Coffee and Marriage Equality
As I mentioned yesterday, I once again am sitting in a coffee shop blogging today. Levi chose to work on his paper today instead of yesterday, which is why we are here. The only problem is that Levi is still protesting the paper writing, and this place closes in an hour. He has only just now come up with a topic after almost an hour of thinking. (He is writing an example essay about the different types of essays.. which is only slightly ridiculous..) I probably shouldn’t say that him protesting is the only problem, there is one other problem we’re having – the drinks are terrible. They didn’t have spiced chai at this Forza, so they recommended oregon and just put cinnamon in it – I’ve never had oregon chai so I didn’t realize how terrible this drink was going to be. I got a backup mocha, which is kind of awkwardly flavored too – it tastes burnt. We probably won’t come to this particular Forza again. (The one near our house closes early, so we settled for this one.)
Governor Chris Gregoire signed the marriage equality bill this afternoon, just like she said she would. This means that in 90 days it will go into effect. The last hurdle to get over is the referendum process. The people who do not support the bill will soon be out in full force, collecting signatures to get the bill on the November election ballot. You will likely be approached by these individuals outside of grocery stores and other retailers. If you are approached by one of the individuals, make sure you know what it is you are signing – they may try to mislead you so make sure you read anything they try to get you to sign. (Or even better, ignore them completely.) I know from personal experience that it can be difficult to ignore these people, they are pushy and usually very impolite when they have a cause.
Fighting the inevitable referendum process won’t be easy. People are very opinionated when it comes to marriage, and the same people who supported the idea of extending the benefits of marriage to domestic partners in Washington may not be supportive of the idea of granting the actual right to a civil marriage to gays and lesbians. When a domestic partnership is involved, people tend to think that the union doesn’t really encroach on the “fundamentals” of religious marriage. A civil marriage on the other hand, shares a name in common with religious marriage so people are oftentimes confused about the differences. A civil marriage is not a religious marriage. In fact, a couple can be married under the church of their choice and never even file for a civil marriage. This doesn’t mean their religious marriage isn’t valid, it just means that they don’t have a civil marriage – the two are completely different.
The reason why I write this post is that we aren’t done fighting. We won’t be done fighting until we no longer live in fear of having our rights taken away from us. While the governor has signed the bill, it is not yet a valid law and will not be for some time. If we lose sight of our final goal in the haze of a small victory, we may lose what we have fought so hard to gain – just like the good people of California did when they lost their battle against Proposition 8. They have since regained the right to marriage, but the same stroke of luck may not rear its head in Washington should we lose the referendum process. Furthermore, even though we have almost achieved equality on the state level, the federal government still does not recognize our unions and will not until the Defense of Marriage Act is overturned.
There is still so much more we have to fight for and getting distracted now could prove to be a big mistake in the long run. Remember, when someone comes up to you to ask you to sign a petition to have the marriage equality bill put to a vote, don’t sign it. Even though it will likely go to a vote anyway, every person who refuses to sign is making a positive difference in the world. Also remember, if the bill does go to a vote, make sure you vote to approve the referendum and remember to pay attention to any other items on the ballot that might be related. You can also help by telling your friends and family about marriage equality and why it is so important. Remember, being silent about what is right is doing a disservice to your friends and family who are hoping and praying that they can one day enjoy the same rights as heterosexual couples.
Read MorePhoto Editing, Work, Lattes, and Video Games
So, after saying that I was going to do it yesterday night, I finally got around to starting the edits on the photos from Friday’s Father/Daughter dance this evening. (I also said I was going to finish cleaning my apartment yesterday.. that didn’t happen either.) The photos all turned out great and, despite me having to adjust the exposure to every single file, it didn’t take long at all to finish the initial batch edits. I still need to go in and fix up each individual photo, but for the most part the photos don’t need much additional editing. (There are about 15 or 20 that need to have the backgrounds extended to the edge of the frame, at this moment I am very thankful for Photoshop.) In one picture, I actually had to replace a little girls right eye with a copy of her left eye because a bit of hair was covering it completely – the result was very natural looking.
Tomorrow, I’ve got a pretty easy day. I only work three hours and forty-five minutes, and then I have nothing else to do. I think I will probably finish cleaning my apartment when I get home tomorrow. The way I talk about it, you probably think that it’s filthy…it really isn’t – I just like it to be super clean. When you have two cats, it is very important that the rest of the apartment be clean, on account of the fact that the two disgusting felines usually aren’t.
Levi and I are currently sitting at a table in a coffee shop. I was hoping that coming here would get Levi to work on his paper that is due next week, but he has decided that he is just going to do it tomorrow. Which means that we might be making another trip..at home he is currently being distracted by Kingdoms of Amalur – he really loves the game. (I love it as well, but I’ve already stated that here.) I think his favorite part of the game is blowing up monsters, he doesn’t really care about the story much. In fact, he just follows the circle on the mini-map and blows up everything in his way.
Anyway, it’s time to get going. I’ve got a lot of stuff to do tonight.
P.S. I feel like a cliche when I blog from a coffee shop.
Read MorePhotography and Cycling.
Yesterday was the most ridiculously long day of my entire life. As I had previously mentioned, I did portraits for a Father/Daughter dance at Elmhurst Elementary school last night. I haven’t yet sat down to edit the photos, but the in camera shots looked pretty good for the most part. There were a couple that I wasn’t so sure about but I can make them work. It’s probably going to take me six hours to edit all of the photos. I’ve got a lot of work to do tonight.
Levi has drill this weekend, so I went to a coffee shop with some friends. (This was a welcome departure from the other things I need to get done today… Like cleaning my bathroom.) Since Levi has the car, I biked to the coffee shop. The weather wasn’t super fantastic for it, but I did it anyway. When I went to leave, I noticed that my helmet was hanging from the chain awkwardly and it had been unclipped. I’m pretty sure somebody tried to take it, but they were thwarted by the way I looped the chain through the helmet straps. (Thwarted might be a bit strong of a word, but I like it.) Had they really wanted to, they could have gotten the helmet detached but I am glad they didn’t. I kind of need my helmet. Fortunately they didn’t try take anything else, like the $50 worth of lights that I leave clipped onto my bike. As I write this, I realize that my bike is just asking to be vandalized – it’s so vulnerable.
Since I’m on the topic of cycling, I should probably mention that I am definitely out of shape right now. The moderate inclines from my apartment to the Forza down the street had me gasping for air and praying that my legs wouldn’t explode from the work of moving myself uphill. I can honestly say that I am ashamed of my performance on the ride today. In my defense, I hadn’t ridden my bike for a few weeks before this afternoon. (I’ve been busy.) I hope that as the weather gets a bit nicer that I will be able to get out there more often. I should probably be going to the “gym” in our apartment complex to use the stationary bike, but I’m just so lazy that I never make time to go. I feel like there is always something more interesting I could be doing than sitting on a stationary bike, pedaling to nowhere…staring at a wall.
Levi should be home any minute now, so I have to figure out what we are going to have for dinner. I’m thinking sandwiches. I never think about dinner until it’s time to make dinner, and by that time it’s too late to do anything. One day, I’m going to figure out how to safely thaw chicken in 5 minutes.. You just watch..
Read MoreBad Moods, Games, and Portraits.
This morning I woke up in a weird mood. I don’t really know how to describe it. It was like I was irritated and frustrated at the same time. It’s pretty annoying to wake up in a bad mood. I saw Levi off this morning around 7:30 AM and then proceeded to sit down and play Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning before I had to leave for work, hoping that playing the game would put me in a better mood.
The game is a lot of fun, and I can tell that a lot of hard work went into it. There are so many side quests that I just don’t know what to do with myself. I have this problem where I feel like I need to do every single quest, and in Kingdoms of Amalur it is kind of difficult to do them all and still maintain a decent progress through the game. In the 10 hours I have played so far, I have only just begun to make good progress in the main story line. Given my lack of progress through the main story, you might think that I am getting bored with it, but I am not. Even the side quests have compelling story lines and are a ton of fun. (Trust me, I’m an expert…I’ve done like 8 hours of side quests already.) If you’re questioning whether or not to buy this game, just do it. (This is coming from somebody who hasn’t seriously played a single player RPG since Final Fantasy X. None that I have tried since then have been interesting.) The only reason why I’m even blogging right now is because I thought I should let Levi play before we head to bed.
Tomorrow is going to be a really long day for me. I work at seven in the morning until four (9 hours..) and then after that I have to go home, get changed, grab my camera and head to Elmhurst Elementary School where I will be photographing portraits for a Father & Daughter dance. I did the photos last year as well and they turned out pretty good – I am going to be using a flash this time, so the pictures should come out even better. Right now I am charging up my camera batteries for the shoot so that I will, hopefully, be able to make it though the entire thing. (I’ve got two batteries, which should be more than sufficient.)
I need to get to bed soon, or I am going to be a cranky jerk tomorrow. I have so much to do tomorrow, and I probably won’t get home until around 10 at night.
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