we had zero plans to do the 'whole thing,' but then the bodybuddy/lifemate was given a free turkey by his job's union, so we did the 'whole thing,' sorta *shrug*

we went for a quick midnight run
&then got started on the "whole thing"
with various, festive movies playing in the background
while waiting for the parade to start
&taking a study break b/t oven timers
^..^
i can make the basic thanksgiving fixings in my sleep
but we've never
not ever
done a whole turkey
for the past few years or so we've done a couple of those
breast birds?
the turkey with no legs or wings
and they've been very straight-forward
but i gotta tell ya
roasting the whole damn thing
is a whole fucking thing
goddamn

A Mix of Canned &Homemade Goods

Canned/Packaged*

green beans, cream of mushroom soup, stuffing, sweet potatoes, marshmallows, gravy, cranberry, crispy onion topping

Homemade

turkey (although, we did not raise&slaughter the thing *shrug*), rolls, mashed tates

If you want recipes for the basics, just follow the instructions on the packaging, lol. If you don't know how to make mashed potatoes, they're exactly how they sound. Rolls are not going to be easily done for the first time on thanksgiving, one imagines, but they are quite simple if you bake bread(s) often, and the turkey was really simple: full fridge-thaw, full drying, one pre-roasting basting (butter w/a hit of a handful of dry herbs) and two mid-roast basting (just butter), three&ahalf hours at temperatures between 425 degrees Fahrenheit (for first two hours) and 375 degrees F (for last ninety minutes). The poppie-outtie thingie popped out right at 3.5 hours, and then, minutes later, the oven started to sizzle cause all of the juices were overflowing. It was a smoky mess for a minute. And then all those other basics are really just a matter of opening cans and mixing stuff together and putting it in the oven while the turkey rests. Rest the turkey. This we know now for a fact. Neither of us have ever had such a moist turkey, but the thing sat out for about one hour before we laid a finger on it, and when we started slicing it up, it was still steaming, and it was so juicy and so delicious. All told, from beginning (start time approximately 2am when the bodybuddy/lifemate removed the turkey from the fridge to begin its drying process) to end (when i snapped that final pic) the meal required seven hours to complete. 

If there's one thing that the bodybuddy/lifemate&i have been doing since the dawn of our relationship, it's cooking together in the kitchen. We had such a great time spending the whole day in the kitchen together like we used to back in our Twigim days *laugh-cry*

We each also got a free pie and ice cream from our jobs, so we ate the bodybuddy/lifemate's pie earlier in the month, and he ate his ice cream, duh, and now we're working on my pie with my ice cream, but I won't really eat much of the ice cream, so it will be eaten mostly by the bodybuddy/lifemate although it shouldn't be *eyeroll*

I was going to do a whole price breakdown thingy for the "whole thing," but I had to job yesterday (friday) and put up about 3,000 tags for the ad-change, all by myself, so I was pretty tired when I put this thing together yesterday (i am writing this portion of this thing, now, today). I am willing, however, to do a whole price breakdown thingy. If you want a cost breakdown, please use the contact form in the sidebar, &I will create that post, if requested. Even though I do find the idea of running the numbers for the meal cost of this particular meal informative and perhaps important to document (especially given the cost of life these days), I also find the idea a bit ... gauche, for other reasons. 

*we cook a lot, so we already have most of the tools needed to cook most things, and we are always stocked with things like salt, pepper, butter (obviously, we needed to buy more specifically for this meal), flour, onions, garlic, a plethora of spices, baking soda/power, yeast, etc., &i only mention this because this fact makes cooking most things incredibly cheap for us. we always have the general/seasoning staples for most things that we eat; all we have to do is purchase specific ingredients for specific meals, but we do not need to start from scratch every time we cook a meal. if one does not cook, frequently, i imagine that dinners of this sort are very expensive to produce, &so, i guess i'm simply suggesting that one ought to consider cooking regularly enough so that cooking is always cheaper than eating out, etc., but whatever, do you, this is your life, after all. &we all have different goals, etc.

Draft 2

As a word-worker, I came to the realization (about five years ago), that "the law" is nothing but words, which means that "lawyering" is the ultimate word work. Like studying a religious text, but with actual, real-life applicability/practicality, etc., for life here, on Earth, now, in the flesh, as opposed to after life, when none of this will matter at all *rolls eyes*

My deepest most-secret hope is that law school is where you go to learn the language of law and acquire the skills to wield the law but ultimately, are encouraged to use those skills in what/whichever way truly suits you, while remembering that the people who decide whether or not one "gets to" continue "lawyering" is only decided by ... lawyers *yikes*

I am an artist, and my mediums are words, light and time. I have an official education in the use of light as a medium, and I have an official education in the use of time as a medium. What I do not have is an official education in word work at its pinnacle. As an artist whose favorite, most-beloved medium is words, there is no greater word than the word of law in These United States. As a word worker, this past decade and a half has been spent working words, and about five years ago, I learned, through books borrowed from local libraries, that the Law is nothing but word work. 

The Conflict :: 

an internal struggle against that which is, ultimately, Elitist; not wanting to be part of the institution, an institution, any institution, all while knowing that it is the Institution of Institutions that creates the credibility required in a world where democracy supposedly reigns (as opposed to nobility); and that to be largely listened to, while lacking credible credentials, is also, ultimately, a problem; striving to be one of those "experts," while lacking credible credentials affirming one's competence, is hypocrisy, at its finest; not to say that credentials speak to anyone's character, per se, but rather, they speak to a willingness, a willingness to have one's self be judged by an association of one's peers, and only through this acceptance—a stamp of approval—may one find one's self ... Institutionalized, and the inaccurate thought-logic used to revolve around the objectivity of it all, but the process is quite subjective. 

I really have no use for the end title that awaits graduating law school students who pass the bar, for it is the learning itself, about the law, how it works, and how to work it, that I hope to gain from law school and really, nothing else. Whatever the title may bring will hopefully free me from my hourly-wage labor, but other than that, my goals for my life will not be attained through the title of "lawyer," cause it is what the "lawyer" knows that I want to know and then apply to the life I've already built for myself. My goals are not to be a lawyer. My goals are to obtain the knowledge that a lawyer obtains so that I may then apply that knowledge to anything and everything that interests me. 

My interests revolve mostly around entrepreneurship, capitalism, climate change, and the future. As an entrepreneur, my business is business. We (my business/life partner and I) strive to design various types of businesses along with various types of business structures that can then be applied to many types of commercial activity, theoretically. These business designs strive to create economic sustainability within the business by removing the profit motive. A business, theoretically, only needs to keep itself alive. As a capitalist, my view is that not all businesses need to be profit-motivated nor do they all need to be non-profit. There's no need to dismantle capitalism. Like most great things in life, diversity is key. As a future-forward entrepreneur and a future-forward capitalist, the most-obvious issue of the future is that of economic inequality, whether it be based on race, gender, religion, etc., or one's actual objective economic class. As a future-forward entrepreneur and a future-forward capitalist, the other thing I know to be true is that the future is going to be very expensive, for everyone, but obviously, if one is poor, the future will be impossibly expensive. Those on the losing end of this inequity will need people to fight for them on their behalf. I will be one of these people, with or without the credentials. 

Not only will the future be expensive, it will be a climate catastrophe. There's no way around it, at this point. There is only mitigating the damage until alternative resources are widely adopted. As a human person, I have accepted climate change, and I have not owned a personal vehicle since 2013. The Bus, here in Honolulu, will transport me, via the A route, to and from campus. And I am eager for the day when the commuter train line(s) becomes more widely usable throughout the city. When not using public transportation, I walk my physical body wherever else it needs to go, namely two miles (round trip) to and from my day job, five shifts per week.

As a regular person born to regular people who was then raised by other, different regular people, my lot in life is to be poor. Since my individual traits have allowed me to climb the one ladder available to those who lack capital and lack connections, and since I am a citizen of These United States, it is not only my privilege to utilize the mechanism of "equality" made available in this democracy but also, my right. 

And since it is my right to educate myself so that I may create a "better life" for myself and anyone I deem family, I want to study the law. The law is just words. The law does not exist without us. The law defines us, and we define the law. I want to be part of something greater than myself. I want to uphold the idea of These United States, of freedom, of justice, of democracy and of equality. I want to understand the law of this land, because without understanding, this great and mighty experiment dies. 

If everything goes to plan, my wielding of my knowledge toward my pursuits will hopefully create a path toward an opportunity to serve our government in some capacity, as a credible and credentialed intellectual. 

[~1000 words]
Read Draft 1.0 &or Draft 1.1

Sailor's Log | Law School Application Weeks 3 + 4 [we are now in Week 5]

Alright, I'll admit it; I'ma Metal Ox, and my adopted father never missed an opportunity to shake his head in disappointment that, "You're stubborn as an ox," a Metal Ox, to be exact. And, as you can tell, I used to think that he was always insulting me, which he was and wasn't. I am stubborn, and stubbornness, like all things, has multiple facets to its "is-ness."

With that said, my Metal Ox did her thing last week.

As a thirty-eight-year-old woman (i am nearly across the finish for another lap, but i ought not jinx myself by proclaiming too loudly that i am nearly my-next-age, etc., the humbler the better, as one ages, i've deduced, as i've aged, etc.), I know better than to reason with the Ox. She is stubborn, stubborn as a Metal Ox. And so, I had to just sort of go on with my life, knowing that she's putting up a fight for some reason while acknowledging and remembering that this train needs to keep moving forward. I am stubborn toward reaching my goals, also.

With all the diligence I could muster, I suffered through a week of that goddamn GRE test-prep book. Fighting against myself every day for a week.

And then, my Metal Ox went from digging her heels in to outright sitting her fat-ass down. Any attempt to sway her was futile. And so, I surrendered. In so many words, I told her that she'd won; we will not be doing any GRE math today, and I wrote some fiction instead. 

[begin fiction from that day]  

She looks up, and directly overhead, the moon shines bright, and as she tilts her head up, up, upward toward the moon's fat face, around the rim of her sights are the trees that line the island of magic, and as she swings her eyeballs around their sockets, she sees the moon as the nipple of a giant tree-boob.

 

How could she inherently know or understand that she is a nonlinear time traveler? First, it would require the existence of another nonlinear time traveler to bump into her so that she could be recognized as such, one imagines. Also, she lived linearly for a long long time without knowing that she could live nonlinearly but more importantly, that she has. 

&Find out she did, cause find out one must, cause when the past &or future comes to haunt you, it's best to know what happened. Although, to be honest, she's pretty sure she's never actually traveled to her future, cause she's fairly certain that she's from "the future" from whenever she consciously remembers existing, etc., and so, she's generally confident that she has yet to "return" to from when she came, etc. Nevertheless, she has become aware of the fact that she is a nonlinear time traveler, in this current lifetime in which she's existing, etc. 

That being said, she finds it difficult to wrap her mind around the fact that all people do not travel through time nonlinearly. This was, obviously, the assumption she had in her head about all of this, for many many years, and yet, the Truth is that it's very rare to encounter a nonlinear traveler of time, and she's not yet quite sure as to why that is. She has her theories, obviously, but they are all trite and rudimentary, etc.

Her homunculus is a shining beacon of her Metal Ox

"Stubborn" is the word familiar

She learned the lessons

She lived the tale

and yet

She strives to acquire that which she stands against

The unfairness of it all

That cruel & "infinite jest"

But it's not a jest.

[end fiction from that day]

And then the bodybuddy/lifemate and I went for a run, and on this run, I admitted a lot of things out loud. Some of which revolved around the fact that I felt like I was wasting my time studying all of this stupid math for the GRE. I couldn't admit this out loud, because I didn't want to sound like I was copping out. I wanted to do this thing that I said I would do, and what this thing requires is my brushing up on my math skills. I'd also been lacking a lot of confidence with regards to taking the GRE because of the math. I honestly think that I could do alright, and I even know that the math portion isn't even that important, because I'm trying to go to law school, not medical school, or whatever. 

And then I admitted that I felt really stupid for not just looking into the LSAT right away. The test has no math section.

When you begin the law school application process, the entire process basically begins with your LSAT score, and yet, I was, for some reason (namely I had already purchased a GRE test-prep book, so I didn't want to waste the money, ugh, being poor sucks!) going against the grain. I don't have an existing GRE score. I've never taken any standardized tests for a graduate-level education. Why was I so fixated on suffering through the GRE?

And so, if I'm already spending the time studying a subject for a standardized test, shouldn't I simply study the subject that I hope to study in school? So I perused the LSAT for Dummies at our local B&N, and then I answered a few questions outta the practice tests, and I got the right answer to all of them. Not that I feel confident that I will do well, but at least the LSAT will actually test the skills I "need" to succeed at law school, theoretically. Whether or not I do well should suggest whether or not law school is really for me or not. But I gotta say, the questions were right up my alley. The sections of the test are what I want to spend my time studying. I WANT TO SCOUR WORDS FOR THEIR MEANING! And that's all the LSAT is ... word work, cause that's all "lawyering" is ... word work. And I'm good at word work. My obsession with and bottomless, enduring, ever-growing love for word work is WHY I WANT TO GO TO LAW SCHOOL! Duh. It's so fucking difficult to remember who you are sometimes *blech*

It all clicked. 

Ugh, and I felt like such a moron (and i'm not beating myself up about it, too much, but still, how stupid), so we're on the same set of tracks, but now we're in the caboose instead of a pickup truck. I'm going to take the LSAT, and the whole testing date situation just so happens to perfectly align with the law school's admissions deadline, etc., etc., etc. That's right, folks, a ripe-old moron is making her attempt at law school! If I can do it, so can you! But now I have almost exactly eight weeks to really buckle down and get this shit done, but at least now, thanks to my stubborn-ass homunculus, I'm excited about it.

In other news, all of my transcripts have been received along with my Number Two letter of recommendation. I've also requested a third letter from an old friend/mentor/leader (who this person is might need a whole post of its own), but the Time Tide is really doing its thing on this one, which is totally fine, cause really, I'm being greedy even asking for a third letter. 

*sits and thinks if there's anything else she wants to remember*

I guess that's it. Jobbing and Studying schedules have not changed. Sat down to rest my weary soul after a long week, flipped on the tv, entered tubi, and one of the first movies on the first screen was Legally Blonde. Obviously, we watched it. 

The Drafting* of a Personal Statement | Draft 1.1

aka the ramblings of a long-winded writer who only has 500 words (loose-maximum) to answer the question, "Why law school; why this law school?"

When I graduated from college (spring 2010), degrees in hand, there was no fucking way in fucking hell that I was 

a) going to work in some office from 9-to-5, or

b) ever go back to school

[period]

&my grades reflect this outlook.

Out of (a quick estimation [the specifics are not the point]) roughly 66 classes, I received 56 A's-and-B's (34 of which are A's) and 10 Not-As's-or-B's, and yes, I used to perceive of my college transcript as a failure, and yes, I understand that most college grads who see that I have two degrees in Art think that A's-and-B's in Art is easier than, say, two degrees in some science, and I would say, "Sure," but you're also sort of revealing yourself to be an Elitist asshole, cause it's not like you have degrees in art, so, what the fuck do you know? You're simply basing your perceived "betterness" on the hierarchies of Elitism as opposed to an individual measuring of each other against each other, as individuals.  

Anyway, my point is that my grades reflect my putrid disdain (remember, i am a person for whom the idea of straight A's is realistic with the simple modicum of effort) for the idea of "graduate school." And so, I did not strive to achieve any sort of GPA worthy of graduate school entrance, etc., and yet, my graduating GPA is well within the "average" of accepted applicants, and so, it makes me fume to think of the me back then who just. couldn't. care. anymore. after her one B+ in high school Spanish "ruined" all of her chances of any future academic success, according to her. 

I'm pissed at the perfectionist I used to be. If I had had a healthier relationship with my academic performance/achievements, I would have had a healthier relationship with my performance/achievements, and I would not have beaten myself up to the point that I had convinced myself that, since I wasn't able to get "straight-A's" in high school, I must be too stupid to go on, do anything more with my life. So, I didn't even try to do well in college; I just couldn't.

GAH! If I could go back, I would, and I would slap myself, but not really, cause, like, I would not respond well to that, obviously, like, who would?

Thus, I have to suck it up and accept the reality that I just didn't try hard for any of the classes that I simply did not care about, and honestly, what does it say about an "institution for higher learning" that I could essentially not do any of the work for some classes and still obtain a C?

I have a handful of C's for classes for which I never read the textbook, but I showed up to class and took all of the quizzes/tests, etc., and I managed to pass with a C? I would consider these classes, terrible. I also have a few D's for classes wherein I exercised the exact same behavior, but I only managed to barely "pass," if you can even consider a D, passing, and institutions do consider a D passing, which I think is total shit. Nevertheless, I would consider these classes to be better than the classes I got C's in, cause one must actually do some work to obtain a C, cause since I didn't do the work, I got a D. Square is fair.

And I even have one F, because of circumstances around my first year back in college (i basically was not part of the process of my first round of college-entrance experiences, as i was raised by my adopted bulldozer-mother, and so, by the time i returned to college, i did everything myself while visiting my ailing adopter-father at the psychiatric ward of the VA hospital in denver, while financially supporting myself by working part-time at starbucks, while attending school full-time in boulder, etc.) made the whole process of registering for classes a bit confusing, and I accidentally registered for some summer class, and then I was notified about it after it was too late to withdraw, and even after I jumped through the necessary hoops to request that a professor acknowledge that I never attended the class due to the fact that I had accidentally registered, the old, white male professor never even looked at me when I visited him in his office to request his acknowledgement that I never attended his class. He milled about his office, filing shit, while I explained to him my situation. He clearly never completed his end of the process, and so, I have an F instead of a W. 

Whatever.

Despite my "poor" performance, grad school is still well within my reach. 

But why do I want to go, now, after being so boldly, vehemently opposed to the idea, back when I had the opportunity to go and the support to do so? 

I never knew for what I would go to school to study.

&so, I lived my life. 

&while living my life, my bodybuddy/lifemate and I encountered many problems that were easy to solve and some that have been more difficult to solve and some that remain unsolved. Obviously the easy-to-solve problems were solved easily and their solutions aren't really something that will "change the world," etc. And obviously, the problems that remain unsolved are unsolved, so really, there's nothing to share. And so, the difficult problems for which we have found solutions are the problems that I am interested in bringing into the larger world.

One of these problems was how to pay our people in the House of Taps brewery business we designed back in 2019. We moved to Longmont, Colorado in late 2019 so that I could attend the Longmont Leadership Program (which went to shit, cause, happy-covid-times, and the program itself turned out to reveal the general racism within the small rural, white town of Longmont, etc.) and bring to life House of Taps. House of Taps is a beer brewery business wherein the brewers themselves are essentially working together to brew beer and share profits, which I know just sounds like a co-op or profit-sharing company, but it is not. I obviously do not have the time or space to outline our business model here, especially when considering that we've built out an entire website to detail the model. 

Nevertheless, the LOPSIII model is one of the main pillars of my desire to obtain the knowledge that one obtains by attending law school. How much of this model do I share in my personal statement? Well, since I can't share it all (word-count), perhaps I shouldn't detail the model at all and merely mention it? 

LOPSIII is an acronym for Locally-Owned, Profit-Sharing, Income-Inequality Inhibitor. There are mechanisms built into the articles of incorporation that create equality throughout the wages of everyone who works at a LOPSIII, sustainability within the reach of the business itself with regards to the larger community and ensuring one business does not wipe out all of the others, and enhances economic contributions to the surrounding local community in which the business exists. 

That's it, in the smallest nutshell I can muster, seventy-one words. This might do. I'll give this above-last paragraph another stab next week. 

  

*Read Draft 1.0 &or Draft 2.0

Here's the thing about the Democrats. They believe that Meritocracy is democratic, as opposed to what it really is, which is Elitist.

Alright, so, let's just go on and take this back to high school. 

Ugh!

Why must I suffer!
Why, Ladybug?! Why?!
Why am I the only person on this entire planet who is suffering?!?!?

Why?!?

High School was probably the last time that any of the Democratic Leadership had the semblance of exposure to "everyday" (average/normal/mediocre) people. This is facts (and it is also facts for the majority of the republican leaders, but this is not about them, cause, let's be real, despite their Elitism, they managed to convince the polity that they are not-Elitists).

High School is also where EVERY AMERICAN was socialized, excepting the weirdos who are/were homeschooled, and I call them weird not as a personal attack about each individual homeschooler being weird, but that it's abnormal to be homeschooled compared to school schooled, etc.

Don't lie. You can spot a homeschooler from a mile away, cause like, they weren't socialized the way the rest of us were. Sometimes, however, those who never finished high school present like homeschoolers, so be warned. 

In these United States, ALL OF US must attend school until we're, what?, sixteen?, fifteen?, something like that or whatever (this is not my point, cause) my point is that we are all on a similar wavelength when it comes to the societal landscape of high school. High school can stand in as a reference point of the Everyday American's Social Life.

And I'd argue that even those privileged few who only attend private institutions of education are equally attuned to the specific social dynamics of high school, but they would also be considered weird as they do not represent the majority of the way that United Statesians are educated, through high school, etc. 

So, let's go there.

Imagine.

It's whatever year it was when you were a freshman. 

The Seniors are battling for Student Body President.

One of the seniors is a complete joke, barely passing their classes, borderline criminal, but they're popular, cause they're socially adept.

One of the seniors is literally the class Valedictorian, so yea, everyone knows who they are, but popular is not how one would describe them, because their friends are books.

The Social Senior goes about their antics, doing whatever, saying whatever, rousing the people, being popular.

The Super Senior goes around explaining to everyone how the social senior lacks qualifications, is an idiot, is gross, is terrible.

The Social Senior spends all of their time with the other students, launching bottle rockets after school, maybe even spritzing a bit of graffiti with the rebels; they obviously accomplish nothing of any substance, but the students get to interact with the Social Senior on their terms, on their turf.

The Super Senior hosts events that require tickets, that educate the "ignorant masses" about democracy, meritocracy, and hierarchy, basically equating them all to each other, while knowingly knowing that one of these is not like the other, while simultaneously making promises that all three things represent equality.

The Social Senior entertains.

The Super Senior lectures.

The Social Senior convinces everyone that they are of them.

The Super Senior convinces everyone that they are above them.

Campaigns are not about the Truth. 

If they were about the Truth, the best person would win.

Campaigns are fundamentally about the people who either will or will not choose you.

If they were about the campaigner, the best person would win.

Campaigns are about finding someone to represent you.

Campaigns are not about finding the best person who can do the job.

And so, when the illiterate Social Senior walks up on stage and the students overwhelmingly feel as if this person represents them, WHY WOULD THE SUPER SENIOR WALK ONTO AN OPPOSING STAGE AND SAY, "BUT THE SOCIAL SENIOR IS SO STUPID"?

*slaps palm to face*

I've grown overwhelmingly tired of the [race redacted] women on social media who have taken it upon themselves to educate EVERYONE about EVERYTHING. Not only that, they DEMAND that you do what they say. This is honestly why I left social media.

How do I know?

They post some mediocre bullshit on their socials, and then, when someone more literate than them genuinely asks a follow-up or clarification question, they shit all over them with accusations of racism, punctuated by the command to, "READ IT AGAIN."

This is trickle down socializing from the top. 

I've said it before, and I'll say it as many times as I need until I feel like someone of any sort of significance has heard me say this thing I'm about to say.

WHEN A FORMER FIRST LADY WALKS UP ONTO A STAGE AND DECLARES THE PRESIDENCY OF THE UNITED STATES A "Black Job," this outcry trickles down into the societal masses. Some will flock toward the idea, more will flock away. Not to mention that a statement like this IS SUPREMELY FUCKING RACIST!

Since there was absolutely ZERO backlash, all I can assume is that this mentality has been adopted by everyone who looks like the specific former first lady who uttered these moronic words in front of the ENTIRE MAJORITY-NOT-BLACK AMERICAN POLITY WEEKS BEFORE A FORTHCOMING PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION.

This is also Elitism.

Honestly, I did not want the Democrats to win this cycle. I obviously couldn't vote for The Idiot, but I also did not want to vote for Kamala, but I sucked it up and did the "right" thing. And honestly, I'm relieved they lost so magnificently. And the irony that they have now been "woke" to the nature of this country is just so deliciously satisfying to me. 

Yes, things are going to get markedly worse, but at least we're not stuck in the mud-trap of two bickering parties. One side won, fair and square, and so, we are all going to be suffering in this nightmare together, again, and the everyday-american Supporters of The Idiot will suffer the most, ironically enough.

But at least we've finally put to death the Libtards, at least for the moment. 

All I can hope is that they can somehow reach for true wokeness over these next four years, as opposed to digging even deeper into their un-democratic, un-meritocratic, Elitist DEI. 

Bu- but how is DEI Elitist?
DEI initiatives seek to create diverse representation
by forcing the inclusion of variously superficial markers of diversity!

Meritocracy be damned!

Meritocracy is rigged!

The Libtards are simply creating a NEW HIERARCHY, with the Colored People (linguistically there is absolutely no difference between saying "People of Color" and "Colored People," if you believe otherwise, you are libtarded) and Sexually-Marginalized People (what?) at the top of the hierarchy as opposed to the bottom. THAT'S IT! This is their precious DEI ... more hierarchy ... hierarchy that suits them ... not the dismantling of it. 

How do I know?

Every person who is (was) considered "Democratic Leadership" took some stage at some point during this campaign and spoke to us as if they are the "best person" to lead us. 

The Democrats are not AMONG US. They are ABOVE US. It is their "duty" to show us how to be BETTER, which, naturally, means that THEY ARE BETTER THAN US, this is how they can "show us the way."

*BARF*

The thing about Democracy, which one would think the Democrats are all about, is that Democracy favors the majority. At least it ought to. And so, the intense focus of the Democrats on issues that are NOT THE MOST-SIGNIFICANT FACTORS FOR THE MAJORITY OF ALL PEOPLE means that the Democrats have zero interest in representing THE MAJORITY. Hypocrites!

[Figurative&Ideological] Death to the Hypocrites! 

[end note] as a petty endnote, i wanted the democrats to lose the day t-swiff endorsed kamala, just fyi. cause like, if you didn't know that "celebrities" are also Elitists, like what the fuck do you think about all day? when was the last time a "celebrity" did anything for you? most of the ones who showed up to these events didn't even entertain you, the literal thing that supposedly "qualifies" them for a national political stage. BAHAHAHA! these Libtards literally think that celebrity endorsements matter, all while shitting all over billionaires, like how fucking gross, what fucking hypocrites. and honestly, i will even go so far as to say this next bit: there was even one perfect moment when even i managed to be able to be on the same low intellectual plane as drumpf. the day he declared to all the world that, "I hate Taylor Swift," was the day i was so grateful that someone, anyone fucking said that shit out loud. obviously, this sort of thing does not make someone a good president, but it does make someone a good campaigner, and as we now know, being president and campaigning for president are two completely different skill sets.

My best job-friend, Charlie, asked me if I'm voting, to which I replied with an enthusiastic, "Yes, I did!" To which he responded, "How? The polls don't open until six a.m." To which I responded with my best smile, "I mailed in my ballot last Friday!" Another co-jobber whisper-asked about the election being today, to which I responded, "Yes, it is! Are you or did you vote?" To which she responded, "I can't. I am not a citizen. But I wish I could." And then she asked me who I will vote for, and I said, "I already voted for Kamala Harris." To which she responded, "Oh, you like Kamala?" To which I responded, "No, I am a Centrist. I'm all for whichever candidate will help the MOST people," to which she responded, "So you have no candidate?" To which I responded, "Yes."

REMEMBER TO VOTE!

if you haven't already

TODAY IS THE DAY!

The Drafting* of a Personal Statement | Draft 1

In These United States, being poor means that one lacks Capital (money &or access to financing) and Connections (well-connected people), and the thing about These United States is that there is nobody stopping you from reaching beyond one's membership in the Poorsy Class.

The other thing about These United States is that there is really nobody helping you either.

And so, what These United States possess that other countries that aspire to be like us (or destroy us) is meritocracy. Sure, meritocracy seems like a lie, to certain people, but it's not that it's a lie so much that it's Elitist. The lie is not that meritocracy does not exist. The lie is that meritocracy is available to everyone. 

Meritocracy does exist. It is within These United States where a person, someone, anyone can go to college, become educated in a field wherein earnings beyond that which are possible through hourly-wage labor is attainable. No education, no wages beyond the hourly. 

Another lie is that an Undergraduate degree is enough to reach the wages that are beyond-hourly wages, because the reality is that one must attain a Graduate-level education in order to be guaranteed professional-class wages. The thing about Graduate-level education is that it's specifically reserved for those who are deemed "smart enough" to use only their brains for their job, and as we've learned, everyone isn't born with the brains to do the types of jobs that can only be attained by obtaining a Graduate-level degree. 

An Undergrad degree can get some people into some "professional-level" jobs, but this is also another facet of the lie. I have lots of friends who graduated with Undergrad degrees, and they are working in corporate office spaces wherein they believe that they are of the "professional" class, but what they're really part of is the top of the wage-labor class. They are still doled out wages by an employer.

Professionals are the people whose skills are their business. Construction workers, I would argue, are part of the Professional Class. Anyone who possesses a skill that they then commercialize is part of the Professional Class. Regular Folk who show up to some job to get paid out in hourly/salaried wages are part of the Working Class. 90% of all American families are Working Class ... not Middle Class. I'd argue that the Professional Class is the Middle Class in America, today.

As a person born into a Poor Family who was adopted into a Working Class family, who has been a Working-Class citizen of These United States her entire young-adult/adult-jobbing history, I am going back to school so that I can be catapulted into the Middle Class. And school is the only option available to me as a poor member of the Working Class, meaning I have no Capital (in a wealthy sense) and no Connections (i don't know anyone, personally, who does what i want to do). So school is it.

And school it is. 

Graduate School is an available option for me, right now, without anymore schooling, because I performed well in high school (auto-accepted into every state school in colorado due simply to the relationship between my GPA and SAT/ACT test scores; all i had to do was accept), and completed my Undergraduate degree. If I needed to complete my Undergraduate degree, I would not be pursuing Graduate School, I would be pursuing my Undergraduate degree. If I needed to complete high school, then I wouldn't be pursuing my Undergraduate degree either, because I would be focused on completing high school. 

The thing about "completion" is that some people have it in their heads that like you're "supposed to" go to school during some specific time in one's life. This is absurd. 

I graduated from Undergrad six years after I completed high school, and it only took me five years of school. I took a year off between junior and senior year, but then had to do a super-senior lap because I switched majors late into the game. According to them, you're "supposed to" graduate in four.

I was invited into the World of Art History during my last year as an undergrad, and I declined because I did not want to pursue an academic career in Art History. I very muchly enjoyed studying art and its history while I was studying it, but there was no way I was going to dedicate my life to the studying of art and its history. No way.

During my year-long break from college, I was invited into the World of Professional Ballet after completing the trainee program at the small ballet company that invited me. Even though I love to dance more than any other form of body movement, it doesn't challenge my brain in the way that satisfies me. Don't get me wrong, ballet is plenty mentally challenging, but it also isn't after a certain point of mastery, etc., and so, that's when I returned to school to finish my Undergraduate degree.

As a high schooler, I was welcomed with open arms into the World of Medicine, but medicine and I did & do not get along. I am no scientist. I am an artist. This I know with unwavering certainty. And so, as soon as I started learning about Medicine at the college level, I was out. I am no scientist. 

So then, of what World do I want to be a part?  

[to be continued ... cause i still have to show up to some fucking day{night}job, so i gotta stop this thing here, for the time being, so that i can quickly, loosely-edit and then post it, and then go off to my goddamn job *blech*]

*if you're here and you've been here before, then you know that i am a writer, and as a writer, i am beginning to draft my personal statement for my law school application. i am only allotted 500 words (a loose maximum, i've been informed) that being said, the task of whittling down the answer to the questions, "why law school and why this law school?" into 500 words will be an exercise in specifics. i need to be able to nail down the exact specifics of my "wanting" without any unnecessary elaboration, etc. so, naturally, the first task becomes writing down all of the things i want to say in as many words as i want/need to say it. then i can look at it and see what "the point" is ... one hopes. and they're drafts, as opposed to sketches, because for me, as an artist, drafts connote a sort of imbued notion that the thing will be edited; a sketch is a sketch, and although sketches can be edited, my idea of a sketch is for the thing to exist as it was sketched, not really to be edited but rather, to exist in its purest form as a reminder.

When known data exist about the correlation b/t women's equity and domestic violence, that 'Julia Roberts' set of ads seems like very libtarded messaging brought to us by the party 'for women,' cause if you think about both the messaging and the message of these ads, it's quite simple to see that the Libtard Left has given these magamen a target if/when Harris takes the Oval, &that target is THE WIVES OF THESE MAGAMEN. Like. Duh. Like, how fucking libtarded does a party have to be to think that this type of ad-messaging is 'good' for the country? Fuck you! You don't care about the well-being of women, &now it's #facts &I'm sending out my sincerest apologies to the women out there who are already suffering at the hands of violent men. I'm very sorry for the ignorance of the Libtards. I understand why you would not join them. They are not Empowering you. They are Targeting you. &I'm very, very sorry.

Sailor's Log | Law School Application Weeks 1 + 2 [excluding the prelude week when we took the campus tour]

From the looks of it, the Law School application process is ... extensive but not unruly. It basically requires a third-party^ credential collector + the application to whatever (or whichever) school(s) one plans on attending, etc. Both steps can sort of be accomplished simultaneously but only after the first step is officially started, and last week, I officially started the first step. 

The first step (for the specific school to which i am applying) is to compile all of my credentials through the third-party credential collector. All together, I have to gather all of my undergraduate &or graduate transcripts (i only have undergrad degrees), obtain two letters of recommendation, take/submit an LSAT score, and write a personal statement. 

Then I apply to Law School.

The Law School then pulls my credentials from the third-party credential collector. And there's other stuff required on that application, but we'll cross that bridge when my brain is not mush.

I secured my undergraduate-granting transcript in the middle of October, around the time we toured the school, and then I had to order two other transcripts to ensure that I would be ordering the correct transcripts for the third-party credential collector, etc., and after those transcripts arrived, I submitted my institutions (that cannot be changed once submitted) and paid the one-time registration fee. 

I also secured both of my letter-of-recommendation writers around the same time as all of my transcripts were being ordered and delivered, and I submitted one of them to the third-party credential collector, and I am waiting for the other to return from vacation so that I can get him the details. 

That leaves the LSAT and a personal statement. 

Not to be cocky, but as a person who has been a writing practitioner for the better part of two decades, I am not sweating the personal statement. A few bullet points have already revealed themselves, and for the past week, nothing new or more has revealed itself. Thus, I will most likely get a first stab at the thing jotted down sometime this coming week.

And so, the final piece of the hoop (that then must be jumped through *iroll*), an LSAT score.

The Law School I wish to attend accepts either an LSAT or GRE score, and so, I've opted to take the GRE. I honestly don't know which one is "better" or whatever, but when we (the bodybuddy/lifemate&i) were still mulling this thing, we bought a GRE test-prep book (is thick), and so, I'm going to take the GRE. If I had to take the LSAT, I would go out and buy an LSAT test-prep book, but since I have this GRE book, I'm taking the GRE *claps hands together to rid herself of riddance* 

And so, there must be some way to bypass the required LSAT score, and so, I need to send an email to the very friendly admissions person I met two weeks ago *jots down note on to-do list*

Fortunately, I do have enough time to take the GRE twice, if need be, but goddamn, I literally haven't taken a math class since my freshman year of college, which *ahem* was in the tender year of 2004. 

OH MY FUCKING GOD!

*starts breathing heavily*

*hyperventilates*

*sits on yoga mat until sanity returns*

So yea, I was an accelerated K-12 student. By the time my senior year of high school rolled around, I had run out of required math classes, so I didn't take a math class in the fall of my senior year. According to the three transcripts I received (one community college [10.5 credits obtained while in high school], one private university [attended from freshman year 2004 through junior year 2007], and the flagship state-school from which I graduated [attended from fall 2008 to graduation in spring 2010]), I got an "A" in College Algebra in the spring semester of 2004, the last semester of my high school career. And then, in the spring of 2005, the freshman year of my college career, I got a "B+" in Pre-Calculus Math, and that was the last time I took a math class requiring more knowledge then basic addition/subtraction/multiplication/division (in the spring of 2006, i got an "A" in financial accounting, but accounting is very straightforward, mathematically speaking). 

And I took zero math classes at my graduating institution.

Like I said, it's been a long-fucking time since I've done any math beyond the elementary basics, and so, I'm a bit rusty. 

I also job a management-level job that I am supposed to job full-time. 

I obviously submitted a request for a temporary schedule change due to my striving toward "higher education," etc., and none of my higher-ups had any issues with it (i'm very efficient). I already worked fewer than 40 hours, but now I have official clearance to be unavailable 8 hours/week for the next few months. 

And so, I present my current job-schedule + study schedule ::

Temporary Jobbing Schedule (until no later than 05Feb25)

Monday :: 8-hour shift
Tuesday :: 4-5-hour shift
Wednesday :: 8-9-hour shift
Thursday :: 4-hour shift

Friday :: 8-hour shift

Study Schedule | Week 1 October 21 - 27

Tuesday :: ~4 hrs before jobbing

Thursday :: ~3 hrs after jobbing

Saturday :: [was scheduled as a study day, but i passed out so hard on friday, slept for twelve hours, and then for three hours on two separate occasions throughout the night/morning, so no studying happened on saturday]

Sunday :: ~6 hrs

Study Schedule | Week 2 October 28 - November 03 (current week)

Tuesday :: ~5 hrs before jobbing

Thursday :: (learned my lesson and took the second-half of this day off as my rest day)

Saturday :: 4 hrs + 2 hrs (the bodybuddy/lifemate is upping me to two-a-days, so we went for a run in between sets today, and now i'm done with my studies, and i'm writing this thing, today being the saturday being referenced right now, and i am so fucking tired)

Sunday :: [scheduled] 4 hrs + 3 hrs or whatever amount of time is needed to complete two sets 

As I build up my stamina, the two-a-days will hopefully become easier, and I will finish the GRE test-prep book with enough time to also review the book again before taking the first stab at the GRE in mid-December.

So, if you're wondering what I'm up to, I'm neck-deep in bringing my sexy-math mind back.

*peace*

^[updated 22Nov24] not a "third-party" per se, but it feels like a third-party, because you are directed there from the school's website. as i'm wading through this process, i've learned that it IS the party.