Have a spare few hours?
Check this out: clarification.com
It's pretty funny, and I may be just a little bit in love.
Labels: Fun
Why can't we support each other y'all?
This is not something I enjoyed reading first thing this morning (link courtesy of 50books.blogspot.com).
I hate generalizations, especially negative ones, and what I hate most is this is an assertion by a woman who should know better. You just can't say that about all (or most) women writers. 1. Because it's not true, and 2. Because the same thing can be said about men writers. Off the top of my head I can probably name 10 women writers who do not fit her profile. And even some who at first glance do, but through the power of their writing, they make the personal epic and sweeping. The Time Travellers Wife is a book about a love relationship, and was one of the most beautifully epic books I've ever read.
I mean in the end aren't all books about relationships or the lack of them?
Annoyed
So with my new fancy "real" job, I've been commuting a lot more lately. I even broke down and bought a bus pass, which has made me the laziest person ever. When a month ago I used to walk to the grocery store or to Whyte or to the Library, I now bus. Mostly because if I'm paying $73 a month for the special Sherwood Park buspass I'm going to make it worth it!
Anyway since I'm on the bus more, I've found occasion to be even more annoyed with my fellow passengers than usual. I mean it's never really a lot of fun to take the bus, but I've found it a lot more annoying lately. I've pinpointed the cause of my annoyance increase as two habits of the bus travelling Edmonton population.
The first is actually the lesser annoyance, and usually if one is bold enough people can be shamed into not doing it. But, I really, really hate when in the two seater seats people sit on the outer/aisle one and leave the window vacant. It's really bad when the bus is crowded, and they don't move, or make eye contact at all. Drives me nuts. I know it's not fun to be in that close of contact with a stranger, one who may not even smell pleasant, but you don't own the bus, or the seat, and you just have to deal.
But what infuriates me even more is the way some people are so afraid of their fellow travellers that they refuse to sit down at all, even if there are empty seats. No, instead they make it impossible to get off the bus in an efficient manner by standing in the doorway. On Saturday on my way down to Whyte I saw the worst case of this phenomenon that I've ever seen. When I got on my bus, I was forced to stand right in the front doors, I couldn't even get to the bus driver to show him my buspass because there were too many people in the way. After a minute or two of trying to balance with no support, and peer around the people to see if there was any space at the back, I was shocked to discover not only standing room in the aisle, but 6 or so empty seats. I pushed my way through and sat down, and just stared at this group of seven people crowding the front making it hard for the mom with the stroller to get off and the elderly women to get on. And as the seats empty, even entire two seaters were emptied but everyone stayed at the front blocking the door onto the bus.
It was the stupidest thing I had ever seen, and made me what to tear a few heads off (especially the bus driver's who should have said something).
Okay. I feel better now.
Labels: Travel
Well I'm never shopping there again...
Bluenotes was selling a t-shirt that said "NO means have aNOther drink".
Cause rape is funny, right? And obviously men just want to have sex, they don't care how incapacitated their partner is, right? And it's much better to get a girl drunk until she can't say no, because she doesn't actually have to say yes, right?
Oh those marketing geniuses, where will the hilarity stop?
Oh wait...I'm a feminist, I don't have a sense of humour...
Thankfully the t-shirts were pulled after the whole public outcry thing. But I can't help but wonder why they were made in the first place. I mean didn't someone realize before they went into production or were designed or whatever that it was a bad idea. That it was offensive and stupid and rape is not something that should ever, ever be taken lightly. Or are these guys so desperate to connect with the youth of today that they will try to make anything "cool"?
I love T-shirts as much as the next gal. Hell, I even like some shirts with sayings on them. Me and Palmer Cash are good buddies, and as soon as I have some extra cash I will be buying a cute shirt with butterflies on it. But when rape is the only violent crime on the rise, and 1 in 4 women are sexually assaulted in their lives (1 in 3 in Canada) I'd expect a little bit more respect for the survivors, my gender, and common sense.
This whole thing makes me sick.
Story via Your Dirty Answer.
