Friday, May 27, 2005

CNN's offbeat pictures

Looking over these pictures, one thing really strikes me about these photos that CNN.com runs, it's how 1950's they look, how vanilla white. Even photos that sometimes show other races (not this week, they're all white) seem to be straight out of a Norman Rockwell painting.

Start paying attention to visuals on TV. If a product is aimed at urban centers, they tend to feature more multi-cultured diversity... but if a product is aimed at middle America, look for seas upon seas of white folks. It's quite fascinating if not demeaning.

I keep wondering when they're going to show an aging New-Waver Asian Country Western dancing Bowler. Maybe then I could identify. :)

Filed under Politics & B.S..

Thursday, May 26, 2005

Kicking a Gift Horse in the Mouth

Okay. This has got my hackles up.

No, not Kraft, but the friggin' hijackers of this thread.

The Gays of this country has been demonized for the past umpteen years, ever since we gained a political voice during the 70's and 80's. We are the ones that get mobilized AGAINST. The people of America is not VOCIFEROUSLY out to curb rights for any other group EXCEPT gays.

For a company like KRAFT FOODS, the icon of middle America... for them to come out and say "We are proud sponsors of the Gay Games, and we're going to stay sponsors for the Gay Games despite the inundation of protests from these discriminating groups" I say KUDOS!

You have a choice in not eating their foods. If you read their labels and disagree with what they put into it, DON'T EAT IT. If you think others shouldn't eat them, START YOUR OWN THREAD ABOUT IT. But don't pollute their kudos!

How is this any better than George Bush saying, if you're not with us, you're with the terrorists?

Thank you, Kraft Foods. Thank you for sticking up for me.

Filed under Scary Gay Stuff, Politics & B.S..

Wednesday, May 25, 2005

Manners

I'm really getting too much joy from being this snarky but I can't help myself.

I have ICQ on all the time at work for ONE person and one person only. That's my friend in Greece who refuses to use any other IM program. So for this one person in my life, I keep ICQ on. And we IM each other, oh about once a month if that.

But everyday, I get demands to be added onto contact lists.

Usually the messages are "Add me to your contact list" to which I deny and write back "Without a please? No way!" Sometimes, it's "Authorize my reguest" to which I reply "What's a reguest?" BTW, I usually have to type reguest like 5 times before I can get the misspelling right. Sometimes, sometimes, I have time for a long-winded response. "Why in the world would I bother to authorize such rudeness? Didn't your mother teach you anything? And why would I bother to respond to someone who can't even spell request?"

Yes, I'm a snob and I know it. But damn it, who the hell are these people who want to talk to me? I have NOTHING in my profile.

The ones who say please, and don't misspell words? They just get a nice decline without a reason. No lectures back. Now, THAT'S positive reinforcement.

Filed under Bwahahahaha.

Tuesday, May 24, 2005

Women gamers

Xeni Jardin of Boingboing.net is going to be talking about women and gaming tonight. I wonder how many women gamers are my age - 42. I know, I know, most people playing things like Yahoo games and Pogo games are women over 40 (you guys should see how filled those dang rooms are! There's a bunch on topics, then quite a few in the under 20's... but 20's & 30's aren't that filled. Then I turned 40 and went to go check those chat rooms out... and whooo boy, they're crowded and raunchy.

I used to play online Bingo at BugleBingo.com... but then they changed the rules. It was great back in the first days there... I ended up winning about $2-300 from them. There it was like 80% women and great fun.

I also used to play Yahoo Mahjong... the real deal. Not the stupid solitaire game that you match tiles up but the real, 4-person, 5 hour involvement if you play 9 fans, 4 rounds. Again, there it was mainly women who played. Then they changed the rankings, and the subscription and I left that community. I still wonder about some of those people I used to play with like CrankyK9... he was a hoot.

After those two online communities, I found a MUD (Multi-User Dungeon) to hang out on. Threshold-rpg was a great game for 4 years... it was primarily role-playing SO as a result, the community was pretty even in gender ratio. About half the women enjoyed "borging" - the act of killing monster after monster to gain xp (experience points) - a fairly boring act except you used to be able to chat while in the midst of fighting. The other half pretty much stayed in social areas and used the game as a fantasy chat room. This MUD was unusual in that all but three channels of chat, you HAD to stay in character. So entering this game, you basically had to pretend you were this other person almost the entire time you played.

Threshold changed and most of my friends left that game and are now on NewWorlds-rpg, which is again a role-playing MUD. BTW, I know of like 20 couples that met in Threshold and got together. My love and I are one of those happy couples.

Most of the women I met through Threshold are in their late 20's to 40's. It was always great finding someone my age... We'd make 60's jokes that few got.

Me? I've been gaming since 1970's... since Pong first came out. I owned a Coleco-vision, an Atari and considered getting a Trash-80. In my house, I have 3 old macs, 2 old pc's, a pc laptop and a mac laptop. We have 2 PS2s and 2 Xbox and multiple multiple mutliple controllers. I think there are still some remnants of a playstation and a SNES somewhere in the house. The Genesis has been given to the person who owned half of it.

Will I ever stop gaming? I hope not. There's XBox 360, PS3 and lots more to check out!

Filed under Gaming-Obsess Much?.

Thursday, May 19, 2005

For those of you still thinking about privatizing Social Security...

I just want to point out something....

How many of you get inundated with ads for credit cards? Mortgages? Phones?

Just think, once we privatize social security, we're going to get tons of ads about which private company to invest our retirement funds.

The huge winners in this scenario? Well, other than the corporations who get the $? The advertising companies of course. The losers? Trees and retiring people.

Filed under Politics & B.S..

Tuesday, May 17, 2005

One Thin Wafer

Remember Monty Python's The Meaning of Life?

Remember the outrageously obese man eating... and being tempted into having one more thing? "One thin wafer...." was the claim.

Remember the disgusting explosion?

How many of us thought, hmmm it was that one thin wafer that blew him up.

What's that, none?

The Newsweek article, is that one thin wafer, folks. This anti-American sentiment exploding? It is NOT the result of this wafer. It is the result of years of arrogance, this pre-emptive war, the HYPOCRISY from our administration.

So, go ahead, blame the one thin wafer. Meanwhile, the WH people are soooooo happy that the blame for everything going wrong can be pin on their favorite patsies, the media.

Filed under Politics & B.S..

Friday, May 13, 2005

PMS & Paranoia

It's a dreary day today... and my mood reflects it.

I woke up in a bad mood, cause I have certain expectations and hate it when my body rebels. Lately, I've taken to sleeping at 11:30 pm. Anyone who has known me for a little while knows that I do NOT like to sleep before midnight. Anytime before midnight is wasted time. Actually 3 years ago, it was before 3 am.

So this morning, I woke up, glanced at my watch and saw 7:00. Immediately my mood turned dark. I am NOT supposed to wake up before 10, naturally. I slipped back into sleep and woke again at 7:35... and promptly realized the alarm had been turned off.

I jabbed her in the back and announced in a loud, grouchy voice, "Who turned off the alarm?"

Well, as ANYONE knows, when there's only two of you, and one asks that question, it is no longer a question, but an accusation. Needless to say, she didn't wake up in a good mood either.

*Okay, as an aside here. Why do we say needless to say, and then promptly say it?*

So as a result, I didn't get my morning snuggle. I count on that morning snuggle. That snuggle puts me in a much better mood, ready to face the world. When I don't get that snuggle, my whole world becomes one inhabited by paranoia.

Which is where I am right now. See, she's had a headache for over a week now. I think it's her head telling her to get away from me. That I'm pissing her off, that I'm bugging her, that I'm too much for her.

I know logically that this has really very little to do with her.

I know logically that this has everything to do with my childhood.

See, I used to be very sick as a child. And I'd get too much to handle. I mean, I would throw up the whole day long, then at night wouldn't be able to breathe, for weeks on end. And my mother? I was always so afraid that she'd leave me. Cause that's what she threatened to do... "Gum mah fan! Meen goh haang tsoh ah. Yu goh moh ngoh, ney deem baan ah?"

Translated, it means "So troublesome! Who'd want this? If you didn't have me, what would you do?"

Most of the time, it was said in a decent tone, but there were exasperated times, when she said it to make herself feel better about the martyrdom of it all. And those times, when her fears and her frustrations spilled out, I was petrified of being abandoned.

So now, whenever she pulls the silent treatment out, or she's been exasperated with me cause of my bad moods, I get panicked. I hear myself saying to myself, "Of course she's going to leave you. You're so troublesome. Who'd want to be with you." And then I brace myself for the abandonment. I'm all tense and jumpy, which only exarcerbates the situation.

As I write this, I realize I'm only confirming this in my own head. Seriously, who'd want to deal with all this? I don't understand why she stays. I wouldn't want to put up with all this myself, how could I expect her to?

I also know that since I'm on the verge of my period, that this is part of PMS.

That knowledge, however, does little to assuage my panic.

So, I just keep telling myself, I survived before she was in my life, and I will survive after. And I brace for the day, she announces to me that she's outgrown me, that I'm too immature for her, that I don't make her happy enough to counter the times I make her unhappy, that ... she doesn't love me enough to stay with me anymore.

I hope that day never happens. But I think I'm expecting it to.

Filed under Reveries & Paranoias.

Thursday, May 12, 2005

Getting Me to Agree to No Abortions

There's a way to get me to agree to make abortions illegal.

1) Make sure ALL businesses provide at least 6 weeks of pregnancy leave - paid.
2) Change adoption laws to make sure people of ALL persuasions get to adopt, ensuring all unwanted babies get a chance at a decent life.
3) Ensure that girls under the age of 21 (if they so choose) can have a place of support to stay at during their pregnancies (if their families are going to give them grief).
4) Real sex education to all kids.
5) Stop ooooh'ing every time anything sexual shows on screen, (Like Ms. Jackson's nipples) so that youngsters don't think of sex as SEX.
6) Ensure that the fathers of these unwanted kids have SOME responsibility.
7) Free gym pass for 2 years for any new mothers.

You people call it murder. I call it consideration.

EVERY woman I know that had an abortion, didn't rush into it. EVERY woman I know that had one, agonized and agonized over their decision. EVERY woman I know, looked far down the road to the future, and all they saw were obstructions and not just in their own lives, but that of the potential offspring and they opted for the more sensible route. Sensible in that they would've confined the child to a lifetime of scrambling. What parent hopes for that for a child?

So, unless you can come up with solutions that can avoid the pitfalls of having a child, that will have no social, financial or emotional repercussions YEARS DOWN THE LINE, I will never support the anti-abortion movement. Cause to me, you all are the selfish fuckers.

*Edited 5/17/05

Just read this editorial by E.J. Dionne on Thomas R. Suozzi. Suozzi basically stakes a position the same as mine, without the anger and bitterness - which is a good thing. What I'm saying here is, take care of the women and the children if you want to make abortion this evil thing, for abortion has been around since the dawn of time. It may not have been legal, but it most certainly was practiced.

The part I liked most was this quote from Suozzi:
"Women who choose abortion have their morality questioned. Women who choose to put a baby up for adoption have their maternal instincts questioned, and women who carry an unplanned pregnancy to full term when unmarried or financially insecure are often labeled irresponsible."

Remove these ostracizing labels and let's talk more.

Filed under Politics & B.S..

Calling All Inventors

Seems people are not happy about hands-free laws being passed all over the country. No, get your mind out of the gutter. Hands-free as in cell phones.

See, I'm against cell phones in cars. I don't own a cell phone and tho I'm fascinated by the technology, I won't get one. The ONLY three reasons I'd have to get one is, 1) for me to be able to call ahead when I'm late, 2) emergency usage if the car breaks down or I'm in an accident or 3) calling ahead to order food so that when I arrice I can just pay and leave with food in hand.

Not good enough reasons to endanger lives around me. Ah, but if only other people took this approach.

Well, apparently some people don't like the hands-free compromise (it's a compromise, really, because for YEARS we couldn't have a walkman blaring in our ears to rock out on). Wires tangling, earphones on passenger seat instead of on head. Oh, the trials and tribulations of the poor cell phone user.

So, I'm calling all inventors. WANTED: earpiece implants and mouthpiece implants. That way, you cell phone users won't annoy us anymore at the movie theaters, at the supermarket, at the bus-stop, on the roads. As for the mouthpiece implants and the problem of inarticulateness, seriously, don't worry. Judging from 90% of the conversations I've been forced to eavesdrop on, the conversations are inane anyway. And, the way our president likes to show off how he mispronounces simple words (NuKUlar), he's letting us know that as a nation, we too can be inarticulate simpletons.

Filed under Ms. Cell Annie.

Wednesday, May 11, 2005

Being Right Brings No Joy

Remember this time last year? I do. It was right about this time that I quit playing a game I was involved in for 4 years. Why? Because the creator of the game. Threshold-rpg and I got into major fights on the forums about politics.

I was adamant about there being no connections prior to our invasion, between Iraq and Al Qaeda. I was adamant about there being no WMDs. I was adamant about Ronald Reagan NOT being as sainted as the media made him out to be.

And equally as adamant, was the creator. Iraq were breeding terrorists. We gotta hurt them before they hurt us again. Reagan stopped the Cold War and ended communism.

Well, it turns out I'm right.

And Tom Ridge's confession about sounding terror alerts based on "flimsy" evidence is yet another argument I won.

But there is no joy.

See, you people who voted for Bush. Even as we made these accusations, most of us HOPED we were wrong. Because if we were right, the implications were terrifying. The implications were, we were being lied to, and most of us didn't care that there were untruths.

But I guess that is the sad truth, isn't it? As long as we have our pc's, our tv's, our internet, our ipods, our guns - who cares that the government is actively trying to make destitute our futures.

America - Land of the Stupified Zombies.

Filed under Politics & B.S..

Tuesday, May 10, 2005

Charlatans and how to catch 'em

When I was a youngster, I was quite sick with bronchial asthma. My mother tried all sorts of doctors to try and cure me. One doctor she tried, was this new doctor everyone was talking about. "She's amazing!" claimed her friends.

So, off we trotted, to check this new doctor out. I remember she being in the Indonesian consulate building or near that. I remember those wonderful teak carvings of their shadow puppets on the side of the building.

Well, the good doctor saw us, after like a 2 hour wait. The waiting room was full of sick people and my mother was disgusted by the "local people." See, my mother is pretty much a snob. We went to private doctors in Singapore cause she didn't trust the "local people."

The doctor prescribed medicine, then told my mother "She (me) will probably have some ill effects from the medicine at first. Don't worry. Just keep feeding her the medicine and after a few times of seeing me, she will get much better."

Well, I don't remember much (I think I was 8) but apparently, my reaction to the medicine petrified my mother. So much so, she wouldn't go back to that doctor after another visit or two. I remember thinking as a child, that it was more a reaction to the "local people" than to my reaction (especially since I had no memory of my reactions).

Well, months later, my mother looked up triumphantly from reading the Straits Times, and declared to me, "See! I was right to take you away from that doctor!" In the newspaper, was an article about how that doctor was hauled away for fraud. Apparently, she was poisoning her patients, then removing that poison and voila! Instant cure.

Of course, she never told her patients she had been poisoning them in the first place.

WHICH brings us in a totally roundabout way to today's topic: the Charlatan in the White House.

Here's our Idjit-in-Chief trying to explain on Estonian TV why terrorism has risen in the past two years.

"Q Latest surveys show that the numbers of terrorism are increasing, not decreasing.

"THE PRESIDENT: Yes.

"Q Why is that?

"THE PRESIDENT: Well --

"Q You have made a lot of efforts.

"THE PRESIDENT: Yes, that's why. If we weren't trying to find the enemy and bring him to justice, the world would look relatively peaceful. But we're on the offense. And so when you engage the enemy, when you try to bring them to justice, they don't like to be brought to justice."

Hmmm, anyone smell a Charlatan?

Filed under Politics & B.S..

Thursday, May 05, 2005

Baby Birdies!

My girl thinks it's very weird but I've been hooked on this site now for 4 days. I keep checking on it to see what the baby falcons are doing.

I think the story is something like this. 5 years ago, people noticed a bunch of peregrine falcons flying around the PG&E building in San Francisco.

Three years ago, the nice people at the Santa Cruz Predatory Bird Research Group convinced PG&E to put in a granite filled nest box.

Last year, one infertile egg was laid in it.

And this year, George and Gracie have produced FOUR healthy baby falcons. They're white, fuzzy and hungry!

George and Gracie are busy hunting food for the four kids, so they're very rarely on camera. It's always a treat to see one or the other. I was really worried about one of the kids the first day I found this site. It seemed lethargic but I'm so very happy to see that the four seem very rambunctious today. They're not sleeping as much as they did the previous four days I've been watching. OH! And the four got banded yesterday. None of them seem the worse for wear.

Anyway, hope you enjoy them as much as I do!

Filed under Cool Shit.

Tuesday, May 03, 2005

Phantom Accounts

Okay, so why have I been paying back on money I owe for Social Security? Every month, the IRS takes $150 out of my account to pay on this. I owed no income tax, I just owe on Social Security. But Scott McClellan says my money is going into a PHANTOM ACCOUNT?

I WANT MY MONEY BACK THEN! Assholes!

Filed under Politics & B.S..