Ha. haha.

leik, ohmigawd!

So this lady from Oceana just emailed me:

Hi (Cypress),

I hope you are doing well. I’m the online editor at Oceana, and a (state) native myself – I was very impressed with all of your sea turtle activism. (lalalala asking me a question about all my work with sea turtle stuff)

I’m writing to you because we have reached an important moment in our shark campaign, and we thought you might be able to help us. I know your big passion is sea turtles, but I was wondering if you might be interested in helping out with a big push we’re doing right now around the Shark Conservation Act in the U.S. Senate.

The bill, if passed, would finally put an end to shark finning in U.S. waters, and it’s already passed the U.S. House, so we are really pushing right now for its passage by the Senate. One senator who has expressed opposition to it is (A senator.). We are asking all of our Wavemakers to call their Senators, but we thought you in particular could be a big help as a result of your presence in (state) and experience talking to legislators.

Would you be interested in going to the (senator's) office closest to you and expressing your support for the bill? If so, we might be able to do a bit of press around it. Attached are some talking points you could use to talk to Senator (ahemahem) if needed.

And blah blah blah and she says she'd understand if I don't want to, and says some other optional things I could do... Sorry for all the things I blocked out of that, I'm just not interested in my own personal creeper. Not that anyone would care enough to stalk me. But anyway...

Just how cool is this! I have a new mission! From OCEANA! What if they, like, hire me one day! Do yall even know what this means? They remember some cutesy grassroots project that I started up to pass a bill against gillnet fishing (ask me another time, I'll go totally apeshit on that soap box). And they rememer me!

Maybe they'll offer me a job one day! And wouldn't that be sweet...

In the meantime, I've got to memorize all this stuff and more and go talk to a real live US senator. Not state senators anymore. Movin' up the ranks mmmhmm.

 • Each year, humans kill more than 100 million sharks worldwide. Shark finning alone kills up to 73 million sharks annually. As a result, shark populations around the globe have plummeted. According to the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List of Threatened Species, 30 percent of shark and ray populations are threatened or near threatened with extinction.

• Almost ten years ago, Congress passed the Shark Finning Prohibition Act with the intent to end shark finning in U.S. waters. In practice, shark finning is still occurring. Current law allows for fins to be removed on the vessel as long as a fin to carcass weight ratio is not exceeded. The ratio is difficult to enforce while fin removal hampers species-specific identification and management.

The Shark Conservation Act would:

END SHARK FINNING IN ALL U.S. WATERS.

Currently, federal shark fisheries in the Atlantic Ocean and Gulf of Mexico are required to land sharks with their fins attached. Additionally, the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission also issued similar regulations for the state waters along the Atlantic coast. Passing the Shark Conservation Act would provide consistent requirements for all shark fisheries in U.S. waters. 

• CLOSE LOOPHOLE IN EXISTING LAW

In August 2002, the United States Coast Guard boarded the King Diamond II, a Hong Kong owned vessel, and found 32 tons of shark fins, but no shark carcasses. The fins were seized pursuant to the Shark Finning Prohibition Act of 2000. The case went to trial and the U.S. government prevailed. However, in March 2008, the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals overturned the previous decision, exposing that fishermen can circumvent the existing shark finning ban by transferring fins at sea to non-fishing vessels. The Shark Conservation Act would close this loophole.

• ALLOW THE U.S. TO BE A LEADER IN INTERNATIONAL SHARK CONSERVATION AND MANAGEMENT. 

• The bill has successfully passed the House by unanimous consent, been favorably reported to the full Senate by the Commerce Committee and has garnered the bipartisan support of 33 Senators.

Sweeeeeeeet. Let's go save some sharks. :)

i adore this.

I feel like this blog could use some cheering up.

you broke up like i wished you to.

Both of you are broken, far away from each other, hurt that the other would do this, confused. On facebook your about me's used to be filled with each other. Now, "I once used to love." "Nothing."

I feel horrible.

I'm so, so sorry for wishing this.

I'm such an American!

I just spent like half an hour ranting about what's wrong with us. All my posts are what's wrong with us. And, like most of America, I sit on my ass complaining, eating chips. And doing nothing about it.

So here is what I'm going to do to defy the stereotypes and make a difference.

1. I will never judge anyone. Again. I will never say anything mean about anyone because of what they look like or what they do. I am not that person. I cannot explain their actions unless I am actually them. Which I'm not. So I'm not going to judge.
2. I'm not going to tell myself I'm ugly every day. I'm going to accept everything that's different about me. If I want to be skinny, well no. I'm perfectly healthy as I am. I'll only lose weight for health reasons.
3. I'm never going to litter.
4. I'm not going to slack off in school.
5. I'm going to defy conformity. I'm not going to be a sheep. I'm going to think about every thing society and the media try to feed me. I'm going to do something different for a change.
6. I'll wear whatever I goddamn please.
7. And I will worship God however I want to.
8. I  WILL make the world a better place.
9. I will not follow a culture label (indie, nerd, hippie, emo, fashionista, etc.)
10. I will eat healthier foods.
11. I will not be so selfish all the time!
12. I will do something with my life that has a lasting (hopeflly positive :D) impact.
13. I will relax and not freak out all the time.
14. I won't hate anything. I won't dislike without basis. I won't like blindly.
15. I will live outside the maistream. I will listen to whatever music I like, watch whatever I want to watch, wear whatever I want to wear, read whatever I want to read... But I won't oppose mainstream. I just won't make it my one and only guideline.

We'll see how long this lasts before my confidence fades and I slip back into being a sheep-mind. :)

Rant on society.

Here is what I think is wrong with society.

We divide ourselves up. Way too much. Facebook asks you for your religion and political views. An EOC last year asked me my race and religion. It's not their business! I left it blank. I leave everything like that blank. Sometimes I don't even put my gender, because people will just judge and judge you. And anyway, if race, religion, and all that crap don't matter right... then they REALLY don't matter. If they didn't matter, you wouldn't be asking me.

We're always like, oh America's not racist.. yes we are. We are soooo racist. We are even counter racist. Affirmative action? No, that is not anti-racist. It's still racist, you're favoring one race over another, which is what we always say is so wrong. There's so much profiling going on even in my town which is hundreds of miles away from where that stuff is said to happen. In my cafeteria, people often sit according to race. You see a bunch of the black kids bussed in from poorer neighborhoods with the stereotypical gangster clothes and accents. You see the nerdy Asians all studying together. You see the rich white kids all up in their gucci and crap. And all the Muslim girls in this hijabs or whatever they're called all eat together. we don't even try to mix, just because we know... it simply won't work. that's the hard truth. We're bred to see that were just too different.

Oh and I know since I'm white, I have to say this. White is not seen as offensive. Black can be seen as offensive. To be completely correct, it's "African-American," "Asian-American," "Latino" or whatever... then there's just... White. I'm apparently not "European American." KNOW WHAT PEOPLE! We're all still Americans! Once you become a citizen, you are still American! Yes you can retain your heritage... but why does the name for it matter so dang much?

People are afraid to make a splash and do something different. "I love you man...  no homo." Isn't that insulting to gay people? And telling someone when they dive at a penny on the ground "OMG you're such a Jew." You get a 100 on a test. "Dude, how come you're so Asian?" She's mean. "She is such a nazi." Well, even if I disagree with what they did, everyone is entitled to their own beliefs. That's what we preach here. The "I'm okay, you're okay" sesame-street attitude. Well apparently we are all not "okay."

In America, we are such hypocrites. We run out to other countries to stop violence and attack other places for doing things wrong as we see them... hello??? We're turning into socialists here! We still have orphaned, starving children here! We still have people living in poverty! The world is not going to be better off with us meddling in it if we can't even take care of ourselves. And we all preach that all body types are beautiful, but we only see one type on TV and in the media. I hate media. I hate "reality" shows.

I also have a rant on Lady Gaga while I'm here . While I see her as a true artist, a revolutionary when it comes to self expression, and a totally inspiring lady... Her meat dress that she wore?

Someone please tell me it's a mistake and that's not real meat. This is almost worse than fur. Actually wait it is. As a vegetarian, I would naturally be appalled by this, but what message is she sending to all of us sheep-minded Americans? That it's okay to kill animals just to WEAR them? That's totally ... awful! To me, eating tem is bad enough! That we can just exploit natural resources and animals like that... Some people are like, yeah, I like a woman who eats and wears meat... but it's just barbaric! Ugh.

Here's another problem with America that I just proved myself: We expect other people to see things exactly as we do and are shocked to see that they don't. And we try to change their views. Well, even Lady Gaga's meat dress is okay by America's standards and the "I'm okay, you're okay" mentality because she is entitled to her own beliefs, however barbaric that dress might be.

Well... I guess that's a rant over for now.

EDIT: okay, hang on, I just looked up Lady Gaga's dress again. And I forgive her a little bit. Just because she is such a culture-defier and I appreciate that soooo much. Here:

On why Lady Gaga chose a meat dress, she told Ellen DeGeneres that it was a symbolic choice: "Well, it is certainly no disrespect to anyone that is vegan or vegetarian. As you know, I am the most judgment-free human being on the earth. However, it has many interpretations, but for me this evening ... If we don't stand up for what we believe in and if we don't fight for our rights, pretty soon we're going to have as much rights as the meat on our own bones. And I am not a piece of meat."

Still though, I'm appalled that she would just waste animals like that. I would feel better if it were fake. But I guess the realness makes the statement. Ughhhh Lady Gaga....

a shining sports car, not a junky pick-up truck.

I just realized... I've liked you pretty much for...8, 9 years. Ever since we professed our undying love for each other on the bus one day in second grade, I've felt some thing real for you. We never spoke again until freshman year. We still don't speak that much. I asked you to watch out for my sister today and help her find the bus when I wouldn't be there. You agreed politely and happily, as you always do.

Do you remember that day too? Or am I just remembering it wrong? Because here's what I remember, in bits and pieces, the leftovers of what's been dusted over by time: We're sitting on the bus together, in springtime of second grade, and... I confessed that I liked you. And then you confessed right back. And I blushed, and you didn't kiss me, then it was my stop, and I got off, and we didn't speak again for seven years.

Now you like her, you've been dating her for a year or so. It hurts how you write how much you love her on facebook and it pops up on my newsfeed. I'm happy she's moved to Cali so I don't have to put up with you two holding hands and kissing all the time. I know it's selfish of me, to not want you to be happy.

But let me explain myself. Just... no one notices me. Othe than you, no one's confessed to liking me, except... ugh, I won't even go there, it's just too... ok, i don't want to be mean. I'm like... the spare friend, the crutch to lean on, the shoulder to cry on, that girl who will do anything you ask her, sometimes even just one of the guys. No one sees me for what I really am. I am secretly a shning sports car, the one everyone wants to drive. I mean really. Everyone sees me as the junky old pick up truck, who no one would pick over the sports car... unless they were doing like work or something.

come on. She's in California! I see you kind of eyeing that other girl too... but she's just a bubble head! You know who's really good for you? Who's liked you secretly, so secretly I barely even knew it myself... Come on. Come on. Just... do something. I can't make the first move, again.

ugh what am i even saying. i just needed to rant. it's not like you'll ever read this, or understand, or pick me over the bubble head.

american teen

Know what strikes me as strange, yet perfectly normal?

I feel like a movie extra all the time. While the plenty of the world goes out and makes history, me and several other billion people remain unnoticed by each other, and not to mention those people going out and making history.

I don't know, I just feel sort of small. Like no matter what I do... none of it is going to be remebered in a hundred years. People know the stories of great authors and world leaders and athletes and scientists. People tell their stories.

But who is going to tell my story? What's the worth of me doing anything if no one even remembers it? Just... why bother?

Just pondering. :)

here is why i do shallow things

...like read tabloids, watch Star Wars, and go shopping with friends. It's why America prefers to listen to songs about meeting girls in bars, sex, money, and love at first sight; it's why America does drugs and dances all night and blares music in the car.

It's to escape from the problems we're afraid to have. It's easier to walk away. It hurts less to listen to songs about moving your booty than songs about losing the ones you love. It hurts less to sing about break ups than death. A fantastical setting, like guys lining up to buy you drinks, waking up in the morning feeling like P-Diddy, having shiny cars, love and sex and magic... it's just an escape from real life things.

We just do shallow things to keep ourselves out of the deep things. I always write this a lot, but going to Governor's School made me realize how afraid I am to have to grow up and be separated from my family. I can't listen to songs about separation, or songs without words, I have to be hypnotized by songs about sex and love and things that don't even apply to me. If it's about loss, I can only take songs about break ups. Oh, I say, it's just a break up, I've never felt that pain so I don't care. It lets me be someone else.

I watch movies and read books and crap because it just lets me get away for a while.

It's like drugs. Without, you know, the actual drugs. But shallow things are just as addicting. Now I feel lke I need shallow things to stay afloat above the deep things.

When things get too deep, it's like Governor's School all over and I have a panic attack.

but that's honestly why i have to engage in all those shallow things. I'm assuming it's the same thing for America. Is it?