Big Wide World

friday, i got off work in the morning (switched so i finally had a friday evening off), so with nothing to do with myself, i finally got a chance to go to chapters. was in there 2 hours, and found great books. the three i picked up for this time: portrait of dorian grey (classic but a great one), simone debeauvoir- the second sex, and laura penny-your call is important to us: the truth about bullshit.

ok, all great books but i went with the bullshit book first. hard to explain. its witty, funny, but a bit cynical (understandably). so far i'm loving it. here's what i mean. these are some of the books excerpts:
*"our era is unique by virtue of its sheer scale, its massive budget, its seemingly unlimited capability to send bullshit hurtling rapidly around the globe. there is so much bullshit that one hardly knows were to begin. the platitudinous pabulum that passes for stirring political rhetoric is bullshit. the scripted, question-proof events that pretend to be spontaneous exchanges are bullshit. the committee-crafted persona and the focus-grouped fad and the rule of the polls are straight up bullshit. the disease/hysteria du jour is bullshit, and so it the latest miracle pill. The new product that will change your life is probably just more cheap, plastic bullshit. we endure bullshit in the course of our workaday lives, in the form of management-speak memos about optimizing strategic objectives and results-based, value-added service delivery. we tolerate bullshit in common life-maintenance transactions, like banking and shopping. most of what passes for news is bullshit, and even if you are so fortunate as to find things worth watching or reading, the content you desire will be punctuated with shills for things you don't need, like ginormous automobiles and toxic faux foodstuffs." and it goes on and on. its great, and i highly recommend it. i cannot convey here all the many great things that she writes about.
one thing i did learn in the book- i knew that when corps. did charity or anything what would help society and would seem "human", they were doing it for PR. but, the scarier fact is that they get to write EVERYTHING off. that's right people, everything that they do in the form of charity is a TAX WRITE-OFF. gives you a warm fuzzy feeling all over doesn't it?

i took a lot of politics in university. that's what happens when you declare your major as a political one. so, as you can guess, after 3 years of it, i'm pretty sick of it. and i try hard to avoid it (pandora's box you might say). however, i have to get in on the recent posts about the switch by belinda to cross the floor and go liberal. its not so much about the move, but what people are talkin about as a result.

first of all, as a woman, you know that the talks are going to be different. instead of dealing with her political agenda and its changes, media is focusing on what this means to her relationship with MacKay. excuse me, but what the hell does that have to do with anything political? but that's the least of my disgust.

i want to specifically deal with two comments made by other MALE Ministers. the first was the following: former ontario cabinet minister bob runciman (i refuse to capitalize his name b/x that would signify respect, which i have none of for this man) stated that Stronach was a dipstick, an attractive one, but still a dipstick. if you think that she's a dipstick, that's your opinion, but one professional does not comment about another professional's and peer's attractiveness. what the fuck does it have to do with her choice, or anything else remotely having to do with her job. i'm sorry, but there's just no reason to try to reduce her move to nothing more than being a pretty girl with no brains. why do we need to focus in on the fact that she's a woman, not just an MP that made the decisions that she made.

the final comment was made by tony abbott (again, no capitals) who stated that Belinda had "whored herself out for power", and by conservative MP maurice vellacott, who stated that "some people prostitute themselves for different costs and different prices". when people confronted about these comments, the response was that "prostitute" has long been used as a term when referring to when people sell themselves out for some benefit. yeah, ok, cause prostitution is often associated as a gender neutral professional and is often referred to when men sell themselves out. oh, wait a minute, no it isn't, and while we're at it, i don't often hear that men have sold out, they just weighed all the pros and cons and made the most logical profitable, and wisest choice. gimme a fucking break. the comments were made by men about a woman, and were strictly misogynistic and sexist. lets not kid ourselves. no matter what advances we make, women are still, at the end of the day, seem as women, who, if successful, got lucky, had a man help them, had rich powerful daddies, or probably slept their way to the top.

i don't know about you, but i'm writing to these politicians, and demanding a public apology. dipstick and whore and prostitute were not used to describe men, the last time i checked.

i'm so bored, i can't even describe it. and here are the reasons why. i have no life. no, really. all the friends that i could do things with that i would enjoy work in the day, and i work in the evenings so i never get to see them. like right now, i went out to the movies with rob, and i'm still all prettied up, but now have nowhere to go b/c he has to get up early to go to work. wow, i have problems ey?
anyways, i should probably find a different job or something to do, but i haven't yet. not sure why.
i went out on the weekend and got a little buzzed, and came home and wrote the saddest letter of my life. no really. its the saddest letter i've ever written or read. not bad sad. good sad, but none the less, sad. but i haven't mailed it yet. i'm still trying to decide if i do want to mail it. man, it seemed like such a good idea at the time, and now it just seems to sad. but i don't wanna throw it out cause its probably the most honest thing i've ever written down. so, we'll see. i might stash it away and mail it years from now, who knows. i'm really glad that i got it down on paper though. sees kind of a relief and somewhat cathartic, i highly recomment it. i think i should do more, esp. when i'm buzzed. probably cause we're much more honest with the world and with ourself when we've had a few. or, that could just be me. trust me, if i got captured by enemies, they wouldn't have to torture me. all they'd have to do is gimme booze. i'd spill it all. i'd be saying things i had in my head for years and didn't know about myself. with enough booze, i could probably tell them where hoffa was buried. man, there goes my shot at being a spy. damn it, that's one dream down the tube.

ok, so there's this annoying commercial on tv for "vibeline", one of those telephone dating services. not only do i have to watch this annoying advertisement, but the actor in the commercial says that its a great place to conversate. what????? conversate? hey moron, the word is converse. conversate is not a god damn word. do they not have proof readers for these scripts. and i don't wanna hear about ebonics. i just really don't think that you can made up words as you go along and pretend that they are real words. and its so bad that i started to doubt myself and had to actually look it up to make sure that its not a real word (its not). yeah rob, and loafting is not and will not ever be a real word. in the famous words of some guy (i know who it is i just don't feel like looking up his name so leave it alone) "i don't like to complain, but there's just so much to complain about". if i hear the word conversate one more time i'm going to snap. honestly, if you say the commercial (over and over again) you'd be just as annoyed.

here's my comment for the day. actually, its more like a little bit of a story, request and FYI. i'm flipping through the channels, and there's nothing on, and i come across Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets. so i think "hmm, i'm in the mood for a lite kind of movie", which Harry Potter would seem to be. so i'm watching and watching (nice story, fun little movie). now, here's where the request and FYI comes in. if you're going to have a movie like Harry Potter, fun and lite and for kids (supposedly) DO NOT, AND I CANNOT STRESS THIS ENOUGH, DO NOT HAVE HUGE FUCKING SPIDERS BY THE THOUSANDS RUNNING AROUND ON THE SCREEN FOR LIKE 10 MINUTES. god damn it. i was not expecting that, and M*^^& F#*&%$. next time, give a girl a bit of a warning. especially if that girl have huge arachnaphobia.

i'm thinking about taking a writing class. i haven't decided what kind of writing yet (either creative writing, novel writing, or journalism-though i'm kind of thinking novel- be very afraid, all i have to do is change your names and i could put in all your dirty little secrets into my book, muhahaha). i've decided to make this a creative summer (reading a lot, jazz shows, spoken word, poetry readings etc), and i think a writing class would put that off very nicely. when i was a kid i always though that i was going to be a writer, and while i don't aim to be the next aldous huxley or evelyn waugh (hell i'd even settle for stephen king), i think that it would be interesting, and well, fun. its not for credit, and i don't care about the marks, i just wanna do it for the creative aspect. so i think i'm going to join up this week. i'll let you know what i chose. i'm waiting to hear for h.c. because i applied for a refund and i'm hoping that i'll get some money back, or in the very least, credit for the two courses that i didn't take but paid for. the review committee is getting together wednesday so i should hear from them very soon. cross your fingers.
p.s. that article that i did an interview for came out. i'll scan and post somewhere if anyone wants to read it. look at me, all important and shit. if you wanna read the article, click "shared pics and files" on the right under links.

its only been a week of relaxation (well, i'm still working), but i'm already kind of bored. no no no. i have to get over it. i'm going to enjoy the leisurely time and i'm not going to feel guilty about the fact that i'm not busy all the time. i'm going to enjoy the fact that i'm not really doing anything right now, and i'm going to like it damn it.

anyway, athabasca is done, all i need to do is request the transcript be sent to b.u. and then i'm done. and now i just have to deal with bullshit admin stuff having to do with h.c. and i'm good to go. should be looking for a better job though, but for right now, i'm just relaxing. put the condo on the market, will see what happens. hope it sells soon. not looking forward to moving, but looking forward to reduced bills and no need to work for a while except for non-vital expenses.