American Idiot

I love foreign music. British music is pretty much a given with The Beatles and Muse. Not to mention other foreign bands like The Veronicas. But I had no idea how cool German music was. Like last week Emily (diva Emily, not stupid Emily) and I were in Contemporary Issues and she's all "You absolutely have to check out this band, Tokio Hotel!" So I did. First I listened to the stuff in English on their myspace, which was pretty good, but its nothing compared to their German stuff. Haha. I sound so completely dorkmuffinish right now, but whatever. Its my blog, I get to be a dorkmuffin.

I'm really starting to hate American music. Granted, there are some really great bands out there, such as Paramore and older 60's-80's bands, but for the most part, popular music in the US is just vulgar and stupid. I think American musicians should try to be more like foreign bands. Actually, I think that America in general should look to more established nations for inspiration. America is supposed to be this huge melting pot of nationalities and cultures, so why can't we take the good things from other countries' governments or whatever and make ours even better? Maybe we should rearrange our government a little bit and take a while to stop and think about why the rest of the world hates us. I think it might be because the rest of the world sees us as the country that thinks its the coolest thing ever, but its really not. Like a stupid freshman, so to speak. Which I guess makes sense, because the country is very young compared to others. I don't know. I just think if everyone just stopped acting like a stupid freshman, everything would be a lot easier for everyone.

Every time I try to talk to my parents about ideas like that, I get the same response. My mother gives me a look that clearly says "How dare you? This is the greatest country in the world and you are so lucky to live here. I can't even speak to you because I'm so deeply offended." And my dad lectures me about how our country is in so much debt because we spend so much money with foreign aid. Well that's all swell, but what if one day a country to whom we owe a truckload of money decides that they're tired of waiting and they're going to attack us or something?

And what about problems like the housing crisis? Stuff like that wouldn't be happening so much if limitations were put on credit card companies and banks that made people meet certain criteria to get loans and stuff. But no. Its a free country, so we're not going to restrict anyone. We're going to let people be free to destroy their lives, even if it hurts the country as well. Maybe we need more restrictions. I'm not suggesting becoming a communist nation or anything, but everyone needs some kind of restrictions. You now that in China you can be arrested for bringing disgrace to the country? This very blog could get me arrested in China. People here don't know that kind of respect. There is certainly patriotism and pride, but there isn't necessarily respect. People don't respect themselves, they choose to be promiscuous and ignorant and inappropriate, and they don't even realize that they are a representation of America.

I just don't understand some things like that. Maybe I'm not meant do understand it. Maybe no one does. But maybe someone does. Maybe someone knows how to fix everything that's wrong with this country, but they are being silenced because because their realizations might get in the way of profit. This country really needs to get its priorities in order, or we will be eaten by Canada or something.

Ok. That's my two cents. Peace, loves.

xo
Helen

PS- Daddy, this whole political-ish rant is my retaliation for turning my birthday into a political debate with Grandpa. Not cool, man. Next year, one of you isn't invited. Mk?

Preface

"Stars when you shine
You know how I feel
Said I'll be fine
You know how I feel
Oh freedom is mine
And I know how I feel

It's a new dawn
It's a new day
It's a new life
For me
Ooh feeling good..."
-Muse, Feeling Good

Merry Christmas Eve, everyone! It is currently 8:31 on Monday morning, and my brothers -who will be referred to as the demon children from now on- woke me up at like 8:10 to do our gift exchange. I don't understand why they were so excited, I'm sure they'd already told each other what they got. The Christmas Spirit is completely lost on those stupid kids.

So where did I leave off? Thursday afternoon? Ok, then, Friday. It was actually pretty cool. Around nine I went with my parents to see Josh get his citizenship award. I think I'm starting to understand why little kids are so obnoxious. Its an imitation. For seriously, listening to kindergarten teachers talk is like beating your head against a wall for a long period of time (similar to the effect of talking to my uncle, who is now in town for the holiday). It was cute, though. The teachers sang some Christmas songs -and I asked "What about the Jewish kids?!"- and then they started giving out awards. Dad was all annoyed because they gave one to every kid and were supposedly setting up them up for failure. I think he's just a drama queen.

After that we came home and I spent the rest of the day online. Well, the rest of the day until about four when I went Christmas shopping with Dad. He got some stuff for -ahem- someone and I got a present for Chip, who I drew for the secret Santa thing. It was actually pretty cool, and so is Dad when he isn't intentionally trying to get on my nerves (which he does often). We went to Starbucks (see, that's where I get it. My father is a guy that can justify coffee at 5:30 in the evening) and the mall. That was interesting. He was unusually patient. He actually stood in line for me while I shopped at Aeropostale. He's so (get your cameras ready, because this might never happen again) cool.

When we got home I wrapped Chip's present and continued my search for Twilight icons. I actually found a whole lot. I'll add them to the end of this post. I continued my search on Saturday after I was done shopping with my family. The demon children went to finish their secret Santa shopping, and I was basically there to entertain Dad while Ben shopped for Josh. I wasn't very entertaining after he informed me that I failed my gym final. I mean, it was expected, but for a little while my OCD perfectionist took over and I almost started crying right there in Target. Ha! That would have been interesting. Speaking of my OCD perfectionist, I've felt really OCD the last few days. I mean, I alway have little weird tenancies, but its been especially obnoxious recently. Its probably just stress. Or withdrawal from my friends. I miss my betches!!

After shopping we came home and Mom started cooking. We're having my grandparents, aunts, uncle, and cousins over for dessert tonight and there was a bunch of sweet stuff to make. I spent the rest of Saturday online and cleaning. Pretty interesting, huh? (Yes, I do realize that I really need to get a life outside of the interweb, but what's the point? The real world is just as boring, just at a slower pace.) After about six hours online I went to my room to watch Rent (ie. my favorite movie ever) but I only got to Santa Fe before I got tired and went to sleep.

Sunday was equally boring. I woke up around 11 because someone was banging on something and it woke me up. I came upstairs and Mom was still cooking. We hung out pretty much all day, until my grandmother -Nonnie- called around three to tell us that my aunt and uncle just got into town and were coming over to surprise us. Not cool, man! The house was like a total mess and we were cleaning like crazy until they got here. They arrived while I was downstairs cleaning my bathroom, and my uncle decided it would be absolutely hilarious to just stand behind me and be quiet until I noticed him. Not funny. It scared me and he laughed. Not cool, man. After that I finished cleaning the bathroom and then came upstairs to hang out with everyone. We gave my aunt and uncle a tour of the house, because they haven't seen it since it was under construction. It looks a lot better now.

We hung out and ate Christmas cookies for a while, and then they had to go back to my grandparents' house. After they left I got back online for a while and then went downstairs to finish watching Rent. Not a good idea. I mean, I was already kind of lacking in Christmas spirit, but after watching Angel die and everyone get AIDS I actually was the emo kid that Shayne insists I am. For a little while, at least. Then I got online and was happy again. After a few hours of wasting time I went to bed and dreamed that Bella and Edward were singing 'No Day But Today'. It was pretty amusing.

Christmas Eve rocked my socks. (Yeah, its Christmas morning now, because I couldn't finish this yesterday.) We hung out like all day and then around 7 my Aunt Jen and Uncle Dave came over and fed us. My uncle is a chef in Rhode Island (he used to live in NYC, which sounds better, but he moved) and I absolutely love it when he visits because he makes like the best food ever. They made some freaky chopped walnut and cheese thing, which was actually pretty good, and freaky pizza. One was like freaky (yeah, I'm saying 'freaky' a lot, but its an accurate description) cheese with basil and the other was like mushrooms and caramelized onions. That one was really nasty. I hope I didn't offend my aunt when I threw it away.. ^_^

Eventually my grandparents got here with my younger cousins (my other aunt was MIA) and it was insanely loud. We tried to banish the kids to the downstairs, but it didn't help much. Everyone was running around and eating and screaming. It would have been terrible if it wasn't so much fun having most of my family there. I love it when my uncle comes into town, even if he does devote just as much time to bugging me as my dad does. I am starting to understand why he and my aunt only come a few times a year, though.

After everyone left we cleaned up and I put my youngest brothers to bed. I read them 'The Night Before Christmas' and it was really sweet because they knew some of the words and read along with me. They'll both be able to read by next year, so they can read it to me. lol. I hate reading out loud, but I love doing it with them. Once they were in bed I watched part of some old Christmas movie with Dad, and then I was banished to the dungeon (ie. my room) so they could get everything done and get to bed. I got ready for bed and hung out and watched Gilmore Girls for a while before I went to sleep. There were no visions of sugarplums dancing in my head, but there were a few vampires. ;]

That's about it, I suppose. I'll try to post again later. I hope everyone has a happy, safe Christmas (/Hanukkah /whatever). Talk to you soon. Peace, loves.

xo
Helen