A few things I miss about Texas

I was born and raised in Texas. When I lived there, I would kind of get annoyed by the hyper Texas pride that exuded from some. However, now that I live in Georgia, I get it.

Absence makes the heart grow fonder.

I've compiled a list of a few of the things I miss about Texas (aside from family and friends, which is obvious).

If you've never been to Texas, fix that mistake ASAP. Check out some things on my list while you're out there.

Whataburger
Every time I take a trip home, I try to eat at least one meal at Whataburger. Thus far, no fast food chain in Georgia has replaced what I've found in Whataburger's taquitos, onion rings and spicy ketchup -- and I doubt any other place will.
Whataburger is open 24/7. It's a good destination for when you're drunk and need a place to go when A) You're hungry for some greasy food and B) You want staff that are used to dealing with middle-of-the-night drunkards. Check out the Cheeseburger Josh video. The employees aren't even fazed.
If I remember correctly, there's a stray Whataburger in Florida near the planned community of Seaside. Maybe if I get homesick enough one day, it will be road trip time ...

The Alamo Drafthouse
The Drafthouse is a chain of movie theaters that originated in Austin and have spread to other major Texas cities, and even some cities outside of Texas (but not Atlanta, unfortunately).
One of the Austin locations was the first dine-in theater I went to (an still the best of its kind I've experienced). My boyfriend, Josh, and I frequent the Richardson Alamo Drafthouse whenever I'm in town.
I don't know where to begin to explain the awesomeness of the Alamo Drafthouse. They always have cool events going on -- Like "Hopped Up Cinema," in which a movie is screened and a local brewery comes out and gives samples of its beer, including a special brew just for the event. The above picture is from when Josh and I went to a Hopped Up Cinema event to watch Nacho Libre.
I saw The Big Lebowski at the Ritz Alamo Drafthouse and got to sip on a White Russian.
I saw Indiana Jones: Kingdom of the Crystal Skull at the Cedar Park Alamo Drafthouse -- And yes, the movie was crappy, but my surroundings were awesome so it almost didn't even matter.
I have too many good memories at the Alamo Drafthouse to even count. No other movie-going experience comes close to what they have to offer.

Short winters
Some people complain that Texas doesn't always have four pronounced seasons. I don't mind this. In fact, I prefer it. Winter isn't exactly my thing. It's not Texas's thing, either.
I don't know if it's just been a weird year for Georgia, but winter seemed to just hang on for WAY too long. I was SO glad when it was finally warm enough to wear shorts and flip flops.
In Texas, winter stays around for about as long as I can tolerate it. Then, it's spring for five minutes, and BAM! Summer!

Knowing what the hell is going on with local politics
I wouldn't necessarily call myself a political aficionado (though I tried to go down that path in college), but I felt like in Texas, I had a pretty good handle on what was going on in local government. I knew who represented me on the state and local level. In fact, there was a good chance I had met said representative, either through my work as a newspaper reporter (I met Rep. Larry Phillips, Rep. Ralph Hall and Rep. John Ratcliffe, among others) or through my political activism in college.
Well, just about all of that political knowledge is useless where I'm living now. A couple weeks ago I was on the phone with Josh talking about local elections, and I realized that I had NO idea what the hell was going on politically in my immediate area. I looked up who represents me in the U.S. House, U.S. Senate and Georgia Legislature.
Off the top of my head, I can only remember Governor Nathan Deal and Rep. John Lewis.
I need to hurry up and register to vote in this area. My recently deceased Grandpa Smajstrla, God bless his soul, was very passionate about voter participation, and I've decided that I need to vote if for no other reason than to honor his memory. ... But, I understand the importance of being knowledgeable of local government and even participating in it. SO, I have some learning to do.
Is there a Georgia version of the Texas Tribune? Because that would be handy.

The Dallas Comedy House
A little over a year ago I signed up for an improv class at the Dallas Comedy House, and my life was transformed -- Seriously. I never thought improv comedy would be something I could do, much less do well at. The lessons I learned from improv will likely be the subject of a future post.
For several months, I traveled down to Dallas from Sherman or McKinney to study improv. In any given class, I could be crawling around on the ground as a raccoon, or pretending to be a Juggalo. Twice, I performed in front of an audience and actually incited a few laughs from the crowd (getting a room full of people to laugh is intoxicating). It was great.
When I couldn't take classes because of my work schedule, I interned at the DCH for about two months. I missed performing, but watching so many comedy shows for free was amazing.
I tried taking an improv class here in Atlanta, and while I had fun, it just wasn't the same. Maybe I'm biased, but the Dallas Comedy House is special. The people, the style of comedy, everything. It's one of the main things I miss about Texas, and the Dallas area specifically.

Another average Joe in Texas.

The normalcy of wearing cowboy garb around
Sam Elliott could walk down the street and no one would bat an eye. ... Ok, the *actual* Sam Elliott would turn a few heads. But if any average Joe wears a cowboy hat, boots, spurs, or any combination of western wear, no one's going to stare or think you're on your way to a costume party.

Oh God, I'm gonna go cry now ...

The week in review

My sister snap-chatted this awesome Pikachu graffiti.

I'm not sure what to call this post. Other bloggers I follow, like Rachel Wilkerson and Kaelah Beauregarde-Flynn, write weekly posts that are basically a collection of interesting articles and other findings from around the interwebs. That's what I'm doing with this post.

Rachel calls it "The week in review." I'm ripping her off until I come up with something clever.

What happened with me? Well, this was my last week of working the day shift for a few weeks. For the next month or so, I'll be working midnight to 8 a.m. Blah. The hours aren't ideal, but I really can't complain because I love my job.

On Friday I ordered a mocha and asked for no whip. I received whip anyway. I took a selfie and my "basic bitch" factor went up 10 percent.

~~~

Why Harriet Tubman matters -- By a Harriet Tubman student, NOLA.com/The Times-Picayune. A fifth grader from New Orleans wrote about the significance of Tubman being on the $20 dollar bill. She said it better than I ever could. This girl is going places.

The most powerful writing about Prince, Buzzfeed. RIP.

Christians need to stop boycotting stuff, Relevant Magazine. This article is from several months ago, but I reposted it on Facebook because it seems pretty topical right now. "But, too often, public boycotts aren’t about shining a light on companies doing things some people don’t like. They’re about people grabbing the spotlight and turning it on themselves. The boycott is simply a megaphone." ... YES.

... And slightly related to the previous article, Why keeping bad guys out of girl's bathrooms, isn't what's going on here, John Pavlovitz.

The 1996 article every millennial should read: Remebering America's most controversial First Lady, The Voidist. A look at Hillary Clinton that I would HIGHLY RECOMMEND. “There is no way for a smart woman to be public without being seen as a treacherous Lady Macbeth figure or bitch goddess.”

Why does Hollywood keep disrespecting Melissa McCarthy? Vulture.

What America's shopping malls looked like in 1989, Mashable. I LOVE STUFF LIKE THIS. The perms. The smoking indoors. The Patrick Swayze poster. AHH!

This Reddit AMA by a 92-year-old Holocaust survivor. It really puts things in perspective.

Don Cheadle will carry your crutches, and 31 other things we learned from hanging out with him, Vulture. Cheadle is one of my celebrity crushes. If you read this article, he'll be one of yours, too. I'm really looking forward to "Miles Ahead."

PSA: Kelly Ripa is not exhibiting diva behavior, New York Magazine. "Being unhappy not to know what is going on with your place of work seems ... not unreasonable. But Ripa committed the cardinal sin of 'being angry while female,' a misstep that puts perpetrators at risk of being called shrill, bitchy, crazy, high-maintenance, ruthless, ambitious (if you're running for president), or, yes, a diva."

Clinton Super-PAC attacks Cruz for rumored Nickelback fandom, Vanity Fair. Some things are just unforgivable ;-)

I discovered the music of Gallant, and I am in LOVE.

"I don't shine if you don't shine"

I haven't always made friends with other women easily.

I was often uncomfortable around many other girls or women my age because I felt like there was some odd competition going on between us. If I perceived another woman to be prettier, smarter, more talented, skinnier, etc., I would become intimidated, withdrawn and defensive. To mitigate my insecurities, I would inwardly put the other girl down.

"Well, she might be prettier than me, but ... I went to a better school than she did and I'm probably smarter than her! So there, hah!"

While these thoughts made me feel a tad better in the moment, they did nothing to solve a large, underlying problem.

I know other women deal with these feelings of insecurity and envy by badmouthing their peers, inwardly or outwardly.

Hell, I can remember feeling like this as early as Kindergarten. There was one instance in which my teacher, Ms. Hill, praised a picture of a butterfly that a fellow student, Whitney, had colored. I had colored the same picture, but my work didn't evoke a response from the teacher.

I remember the inward sting of envy I felt. From that moment on, I hated Whitney ... For, let's be honest, no good reason.

I think Amy Schumer did a wonderful job illustrating this strange competitive tendency among women in a sketch:

And on that note, Amy Schumer really hits the nail on the head when it comes to addressing many issues women face.

This way of thinking wasn't doing me -- or anyone else -- any favors.

A few months ago, I was introduced to a concept called "Shine Theory." The term was coined by journalist and all-around badass, Ann Friedman (oh yeah, she has an awesome name, too), who wrote an article summarizing the theory for New York Magazine. Friedman and Aminatou Sow frequently discuss Shine Theory on their fem-tastic podcast, Call Your Girlfriend (THIS IS A MUST LISTEN!).

Friedman articulates feelings that I had experienced but never identified for what they were -- or even realized were problematic. The tendency to hate and resent women who I perceive to be doing better than me rather than being happy for them.

"But even if it were somehow possible to objectively evaluate all of our female peers against ourselves, it’s worth asking why we’re spending all this time creating a ranking system in our minds. When we hate on women who we perceive to be more “together” than we are, we’re really just expressing the negative feelings we have about our own careers, or bodies, or relationships."

And she proposes a genius solution.

"When you meet a woman who is intimidatingly witty, stylish, beautiful, and professionally accomplished, befriend her. Surrounding yourself with the best people doesn’t make you look worse by comparison. It makes you better."

...

"I want the strongest, happiest, smartest women in my corner, pushing me to negotiate for more money, telling me to drop men who make me feel bad about myself, and responding to my outfit selfies from a place of love and stylishness, not competition and body-snarking."

*Praise hands emoji*

This way of thinking has changed my life. Seriously. Spending more time around women who have qualities I admire has boosted my confidence. Doing my best to set aside arbitrary competitiveness has made me happier all around.

The envy still creeps up from time to time. I don't ignore my true feelings. I validate them, grapple with them and ultimately try to end up in a healthy place -- Not wallowing in negativity.

Now, GO OUT AND SUPPORT ALL YOUR LADY FRIENDS!

via GIPHY

Not another basic millennial woman's blog!

Yes, I'm doing it again. I'm starting a blog. Another one. 

I've made many blogs in my lifetime, dating back to a Xanga I created when I was 13. When I want to blog again after a blogging hiatus, I prefer to start anew as opposed to reviving an old blog.

My old blogs have become like living cemeteries.

I write for about eight hours a day at work. I love writing, but what I don't want to do is slip into the habit of only writing the news. I'm used to only writing matter-of-factly on subjects like who's been sentenced to life in prison for a fatal stabbing or which city just majorly revised their zoning ordinance. Sometimes, when I have to write in a different style, I instantly have an inward panic attack (kind of).

There's something comforting about the inverted pyramid and AP style. But those tools don't necessarily have a place in creative writing.

Here, I want to write about my thoughts and observations. Is this narcissistic? Yeah, probably -- But hey, you're still reading!

Recently, my life has changed dramatically from year to year. I want to write about it -- At the risk of feeling like blogging is another quality that makes me "basic."

(I might be basic, but at least I'm aware of that fact and I own it. I enjoy Taylor Swift music. Starbucks is delicious. I work out to Jillian Michaels DVDs. I LIKE THESE THINGS, DAMMIT! AND I WON'T APOLOGIZE FOR IT!)

So, here it is. Now you know where I blog.

And to round this post out ... A basic song.