Happy Veterans' Day!

Happy Veteran’s Day veterans!

This post is rather serious for a bit as this is a topic that means a lot to me. Don’t worry, I start talking about nails again at the bottom.

Supporting our country, our military and our veterans has always been important to me. I don’t care what people think about the state of things in our country–that we should be doing this, or we should be doing that. I think this is a fantastic fucking place to live, and I will not be moving to Australia, or Canada anytime soon (and if I do, it won’t be because of dissatisfaction with the United States). This election made me notice all the negativity people like to hold onto. No matter what you think of this candidate or that candidate  of who won, of what laws are in existence, let me remind you why this is great place to live.

1. We are a democracy. According to the Democracy Index  put out by the  Economist Intelligence Unit we are one of ***25***full democracies of the ***167***countries rated. We are part of only 11% of the world population lucky enough to live that kind of place. Whether or not you think your vote counts (it does), there is no denying that the laws of this country are influenced greatly by the ideas of the majority of the people.

2. We place a lot of value on personal freedoms. First amendment anyone? Whether you think there is not enough or too much, you are not going to be arrested just for blaspheming, for trashing the government, or for practicing your religion.

3. We have a ***stable ***government and a ***solid***system of law enforcement. So solid we can take it for granted. That may seem small but you’d certainly notice if we didn’t.

4. Those two systems are relatively free of corruption. The Corruption Perceptions Index is of course not flawless, nor entirely comprehensive but we’re still doing pretty alright. You don’t have to bribe the cops in order to get out of your house or use a public road.

5. Most people ***like***living here. As much as they bitch and whine, we have a lot more immigrants than emigrants. Apparently there isn’t a whole lot of proof of this fact as we don’t track emigration or distinguish it from temporary county leave, but the general consensus is that we are a net immigration country.

I could name a lot of things I also think are great, but I’m trying to stick with ones that to me seem completely inarguable. I’m also a fan of our capitalist economic system, our plethora of social programs (although I do think they need to be completely re-worked to get rid of waste) and the fact that at least some (if not all) people who are talented and qualified to, can reach some level of the “American Dream.”

Onto my nails! If you’ve been reading my posts, you know I’ve been collecting army green polishes as of late (cough crush on an army ranger cough). And this was my chance to use them! Originally I planned to devote a nail to each branch of the military (Since the number of nails on each hand perfectly corresponds to the number of branches of the military we have. In case you are still unsure, we have 5–Army, Navy, Marines, Air Force and Coast Guard). However, the only logos I thought I could actually paint were Army and Air Force; the rest were really complicated and detailed. So I decided to go more generic and as is typical, I love the results.

If you click to enlarge, you should be able to see the glitter. One of the greens I have is glittery and after it has been mattified it looks bitchin’. It’s most visible on the pinky nail.

I just feel so patriotic when I look at these! And camo is for sure my new favorite pattern to paint. It’s even easier than the leopard print, which used to be my suggestion for those who felt their artistic skills were not up to snuff. Honestly, people whose hands are less steady and practiced might even be better at this pattern. I kept getting frustrated at how neat and geometric some of my splotches of color were coming out. And of course, you’d be able to do it any color you wanted, be it blue or grays or even pink.

Hooah!