Shock

I apparently have retained the ability to be absolutely shocked, which is an amazing thing in itself because I consider myself fairly worldly.  I know that I will never truly understand everything that I encounter....but I didn't think that I could be shocked to the core. Today, an acquaintance of mine, through a discussion on Facebook, noted to me that he doesn't believe in evolution.   I know that there are lots of people out there who do not believe in evolution, and I have definitely have some preconceptions about them.  People who believe that every aspect of the bible is true and not allegory.  These are people that I don't consort with because I know that they hold opinions antithetical to my own.....especially in areas about LGBT populations.  And yes, I will admit that I believe this non-evolution-believing-stereotype are also people who are not very intelligent.

This situation is really forcing me to rethink this stereotype and also what I consider in someone who is intelligent.  Because this person knows so much, and is well read.....but he doesn't question.  And I'm beginning to think that a person's ability to question is more important than how many books they have read or years in school that they have spent.

One of his reasonings behind not believing in evolution was that science wasn't 100% accurate.  I will concede this, but then again, it must also be recognized that faith and religion is also not 100% accurate.  We should hold both things up to the same standard.  I firmly believe in evolution.  There is an overwhelming amount of scientific evidence showing that it exists and so I accept it.  Likewise, the existence of God cannot be 100% proven, but I have also seen enough evidence to show me that a force of creation (and whatever name you wish to ascribe to it) exists, therefore I also accept it.  But he can't seem to do that.

This has totally blown my mind.  I also can't seem to just let it go.  I don't want to debate with him further on it because I don't think that he will change his mind, or even concede that even in the slightest bit that evolution is a possibility.

This is also a dealbreaker for me I've learned.  His admission to me is more damning than any other information that I could learn about him.  I also know that I could never be with someone (not that I have EVER thought of this guy in this way---but in general terms) who did not believe in evolution.  I might have to start asking this question on dates.

In conclusion....you can read everything ever written, you can recite or regurgitate every fact that you have come across, you could have advance degrees filling up your wall.....but if you can't question what you believe, what you read, and/or what other people tell you is the truth.....I'm gonna think you are an idiot.

Announcing 2012's Hare-brained Scheme

How many years do you have to do something before it becomes a tradition?  Well, this will make it three years in a row of having a hare-brained scheme.  Schemes are different than yearly resolutions...mainly because they are measurable, public, and life altering. 

The first year of hare-brained schemes was in 2010, when I decided to train for a 5k and meet a lifetime fitness goal of running a mile.  Bought some expensive shoes, did a couple 5ks and came in last at pretty much all of them....but I finished and that was the important part.  It drastically changed my fitness level and outlook of what my body is truly capable of....and reinforced my general sense of awesomeness.

Hare-brained scheme 2011 was to become a yoga instructor.  I graduate from the program next month.  I also start teaching officially next month (Curvy Yoga!)....and I'll be starting a website devoted strictly to yoga and body awareness in order to let all the beautiful round people of the Salt Lake area have an opportunity to savasana with me.  More on that will be announced here on this blog....when I finally have everything in a format in which I want others to see it.

So now.... for hare-brained scheme 2012!  I am now volunteering as a victim advocate for Unified Police Department (UPD).  At this point, not much has happened except filling out an application and two completely uneventful nights of being on-call.  Why this?  Mainly because while at UCASA I have been training others on how to be an advocate for themselves and others....I need the experience myself as well.  I kinda equate it to learning theory in school and then finally having a job where you can apply all that theory you have learned to the real world.  Mainly, if there is a crisis call on nights and weekends where an officer needs an advocate to assist with victims of crime and trauma, I could be called out.  I still have alot to learn...police procedures, dispatch protocol, and a little more on working specifically with domestic violence....and I'll be shadowing other advocates for a while before I will be ready to head to a scene on my own.  Rather than volunteering for hospital response at the local rape crisis program, I would be responding to victims of a variety of violence not just sexual.  And I will have the added ability of learning after the initial contact about what happened to the victim if I want.  I don't think that I could emotionally handle working with a victim on the worst day of their life during the worst medical exam that they will ever get and then having no contact with them.  Working with UPD gives me more of an option for followup, which I think will help me better handle any vicarious trauma I might experience.

That's that... the scheme has been announced! 
Now go back to your regular business.

A poem, of sorts.....as of yet untitled

I miss writing
     almost as much as I miss wanting to be a writer
     or grand poetess
     of one of those incredible literary types that can quote long and obscure passages from the extended works of this author or that.

I tried that once....to be that type.
I quoted an entire Shakespeare sonnet to a friend at lunch
    one of those sonnets written to the dark lady
    that at one time when I
    felt-
    impacted me.
    a sonnet that proved that I read more than just the "best of" pieces that all the ordinary people read.
I will never forget the look on my lunch companion's face
   awe
   reverence
   arousal
It made me feel smart
   powerful
But lets be honest.....even if I could quote all the now obscure philosophers and poets of the world...
  is there still an audience?

I talk about this person I want to be
   cultured
   educated
I may own the books that house the thoughts of those obscure intellectuals
But I don't have time to read them
Instead I carry the books around me in the house
   finding comfort being surrounded by these stacks of wisdom

This actually makes my bookshelf the cultured, intellectual one
and me something more akin to an illiterate dreamer that lives in a library

In any case,
I miss this self that I wanted to be,
the writer
    who now spends more time criticizing and editing the grammar mistakes of others on Facebook
    then taking up pen to paper and making grammar mistakes of my own.