Tales of a Brand New L.A. Resident

For a while I’ve contemplated the new beginnings of a blog dedicated mostly to my experiences as a brand new Los Angeles transplant. However, as I live in the West Hollywood area, it took me a while to get past the, “Everyone’s so fit!” and “Why is everything so expensive?” stage. Well, as classic LA stereotypes, I didn’t have the urge to write about those just yet.

One thing P and I have decided to do as noobs, is try to do a couple tourist activities every month. We figured we have about a year to get them out of our system. And frankly, it would be great research for people who visit, as we would have first-hand knowledge of what is worth seeing/doing and what isn’t (Hint hint!).

I’ve also been hesitant to start this blog while planning a wedding. In addition to the normal stress that goes into putting together such an event, going out in L.A. IS expensive and we’re trying to save money. So, generally, the stuff we’ve been trying has either been free or found on a discount website. T’was a surprise, but Amazon Local has been a huge find for us.

So… here goes.

Well… that was a fail.

Ok- so I’m terrible at keeping up with this blog and I finally deem it on hiatus for a while.

If you are at all interested in following my book blog, you can do so here:

http://bekahsbookmark.wordpress.com/

Geek Time

So, this post will probably be of little interest to those of you that merely follow me for my book review blog or grad school musings. BUT I just had to make a quick post about my seriously awesome boyfriend.

For those of you that know Patrick, he is working on his career in comic art/ storyboarding and he has been donating covers to an organization that sells comic books on ebay and then sends all the proceeds to the American Cancer Society. This is his third donation and I’m pretty sure it’s my favorite he’s done so far.

You can see the bidding here:

http://m.ebay.com/itm/350989378826?nav=SEARCH&sbk=1

I’m honestly completely blown away by how talented he is and had to share. 🙂

Tennessee- SJR 127

This is a really opinionated post, so feel free to stop reading now. I might have a post like this every so often but I don’t intend to make political issues a major part of this blog.

 

This year, when you vote in Tennessee, you will also be voting for SJR 127- Abortion Specifics. Currently, in Tennessee, you have a fundamental right to an abortion. This resolution will change Tennessee’s Constitution to allow politicians (NOT doctors or medical personnel) the ability to enact restrictions on women if they want an abortion.

 

One really important thing you need to note about this potential change is that it gives absolutely zero protection to women whose pregnancies result from rape, incest, or whose life is endangered by the pregnancy. This resolution completely takes away the fundamental right to an abortion in this state. Voting for SJR 127 opens up the possibility for laws to pass that make it near impossible to obtain an abortion (or potentially outlaw the procedure altogether) even in these circumstances.

 

I know there are a lot of reasons people are against abortion. And it is important to realize that these are PERSONAL reasons. Maybe you are religious. Maybe you simply consider birth to begin at conception. You have a right to act on these beliefs and no one should take away these rights from you. However, these are beliefs that you have determined are right to you as an individual. They are an opinion. Would you want someone imposing their beliefs/opinions on you? Of course not.

 

In this same vein, there are a lot of reasons someone would want an abortion. For example, maybe the woman has cancer and in order to receive chemo she needs to have an abortion? What if she can’t obtain an abortion quickly enough due to delays and clinics closing because of new laws? Or what if fetus personhood laws go into effect? That would give the fetus a ‘right-to-life’ and she would be unable to terminate the pregnancy OR have lifesaving treatment. Shouldn’t this incredibly difficult decision be left up to the woman and her family alone?

 

I, myself, am not sure I would ever be able to have an abortion, especially at this stage in my life. BUT I fully believe that everyone should have the right to choose what they want for themselves. If you don’t want an abortion, don’t have one. Simple. However, I see a real problem with taking away a woman and her family’s choice all together.

 

I honestly don’t understand why a stranger should have the ability to make these decisions for me. My health and what I do with my body should not be determined by my government.

 

Please take the time to read all the information. Even if you don’t agree with me it is important to be informed. Your vote will make a major impact in one way or another.

 

Senate Joint resolution 127

http://www.capitol.tn.gov/Bills/106/Bill/SJR0127.pdf

 

How your congressman voted

http://votesmart.org/bill/13395/abortion-specifications#.UuGQ7RAo672

 

Planned Parenthood Statement

http://www.plannedparenthood.org/about-us/newsroom/local-press-releases/planned-parenthood-reacts-resolution-restricting-tennessee-womens-rights-36971.htm

 

Rolling Stone- The Stealth War on Abortion

http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/news/the-stealth-war-on-abortion-20140115

Well… I guess we’ll see if I get harassed for posting this.

End in Sight

This past week was my last first week of graduate school (barring anything tragic, anyway). I’m slightly more excited for this semester than I have been in a long time and I’m guessing that’s because the end is finally in sight. The past year (2013) was certainly a challenge. Some things in my personal life were less than fun and I truly did not want to be in graduate school. It clearly showed in my grades and lack of enthusiasm. Yet, I think I’m getting a miraculous little burst of energy to get me over the finish line.

One thing I did decide to do, at least temporarily, is close down my facebook account. I do this periodically when I notice I’m checking facebook without realizing it. Seriously. I’ll be planning on texting someone or logged online to research something and somehow my fingers have typed in “facebook.com” (or just typed the letter ‘F’ into the address bar and facebook automatically appears) or clicked the app without intending to. Usually I’m about five statuses/pictures in before I’ve realized what I’ve done. It also hinders my studying a surprising amount, just because it interrupts what I’m in the middle of doing. No, I’m not saying I’m never getting on facebook again or that my account is closed, but I need to take a break for a few months. HOWEVER, because I don’t want to be left out of activities and fun group things, I’ll still check it at least once a week just so I can see what’s going on.

Besides, I’m not giving up Twitter, Tumblr, Instagram, and this brand new blog. Pfft! Please!

On another note, you may have noticed my past post with my top ten books. I’ve decided that, while I’m still trying to get into the habit of posting regularly, I’m going to try to make a ‘Top Ten’ list every week. I’ve always really enjoyed lists and I think it would be a fun addition to this blog and something I would maybe like to keep for the future.

Sooo… what’s going on in my life? I guess that should really be what I’m posting about if I’m treating this like a journal…

The Boyfriend left again for Atlanta today to work on a new project. I think I’ve finally come to terms with him leaving and showing up abruptly. As someone that likes planning, it was certainly something I had to adapt to. I was very glad he was here this weekend, though, because I had a small emergency with my dog and he did a terrific job at keeping me calm and driving the pup and me to the 24 hour emergency vet at 2:00 in the morning. (No worries, the little girl is doing much better.)

Anyway, I would hope for something more notable to happen so this blog would be more interesting, but to be honest I would like for everything to be boring. I have homework to do.

The New Year

I can’t say that I’m sad 2013 is in the past. To be completely honest, it was a little rough. I continued in grad school, worked full time, had a number of close friends move away, and dealt with the first major death in my family. And if I’m completely honest, this was the first year I’ve become overwhelmingly aware that my life is drastically different from some of the people I grew up with. (#FirstWorldProblems… I know)

But 2013 wasn’t all bad. I have a loving family. I have my health. I became better friends with a few grad school ladies I met the previous summer and I started dating a really awesome guy. I even moved into a house with a group of pretty cool people. So in the grand scheme of things, I have very few complaints.

But seriously, by October, I was more than ready to bring on 2014!

For New Year’s Eve this year, The Boyfriend and I were a little uncertain of how we wanted to celebrate and we ended up in Market’s Square with about a thousand other people.

I don’t know if I would do Market’s Square again in the future, I mean, they literally had a crane dropping a ball of lights mimicking the New York ball drop, only it wasn’t at all timed. It started down at like a minute and a half left to go and was forced to suuuuuper slow down by the end. Amusing once, yes. Something I think I want to see every year, maybe not.

Maybe some year I’ll make it to NYE and see the real thing.

Hello 2014!

I have decided to start a blog.

I’ve certainly tried this before but (unless you count my book review blog) none have been particularly successful. So don’t expect great literature or profound statements, this is going to be treated somewhat like a journal. Only, this time I’m not expecting to keep going for more than a year. I think part of the reason my past blogs died off was because I always turn it into such a HUGE project to continue forever. It feels intimidating and daunting without any sort of payoff. If I give myself a time limit I think I’ll have a better chance at keeping up with it and in the end it’ll actually feel like I accomplished something.

There are a couple factors behind why I want to try this again.

I was talking to one of my roommates about how, in these 2010s, we’ve adapted to recording our history. Gone are the days of little book journals and cameras that require film and printed pictures. I mean, I’m one of those Snapchat users. Talk about disposable. I post on Facebook and I check in on Foursquare. I use Twitter to comment on tv shows and complain about things in the news. I have an Instagram account for photos, a LinkedIn for work, Pinterest for bookmarks and lists, Goodreads for book reviews, Couch Surfing for travel, and a tumblr for random librarian memes. And that’s just what I have on my phone at this exact moment. Who knows what I’ll have tomorrow and what I’ll get rid of in the future.

My point is, I have so many ways to track and record what I do, but they all hinge on someone else’s program and I don’t really ‘own’ any of it. This blog is similar, but I think at the end of the year I’ll print the whole thing out and maybe have it bound or something. Who knows.

The second reason why I want to give this another go is because my writing really sucks lately. For serious. I need practice. I was reading through a story I wrote in college and it just made me sad because I truly don’t think I have that level of talent anymore. Really, the only way I’m going to get better is by writing something consistently that I actually want to write.

So yeah. I guess this is something of a New Year’s resolution. We’ll see how this goes…