Simply and Satirically Me

U.S. Code: Title 36, Subtitle 1, Part A (a) Designation.— The composition consisting of the words and music known as the Star-Spangled Banner is the national anthem. (b) Conduct During Playing.— During a rendition of the national anthem— (1) when the flag is displayed— (A) individuals in uniform should give the military salute at the first note of the anthem and maintain that position until the last note; (B ) members of the Armed Forces and veterans who are present but not in uniform may render the military salute in the manner provided for individuals in uniform; and (C) all other persons present should face the flag and stand at attention with their right hand over the heart, and men not in uniform, if applicable, should remove their headdress with their right hand and hold it at the left shoulder, the hand being over the heart …. ( Pub. L. 105–225 , Aug. 12, 1998,  112 Stat. 1263 ;  Pub. L. 110–417 , [div. A], title V, § 595, Oct. 14, 2008,  122 Stat. 4475 .)

“It’s an everlasting fruitcake, just as soon as it’s gone, it will reappear. Though we’ve done our best to be rid of it, it shows up at our house each year.” I don’t remember what year in school they made me learn this pretty ridiculous song, but I’ve never been able to get the imagery of it out of my head. It’s a holiday song about a family who can’t quite seem to get rid of a fruitcake they were gifted. They try numerous ways to pawn off the dreaded, stale, and heavy fruitcake – once even trying to send it to Norway – but somehow, it always finds its way back to them as a gift from someone else again. What a pointless, unrelatable, silly story. Yes? Maybe not. There’s a part in one of my favorite tv shows where a character is told by a fortune-teller (who he adamantly opposes) that his future would be “full of struggle and anguish, most of it self-inflicted.” Annoyed with the prophesy, the character angrily protests, only to end up kicking a small stone off the ground

"'My gift is obedience. Ella will always be obedient. Now stop crying, child.' I stopped." I have mentioned in my blog before how much I love the book Ella Enchanted. I don't care if it is fourth-grade reading level. Ella's battle with breaking the curse of obedience has long become a sort of allegory for my own frustration with OCD. The victorious feeling of winning that battle is something I glimpse and resonate with at the end of the book. "Decisions were a delight after the curse. I loved having the power to say yes or no, and refusing anything was a special pleasure." Oh, the sense of freedom that brings. And in its own, strange way - it's relatable. I read an article today about a woman who had such a strong, compulsive anxiety about driving, that she ended up not getting in her car for an entire year. it took professional diagnosis and treatment for her to begin overcoming that impulse. When asked something about why it took her so