I Did What?

For the benefit of those of you using screen readers, here’s a small tip about new blogger. When you visit a blog that’s using the new version, you might see something in the top frame that leads you to believe that you have somehow reported the site to Blogger’s administrators for deletion. You haven’t. Even though you’ll see a line that says “you flagged this blog as having objectionable content,” you did no such thing and we don’t hate you. Why it looks that way for us I couldn’t say, but just be aware that you did nothing wrong.

Fasten Your Seatbelts, It’s Going to be a Bumpy Ride.

Well…it looks like we’re going to have to switch blogger interfaces. I’ve heard that blogger has started twisting people’s arms to switch, and I knew that was coming. So I figure instead of being forced to do it, we’ll just bite the bullet, do it and hopefully minimize the bullshit that may happen. So, the next little while could be ugly, so brace yourselves for the fun that may follow. Off we go, into the wild new blogger. Har har.

Grumpy Old Men

Wow. This story is just weird. I love the Guelph Mercury.

Police in Sudbury have charged a nursing home resident with second-degree murder in the beating death of his roommate last week.

Bryan Belliveau, 55, has been in custody since he was arrested Wednesday after Keith Croteau, 59, was beaten during an argument over the volume of Croteau’s television set.

Belliveau was originally charged with assault causing bodily harm, but the charge was upgraded after a post-mortem examination confirmed Croteau died Thursday of head injuries.

Ok, first off, it has gotta suck to be in a nursing home at 55 and 59. That, right there, could cause some rage. But gees, in the case of the guy who pounded on the other guy, he can’t be in the nursing home because he’s frail. And he can’t be senile or anything if police are holding him. So I’m so confused. Why is he there? And to beat someone over the TV? Man! Get some earplugs or something! The weirdness continues.

Gimme One More Shot

Well holy shit it’s my birthday! I wasn’t even going to mention it, I was just going to let it slip by, because I’m not one to brag and stuff, and I’m starting to turn into my mom, not wanting to bring up my own birthday. I used to always look at her like she was out of her tree. “What’s wrong with a birthday? You should yell it from the rooftops! We have parties, why not you?” She’d just flinch and say, “No! No crazy stuff!” I like doing stuff to celebrate, but I’m not going to run around telling people it’s my birthday! But for some reason, today, I want to.

It’s only 8 in the morning, and already it’s a pretty cool day. Steve gave me my gift, the Lewis Black book, and Lewis Black even reads it. How cool is that? Yea bus-reading material! Nothing makes an eight-hour bus-ride cooler than listening to Lewis Black wig out. And even if he doesn’t wig out and make that sound that sounds like the inside of his head is going to shake loose and fly out through his flapping lips, he’s damn funny.

Then I got an email from mom and dad. I thought I got a card from my Grandma, but dad tells me no, it must be someone else’s card. Woohoo! Other people are sending me cards! Sweetness! Now that I’ve gotten all buzzed up about it, it’ll be a piece of junkmail.

Then the email gets better. Dad says there’s a parcel coming from them and I get to guess what it is! Hmm! Mystery gifts! The excitement continues! Parcels usually come about this time, so I’m completely ready to jump out of my chair if the buzzer goes off. Man I shouldn’t have had tea. I have way too much energy.

Then dad gets all sappy. Sometimes my parents annoy the living hell out of me, but sometimes I just want to hug them until I can’t hug them anymore. Dad has the power to write words that make me melt, especially since he doesn’t like showing that he’s a giant sap. Ah, mom and dad! I really really really need to write them that big letter that tells them how much I appreciate them, even though sometimes I’m pretty lousy at showing it.

And yesterday made me realize that fact even more. I just found out that another classmate mysteriously died, this one of Pneumonia. He was 27. Who the hell dies of pneumonia at age 27? That’s scary! He’s the second guy around my age to die mysteriously during the last year. Another guy, who was 29, died and we had no idea for months. What the hell? So I’m just grateful to see another birthday. You never know when your number’s up. Isn’t that a depressing thought on your birthday?

But one thing all this scary death does is make you count your blessings. I’m healthy, excuse me while I sap out, but I have Steve who’s the best I could ask for, my family is healthy, Steve’s family stuff is settling down and looking positive, we have a nice home, I’m going to get a dog, I *will* find a job somehow, and until then, I’m by no means starving or struggling. Life is beautiful! Let me have a whole lot more!

>What a Realistic Likeness!

>Wow. Talk about driving the point home with symbolism. At Kennesaw State University, a sculpture was unveiled showing Earth, and featured a statue of environmentalist David Brower. Three months later, it collapsed, and, clearly visible in the rubble was an engraving that said “our fragile craft.” Creepy! Officials blame water damage and inadequate adhesives, but I don’t know what to think. All I can think is, how fitting.

Random Thoughts Ahoy!

I’ve been meaning to write this post for the last two days, and I haven’t done it. Don’t i suck? It has no real focus, just another random hodgepodge of things that have been passing through my head. I don’t know whether people are bored when I do those or not. Sometimes I wonder. Hope not. In any case, off we go.

Well, I guess we got our winter. Fffff Brrrr! It’s cold out there! I went out yesterday and the wind tried to steal my breath. The seasons are so weird now. We get a little bit of hot, a little bit of cold, and a lot of the middle. It’s so weird.

For some reason, I got thinking about words, and two expressions popped into my head. Did you ever think it’s weird when people say, “I haven’t heard boo about that,” or “He was very quiet. He never said boo.” Do people walk around saying boo all the time? Where did that come from?

Or, people say, “Mum’s the word on that.” Well, in trying to make sure I had the spelling correct on that one, I got an answer! And you know what? It makes sense! It means seal your lips, so the only sound that can come out is mmm or mum. Apparently it came from Shakespeare. Cool! Ya learn something new every day!

For some odd reason, the other day I got thinking about the long trip from home to Grandma’s, and how we pass through an area of small towns starting at about Griffith where you can get no radio reception, I guess because it’s so rocky. No cell phone, no radio, nothing. This made me wonder what the people in those towns do for information. I mean, the radio is where you can get local news, news about bus cancelations, all that stuff, and they can’t get radio. How do they get their little small town news? I’m sure they have a newspaper, but sometimes you need more timely updates than that. I mean, how many people get the weather from the radio in the morning before they go to work?

I saw something yesterday that shook me to the core and proved, no, bashed the point home, that we humans are stupid! S t u p i d! There was this documentary on about market research and such. Just to prove a point that people can be manipulated into agreeing with anything if you just ask the right questions, they made up some fake questions to ask random people in New York. Do you wanna know what they were? They claimed that Nolton Nash was a woman who wore flashy clothing and used offensive language on TV, and asked their opinions on this TV personality. Without hesitation, these people tried to sound like learned folk who knew everything about this Nolton Nash woman, and either liked her or disliked her, thought she was awesome, beautiful or offensive. Newsflash, everybody. You’re all stupid! Nolton Nash is an old man! The best was when they asked them what they thought of her cohost, John Kastner, and whether *she* was beautiful. Without missing a beat, people said, yeah well she’s ok. She? John? I know that names are getting unisex these days, but a woman named John? I don’t think so! At first I thought maybe he had said Joan, but no,it was in fact John.

Later, they made up a politician and asked people’s opinions on him. Again, people had strong opinions about this fictitious character. I would hope that, if I got asked questions about someone who I didn’t recognize, I’d say “Gee I can’t give an opinion, I’ve never heard of him. I’ll have to google him.” or something. I wouldn’t just spout off about him hoping to be right. Is that what it is? People want to be right even if they know nothing?

Even scarier was when they had people drinking coke spiked with tobasco sauce or cake that had cayenne pepper in it and they still said it was mm mmm goood! What is wrong with people? Do they just want to please the people running the survey? Do they truly have no opinion, so agreeing seems like the safest choice? Ug! We’ll be zombies soon. Save me!

I don’t know why this commercial bugs me so much, but it does. Any guys who read this are now probably going to run for cover with my next words. I see this commercial for this kind of sanitary pad that’s supposed to have a wipe packaged with each pad, so you can clean yourself every time you change it. Ok, why do we need more garbage? Does everybody need to sanitize themselves that much every time they change them? If you feel that nasty that you just need to be clean, have a shower! Ug. I worry a little more every time I hear something else that says, “And when you’re done, just throw it away!” Why are we making more things to throw away in a time when we’re supposed to be making less garbage? Pads are already getting thrown away. Why attach another disposable thing to them? Plus, I wonder what kind of chemicals are in those wipe things. That freaks me out on its own.

And here’s something I meant to write about for a while. On one of the world junior hockey games, as background music, Steve heard this song! Matt, run away, run away quickly. What is this song? Where is it from? Karine, are you still reading? You might know, because the game was in Sweden, I think. So what is it? I really really really wanna know! I can’t very well type dagga dagga doodoo into google and get a result.

Sometimes there are hidden advantages to not having a party you planned to have. Like, Christmas lasts a hell of a lot longer! Usually, when we have our little New Year’s dealy, we exchange gifts. So since we didn’t have that, we’re sending our gifts in the mail and our friends are mailing us stuff. I feel like a bit of a loser that just yesterday, I sent out gifts to a couple people. We had the stuff, I just hadn’t gone to mail it yet. But I felt like much less of a slow poke because I just got a package from one of them today. Way cool! Much love to packages!

Screech…Put put, sputter sputter. I think this train has chugged to a stop. Hope it was fun.

Eeewwwww! Having Sex with a Consenting Adult! How Repugnant!

I know there are some ugly things in this story, but there are some beautiful things too. This is one of those times when you see people get what’s coming to them.

This whole series of events is just twisted, so I’ll have to lay the whole thing out. First off, 29-year-old Neil Havens Rodreick II shaved off all his body hair, used make-up to cover his stubble, and disguised himself as a 12-year-old boy. He’s apparently a sex offender and did this to get close to children, which is sick. Apparently, he kept getting enrolled in schools across Arizona with the help of a couple other pedophiles who posed as relatives. But here’s where it gets funny. They weren’t willing accomplices in his plot to get closer to little boys and girls. *They* were some of the ones who got scammed!

After meeting him on the net and thinking he was a teenager, , 61-year-old Lonnie Stiffler and 43-year-old Robert James Snow took him in to live with them. They also had sex with him. Then, their world came crashing down when Rodreich decided it was time to go to a new school, they tried to enroll him, the school figured out Rodreick’s birth certificate info was fony, called in the Yavapai County police, and they had to break it to these men that they were actually screwing a consenting adult male! Apparently this upset Stiffler considerably.

Now, our dear old dirty old men are slapped with a whole slew of charges, including attempted child molestation and attempted sexual contact with a minor, because they really believed that Rodreich was a little boy. They, Rodreich, and another man who was found in the home when they came to scoop up Rodreich for his little game of let’s pretend and the assault of a girl, are charged with conspiracy to commit fraud and conspiracy to commit forgery. Snow and this new man are also charged with failing to register as sex offenders. What? Another one? They might as well call this house pedo place. Rodreich himself is charged with misdemeanor assault, conspiracy to commit fraud, conspiracy to commit forgery, failing to register as a sex offender, and possession of a forgery device.

All I can say is, hahahahahahahahhhahahahahahahaha! Justice is beautiful sometimes!

And the Survey Says…

It’s official. I need to stop bitching about the things people do or say because of the whole blindness thing. I just got proof in my inbox that people get asked far worse things than I ever have. Here are the 10 worst questions people have asked, in someone’s humble opinion. I don’t know who originally wrote this, and I don’t agree with all of them, but I still thought it was funny. So here goes.

10. Are your eyes real or plastic?

I’ve never been asked that one, probably because my eyes are supposedly constantly doing the jitterbug. Some have said it’s not so bad, but little kids, the most honest judges, always comment on the jiggly eyes. One kid actually asked me, “Did you cross your eyes too long once and they got stuck?” As the babysitter stammered and stuttered apologies, I laughed, and laughed, and laughed!

9. Did you get past first grade?

Um, the gall. The closest I’ve gotten is “Where do you work, or…do you work?” Or there’s always the time that woman called me a waste.

8. Do you want me to cut your meat? I meahn, can you tell your silverware apart?

Ok, I’ve had the first part of that, when it’s like some kind of thick steak or something, and I can understand where they’re coming from. Sometimes I’ve taken them up on having them help me get the food at some kind of buffet or something or if it’s all weird and hard to cut. I have never ever been asked if I can tell my silverware apart though.

7. Who helped you with your clothes? They match so beautifully.

I can’t even get mad about that one, except maybe they should have worded it like “How do you match your clothes so well?” Hell, if I could see and I saw a blind person walking around with perfectly colour-coordinated clothes, I’d be like how the hell do they do it? I’d just wanna know. Kinda like I’m curious about the medium in which deaf people think. I know that sounds dumb. But when I think, I hear a little voice in my head. So how do they think? In sign? Probably, but I’ve never had the chance to ask a deaf person.

6. Is it really true blind people have families?

Wow! Where do they think we came from? Or do they think that as soon as the parents realize that their kid can’t see, they pawn them off on some orphanage? I get the opposite. People are astonished that my parents live five hours away and I do stuff all on my own. They just assume the reason I live here is because I have family here. When they find out I’m here because I went to university, they’re all flabbergasted.

5. Goodness you’re amazing. Did you actually pour your milk?

Um yeah I had that. Once I was helping out and pouring these drinks called mocktails, like non-alcoholic mixed drinks, and the place where I was helping out was all unsure about how I was going to work in their office. When they saw me pouring cans of juice into the jug, they’re like “Wow! You can actually do that yourself! Maybe there’s a chance!” Um ok?

4. When you walk, do you put one foot in front of the other?

I don’t usually get that one, I get, “When you walk, do you count steps?” Or they assume that I do count steps and tell other people off who try to talk to me. “Don’t break her concentration!” they say. Or, they’ll assume that because my eyes don’t work, neither do my legs.

3. Should I help you in the bathroom stall?

Wow. I only get, “Will you be able to find everything in there ok?” But never phrased that way. I did get, “How will you navigate to the bathroom?” whenI was going to be taking this class for a month. I just looked at her and said, “Well, you are giving tours, I assume? So will you give me one too?” Then she was just speechless.

2. Were you born that way? You know blind?

I have 0 problem with that one. Never having vision and having it and then losing it are two whole different ballgames. That’s a decent question!

1. Are you really blind? You sure can’t tell it. I mean, you sure know your way around your house.

Um wow. If all the other blinks these people ever met couldn’t even get around their own houses, they’re a pretty sad sample. Oy yoy yoy. And the only time I had someone swear I wasn’t really blind,I was 6 and he was 7, and he just didn’t think it was possible. He kept waiting for me to slip up.

That was fun. Some of them must have come from a different time or something. I can’t even imagine getting asked some of those questions. But maybe tomorrow, I’ll go somewhere and get surprised. You never know.