Respect to our Volunteers!

   I am royally peeved! This is something that happened yesterday, but I am still so miffed about it, I am just boiling over! Hehe, this means I had all night to stew about it, and it's gonna come out GOOD.

   So what has my panties all up in a bunch? People showing absolutely no respect to our Volunteer Firefighters rushing to a rescue on the road! I'm driving my husband to his MRI the next town over last night when I see flashing red lights on top of everyday vehicles. Being the grand-daughter of a Volunteer Fire Chief and the niece of a Volunteer Firefighter, I know what these vehicles are. Also, being this is a poor community all we have for Fire Rescue are Volunteers. Same with our Ambulance Team. The only full time, non-Volunteers we have are our Police Officers. All other Emergency Rescue that are in the immediate area are Volunteers.

   So on with my rant. I see the lights, and I do what any person would do when they see flashing red lights on an emergency response vehicle. I pull off to the side of the road. Everyone else though, just kinda slows down behind me and stares like monkeys on a log scratching their butts. They don't pull over, they don't stop, nothing. They keep going. In the lane with the Emergency Response, no one pulls over. They keep going as though no one is behind them needing to get around. At that point, as much as I hate to say this, I secretly wished it was their house on fire. Seriously, where is the respect these people deserve? They put their lives on the line and don't ask for anything in return!

   This also reminds me of another time I encounter disrespect towards one the local Volunteers. It was when I was working as a cashier. I was in the middle of checking out someone when I heard a couple of teenage girls talking (not so quietly) to each other. One said to the other "OMG! Do you see that giant guy over there? He has like a huge tumor or something on the back of his neck! It's so gross! They shouldn't let people like that walk around in public." Other girl, "I know, right?". I looked towards where they were looking and noticed who they were talking about. I was enraged (I was already enraged, but now even more so). At this point I spoke up, "That's not a tumor, it's a scar from where a back draft of fire came up under his helmet during a fire rescue." I said with a not so happy look on my face. By this time I was checking out the two girls. The lady in front of me didn't seem too happy with their comment either because she gave them a disgusting look before she left. Before I could finish what I had to say about the man, the first girl piped up, "You couldn't pay me enough to do a job that dangerous....or stupid.". She smirked afterwards thinking she had "outsmarted" me and made her point about "ugly people". How ignorant some teenagers can be. I finished up, "Same for him. That's why he's a Volunteer. FYI, that back draft scar is over top of his scar from his epilepsy surgery. Before he had his surgery he could only dream of doing something like being a Firefighter, going to the store alone, driving, stuff you do every day.". I smiled at the last part. Not because I had won, but because I was proud of the man. Of all he had overcome, and what he could now do. The two girls were speechless as they paid for their stuff and walked away. The man had just finished paying for his stuff and was walking past my register. I asked the next customer if it she didn't mind waiting a second while I gave my Uncle a hug. She, of course, had no problem. I then walked over, stood on my tippy toes, and gave my 6 foot 6 inch Uncle a hug. Even though I have always been proud of my Uncle for all he has overcome, I was even more proud at that moment.

   Our Volunteers may not wear a uniform or drive a special vehicle, but they deserve the same respect as those that do. They do the same job as our uniformed Emergency Response. The only difference is they don't get a paycheck for it.

That's today's rant. Peace out, rant on!

-Sesshy

Movie Rant

   I just saw the commercial for "The Host" on my tv. I read the book. I absolutely LOVE the book. I have read The Host by Stefani Meyer about 2 or 3 times now. I don't even own The Host. I have to barrow it from my sister whenever I want to read it, and she lives 4 hours away. Yeah, yeah, I know. "If you LOVE the book that much, why not buy it?". Because I'm financially challenged, that's why. Plus, why buy something that someone else will let me use for free whenever I want?

   Ok, back on topic. The commercial. It pissed me off. THE ACTORS ARE ALL WRONG. What I mean is whoever picked the actors sucked ass and needs to go go read the book and learn what the characters should actually look like! If Stefani picked out the actors, well, no offense....I love her as a writer....but she stick to writing. I can't read the Twilight novels anymore because the movies just ruined everything for me as far as the looks of the characters. I only watched the 1st movie but it just sickened me. More on Twilight in a minute. Back to The Host commercial. The main character, Melani (aka Mel) looks too...innocent. WRONG! WRONG!WRONG! She is supposed to look like someone who can rough it and throw some punches (as well as take some!). She should is supposed to be a strong female leader. The person they have playing Jeb is completely wrong. Anyone, and I do mean ANYONE, that reads the description and 1st spoken lines of Jeb will automatically picture Sam Elliot. For those that don't know, or can't think of who Sam Elliot is, he played as the graveyard attendant/cowboy ghost rider in (obviously) the movie Ghost Rider. He also played Lee Scoresby in Golden Compass. For older people, you may remember him in Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid. I remember the 1st time I read The Host and I read Jeb's first spoken line, Sam Elliot was exactly who came to mind. I have talked to several other people and they have told me the same thing. Of all the actors to get wrong, how on earth can they mess up Jeb???

  Back to Twilight. Unlike Harry Potter, where all the characters looked like they actually should have, the only actors to actually match their characters were Taylor Lautner, Peter Facilini (Carlisle Cullen), Rachelle Lefevre (Victoria), and Gil Birmingham (Billy Black). The rest were complete failures. Edward never looked at Bella with a calm, but confused look. Like he was trying to study her. He never looked over her with loving concern. When he got upset, he never did it with a sense of calming concern. Instead he always seemed like an emo teen full of anger and teenage angst. Bella always seemed like she was stoned. Sure, Forks looked like Forks, and the movie pretty much followed the book, but the actors did not (in my opinion) fulfill their roles as their characters. In the the Harry Potter series, at least the actors looked the part. They acted the part. It was the directors that strayed from the books as the movies progressed. Either way, the Harry Potter Movies held more true to their books both in capturing the essence of the character, and the world, than the Twilight movies ever did. And I have a feeling The Host is going to be the same blunder, as far as actors go, as the Twilight movies were.

  Well, that's today's today's rant. Peace out, rant on.

-Sesshy

My first rant, and some gun control...

      For starters, I would like to say, I am not a huge blog reader. For me to start a blog is probably the oddest thing for me to do (not really). I am more into online comics, video games, anime cartoons, dress up games, and other geeky girl stuff. I don't care about the Kardashians (who are they exactly anyway?), and I don't watch those reality vote-em off shows. I have been called all sorts of things throughout my life from cute and pretty, to tomboy, to geek and nerd (both before and after geeks and nerds were cool). I've been the girl next door, the cheerleader, the emo/punk/goth chick. I've even been the girl that was with that bad boy biker guy, and we were stead for the longest time, then we were on again off again back and forth and it was the biggest news in high school. Was I popular? Never. At least not in my opinion. I felt I was always the person at the bottom of the totem trying so hard to work my way to the top. Only when I graduated did i realize that it was the people at the top that wished they could have traded places with me.

     So why did I decide to start a blog? Because I could. Why not? Not only that, but there is SOOOO MUCH THAT NEEDS TO BE SAID, AND NOT ENOUGH THAT IS HEARD. I have lived may too much and experienced way too much in the few years I have lived life. That being said, I seem to see things and understand things that the average person can no longer get.

      For example, this whole gun reform crap. I understand why and what-not, but the way the government is trying to go about it is all wrong. And on top of that, where was this gun refom back when Columbine happened? It took several high schools, colleges, an amish school, and an a group of 1st graders for this to happen? Reform needs to happen, but not in the form of no guns, limited ammo, etc. It needs to come in the form of more aggressive background checks and mental health checks. Don't let a person walk in and out the same day with a gun. If they want it that bad then they won't mind filling out the paperwork and letting it process a few days. The store can hold the gun during that time. Private sellers should be required to obtain a background check from the buyer. Failure to do so should result in fines and jail time. And I'm not talking a slap on a wrist. I'm talking at least a year of time and a couple grand in fines. If passing from one family member to another, it should be documented through the state. While I think it's a bunch of BS that we have to have the government hold our hand for ever little thing we do now days, this kinda makes sense. Or a simpler solution is to make people have to complete a series of classes and courses for weapons just like you do for driving a vehicle. Have a learners type permit where you need someone 21 or older at all times with you if you are out hunting or have a gun or weapon of any type on you. After you would complete another course to make sure you still know your gun/weapon safety. If you pass you get a regular permit that you have to renew ever 10 years or so. If you are caught at any time not following the laws of the weapon rules, you lose your permit and the rights to own a weapon. A person behind a wheel can kill a person just as easily as a person behind a trigger.

Well, that's today's rant. I started. I ranted. I'll have more. Have fun and peace out.

-Sesshy