Seriously People, Evolution Is NOT a Big Deal...If You're Smart Enough to Get It

I see this blog as an opportunity to get things off my chest.  It will allow me to vent about things that I think about, but I never get the opportunity to talk about.  Mostly, that will be because I think about so many ridiculous things, most of which are probably of no interest to anyone else.  However, who knows? Maybe my random ramblings will contain a nugget of something to interest someone.

So, one of the things I have often thought about is the annoyance of certain religious people fighting against the teaching of evolution.  Now, I just want to state that I am neither a well studied religious scholar, nor am I a well studied evolutionary biologist.  My knowledge in either field comes from here: I was raised as a christian, I studied biology in college, and I am a really intelligent person who thinks things.  Oh, and I opperate under the belief that religion and science are not mutually exclusive.  Each has its own sphere, and they cuddle (methaphorically speaking. Hehehehe).

Honestly, I cannot see what people get sooooooooooo worked up about.  Whenever a group of people gets pissy over schools trying to teach evolution, that just shows me that none of those people have ever actually taken an evolution class.  Becuase if they had, they'd know that evolution is soooooooooooooooooooo boring, that it'd be too difficult to muster that kind of outrage over the subject.  I took evolution in college, at 8am.  And let me tell you, it was difficult to stay awake.  I don't think it helped that my professor had the most soothing voice ever, and I'm pretty sure he was actually a leprechaun.  Mostly, it's just a bunch of charts with different animals on it, like showing phyla, something, something else, genius, species.  Oh, and did I mention there was math?  I actually liked the math parts.  Basically you'd get a population of animals, say 100 had gene X and 200 had gene Y, and in n generations, how many would have what genes.  Oooh, REAL blasphamous!

No!  In class, evolution was simplified down to this: over time, the frequency of alleles in a population of animals changes.  If you understood that sentence (and even more so if you could do the math), you'd be all "oh, duh, that makes sense."  Ok, there is that whole survival of the fittest thing, which can upset some people I guess.  But if you get past the crazies that want to apply that theory to people, again, it's not anything all that radical or ooooohh, evil.  It's just saying that in the wild, some animals have some genes that give them traits (like wing color, speed, size, beak shape) that makes it easier for those specific animals to eat and not get eaten.  This is important, b/c if you get eaten or don't have enough food to thrive, well, you can't mate.  We all know this.  I bet if you were eaten, or hadn't eaten in weeks, you'd find it difficult to mate too.  Try it if you don't believe me.  And if you don't mate, then you don't have kids, and your gene traits don't go anywhere.  See, not that big of a deal.  It's like if you put a bunch of blondes and brunettes in a cage with some ravousnes bears.  Let's say these bears only eat brunettes.  Well, you can bet that the next generation will be mostly (or totally) blonde, since the brunettes will be too busy being bear food to mate and have babies.  And, let's say that over many, many generations, this says true, the brunette population dwindles because of the predator bears.  I'm pretty sure this makes sense, logically.  And it's evolution.  So, why all the fuss.

I'll admit, there are some parts that can get more difficult for some super religious types to cuddle up to. I am not here to debate religion, and I totally appreciate and respect people's rights to believe what they want.  I can also understand why people get upset about some of the stuff, like people coming from monkeys, or whatever.  (Fun fact, it's not actually monkeys, since monkeys are small, and what people call monkeys in this argument are apes.  You've be scienced!) And there's that whole disagreement about how old the Earth is, and what not.  I can see where that would cause some friction between religion and evolution.  But honestly, I feel that's making a mountain out of a mole hill, and focusing on  parts of the theory without understand the general ideas themselves.  Plus, I have this whole issue with keeping information from people just because you disagree.

I don't care what you believe.  I don't want to force you to change your beliefs.  But sometimes others want to learn stuff.  And you may be surprised what ideas and knowledge can coexist together in a person's mind.  I don't think kids should not learn something (especially something agreed to be a valid theory) just because parents don't believe it.  Instead, have a discussion, at home.  Maybe you could actually learn the material and maybe it won't seem so outrageous to you.  If might just bore you enough that the outrage just ebbs away.  Who knows?  You may even find that you at least like the math.  Ok, who am I kidding?  No one ever likes math.

My Music Will Say More About Me Than My Mouth Ever Will

I thought that for my 3rd post, I should discuss something with a little more depth.  While I do love being snarky and witty, I have many layers and I should probably express those too.  Besides, if nobody reads this anyway, I can do whatever I want, right? ;^)  So, I’ve decided to discuss something close to my heart: music.  I LOVE music!!  It’s the soundtrack to my soul.  Music gets me through everything, and as the title says, my music will say so much more about me than I might ever say, well until now.

My musical tastes, at times, cover many genres and sounds.  If it’s good, I’ll probably like it.  And if it sounds fun to sing, I’ll probably try to sing it.  But I definitely have a musical comfort zone, which I generally attribute to my sign.

I am a hardcore, very proud and very obvious Gemini.  So, I tend to assign my musical likes to the twins (well, I tend to attribute a lot of my often opposite personality traits to each twin, but today we’ll stick to music).  The Good Twin likes happy, peppy pop music.  She’s the twin that you’ll find bopping along to Katy Perry, Ke$ha, or, egad, even the occasional One Direction song.  In the late 90’s, early ‘00’s, she pretty ruled the radio with all those peppy boy bands.  The Bad twin, on the other hand, pretty much loves music that screams.  A lot!  On a Bad Twin day, I’ll probably be rocking out to some metal or some loud, angry post hardcore.  She’s the one that loves to sing along to In This Moment (OMG, Maria Brink is fabulous!) and has just recently been introduced to Crown the Empire.

But the thing about twins is, you often have to find a way to please both, because it would be unfair to let one rule the roost for too long.  That is probably why I love pop punk so much.  It’s got the peppy fun for the Good Twin, and the loud energy for the Bad Twin.  And my favorite band of all time is the most awesome of all the pop punk bands: New Found Glory!  Woot!!

I believe fate brought NFG and me together.  It was early 2002, and I was all but fed up with all of the boy bands (the Bad Twin was going crazy, I bet).  I had literally told myself I need to find something else to listen to. It may have been that day, or a most a couple days later, when I heard My Friends Over You on TRL.  (For those too young or old to get it, TRL was a show on MTV every afternoon that counted down music videos, you know, back when MTV actually played those).  I swear I was hooked right from the beginning.  I thought, “This is what I should be listening to.”  I immediately went out and bought Sticks and Stones, and soon the rest of their back catalog.  And I have been hooked ever since.  I just love their energy, and how there are few, if any, slow songs.  It’s just a lot of rockin’.  And their music is just a lot of fun, even with the more serious song topics.  Plus, they haven’t gotten worn down with age.  Their most recent full album, Radiosurgery, is quite possibly now my favorite!  Not to mention, the title track to the album was the theme song to my most recent crush disaster. If only there was a surgery you could use to get someone’s face out of your head.  Sign me up! 

My second favorite band, Motion City Soundtrack, could also be remained My Soundtrack because I relate to so many of the songs.  Plus, they sing my all time favorite song, The Future Freaks Me Out.  Actually, just the title could be the title to my life, since everything about the future freaks me out.  And, this song is has a great catchiness that’s fun, with an undercurrent that reminds me of my own self-doubt and anxiety about life.  I particularly love how the bridge build up tension, and then Justin’s all “ah, f*** it” and we’re right back into the chorus.  What I love about MCS so much is a great mixture of nerdiness (they have a song about Legend of Zelda after all), catchy tunes, and a lot of self-reflection.  There was a time their song Modern Chemistry was my theme to life, since it synced up so well with how I was trying to deal with myself.  Did I mention that one of my fav song be them, Her Words Destroyed My Planet, mentions Veronica Mars?  Anyone who loves V. Mars is awesome.  And I cannot mention MCS without expressing my extreme love of the song Let’s Get F***ed Up and Die.  There are so many lines of that song I relate to, and would make great Facebook quotes for various days that I have.

Now I think it is time to discuss some of my favorite songs.  I actually have, and continually update, a playlist on iTunes with my Top 100 favorite songs.  Don’t worry, I won’t discuss them all, especially as the list changes as I get new music, and get tired of some songs.  But some songs are just so close to my heart that getting to know about them is getting to know about me.

As I am in the process of updating my Top 100, I find it appropriate to mention two of my new favorite songs.  The 1st is Somewhere in Neverland by All Time Low, which I am pretty sure could have been written about me.  I definitely have also loved Peter Pan, and I am pretty sure I never want to grow up.  Plus, the lyrics about transitioning into adulthood from school and about not wanting to make my parents mistake really hit home for me.  I wouldn’t mind a lost boy sweeping me off to Neverland, if only metaphorically speaking.  The 2nd is Empty Space by The Story So Far.  I think this song has crawled its way into my soul and taken root there.  I have probably listened to this song at least 30 times in the last few days.  I’d like to thank Alternative Press for introducing me to this amazing band.  Fun fact, both of these bands took their band names from song on New Found Glory’s Sticks and Stone album.  It seems only fitting that I like both of these bands too.

I absolutely love covers.  It’s like two great songs in one, because you have the original song that’s great and then you get to hear a band you love cover the song in a genre you love.  I have a playlist just of all my favorite punk rock covers (the best kinds of covers).  One of my favorites is Boys of Summer by The Ataris.  This one actually got some radio time when it came out.  Plus, you get cool points if you appreciate them changing the sticker on the Cadillac to Black Flag.  Probably my most favorite cover is Over My Head (Cable Car) by A Day to Remember.  I remember the 1st time I heard the original song I loved it, which is rare for me.  So, when I heard the cover, I was a goner.  Sometimes when listening to it in my car, I don’t know what’s going to blow first, my car speakers or my eardrums.

Some of my favorite songs you may never have heard of (ok, fine, that may be most of them), but I find I have a very personal connection with them, that they could be the best song ever, or terrible, or just so-so, but because of something in my life, they’ve etched themselves into my soul.  One such song is Up With Me by Boys Night Out.  Honestly, most times I listen to this song, it makes me teary-eyed, not because the songs sad or anything, but because it reminds me of where I’ve been and how it’s been to get to where I am now.  I relate to having your mistakes keep you company, but recognizing that you’ve changed over time.

On a cheerier note, I adore love songs.  Granted, I have a special idea of what makes a great love song, but I promise, it’s nothing weird.  My absolute favorite love song is actually pretty well known (well, at least if you’ve seen some old seasons of American Idol).  It’s I’ll Be by Edwin McCain.  That song is so beautiful, and it’s fun to sing.  I have this longtime fantasy with some great (unknown) guy, this song in the background, and passionate kisses in the rain. * Sigh * Another favorite love song is Stolen by Dashboard Confessional.  I wouldn’t mind someone stealing my heart (you know, on purpose).  I also love the song Mine (the Glee version).  When I listen to that song, I either want to belt it out or bawl like a baby.  Ok, there is one weird one.  I do think Ohio Is For Lovers is a beautiful love song.  What can I say? I have my emo moments.  But alphabetically by artist on the list, right after this, is Find Something to Do by Hellogoodbye, which I find to be one of the sweetest songs I’ve ever heard.  Isn’t that what love should be, being willing to follow someone along as you find things to do together?  Plus, it’s catchy and bouncy.  Another great love song, which I only know because of my parents, is Bus Stop by The Hollies.  It’s sweet to think a bus stop and an umbrella could lead to true love.

Well, look at that.  It seems that I have rambled on quite a bit.  I can’t help it; when it comes to music, I could talk forever.  And I would like to think I put a little bit of myself out there for the world to know, if the world is willing to listen.  Whatever!  It’s my creative release, and I do what I want.  If you made it to the end, thank you.  If you actually took the time to Youtube some of these songs, I am glad to know you took this journey with me, and know me a little bit better.  If you skipped to the end, shame on you! Until the next musical journey (because I promise I have more to say on the subject) farewell!

Because Sometimes, Flipping the Bird Just Isn't Specific Enough

One of the sad facts of life is, people have places to be, and for too many of us, we have to use cars to get there.  And while I am not necessarily against cars, I am against about 99.99999% of the people who drive them.  I don't know what it is about getting behind a wheel that makes people so stupid!

As a quick anecdote, I have this theory that every city has it's own flavor of idiot driver.  For example, LA driver are mean and angry; San Diego driver a recklessly crazy; and Sacramento drivers are just plain stupid (and wait until it rains, and it's like they forget what a car does >_<).  But whatever way you slice it, drivers suck!

I find the most frustrating thing I have dealing with terrible drivers is that I have no way of conveying my specific grievances to those drivers around.  Granted I can always use my middle finger, and I do on rare occasions when the driver knows exactly why they are getting the finger, but sometimes I feel it lacks the specificity to get my point across.

Now, I've spent a lot of time contemplating how to solve this problem.  I don't know about you, but just driving around gives me a lot of time to think (unless I've got my music cranked loud enough, that is).  Once I contemplated handing out "douche bag" tickets, which would basically just be slips of paper placed on people's windows explaining what kind of douchebaggery they did.  But, while this would be effective for parking douchiness, or where you have the time to follow the idiot driver to their destination, this doesn't really work on the go.

And thus, what we really need is a collection of easily recognizable and message specific hand gestures to accurately convey to other drivers why they're idiots, and what they did to piss us off!

As a general note, it may be best, before gesturing, to employ a honk so as to get the attention of the idiot driver.  What use is a hand gesture if it goes unseen?  Right?!  However, I also don't condone the overuse of the horn, so only employ it when absolutely necessary, like when Mr. Idiot Driver is about to hit you!

So, I have already come up a few hand gestures that will cover some of the issues that irritate me most while driving.  Of course, I am always up for additions.

(1) The "you have a turn signal for a reason, jerk" signal.  I find one of my biggest driving pet peeves is people's lack of using the turn signal.  Hey, I'd love to know that you're turning here, so I can brake properly so as to not rear end you.  Oh, and thanks for letting me know you were changing into my lane, so I could save space so as to get side swiped.  Idiot!  Who hasn't had issues with people not using their turn signals?  No one.  Ever.  So, I often employ a hand signal to inform feeling travelers to use their darned signal!  It's simple.  Bring your fingers together like you are making an "o" with your hands.  Then, quickly throw your fingers out to their longest extension.  Now, do these two motions quickly a few times, back and forth. I find this makes a nice little flashing light looking thing with your hands.  That way, the idiot (most likely in front of you) will know, "hey, I just pissed that person behind me off because I didn't use my signal."

(2) The "get off your cell phone" signal.  OMG, people using their cell phones while driving make me soooooooooooooooo angry.  First of all, just the fact that it's illegal to drive and talk on your phone is enough to make me dislike them.  But second, I've been at the receiving end of too many close calls (pun totally intended) with errant driving to have anything but the deepest loathing for these people.  So, I employ a nice gesture to get across that their phoning while driving is making me angry.  This one is pretty basic.  You just do the time honored phone fingers to the ear thing (you know, pinky and thumb out, with the other fingers curled in, and then put your hand to your ear).  Now, to make sure you get across that you are pissed, and not that you want them to call you, you make sure that while you wiggle your phone fingers by your ear, you look really angry, and then you make a very pointed movement like you're hanging up the phone fingers call.

And (3) the "have you been drinking?" gesture.  This is another gesture that I have appropriated from common human gesturing.  With all hope, if these gestures were to become commonly used, people would understand their special meaning when behind the wheel.  For this one, you just make the gesture like you're holding a cup.  And then, once you have the person's attention, "tip" the "cup" to your mouth a few times to indicate drinking.  This should indicate to the other driver that you're worried they may have had one too many before getting behind the wheel.  Now, if you are on the receiving end of this gesture, one of two scenarios should be at play.  One, you have actually been drinking, at which point I say to you "you're a terrible human being, putting everyone's lives at risk for your own stupid fun, pull over before you hurt someone, and you should be terribly, TERRIBLY ashamed of yourself!!!"  Just putting that out there.  Two, you have not been drinking (or doing something else that impairs your driving), at which point you may want to ask yourself "what about my driving is so bad, that some complete stranger would feel the need to express their concern that I have actually been drinking."  Because trust me, there are A LOT of bad idiot drivers out there, so if I have to gesture that I think you're drinking, then you my friend are driving pretty terribly to warrant such special attention.

So, those are just 3 of the potentially plentiful list of more specific and helpful gesturing that we as drivers can employ to better express to other, bad drivers just how their terrible driving makes us feel.  I hope yo expand on the list in the future, maybe with some help of some other enraged driver/victims.  And if you see someone out there using one of these signals at you, you know what you've done wrong!

Just Because Your Name's in the Title Doesn't Mean I Have to Like You.

Within recent memory, I read Anna Karenina, and then later watched the recent movie version.  Like what seems to happen many times when I read a book, I found connections between my life and the book.  So, I would like to share my thoughts.

1st, a couple of warnings.  One, I will probably jump around with my discussion, sometimes perhaps with no segues, so I apologize; and suck it up.  Two, there may be spoilers, assuming I can even spoil a novel that began in 1875 and has had many movies made of it.  You can pretty much suck that up too.

As a fan of 1800's literature, I very much enjoyed reading the book.  But for those of you not keen on reading 700+ pages, I recommend the new movie.  Or an old movie I haven't seen.  It's a great story, however you experience it.  But if you choose to experience it in book form, you definitely get a lot extra.  "What extra?" you may ask.  Well, a lot of the book focuses on Tolstoy's views about farming, through the character of Levin, and how to get the peasants involved to make the land more productive.  I'd even venture to say you read more about this than you do about ol' Anna herself, which for a history nerd, I'm okay with.  Not to mention my feelings for the titular character, which you will soon get the full feeling of.

As a warning, I found the names confusing.  This is not the 1st time I have read literature translated from Russian (if you consider the Night Watch series literature, and if you know what those are, 5 stars for you!), and still don't really get the whole Russian naming thing.  Many of the characters in the novel have 2, 3, 16, 75 names that they go by.  I guess it's similar to how like in England the fancy people have their given names and then a completely different fancy title name, like how John Smith is also Duke of Wellington, or whatever.  Only in Russian there's like 15 extra letter w/ no vowels.  Then there are the nicknames people get, which sometimes make no sense from the formal name, and are sometimes much longer.  But then, I don't get how "Jack" is a nickname for "John," but I digress.  Another naming issue is not only do some people have multiple names, but people have similar names, sometimes to the point that you go, pages later, "Oh, it's not that guy, but that other guy!"  And what does it say about Anna, or Tolstoy, that both her husband and her love are named Alexey?  I guess that keeps away the awkwardness of accidentally calling you husband your lover's name, or vice versa, but it's confusing to me.

I guess since I've rambled awhile now, I should actually get on to my thoughts about the actual story.  As you may have figured out from my above comments, or perhaps the title of this piece, I don't particularly like Anna Karenina.  She's a crazy drama queen bitch!  There, I've said it.  She's a bitch.  I wondered at times whether I was supposed to feel sorry for her at all.  I mean, I can get why her predicament is tragic.  She is trapped in a marriage with a husband who loves his work more than anything, divorce is much harder to come by than nowadays, not to mention the social disgrace that comes with an affair or a divorce, how she would lose her son, and the general powerlessness she has a woman in those days.  It get it, it's terrible.  I'm just saying I would feel bad about it if all the terribleness wasn't happening to such a dislikable woman.

Maybe the problem is that I am too practical, and I cannot really see the problems with her marriage.  Maybe as someone who's never fallen head-over-heels, madly in love, I don't get the draw of throwing it all away.  In the beginning, I can see perhaps why a woman might not want to be married to Alexey Alexandrovitch (Anna's husband, who will be Alexey from now on).  He's very devoted to work, too much so I supposed.  But I don't see the problem in that.  It could be that I might be like that too, or maybe it's because I don't know what it's like to live in a world where a woman hasn't the same luxury to get caught up in her career.  But later, he shows he really cares.  He is willing to forgive Anna, he loves her love child with another man, and he even offers to fake an affair just so she can be the "victim" in a divorce.  But no, she's too caught up in the drama to care.

But to be honest, I formed the above thoughts after I already hated her.  And really, it all happened because of one scene.  So, as you may or may not know, Anna falls for a man, his name being Alexey Vronsky (who, for clarity sake, will be Vronsky from hereon in), and drama ensues for HUNDREDS OF PAGES!!!  But in the very beginning, Vronsky is flirting with Kitty, who is Anna's brother's wife's younger sister (everyone seems to be interconnected, there should be diagrams).  Well, everyone, that is everyone except Vronsky, expects Vronsky to eventually propose to Kitty and it'll be all happily ever after from there.  But then, duh, duh, duh, he meets that terrible woman at the train station. BOO!!!  So, later, there is this ball, because in the 1800's there's always this ball.  And at this ball Kitty spends the night giddily anticipating spending the evening in sweet rapture dancing with Vronsky in their beautiful new love.  But no.  He spends the entire evening stuck to Anna, who's married, but not above flirting shamelessly anyway. Bitch!  Suddenly, I'm in Kitty's shoes.  I know how that feels, to sit by while the person you pinned your hopes to spends the night paying attention to someone else.  And just as suddenly a picture of my own life comes to mind.

And that's why I don't like Anna Karenina, or at least why I don't like her to begin with.  There are plenty other reasons to not like her later.  Maybe if I was more like her, a flirty vivacious woman with more to offer romance than I was getting from my husband, then maybe I would be able to feel bad for her.  But I am such a Kitty, naive at romance and getting hurt because of women with more experience, more personality than I have.

However, later you realize what a crazy psycho she is anyway.  She's got Vronsky on one hand, willing to shot himself over his love for her, willing to marry her and make their daughter legitimate.  On the other, she has Alexey willing to divorce her, forgive her, whatever.  But all she wants to do is wallow in self pity, flaunt her situation at society, and act like a crazy jealous person. OMG!  Had Anna been a woman today, I bet you'd know someone like her.  She's the really pretty, flirty girl that gets all the guys' attention, and you think she's all charming a great when the romance and flirting is new.  But then, she starts to get jealous.  She starts checking your cell phone, your Twitter, your Facebook.  She purposely picks a fight with you every time you talk to another woman because she thinks you're cheating, and then breaks into sobs that she can't lose you and cannot live without you.  Not to mention, that although she's insanely jealous, she purposely tries to get other guys to fall for her, but heaven forbid her man even look at another woman! And the 1875 character is exactly like this!!  You know, minus the Twitter, etc.  Only, nowadays, when she probably wouldn't even be married, she'd just bounce from man to man, in an endless cycle of flirting to psycho, and back again.  So, you can see why I have little sympathy, the normal sane woman that I am.

Now, I was excited that randomly someone was releasing a film of Anna Karenina close to after I had finished the book.  I was interested to see who was casted for these character.  I think that the movie makers did an excellent job casting, even though I was unfamiliar with many of the actors.  I was particularly pleased with the casting of Levin, since I spent the book hoping he'd finally get Kitty, despite early disappointments for both.  I am partial to gingers, and he also made a very cute Bill Weasley. :^)  I was also pleased with the casting of Jude Law as Alexey Alexandrovitch.  I was hoping they'd cast someone who could play the job focused husband bit, but wasn't unlikeable, since I happened to like Alexey.

And, I even enjoyed the casting of Anna herself.  Now, for those that may know a thing or two about me, that statement might seem odd.  This being due to my complete dislike of Keira Knightly.  Granted, she'd a good actress, but something about be her I just cannot stand.  But I thought the casting fit.  Since I hated the character, I thought it only right Anna be played by someone I can't stand.  I think my feelings about it all were neatly summed up by my statement to my mom upon deciding to see the movie.  I saw that it was playing and the 1st words out of my mouth weren't "Let's go see 'Anna Karenina.'"  They were "Let's go see Keira Knightly get hit by a train!" spoken in a very jovial tone of voice.

So, those are my thoughts.  I may have more, but it's late and I'm going to bed. :^)