Travel Time!

Ack, I'm leaving for Spain today! I'm really excited and nervous and just sort of a ball of feelings and preparations. Fortunately, as you can see above, the quality assurance team was on hand to inspect my luggage for me.

Amazingly enough, I feel really prepared. Usually before I go on a trip I am frantic and run around thinking I forgot something, but not today. I'm still getting the last things together, but I'm not too worried. It doesn't hurt that I'm going to a city where I could probably find something if I forgot it. Plus, assuming high school didn't completely fail me, I speak some of the language. That barrier has made me nervous when I've traveled internationally before, so it's nice that yo hablo español.

I'm not even too scared about giving a presentation. Honestly my biggest concern is the fact that I'm presenting early in the morning and may still have some jet lag! I did this paper for a class last semester, so I've presented it before, and had feedback so I knew what needed to be fixed. It's almost like my class presentation was a dress rehearsal! Don't tell the professor I said that, haha.

It kind of sucks that I have to miss classes, but I've been working hard to get ahead so I don't fall behind. Plus, the week after I return is spring break so I can catch back up on anything I miss.

Wish me luck!

10 Things You Don't Have to Change or Apologize For

There are so many things you have to either change or suppress about yourself to get ahead (or just get by) in this world that it can be overwhelming. But there are many things you should never, ever apologize for, or change for anyone else.

10. Your hobbies. 
As long as you aren't hurting anyone, what you do in your free time is your own business.

9. Where you were born.
It's important to learn something from your home town, but you can't change where you come from.

8. Your taste in music.
It has no bearing on who you are as a person or employee.

7. Your accent.
Related to where you were born, it's a part of you, and people need to stop stereotyping based on speech.

6. Your socioeconomic status.
There are so many factors that contribute to that and it's cruel for anyone to hold it against you. Just make sure you stay aware of your privileges.

5. Your health.
Physical or mental. You have to take care of yourself, and do your best to demand your work and friends respect your needs.

4. Your marital or family status.
Whether you tied the knot at 19 or are still single at 45, it's your business alone. Same goes for kids. Whether or not you have or want them is none of anyone else's concern.

3. Your race.
Obviously.

2. Your gender identity or sexual orientation. 
Anyone who asks you to hide or change that is a bigot.

1. Your body.
Height, weight, shape, color, and so on. No one should be discriminating against how you look.

Swearing isn't Always Bad, Really

I'm writing this from the place of someone who is very rarely bothered by profanity. The only words that are upsetting to me are the ones that are designed to harm and oppress specific groups. But those are slurs, not swears. Your generic, run-of-the-mill four-letterers and f-bombs are really nothing.

So it always takes me by surprise when full-grown adults are appalled and shocked at the sound of other full-grown adults using curse words in non-hateful ways. I actually read a review on Goodreads saying the person had knocked a star off because the book in question had swearing in it (not even that much, by my standards). Come on. They are words, used for emphasis and conveying a certain point. They can add zest to a conversation. And no, they are not an indicator that you don't know how to express yourself.

(I don't know where this came from, other than someone screencapping Facebook.)

Some of the smartest people I know are also giant potty-mouths. Conversely, I've met some pretty puritanical people who were of, let's say limited intelligence. There is simply no connection (at least not anecdotally; maybe there are studies demonstrating otherwise).

Being an adult means being smart and responsible about your language. Of course you should be cautious about it if you're dealing with children, and use your best judgment when you're at work. But as long as you aren't using language to hurt and oppress others, there's nothing wrong with a few "bad" words. There's no need to clutch pearls and gasp at the sound of a curse, either. If you want to improve the language of others, start thinking about the parts of our speech that contain ingrained racism, sexism, ableism, and other hate, and work to reduce those instead.