that we haven't discovered yet kicked in and saved him/her." Yeah, that's reasonable, I suppose. But have you any "evidence" of said enzyme's existence? No? Then your answer is pretty much useless.

It makes absolutely no sense to say that if there's no "evidence" of a thing's existence, it doesn't exist. What about love? You can't put love in a test tube. You can't look at love's cells through a microscope. Sure, you can use some snazzy machine to look at the brain and find signals of some weird body-thing that is like love (I don't know any of the words for these things, but I know what I'm referring to, and I'm hoping you do, but I kind of suck at explaining things sometimes...), but you cannot prove the existence of love. So there's no such thing as love. Or anger. Or happiness. Or boredom. Or virtue. Or morals. Or forgiveness. Or sorrow. Or fear. None of these exist. You're saying that there's no such thing as emotion at all, or thoughts. Really? That's what you're going with? So, this whole homosexual marriage issue, you're saying that the pro-homosexuals have no argument? Then why was the verdict in their favor? I'm sure some of the non-believer scientists voted in favor of them, but why? They don't believe in love, so why would they agree that Christians are "preventing love?" Is it because Christians believe in a God who "doesn't exist?"

I hate to break it to you, folks, but science is not omniscient. ("Omniscient" means all-knowing, if you weren't aware) There is truth outside of science. Scientism is the belief that there is no truth outside of what science can discover. Unfortunately, this belief is false. It's impossible not to at least suspect that the argument that "if there's no evidence, it doesn't exist" is false. There is no evidence that that statement is true.

-Sue Donimm

I do believe this is a first: I'm doing a movie review!

(I don't really see why that's significant, but... Oh well.)

I just saw the movie "War Room" in theaters. As you know, I'm Catholic (Christian), and I try to practice my faith as much as I can, but I also am perfectly aware of the fact that Christian entertainment has a habit of being corny. Christian music is kind of childish a lot of the time--though I've found multiple really good Christian artists (Matt Maher, For King and Country, Hillsong United, All Sons and Daughters)--and Christian movies tend to have Christians playing actors playing Christians, rather than simply actors playing Christians, which results in poorly delivered lame lines. Also, it's usually hard to find ways to apply Christian movies' themes in real-life situations. A lot are completely based off of saving marriages, and I'm single, so... "Fireproof" was a movie about a guy who uses a book that taught him how to treat his wife well, but how could I ever find a use for that?

"War Room" was different. While there were still some cheesy lines in there, it was a very well-made Christian movie! First of all, Clara (an old lady who is one of the main characters) is awesome! I hope to be like her when I'm 70 years old. She's just so cute and amusing! She's also really holy, and the actress does a phenomenal job in showing this. She inspired me.

I spent the entire movie wondering where I could put a "war room" in my house. Unfortunately, I could think of no such place. I have no walk-in closets, and every inch of space in my bedroom is taken up, and... Yeah. It's just not happening. But that doesn't mean I can't pray! So I was perfectly able to use the ideas and tips they had in the movie to improve my prayer life. 

The acting was pretty well done. I mean, I've seen better, but I've definitely seen much worse as well. Even the little girl, Danielle, did well. Her facial expressions really added to the film, as she watched her parents fight and talked to her mom about how un-loved she felt. (I was crying during that scene!) Elizabeth's and Tony's actors were pretty good. I was very pleased!

To be honest, though, some of the lines just weren't written well. This happens a lot in Christian movies. Christians really don't say "Jesus" in every sentence--but there's nothing wrong with it. It just... I feel like when the person is acting, and not really feeling what they're saying, and saying it from the heart, it loses its genuineness, and becomes fake.

Also, the movie had too many endings. It dragged on a bit. Something happened, I'm getting ready to leave, but no, it's not done yet. This has to happen. Okay, now they're done. Wait, nope, you're wrong, there's still this new little story. My butt hurts... Oh, this sounds like an ending. Are they--no, we need to finish that tiny, insignificant story we added earlier. Okay, you done now? Uh, yep, I think so. Wait, sorry, one more thing... It's true, my butt was hurting by the end of the show.

But, despite a few flaws, it was a really good movie, and you should see it, especially if you're feeling a little lost, or need help remembering to forgive someone. It's a really beautiful, inspirational story.

-Sue Donimm

*In the previous post, I mentioned that my flash drive's name is Darwin. I did NOT name it after Charles Darwin, the guy who said that a long time ago, my ancestors were monkeys. I just found the name kind of amusing.*

Now, I've always been aware of people who are really into environmentalism and everything, and I've got nothing against those people. I mean, I'm not like "SAVE THE TREES! DON'T USE PAPER EVER! SAVE WATER! STOP TAKING SHOWERS!" but I do agree that we so tend to waste paper and overuse water, and should be more careful with our resources.

But the other day, I was introduced to "The War on Humans." The link to the video used to show me this is below (You really only need to watch the first 10 minutes, but can watch the rest if you want to):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RWcEYYj_-rg

I cannot believe this. I have never been more offended, ashamed, or shocked than I was when I finished watching this video. I've never accepted the idea of evolution completely... I mean, sure, it's possible, and I don't want to say it absolutely did not happen--though we can't say it absolutely did happen either. We can say "evidence suggests that this happened," but none of us were there. How can we know? But it's one thing to say that we evolved from monkey. It's entirely another to say that we are no better, and have no more dignity than an animal. Why are people so desperate to tear people down?

The reason that people don't have food in certain parts of the world is not overpopulation. Sure, there are a lot of people there, but there are a lot of people everywhere. There are a lot of people in New York, but they have plenty of food there. The reason that people are starving in far too many places on earth is uneven dispersion of food. That is not to say that New York is full of selfish freaks who are heartless, soulless monsters who don't care a speck about anyone but themselves. I mean, sure, there must be at least a few selfish people in New York, but there are selfish people everywhere. The problem is that people say "I care, I want to help you," but then they do nothing. Intention is not action. Life would be too easy if it were. I would love it if I said, "I'm going to work out this afternoon," but spent the afternoon sitting down blogging, and woke up the next morning 10 pounds ligher because I was planning on exercising. But that's not how life works. We need to give them food. We need to help them develop their land so that they can make food. They need help. They're not lazy; it's not like they're sitting on their butts waiting for us to feed them because they don't feel like farming today. It's that they don't have the resources to get what they need, and we do. We have a surplus of food and building materials and money and everything they don't have. They're all naked, and we're wandering through stores full of clothes. They're thirsty, and we're chugging down beers and Monsters and ice cold, clean water. Obesity is a major problem in America. People judge "fat" people, but they do nothing to help them.

(Helpful hint: Don't like it when people aren't thin? Don't insult them! A lot of people eat because they can control what they eat, and they can't always control their emotions. So, if someone says something that offends them, and it won't leave their head, they may go home and eat some ice cream so that they can feel that they are in control of something, since they can't control their head and get that nagging thought out. For goodness' sake, help them! Being overweight is a struggle. Losing weight is incredibly difficult for a lot of people, especially if they can't afford those snazzy surgeries and diet pills. It's not like they're loving the way they look.) 

So anyways, I've had this ingenius idea that will probably help pretty much everybody: GIVE SOME OF OUR FOOD TO THE PEOPLE WHO ACTUALLY NEED IT, AND DON'T JUST WANT IT! Honestly, we could probably send 75% of the food in America to poor countries around the world where children are dying with arms as thin as knitting needles, and we'd still survive. Sure, we'd miss all those McDonald's french fries--and don't you be all, "I don't eat McDonald's, 'cause there are so many calories in that food!" We all know you're lying.--but they. Need. Food. Abortion won't solve their problem, food will.

Speaking of abortion and children and babies, BABIES ARE NOT DISGUSTING. How dare you call them disgusting. Babies are precious. Babies are gifts. Babies are humans! I'll bet James Lee didn't want to die, but he'd be perfectly willing to massacre defenseless infants so that the world can surivive. Abortion is murder. Honestly, even if babies weren't humans while in the womb, they're going to be! Do women give birth to a bundle of chemicals? No, we give birth to humans. Where did that human come from? Oh, yeah, our wombs. But I thought the thing in my womb was just a ball of chemicals... Oh, well, the thing that came out of my womb is a human... Wait, was this the ball of chemicals? Oh, I guess it was... So, if I had gotten rid of that ball of chemicals, the world would be missing a human... (By the way, 1/3 of my generation is missing because of abortion.) (Oh, well, that's a good thing. The world would be so much more crowded if they had lived.) (Never has a sentence been more twisted and wrong than that was.)

I wonder how many of the warriors against humans were one of three children... I was. I am so thankful that the War on Humans hasn't been successful thus far. Raise your hand if you want everything taken from you. Did you raise your hand? Yeah, I thought not. What happens to those who have four children, or five, or ten? Are they murdered? Would my dad have been murdered? Would I not have existed? Would my best friend, one of eight children, be dead right now? Human extinction is not the answer to the world's problems. Now, as I said, we do need to take much better care of the world. We need to respect it, because if we waste resources, we will run out, and that could be fatal. But (do NOT twist my words here), I believe that the world is here for us a bit more than we are for it. But we are still here for it to some extent.

Now, according to some people, I am pretty much a salamandar, or a fungus. I'm just the same as that brown thing sticking out from a tree trunk. I am essencially a toucan, except that my brain may or may not be slightly larger. That is offensive. If somebody told me that to my face, I might just slap them. See? that proves them wrong! If you walked up to a dog and said, "You're an idiotic, insignificant blob of pointlessness no more intelligent than a blade of grass," the dog would not react. (Unless it's one of those wild, untrained ones that bites anybody who comes near it, like Hooch from "Turner and Hooch.") Dogs cannot understand English, or French, or Turkish, or Greek, or Italian, or Spanish, or Hungarian, or Scandanavian, or Chinese, or Russian, or German, or anything! All they can understand is what their instinct tells them, and some things that humans train them. If somebody doesn't understand the concept of sitting on command any more than you do, how can they train you to do so? In order to teach a clueless being how to do something, you need to have some understanding of the thing, don't you? Or at least, you need someone who does understand it to explain it to you. But you're a human, and only humans (and parrots, sometimes) can speak to you, and demonstrate it. So doesn't that mean that humans are smarter than animals?

Michaelangelo had no more talent than a chimpanzee. Monet was only as unique and should only have been respected as much as we would respect a cow. C.S. Lewis was equal to a chicken. Whales deserve the same amount of respect as we would give our leaders. (Granted, some people don't respect their leaders as much as they ought to, but... You get what I'm saying.) These people, and all people, are proof that humans are smarter, more developed, more talented, more respectable, and have more dignity than animals. Human exceptionalism is real. Humans are truly beautiful, amazing, honorable creatures. Sure, sometimes we do rather un-honorable things--murder, abuse, rape, theft, gluttony, drugs, try to demean people--but that does not make us any less honorable as a whole. 

Animals and plants should be taken care of. Animal abuse is an awful, awful thing. I don't see why or how anybody could do that. Honestly, I feel awful if I accidentally bump into a dog, and yet some people are okay chaining their pets to fences, beating them, letting them starve and freeze. It's disgusting, and it shouldn't exist. But neither should abortion. If people are animals' equals, why is it okay to kill babies and other humans, but not animals? Why is it immoral to pick a wildflower in Switzerland, but not immoral to make people dead? These people's arguments backfire on themselves. It's like saying "What is true for one person may not be true for another." The very saying contradicts itself: The "truth" that what is true for one person may not be true for another isn't true to me, so it makes no sense to make that argument. Same thing here: Humans are only slightly more advanced than animals and plants, if at all, but it's okay to kill them, as long as you don't kill flowers or cows. It doesn't make sense.

Why should animals be allowed to sue? What do they get as compensation for whatever they're suing for? Say the judge did accept the case with those whales who sued SeaWorld. The whales win... Does SeaWorld pay them? I'm pretty sure if those whales were given cash, SeaWorld would take it. Does SeaWorld give them extra fish? No, that's bad. Animals need their dignity. Fish can't die. Oh, SeaWorld! You can't feed your whales fish anymore! The whales die... SeaWorld, what have you done? (Again: the arguments don't match up.) What could you do for the whales? Do you release them back into the ocean, where they can eat and/or be eaten by other fish? That's bad, too. It is not logical at all to think that we can stop killing everything altogether. People need protein, whether than means killing cows or killing unborn chickens. People need vegetables. People need all these things, and animals need to kill each other and other plants in order to eat. It's inevitable. It's how the world was made. If we weren't meant to eat plants and animals, there would be another, much more obvious option. Yeah, it's sad, and it's hard to think about it for many people. I love cows. I love pigs. I love chickens. They're funny, cute little guys. But sometimes they have to die in order for people to live, so that we can make more cows and pigs and chickens. Tomatoes are beautiful plants, but they also give my body important nutrients.

So, let's end the War on Humans, and start the Peace on Earth. Let's stop blaming humans and start saving resources. Take shorter showers. Recycle. Donate to charities giving food to poor countries. Keep a bag of apples in your car to give to people on roadsides. (I don't like to give them money because unfortunately, I can't know whether they're really poor, or just want drugs. And I feel bad saying that, but the world, as this video emphasized, is becoming a little confused and messed up.) Let's put our heads on straight and accept the world, enjoy its beauty, and not go searching for flaws.

-Sue Donimm

(First off, I do apologize for taking SO LONG to post something new! I'm sure my billions of fans out there were getting so worried that I'd died or been kidnapped or gotten amnesia or something. Truth is: Webs randomly didn't let me sign in for a while, but now it's working again. Do NOT judge Webs for that--every website has its faults, and Webs is still an awesome site-building website, and you can make websites for free if you don't want all these snazzy things that paying people can get on here.) (I do it for free, and look how awesome this website is!)

My mind... What a beautiful, busy, loud, weird thing that is! It is the reason I have a blog, and can cook, and can decide whether or not to pay Webs for better--and not useful to me--stuff, and why so many people think I may be slightly crazy. (Or maybe not so slightly...)

I tend to make stupid, careless mistakes when doing math, like adding random 0's to numbers, writing "5" when it's really "6," and mistaking negatie signs for minuses (which sometimes doesn't make a difference, but sometimes it does). I also frequently encounter the dilema of finding the answer without being aware of how I found it--I know the end, but not the means. Fortunately, I always had friends who had more control over their brains than I had over mine, so they knew the means, sometimes without knowing the end, so we were both being helpful to each other. "But how did you find the end without the means?" you ask. I believe there are two main ways: I simply used means of my own when I couldn't remember the real methods, or my mind made superfast connections between numbers, so I was like... 3c-77/3.52+xyz(3-8/91)/23+45np(9uvv)-52/139+3q---IT'S 7!!! And I just sit back and think... WHAT????? I then discover that it is, in fact, 7. And I keep sitting back and thinking... WHAT????? Because I have no freaking clue how my brain came up with that random number while simultaneously reading the equation. So I sit back once more and think... WHAT????? Then I sit back for a while and think, How did I come up with that? The professor said "YOU MUST SHOW ALL YOUR WORK ON ALL YOUR PROBLEMS OR YOU WILL FLUNK THIS SEMESTER, AND YOU WILL GET HELD BACK, AND YOU WILL FAIL AT LIFE AND HAVE NO CAREER, NO JOB, NO HUSBAND, NO CHILDREN, NO LEGACY, AND NO LIFE." So I just stare down at that long, long equation that somehow equals 7. I tend to spend hours trying every possible way to break up the problem and get it to equal 7. Eventually I decide that I don't give a crap if I show the work the instructor wants me to show. Maybe I'll come up with a new, flawless solving method, and it will be dubbed The Donimm Method, and I'll become rich and famous and not need a job because I'll be able to retire at the age of 18. (I am not currently 18... Unfortunately.)

My mind does this pretty much all the time--it makes random connections to random things and comes up with seemingly random things. Like, say someone is talking about the zoo. My brain takes the following train of thought: "Pandas... Bamboo... My bamboo flash drive... Darwin (my bamboo flash drive's name--yes, I name my flash drives, deal with it)... The letter D... Grades... School... My friend from school... My friend's Verizon phone... Verizon commercials... TV... Movies... Pirates of the Caribbean... Johnny Depp... He was arrested for bringing his dogs somewhere (or something like that)... Police... Drug busts... This kid from a musical I was in who was talking about drugs, but wasn't actually on them, but somebody thought he said he was, and it made a mini inside joke amidst the drama club people... "Beauty and the Beast" (that was the musical)... Belle's gold dress... Sewing... Needles... Knitting... Scarves... Fashion... "Project Runway" (good show if you're into fashion--or even if you're not, but you're not, like, anti-fashion)... Swatch (a dog who's occasionally in that show)... Dogs in general... Leashes... Leash clasp things... The broken clasp on my favorite bracelet... I don't like bracelets... Things I don't like... Lima beans... Lima beans I got at a restaurant once... The mean waitress there... Waitresses in general... The word "welcome" ('cause waitresses say that when you enter the restaurant sometimes)... Greetings in general... Greetings in French... French places... Quebec... Canada... Snow... Winter... Christmas... "CHRISTMAS IS IN 118 DAYS!!!" I shout in the middle of the person's story about the zoo. (Yes, the zoo story is still going on, 'cause all that stuff happened in my brain in about .0007 seconds.) Then everybody gives me that all-too-familiar, "Are you crazy or just... Crazy?" look. Then I try to explain to them the train of thought that just zoomed through my head, but then realize that that will make them think I'm even crazier than they already think I am, so I just give up. But it's not embarrassing or anything. I'm totally used to being thought of as insane. Heck, even I think I'm a bit insane! But, as Marilyn Monroe said, "It's better to be absolutely ridiculous than absolutely boring." That phrase is the story of my life.

-Sue Donimm

My mom tells me that my sisters and I never liked naps when we were babies. (My poor mom! She had three wide-awake babies all day! Sorry, Mom!) I truly wish I had taken advantage of those beautiful things. I need naps now. I know, it's summer, so I'm not as busy as I am the rest of the year, but still... I'm always at least a little tired.

I can't take naps. Not only is it a bit difficult to find a good time to take a nap, I just can never fall asleep during the day, unless I'm absolutely exhausted, or when I'm really sick. The last middle-of-the-day-and-healthy nap I took was in early middle school, or sometime near then, the first time I pulled a total all-nighter. I had stayed up REALLY LATE before then, but I would always end up crawling into bed in the morning and getting a few hours of sleep. But that night, I was up constantly. I was writing a book, and by the time morning came, I had successfully written... Wait for it... Wait for it... Is the suspense killing you...? It's killing me... Okay, I'll tell you... 8 pages! (Sad, right?) 

I got up at 7 or so (my parents were up, and I was hungry, so I was like, whatever). Somehow, I remember that I had a lemon-poppyseed muffin with melted butter on top of each half. I am addicted to lemon poppyseed muffins, but I never get to have them! (I also like orange-cranberry muffins... And blueberry... And banana nut... I just love muffins with melted butter!)

I was pretty tired all day... I had nothing to do, so I could just laze around, but it was becoming unbearable... So, right after lunch, at about 1 or 1:30, I decided to get into bed and try to sleep. It took me a half hour or so, but eventually, I did fall asleep, and didn't wake up till dinner. Then, I had dinner, maybe watched TV or something, and then went right back to bed. 

Children: do NOT take naps for granted. They are magical. I guarauntee that someday, you'll be dreaming of a nap, or wishing you drank coffee. (Terrible stuff, coffee...) (Now mochas, on the other hand... Yum!) 

-Sue Donimm

I do not have an Apple laptop. I don't have an iPhone. I didn't even have a cell phone until my 14th birthday. Guess what? I didn't die! Sure, I really wanted a phone for a few years before I got one, but I survived! Somehow, I managed it. (Although I honestly couldn't see how I had lived without a phone once I got one... They're quite handy!) I didn't have a Facebook until a month after I got my phone! I still don't have Instagram, Twitter, or any of the other "awesome" social media stuff.

I'm not saying those things are bad. I'd like to have an Instagram. A ton of my friends have it. I don't really care about Twitter... SnapChat? Nah. And Facebook's kind of fading out of popularity, so... I'll be okay without it, though. (The majority of my friends are family members--I have a HUGE family! Somewhere between 50-100 cousins--I'm serious--and 15 aunts and 15 uncles, give-or-take on both of those...) 

I do have an iPod, though. So I'm not completely Apple-less. It's a nano... I'm not sure what generation, but it's a newer one. And you know what I use it for? Road trips, when there's no wifi, so I can't use Spotify--great thing, Spotify! 

I bought my laptop myself... Woohoo for me. $193 for an Asus laptop and charger. I've seen some bad reviews on Asus stuff, but this thing's pretty great. It's the lightest laptop I've ever had (probably because all the laptops I've ever had were made in the 12th century or something, and because it has a small screen). It works pretty fast, and I love the chiclet keyboard style. The only bad things I've noticed so far are 1. FINGERPRINT MAGNET! (I've made a rule that NO ONE may touch it with greasy/wet/dirty/sweaty/etc. hands.) and 2. the keyboard isnt' backlit, which is pretty handy, and totally underrated. It's kind of dim in the room where I'm typing this, and if I can't quite find the punctuation marks, I have to lean forward. How exhausting!  (I know where all the letters are by heart.)

I really don't see the point in spending thousands of dollars for a laptop with a half-eaten apple on the front... Sure, Apple's pretty good-quality stuff, but I don't think it's worth it. Buying an Apple laptop is kind of like riding the Top-Thrill Dragster. I love that ride--so exciting!--but I only ever go on it if I'm at Cedar Point on a really empty day, where the wait-time is 15-30 minutes (and usually I go on days like that, so I get to ride it!) I would never wait 2 hours for a ride that lasts, what, 7 seconds? You guys go on ahead, I'll go ride Millennium Force. Long wait, but at least that ride's not over before I've taken a breath. And it's sooo fun! Or maybe I'll go to the Skyhawk--ridiculously short line for a fun, quick ride. (Skyhawk's no Maverick or anything, but it's enjoyable). 

So don't be embarrassed to show your friends your lame, off-brand, Android phone. (What's so bad about Android? People keep pitying me for having an Android... My phone works fine, thank you very much!) Don't worry about what your friend will think of you writing your school papers on your little Asus laptop that you bought with a weeks' worth of babysitting money while they sit there slaving away, trying to make $4000 to buy the newest Apple product. Unheardof tech rocks!

-Sue Donimm (written on her Asus-not-Apple laptop)

Again, I'm not that politically active, but I have been told plenty about this whole homosexual marriage issue. And here's what I think, and what I know.

I'm Catholic. I have always been and always will be proud to call myself Catholic. I am also straight. I am about as straight as you can be. Does the fact that I'm a straight Catholic mean that I hate gays/lesbians? No! That's (oh, no, language!) bs! (I don't really think swearing is necessary all that much... If you think the fact that I didn't spell out the word makes me a wimp, then reread the sentence containing the wimpiness.) 

People keep saying Catholics hate homosexuals. I know and love some gay/lesbian people (not romantically, though...)! Some, I've been friends with since... Forever ago! Of course, there may be some Catholics who don't like homosexual people, but for the veryveryvery most part, Catholics don't hate the people, we hate the acts. We don't mind that you happen to like people of your sex--you normally can't really help that. But it's against our religion to kiss, sleep with, and marry people of your own gender. Who did God create first? Adam and Eve, not Adam and Steve. 

This whole thing where me and my family and friends are haters, bigots, etc. is completely ridiculous. If homosexuals and people who want them to be able to marry each other don't want Catholics to be "stereotypical," then why are they being that way to us? We're not judging homosexuals! I'm not judging homosexuals! Why is that so hard to believe?

I read an amazing article written by a Catholic gay teenage guy. He said that the only people who were ever mean to him about his ways were non-Catholics, who judged him because he was living celibate. There is NOTHING wrong with not having sex until you're married. My parents waited until they were married, and they married later than most people do. They're AMAZING people! I've never even heard them fight before--except over who does the dishes, and that's fighting to love each other!

See, that's how you love each other: you put their needs before your own. Not being able to marry someone isn't not being able to love them. Nor is not having sex with them. Yes, the world has become a sex-obsessed place. People are using sex to sell hamburgers, for Pete's sake! I swear to you here and now upon everything on the planet that I will not have sex until I'm married. I promise. 

(If I'm ever raped, don't you dare be all "LOL, you broke your promise." Rape isn't a joke.) (Even if a woman rapes a man. I saw a post about that on Facebook, too, and people--not my friends, but other people--had been laughing at how "lame" the guy was. That's completely messed up.)

Of course, I know, there are different kinds of love. There's family-love. I love my mom, I don't want to marry her. I love my sisters, my dad, my uncles, aunts, and cousins, but I would NEVER marry them. There's friend-love. I love my friends to death, but I don't want to marry any of them. Then there's romantic love. I get it. Catholics "aren't letting you [romantically] love each other." That's completely untrue. Raise your hand if you've ever had a crush on anyone? Or dated anyone? I'm guessing most of you did, if not all of you. If I said, "sorry, you can't marry them," would you stop loving them? No! Not if you were seriously in love! You would continue to love them. You'd probably fight to be allowed to marry them, but it's not good for you or them to marry them.

In the previously-mentioned article by the homosexual Catholic guy, he used the comparison of his daughter wanting to eat sand. (He didn't actually have a daughter--'cause he didn't have sex with people! If you don't want kids yet, sleep alone!) He would tell her, "No, you can't eat sand." If she liked sand more than food, she'd probably keep trying to eat it. He'd have to make a strict rule: "You may not ever eat sand." Does he hate his daughter? Of course not! He's doing it for her own good. Eat sand, you'll die. I'm not saying if you marry someone of your gender, you'll die, but it's wrong to do that. I'm not saying "YOU'RE A SINNER!" I'm not saying "I'm better than you are 'cause I would only marry a guy." I sin. I sin a lot.  I wish I didn't, but I do. I make mistakes. I screw up. I'm a mess sometimes. But I try to fight the temptation to sin. Just because you're in love with someon doesn't mean you have to marry them and share a bed with them. Fight the temptation! I know it's hard--love is a weird thing. Just about the strongest thing on earth. But you can do it. It'll be hard, you may falter a little, but never give up. Try to look at this from both sides of the argument. We're honestly just trying to protect you. We don't want you to eat sand. We don't want you to suffer. How does that make us bigots?

-Sue Donimm

I was on Facebook today, and one of my friends had shared this blog post about the movie "Inside Out." I saw and quite enjoyed the movie, so I read the post. It made me so mad!

First, the writer (I didn't bother to read her name... Oops! Let's call her Sharon) was talking about how she and her kids never really went to the movies or watched TV because a) lack of interest, and b) it's all too sex-drugs-alcohol-inappropriateness-etc. She mentioned the Carls Jr. commercial that used sex to sell burgers. I've never seen the commercial, but I do agree that that's totally unnecessary and gross. (What is the world coming to???) 

Then, she said that she had not yet seen Inside Out, but after a friend told her about it, she knew she would never allow herself to. I was like, hey, it's a great movie!

She went on to say that she knew it was about an 11-year-old girl's mind, so it would be full of One Direction and old Barbies, and I was just annoyed. Is she saying 11-year-olds have no imagination? Are 11-year-old girls all obsessed with boy bands and Barbie dolls? When I was 11, I was writing books and imagining my future and going on vacations with my family and not even that into popular music. 

And then, she started talking about the fact that the character Sad (she called her "Sad." Her name was "Sad-ness." If you don't even know the characters' names, don't force your opinion on people.) was fat, emo, blue, and wore a turtleneck. (I never really saw why that was significant...) She figured Pixar thought fat people=sad people. She noticed that Joy was slim and wore a cute dress that was probably from Nordstrom (although I believe in the movie Joy says that she made the dress herself...) She was just ranting and ranting for about a thousand paragraphs about how stereotypical Pixar is, and "Why is Sad fat? And why is blue assosiated with sadness anyways? But Sad is fat... Why is she fat? Fat people aren't always sad! I hate Pixar now! Fat people aren't depressed." 

I read the comments and was glad to find that most commenters agreed with me, that the woman was being rather prejudiced and judgemental. Sadness was, in fact, supposed to be shaped like a tear. She was blue because that's just the color associated with sadness. Joy was shaped like a star (like the shape, not like celebrity-stars). And sadness is not the same as depression. In the movie, they even showed how sometimes, sadness can cause joy. 

I saw the movie, and I loved it. (The writer also said that for some reason it was bad if you found it a cute movie... She didn't explain why.) (She had kind of weak arguments.) It was amusing, and there were real-life situations, and it definitely could spark discussions about emotions between parents and kids. Someone even said that in the comments. I'm not very fat, but I'm pretty far from skinny. I'm a very cheery person. It doesn't bother me too much... But nothing about the movie even made me think about the fact that I wasn't as thin as Joy for a second. The blog post, however, did. It just made me so mad!

Now, I know that I have a couple posts on stuff that I'm not an expert on, but if you have no clue what you're talking about, don't post stuff! I don't know all the political detail about abortion, but when I wrote that post about abortion, I had searched all over the internet and been taught by teachers and parents and such about abortion. I know when babies can feel pain (they often develop this ability before abortions) and can remember things and I believe that babies are alive from the moment of conception. I mean, even if they're not, by aborting your baby, you're preventing a life, which is pretty much the same as killing them, right? And I knew both sides of the argument: the pro-choice opinions and the pro-life opinions. The woman who wrote the post about Inside Out had seen pictures, and her friend had told her the characters' names--which she didn't even remember. Nice going, fellow blogger...

-Sue Donimm