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Happy Holidays to you all. I'll be back in 2010 with a brand new blog. Stay Tuned. In the meantime, have a happy and safe holiday.

Much Love,
Gina

Labels: holidays

As I struggle to stay asleep tonight my mind started racing so I decided to check on my computer which was defragging.

After a quick game of "Scramble", I started looking up news articles on the election and then got to thinking just how close we may be to NOT really deciding this election as a nation. Have we all forgotten about that little Florida recount debacle back in 2000 where Al Gore lost to George Bush even though he won the popular vote?

Anyhow, I digress... The real reason for this post is this... I looked up the Popular Vote vs. Electoral College on Wikipedia which led me to their listing on Slavery. I got completely sucked in!

What I was surprised to see was that on February 24, 2007, Virginia passed a resolution acknowledging "with profound regret the involuntary servitude of Africans and the exploitation of Native Americans, and call for reconciliation among all Virginians."

With the passing of this resolution, Virginia became the first of the 50 United States to acknowledge through the state's governing body their state's negative involvement in slavery.

YEAH for those Virginians! What I found even more surprising was this:

On July 30, 2008, the U.S. House of Representatives passed a resolution apologizing for American slavery and subsequent discriminatory laws.

What a monumental victory for all African Americans who are descendants of slavery. Hooray for you! I just feel sad that most Americans didn't even realize this happened because we are all too caught up with this election, the economy and Bush's War. Hopefully my little blog will help in some small way get the word out about something good happening in our government.

Labels: government, slavery

Okay, so I really went outside of my comfort zone this past weekend. I went to Fantasy Fest in Key West, FL. That in itself is a huge stride, but the real acheivment was I stripping down to my pants and letting some tattoo artist named Randy paint my naked chest!

I can't tell you just how liberating it is walking down Duvall Street with 50,000 people all staring at you. AND, every other person stopping you to take your picture (and yes, I have already found some of those photos on Flickr)!

Even more unbelieveable was just how pleasant people were. I know from experience what a pain it is to ask someone if you can take their photo. Not difficult for these folks. All were polite and only a few asked to "touch". I only let 4 people touch - at least 2 were gay and 1 was trading for fantasy parrot beads!

For my body paint, I had comments like: "That is the best I've seen", "beautiful artwork", "I thought you were wearing a t-shirt", "whoa", "oh wait, that's good" along with many double takes. Anyhow, I will be back next year, but not sure how I will be able to top black beard on my saggy breasts! I asked him to cover them up and he sure has heck did with a 3 dimensial Captain Hook!

Lastly, Pictured is Brenda, Myself, Jacq and Becky (the only second timer)

Labels: 2008, body painting, fantasy fest, key west, vacations

Thought I would update everyone on why I have not left for the Peace Corps. One month before I was supposed to leave, I received a letter that my file went to a review board and that I was not medically cleared

Why you ask? Because I am an overachiever and that coupled with my ADHD would hinder my ability to complete the terms of service (27 months). They felt that I would become bored quickly and bail on them. While I can understand their decision, every doctor I went to took all of that into consideration and cleared me to go. Doctors I have seen for YEARS!

With all that said, I was most likely going to be placed in Georgia and if you follow the news at all, the Peace Corps pulled out of there and I would have gone home anyhow. In my opinion, they did me a favor and everything happens for a reason.

With Roller Derby season just about wrapped up, I have been looking into some other volunteer opportunities. One in particular I would travel as a photographer and document eye surgeries! So, I'll keep you posted on that as well!

Labels: peace corp, volunteer

My good friend Melissa emailed me today and thought my last post about Obama was not like me and "out of left field".

Let me clarify... I don't care that Obama is black nor Muslim (and please forgive me if you thought that I was being prejudicial - that was not my intent). I wrote that while still heated from a debate and I probably had a glass or two of wine in me ;)

What I meant to say is that I do not think that the people of the United States are ready for either which puts us right back with McSame. I think the democratic party chose the wrong candidate by not electing Hillary (even though, I wasn't thrilled with her either).

I WILL be voting for Obama and I really do hope that America is ready for a change, which I know Obama will deliver (probably more so than Hillary). So hopefully that clarified my stand!

Labels: bush, election, mccain, obama, presidency

Please help us all if McCain wins the presidential race. I pretty much want to cut my tits off and run down the street screaming because frankly he is a lunatic. Or perhaps Bush's twin brother stuck in the womb for a wee bit too long.

I think the democratic party made a huge mistake voting for Obama... but all hail the black muslim. Go OBAMA!

I arrived back in Florida yesterday with dry chapped hands, a cold and 4 duffel bags of belongings. But the weather was a gorgeous sunny 76 degrees. Glorious!

Got picked up at the airport and whisked off to Rosie's Bar & Grill for lunch. I was still feeling all Greek, so I had the Trojan Wrap. YUM. Then came back home to see my roomie and the pups. Butchie was sooooo excited to see me, so I took him to the dog park with a friend.

Then, got back home, and all the derby girls came over for a welcome back Wii party. Played some boxing, bowling and the hit of the night was Trauma Center. Let's just say that lives were not saved. ha,ha,ha. The evening was capped off with a some Dave Mirra BMX.

It will be a few days before I can start scuba diving again because of my cold, but I'll be skating tonight. NO MATTER WHAT!