Stop using Freecycle as a soapbox

If I get one more thing on Freecycle urging me to remember to spay my pets or vote or whatever, I am going to lose it.

I do Freecycle for 2 things: giving and getting items. That's it.

I woke up this morning at three freaking am (my body hates me, I think) and decided to get online to try to get tired again. So I checked my e-mail, and there, in the Freecycle posts were these things:

1. A message telling me to vote for Ron Paul. Listen, I live in Missouri. We are a Super Tuesday state. I voted long ago, damn it. Get off my ass. Also, don't even get me started on Ron Paul in general. I'll just mention that a) he's a moron and b) he did not and will not get the damn nomination. Get over it.

2. A message talking about how bad it was that there are animals on Freecycle. I'm actually not a huge fan of people giving away pets on Freecycle. You have no idea if the person getting this animal is capable of caring for a pet. But Jesus. No one is going to be swayed to do this OR fix their pets just because you wrote a hysterical tirade and posted it. In fact, all it does it make me want to bitch slap you. Do something constructive, damn it.

3. A message discussing the power of herbs. You know what? I like some herbal remedies. But I can only say that I like them for myself. Because I have no idea about anyone else's medical history/allergies/etc. so it is pretty irresponsible to sit there and babble about how they will effect anyone else. Also, I don't give a shit how much damn Echinacea you take. Germs exist, thus you WILL still be sick sometimes. It happens. To liken taking an herb to wearing a bullet proof vest is, um, insane. Go sell crazy somewhere else, please. We're all stocked up here.

Rantage

I hate most of the people who label themselves as feminists.

That sounds ridiculous, I'm sure. But it is true. These women are ridiculous people. Everything is a "woman's issue." We are all held horribly back by terrible evil men. We're subjugated. And the only way we can NOT be is by acting superior to everyone and removing all of our traditionally feminine traits. Staying home with your baby is out. The color pink is out. Unless you're out there protesting and/or making derisive remarks about all men, you are against "the cause."

Except I have this radical notion that feminism is supposed to be about how men and women are different but equal. Men piss me off regularly, but, honestly, so do women. In fact, a lot of people in general are just annoying to me.

I'm a proud stay at home mom. I love the color pink, makeup, and high heels. And I'm a feminist.

Love and fear

So I was playing on Stumble Upon today (Google it, I don't feel like explaining) and I came upon this:

http://members.shaw.ca/yofrizb/

And it's a project, I have no idea what for, that asked people to define love and fear. And I agreed with parts of it. I think a lot of romantic love stuff was lacking from the descriptions, but since that's just a part of love, no big deal.

But I really didn't agree on the fear part.

The descriptors of fear seemed to focus on all of the negative parts of it. Sure, there were a few things peppered in there about fear being natural and such, but not a lot. At all.

I don't think fear is a bad thing. Generally. Don't get me wrong, I completely acknowledge that some fear is utterly ridiculous and serves no purpose. Hell, I fear spiders. Even the totally harmless kind that eat other bugs in my house. How does that help me? Not at all.

But there are other kinds of fear that help you. There's the fear when you're walking at home in the night that keeps you from taking that dark alley. There's the fear that keeps you from going out by yourself with a random stranger. There's the fear that society and your peer group puts on you, that if you are to do something wrong, like, really, truly, morally and ethically wrong, that it will be discovered and you will be ostracized. All good things.

We put a lot of emphasis on overcoming fear, decrying it as something awful, as something to be overcome. But why? As proven above, some fear is not only natural and healthy, but GOOD for you. Not the crippling horror that people make it out to be. And even some little phobias aren't that bad. Like my spider thing. Yes, they terrify me. Yes, it can be annoying. But do I really need to overcome that particular fear to lead a rich and wonderful life? Probably not.

A little about me...

My name is Star. Yes, people actually call me that, and no, I am not a stripper.

Something that really blows my mind is that it's been ten freaking years since Jared Fogel did that Subway diet crap. Really. It was on the commercial. Ten years. I could have sworn that I was out of high school when that happened, but apparently not.

I'm 25. Well, almost 26. If that makes the above paragraph any clearer.

I'm a wife and stay at home mom. I dig being with my baby, but there's no chance in hell that I'll do it forever. When she goes to school, I'm back to work. Which is why I'm finishing a marketing degree this summer and starting a degree in graphic arts this fall. I'm also working on becoming a DONA certified doula.

I like lots of things. The color pink, shoes, tattoos, movies, music, a few select TV shows, and all kinds of books. I'm pagan. I'll probably write a rambling blog at some point all about my spiritual views. I like Orbitz gum, no other kinds, underlined. Maui Melon Mint is my current favorite. I have a perfume named after me. Literally after me, I'm not being weird. This amuses me to no end. I like to drive. I do it quickly, skillfully, and have tons of road rage for those of you who don't.

I'm sure I'll mention more later. But, there you have it - a brief introduction to Star.