Annoying #hashtag Things

#SochiProblems.

I for one think it's hilarious. But some people don't. I saw this article posted today about how all these issues "are more of an embarrassment to Americans than it is for Russia." Ummmmm, NO. This is totally an embarrassment to a government and olympic committee where the only word you ever hear describing them is corrupt. When has Russia ever NOT been considered corrupt? The writer of the article is choosing to be offended thinking that all these tweeters are attacking all those harmless Russian civilians that live there, which is obviously not the case.

I don't hate Russians. The ones I have met are incredibly nice. Same with Romanians. But the one things these countries have in common is complete corruption. I think that's why I think #SochiProblems are so funny, because all those crazy mishaps like several toilets in one stall, wires strewn about in hotel hallways, spray painting the grass outside the stadium, and so many other things left unfinished are things that are totally realistic for that area of the world.

Nope, #SochiProblems is not an embarrassment to America. We've managed to budget time and money to finish Olympic Prep many times, even amid attempts at corruption/bribery/embezzlement, etc. All of that has become an all too accepted way of governing and planning in Russia. That's all there is to it.

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Next hashtag: #foodporn
UUGGGHHH I can't stand it. It seriously makes me so mad. Why do people think that comparing anything to porn is cool?

And you want to know what the most ironic thing is about all these supposed "#foodporn" pics? That the people that are using it are ones who take the worst photos of food possible! The pictures of food that you're like, "looking at that food makes me want to barf." Is that just me? Well, if it is, it must be all the pregnancy food aversions.

The only people that have perhaps earned the right to use that wretched hashtag are people like Pioneer Woman, but she is far too classy to ever do something like that. So can we please just stop with all the stupid hashtags with anything "porn" in them?? Thank you.

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Last hashtag is one I made up. #pregancyguilttrip

Alright, so we all know being pregnant has its less than joyful moments: morning sickness, food aversions, just feeling gross a lot of the time. You get it. But honestly, the thing I'm starting to be most sick of is all the pregnancy guilt trips.

Most of this time it isn't even coming from people directly. It's all those studies on-line that are always like "this food item could possibly cause harm, but it's your choice." "Doing this activity might be bad, but it's not for sure, so it's your choice."

Great, so you tell me the horror stories and then tell me it's my choice. Talk about a guilt trip.

Then there are the things you could hear from other moms. "Are you having a natural birth? The drugs ruin the baby. But that's just my opinion." "Are you going to cloth diaper? No? You must hate your baby because disposables are terrible for their skin. But that's just how I feel about it."

Gee, thanks.

All the guilt tripping is getting old. I'm doing the best I can, people! And I know plenty of people who wore disposable diapers, or whose mothers had an epidural, or drank Dr. Pepper while pregnant, or ate deli meat, and they turned out JUST FINE. So let's just stop with the guilt trips.

And, that's about it for today. Thanks for reading!
xoxo Annie

What's Been Annoying Me Lately.

I think it's time I go back to my roots on this little blog. This includes my ranting ha ha. So, the last time I looked, it's been over a year since I did a "pet peeve" post. Don't believe that I'm now cured from letting so many things get on my nerves. Ha ha. It's funny thinking about it. Nope, I'm still the same old ranting Annie. I guess I've just been outsourcing my rants to easy outlets like my husband. But my husband has been working 12 hour shifts seven days a week for the last month, so it's all been building up, I suppose.

I've been getting pretty upset lately seeing the complete decline of etiquette and propriety in our society. I would have fit in very well in pretty much any society before 1970 or so. Any society that put great emphasis on etiquette. I'm the type of person who consults Emily Post frequently to see if I'm justified in my pet peeves. And I usually am.

^^^Emily Post: My hero^^^

Case in point: wedding registries and bridal/baby showers. For years I have cringed every time a wedding invite comes with the wedding registries boldly printed on them. Yours might have been one of them. I don't hold it against anyone, because it's become an acceptable thing. But for me it's not. You're just not supposed to put that there, implying "hey! buy me presents!" As engaged couples, we're all thinking it, but we should still be polite and not presumptuous about it. I refused to put my registries on my wedding invitation and so many people seemed so confused when they had to ask me, parents, etc. if we had a registry. But that's how it used to be!! You asked. Or went to the department store and asked them. Of course it's never been like that in my lifetime, but I wish that etiquette would return.

What brought on all of this? Well, just a few days ago, I ran into a friend at the post office who opened a wedding invitation she had received. And I saw a new low--possibly a new trend in wedding gifting. The insert read, "the couple is registered at [store], but in lieu of gifts, cash donations are appreciated for honeymoon expenses." I've also been seeing "cute" but incredibly tacky pinterest ideas to put a "honeymoon donation box" out at the reception. Blatantly asking for cash, to me, is in very bad taste. I just don't agree with it!! Emily Post would not approve either. And yes, I did receive a lot of cash when I got married (and it was great) but I made sure to not give off any airs that I was asking for it or expecting it.

Same thing goes for bridal/baby showers. It's not cool to go out and ask who is going to host you a shower. And yes, I just saw this happen on a facebook group a week or so ago, and I was in shock. It's nice to have a shower, but it seems the social norm is becoming to expect everyone to give them everything instead of viewing a shower as an "unexpected" bonus of getting married/having a baby.

Basically this is just a plea for etiquette. Bring back the manners!

For the sake of this not turning into a super long blog post, I think I'll leave it at that, even though I have a few more things. I always do. So stay tuned for my upcoming post in this series about pinterest trends that need to go away, newborn photography, and Brad Pitt false doctrine.

Thanks for reading, and stay classy!

It's Been a While Since I've Ranted

Have you missed my ranting? I hope so. Because I have some things to talk about. Things that I have been hearing in the news and such that's really been grinding my gears.

So, I don't know if you've heard, but Sean Combs/ P.Diddy/ Diddy/whatever-he-is-choosing-to-be-called has a son who is going to be playing football for UCLA next year. The kid was a star football player at his high school, he had a high GPA, and he got a full scholarship for it. That's good news, right? Well, according to certain Americans, no it's not. Apparently, he doesn't deserve it because his dad is rich and can already afford to send him to college, so it isn't fair.

GIVE ME A BREAK. It's things like this that make me sincerely alarmed for the state of America. Because people have completely lost sight of the American mentality that people who work hard get rewarded for it. It used to be as simple as that.

I knew plenty of people whose parents could very well afford to send them to college and then some, but they didn't because they wanted their kid to work for their education and to value it even more. I also knew plenty of people who paid for their own college because there was no way their parents could afford it. So, in both of these situations, they worked hard, saved money, got good grades, and got scholarships. That's the way it should be!

And there's one more thing: the students who are, according to the whining people in Diddy's kid's case, "less fortunate" do have help. It's called grants. The students whose parents are well off but don't pay for their kids' education are automatically disqualified from being considered for grants. So why don't we whine about that? Is that fair? Technically not.

And that's all I'm going to say about that.

Next item of business: I don't know if you've heard this (if you live under a rock or something), but Mitt Romney, a Mormon, is running for president. Naturally then, the Mormon religion is under a lot of scrutiny. I was reading this article yesterday, and it was the comment about women that once again, started making my blood boil.

Where did the notion come from that Mormon women are oppressed?!? This, to me, is one of the most ridiculous claims about Mormons. I remember last year, my husband, who was then my fiancee, was delivering wedding announcements to some of his high school teachers. One of his teachers, a woman, saw that we were getting married in Utah and exclaimed, "I hope you aren't marrying a Mormon!"

Victor wasn't in fact a Mormon when he had this teacher, so he informed her, "well, actually, I'm a Mormon now too."

To which she said, "well, I just don't like the way they treat their women."

I wondered how many Mormon women this teacher actually knew. I guarantee probably not more than one or two, because for her to make that kind of claim is completely obscene. There are plenty of statistics that more than prove that Mormon women are successful in all fields of work, they are educated, and they are happy. All you have to do is google "Mormon mommy bloggers" to get an idea. (and just as a side comment, if this teacher didn't like the way that Mormon women are treated, then shouldn't she have been glad that I, the "oppressed Mormon woman," was escaping the chains of my oppression for a guy like Victor???)

As a Mormon woman, I have traveled, I have an education, and I am treated as an equal by my husband. My mother is the same way, and her mother is the same way. My Mormon girlfriends are the same way, as are a lot of their mothers. I realize that there are exceptions, as there are in every culture and religion, but please, do not tell me that I am oppressed. Worry about those women who actually are.

Sure, there have been and are will still be vicious claims about the Mormon religion, but this is one that is simply infuriating to me. And that's why I'm ranting about it now!

Can I get an "amen" from my fellow Mormon women readers?? Amen!

The Hunger Games is NOT Twilight

I am so excited because of the fact that one week from tonight I will be watching "The Hunger Games." Of course I have been following all the details of the premiere that was held a few days ago, and I have been counting down along with this blogger who has done a weekly post anticipating the big event (this essay is my favorite). And I just have to say how much it bothers me that this huge movie event is being compared to the Twilight mania. Sure, it's comparable in its levels of popularity, but DO NOT compare the story or the fact that both stories have love triangles, etc. The Hunger Games is not in the same category at all.

I have loved this quote by writer Stephen King about the difference between Harry Potter and Twilight. And I think you definitely can substitute the "Harry Potter" for "The Hunger Games". 

"[The Hunger Games] is about confronting fears, finding inner strength and doing what is right in the face of adversity. Twilight is about how important it is to have a boyfriend."

So true. I'm not going to say that Twilight is a complete joke. It's entertaining: that's its sole purpose. I firmly believe that we all need some mindless entertainment once in a while. But not all the time. And when your discussions of the story can't extend much beyond the intricacies of a vampire and how he loves but also wants to eat his girl, then you should probably just leave it as that: entertainment. 

Back to the other reason why people compare the two: they both have love triangles. 

I sadly have read all the Twilight books, so I feel justified in boldly declaring that Twilight is no love triangle. There's never a doubt ever that the main character only cares about the vampire. Not the werewolf. Only the vampire. The thing that makes love triangles so awesome in the history of literature is when you see a character who really is conflicted on who to choose, and for good reasons. The Hunger Games does this. That's what makes it so real and it's also what places it into that more memorable class of literature.

A few friends of mine have told me that they don't want to read The Hunger Games for the reason that so many people compare it to Twilight so they think that it's the same thing and they don't want to be involved in it. If they only knew! It's not fair to place The Hunger Games in the same category as Twilight just because they're both in the young adult genre and because they both are wildly popular. 

So please do yourself a favor. Please please read The Hunger Games. At least the first book just to say you gave it a chance. It is not at all like or comparable to Twilight. I understand that these books are not for everyone. But you can't knock it or categorize it without having given it a chance. I did it with Twilight, and those books just weren't for me, so don't be all mad if you are a Twihard. To each his own. 

One more side note: they cast the movie wonderfully in my opinion. And I love Katniss/Jennifer Lawrence. And Peeta/Josh Hutcherson of course. But then again, look at Gale/Liam Hemsworth. I would have a hard time choosing too. But for the record, it was Peeta for me all along. 

Anyway, Happy Hunger Games!!

oscar stuff, and kind of pet peeve stuff

I have every intention of blogging about my trip to Utah last week, but first I want to talk about the Academy Awards, since I have watched them semi-religiously since I was ten. It's nice to watch them now actually knowing/seeing most of the movies that they're talking about. And is it just me or does is finally feel like "common folk" movies are given the shout out more often? I'm so glad that "The Help" got the praise it deserves.  My other favorite nominees were "Hugo," "Moneyball," and "Midnight in Paris."

Anyway, I also wanna talk about FASHION! And I want to do it before Joan Rivers and the Fashion Police distort my opinion. Because I am positively certain that they are going to say that Angelina Jolie looked wonderful and is easily a contestant for best-dressed. NU-UH. Why does everyone worship her?? She dresses so boring, and her tattoos always ruin her fancy dresses. I just can't stand her. And look at her intentional posing from the night. "ooh I'm Angelina and check out my sexy bony leg." Bug.

BTW I just saw this photo making fun of her and I loved it. Makes her look truly ridiculous.

from here

Do you want to know who was best dressed in my humble opinion?? It was, for sure, Octavia Spencer, my favorite character from "The Help." I love her class.

I think that's all I really wanted to say. Oh wait, this year there were no music nominees or performances? What's up with that? That was disappointing.

Ok, I think that's it. Anyone else care to say who you thought looked great?

And in other important news, Victor and I bought our midnight tickets to the Hunger Games!!! I want to dress up or something to show my enthusiasm. But what is there to dress up as? A hungry, District 12 citizen? Not many options. Still so excited though.

How you know you're watching a Utah team

This is the trash talk you hear from the parents:

"Come on ref! Gosh dang!"

"Ref, you're a freaking idiot!"

"That's crap ref! Dangit!"

"Oh my heck, ref."

**UPDATE: these are the ones I heard today**

"Oh my dear gosh." (this one BUGS so bad)

"Oh fetch."

"That's bull shiz"

"Oh snap. Snap snap snap." (I'm not making these up, people)


 Of course, some of the parents used real profanity. The scandal! It really is silly how much drama there can be at a 16 year-old girls' soccer game. It can also be pretty comical.

I was half tempted to join in on the trash talk. But I was too cold.

P.S. Congrats to my sister Mel who has been playing awesome these last two days!

annoyances and observations

It bothers me when someone says something like "we're going down to [place]" when they are in fact, south of said place. Example: someone in Idaho saying, "I'm going up to Utah today." Hello---going north is going up, going south is going down. (I'm not gonna lie, I used the Idaho example because I hear it most from Idahoans.)

I noticed a few months ago that I was about to hit 500 friends on facebook. Since then I have noticed that that number fluctuates up and down on a daily basis. This means that people are either de-friending me or deleting their accounts, and it's driving me crazy because I really don't know who is de-friending me. I guess that's why they are de-friending me: I can't even figure out that we're not friends anymore.
           And I also have noticed that I have friends who keep deleting their fb accounts and bring them back...like multiple times. Just make up your mind if you want to be on facebook or not!)

It's so annoying how even the most seemingly harmless article on any given web-site every single day always starts a chain of ridiculous and negative comments. Who are these people that just like picking fights on the internet??

I can't get enough of Ross Matthews aka "Ross the Intern." I have loved him since his days on Jay Leno. I don't quite understand why I love him so much. He's hilarious, though.

I think my only favorite part of the Super Bowl was that grecian slack liner guy. Not very many cool commercials.

And this may be dwelling on past pet peeves about singing the National Anthem at events, but how many times do we have to hear about stupid celebrities who mess up the words to the National Anthem?! It drives me nuts.


I think that's enough for today.
Love, Annie

Things that annoy me (the series)

Once again, this is an ongoing list, but the items of this post are just some of the recent ones.

First things first: People that think that I look like a child. People, I know I'm short, and I sometimes look younger than my age, but I do NOT look like a child! Today, I went on a tour of the White House with the parents, and the ranger deliberately gave my parents the regular brochure, and me the "junior ranger" packet with word searches, coloring, and such. Come on! I'm a 24-year-old married woman, for crying out loud! I know it was early, and I showed up wearing my dad's oversize jacket...

But, I still made an effort to get ready, and I put on makeup, which I think should have people guessing that I am AT LEAST a teenager. (And btw, I refused the junior ranger packet because I actually did want to look at the real brochure--I hope I didn't seem too rude.....but....I don't really care)

Next on the list is: elderly people. Don't get me wrong, I love old people. I'm not anti-elderly or anything, but I am a person of little patience: it is one of my biggest faults. So when I have to stand behind a group of old ladies for a good two minutes just to get a peek into the White House's china room as they are marveling over a portrait of "Lady Bird Johnson," I lose it a little. And then there was an old people party going on at the security line at the Capitol building and, seriously, it was ridiculous. They already took long enough getting all their stuff out of their pockets, and the metal detectors still go off: frustration! I just want to get in there for the gift shop!! (I wonder if it's their replacement hips and knees setting those detectors off, btw)

And finally: bugs and insects. Now that it's getting cooler in these parts, we find crazy huge bugs and spiders in our apartment on a daily basis. It is ridiculous! Such huge spiders. I literally just killed two in the last 30 minutes. A couple of nights ago, there was a cricket in our bedroom. As Victor was chasing it around trying to kill it as it was hopping around, he shouted, "I can't live in this wildlife anymore!!!" Couldn't agree more. We never got the cricket, by the way. It hid under the bed, but luckily it never started chirping during the night, or we would have busted a cap.

So, anyway, I think that's it for today. It feels good to get that off my chest! Happy weekend!

Love, Annie

Things that are annoying me (part 2)

So, in case you don't know, I don't have a job right now. Therefore, since I have moved here, I've been enjoying having the time to do whatever the heck I want, which has mostly been reading, exploring my new neck of the woods, and decorating my new apartment (which is really fun now that I have complete control over it, rather than having to collaborate on decorations with roommates). Now I'm getting to a point where I'm trying to embark on some creative projects. One of these is curtains. I have a sewing machine. I have the time. So why not? It should be cheaper than buying ready-made curtains, right? WRONG!

Fabric is expensive! Right now I'm referring to drapery fabric. But even the non-drapery fabric is expensive.  Here I am, trying to be innovative and creative-- a la Project Runway-- and I would be better off just going to Ikea because their curtains cost the same as 1 1/2 yards of fabric from the fabric store (and I would need at least 6 yards for the two windows in my bedroom alone), and I really like the fabric they use at Ikea too. I feel like my creative juices are just draining out of me!

What happened to the days of my youth where going to the fabric store and making something on your own was cheaper and more original than going to the store? And it's not like I'm going to Mood Designer Fabrics, I'm just going to Joann!! I tried calling my mom to ask her if drapery fabrics have always been this expensive, but she has no service up at girls camp. Vai de mine.

Speaking of Project Runway, one of the designers on the show, Olivier, has a unique, kind of British sounding accent. He also looks asian which is intriguing. Turns out Olivier grew up in Ohio until he was sixteen, and then he moved to London and other countries for a little while, which couldn't have been that long because he's only 22.  If you live in the U.S. for the first 16 years of your life, there is no way you would just pick up a British accent!! If you move when you're 4 or 5, then that's another story.

There was another guy I knew who served his mission in England and came home with a full blown British accent that he just couldn't seem to shake off. I'm not buying it! I understand coming home from a mission with some of the same speaking mannerisms, but an accent? Nu-uh. If you go and watch interviews with Madonna once she had become an ex-pat celeb living in London, you will kind of hear the same thing happening.

People that are posers with accents annoy me! (And for the record, this rant has an educated background, because I took a couple of Linguistics classes where we talked about dialects and accents of the English language and how and when you pick up on dialects, which is either based on the dialects of your parents, or living in a place when you are still learning the language, which is usually the first ten years.)

Well, anyway, those are just some of the issues that I will have to work through. But seriously, what should I do about the curtains?!

Happy Friday. Love, Annie

How to annoy me

Just in the last few days, these are some things that I have realized are pet peeves of mine:

I HATE it when guys refers to girls/women/ladies as "chicks"

I don't like it when the performer of the national anthem at a sporting event thinks that we are only there to see them and consequently sings it ridiculously and over the top. We are here to see the game, not you.

Jittery people who sit and bounce their leg nervously non stop, sometimes against your chair which makes it jiggle too. Just calm down!

When lame cliche jokes are repeated during sacrament meeting talks. I want to respond with another cliche: that's the oldest joke in the book.

I kind of have a lot of pet peeves, so I'll stop. I just had to get it out!

Was that you going through my laundry, Michelle Obama?

I have ranted and raved before how much it bugs me to see people wearing the same clothes as me. Seriously, the only clothes I can be guaranteed no one else is wearing are the clothes I bought in China. As a Utah girl, I love the store H&M because the chances of someone else having it here isn't as likely. One of my latest purchases from H&M was this cutesy dress
And made into a cute winter ensemble by me, seen here. And just wait til I wear it in the spring, because the shoes I have to match are simply adorable.
But I'm bugged, because now the first lady Michelle Obama, the praised fashionista, was wearing my dress on the Today Show, and now everyone is all, "oh, Michelle Obama wows in a $35 dress! She wears it all, and shows that she can look good even in those demeaning, non-designer clothes! Isn't she just great?!"
Well, I just have to say that I wore it first. And just because I didn't have someone to make me custom sleeves, I think I still wear it just as good as "America's queen of fashion." Just sayin'.

I have a little more to say about "The Bachelor"

Ok, so I watched this week's episode of the Bachelor, and while I usually have asked myself in the 5+ years I have watched the show,"why do I watch this?", this time around I find myself asking, "how can these people take themselves seriously?!" This show is ridiculous.

Me and my mom always had a theory that the people on the show had ear pieces being told what to do and to say. For example, in the make-out scenes, there is a producer saying "make sure your hand isn't covering her face-the camera can't see it! No! Don't put your hand in her hair--the hair people spent forever on that!!" You get the idea.

So the thing that made me lose it this week was when at least 4 girls started crying throughout the episode, saying to the bachelor, "I just don't feel special to you!""I hate seeing you flirt and go out with other girls!" And I wonder if anyone there at all, be it the cameramen, the producers, or even the bachelor himself, says/screams to them, "What did you think you were signing up for?!?!" Or do they go ahead and let them go on and on like that just because it makes for good tv. Probably the latter. And with all this ridiculousness, Brad the bachelor eats it right up: he goes off saying how good it is for them to be open with him and tell him these things. Mr. Therapy.

Speaking of therapists, Brad's therapist came on to the show to check up on him, because after all, Brad has been meeting with him for three years to discuss his commitment issues (because this bachelor happened to be the bachelor 3 years ago and he didn't choose any of the girls, which apparently made every woman in America mad at him. Heaven forbid that he didn't happen to meet his "soul-mate" from 25 applicants for a tv show!) And his therapist is an idiot. Brad says that it's hard because with every date with every different girl, he feels chemistry and just wants to kiss them. And his therapist is all, "you go ahead and do that. Explore that chemistry." I don't think you need to be a therapist to say that if you struggle with committing to a girl in general, it's not the smartest to make out with a bunch of them in the course of a few days. But hey, that's just me.

I don't really know what the moral of this post should be. That maybe I should stop watching this crap? But I just can't look away!

I'm just going to say it

Utah State sports fans are sore losers.

Seriously. They have such crap sportsmanship. I am so happy we beat them in basketball last night. Forget football: yes that was a painful memory this season and we better never repeat it. But before that, back when Utah State would celebrate their first touchdown of a season by acting like they had won the national championship (because it happened just as rarely), they would always cling on to that lame excuse that "we're good at basketball" and yet whenever I saw BYU play them, we still would beat them. (I am aware that they won last year, but I was out of the country, so, "out of sight (or country) out of mind.")

It's just pathetic though when a team's cheers and chants are all just to slander the other team. When their team does something good, rather than cheering that, they cheer on how the opposing team screwed up and how they suck, blah blah blah. That's just retarded.

The crowning moment was when I ran into a Utah State alum last night and I will admit, I loved rubbing it in their face that we won. I cheekily said, "well, nice try." But said person went off on "ohh nice try to you! you guys who were behind some of the game! boo hoo hoo." Excuse me?! Who won the game? We did. Almost winning is STILL losing. And Utah State, you did not win last night. Get over it.

Go ahead, lecture me about how I perhaps am being a sore winner. How I need to read Pres. Uchtdorf's talk from the recent priesthood session, which I already have, and I agree. Utah State fits that category of "normally kind and compassionate human beings can be so intolerant and filled with hatred toward an opposing team and its fans." And I will also admit that we BYU fans tend to make "broad generalizations and apply them to everyone associated with the other team." ex: that USU is just a farmer school and all they teach at that school are those cow whistles that were being heard all night last night (just to give you an idea).

To that friend and USU alum, I hope we can still be friends and lay these differences aside. I know that it shouldn't be so hostile, but in the words of Vince Lombardi, "If it doesn't matter who wins or loses, then why do they keep score?" That's all there is to it. We won. Sorry you lost last night. But I am not sorry we won!!!

Save the Subjunctive! And other activist protest ideas

While some college students may feel that protesting a cause like global warming or saving the animals in the ocean (ehh emm...Kimmy) is crucially important, I feel like there are other issues that are just as important. First and foremost: the subjunctive. Ever heard of it? Maybe, but do you ever use it? Probably not, because the subjunctive is dying. This is serious people! A part of our language is just disappearing: this is a big problem that people just don't seem to care about.

In case you don't know what the subjunctive is, I will explain, and give a prime example of how it is dying. Some 50 years ago, the musical Fiddler on the Roof opened on Broadway. One of the most well known songs was "If I Were a Rich Man." Did you catch that? If I were a rich man. Fast forward four decades. Gwen Stefani comes out with her pop hit rip off called "If I was a Rich Girl." What the what?! She just killed the subjunctive. This is not right.

That's why if I were (yep, were, not was) to head up a college campus activist protest it would be to save the subjunctive. It needs to be saved. And it needs to be saved more than the whales in the ocean. I guess I should take my protest to the school boards as well because teachers really are no longer teaching grammar in schools, which is a travesty. Americans don't even know their own language, which damages them for life. It's not your fault you don't know how to use the subjunctive. You weren't taught it or encouraged to use it. And just to help you out, here are some sample sentences of how to use the subjunctive, taken from the real thoughts of yours truly.

I wish Tim Gunn were one of my best friends.
If boyfriend were to come this weekend we could go to The Drowsy Chaperon for 10 dollars. (student tickets are the best)
I wish I were skiing. (This sounds weird, but it is correct)

Only YOU can save the subjunctive!

So, moving on to other activist protests. I have a friend who is ridiculous. He is going to protest for mens rights. He calls it his mens revolution. I would usually frown upon such a thing, but he wants to protest for mens rights on college campuses simply to get a reaction from all those college feminists. (And if I didn't know it was a joke, I would probably be one of them to throw paint on him or something)

And for all you redheads out there. A protest for ginger rights. And this one really did happen. My co worker heard about it when she was living in London. Do gingers really need more rights? Are they discriminated against? Actually, yes. A fellow sister missionary in my mission who is a ginger spent weeks trying to find a new apartment in Bucharest and no one would rent to her because of that (she also had an asian companion and that just added to it). I don't think that I discriminate against them, unless it's discrimination that I get offended if somebody thinks that I have red hair, and that I often say that attractive red head guys don't exist. (I have only ever met one) So I guess a protest for ginger rights could be productive.

If you would be interested in participating in any of these causes, let me know and maybe we can make a difference in the world! There is strength in numbers!

Happy Monday. Love, Annie