Tempest Smith Pledge

What is remembered, lives.

I remember Tempest Smith.
I remember that it's never right to make fun of someone's beliefs.
I remember that sticks and stones can break my bones, but names are
words of power that can wound the soul.
I remember that many mocked - and one died.

I remember Tempest Smith.
I remember that it takes all types to make a world.
I remember that nature likes biodiversity. This is true of beliefs and ideas as well.
I remember that I make a better witness to my own beliefs by simply living them, not belittling others.

I remember Tempest Smith.
And I remember that another person's belief (or non-belief) is just as sincerely held as my own.
I remember to have the courage to say, "Hey, that's not right," when I see someone being ridiculed.
And the next time I am tempted to go along with the crowd and tease someone who is "different," I will remember Tempest Smith, and I will remember my pledge.

Because what is remembered, lives.

On February 20, 2001, a young girl named Tempest Smith killed herself in Lincoln Park, Michigan, USA. Her suicide was directly caused by the taunting of other students who mocked her because she was "different" and because she was Wiccan. This is a dramatic and extreme example of hundreds of everyday cases of prejudice based on religion. Even those who would never make a racial or gender-based slur may still discriminate based on religion, because many faiths teach that their religion is the only true religion.

We know that change is made one person at a time. So in memory of Tempest Smith and millions of victims of religious discrimination worldwide, we at the Pagan Pride Project ask you to pledge these three things:

• I pledge my word and my honor to accept that another's belief, or non-belief, is just as sincerely held as my own.
• I pledge that when I see prejudice based on religion, be it taunting on a playground or whispered in a board meeting, I will stand and say, "No. This is wrong."
• I pledge that to the best of my ability, I will respect practitioners of other spiritual paths and treat them with kindness and courtesy.

Thank you for your generosity of spirit in acknowledging a problem and pledging yourself to its resolution.

I don't even know what to talk about right now. I'm just so excited =]]

My Absolute Favouritest Books.

This is a list of books that I have read, that I thought were reeeeeeeaallyy good.

• Identical, Crank, Burned, Impulse - Ellen Hopkins
• Twilight, New Moon, Eclipse, Breaking Dawn, The Host - Stephenie Meyer
• This Is What I Did: - Ann Dee Ellis
• You Don't Know Me - David Klass
• Thirteen Reasons Why - Jay Asher
• The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon - Stephen King
• Jerk, California - Jonathan Friesen
• Burn - Suzanne Phillips
• Suicide Notes - Michael Thomas Ford
• Maximum Ride: The Angel Experiment - James Patterson
• Go Ask Alice - Anonymous
• Candy - Kevin Brooks
• Caught In The Act - Peter Moore
• Playing In Traffic - Gail Giles
• Bleed - Laurie Faria Stolarz
• I Am Morgan LeFay - Nancy Springer
• The Wish List - Eoin Colfer
• The Five People You Meet In Heaven - Mitch Albom
• Bridge to Terabithia - Katherine Patterson
• The Body of Christopher Creed - Carol Plum-Ucci
• When You Don't See Me - Timothy James Beck
• Twisted - Laurie Halse Anderson
• Band Fags - Frank Anthony Polito
• Hero - Perry Moore

Any Comments? I would recommend all of these books. I'm not sure what genre they are. I'd have to say, with the exception of the Twilight Saga, that Hero is pretty much my favourite book of all.

Reincarnation.

Thinking about that last post, I wanna talk about reincarnation now.
So, reincarnation is the belief that after we die, we are born again. We live another life, we might be human again, or we might not. Depending on what you believe, you could be born on another planet, with human like creatures, or a some alien species! Or, in another Universe. OMG, now I wanna blog about The Multiverse, and the String Theory (idk if it's called the String Theory, just something like that).

Where was I?

Uhh, oh gosh. Well I think that we live as many lives (for the sake of differences, I will say... The Higher Being) as The Higher Being wants us to, whatever the reason is. Or maybe we keep returning as a reward for being good in this life? But then we would not have the chance to make up for what we did. So never mind that one, I can't believe that The Higher Being wouldn't let us return to make up for whatever we did. I'm not exactly sure what I believe about why we return or why some people return more than others.

***FUN FACT TIME!!! I have this friend (this isn't a metaphor, she really is my friend), who is interested in Numerology. Using Numerology she figured out that my destiny number is 9. Which also happens to be her destiny number. It turns out that people whose destiny number is 9, have been reincarnated more than any other number.***

Dang, I had a whole bunch to say about this but now I can't think.

OH! Some people may ask: "Why can't we remember our past lives?"
Which is a good question. But I have found and answer! But before I go into that there are books that offer Past Life Exploration meditations. Just look, they're out there.
The reason we don't remember our past live, I believe, comes from Gandhi.

It is nature's kindness that we do not remember our past births... life would be a burden if we carried a tremendous load of memories. -Gandhi

And that makes a lot of sense, because, think about all of the people who have had many bad experiences in their past lives, I wouldn't want to remember many bad things that happened to me, or that I did to someone else.

Now, I've always kind of wondered, what happens to people who commit suicide? Were they allowed to live another life when they gave up on this one? The only opinion that I have ever read about this situation was by Silver RavenWolf. From what I read, I learned that, well, what she believes, is that when you commit suicide, you will not move on you a new life. Okay, that's not entirely true, because you are reborn. And you won't be in the same body. But, what happens is: you are born into another life, but in this life you will go through all the same experiences, you will feel all the same emotions, you will have the same stresses. So you won't move onto another life, you will, pretty much, just life the same life over again, just with different looks.

Well I think that is all I have to say on this subject, for right now at least.
=]

Life After Death.

So, I'm pretty much about to discuss what I think about life after death. It will have no... religious influences of mine.

Okay well, I believe that there is some kind of life after death. There is no doubt in my mind. It's like, I can't possibly believe that after we die here, that that will be the end of us. That there will be nothing.
All I can think is: There is a life after this one. By the way, I do believe in reincarnation. But I'm not going to talk about that now.

The Law of Conservation of Energy says that the total amount of energy in an isolated system remains constant. From this we learn that energy cannot be created or destroyed. So if energy can't be created or destroyed, then what happens to us. Cause, we're energy right? I mean, we have energy in our bodies. The energy makes us move, it allows our brain and organs to function. It lets us think inside our heads. This energy can be thought of as our soul, or our inner self. So what happens to the energy when we die? If the energy isn't destroyed when we die, then it changes form.

Which means that we have to change form also, and move onto whatever there is after that happens, right? Well, I know this isn't put together really well. I have thoughts and it's hard for me to put them into words. If only we could all talk with our minds!

Now, if I was to add some religious influences into what I'm saying here, I would say: When we die, we go to the Summerland. There, we will maul over the life lessons that we learned. We will meet with family that have passed on before we did. Once our business is finished, we will be reincarnated into our next life.

Totally had fun at the convention. We looked through all the dvd's and mangas. Bht there weren't really a lot of people. Nobody was dressed up! Later we went to Barnes and Noble and looked at the mangas there. They had way more. I decided I'm going to start collecting them. First I'm going to get the Death Note mangas. Cause that show is awesome. Then, I'm going to get the Loveless mangas. I'm sad cause there are only twelve episodes. I watched them all on www.veoh.com. I'm hoping there are more of the mangas though. I know therd is a short novel! In which a guy approaches Ritsuka and says that he is his fighter! I totally wanna read it and find out what happens to Soubi since he is really Seimei's figher and not Ritsuka's.then I'm gonna get the InuYasha mangas causethe episodes don't go to the last manga.
I'm gonna google some more conventions in Michigan and try to go to them.

Anime Con!!

This Sunday, In Genesee Valley Mall, at FYE there is going to be an Anime Convention!
Isn't that awesome?!
Why, yes, yes it awesome.
I know, right?!
Theyre gonna have Cosplay outfit swaps. And you can enter a drawing, itbhas somethi g to do with Bleach (so it's automatically awesome) you have a chance to win a guitar signed by Tite Kubo.
So I'm totally going.
Thanks Jenna!
XD

The Sims 3

Wht is the most awesomest game ever?! I'll give you a hint. Look up.
^^^^^^^^^^^^^
that's right. THE SIMS 3!!!!!
Well actually, the Sims is amazing. But the latest and greatest
version of the most amazing game ever, is the Sims 3. I don't actully
have it yet, nor have I played it. I'm pretty ecstatic cause my
laptop, which has been broken for about a year now, because the screen
wouldn't turn on, has decided to work today! So hopefully that will
continue... Anyways, I'm probably getting it on my iphone this week.
And I'm hoping to get it for my laptop. I have The Sims: Complete
Collection, but when I installed that on my laptop, it messed up.
Whenever I tried to play it, it would shoe thag it was loading all the
different versions (Makin' Magic, Hot Date, Pets, etc...) but once tey
were all loaded it would just start loading them again, as if it was
on a loop or something. I'm hoping the Sims 3 won't do that. I haven't
ever played The Sims 2 either! But I'm sooo excited for The Sims 3. =]

umm... wow.

A Sad Truth.

I don't know how many of you have ever heard the song This Way by The
Morning Light, but it really has a sad truth about it. Generally the
song is about people not living their lives the way they should, which
is, how they want to. A lot of people, too many, don't live their
lives the way they want to, I know I don't.
Which really is sad, because how can you be truly happy of your not
doing what you want to? You just can't. Now, we can't always have what
we want. Many people want to be rich and famous, but that isn't what
I'm talking about. Things like that aren't always in our control. I'm
talking about more simpler things. Religion, friends, sexuality, and
even interacial relationships are a few examples of things people
might not be showing in their dayly lives, things they are keeping
secret. They might be keeping these things secret because they are not
accepted by everyone. Wheather it be by family, friends, or just
people in general.
Normally I would say that people who can't accept you because you are
not Christian or because you're gay, or because you in a relationship
with someone of a different race, aren't worth your time and you
shouldn't hang around them (which is true most of the time!). But
sometimes it's hard because they're important to you. Like family.
Which is even worse because if your family can't accept you for who
you are than you might never live how you want just to keep them
happy, but then you aren't happy.
I suppose you could always lie to them and live your life how you want
around everyone but them. I don't know about anyone else but I
wouldn't be able to keep up that charade forever. Besides, people need
to learn acceptance because it is important if we're all really ever
going to be equals.

Kids With Too Much To Do.

When I say kids with too much to do, I mean kids who have too many
responsibilities. Kids shouldn't have a lot of responibilities. When I
say kids I also mean teenagers. Think about all the kids that have to
do all of their families laundy. Or dishes all the time. Or are always
cleaning. Yes it is food to have some responsibilities, like chores
that you do. But it's not good for the kid to do everything. I saw an
episode of Wife Swap, and the twelve year old boy was parenting and
disiplining the children, and doing the house work.

Kids shouldn't be doing all those things. While your still under 18
you need to be experiancing life and having fun with friends. Because
once you graduate you're screwed. You will have to work for the rest
of your life, until your old enough to retire. And you won't always
get to go out and do what you want because you will have to pay bills
and go to work and keep the house clean. And you won't be able to have
as much fun as you could've had while being a teen.

Some Favourite Commercials.

Have you ever seen the commercial about watching what you say?
It has the two cashiers and one says: "That's so gay." and a woman
walks up an says: "That's so Emma and Julia". Emma and Julia are the
cashiers who were talking. The whole commercial is about using the
word "gay" to describe things that are bad or negative. In the
commercial the woman is using their names to describe something bad to
get them understand how gay people might feel.

Think with your dipsick Jimmy!
There's a commercial out there about some kinda oil for your car. A
scottsman(idk what the actual word is) runs up to people ans they say
something about their car and he goes: "Think with your dipstick
Jimmy!" and smacks then with a dipstick. I would've loved to have
played the Scottsman, cause I would've got to smack them witht the
dipstick. It reminds me of the icon that says "When life gives you
lemons, squeeze them in someone's ee and haul ass!"

I saw this commercial when I was watching The Funniest Commercials of
2009. I can't remember everything, but some men are working in a bread
shop and throughout the commercial they keep making referances to
pooping, but they're being completely serious. Things like, I gotta go
drop the kids off at the pool, I gotta go pinch a loaf and things like
that. It was hilarious.

The Hundredth Monkey Theory.

While reading a book by Christopher Penczak, I stumbled upon the Hundredth Monkey Theory.
In 1952, on and an isolated island called Koshima, scientists were studying the behavior of Japanese monkeys (Macaca fuscata). They would give them sweet potatoes dropped in the sand. The monkeys like eating the potatoes but they didn't like the sand that clung to them. A female monkey solved the problem by washing the potato. She taught her family and friends. Soon, all of the monkeys were washing off their potatoes. From 1952 to 1958 all the young monkeys learned to wash potatoes when some of the older monkeys continued to eat them dirty. That fall, the scientists noticed something very strange. Once a certain critical mass was reached on Koshima, and all the monkeys of the Macaca fuscata species on that island were washing their potatoes, monkeys on other islands, separated by water, started washing their potatoes. These monkeys were not taught this skill, but somehow knew. No information was transferred on any recordable level. The practice came into the general consciousness of the monkeys.

This lead to the belief that species are connected by some invisible field of consciousness. When a small group of a species, in comparison to the entire population, discovers a new way of life or new information, that i formation remains their individual knowledge. But when a critical mass is reached, that information is now part of the species consciousness, available to all. Read Lifetide by Lyall Watson for the story.

Personally, I believe that this is a real thing. If you look into the past yoy might notice some examples of this. One example, comes from the ancient peoples. Think about it for a minute... If you haven't figured it out yet, I'm talking about pyramids. In Egypt, the ancient Egyptian built pyramids. Then, across the ocean, the Mayans were also building pyramids. I also believe that there are a few pyramids somewhere in Japan. This theory is a little more believable, I think, than aliens building the pyramids. No offense to people who believe that. Another example might be money. In Europe, Asia, and Africa, money was used all over. Then, across the ocean, the Native Americans also had their own form of currencey. And that was before people discovered the New World.

Do we all see the same?

This may be a weird thing to think about, but do you think that we all see and hear the same things?

Like, what if when I see something blue, you see it green. Or to you, an apple is pink, but to me it is red.
And if we see differently we must hear things differently. Because i we didn't than we would've discovered that everyone sees things differently. So when we were in preschool and we learned colours, everyone would have seen a different colour for the same object, but we would all think that we were seeing the same thing. If we were talking, and you told me that your room is going to me a raspberry colour, I might hear you say yellow, or green. I would even see you lips move to form those words, but your would've heard you say raspberry. I'm not sure if you understand what I'm trying to explain.

It's a pretty perplexing thought.

My Playlist.

This thing plays random playlists. But mine is http://www.playlist.com/playlist/15832761355, just paste it into the music thing on my blog.