i mean, i always have been notorious for being a loud person. i always spoke my mind, and continue to speak my mind when things are wrong. i used to hold a lot of things back, but now i just get it out there. i dont always expect a response, and sometimes i am speaking to things that cannot even give me a response.

(ex: one afternoon, when i was working with gap, my manager found me talking to a mannequin, not just talking, but debating some of life's greatest mysteries, to a mannequin. i was perfectly okay with this, and fully aware i was speaking and venting to an object that obviously had no reaction to what i was saying. that is okay. i am a firm believer in speaking out your fears, worries, dreams, even if it's to a wall, a book, an animal... something that cannot judge you or question you. just get it out there).

i think this whole 'talking without thinking' thing runs in my blood. my grandfather talks to the tv. a lot. it would be during baseball games. "you're all bums! what are you doin on the major league??!" or it would be during law and order, "what! how can you not see that he is guilty?! get a new job! you stink!" if you are a regular with my family or my house, you know that these quotes directly come from him. 

a few weeks ago, i realized that i am really my grandfathers granddaughter. i reached the level in my life where i now yell at the tv during the debate. yes, i am yelling at politicians through the tv. scrumptious. teresa heard me yelling at mccain, and i thought nothing of it. it is typical in my house to hear someone yelling at the tv... until this morning, when i found myself, home alone, yelling at the newspaper reading the latest political headlines. 

seriously. i am ready for this election to be over and done with, because i want my sanity back. i want to not have to open the newspaper and yell at mccain's latest plan, and i want to not have to yell at him during a debate and remind him that he is running for president of the usa, not president of the vfw.

i dont care who you vote for, or who anyone votes for, but i just want people to VOTE. i am twenty four years old, and am presently being affected by our current economic crisis. i invest in the stock market, and check the market on a way-too frequent basis with a beating heart and shaky hands. i am a graduate student with more loans she needs to take out. i am a young woman who one day, would like to buy her own house. i want to be able to have a pension and live off of a 401k when i retire. i WANT to retire. right now, i feel very unsettled with our route of policies. i am awaiting a change, and a positive change. i want answers and i want to feel secure, both personally and as a whole, as a country, want security and freedom. global warming is already setting me on edge, so i would like to have a government and a leader that make me feel calm.

i vote for -

karma.

casual fridays.

lending a helping hand.

change.

being there for a stranger.

compassionate people.

ART.

gratitude.

grandparents.

tiny businesses.

compost piles.

peaceful hearts.

intelligence.

and end to war.

planting seeds on earth day.

those who cannot.

speaking your mind.

being true to yourself.

FREEDOM.

finding a cure for hiv/aids.

smiling.

what do you vote for?