I was in some sort of dive bar with a bunch of old friends from high school, just drinking and having a good time. Continue reading “Dream Journal 1/9/19 | Gas Station Confrontation”
Tag: video
The Maurices Refund Debacle | Vlog
Hey, friends. I am really, really annoyed today. Continue reading “The Maurices Refund Debacle | Vlog”
Big Changes | Vlog
Hello, friends. I know I’ve been gone for a while, life has been crazy. Here’s a vlog updating you all on what’s been going on lately. Sorry that it’s so long.
Also, holy cow, I hit 300 followers on my blog?! Thank you!
Jan
Dream Journal 7/3/16
A barista asked us if we wanted anything, and she seemed very flirty with Kyle, which irked me a bit, but we told her we did not want anything, which did not make her happy.
Kyle and I were about to start our vacation in London. We had just gotten out of the back of a cab, when Kyle’s phone rang, and we were informed that our hotel had a gas leak, and that we could not stay there. Frustrated, we dragged our luggage into a small cafe across the street, and tried to figure out our next move. We were sitting at our table, scrolling through hotel listings on our phones, when a man approached us. I looked up, and there, standing by our table, was Felix Kjellberg… or PewDiePie, as you may also know him as. Continue reading “Dream Journal 7/3/16”
Remembering Christina Grimmie
Christina Grimmie was such a beautiful, kind girl, and an amazing talent. She was my sole inspiration to upload videos of myself singing to my old YouTube channel, over four years ago, and I related instantly to her fun personality, and love of Zelda. She had a powerful, unique voice, amazing keyboard skills, and was known for performing in her room, in front of her iconic Sonic poster.
Hello, friends. I wish I had something positive to write about at the moment, but due to some recent events, I’m left feeling quite numb and sad. As many of you may have already heard, Christina Grimmie, talented YouTube phenomenon, and ex-contestant on The Voice, was shot last night while signing autographs at a hometown show in Orlando, Florida, where she was performing. The male shooter, a man who is rumored to be a deranged fan, then shot and killed himself. Christina’s brother, Mark, is being hailed a hero for tackling the shooter before any more harm could be done. Christina was in critical condition when she was brought to the hospital late last night, but her injuries were too severe, and she passed away. She was only 22.
Christina Grimmie was such a beautiful, kind girl, and an amazing talent. She was my sole inspiration to upload videos of myself singing to my old YouTube channel, over four years ago, and I related instantly to her fun personality, and love of Zelda. She had a powerful, unique voice, amazing keyboard skills, and was known for performing in her room, in front of her iconic Sonic poster. She got her start on YouTube, performing beautiful covers of popular songs, but later moved into writing her own music. The first video that I ever watched of Christina’s was her 2009 cover of Rascal Flatt’s “What Hurts the Most”, one of my favorite songs of all time, and I was blown away. She inspired me to push past my own fears, and post my first video of myself singing on my own channel.
As well as singing covers, Christina’s channel is also filled with videos of her performing her own, original works, and a handful of music videos. She put out her first album, Find Me, on June 14th, 2011. It is bittersweet to think that just three days from today will be the 5th anniversary of the release of Find Me. She later moved onto the big time, and was a powerhouse and crowd favorite on The Voice in 2014, impressing audiences across the world with her talent. She performed in numerous concerts in the United States, as well as overseas.
Last night, the hashtag #PrayersForChristina was trending worldwide on Twitter, and many YouTubers and celebrities tweeted their support. Unfortunately, this morning, the hashtag changed to #RIPChristina, with over 1.7 million people tweeting. This is a sad day for the YouTube community, as well as the rest of the world, and many YouTubers, celebrities, and fans have posted their condolences to various social media platforms following the tragic news of Christina’s passing.
https://twitter.com/pewdiepie/status/741558376782569473
Today is a sad day indeed, as the world mourns the loss of a great talent. Today is also the 25th birthday of fellow popular YouTube star, and radio personality, Dan Howell, and I sincerely hope that he has a good birthday, despite this sad news.
Rest in peace, Christina.
Thanks for reading, friends.
Jan
Take A Walk With Jan #12 | Vlog
Hello, friends! I am sweaty, sunburnt, and cranky as hell. I am also too lazy to write about it, so here is a quick(ish) vlog telling you why! The video is unedited, obviously. Please excuse my appearance, as I really don’t give a shit about it right now, haha. Oh, and some pictures from our walk today. I forgot to mention that after Liam fell down, he decided to pick up, and throw out, all the sticks in the park.
Enjoy!
Thanks for reading/watching!
Jan
Never Feed the Fucking Trolls
PSA: Just because something is not YOUR problem, does not mean it is not an important problem for others.
WARNING: Strong language.
Hello, friends. I have a general rule for myself when it comes to dealing with internet trolls: DO NOT interact with them. Don’t. Just don’t do it. Lately, I have been having a hard time abiding by this rule. With the current state of politics and the presidential race, as well as the women’s rights movement (International Women’s Day was just a few days ago), various LGBT rights movements, and other pro-equality movements going on, our nation has become a nation divided in the ugliest of ways. I am very upfront with my political and moral views, and most of you know than I am an Agnostic Atheist, who believes in equality for everyone. I am not only an LGBT ally, but also a Pansexual woman, and member of the community. I am also a feminist, and a Liberal. I don’t really care if you dislike me for those reasons, because your close-mindedness does not effect me, and I don’t want you in my life if you choose to judge me based on those facts. For just these reasons alone, I have been judged very critically by complete strangers who know absolutely nothing about me, and who throw wild generalizations at me, and that isn’t fair.
I have been called everything from a libtard, feminazi, fag lover, and so much more… all because I believe in basic, human rights and equality for everyone, which apparently, is an awful thing. Who knew?
For the last several days, I have been engaged in a handful of online comment wars, spanning across Facebook, YouTube, Instagram, and Twitter. Sometimes, I am guilty of being a bit of an instigator, but more often than not, I simply voiced my appreciation on a topic. I am not a troll. I do not scour the web in search of things that I wholly disagree with with every fiber of my being, just to jump into the comment section and spew ignorance and hatred on the subject. I also rarely skim through comments in search of someone who supports said topic, just to call them names and trash their opinions. I don’t make a habit of fucking attacking people on a personal level just because I disagree with something they say on the internet.
Apparently, I am a minority when it comes to this sort of behavior, because people online are fucking assholes. Shocking, I know!
Recently, an LGBT/equality page that I follow on Facebook posted the following picture:
This graphic was posted on International Women’s Day, and while it did received a ton of praise from the LGBT community and its allies, it also received a lot of backlash from a lot of people who knew very little on the subject, and really had nothing of value to input other than “Fuck Caitlyn Jenner!” or “Until you’ve had a child you’re not REALLY a woman.”, both of which have nothing to do with what was said. The latter isn’t even a correct statement.
I posted the following two comments beneath the photo:
Both comments received more positive feedback than negative, but there were a few people that had apparently just had a bad day, and wanted to tear everyone on this page apart for no reason. There were even a few commenters that were clearly fake accounts, created for the sole purpose of trying to hurt other people who disagreed with their views. Others had nothing of value to say other than calling me ridiculous names, or paraphrasing the Bible in all caps, WHICH AS WE ALL KNOW MAKES YOU SOUND SO MUCH MORE INTELLIGENT.
Why? WHY? What could you possibly get out of doing something like that? You are about as unlikely to change my way of thinking as I am to change yours, and that’s why I don’t waste my fucking time.
On a day that was for celebrating ALL women, there were feminists who wanted nothing more than to point out how they felt that trans women weren’t women, and gave them no support at all. There were civil rights activists, and #BlackLivesMatter activists, talking about how trans people, as well as the LGBT community in general, did not deserve rights, let alone to be recognized in a holiday. This lead me into several, one-sided, heated “debates” (I can’t even really call them that, because only one side had anything logical to contribute) across all of my social media platforms, that I let get to me. I couldn’t stop.
I let these trolling, immature, ignorant, terrible people get to me. I broke my own rule. And boy, did it get me fired up.
How can people actually think like that? It is 2016! How can you still have so much hate in your heart that you think it is okay to hurt people like that? I’m not even a member of the trans community, but as a woman who has struggled with her sexual identity for many years, I can certainly tell you how hard it is to KNOW that you one thing, but have everyone around you tell you that you aren’t, for a whole list of bullshit reasons. What if you were black, and people told you that you weren’t black enough, because of your eye or hair color? Telling you that you weren’t what you KNEW you were, what you were meant to be, because you didn’t look like it on the outside? That would hurt. You would be stuck feeling like you don’t belong on either side of the tracks, and it would tear you apart.
No one deserves to feel that way.
There are people who use sources like the Bible to back up their behavior, thinking that they are doing their god’s work in tearing down and hurting these people, because they disagree with how they live their lives, and that is WRONG. But even more wrong are the people who have absolutely no reason to hate these people, and choose to anyway.
Hatred is a choice.
Sexuality, gender dysphoria, and race are not.
If you want equality for women, or African Americans, or Latinos, but not for your brothers and sisters in the LGBT community, then you want privilege. Not equality. Those are not the same thing.
PSA: Just because something is not YOUR problem, does not mean it is not an important problem for others.
I’m so done. Back to my happy place.
Jan
[Just now, as I finish writing this, I am reading the comments beneath Ingrid Nilsen’s latest video on public bathrooms and gender identity, and it is honestly making me want to scream and rip my hair out. I fucking hate people.]
Daily Prompt 3/9/2016 | Women Not Objects
Inspired by today’s one-word Daily Prompt, I thought I would share with you this powerful video that I found on Facebook about the harm caused by the objectification of women. I found it through the 4th Trimester Bodies Project Facebook page (amazing group, check them out), who shared if from fellow Facebook group Women Not Objects.
In response to The Daily Post’s Daily Prompt 3/9/2016 | Object
Hello, friends. As many of you may already know, yesterday was International Women’s Day (as well as National Free Pancake Day, which I forgot to take advantage of). I spent the entire day celebrating being a woman by falling into the trap of responding to trolling comments on articles that I stumbled upon, which is another blog post entirely.
I don’t understand why, on a day celebrating something, people feel the need to tear that thing apart in unnecessary, terrible ways. Why? I just don’t get it. I am emotionally exhausted, and honestly don’t have much more to say on the topic at this point that I haven’t already typed out 1,000 times in multiple comment sections.
Inspired by today’s one-word Daily Prompt, I thought I would share with you this powerful video that I found on Facebook about the harm caused by the objectification of women. I found it through the 4th Trimester Bodies Project Facebook page (amazing group, check them out), who shared if from fellow Facebook group Women Not Objects. Now, being a warrior for equality for all people, I wholly agree and recognize that men are also objectified in the media, but seeing as yesterday was International Women’s Day, I thought this video was appropriate to share.
Women are not objects. Women are people.
Thoughts?
Thanks for reading, friends.
Jan
The 5 Love Languages Test
Recently, I stumbled across a Good Mythical Morning video on YouTube, which inspired me to create a bit of a writing challenge for myself, revolving around The 5 Love Languages Test. The 5 Love Languages Test was developed by Dr. Gary Chapman, who is an accomplished author, as well as a marriage counselor, and motivational speaker. The test is a series of only 30 questions, which help you determine your love language (or your child’s), and what is most important to you in a relationship. There are 5 different love languages: Acts of Service, Words of Affirmation, Physical Touch, Quality Time, and Receiving Gifts.
Once you complete the test, these 5 love languages will be listed, in order of importance to you, based on how you answered, and you will be given a complete breakdown on what your results mean. Here were my results:
According to the website, my highest scoring language was Acts of Service, with 12/30 points. The website defines Acts of Service as the following:
“Can vacuuming the floors really be an expression of love? Absolutely! Anything you do to ease the burden of responsibilities weighing on an “Acts of Service” person will speak volumes. The words he or she most want to hear: “Let me do that for you.” Laziness, broken commitments, and making more work for them tell speakers of this language their feelings don’t matter. Finding ways to serve speaks volumes to the recipient of these acts.”
Do I agree with my final results?
Nail. On. The. Head!
As a stay-at-home mom, nearly all of my time and energy is spent on my son. Cooking meals, cleaning up spills, changing diapers, teaching, playing, etc. The time that I’m not spending with my son, such as during his naps, are usually spent taking care of myself. Things such as showering, finding something of my own to eat, or even catching a short nap so that I don’t fall asleep in the middle of building a Mega Bloks tower, become priority when my little monster is in his crib. Dishes, vacuuming, folding laundry, scrubbing the toilet, and other household chores, just melt away into the chaos, and my apartment slowly turns into a war torn country. Acts of Service are like tiny Christmases in my life. They don’t happen nearly as often as I would like, however, and that is a problem for me.
My fiance works 55-65 hours a week between his two jobs, and is usually exhausted by the time he gets home. He simply does not have the time, or energy, to help me with the housework, or with our toddler. I hate my apartment being messy, and while I do manage to find the time to keep my living room, and my son’s room, neat and organized, there is so much more that I wish I could get done, but I definitely don’t really have the time or energy either.
Recently, my son had been going through a bit of sleep regression/separation anxiety, and was waking me up every hour to hour and a half. I slept terribly, and so did he. Despite this, he still managed to wake up, bright and early, ready to begin his day. I, on the other hand, could not move. My fiance, who did not have to work until later in the morning, and was still home, got out of bed, changed our son’s diaper, and occupied him for a bit so that I could get a few extra minutes of sleep before making them breakfast. In the 13 months my son has been in this world, my his father has only changed 7 diapers, including that one. He’s verrry squeamish, and even pee diapers make him queasy. For him to realize that I was basically comatose, and to take care of our son so that I could get those few moments to myself, truly meant so much to me. It wasn’t exactly emptying our sink of all the dirty dishes, but it was a huge help. If we weren’t already engaged, I would put a ring on that man so fast if he did my dishes for me…
What about my other scores?
If you had asked me all these same questions pre-baby, my answers would have been completely different. My obsession with keeping my apartment reasonably clean has basically consumed all of me, and at the end of the day, I have no desire for anything else, much to my fiance’s dismay. I’m not surprised that Physical Touch is at the bottom of the list, as it has never been that important to me to begin with, intimate or otherwise. I’ve never been big on affection in public, but lately, we have both just been too exhausted to even cuddle with each other on the couch. Well, about half of the time.
Which brings us to Quality Time, the second highest result. While I may be low on my desire for Physical Touch, I do very much love my fiance, and I value what little time we do get to spend together. We don’t have date nights, or anything like that, but even sitting next to each other, watching Netflix, means a lot to me. I look forward to the one day a week that he gets off, just so that we can go to the store as a family, or go for a walk. That means so much to me.
Words of Affirmation and Receiving Gifts are also low on my list of results, and there is a good reason… I simply don’t like them. Pre-baby, these things would have been tied for the absolute bottom, because both make me quite uncomfortable. Sure, I appreciate hearing, “I love you.” every once in a while, but other than that, I do not take compliments, or gifts well, even from a significant other. Every birthday, Christmas, and Valentine’s Day, I insist that Kyle not get me anything, but he refuses, and I end up with flowers, candy, a cute stuffed animal, or a new piece of jewelry. I don’t mind getting these things from him (as opposed to getting presents from family, which makes me incredibly uncomfortable, but they will not listen to reason) but they aren’t things that I actively desire. Same thing with compliments. It makes me smile when someone tells me I am a good mom, but I definitely don’t like compliments pertaining to my appearance, even from Kyle. I just don’t. Never have.
All in all, I would say that I completely agree with my results, and I understand why I got them. I didn’t necessarily learn anything new about myself, as I’ve always been pretty in-tune with my needs, but I feel like I should sit down with Kyle, show him my results, explain what they mean to me, and have him take the test as well, so that we better understand what we need from the other person. Our relationship is great, but it is not without flaws and challenges, and I feel like this exercise could help us out.
My challenge to you: Take the test, and write a post about your results, and how you felt about them. Were you surprised by your results, or were they expected? Did you learn anything new about yourself? I encourage anyone reading this to take the test, whether you are in a relationship or not. You can even take the test for your child. Who knows, it may help you understand your own needs, or someone else’s, a bit better. Let me know if you do!
Thanks for reading, friends.
Jan
Daily Prompt 1/31/2016 | Roaring Laughter
The Daily Post’s Daily Prompt 1/31/2016 | Roaring Laughter
“What was the last thing that gave you a real, authentic, tearful, hearty belly laugh? Why was it so funny?”
I love laughing. I need laughter to survive. Do you enjoy laughing? Well, prepare yourselves, my friends, because I am about to introduce you to something amazing. Well, specifically, two someones. As many of you know, I am an avid YouTube watcher. I watch vloggers, gamers, and beauty gurus from several corners of the world, and I’m always looking for new channels to subscribe to. A few months ago, after hearing them referenced by nearly every YouTuber that I watch, I decided to subscribe to this hilarious duo.
Meet Rhett McLaughlin and Charles Lincoln “Link” Neal III, aka Rhett and Link, the hilarious “Internetainer” duo behind the wildly popular YouTube channel, Good Mythical Morning. Good Mythical Morning is a family-friendly YouTube show, hosted by Rhett and Link, which currently boasts an impressive subscriber count of just under 10 million. GMM releases episodes every weekday, including a “show after the show” on a separate channel, called Good Mythical More, which includes unedited, goofy commentary, additional games or challenges, and a look at the crew behind GMM. Videos on both channels are generally between 10-15 minutes long, and are family friendly, so you can watch with your kids! Don’t have time to sit at your computer and watch episode after episode of GMM? No problem. You can also download episodes from iTunes as either a video podcast, or an audio podcast. Rhett and Link also have a main channel called Rhett & Link, where they perform funny skits, create original songs and music videos, and do commercials, are usually just a few minutes long, as well as an EXTRAS channel, where you get to see all kinds of funny extras, and get to know the crew better. Their 4 channels combined have around 16 million subscribers total! That’s pretty impressive. Aside from their popular YouTube channels, Rhett and Link also have a podcast called Ear Biscuits, which you can listen to on iTunes and SoundCloud. They also put out a weekly collaboration song with various other YouTubers, called Song Biscuits.
I’m subscribed to ALL THE CHANNELS.
Now that I’ve provided you with a ton of links to add to your arsenal of awesomeness, here’s a little bit more on Rhett and Link. These two guys have been best friends since the ELEMENTARY SCHOOL, you guys, and seem just as close as ever. They’re both all grown up (well, physically), are both married, with kids of their own, who sometimes make appearances on the show. The comedic chemistry between these two is amazing, and there is never a lull, or a dull moment, on their show. Whether they are tasting gross food for the sake of answering the age old question of “Will it?“, testing out ridiculous products, reading and opening fan mail, or testing out crazy theories, these two will keep your whole family laughing. They also interact with their fans frequently, across virtually every social media platform you can think of, and include them, and their fan mail, in the show. They’re seriously fantastic.
There are currently well over 1,000 videos on JUST the Good Mythical Morning channel, and I’ve been enjoying binge-watching every episode throughout the day. Even as I type this, I’m watching an episode where Rhett and Link try to eat a pizza in 60 seconds! Before that, I watched a video about the 4 biggest viral hoaxes on the internet. These guys cover everything you can imagine, in a hilarious, engaging fashion.
Once you’ve become a super fan, you can spend your hard-earned money on some seriously cool merch from their store, including Rhett’s Beard Oil, Link’s Lip Balm, and awesome hoodies.
One last time, here’s a list of most of their links and info, for anyone interested in becoming obsessed:
MAIN YOUTUBE CHANNEL: http://youtube.com/rhettandlink
GOOD MYTHICAL MORNING: http://youtube.com/rhettandlink2
GOOD MYTHICAL MORE: http://youtube.com/rhettandlink3
EXTRAS CHANNEL: http://youtube.com/rhettandlink4
MERCH STORE: http://rhettandlink.com/store
FACEBOOK: http://facebook.com/rhettandlink
TWITTER: http://twitter.com/rhettandlink
GOOGLE+: http://bit.ly/RhettLinkPlus
Good Mythical Morning iTunes download:
Video Podcast: http://bit.ly/xuJVPc
Audio Podcast: http://bit.ly/zSewZ6
Send them stuff to their PO Box:
Rhett & Link
PO Box 55605
Sherman Oaks, CA 91413
Okay, I’m done. Can you tell I love these guys? Seriously, check them out! Are any of you already Rhett and Link fans? How long have you been watching?
Thanks for reading, friends!
Jan
My Life as Jan 
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