The sun is so bright outside my rock!

One of my family's greatest Christmas presents to me was a realization.  I came home for a much-too-short break, and on the way home from the airport my parents started talking about Wikileaks.  They said Wikileaks had said something about scandals in the Middle East.  With big eyes I asked, "Who is Wikileaks?"

Slowly, disbelieving, their eyes turned to look at me.  Then the whispers started.
"Oh my gosh, she's never heard of Wikileaks," my mom whispered to my dad. 
"That's not possible," my dad whispered back.  "Never heard of Wikileaks?  She must be joking!  Haha, you fell for it."
"No, she's serious.  Look at her face!  She really has no idea."
"Psh! Of course she does.  There isn't a human being in this universe who hasn't heard of Wikileaks.  I'm pretty sure even the Martians living in Berut know about it."
At which point I raised my hand and said, "Um, first of all, I can hear you.  Second... Martians in Berut?  Where are you getting your sources?"
Then their faces peeled off and they both laughed, "WE ARE THE MARTIANS!  BWA HA HA HA!!!" while my little brother huddled in the back and cried.

Okay, that whole scene was entirely made up.  But, when I asked "Who is Wikileaks?" they DID say, "Oh my gosh!  You've never heard of Wikileaks???!!!"
And then I felt kinda dumb.  Apparently it's a big deal.

So, figuring that I DID live under a rock here at college, where I didn't have time to focus on anything more than work or school, there were probably others around me who had never heard of it.  So I asked my roommates:
Me: "Hey, have you guys ever heard of Wikileaks?"
Them: "Ummm... yeah?  So?"
Me: "Grrrrrrr...."

So, I resolved to crawl out from under my rock, and see the sunshine.  I set a news site as my home page, and I've been, at the very least, reading the headlines.  If an article looks interesting, I read it!

Turns out, there's LOTS of stuff happening out there in the rest of the world!  Not only that, but it's actually interesting!

Take, for example, the conflicts in Egypt that happened yesterday.  They're calling for the fall of their own government, and their government is responding violently, killing 3 protesters yesterday.  They're also blocking facebook and twitter to prevent organization, while claiming they promote freedom of expression and they are most certainly NOT blocking any websites... which just happen to not be functional in their country.
This is all after the Tunisian government was brought crashing down by the populace who was sick of the authoritarian regime.

What was my reaction to this?

SWEET!

No, I'm not saying violence and destruction is sweet.  I remember last time I got excited about stuff like this, I got jumped on for being happy that people were dying.

The part that's so exciting to me is watching history unfold.  Seriously, discontent in the North Africa is leading to the fall of regimes and overturning of governments.  How big is this going to get?  What will the long term effects and consequences be?  It'll definitely get into local history books, but are we looking at an important chapter in world history?  I sure hope so!  That would be awesome!

So, I am now out from under the rock, and even though the rock is clawing at me to get me back, trapping me once again beneath an impossible load of work, I have found freedom!  And sunshine!  And the closest thing I could find to barbecue brisket here in Provo at 11 pm (I slathered Arby's roast beef in barbecue sauce).

And now, I am happy... and informed on current events. : )

What would YOU do with an empty book?

Hey look!  I'm posting on my blog!

Yeah, I know.  I've been neglectful of my poor blog.  I haven't posted in *gasp!* almost 2 weeks!  I decided I would break that tonight, just because my blog is starting to get moody and crying a lot, and I think I may be giving it permanent abandonment issues.

See, the truth of the matter is, I've moved on to bigger things!  (No, little blog, not better.  Just bigger.  Stop crying and go eat a cupcake.)  And by bigger I mean writing that's actually on paper.

Actually, technically speaking there's no writing on the paper yet, but there WILL be... as soon as I'm done sewing up the binding of my first ever handmade book!  And then I have to figure out what I want to do with it.  I'm pretty much at a loss.  It's too small to become a journal (unless it's one of those "thought journals" or "quote journals" that I always think I'll start, and then never do... or write 2 quotes in and ignore for the rest of forever... or write homework assignments in it, then ignore as soon as the semester ends), and I'm terrible at drawing, so a sketch book is out.

Any ideas, person who reads my blog?  It's purple color with red roses, and will have red thread sewing up the spine (Coptic binding... meaning you actually get to SEE the thread, because it's on the OUTSIDE of the book... yeah.  Pretty cool), so it's a pretty book.  Hmmm... what to put in a pretty book?  I like the idea of sketches, but, again... I DON'T KNOW HOW TO DRAW! 

Phooey.