I Got Irritated Again.

Okay, so I am very tired of seeing people that I respect do things that make me lose a bit of respect for them...especially when they take what one person writes in an article, and decides that it's the truth...because it already fits their own idea.

Yes, this involves Pokemon again.

Someone from one of my churches posted this article saying "for your info".  For one, this is a rather outdated post!  There are a TON more pokemon and pokemon types now.  For two...  *groans*  it has picked something that it already deems as "evil" and is looking for ways to support its agenda.  You can do that with anything.  Literally anything.  Wanna know how I know?  Well, I took one of my favorite book series of all times (The Chronicles of Narnia), and picked apart the first CHRONOLOGICAL book.  By that, I mean The Magician's Nephew.  Again, I said chronological, not first written.  Oh, it's satanic and occultic!

This is what I said:

"By this logic, The Chronicles of Narnia, a book series written by C.S. Lewis, and a movie series made by Disney (not as good as the books) is evil and should not be read.

Narnia is a series revolving mainly around four siblings, Peter, Susan, Edmund and Lucy, their cousin Eustace and his friend Jill, and a professor named Digory, and his friend Polly.

In the first chronological book, The Magician's Nephew, it starts off right away with a boy who has a very off the wall uncle. His uncle has "magic" rings (oh no, the occult), that can transport a person from realm to realm. He forces Digory and Polly (whom Digory finds while crawling through the attic, if I remember, something else children should not be encouraged to do) to wear these rings and go to a different world.

They go to this world, and there's a bell there, when they ring it all these stone people come to life. This must be magic. Again, the occult, obviously.

I recall that there was a forest, with different puddles, and basically, the puddles transport to and from these places. They go into another puddle and they're transported to a new "world" that is just being made, by a singing lion.

The lion sings and stuff happens. Talking animals and everything. Okay, that's so not cool, that's obviously occultish magic and will give children the idea that God isn't actually God, but some singing lion, especially as the author of these books never once mentions God in this series.

Later on, when Digory and Polly are back in England, they've accidentally taken some evil witch (yes, witch, okay, they aren't even trying to hide that she's a witch, obviously involved in the occult!) with them. She breaks a lamppost and when they get back to this new "world" which has been named Narnia, she throws it into the ground and it grows into a regular sized lamppost, complete with a lamp with fire in it and everything. Again, occultic magic.

I don't fully remember the entire book, as I haven't read it in a long time, but I do remember that a cab driver and his horse Strawberry are brought to Narnia as well. Aslan wants him to stay and he even gets the man's wife there as well! That's so wrong! Just displacing a person from where they've grown.

Digory, the book's main protagonist even steals an apple to "heal his ailing mother", as if a "magical" apple can do that! Then his mother is miraculously healed. Okay, what? Obviously occultic stuff right there.

Oh and what's worse? He plants the remains of that apple and if I remember correctly, the tree grew overnight. That doesn't happen. That is not something we want our kids to think can happen.

Later, he cuts the tree down and builds a wardrobe out of it, which later, in the book The Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe, transports the four siblings mentioned before to Narnia.

There are seven books in this series, and I could pick them all apart for you like this man does, to prove why they are leading children into the occult and that they should not be read or partaken in at all, but that would take up too much room here.

Other books basically embrace the idea that a lion (Aslan) can save people from dying, or transport people do different lands or his "kingdom". He died in one of the books and was brought back to life. I don't see how anyone could allow their child to read these books or watch the movies.

In The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe (witch is in the title, why would anyone think that that's appropriate?) there is a witch (big shocker) who turns the entire country into ice using her sorcery...and good Christian people let their children read these books and watch these movies.

And the worst part of this entire thing is that there are Christians all over the world who believe that The Chronicles of Narnia is something good for their children! This author also wrote a book called The Screwtape letters, targeted at adults, where a demon is trying to control a man, and ultimately end him in hell. I mean, that's satanic right there! Why on earth would anyone want to read a book that all but romanticizes satanic things like that?

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.

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Do you see how absurd that is? Because...um...that article used the exact same logic I did. ANYTHING, literally ANYTHING could lead a person to the occult. I've been watching Pokemon, learning about Pokemon, even playing some Pokemon games...and...I'm probably further away from the occult than I have ever been. Not because of the movies/books/games I partake in, but because of my relationship with Jesus Christ and God.

Again ANYTHING could be found to be Satanic or Occultic....

And what really bothers me is people just reading articles like this and believing them. They don't even try to go out and learn about it other than people who already share the same opinion. Just because someone says it's true, doesn't mean it actually is. I mean, seriously, go look at all the articles and websites promoting abortion!

Oh, and about the evolutions they're talking about...it's basically growing up. Most pokemon have three stages and it's basically baby>teen>adult.

ACTUALLY, one of the pokemon is a caterpillar called caterpie. He evolves into a butterfly. He goes from Caterpie the catterpillar, to Metapod the cocoon, to Butterfree (I think I spelled that right) the butterfly. It just goes through the stages of metamorphosis."

So...yeah.  Like I said there...you can find the occult in anything if you want to.  You can find the evil in anything if you want to.  And the thing is, maybe you have a personal conviction against something.  I know a woman who has a personal conviction against chewing gum.  BUT she doesn't tell others they can't chew gum, and she even keeps gum in her purse for others if they want some.

If it's YOUR personal conviction, don't force it on OTHERS.

Annoyed, ranting human out,

~Katie

"Real Women"

Real women have curves!  Right?  Which implies that unless you have curves...you're not a real woman....  Of course, that excludes all naturally twiggy women.  I have no idea what they are, but they're obviously not real women.  Are they women at all though?  To find the answer to that question, I went to the dictionary.  And here is what it told me:
"an adult, human female".
Well...that's a tad vague...I mean... what does that even mean?  It says nothing about curves, or lackthereof.  MAYBE if I looked up the meaning of real, it might make sense.
"actually existing as a thing or occurring in fact; not imagined or supposed.".
Does that mean that...I've imagined all the skinny women I know?!
When I looked up "real woman definition", I was sent to this article: "real women".  It says nothing about curves either!  Of course, Urban Dictionary popped up...and because I'm typing this on my iPad at school, I couldn't pop it up, because Urban Dictionary has some...uh...moments where it's not very school appropriate.
But nothing I've found so far has said anything about real women having curves.  Maybe if I look for a scientific definition, I can find out what a real woman is.  Well, that didn't tell me anything....  But, I know from biology class that females have XX chromosomes.
Apparently, only curvy women have XX chromosomes....  Of course, with the definition of XX chromosomes, that also rules out "women" such as Caitlyn (Bruce) Jenner.
It's so confusing!  What's a real woman anyway?  Well, according to the dictionary and science, it's an adult, female human, that is not imagined, and has XX chromosomes...so...don't worry, my twig-like friends...despite what Facebook has tried to tell us, you are in fact, a real woman.  And as for you, my friends with curves...as long as you're an adult female human, that has XX chromosomes and are not imagined, you're also a real woman!
Silly Facebook...you don't know how to use a dictionary.
~Katie

To the Girl Who Criticized my Attire

So, awhile back (a really long while back, actually), some friends of mine told me what a girl that I had believed to be my friend was saying about me and my clothes.  Apparently, she wonders why I "dress like this all the time".
For most of you that know me in person, you've kind of picked up on the fact that I wear skirts pretty much all the time.  And by "pretty much", I mean all the time.  At least in public.  So...what's wrong with that?
To the girl who criticized my clothing...why couldn't you ask me yourself?  In fact, I believe I told you while we were sitting together in the same classroom, and if I wasn't telling you, I was telling a teacher and you could have easily heard.
To begin with, that's how my mother was raised and that's how she raised me.  Is that my only reason?  Absolutely not.  I feel more comfortable in skirts.  And yes, I can do everything that you can do in your leggings, in my skirts.  No, I'm not too hot in the summer.  Yes, I'm too cold in the winter, but that's because winter is too cold, it has nothing to do with my skirts.
Perhaps I could ask you why you always wear pants.  I don't believe I've ever seen you in a skirt, except for special occasions.  Why is that?
Let me state something now: Skirts are traditional female attire.  Pants are traditional male attire.  Why are you questioning me for constantly wearing something that is traditionally something a woman would and should wear?  Shouldn't it be the other way around?
Why do you of all people care what I wear?  Yes, I know, I don't always dress fashionably.  Sometimes I just don't care.  Sometimes you just don't care.  We just dress differently when we have our lazy days.
You wear leggings to school.  I wear skirts.  Is this a problem?
I don't like guys staring at my butt.  So why would I wear clothing that would frame my butt?  Because guess what...no, guys shouldn't stare, but we all know that at least some of them will.  Is that okay?  Uh...no, but they're gonna do it anyway.  I mean, murder isn't okay, but some people still do it.
And please don't bring up that guys can look up my skirt.  Why am I going to stand over their head and give them access to look up my skirt?  And if a guy pulls up my skirt to take a look, I can kick him and/or punch him if I need to.  Also, I wear shorts under my skirts in the summer and leggings underneath them in the winter....  It's no different than you wearing spandex underneath your cheer skirt.
Also, why did I wear a jacket over my women's ensemble dress?  Because, I don't care to have my shoulders showing.  And as to the person you were talking to, who said I wasn't supposed to do that...all of the girls were there when we picked out the dresses, and Mrs. Fischer said that if we wanted to wear jackets over them, we were welcome to do so.  If that girl wasn't there when we picked out dresses, for whatever reason, that's her own fault and she doesn't need to be saying I wasn't doing what I was supposed to be.
In short...why do you care what I wear?  What I wear doesn't affect you in any way shape or form and if it does, I'm sorry?  I'm sorry I wear things I feel comfortable, even if it's not "fashionable"?  I'm sorry that you feel the need to talk to other people about my clothing?  I'm sorry that my dressing in a way that I feel comfortable and modest makes you unhappy?  Everyone knows I'm all about pleasing others...constantly...of course....  No seriously, I can be a bit of a people pleaser, but I'm not changing myself to make others happy.  I am sorry that I have displeased you, oh great one, you shall see me in leggings when hell freezes over.  The end.
~Katie

Rant on Feminism

I am not a feminist.  I am a very independent person, but not a feminist!  Wanna know something?  Every person, whether they're a man, woman, boy or girl have equal rights.  Wanna know something else?  Until a child is 18, they are under their parents' control.  Does that make them any less of a human?  Do people view them any differently than another person?  I don't think so.  Maybe, but I don't think so!  They don't have fewer rights, they have the same rights, but they are different!  Just like men and women are different.
The trigger for this rant, was Monday, when I was at a community dinner and someone mentioned my age, so I told them I was eighteen and they asked me if I had registered for the draft yet.  No, I haven't.  No, I don't plan to.  Not because I don't love our military, but because I am not the type of person who could go into our military.  They asked if wasn't it everyone who was supposed to register now?  No, still just guys.
Why aren't women ever ranting about how all women should be required to register for the draft?  I haven't seen it!  Instead, I see women ranting about how men and women are equal, women should be allowed to go shirtless, women should have this, this and that in a job, women should be allowed to have abortions and men can't say anything about it, even if the woman is pregnant with his child.
But do you wanna know what really irritates me about the whole thing?  If a woman doesn't agree with this, this or that about the feminist movement, they don't care about the women who sacrificed for the equal rights of women.
Well, listen up, equal doesn't mean same.  I have equal rights as my friend Steven, but guess what...he's 6'3''...should I be all upset because I'm not the same as him?  Nope.  I'm like...a foot, give or take, shorter than him.  I have equal rights as my friend Elizabeth (known to me as Awesome), but she has celiac and I don't.  Should she be all upset because I can eat gluten no problem?  Nah.  Sure, we're different...but we're still equal.
Sure, women can do pretty much anything a guy can do...I mean, other than naturally pee standing up....  And hey, most men are stronger than women, so women can't make their percentage for people able to benchpress 500lbs higher than men's.  Oh, and also, women and men are built differently, so I guess men and women also can't have the same build.  Wait, men can't have babies.  Or woo someone with their feminine wiles.  Oh and also, I've heard way more stories of men talking their way out of a tick--oh wait, no more women talk their way out of tickets.  Women are typically much more intuitive than men are, but men tend to be fairly observant at times.  Women are usually more outwardly emotional, but men tend to stuff more....
But I mean, I guess women and men are the exact same.  No differences.  At all.  Whew, glad I got that off my chest!  After all, I've almost been hit by both men and women on the street...wait, no, it was a girl that accelerated so she could get across the road before I, a pedestrian, who was closer to the other side than she was, could.  I've never almost got hit by a guy.  Of course, give it time.
Men and women aren't the same!  They just aren't!  They have equal rights and they are both equally human...but they aren't the same.  They are different.  That's why there are men AND women, because they are not the same.  And to act like they are is idiotic.
*big exhale*  Until next time....
Your ranting blogger,
~Katie

Electives

So...I have a friend who attends a different school than I do.  One of the classes offered at their school is Consumer Math.  This friend does not enjoy math, let alone Consumer Math, so when the new semester rolled around, she wanted to opt out of this class.  She was told she couldn't.
However, that's not the bad part about this.  The bad part is that this won't even count as a credit.  Not a business credit and not a math credit; this will count as an elective.
The reason she wasn't allowed to transfer out was not because it's full-year class.  This is what she told me: "...when I tried to explain that [an elective is not a required class], he said that it's required for this school, but it goes on your record (?) as an elective.".
If a class is required, that class should count as a credit, not an elective.  Especially not when the student has not elected to take this class, but has been forced.  If you google, "elective definition", this is what pops up:

I see...

Even at my school, we have a required class for Seniors called "Take Charge of Your Finances" (shortened to "Take Charge", by students and faculty), however, it does not count as an elective, because we have not elected to take it, it is required.  It counts as a business class.

If my friend were to switch schools, on her transcript, that class would go under either "business", or "math", but most likely math.

In the state of Kansas, which is where both of us attend school, a person is only required to have three math credits, and Algebra and Geometry need to be covered.  In other words, if someone takes one Algebra class and one Geometry class, and one other math class, they're good.  Here's the link I got that information from: Information  Considering that that came from the Kansas State Department of Education...I think they know what they're talking about.

At this school, her senior year, my friend will also be required to take something they call, "Advanced Math", which is basically Algebra2, all over again.  It will count as a math credit, but it is not something she will need and is something that she should be allowed to opt out of.  Yet she isn't.

That is not right.

To call something an elective when a student is still forced to take it, is wrong and if you consider that an elective, you need to go to back to English class and learn vocabulary.

If you want a certain class to be required at your school, go right ahead!  However, if you are going to require a class, it is not an elective.  Count it as math or count it as business, Consumer Math would fit in either one, but do not count it as an elective, because it is not an elective.

Rant over.

~Katie

Strength, Representation, and Update

Strength.  We all have a little bit of strength in some certain areas.  Some people are stronger in other areas than another, and then there's some who are weak, but stronger than they realize.
Some people are strong in the food and exercise area, and others aren't.  Some are strong in the humbleness area.  Some aren't.
The strong and weak are to work together.
If all the people who were strong on eating healthy, and exercising ignored the ones who were weak, but wanted to be strong, then the weak would have no one to help them be strong in that area.
If proud people didn't have their humble friends to help remind them not to be prideful, then the pride people would be proud.  Even the people we don't think are proud.
Some people are strong in abilities like writing, musical talent, school talent, ect.  These people also need to be doubly strong, which is sometimes hard.  Strong enough not to soak in so much praise that it all goes to their heads, and makes their heads huge, and strong enough to help others with their talents.
Some people are stronger in the temptation area than others.  They need to try to help those who are.
This is where accountability partners come in.
If you don't know what an accountability partner is, I will now tell you!  An accountability partner is someone, normally a friend, who you can tell your struggles to, and they will try to make sure that you don't slip into the problem.
Like, if I had a drinking problem, or a drug problem, I would talk to my friend Karen.  Not because she has the same problem, but because I trust her, and can tell her everything and anything.  Here, I'll give you a basic scenario.
Me: Umm...Karen, I have to tell you something.
Karen: Okay, tell away!
Me: This isn't something about Timothy, like the things I normally tell you randomly are...
Karen: Is this good or bad?
Me: This could be either good, or bad, depending on your answer to the question I will ask after I tell you what I need to tell you.
Karen:...Okay, what do you need to tell me?
Me: I have problems with drinking...and drugs...even though I'm under aged.
Karen: O.O  What???
Me: Um...yeah....
Karen: Okay...so what do you need to ask me?
Me: Could you by my accountability partner?  You know, ask me if I've done drugs, or drank?  Randomly?  To make sure I'm staying clean?  I really want to stop, but I can't do it by myself.
Karen: Well, that has to be the strangest thing you've ever asked me, but of course!
Me: Okay, thanks.  It really means a lot to me.
Karen: Do you want to pray, and ask God to help us before you start off on Timothy again, and how awesome he is?
Me: Yes please!
Karen: Dear God, please help Katie to stop drinking and doing drugs, and help me to keep her accountable, and make sure she doesn't do them, so we don't have to send her to rehab.  Thank you.  In Jesus name, amen.
It's very simple.
Make sure that you trust this person, and then tell them.  If you trust them, and they care as much about you as you trust them, then you'll be okay.
We use our strengths and weaknesses to help others.
But anyway...that was my soapbox for right now.
Now onto another soapbox...
My other soapbox has to do with representation.
Did you know that when you walk out of your house, you no longer represent yourself?
You represent your school, your work, your church, your parents, your siblings, your God, your friends and teachers?  You represent yourself maybe about 1 or 2 percent.
Let's do a little bit of math. Which I only seem to like when I do it on my own free time...
Okay, so 24 hours...say you sleep 8 hours of your day, we'd better just get that out of the way right away.  24-8=16.  Now we have sixteen hours to work with.  We spend approximately 8 hours at school.  16-8=8.  You then spend about two hours at work (we're gonna say, as I'm going for a teen view, and some teens work 2 hours a day if you divide it all up) so you have 6 hours left, which we're gonna say goes for family.
Okay, so we're gonna kinda ignore the 8 hours you spend sleeping for right now, and get on with the fun stuff.
33% of your representation goes for your school, as that is where you spend most of your time during the school year.
8% of your representation goes for your job.
25% of your representation goes for your family.
Then you have the 8 hours you spend sleeping, which we're going to cut in half to represent friends, and then we're gonna cut half of the other half in half.  So 4 hours for friends, and then 2 hours for boyfriend/girlfriend, and 2 hours for yourself.
16% of your representation is for friends.
8% is for your bf/gf/dh/dw (dh is dear hubby, and dw is dear wife)
And 4 to 8% is for yourself.
You really don't represent yourself very much.
And I really don't do math well.  And when I do it really makes no sense at all to anyone but me.
Oh yeah, and if you wanna know how I did that I divided the number of hours that you spend with the person by the number of hours in a day.
Anyway...yeah, so you don't really represent yourself.
Like, if you met someone's mother, and you hadn't met the person, and their mother made fun of everyone, and thought that anyone not like her was horrible, what would you think of the person when you met them?
You wouldn't think highly of them at first, until they proved themself to be a person you could think highly of.
It goes an opposite way too.
If you met someone's mother, and they were sweet, and kind, you would think that their child would be sweet and kind...and then when you met the person, they could be the exact opposite.
Anyway, I just wanted to throw that out.
Okay, now for an update.
I had Christmas at my grandparent's house, and shockingly, my family found a way to shut me up!
For those of you who don't know...I love making music.  I like to play piano, play guitar, sing, test out my friend's instruments when they'll let me...  Well, there's a few instruments I favor above others.
Such as flute, and violin.  As the ones I don't have.
Well...I can't really say that I don't have a violin anymore, because my aunt (well, actually my cousin, but she's 2) gave me a violin for Christmas!
I also got three headlamps, the game Catan, an address book for me to write down all my addresses in, a pair of slippers, and some leopard footie pjs.
On my list was: Headlamp, Catan, The Time Keeper, more people to buy my book, a Violin or flute, and I will accept anything but a snake gladly.
My grandma always gets the grands pjs for Christmas...and I like footie jammies, because they're warm, and I don't have to worry about cold feet, or socks coming off as I sleep, because the socks of those jammies are attached.  Plus it makes me feel like an innocent little girl again.
Anyway, the way they shut me up was I was told to sit in the middle of the floor, shut my eyes, and hold out my hands.
The bow was placed in my right hand, and the violin in my left, then I was told to open my eyes.  I was silent and not breathing for about a minute...which is probably a bit of a family record for me...
Anyway...I have to go, and I know that if I don't wish y'all a Merry Christmas before midnight it's not Christmas anymore, so...
MERRY   CHRISTMAS!!!!!
I hope everyone has a Merry Christmas, and a happy new year.
And remember that the reason for the season was born and died 2,000 years ago, so that we might live.
And the angel said unto them, Fear not: for, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be unto all people.  For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior which is Christ the Lord.  And this shall be a sign unto you; Ye shall find the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger.
And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God, and saying, Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men.
Luke 2:10-14
~Katie :)