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Wednesday, March 23, 2011

I Need Advice



Normally I would not post about my personal problems on this blog because this blog is meant only for my creative writing, but seeing as how my personal blog is currently in the middle of a blog party, and I really need to vent and see what my friends have to say, I am going to make an exception just this once. Some of you know that I am a curvy plus size young woman. My work history mainly includes waitressing. When I moved to Lubbock I thought I would have no problem whatsoever getting a job. I have experience, I'm good at my job, and I like waitressing. I have all the qualifications I would need, or so I thought. I've been living in my current house for about 3 months, which means I have another 3 months to go until my lease it up. The entire time I've lived here I have religiously searched the job ads and craigslist for jobs in my area. Every waitressing job that came up I went and applied for. I got several interviews that seemed like they went quite well, but when I would call back they would tell me the position had already been filled. When I would return to the establishment (or in one case when my cousin took my job) I noticed that the new girls were not good at their jobs, they were only concerned with flirting with the patrons, and they were all really skinny people. At first I thought "Okay, no big deal, maybe they just preferred to work with these girls rather than me because of personality differences," but then I slowly started realizing that after 3 months and a billion different interviews, there was no way that all of these people hated my personality. I called my dad rather distraught and here's how the conversation panned out.

Willow: Daddy I don't understand what's wrong with me. I've gone to so many different places and I just can't seem to win these people over. It's not like I'm not looking for a job; I just can't seem to get hired.

Daddy: Well honey, I know of at least 3 other women in Lubbock that are full figured like you who can't get jobs either.

Willow: What the hell... there's no way that four different women of the same body type with different personalities can't land a job.

So I started researching. Being from a small town, it never occurred to me that people would be severely discriminated against for their weight. But through my research I've found that weight discrimination is a huge problem in America. Washington D.C., San Fransisco, and another large town, have set down laws to protect larger people from weight discrimination, but as of right now those are the only places that have any such laws. It should be no different than disability, sex, race, religion, etc., but apparently America doesn't see it as a problem. Through much of my research I've heard of horrendous acts against larger people. One such case was a man that had joined a gym. He was asked to leave the gym, they dissolved his contract, and refunded his money, because the other patrons of the gym did not like seeing him and did not want to work out around him. It is common in public service, such as waitressing, for businesses to discriminate against weight because they don't want the public to see larger people. Some people believe that larger people should not be allowed to have health insurance because we quote "Use up more than our share."

I am a healthy person. I rarely see a doctor because I am rarely sick. My blood pressure is perfect. I actually had one doctor tell me that he wanted to use my blood pressure as the model for perfect blood pressure. I have never had diabetes and am not at a risk for it. I love salads and eat them regularly. I like to eat healthily. I have a gym membership. I am an active person, but because I weigh a little over 200 pounds and I stand 5"6' I am informed that I am obese. I cannot get a date because everyone around me chooses to get close to me to be able to meet my skinny friends. I cannot get a job because apparently America thinks I am ugly. Thankfully I can still get health insurance and buy my own car, and thankfully my landlord doesn't discriminate against weight. I don't know what to do, but something has to change. Daddy told me if I can't find a job, just to make my Pagan prayer beads and sell them on Etsy, but I have no idea if that would even be worth the money I would have to put into supplies. Things have to change. I know I am beautiful and I'm not obese. I am curvy there is a difference. I am able to do my job, I am able to keep up in a fast paced environment, and I would rather do my job than flirt with people. It just really hurts me that just because I am not a tiny stick, or a surgically engineered bimbo, I am considered socially unacceptable and ugly. What do I do?

Tuesday, March 15, 2011

Vampires and Witches and Weres, Oh My!

I am rewriting Kara's story. The title of this post is what I'm considering calling the story. I'll share a little bit of what I've rewritten now. Hope you guys like it!

Prologue


My name is Kara Silverstone. Together with my partner Terrence Wright, I help keep the streets of Dallas, Texas safe. We work for the Dallas Police Department, Supernatural office, Heinous Crimes division. As the name implies, we handle the most heinous of supernatural crimes. See, a long time ago, before I was ever even thought of, people thought supernatural beings were just characters of myth and legend, but when the third world war broke out the supernatural community sent out a group of their elite to protect the world from China's mistakes; a race of highly unstable genetically altered super soldiers created by mixing the blood of all three supernatural races; witches, wereanimals, and vampires. The soldiers became unstable because there are certain types of wereanimal blood that can't be mixed with the other races.


Thursday, March 10, 2011

Meet Kara

I've been developing a character named Kara. She is 25, has long naturally straight auburn hair, and blue eyes. She is a witch and she helps people. Here is a small excerpt I've been working on to develop her a little further.

"Kara, you've got to get down to the warehouse district as soon as possible," the woman's voice on my answering machine sounded vaguely familiar and slightly out of breath as if they had tried to calm themselves before placing the call. "I can't tell you any details ... but please come quickly," there was a gasp, then the woman screamed, "Dear God what is that!" I heard what sounded like the phone being dropped, then a snarl followed by a scream, and the message ended.

"I can't even go to the damn gym without the world coming to an end," I thought to myself. I knew I needed to get down to the warehouse district and figure out what was going on but not before I took a few precautionary steps. I dialed the phone as I opened a can of dog food for Lily. Terrence answered on the fourth ring, right as I was thinking about hanging up. "Kara, what's happened this time," Terrence asked in his painfully deep voice. "Got a message on my machine when I got home from the gym from some woman telling me to go down to the warehouse district. I think you need to come over here and listen to it," I replied.

"We can never really get a day off, can we," Terrence asked.

 "Apparently not. Now get your butt over here and listen to this message. If it's what I'm thinking it is, we need to get moving fast."

Terrence and I are partners. We work for the Dallas, Texas Police Department's Supernatural office, Heinous Crimes division. There was a time, long before I was even born, that people didn't know about the things that go bump in the night, they thought they were only legends and myths, but things vastly changed when the third world war broke out. China developed a new super soldier by combining vampire, were, and witch blood, but of course it was unstable because the species are not meant to be mixed. All the supernaturals created an elite force to stop the unstable creatures. That is when the world found out about supernaturals because they couldn't cover up the force (and it didn't help that some of the team got cocky and wanted recognition for saving the world).


Wednesday, March 9, 2011

Obligatory Introductory Post

I decided to start a second blog because I wanted a place that was dedicated to my personal fictional writing. My other blog is like a journal to me and I share details of my life in general as a Pagan, but I recently decided I needed a space dedicated explicitly to my writing. This will be an exercise for me because I want to try to write something fictional, even if it is only a few words, at least 3 times a week. I stopped writing after Gram passed away and that was a shame. This is my way of trying to get myself back into it. I hope I can better myself and my writing by doing this. Come along on a magical journey with me while I develop my writing and share it with you!