What did a Ginger ever do to you?

I went to a friend's birthday party last week and on her cake was written,

"You're White, Mormon and not a Ginger. Happy Birthday."

What the heck? I found out she hates gingers. Here is the conversation that followed (the general idea):

Me: "So you hate gingers. Do you hate me too?"
Her: "No, I like you. I just don't like red hair."
Me: "Yeah, I have red hair."
Her: "Yours is different. I don't like redhead children. They're gross."
Me: "I had red hair as a child."
Her: "Well, I never want to have any redhead children. I won't marry anyone who has any red hair in his family. No offense."

This is one of the worst arguments I've ever had. I started talking to friends about it and a friend of mine who lived in England for a few years said that gingers get made fun of over there. Not for being stupid or lazy, but just for being a ginger. Luckily this never happened to me over there. I was never really made fun of as a child. Maybe because I was so cute (below and above):


Anyway, I did a little research and came across some interesting stuff, like this ad (click on to enlarge):

Additional info:

"Gingervitis is a serious disease affecting millions of people. Every day 1337 children are born with gingervitis in the United States alone. Not only do these special people have to struggle with a life long disease in which there is no known cure, they are often the target of ridicule and jokes. The only way we will ever find a cure is if we work together."

What is "Gingervitis?" Here is its description, according to the website:

"Gingervitis is a serious hereditary disease caused by a recessive gene. It can lay dormant for years and two perfectly healthy parents can have Ginger Babies. Gingervitis affects millions of people worldwide. The symptoms of gingervitis include: Red hair, pale skin, and freckles, a “Soulless” feeling. Some Ginger Kids may show symptoms such as violence and depression. Although Gingervitis is not a life threatening disease it can be very serious. There is currently no known cure and very little treatment for Gingervitis."

They had some "fun" facts too:

324904 kids are born with Gingervitis a year.
30% of those infected with Gingervitis live healthy, productive, long lives.
80% of Ginger Kids are totally unaware they are soulless.
An estimated 40% of Scots carry the red gene and 13% actually have red hair.
If the gingers really want to save themselves they should move to Scotland (with pleasure).

Don't worry, there is a pro-redhead website too. They even have t-shirts. I think I'll join the online redhead community.

I think this picture settles it:

In conclusion, my friend may have offended me a little at first (more because I was surprised by her hatred), but the rest of the stuff I included here I find hilarious. Continue to mock, I love my red hair.

Bored and blogging

I got up today to go running and it was raining outside and the time I spent running in the rain in high school equals a lifetime of experience so I decided against it. I had planned on going to the pool after I ran but that is out now too. I cleaned my apt on my last day off and have barely been home in the last few days to do any major damage. I was going to go sailing after the pool but that might be out too. There is nothing good on TV right now, so I'll update this.
*A special thanks to Kristin for the idea. Seeing as how we only have 90 mutual friends on facebook, I felt I needed so share this idea with the friends we don't have in common.

The fifth Harry Potter film came out last week. I saw it at midnight, as usual. I liked it for the most part (the ending was a little disappointing). It's not as good as the books, obviously, so I just have to separate the two from each other. But it made me remember how much I loved the books.

Anyway, the whole movie experience was almost ruined by a stupid Twilight movie preview. As you may recall, I'm not a fan of the Twilight series. I only saw the first Twilight movie a few weeks ago (I rented it from the library so I didn't have to pay for it). It wasn't as bad as I thought it would be, but I had low expectations. Anyway, I was reading Kristin's blog today about the claim that Twilight is the new Harry Potter. THIS IS ABSOLUTELY FALSE (Kristin agrees too). It is a lie spread by those who want their teen romance to be adored by the young and old, like Harry Potter. It won't be. Ever. Have you ever met a guy who enjoys Twilight? A fantasy teen romance can't be compared to a fantasy adventure. There is no real plot in Twilight. No death (except a bad guy or two). No surprises, no heartbreak, no betrayal, no real fight between good an evil. There is nothing to discuss with other readers about Twilight like you can with Harry Potter. I could go on and on, but I'll stop for now.

In conclusion, enjoy this clip about Harry Potter vs Twilight. Very funny. There is some swearing, so be advised.

And enjoy some posters I came across

I've waited all this time...for this?

When I was in elementary school we learned about Ohio history. They talked about interesting places, most of which I didn't find interesting. However, there was one I found fascinating: the Serpent Mound. It is the "largest serpent effigy mound ever discovered." Basically it is a mound of dirt shaped like a snake. Ok, that doesn't sound that cool. Here are some pics and info:

"Representing an unwinding serpent, the mound is sheathed in mystery and controversy. The serpent is thought by most to be about to swallow an egg. However many theories abound suggesting various interpretations. For instance, some think it may represent an eclipse. The eastward curves of the body point to sunrise locations at solstices and equinoxes, and the head to sunset on the summer solstice.

The mysteries don’t stop there. The very ground where the mound rests is also of interest to archeology. Seemingly full of cave-like or hollow structures, it is thought that perhaps there may be more to this serpent resting underground."

When you learn about that in elementary school, it sounds awesome. We lived in northeast Ohio, so southwest Ohio was a bit too far for a school field trip. I knew I had to go someday. A few weekends ago I decided to go on a day trip. I wanted to take a fellow Ohioan who also knew about it and surprisingly the Utahn that came along with us had also heard about growing up (if they are teaching about it in Utah, it must be awesome, right?).

Well, I was a little disappointed. Apparently I never retained the information that it was only 3 feet high. It wasn't that impressive in real life. Here is a picture I took from the watch tower:

That isn't to say the trip wasn't fun. We drove through rural Ohio (always interesting), met some local people (again, always interesting), bought some cameras (in Columbus) and I checked off another place in 1,000 Places to See in the USA and Canada Before you Die book.

For some crazy ideas about the mound from the locals down there, read this (spoiler: crop circles and ufo's).

Overcoming fears, sort of

Last weekend I came home from church and when I walked from the bedroom to the front room I saw what I thought was a leaf on the ground and thought it was odd as I had swept the day before. I almost touched it with my foot until I realized it wasn't a leaf. It was a COCKROACH. Ugghhh! Did I ever mention that I'm deathly afraid of crawling bugs/spiders? It was on its back and I thought it was dead. I got my heaviest shoe and got ready to smash it and then I saw it move! I ran to the other side of the room and debated what to do. I decided to put a cup over it and make my neighbor come dispose of the body. I had to call my mom and make her coax me into it as I was on the verge of tears. I finally put the cup over it and put my 3,000 page nursing book over it as I figured there was no way it could move the cup with that over it. Later my neighbors Clint and Laurie came over and I made Clint get rid of it outside. However, it was already dead by the time we took it outside. I think I suffocated it and that made me happy.













This picture doesn't show how huge and gross it was. It makes me shudder when I think about it.

Good riddance you vile creature. I'm going to call an exterminator in case you moved your family in too.

Oops she did it again

I got a call Saturday night (the 4th) at 11:30pm: it was my mom. Apparently she didn't understand when I told her not to call late at night.
Me: "What's wrong?"
Mom: "Nothing, I just got back from the neighbors party! Can you believe I stayed so late?"
Me: "Mom, I told you not to call me so late. It scares me."
Mom: "You called me earlier. I was returning your call."
Me: "I called at 5pm. It wasn't an emergency. I didn't even leave a message. I appreciate you calling me back, but you could have waited till tomorrow"
Mom: "Oh, well I had so much fun at the neighbors and I wanted to tell you. We were out by their new fire pit. We had so much fun I lost track of time. Look how late it is!"
Maybe I should call her some morning at 5am when she is getting ready for work and see if she gets scared. I'm pretty sure I'll be struck down for trying to get back at my mother, though. And my mom isn't as spacey as I make her seem. She just has senior moments.

Goodbye and goodnight

I have discovered that I spend too much time online. Which is actually too much wasted time. I've been known to spend an hour (or more) on facebook before. And do I ever find anything interesting? Not that often. It's mostly status updates which really aren't that interesting (no offense to those who write them a lot-of course I find yours interesting). I hardly get any good gossip off of it either. The same picture albums keep showing up in the "highlights" section, and I only look at some of them. I just realized I could spend a lot more time doing productive things. This morning I logged off of facebook, logged off of gmail (another time waster-stupid chat) and set about doing productive things. I paid all my bills, mananged my investments, read a book and cleaned my apartment-including the floors and rugs. I even made myself a healthy lunch and dinner. So I'm going to see if I can stay off of the time wasters for a week. Hopefully I will have accomplished enough in that week that I can make this a more permanent thing.
In the meantime, if there is any good gossip on facebook, would you please let me know?

I've been in this country too long or Keeping up appearances

Last year before I started my new job, I went on a trip to Europe. When I started work a few of my new coworkers knew I had just gone on a trip. Six months later I went to Costa Rica. A week after I got back from Costa Rica, I bought a ticket to Belize. And shortly before going to Belize, I bought a ticket to Germany. I've never traveled so much in such a short time before. Because of the four trips in one year, my coworkers think this is all that I do. Every day I work at least one person asks me where I'm going next. It's almost as annoying as the "are your married/why are you still single" question (almost, but not quite). I have to keep going on trips because they expect me to go. Or I'm unpatriotic. Or I love to travel. After 3 months of deciding, here is the next destination:

Japan

My friend Kristin came up with the idea to go to Japan. Today we bought our plane tickets. There are 4 of us going from Columbus (plus a Utahn) and we're working on our other friend who speaks Japanese.
Totemo ureshii da. Matemasen. (I am so happy. I cannot wait)

At least I have a heart

I'll write about Nauvoo in my next post. First I have to discuss the worst tear inducing movie I've ever seen (which they showed on the bus ride back):

Charly
(the person, not the unicorn)

This is seriously the worst movie I've ever cried in (with the exception of any movie involving a pet dying). The movie (based on a book) is a Mormon love story where the girl dies in the end. Except she doesn't die over a few minutes in the movie. It takes at least 30 minutes. And it is terribly heart wrenching. I read the book, I knew the ending, I didn't think it would be that bad. It was. The first time I watched it I started having those hyperventilating sobs. You know, where your body is shaking you're crying so bad (Katie, did you watch it with me?). I vowed to never watch it again. For some reason on the bus ride back this was one of the top picks of movies to watch (with strong support from guys, odd enough). I knew this would be a train wreck for me: I'd try and not look but knew I would just be too curious to look away. I was doing ok until that ferris wheel scene. And then it started again. Like Geroge Sr says, "every dang time!" I started to hyperventilate but convinced myself not to make an even bigger fool of myself in front of my friends. Too late. They were still making fun of me tonight. Some guy tried to convince me it is a happy movie, "They had a good life. They'll be together again." Bite me. I told him he was heartless. At least there was some comic relief when our friend Fernando passed out kleenex to everyone on the bus. Twice.
So, if you ever need a really good cry, watch this. Here is the last part, which isn't that sad without seeing the first 3/4 of the movie:
Still dying

It's the most wonderful time of the year...

What do I love best about summer?

Fireflies!
(or Lightning Bugs)
One of the things I missed most about living in Utah was the summers without these.

I am freaked out with bugs, but this is one awesome bug. Seriously amazing.

I loved collecting them as a child. Don't worry, we let them go.
After we realized they need more to live on than grass (difficult pets).

And here is some strange drawing I found.
So if you live in the East, go out some night and catch (and release) a few.

Soil Bandit strikes again!

This week someone stole my soil. My Miracle Grow Potting Mix to be exact.

I had an opened bag of Miracle Grow Garden Soil and an opened bag of Potting Mix on my back porch. I didn't want to put them inside because the bags are dirty and I like my apt clean. They've been out there for weeks. A few days ago I put the potting mix in my garage/covered carport while I was sweeping off the back porch. It was there a few nights and then one morning I went out to work and it was gone! However, the garden soil is still there. The strange thing is that this happened two summers ago and my potting mix went missing. However, last summer I had half a bag out all summer and winter and no one took it. Someone really likes potting mix, but not garden soil.

I have a list of suspects. Well, there is only one suspect on the list, but I'm pretty sure he's the robber:
There is a row of tall bushes that separates my backyard and driveway from the neighbors behind me. At least once a day he walks through the bushes, down my driveway, across the street, down another driveway and disappears through their bushes. Here he is making his way up the driveway across the street. I'm convinced he's staking out all of us. He has scared me on more than one occasion when he suddenly appears in the driveway. He walks by my soil every day. And because he looks like a hippie, he probably is all into growing his own food.

I'm offering a $1 reward for any information that leads to the safe return of my potting mix. And maybe some fresh veggies too.