Presumed to be awesome.

Happy Martin Luther King, Jr. day, fellow Americans! I loved waking up to dozens of Dr. King's inspiring words being quoted on my Twitter feed and on Facebook. These are some of my favorites:

☮ I have decided to stick with love. Hate is too great a burden to bear.

☮ Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that.

☮ Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.

☮ Life's most persistent and urgent question is, "What are you doing for others?"

☮ Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter.

Powerful, inspiring words! What a great way to start a Monday!


So, let's continue this whole Start The Week Off Right trend with a Monday Happy List! :D

♦ ( Chris Colfer won a Golden Globe last night was adorable and his cast mates were delightful and he gave the most beautiful and heart-touching speech of the evening! )

♦ ( This photo of Darren Criss and Lauren Potter, the actress who plays Becky, makes my heart go all warm and mushy! )

♦ This is going to happen!!! [GLEE SPOILERS]


♦ Adam Lambert joined forces with charity: water and asked his fans to raise $29,000 for clean water projects for his birthday on January 29th. That goal was reached within five hours!!! He's now upped the goal and as of this morning over $65,000 has been raised! People doing good is definitely happy-making! :D


This was on my Twitter feed this morning:



How would you fill in the blank?

|1| If for some reason you missed President Obama's speech at the memorial for the Tucson victims yesterday, do yourself a favor and ( listen to it now. )


|2| Whataya know. The Earth and Sun aren't static. And everyone has had their sense of self thrown into a tailspin because the Zodiac calendar has changed. But, really, it hasn't. Not if you were born in the Western world, at least. The Western world's zodiac calendar is seasonally based and fixed, so it doesn't shift as the sun and Earth shift. In any case, even if it did, I'd steadfastly refuse to believe that I was anything other than a Virgo with Libra rising! *makes an alphabetized list of all the ways she's definitely still a Virgo* :)


|3| If you're an Adam fan, or even if you're not, please read this and consider how you might help a great organization raise funds to help gay youth.


|4| ( Some delightfulness from my Tumblr dash! )


|5| ( These new photos of Darren deserve their own number, and maybe their own star in the heavens, they are so wonderful!!! )

For some reason that simply defies explanation, I've been awake since 4 a.m. I'm thinking that this day is going to require both lots of caffeine and lots of random awesomeness to keep me awake and productive. I'm on my second huge Tigger mug of coffee, which takes care of the lots of caffeine and, because it's Tigger, also counts as random awesomeness. I'll definitely be needing more of both, but for now let's concentrate on the random awesomeness!

>> The Non-Football Fan's Guide to the World Cup, or, What To Do If You're Just Here for the Hot Men. This is perhaps the BEST thing on the internets today!!!

>> Quote: "Accepting oneself does not preclude an attempt to become better." ~ Flannery O'Connor.

>> Exercising the Happiness Muscle. Sadly, this isn't as kinky as it sounds. Instead it's "10 Easy Ways to Be Happy Now." Not kinky, but still AWESOME! I think we should all pick one to practice today! Y/Y? Tell me which one you're doing!

>> How Not To Obsess About Looking Fat In A Swimsuit and F-ing Enjoy Yourself! My freckles and very un-Latina-like white skin do not take kindly to sunshine, so unless there's a hot server bringing me fruity alcoholic beverages while I hide from the sun under a shaded cabana I'm not really into the whole beach/pool thing. But I nevertheless add my resounding HELL YEAH to everything said in that blog!

>> Attention Hot Geek Chicks on my flist (and I know there are a lot of you!): Casting call for hot, smart geek chicks at NerdGirls.com!

>> Kris Allen. What? You need more explanation of Kris's awesomeness??? Well, first, ( he gives us this: )

( and this: )

But, lest we forget with all the hotness, he's still completely ADORKABLE: He's got PINK ELEPHANT tour t-shirts!!! *laughs and laughs* I am SO glad I'll be seeing his hot, dorky self on the 23rd!!!

Ok, that's enough caffeine and awesome to get me through 'til about 10 a.m. I'll take care of the coffee, but I'm relying on y'all to provide me with enough random awesomeness to get me through the rest of the day. Ready? Go! :)

On another message board that I've been a part of for many, many years, we're having a discussion about self-esteem. Coincidentally, I ran across this quote from Selma Hayek, a few days before:

People often say that "beauty is in the eye of the beholder," and I say that the most liberating thing about beauty is realizing that you are the beholder. This empowers us to find beauty in places where others have not dared to look, including inside ourselves.

I think this is very empowering. I am the beholder. I decide who I am and what I think about myself. I can choose to think well of myself.

One would think this would be obvious when talking about self-esteem. But because the outside world, my relationships, my past experiences, etc., have an impact, it's sometimes easy to forget that, even though those outside factors are relevant, in the end, I am the beholder of my own self worth.

Anyway. I liked the quote so I thought I'd share it and encourage us all to start beholding our own awesomeness! *g*

Now that we all know how awesome we all are, let me complain for a moment about how EVERY single muscle I have seems to be aching today! Ouch! But, on the plus side, since I was already sore all over, I decided to buckle down today and get back to my strength training routine, which I had let lapse for the past several weeks. So, while sore and achy, I also feel strong, able and fierce. *flexes arms* But this also means that the sore muscles are going to be around for a while. *takes more ibuprofen*

And while I'm beholding awesomeness all around, let me give a shout out to the awesomeness of the Phillies and their win over the Dodgers yesterday. What a great game! And tonight I'm watching the Rays and Red Sox. While I'd love to see Joe Maddon and his young Rays in the World Series, I'd really prefer it if the Red Sox actually showed up to play baseball! 11-1 in the top of the 7th??? WTF, Boston???

*laughs and laughs* The t.v. just panned to Stephen King in the stands, reading a book! I guess he's decided to get in a little reading while waiting for the Red Sox to show up! You and me both, Mr. King. *shakes head*