The Goddess
Okay, I'm not really a goddess. I'm just a 20 year old college student and a bright blue dot in a red state. I'm currently trying to find ways to live greener and generally decrease my impact on the planet, and that's what this blog is all about. And maybe just a little bit of humor.

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May 24, 2007

I can't think of a title.

As of today, I've accomplished one thing on my 101 things list. Instead of trying to get in touch with Maggie, she got in touch with me. We talked about boys and parties, the two favorite topics of college girls everywhere. We also talked about the very slim chance of her coming back to my college. We've both grown up a bit since the year we wasted together, and I think it would work out a lot better for both of us now. If her divorce hasn't completely screwed up any chance of financial aid, I think there's a very good chance she'll be back at Union with me.

I feel very crafty today. I wanted to work on my quilt. I go through phases where I work on it quite a bit, then I abandon it completely for months and years at a time. At the rate I'm going, it'll be finished in time to keep my first grandchild warm. Unfortunately, it won't get finished at all if I can't find the quilt blocks. I was certain they were in my closet, but I can't find them. It might help if I had a light in the closet though -- I'll have to add CFL bulbs to my shopping list for this week.

It's getting hard to come up with more things for this list. I think I'll give myself a day or two to think about it. So far I haven't added a lot of big, long-term goals to it. I think that's something I need to focus on for the second half of the list. Maybe I'll update it tomorrow.

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Granola Goddess @ 7:04 PM :: (4) comments

May 23, 2007

I'll run in the rain 'til I'm breathless.

I went for a drive about an hour ago. I was a bit nervous, since I haven't been behind the wheel of a car in a long time. My nervousness wasn't exactly helped by the sudden summer thunderstorm. But then Led Zeppelin's "Fool in the Rain" came on the radio. Oh, the irony. But seriously, the song really calmed me down. Rain generally makes me very unhappy. It's something I need to work on. I feel like a hypocrite to claim an "earth-based" religion and then get so depressed by the weather.

I haven't taken my birth control for four days. In that amount of time, I've lost the same two pounds that I've been trying to lose for three weeks. My diet has been exactly the same, and I've even exercised less. This can't be a coincidence. I'm definitely not getting my prescription filled next month, and the month after that I'll demand my gyno give me a different type of BCP.

Looks like I forgot to add to my 101 things list yesterday. Here's a bunch of additions to the list to make up for my forgetfullness.

34. Be less mean and insulting to my boyfriend.
35. Keep my dorm room and car clean. (or at least not messy)
36. Attend all of my classes regularly -- even the early ones.
37. Try to use less plastic bags and reuse the ones I get.
38. Vote in every election.
39. Try to get back in touch with my friend Maggie.
40. Get more comfortable driving my car (which gets very, very good gas mileage).
41. See if there are any plants I can grow in my dorm.
42. Do a lot of research into presidential candidates before choosing one.
43. Go on a road trip with the boyfriend.
44. Go ghost hunting.
45. Organize all the files on my computer, especially the music and pictures.
46. Hike at least three trails in the Smokie Mountains.
47. Visit one of those "mine your gems" tourist traps.
48. Make a bunch of mix cds for driving.
49. Finish all of the quilt patches I've started for my tacky 70's flower quilt.
50. Carry my camera with me at all times.
51. Enter the creative writing contest at my college.
52. Visit every Ren Fairre I can possibly visit.
53. Lower my Real Age score by five years.
54. Clean up my geneology research so that I can give it to my mom.
55. Drink a cup of tea at least every other day.

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Granola Goddess @ 6:55 PM :: (2) comments

May 22, 2007

The votes are in.

Today was the Kentucky primary election, and two things were iffy about it. First, whether or not I would have a ride to the polls. Two, whether or not my (second) choice for governor would get the Democratic nomination.

I did find a ride to the polls, but it wasn't easy. First, we went to the wrong place. Who knew a town of 1,000 needed two polling places? Combine that embarassment with the women working there commenting on how young I look, and I ended up looking rather foolish. When I made to the right location, they were just happy to see anyone who wanted to vote. Apparently I live in the apathetic part of town.

I'll admit that I didn't know anything about the last two categories that I had to vote for, and ended up picking the guy with the name I liked best. I researched candidates online as best I could, and my choices won in two of the three categories I was able to make an informed decision in. It really bothers me that I had to take a guess on Attorney General and Agriculture Comissioner, as I can see those are two very important jobs.

As for the governor's race, I was dissapointed to learn that my top choice (Jonathan Miller) had left the race. I knew he was a longshot, but he shared my concerns about education and the environment more than any other candidate. In the end, I chose to vote for the second most progressive guy running, Steve Beshear. Okay, maybe the guy who wants to legalize pot is the most progressive of them all, but he was more of a longshot than Miller. I might as well have voted for Ralph Nader.

Still, I'll cast my vote for the winning Democrats. I've always said that I'll vote for the best man or woman nominated, reguardless of party. It just so happens that in my two years of voting, the best man hasn't been a Republican. I don't expect the next election to be any different.

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Granola Goddess @ 10:12 PM :: (0) comments

May 21, 2007

Some local news.

I haven't bought a newspaper in about two years. I miss keeping up on the news "at home" while I'm at school or at my mom's house. It's hard to define which place is home and I usually don't have the time to bother with a newspaper -- and probably won't buy one anyway, to save the paper.

So I've just now read two articles from last Friday on my local newspaper's website and I must say I'm proud of both of them. First, Religious leaders oppose strip mining. The article tries to show all sides of the issue, but I don't think they accurately addressed the anti-Mountaintop Removal position well enough. Still, the other article may make up for that. Pike County just recieved funding to start a coal-to-liquid plant. Some quick research tells me that coal can be turned into a liquid fuel that may be more environmentally friendly than oil and would decrease our dependence on oil from the Middle East. The plant would also provide quite a few jobs to an area that's losing lots of jobs to an increasingly automated mining industry. I'll wait until the project actually gets off the ground to make up my mind about it.

To wrap up this entry, here's the second installment of my 101 things list. Thinking of this many seperate things is more difficult than I had expected.

17. Stop using bleach and find a better alternative.
18. Convince my dad to switch to CFL light bulbs.
19. Get the Young Democrats club re-started at my college.
20. Volunteer with the Children's Art Program that my friend Steve runs.
21. Finish typing up my giant herb encyclopedia.
22. Use the new gym at school at least three times a week.
23. Check out the local flea market, especially the pagan shop.
24. Take an honors English/Literature class.
25. Finish at least one of my scrapbooks.
26. Find the perfect hummus recipe.
27. Take advantage of the on-campus counseling center.
28. Clean up my computer -- ie. getting rid of viruses, worms, and spyware.
29. Make sure that I drink at least 8 cups of water a day.
30. Try to get accepted into the Education program next year.
31. Ride my bicycle to class more often than I drive my car to class.
32. Try to make this blog popular.
33. Avoid drinking soda at all times.

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Granola Goddess @ 4:43 PM :: (0) comments

Well, here goes nothing. My first post. I've worked all day to get this blog looking pretty and I don't really know why. The content will be the same no matter how nice my graphics are, but I pride myself almost as much on my computer skills as I do my writing ability. So, there you have it.

A lot of blogs I've encountered have featured lists of "101 things to do 1001 days". I think that would be a good thing for me to do, in my quest to live better. A lot of this blog will be dedicated to my quest to be greener, but I'm almost looking to improve my life in a lot of ways. So, over the course of this week I'll lay out my plan for self-improvement, 16 or 17 things a day. Here is the list for tonight.

1. Learn a lot more about cooking so that I can eat less processed food.
2. Turn off and unplug things that I'm not using.
3. Buy more recycled products.
4. Lose the 20lbs I've gained at college, and maybe more.
5. Find a birth control pill that works better for me and my hormones.
6. Work more with my on campus group, Appalachians for a Cleaner Environment.
7. Construct and perform my own rituals for every sabbat this year.
8. Try to become more familiar with my two tarot decks.
9. Meditate more!
10. Make at least one trip to the Unitarian Universalist church.
11. Clean up my room and gather up things to sell at the flea market.
12. Attend Mountain Justice Summer Camp next summer.
13. Get a 3.0 or above every semester so that I get my state scholarship back.
14. Reduce my waste (especially paper) as much as I can.
15. Use as many natural or organic products as are available to me.
16. Begin writing my novel(s).

So, I think that list gives anyone who might be reading this a decent idea of the type of person I am. And it's much easier than actually trying to describe myself. Hooray for killing multiple birds with one stone.

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Granola Goddess @ 12:09 AM :: (0) comments

May 20, 2007

Testing, testing.

1 2 3.

Success? Yes? No?

Granola Goddess @ 6:10 PM :: (0) comments