weekend roundup.

What a weekend!

First I want to talk about what happened in Arizona, the shooting of Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords which resulted in 6 deaths (including a federal judge and a 9-year-old girl) and I think twice as many injuries.

Giffords was a Democrat who voted for Obama's health care bill. From the little research I've done on her, I can gather that her views are pretty close to mine. After the shooting, all the political blogs I follow on Tumblr were blowin' up, and pretty much everyone was talking about this image:

The picture depicts a map of the United States with crosshairs over different parts of the country. Each target is positioned over a representative who voted in favor of the health care bill. Giffords was one of those representatives. This image was put up by Sarah Palin's PAC. Palin also had tweets in the past that used the word "Reload" in reference to removing Dems from office. Oh, and then there was that anti-Giffords event (not sponsored by Palin) that was centered around firing M16s. Um, what?

Palin isn't directly responsible for the shooting. That's obvious. But violent imagery and rhetoric like in that picture above do perpetuate violence in our society. Anyone who thinks that picture is meaningless needs to think a lot harder about implications of the things we say and do. Words have meanings, guys!

Of course, people took to Palin's Facebook page to complain and tell her what they thought about her stupid fucking map. Comments were repeatedly scrubbed from the site. Palin also removed tweets from her Twitter account that had violent words in them. Because in the face of a tragedy, the best thing to do is go online and make yourself look better.

I just hope this is a wakeup call of sorts. We can't keep using violent rhetoric and then act surprised when someone takes it too far. I know people are going to call Loughner (the shooter) a fringe lunatic, say he's mentally ill, or blame the shooting on Obama (because some people think EVERYTHING can be blamed on Obama), but it's time to step up and accept some responsibility. People are a product of their environments. There are implications to everything,

and it's time to be responsible for those implications! Come on.

But enough about that. Let's talk about me.

I actually had a great weekend. On Thursday night, I went to Sturgeon Bay with Kyle, an old friend of mine. His boyfriend Jeremy lives up there, and Kyle invited me to come up and spend the night. First of all, Jeremy's apartment is GORGEOUS. Two bedrooms, hardwood floors, high ceilings, great built-ins and molding. It was decorated really nicely, and there were plants everywhere because Jeremy is a florist. He had fishtanks and a really adorable cat, too. I was in heaven from the minute I walked in the door

So we sat down and had a few drinks. The conversation actually turned pretty serious, and before I knew it I was privy to a really intense relashe talk. Luckily, we all decided to calm our asses down and watch The Office.

Then Jeremy made us these amazing nachos, which Kyle dubbed HOLY SHIT NACHOS. This picture does not do justice to the glory that were these nachos. They took up an entire cookie sheet, and came up like three inches off the sheet. It was like an enormous loaf of nacho. And the three of us ate the whole thing. Holy shit, indeed.

The next morning, Kyle and I slept late and enjoyed the comfort of the apartment some more while Jeremy was at work. We walked a little around the main drag of Sturgeon Bay, but it was freezing so I bought some saltwater taffy and called it a day. We left in the early afternoon and drove back home to GB.

What a great trip! It was such a lovely escape from all the static of Green Bay and normal life.

I also got to see my best friend Kat this weekend! Twice! My parents and I went over to her parents' house for dinner on Saturday, and the six of us played Apples to Apples for a while. Then, Kat and I went to this intensely awkward party where we played awkward beer pong and basically just waited to leave. It was like a high school reunion with only the people I didn't want to see from high school. Not fun. After we left, we drank Bacardi Raz in her hot tub until I got tired and walked home.

Today, my relatives from my dad's side of the family came up for a little Larson family holiday gathering. It was actually really fun! I haven't seen those people in a while, so it was nice to catch up. My cousin brought her three kids, and it was really fun to have lively children in the house. After the crew left, my parents, brother and I had our Christmas gift exchange. Everyone liked their gifts. Success!

Oh, speaking of success, THE PACKERS TOTALLY WON!

After the glorious victory, Kat and I went to the hookah bar and ran into yet another awkward high school acquaintance. This time, it was this weirdie guy who used to follow us around desperately. When we went to Florida for a band trip junior year, this dude was seriously a ninja. Every time we thought we lost him, there he was again, comin' round the bend. Anyway, he was at the hookah bar, and he was speaking in an Irish accent for some reason, and he'd gained a bunch of weight. What? OH YEAH and he had the audacity to ask us what our names were. I was like, dude, we've gone to school together since 3rd grade, and you were obsessed with my group of friends in high school. Don't act like you don't know my fucking name. It was so weird; we had to leave.

Now I'm back at home watching Monsters of Folk on PBS! It's been a pretty good weekend, all in all. Except for that tricky shooting business. Eeeeugh.

Goodnight all!