Happy Birthday America

Today is Independence Day, more commonly known to Americans as the 4th of July. I just wanted to take a moment to say thank you to the soldiers who are currently engaged in any way to protect America or fight for freedom for others; especially those in Afghanistan right now.

I also want to say I never take my freedom for granted. America is not a perfect country by far; I have many, many issues with it, its foreign policies with other countries, its corporate whoring ways....I could go on and on. But I do have freedoms so many others in the world do not have and for that I am eternally grateful.

I think of Neda, the young girl shot in Iran, shot and killed for what? Standing outside amongst a group of protesters? I have the right to protest my government without fear of repercussions. I have the freedom to burn the flag, to scream in the streets "I hate the government!" without fear of ending up with a bullet in my chest. I can go where I want, with whom I want. I can travel freely (with a passport of course, haha) and worship whatever god or gods I wish to worship.

I cannot yell "Fire" in a crowded theater without getting in trouble. So I think there are some limits to my freedoms. ; )

But basically I have a great life - the freedom to choose my own path in life (I apparently chose a tough one, ha), the freedom to succeed, to fail, to come and go, to vote or not vote, to believe in God or believe in small green gnomes...you get the idea.

I have these freedoms because of so many people that came before me who fought and often died for their beliefs, their ideals, their values...for my chance to live with the freedoms they only dreamt of.

I have the freedom to end a sentence with a preposition.

God Bless the nameless, faceless Others, who fought, died and won this day for me and so many others.

I am not a particularly patriotic person. But today I am. Because freedom ISN'T free and sometimes it's important we remember that. I know I do, today.

Back to Reality

Hello kids, I'm back from my vacation in Palm Springs. This was the one we were originally going to take in April. The heat didn't get really bad until the day we left; we were really lucky. I had a FABOO time swimming, getting a massage, going in the 'mineral waters' at the spa, losing about $25 at the casino on slots (damn machines wouldn't give me ANYTHING) and going off my diet and eating too much. Oh well.

I'm back and going to Curves later and back to eating so I will lose weight.

Oh something huge and horrible - a rock or brick flew up at my car on the freeway and just shattered the passenger side of my windshield. THANK GOD I was alone, it didn't penetrate the windshield or hit my side because I would've freaked even more than I did. But the Glass Doctor (I swear that's their name) came to my apt. today and gave me a new windshield for $270. Not bad. So now I have a nice new CLEAR windshield. My other one was a bit beat up as the car is going on 11 years old. I love my car and hope to push it to 200,000 miles. I'm at 142,000 now.

Nothing much else new. I was about to go down for my massage in Palm Springs when I read on Twitter about Michael Jackson. Oddly, I don't feel much about his death. I actually feel kind of bad about that. I just wasn't a fan; although there's no denying he was incredibly gifted. I think he was a very mixed up, sad soul. I feel bad for his kids and family.

I am putting more resumes out; I'm definitely NOT working this summer. I get my last paycheck this Friday. Something's got to give at some point, I swear.

I really don't have much more to say. Seriously, back to reality. I did bills earlier, mailed them, went to the market and am glad it's only 86 degrees here. I'm going to make an appointment to get my eyebrows waxed. I'm telling you, it's really and truly exciting in my life!