Posted by jeneypeney in all growed up, being appropriate is overrated, i'm just sayin', life, piss and moan, the 'f' word.
I have always been a passionate person. I consider it one of my greatest strengths as well as one of my worst weaknesses. I can be a fiercely loyal friend, but sometimes it’s to an extent where I let your problems infect my own life. I will fight for what I believe in, but sometimes it’s to a point that I’m just beating a dead horse.
I am passionate and I am not sorry.
I am trying to pull this post together without going off on wild tangents or becoming so incoherent that I fail to get my point across – because this is important to me. I think I may have failed but bear with me…
For those of you who are friends with me on facebook, you may have noticed that I am have become one of those overly irritating “This is my cause! Read it!” kind of people. I just realized I had become this person late this week and for that, I am sorry.
But some of these bills that are being presented, supported, and pushed through all levels of government are honestly so terrifying and infuriating I cannot just sit back and let things happen. I need to stand up for what I believe in. I need to to use my little soap box to try and put a stop to the madness before life as know it falls apart. I need to let my passion come out.
First I heard about the GOP attempting to re-define the definition of rape to cut off federal aid of abortions to rape victims. Before you get up in arms about the abortion part, know this – regardless of whether you are pro-life or pro-choice, redefining what rape is and even considering that some forms of rape are not forcible is beyond repulsive. As a survivor of sexual abuse(s), this one cut me real deep. [NOTE: I understand that the "forcible" wording was removed from the bill, but the fact that it was there to begin with is still terrible.]
Then I found out that the place I go to get all my lady-health care is on the cusp of being denied federal funding. Why do I go to Planned Parenthood rather than a gynecologist at my doctor’s office? Why do I care that funding for them is being cut? Because Planned Parenthood allows me to AFFORD my lady-health care. Simple as that. I don’t go there because I’m some kind of loose, baby killing left-wing radical. No.I go to Planned Parenthood because I have been able to get my yearly pap-smears, birth control prescriptions, and other services without have to forgo eating that month.
Third, I find out the new governor of Wisconsin is in the process of breaking down worker’s unions all in the name of fixing the budget (with the exception of police and firefighters clever bastard, eh?). Considering my father is a member of a worker’s union in Wisconsin (not by choice either – the company he worked at for over two decades was shut down and his position was moved to the new company which already had this system in place), is the sole bread-winner of my family, and struggles to support my mother and two brothers as it is? This bill Walker is trying to pass scares the hell out of me.
It doesn’t help that people in my facebook news feed who don’t even LIVE in Wisconsin and work at ‘white collar’ jobs are supporting what Walker is doing. To them I have one thing to say… Step out of your ivory towers and shut. the. fuck. up. Go outside of the little box of your own life and think about how these bills affects families like mine.
I feel as if my country is fighting tooth and nail against me because I am a woman and I am middle class. For the first time in my life, I feel like I have been failed by the system.
Between my spring sports travel schedules starting up, taking two extremely demanding grad classes this semester, trying to pay deposits for the wedding, waiting to hear back from The Actual’s new job about his passing the background check and finger prints, discovering that my alma mater and her brother institution has once again disappointed me to the verge of tears, and dealing with life in general? I’m tuckered out, folks.
I apologize if I offended anyone with this post or my incessant facebook updates – but I am not sorry for being passionate and standing up for my rights. Because if I don’t, who will?
Posted by jeneypeney in all growed up, grad school, i wish i was still in college, life, piss and moan.
I know I haven’t been around the blogosphere much at all lately. I have lost twitter followers, blog readers, and everything in between and I wish I had an awesome excuse for you as to why.
What I do have for you, though, is an obligatory and typical “I’ve changed” blog post that proceeds a very long, lackluster period of blogging in which the blogger tries to explain said long, lackluster period of blogging while trying to be entertaining and usually failing.
During the 365 days that were 2010 and the past 25 days that have been 2011, I’ve made a lot of big life decisions.
First of all, I decided to start grad school… while working full-time. I figured I could handle it since I worked part-time while I was a full-time undergrad. This, ladies and gentlemen, is a poor judgment call. In reality, doing anything while you work full-time in athletics is effin’ HARD. (I am proud to gloat say that I am currently a 4.0 grad student so far!)
Then, I decided to toss in planning and paying for a wedding on top of all that.
I am afraid to say that all of this has caused me to…
::insert foreboding DUH DUH DUNNNNN noise here::
… grow up.
I know, crazy right?
Honestly though, I’ve completely lost interest in all the things my friends (who are younger, still in school full-time, single, etc.) are interested in.
I no longer have any interest in going to a party in which I will not know anyone. If there is potential for the party to become any sort of “rager”, I’m staying home.
On that note, I really have no interest in going out at all anymore. I’d rather sit around with my friends, have a few beers, and play cards. (And no, I don’t mean card games like Eff the Dealer or Circle of Death.)
If I do have the urge to go out, I really only want to go to the bars if it is on a “dead” night or if there are tables I can sit down at and have a conversation at. No people, no loud obnoxious music, and no seizure inducing strobe lights, please.
Lastly, I catch myself not wanting to hang out with my single friends as much because I feel like I’m an “outsider” now. Which blows my mind because I never felt like that when I was the single friend… but now I feel like I have nothing to talk about with them anymore.
And I feel this way with the blogosphere, too. Which is why I barely blog anymore.
I feel like I’m in this sort of blogging purgatory where I’m not quite one of those awesome “married bloggers” yet where I write about how insane my life is being attached to someone else nor am I one of those “cool, funny” bloggers anymore who just write about how insane their life is.
My life isn’t a funny sort of insane like it used to be – it’s just insane. And no one wants to read about that.
Do you?
I'm still trying to figure out this whole "growing up" thing everyone keeps talking about.
