The Crips, the Bloods, and the Bin Ladens

I watched a great movie last night called "Where in the World is Osama Bin Laden?" where Morgan Spurlock (the same guy from Supersize me) goes on his own personal hunt for OBL in an effort to improve the safety of the world.

Throughout the movie, it only becomes more and more apparent that finding OBL alone is not really going to have much of an effect on the world of terrorism and, much less, on the world overall.

Yes, Bin Laden is a terrible dude with terrible ideals, but HE does not equal TERRORISM which is exactly what the American government has tried to convince this entire country of. That's like saying that by killing the lead head honcho of the Crips, we will eradicate gang violence altogether... doesn't that sound ridiculous? It does to me! And that's exactly what's happening!

And, actually, I find it interesting how similarly American gangs and terrorist networks function. They prey on poor, disenfranchised youth that are desperate to care for their families and, after convincing them that they will protect their families and provide a brotherhood like nothing else they have experienced in their lives, they use them to further their own agendas with no regard for the lives or futures of those they've recruited.

They both govern with fear and both display the absolute lowest of the low when in comes to the human condition... by creating violence out of thin air.

See this movie! It reminds us that concepts like the "War on Terror" are just exactly that... concepts. And you can't fight an idea... well, I guess you can try.

Orange Grandpa

No, you didn't read that wrong, I said "Orange Grandpa". For as long as I can remember, I have referred to my grandparents as "Orange" (my dad's side) and "Brown" (my mom's side). I came up with this around the age of three when I noticed the colors my grandpas looked like in the shade. Basically, my brown grandpa who has a deep olive skin tone, has a fabulous tan year round, so his name was easier for my family to understand. Now... orange? That's a bit harder for me to explain, but it made perfect sense to my three year old self, and, well, it has just stuck ever since.

So my orange grandpa had been sick for the past couple months and he passed away early this morning. I feel like I am in a dream. Although he had been having a terrible time trying to breathe and move from place to place for a while now, he took such a fast turn for the worst yesterday, and I never thought this would have happened so fast.

My mom called me at work yesterday to tell me he was being moved from the hospital to hospice... never a good sign. She told me that I could see him that evening, but I could probably wait until tomorrow if it would be easier. It was a weirdest feeling but I just knew that I needed to leave work immediately and go see him. I am so thankful I did, because if I had left any later, I would have missed my last words with him.

It's really hard to see someone go from a lively, active person to someone that relies on help to do everything. Seeing my grandpa yesterday was nothing short of a shock. He looked so tiny and helpless and, if you know my grandpa, you would know how jarring it is for him to be silent. My grandpa loved to talk so much that he would talk about anything... EVERYTHING just to keep a conversation going! The man was a social butterfly : )

I sat next to him and I could barely hear him as he spoke. So much of what he said was mumbled and out of context due to weakness and mass quantities of medication, but, from what I could hear, he was being so loving and sweet. I heard him say "My wonderful, wonderful family" and when I made sure he knew I was there, his eyes lit up and he nuzzled me when I hugged him. And when my dad said, "Isn't your granddaughter beautiful?" my grandpa looked at me, the corners of his mouth went up, and in the weakest and sweetest voice he said, "yes". After I talked to him for a while, he looked at me and asked, "How's work?" and I couldn't help but laugh. Even in his state, my grandpa couldn't resist conversation and, for those of you that know my work situation, this question is even funnier! I laughed and told him the truth. My un-sugarcoated yet light-hearted answer made a smile on his face so big that it moved me to tears. I saw the real him in that moment, and I was so thankful. He was my grandpa in that moment.

We played some classical music for him and just stayed by his side until he fell asleep. I just never expected that that would be my last moment with him. It blows my mind that he was still working and coming to my parent's house for Sunday dinners only a couple of months ago. Life can change so fast.

But let me tell you a little bit about my grandpa.

This was a man that collected the weirdest things... figurines of trolls, squirrels, and friendly-looking monsters. A man that gave the worst presents... and I mean that in an endearing way. He once gave me a frog statue made of mulch- hahahaha. He was someone who loved reading and took me to the library or read me a book nearly every time I saw him growing up. He printed out all of his e-mails, and kept framed quotations that he typed on his type-writer all over his house and frequently gave them as gifts. He always ate dessert and always loved talking to his granddaughters. He played the organ and went to church, and loved cafeteria-style restaurants. He loved my grandma... a lot. He was never the same after she died when I was 12. I have memories of sleeping on his bedroom floor when I would spend the night at his house when I was little, and he would always wake me up when he did leg exercises in his bed and did these "hee hee ho ho" breathing techniques... I don't know how my grandma slept through them! He adored his cats Chelsea and Davey and I am so thankful he had them as company. He was the king of greeting cards and brought bags of Hersey's miniatures and boxes of Russel Stovers almost every time he visited. He loved spending time with his family and he never let us forget that.

He was a great grandpa and he really loved me.

I'll miss you, Grandpa.

My Grown-Up Weekend

I guess by using the term "grown-up", I already seem more like a kid than an adult, but I really did feel like an one this weekend... and it was weeeeeiiirdddd.

On Friday, I was so exhausted I couldn't bare the thought of going out. Instead I booked a massage and looked at home furnishings by myself... that sounds so ridiculous to me as a type it... but that's exactly what I did. Then I met up with Diana for a slice and we actually made plans to finish just in time to watch Frasier... WHO AM I?? Hahahaa! I'm only about two months into adulthood and I am already trying to make it home in time to watch "my shows"!? I need to be careful or soon I'll be falling asleep face deep in my early bird special at Applebees!!

Saturday was much less elderly-like...

I had to work in the early afternoon at a Big's and Little's pizza slash thank you card writing party to show appreciation for our donors. It was so fantastic to see these amazing people choosing to spend their Saturday with kids who really need someone to look up to and have fun with. My job felt important that day : ). Later on, Darius, Melissa and I planned to have an adult night. Nice place, nice clothes, nice company, and no cheap beer, pizza, or Mexican food.

On the way to Apre Diem (easily one of my favorite places to hang out in Atl), we talked about one part in the movie "As Good as it Gets" where the three main characters are in Paris and they become the perfect picture of "eat, drink, and be merry". They order food and drinks all night while just laughing, talking and not thinking about anything outside of the moment.

Our night ended up being so much like that movie. We laughed and talked and ate and drank. We didn't think too hard about what anything was costing, or what time it was. We just had fun... and we looked damn good too ; ).

I live for nights like that! Nights like that remind you that sometimes the most simple things in life are the most pleasant. I would have to say that friends, food, wine, and conversation are probably my favorite things in the world, and I really love when they come all at once!

And, speaking of conversation, one of our favorite topics of the night was about this BBC documentary about technology replacing and/or eclipsing human intelligence. It's about an hour long, but, seriously, WATCH IT! It's fascinating and you won't regret it! http://wimp.com/newhuman/

On Sunday, Darius and I slept in, watched a documentary (Man on Wire),went grocery shopping, played in the unexpected snow, cooked dinner and feel asleep after watching about 300 Internet videos on Wimp.com (my new obsession). It was a perfect day... well... except for the grocery store.

There is something that happens at the grocery store that I cannot STAND. OK, it may sound stupid to you, but I cannot remember the last time I bought grapes and the Ziploc bag that they came in was not wide open and broken!?!? WTH?? Why do they even bother to put them in plastic bags with zippers??? They are ALWAYS broken! This drives me crazy! I mean, I don't want to put the plastic bag inside another plastic bag, so I always try to do this twisty, half-knot thing but because there is never enough plastic to tie the bag shut, it always ends up coming open during the drive home and I have to go searching for random stray grapes rolling around my trunk. SO, to you grape companies out there, don't tease me with this pseudo Ziploc bag, I am over it!

But, other than that, it was a damn good weekend! Here are some pics from the random snow day and our pathetic, little snow man : )


My house

Josh and me after waking up to the snow!

Even Snowmen gotta get that potassium!