Helpful Resources – Bridging The Gap

August 7, 2014

Introducing Don’t Panic[k]: Life Beyond The Kitchen Table

I had this idea several months ago, about making a site that’s basically just a compilation of advice, thoughts, and resources for people just leaving/graduating the world of homeschooling and religious fundamentalism.

It takes a lot of work and energy to find resources for life in the real world when you don’t even really know how or where to start, which is kinda why I liked the idea of Don’t Panic[k]. I hope to grow it, with the help of people from similar backgrounds submitting resources and articles and ideas, into something useful for people just leaving their parents kitchen table.

So check it out, share it, submit ideas/resources/etc if you have any, and don’t panic (you’ve got this).

July 13, 2014

Book Review: Homeschool Sex Machine

The author of Homeschool Sex Machine, Matthew Pierce, writes from his perspective growing up in a religious homeschool environment where purity culture reigned supreme and being pubescent meant you were trouble.

I read it earlier last week, and was just overcome with feels. It’s a short read – and captures that cringe-y kind of hilarity that you get when you read something funny but it’s also oh-so-relateable. That “been there” kind of thing that reminds you of when you were also a young pubescent kid trapped in that crazy world, and the mental lengths you went to so you could maintain purity but still also…be dealing with puberty.

Homeschool Sex Machine is also a great way to understand what it’s like to grow up male in the midst of purity culture. As much as I could relate, it was also eye opening to notice just where some of the emphasis changed. While Matthew maybe wasn’t told to cover up or get raped, the idea of attraction being evil (and by proxy dehumanizing women to be temptresses placed by satan, and men mere hormone balls) and all that entails was rampant. When your complete virginity and purity is the most important thing about you, things get fucked up pretty fast. Crushes? what are those even? pre-marriage feelings? sounds like a bad idea.

Anyway, I could go on, but for a cheeky look at purity culture and growing up in that world, just…go read the book. It’s funny, it’s cathartic, it’s a little uncomfortable in a good way, but mostly, it’s just good. Find it on amazon.

November 20, 2013

You should see the other guy

So, this afternoon I finally did it.

I went to Planned Parenthood and got The Implant. I AM NOW BABY WORRY FREE for the next 3 years.

The amount of stress that just vanished from my shoulders after the nurse said “okay, it’s in” is like…..unbelievable.

I know I’ll be dealing with side effects (and I’m hoping they’re the less blood kind instead of the more blood kind) but it helps with cramps and I can deal with irregularity if I’m not crippled with pain and I’m not facing the, oh right, now I have to worry for another month, thing.

Right now I’m rocking a badass looking bandaid, and being very happy that I’m safe until 2016.

May 19, 2011

Sluggish

I thought I was tired yesterday. I’m beginning to think that I need the sun to like, live and stuff.

I can’t seem to muster up the energy to do much of anything. I did play World of Warcraft until the lag or connection or something overtook it and I was wandering around Azshara waiting for snipers to come out of trees and they never did, and my companion stopped following me, it wasn’t until I tried to exit my machine 30 minutes later that I realized something must not be working right.

It’s that kind of day. My brain is slow.

So, I went on a walk, and came back and decided I didn’t want to make soup for dinner after all, and I didn’t want to do the dishes, and I didn’t have the energy to paint (seriously, the last time there was a *glimpse* of sun was sometime last week) because it would involve doing dishes so I could clean my palette. Although, I did come up with a brilliant idea of *what* to paint when my energy returns to me.

The golden snitch! It’s yellowish. When I paint again, and consequently, use my last canvas – I want to paint something bright…and Harry Potter related. The Snitch is perfect for that.

I’ve spent the time since then on Pinterest -where I’ve been finding cool artistic things and pinning them. I have a board for things to inspire me, and things that I like, and house things, and cool things. I’ve had way too much fun with it – you can even follow me here: http://pinterest.com/kiery/

Lastly, dinner is frozen steak fajitas from TGI Friday’s, because…….I’m freezing, tired, and neither of us feel like actually cooking.

May 5, 2011

The Balloons

The past few days I’ve been working more on some screenwriting for our short film based on my book, The Balloon Lady. Our working title is currently, The Balloons.

We’ve been brainstorming for a few months and working out what we’ll need – like a camera (our Canon T3i) and making random short videos on vimeo to practice, well, shooting and editing. Right now, I’m just hashing out a rough draft, and I’m about halfway done. The idea is to turn my children’s book story, into a more “grown up” short film – which gives us room to adapt it without actually copying the original book.

I’m using Celtix and Google Docs for writing – usually up side by side so my screen looks something like this.

This way, I can see my outline as I’m writing the script. Then, when I’m done, I’ll upload the script to plotbot so Alex and Hannah can comment on it and we can fine tune it from there.

For some reason, I find writing easier when I’m just trying to channel some of my emotions into it when I’m having trouble letting them out. Maybe it’s because of the emotional state I was in when I first wrote the book, that because the energy that inspired it is so similar to the film adaptation, it helps to use similar (or the same) emotions while trying to write the screenplay. Music also seems to aid my focus – I’ve always enjoyed doing things more when there’s music in the background, I think it distracts me enough to concentrate in an odd way.