The United States is, by a long shot, the global leader in mass
shootings, claiming just 5% of the global population but an outsized
share – 31% – of the world’s mass shooters since 1966, a new study
finds.The Philippines, Russia, Yemen and France – all countries
that can claim a substantial share of the 291 documented mass shootings
between 1966 and 2012 – collectively didn’t even come close to the
United States. And what makes the United States such a fertile
incubator for mass shooters? A comprehensive analysis of the
perpetrators, their motives and the national contexts for their actions
suggests that several factors have conspired to create in the United
States a potent medium for fostering large-scale murder.
Those factors include a chronic and widespread gap between Americans’
expectations for themselves and their actual achievement, Americans’
adulation of fame, and the extent of gun ownership in the United States.
Set
those features against a circumstance the United States shares with
many other countries – a backdrop of poorly managed mental illness –
and you have a uniquely volatile brew, the new study says.
With
those conclusions, University of Alabama criminologist Adam Lankford set
out to illuminate the darker side of American“exceptionalism” – the
notion that the United States’ size, diversity, political and economic
institutions and traditions set us apart in the world. Lankford’s paper
is among those being presented this week at the American Sociological Assn.’s annual meeting, in Chicago.
Perhaps no single factor sets the United States apart as sharply as
does gun ownership, wrote Lankford. Of 178 countries included in
Lankford’s analysis, the United States ranked first in per-capita gun
ownership. A 2007 survey found 270 million firearms in U.S. civilian
households – an ownership rate of 88.8 firearms per 100 people. Yemen
followed, with 54.8 firearms per 100 people.
Across the world,
countries’ rates of homicides and suicides bore no clear relation to
their likelihood of mass shootings in Lankford’s analysis. In several
countries with sky-high murder rates – Mexico, Venezuela and Nigeria
for instance – mass shootings were extremely rare.
But the association between national firearm ownership rates and number
of mass shooters per country showed clear statistical significance, he
found. Behind the United States’ top spot, Finland and Switzerland rank
third and fourth, respectively, in per-capita gun ownership. While both
countries enjoy vaunted reputations as safe places to live, both (along
with No. 2 Yemen and No. 5 Serbia) ranked in the top 15 countries
internationally for mass shooters per capita.
America’s “gun culture,” wrote Lankford, is deeply rooted in the idea
that broad gun-ownership is a bulwark against the emergence of tyranny.
And those roots continue to lie close to the surface, he wrote: A
national survey conducted in 2013 found that 65% of Americans believe
that the purpose of their right to bear arms remains “to make sure that
people are able to protect themselves from tyranny.
“But the
American notion that individual rights must be protected against the
state’s powers comes at a cost. "Because of its world-leading firearm
ownership rate, America does stand apart – and this appears connected
to its high percentage of mass shootings,” Lankford wrote.
American
mass shooters were also 3.6 times more likely to arm themselves with
multiple weapons than were those who perpetrated similar crimes
elsewhere, Lankford found. His analysis found that more weapons used in a
mass shooting translated into more people killed. (Curiously, however,
American mass shooters who carried out attacks using multiple weapons
tended to claim fewer lives than did armed shooters elsewhere who did
so.)
At the same time, mass shootings that took place in commercial spaces
or schools were much more likely to have been carried out by American
shooters than by those elsewhere, the new research found.
Multiple
studies have explored the motives of mass shooters, and in these
measures, too, Lankford suggests that uniquely American notions are
powerfully at work.
He cites survey data showing that young
Americans continue to embrace the “American dream” of soaring financial
and educational achievement, of doing better than one’s parents. When
such dreams are frustrated, this bedrock belief in upward mobility
predisposes some – especially those with a tenuous grasp on mental
health – to psychological “strain.” In rare instances, severe strain
helps forge mass shooters, he wrote.
As
powerful as the drive for material success is a newer American dream –
a yearning for fame, wrote Lankford. By this American preoccupation,
too, he suggests, frustrated strivers can be nudged toward mass
violence.
“Increasingly in America – perhaps more than in any
other country on the globe – fame is revered as an end unto itself,”
Lankford wrote. “Some mass shooters succumb to terrible delusions of
grandeur and seek fame and glory through killing.”
Eric Harris and
Dylan Klebold, the perpetrators of the April 1999 shootings at
Columbine High School, both illustrate and feed such delusions, wrote
Lankford: They both sought fame and gained infamy by their actions, and
their example has been cited as inspiration by school shooters since, in
Germany, Argentina, Finland and Canada.
___________
Resources: (Please reblog with other resources and petitions; these are just the first few things I could find)
I bought some fried plantain this afternoon to have with dinner later. I was just in the kitchen and I thought, “Oh let me just have one,” and then omfg I turned into Cookie Monster and just scarfed half of it down in one go. I am now placidly pretending to read an Oprah magazine in my bedroom while obsessing over the rest of it. Let’s see how long I can last.
My left hand smells like garlic (I was seasoning fish). So I tried using my pomegranate scented lotion to see if it would mask it. But now it smells like garlic infused pomegranate which would probably be really nice as a sauce on actual food but it makes my hand smell less than desirable. Let’s see how my new Aveeno facial moisturiser holds up against it.
I can’t stop staring at this gif. I love that the first thing that the artist did was to remove the orange fake tan from his face. Trump’s complexion is too bright for drag queen makeup.
Dr Lawrence Williams, a research consultant to Jamaica’s Scientific Research Council, has already been offered over $11 billion (US$100 million) by a major drug company in the United States for the patent relating to his cancer research. Who is Lawrence Williams?
A consultant to Jamaica’s Scientific Research Council (SRC), Dr Williams has beenconducting research for years on a compound from the Guinea Hen Weed (or Petiveria alliacea)
The toxicologist is confident that the drug he has been developing will be effective against a range of cancers. Dr Williams explains more about Guinea Hen Weed.
“It works on 12 kinds of cancers so far; two or three types of breast cancer, neuroblastoma, lung, melanoma, adenocarcinoma, prostate, etc.,” the researcher told RJR.
Hopefully he will hold onto it to stop big pharma profiting from treating the cancers instead of just curing them outright. We need to kill capitalism.
They don’t buy the research to reinvest or heal cancer patients…they buy the research so they can put it in a safe and profit off donations and medical bills.
you’re out in public and your eyes fall on another person and your mind does this quick assessment and you think oh there’s old people, or middle aged people. those people. others. then you take a second look and realise they’re probably your age. cause you’re old people, middle aged or something. they’re not others. they’re you.
Dick pics are the best example of how much men are fascinated by their own penises. And how much women aren’t.
The idea that we would want a picture of your dick is laughable.
What are we supposed to do with it? (hint: we share them with our friends and laugh at them)
Yeah women don’t get turned on by seeing a dick.
You wanna get some action? Describe to her in explicit detail what you’re gonna do to her when you eat her out. I guarantee you that will be much better received.
I’m so sorry to hear that babe. I feel exactly the same way.
Just to show the difference in cultures, my grandmother killed herself with a pistol when my mom was in her early 20s. My mom still has the gun, among others. When I asked why she didn’t get rid of it, she said “She killed herself; the gun didn’t kill her. Besides, this is an original 1930s Smith & Wesson Detective Special. You don’t just throw away an original Smith & Wesson.”
I would say that in at least half of the suicides where a gun is used the family requests the gun back when we conclude the investigation. And it’s not my job to clean it so sometimes they get it back in really bad condition.
I find that shocking. And appalling. Why would you want that anywhere near you? Oh my god.
He now releases albums under his new name, Sananda Maitreya.
So I see, I just googled him. I checked out his website and played one of his videos for a few seconds. His voice sounds very much the same. I didn’t listen long enough to know if the song was any good or not.
I’m so sorry to hear that babe. I feel exactly the same way.
Just to show the difference in cultures, my grandmother killed herself with a pistol when my mom was in her early 20s. My mom still has the gun, among others. When I asked why she didn’t get rid of it, she said “She killed herself; the gun didn’t kill her. Besides, this is an original 1930s Smith & Wesson Detective Special. You don’t just throw away an original Smith & Wesson.”
This is why I think Americans are completely insane when it comes to guns. This idea that guns don’t kill people, people kill people. That’s fucking nuts. I’ll never understand this worship Americans have for guns. Something so dangerous and people treat it like an accessory. Crazy.
There’s a lot of mythology surrounding redheaded people, but one ignorant assumption trumps them all: Redheads are white. The reality? They’re not. Photographer Michelle Marshall is raising awareness of this fact through her photo series “MC1R.” Even someone with two black parents can have red hair.
I have to do deliveries tomorrow. I usually don’t mind but my creative energy is on high right now and I wish I could stay home and just work all day. When I leave, it kind of cuts my momentum. Also I have my dental surgery (the bone graft) scheduled for Thursday afternoon and our AC guy is coming to do maintenance on our units that morning. So that’s another workday lost. And who knows how I’ll feel after the surgery. *sigh*
I love what I’m doing so much. Like so, so much. Every day I find myself more and more in my own work. I’m finding my style. I’m finding my aesthetic. It’s a journey of self discovery. And I’ve never loved doing anything as much as I love this. One of my girlfriends from back in high school told me that she thinks I’ve found my calling. I think she might be right. I can feel something burning inside of me, and I know it’s just the tip of the iceberg. I feel like I’m on fire. It’s just the most amazing feeling. I am discovering a new part of me through my work and I am feeling a spark that’s been missing for a really, really long time. I am so grateful.
I’m kinda hungry and I’m wondering if I wanna eat late night ramen again.
Also I have a large fish fillet defrosting and I wanted to remind myself to put it in the fridge and for some reason in my mind I thought, “put the frog in the fridge,” and ew why would I even think that that’s so gross.
Also my niece started kindergarten today. She looked adorable. And tall my god that child is going to tower over us all.
I am very anti gun. I don’t understand why anyone would want to own something that was specifically created to hurt or kill someone/something. Our laws in Australia sound about the same. My dad killed himself with a gun which is why I feel that way.
I’m so sorry to hear that babe. I feel exactly the same way.
I created a design I liked a lot better for that spinning crystal. I’m gonna do a hammered version as well. I have these coming in a few different colours. I can’t wait to make necklaces out of them all.
When my brother and I were kids my father never allowed us to play with any toys that remotely resembled guns. We didn’t really realise it at the time how staunchly anti-gun he was, but I do remember receiving a gift of a toy gun that had large rubber balls as the “bullets” (you had to squeeze the rubber gun for the bullet to fly out) and never seeing it again after playing with it that first day.
Anton and I used to try to build guns out of Lego, but the barrels always fell off at crucial moments, leaving us in stitches. I never actually touched or fired a real gun until I was in college. Guns are illegal to own in Trinidad except under certain special circumstances, and obtaining one (legally) is extremely difficult. They don’t even allow people to own paintball guns anymore. My father’s attitude toward guns is reflective of how most people feel about them here.
Venezuelans love guns. I don’t know what the laws are there but lots of people have them. There can be no celebration without gunfire and on any given day it was common to hear gunshots echoing through the mountains of Caracas.
We were driving home one day, now turning up the corner of our hill when I saw a man get out of a car with a gun in his hand, pointing it at two men. I think he had already shot them because they were laying on the grass, one holding his leg in agony while the other tried to crawl away. He walked purposefully toward them as we rounded the bend and drove out of sight. My parents didn’t even notice that this was happening a few feet away. I was so shocked I couldn’t speak until we were long past them. I never found out what it was about. Caracas was too violent a city for that to make the news.
There was a boy in my class named Pablo, whose father had a collection of guns. Like lots of kids with wealthy, busy parents, he was left at home unsupervised a lot. One day in ninth grade he’d invited a bunch of friends over. After most of them had gone home he trotted out some of his father’s guns and started playing around with our friends Greg and Marlon. At one point he chased them around the living room with what he seemed to assume was an unloaded gun. They were terrified. Marlon later told that he had always been taught to treat a gun as though it was always loaded, so while Pablo pointed the gun at him, laughing, he was in tears on his knees literally begging for his life. Pablo then turned the gun to his temple and grinned and said, “I’m gonna kill myself,” and pulled the trigger. His brains exploded all over the room. No one knows for sure if it was an accident or not.
I recall a conversation between my father and his friend Chris Thomas who was then the Ambassador for Trinidad to Caracas. He kept a weapon in the house even though his residence was guarded. His view was that he would always shoot first and ask questions later. My father asked him what would happen if one of his children came home late at night and he mistook them for an intruder. He adamantly replied that they would have to get shot. My father was incredulous, but he wasn’t joking.
Same. I’ve never lived in any house/apartment for longer than five years. Although that’s about to change, our five year anniversary of buying this condo is in a week.
I’d say five years is my record too, except I guess when it comes to my parents’ house now, although I have never lived there that long for a consecutive period of time. I’ve left and come back a few times and had moves in between. It sort of contributes to that feeling of impermanence. In the past six years I’ve moved five times. That’s been rough.
I’m doing some experimenting here. I’m layering crushed turquoise, tiny bits of pyrite and peacock ore (pictured in the lower left) on brass pieces to make some pendants and earrings. They look nice but I’m not sure how it’s gonna work when I peel the tape off. Fingers crossed I don’t fuck it up. Likelihood? I’d say pretty high. I just have to be patient and let it dry properly. I’m also making two crystal rings and some peacock ore studs. I guess I’m gonna leave these to dry and go get some lunch.
Ugh. I have to do some resin work today in the studio. I’ve been putting it off but I have to replace a ring I made for a client. Resin is messy and takes a day to dry. Bleh.
I lived in probably twelve different houses before graduating high school, so I’ve never been able to identify with the having a “childhood bedroom” thing, either. I don’t know that I’ve ever been jealous though? But maybe that’s bad. Haha.
Well some people are nostalgic for the past and some aren’t. I tend to like to have something to connect to but not everyone’s like that
The first time I read this I thought you said horse (not house), and I was a little offended because I don’t even think a horse can be ugly. But yeah, lots of houses on HGTV shows can be ugly.
Holiday Etsy prep is already upon me…Making photoshop tee mockups…!!!
The Reality of The Other Person Lies Not In What He Reveals To You, But What He Cannot Reveal To You.
Therefore, If You Would Understand Him, Listen Not To What He Says, But Rather To What He Does Not Say.
There is no reason for me to be awake now. Woken up by Chris’s alarm and a bad dream. Now I feel upset and not a bit sleepy. I’m gonna pay for this later. I only went to bed four hours ago.
That’s exactly what I think. Where the hell do you put all your stuff? I understand it’s about downsizing but… Where the hell do you put all your stuff!
I’ve always been fascinated by people who grew up in one house all their lives. By the time I was about to turn two I was moving to my third country. I’ve lived in a lot of homes. And the lack of stability has had an effect on my psyche. I’ve had to learn to detach easily, but with that also comes a feeling of never being settled. So when people can go into their childhood bedrooms and connect with all their memories I find it pretty amazing. I’m always envious. My past mostly only exists in my memories.
This guy on House Hunters is 26 and looks 46. How unfortunate. And his wife said she is looking for cookie cutter house. Why would you want that? Oh. Cookies. Now I want chocolate chip cookies. Mmmmmm
I’m watching someone build a tiny house on HGTV and it’s really cute and all for like, one person but after that it starts getting ridiculous. I’ve spent my adult life living in one small shitty apartment after another. When I build my own home it’s going to be big. I’m big people. Tiny doesn’t work for me.
I think one of my girlfriends is cheating on her husband. That’s not really even the worst part. The worst part is that I think he’s finally figured out who the other man is.
A friend of Chris’s gave him a bottle of whiskey today for his birthday and when he came home it fell through the bottom of the box and smashed and broke and there was whiskey all over the kitchen floor and man cleaning that up was not fun at ALL.
I changed my Instagram username to sundarajewelry. Oddly enough it wasn’t available before. But today I decided I should change it just for branding purposes and somehow there it was, mine for the taking.
It was the same with my website actually. Someone owned sundarajewelry.com and I basically did something where I registered my email in case it became free. And then right before I was ready to start setting up my website the ownership of the domain expired and they never re-registered it so I snatched it up. I then got an email (after I had already purchased it) offering it to me for something like $60. I think I paid between $5-$10 for it. Heh.
Those tassel earrings I just listed seem really popular with everyone on Facebook. The light blue ones in particular. Those are the ones that I almost scrapped when I was making them because I didn’t like the colour. You just never know what people are going to like man.
I can only make two pairs of each colour. That’s how much thread I have.
Hey everyone! I was asked to design and sew a custom Itty Bitty for Hallmark, and my design is now up for vote! I would really, really appreciate your support. The Itty Bitty with the most votes will be put into production and sold, which is a huge dream of mine.
It’s important to me that every kid who walks into a toy store is able to find something that is representative of/relatable to them, and this is my small effort into making that a reality.
You can vote once a day for one design per device (phone, tablet, computer, etc) which is a really, really difficult choice, (I love so many of them!) for the next 16 days, and I would love your support to make my mermaid dreams come true.
There are no bonuses or incentives for winning except that little kids (and big kids) all over the country would be able to have something I made.
Any kind of signal boost would also be really lovely of you! ❤
Thank you!
PLEASE VOTE for Han’s amazing little mermaid! Not only is she SUPER DUPER CUTE, but diversity really matters – something I personally find really important in children’s toys and media!!
You can vote EVERYDAY!
Nothing is required to vote. Just go to the site and click to support this awesome toy.
The capacity to be alone is the capacity to love. It may look paradoxical to you, but it is not. It is an existential truth: only those people who are capable of being alone are capable of love, of sharing, of going into the deepest core of the other person—without possessing the other, without becoming dependent on the other, without reducing the other to a thing, and without becoming addicted to the other.
so, there’s a lot of shit going around about banksy right now.
i’m just going to say here that i’m not a graffiti artist. i very much enjoy graffiti but i don’t make graffiti art and these are simply my personal thoughts as an outside perspective.
first of all, i don’t think that tagging and what banksy does are even in the same league. tagging is a specific statement. it takes space, it is a nonviolent way to fight the legality and oppression of the government. it breaks the law in an artistic way where nobody gets hurt. it’s used to claim territory, to immortalize, and to fight against the powers at be. in most cases, its freestyled. it takes hours. the graffiti community is tight knit and exercises a good amount of respect for one another. graffiti is seen by most as a blemish, strange words or names written fantastically on walls that don’t belong to the artist, without permission, and are often covered up by street cleaners because they depreciate business/real estate value.
i do not find banksy as a graffiti artist because he doesn’t do these things. he’s not a radical and he’s not some kind of political revolutionary. he’s not claiming space for the oppressed, he’s just trying to make a buck on a scene he probably thought was cool.
this would be fine with me, if it wasn’t for the inexcusable tragedy that was the years leading up to King Robbo’s death.
this piece was painted by King Robbo in 1985. It was located under the London Transport Police Headquarters in Camden, London. this place was only accessible by water. when most of Robbo’s other works had been covered up, this one remained. for a while it was the oldest piece in London.
by 2009, the piece had gone the way most tags go, everything is transient and every space is fair game for more people to make their marks. this is the nature of graffiti, and to it King Robbo took no offense.
that year, Banksy painted this. It is a wall painter, removing the piece from the walls. he took the oldest piece of graffiti in london, which was no longer even just King Robbo’s, but an impromptu collaboration between many london graffiti artists, and he disrespected it. if it wasn’t enough that they were getting jailed while banksy was making millions for the same work, he disrespected them. he spit on them. he decided his statement was worth more than the oldest piece of graffiti in london and on top of that, THIS IS A STENCIL. he couldn’t even free-hand it! he decided his LITERAL cookie-cutter street art was more important that Robbo’s only surviving legacy.
insulted, King Robbo replied. he was quoted saying
“I was at a place called the Dragon Bar on Old Street. I was introduced to a couple of guys who were like ‘whoa it’s nice to meet you!’. When I was introduced to Banksy, I went ‘Oh yeah I’ve heard of you mate, how you doing?’ and he went ‘well I’ve never heard of you’…he dismissed me as a nobody, as nothing. So with that I slapped him and went ‘oh what you ain’t heard of me? you won’t forget me now will you?’ and with that he picked up his glasses and ran off.” obviously this was an insulting display to King Robbo, who had managed what most graffiti artists can never pull off, he had a timeless piece. he gained some fame, some notoriety. this piece, of all the pieces in london, banksy covered up with a stencil. EVEN SO, Robbo left banksy’s work, whereas banksy deliberately covered his up.
banksy replied. as you can see, very thought provoking. quite profound.
King Robbo corrected the piece.
at this point, an unknown third part covers the wall.
it wasn’t over, as this had become very personal for King Robbo. He painted this work. At this point, many other graffiti artists had already started tagging the streets with “TEAM ROBBO”. many of banksy’s works were being tagged over, like he did to King Robbo’s, in an effort to send a message. Mainstream media called these “defacement” and “vandalism” of banksy Originals, where the travesty against King Robbo went mostly unnoticed outside london and the graffiti community.
as you can see, Team Robbo exploded, giving many of banksy’s pieces the same respect he gave King Robbo’s long-standing artwork.
after being blacked out again, banksy painted this piece. the meaning is lost on me, if you know what it means, let me know. it’s strange and confusing.
this had gone on into 2011, when King Robbo fell into a coma. It was only 5 days before his exhibition, “Team Robbo – The Sellout Tour”. he unfortunately never got to attend his exhibition, and never again woke up. he died in july 2014.
banksy, supposedly making a memorial, made sure he got the last word:
Chris’s birthday present. I don’t buy wrapping paper I wrap everything in craft paper and decorate it. I used a stamp I carved for this one and tied it with suede. Seems masculine enough to right?
My mom just told me there are no eggs to be found in the supermarket by her. I just realised that last time I went to our supermarket there were none there either. We buy free range eggs from a place a couple doors down from us. There’s some kind of health condition affecting chickens globally or something causing a shortage. Hmph. We eat a lot of eggs.
She also just told me about a small retail place that’s available in a really good location in Port of Spain. I don’t think I’m in a place financially where I could afford that yet. But my ideal has been to have a retail space with a studio in the back. Gosh that would be so cool.
It could also be really annoying if I had to stop working every minute to attend to customers.
I’m making progress on my orders I should be up to speed after all. Awesome.
I think I’m gonna make churros tonight cause I fucking need something to satisfy this craving. Dammit man.
Got to FaceTime with my niece and sister today. This was after my first conversation with my niece who got a little upset that she couldn’t have more juice and decided she was done talking to me. Like I had something to do with it.
Her favourite colour is still red but she also likes purple and pink too. Her favourite number is 1 and her favourite muppet is Elmo. There is no hint of a Trinidadian accent in her voice. Apparently she doesn’t know we’re taking her to Disney in December. I didn’t spill the beans 🙂
When I was ten years old, a dog bit the back of my head. The doctor said, within earshot but out of sight – he didn’t think I could hear him – that had the dog’s teeth been a little longer, they could have gone in under my skull. Hit my brain stem. Killed me, crippled me.
I don’t know whether or not he was right. All I know is that for a decade and a half after that, I harbored a complete and unreasoning terror of dogs. It didn’t matter how big they were, or how tame, or how kind. Someone else could assure me that they were the best dog in the world, that they knew the dog, that he would never hurt anyone, and it didn’t matter, because I was convinced that any dog could suddenly turn on me, bite me hard enough to kill me.
There were two dogs I slowly learned to trust during that time period. And, eventually, I learned to understand dogs again, to understand their body language, to like them again, because my husband convinced me to get a puppy, to raise a dog from when it was small, that this would help me get over my fear.
No one ever told me I was crazy or irrational for not wanting to be around dogs after I’d been attacked and nearly killed by one. No one. For fifteen years, it was understandable that I would be afraid – terribly, unreasoningly afraid – of dogs. A dog attacked me. I bore the traumatic scars. I found dogs terrifying, unpredictable. I could not trust any of them – no matter how kind they’d been to my friends, no matter how well-recommended they came or how well they’d been raised – not to turn on me and injure me.
It’s Chris’s birthday tomorrow. My honey is turning 44. Good grief.
Anyway we’re having a lime for him at my mom’s house tomorrow as it’s a much better space for entertaining than our home. She’s not even gonna be there she’s on her own beat. And I’m really looking forward to it. A bunch of our friends are coming over, we hired a DJ, there’s gonna be food and drinks and cake and ice cream. It’s gonna be awesome.
Except that I am literally swamped with orders! I usually work on weekends but this weekend I won’t have much time and I’d really like to finished everything in one go so I can deliver/mail out everything all at once. I feel a little stressed today (three of the orders came in between last night and this morning).
I’m not complaining. God I am SO not complaining. It’s been four years since I collected a regular paycheck. I have been living in a state of feast or famine, and quite frankly it’s been mostly famine, for a really long time, financially.
Chris has been supporting me for our entire relationship while I got this business off the ground. And money has been tight. Not to mention that being financially dependent on someone is something that makes me REALLY uncomfortable. So it has done wonders for me to be making some money of my own now. It has boosted my self esteem incredibly, and every dollar I’ve earned has felt so very precious to me. I’ve had many jobs, I’ve worked for myself, I’ve worked for other people, but I’ve never done anything that has given me more joy, that has been more rewarding, than this.
So but yeah I’m swamped. And I was planning on doing laundry and whatever else today but some of that stuff may have to wait so I can finish up a custom order to get it mailed out in time next week. Man I feel so fucking lucky. I can’t even tell ya. Swamped is a really good thing.
I don’t agree with what the Ashley Madison hackers did but I’m not holding them accountable for breaking up marriages. If you register on a site to indulge in an extramarital affair, then you’re the one responsible for breaking up your own damn marriage.
I love these!! This is one of those moments I wish I’d never stretched my ears ��
Unfortunately I don’t know how to make plugs 😦 You know what though? My friend Joshua Benjamin makes really beautiful jewellery for people with stretched ear lobes. Check out www.diabloorganics.com. He’s also on tumblr, jimmybuddha.
Hope it gets better soon! I get lots of random skin reactions to things I’m not even aware of so I know how horrible it can be. 😦
Thankssss. I woke up this morning with raised welts on my abdomen. Either I was scratching myself in my sleep or my skin was at a point where it was just reacting to anything it touched. I feel ok just mildly sensitive to the touch. It’s horrible never knowing what set it off. I can’t even avoid it for the future. Argh
I don’t know why I don’t use my neti pot more often. My ears are clear for the first time in months after I had tried everything I could think of to unblock them.
Chris is fighting a really bad sinus infection left over from the cold we both had a month ago. So I trotted out the neti pot for him to use to see if it would help. Turns out he didn’t know we had one. I showed him how to use it and it seems to be working. So this morning I decided I’d give it a spin, and pretty much immediately my ears popped. I can hear!! Not that there’s anyone here to talk to but hey it feels really nice. My ears can “breathe”. Ahhhh relief.
And to clear something up. That color barrier is for black people who feel they are not black enough. Not white people or non-black POC who wish to be black.
Something is giving me a strong allergic reaction. I’m itching all over and have broken out in a rash. Took a pill but to no avail. What the bloody hell man. Fucking allergies can eat shit. So sick of being allergic to everything. I don’t even know half the time what I’m reacting to it just keeps getting worse. This feels like a food allergy though. Maybe the food I ate tonight had been friend in oil that had also cooked shrimp. Even through I can tolerate that usually. But every so often my body does this shit. So yeah I guess I’ll be awake all night.
Story behind this: J Cole bought his childhood home and now rents it out almost rent free to a struggling family from the neighborhood till they get more financially stable, the only catch is that every two years a new family gets to move in and have the chance to live rent free.
A true king
I wanna be J Cole
He’s a blessing. I think that this is what having money should be about.
You know when you want something “delicious” but you don’t know what you want?
Today I wanted something sweet, that had to be warm. Two things came to mind: a crepe, or churros.
Chris and I went to lunch today at a place that served crepes and I was getting one to go but it was taking too long so we left. I went elsewhere and got one but by the time I got home it was too cold and just wasn’t doing it for me. It also put me in an unwelcome food coma.
So I’m still here at 10 o’clock at night jonesing for something warm and non savoury. I am NOT making churros at this hour. But dammit I want… something!!!
soulsistrin 