A Cartoonish Life

There's some person responding to my comments on a few "Jem" episodes on YouTube who is acting like I'm stupid and have never watched the shows before when I notice all sorts of inconsistencies when they try to one-up me.

First of all, I mentioned a dozen foster girls. And you counted twelve? Hon, I dunno if you passed third grade math, but a dozen is twelve.

Second of all, Eric Raymond has pictures of Synergy from the very first (well, fifth) episode that he could probably use to blackmail Jerrica with instead of Jacqui Benton's master tape. Of course, he's never seen Synergy and doesn't really know what the hell Synergy is used for, so what does that matter, really? So don't repeat what I just said like you know what you're talking about better than I do and act like a know-it-all. "I have the first episode..." Well GOOD FOR YOU. So do I. I have all the episodes that are available on DVD too, plus taped ones from Boomerang that aren't on DVD. And as a matter of fact, I'm been re-watching them so I can snark on them, so I'm pretty familiar with the material. (Speaking of which, I will be getting around to snarking on the second episode of the "Starbright" three-parter soon; I've been preoccupied with other things the last couple of weeks, plus getting more into bsc_snark.)

Third of all...since you claim you've seen ALL the episodes...I'm sure you know that by the last episode, Jem makes it clear that she doesn't have any money and that everything she earns from her performances and album sales and charity gigs and movies goes towards the Starlight Foundation to help take care of the Starlight Girls. I JUST pointed that out in my comment.

I don't know if you just stumbled onto the show on YouTube and are new to the show and trying to be a megafan and one-up the fans who have BEEN fans since 1985, but please do me a favor and go back and re-watch the show and pay attention before you send me any more comments. THEN you can get in a conversation with me about Jem, because I know what I'm talking about.

Seriously, if I have a major pet peeve, it's when people flat out don't pay attention when you tell them something, and then I have to repeat myself. Which is why I get so irritated at work and with Mom.

Update: (a few minutes ago)

I'm searching the fridge for something for lunch BECAUSE MOM ATE THE REST OF MY SANDWICH.
Mom tells me (in the rudest voice possible), "Your father's picking you up a sandwich."
I go to my room. I'm still pissed at her. I really don't want to talk to her.
She tells me that she did NOT appreciate my little outburst this morning.
I tell her she could have at least ASKED.
She says I don't appreciate when she makes me food before I go to work. (Which is very rarely, and I don't even ask.)
I tell her that's not the point, and that she should have at least ASKED.
She tells me it was only a quarter of a sandwich.
I tell that's STILL not the point. All she had to do was ASK. She could've pointed out when asking that it was only a quarter of a sandwich and I MIGHT have said yes, or I could've told her that I was saving it for work. Hell, the whole point of me saving it was because Kevin and I knew we were going to get the free slice of pie (Wednesday at Baker's Square) and I didn't want to make a pig of myself before I got my pie.
She tells me that I still don't appreciate it when she makes food for me before I go to work (like she did with the steak last week; why the hell is she making a big deal over this?!).
I tell her that yes I do, but I'm pissed off because SHE DIDN'T ASK. ALL SHE HAD TO DO WAS ASK FIRST. Hell, when I bring food home and Hunter wants to finish it off, he at least asks me first.
She points out yet again that "it was only a quarter of a sandwich, it wouldn't have filled you up."
I tell her that I only get fifteen minutes for my break. Which includes me going back to the breakroom to get into my locker to get money out of my purse, then going to the deli or wherever to get what I'm going to eat, then I have to go either wait in line to be rang up or go use the u-scans. This eats into my breaktime, which is why I was looking forward to taking something with me today.
She points out YET AGAIN that I do not appreciate when she makes me food. (And why the hell does she keep bringing this up? This has nothing to do with the fact that she ate food that wasn't hers!) She tells me that FINE. I don't have to eat the food SHE buys anymore. (Frankly, this is fine with me because I do all of my own damn grocery shopping and make the majority of my own food anyway, and don't really care for the food she buys because it's all stuff she likes anyway, but I don't tell her that.)

Dad and I were talking about it (since he witnessed that whole thing this morning), and he told me not to expect an apology from her. "Shit, we're nearing in on 30 years being married, and she ain't apologized to me for anything ever," he told me. What the hell?! Did Gramma Julie ever teach her anything about apologizing to others when you do something wrong? Or will Mom just chalk this up to "I HAVE MS! I HAVE BRAIN PROBLEMS!" like she does with everything else?



I just don't know.

So after maybe four or five hours of cruising the strip and random shopping--of which Bobby did the bulk of--we went back to Grandma Cozie's house for dinner. Buuuuuuuuut we passed a Whataburger on the way down to PCB, and Hunter and Bobby were all, "OMG WHATABURGER!!! We need to eat at Whataburger on the way back!" Before you go, "What's the big deal about Whataburger?"....especially if you already live down south....there are no Whataburgers around where we live. And we have heard so many things about how good Whataburger's food is, we had to make a pitstop. It was well worth it, lemme tell ya. :)

Back at Grandma Cozie's house, we were getting our stuff together so we could get ready for the funeral service as soon as we got up the next day. Hunter realizes that he left his nice dress shoes back home in Indiana. *D'oh!* So we had to make a trip to WalMart to pick up some shoes for him. Now, the nearest WalMart by Opp is one town over in Andalusia. Hunter and Bobby didn't want to go to the Andalusia WalMart. They wanted to take another trip BACK to the WalMart in....you guessed it. Panama City Beach. How about that? We went to Florida twice in one day. I don't think you understand just how rich we are! Must we bust out the monocle and top hat? Hmm?



( Behind the cut: Full-service gas station, tire problems, the funeral and Holly losing it at the service, and Vivion just being a pain in the butt. )

I just got done watching "The Day the Music Died." (I'm still working on recapping episode three, believe me.) Jem's flighty actions--running off with Riot--have never sat well with me, and to this day they still don't. I don't care if she was stressed out and under pressure; it was a bad move on her part and completely out of character. Based off of her actions in this episode....if I were either Kimber, Aja, Shana or Raya, I would've quit the band when Jem/Jerrica came home and made her deal with it all on her own. What she did wasn't fair on them at all.

And I'd tell Rio the truth about Jem behind her back, since she keeps putting it off and just flat-out incapable of doing it herself.


*later edited* Never realized it till now, but Minx was the only one outside of the Holograms that even acknowledged that Jerrica was AWOL as well.

"Ladies and gentlemen, we interrupt our program of dance music to bring you a special bulletin from the Intercontinental Radio News. Our very own Pop Princess, now Queen of Pop has a special announcement she would like to make."



"Queen of Pop"?




This was being discussed last night on ohnotheydidnt, and it's been bothering me since hearing "Kill the Lights." I think it's pretty presumptuous to call Britney Spears the new "Queen of Pop" at this point in her career, especially when Madonna's still considered to be the Queen of Pop. In my opinion, Madonna will be the Queen of Pop until the day she dies, and even after then, I wouldn't consider anyone else to take that title from her. Just like I could never consider anyone other than Michael Jackson the "King of Pop."

I don't know, maybe it just comes down to a new generation of pop music listeners to distinguish a difference. I grew up in the eighties (and nineties) with Madonna; she's the voice of my time. Britney is still a young 'un in my eyes, and still has a lot to prove.

Here's how I put it. You can't compare Britney to Madonna. You just can't. Madonna wasn't raised to be a child star like Britney was. Madonna got a relatively normal childhood (despite her mom passing away when she was very young) and stayed in school and even attempted college. Madonna has drive, and she accomplished her fame all on her own terms. Hell, she literally started from nothing on the streets in New York City. Britney's had her parents (namely her mother) backing her since she was a kid, letting her drop out of school to get her GED just so she could pursue fame, and she's had handlers her whole career telling her what to do and coddling her. If you compare Britney to Madonna--even Britney to old-school Madonna or current Madonna--it's like comparing apples to oranges.

(Please don't take this post too seriously, because a lot of it is me being my snark-tastic self, but I do have a point with this.)

Remember when Jessica Simpson looked like this?:



Well, not anymore!



Girl got chubby. And I haven't been able to stop gawking at this for the last couple of days. It also doesn't help that her legs look like stuffed sausages in those unflattering high-waisted pants with two belts that emphasize how chubby she's gotten, plus a tank top with practically no support. Who the hell let her perform looking like this? If I may quote Sandy Griffin from a "Daria" episode, she looks "uncharacteristically sloppy."

Why do I care if Jessica Simpson has gained weight? I mean, I'm not a fan of hers. If Jessica is happy with her...ahem, "new curves," fine then. But someone mentioned this on ONTD, and I have to agree with them, I hate it when women gain weight, it's referred to as being "curvy" when it's just obvious that you've gotten fat, and it's assumed that the weight gain is a "healthy" thing. We live in a country where it's okay to be overweight, even though it's detrimental to our overall health. Our levels of heart disease and diabetes are at record highs, as is our obesity rate. I believe our life expectancy has fallen in the last few years, and it hasn't done that in a long time.

Yes, being bombarded with female celebrities who have unrealistic body images for us to look at as an example isn't good. But I'd rather have female celebrities who are in shape and actively work out and eat right to maintain their body shape as a role model instead of a fatty who just says, "Ah, screw it, let's go eat cake and sit on our butts!"

We don't emphasize a healthy lifestyle with exercise like we used to. We were all about it in the 70s and 80s. What happened?! I remember toys like these being advertised to my demographic when I was a kid back in the good old days:





(Of course, if you were to air a commercial like the "Get In Shape Girl" one today, you'd catch so much flack because there are pedo-bears out there who get off to little girls in tight clothes.) ( Read more... )

You ain't fat, man! You ain't nothin'! YOU AIN'T NOTHIN'!!


edited: I freaking miss ONTD. I hope it gets fixed soon. Boooooooooooo.

WalMart death preventable, union says

LONG ISLAND, New York (CNN) -- The death of a temporary Wal-Mart worker trampled by customers amid frantic Black Friday shopping could have been avoided, the union that represents retail workers said Saturday.

Jdimytai Damour, 34, was crushed as he and other employees attempted to unlock the doors of a Long Island, New York, store at 5 a.m. Friday, police said.

"This incident was avoidable," said Bruce Both, president of the United Food and Commercial Workers Union Local 1500, the state of New York's largest grocery worker's union. "Where were the safety barriers? Where was security? How did store management not see dangerous numbers of customers barreling down on the store in such an unsafe manner?

"This is not just tragic; it rises to a level of blatant irresponsibility by Wal-Mart," he said.

Wal-Mart spokesman Dave Tovar said Saturday that the company had no response to the union's comments, referring CNN to a written statement the retailer released Friday.

The statement said the store added internal security, brought in outside security, erected barricades and worked with Nassau County police in anticipation of heavy crowds.

"Our thoughts and prayers go out to the family of the deceased," Wal-Mart Senior Vice President Hank Mullany said in the statement. "We are continuing to work closely with local law enforcement, and we are reaching out to those involved."

Damour's death was one of two high-profile violent incidents on Black Friday, the day after Thanksgiving and traditionally one of the year's busiest shopping days.

Police say two men shot each other dead in a Toys "R" Us in Palm Desert, California, after they argued in the store. The fight did not appear to be related to shopping, according to authorities.

At the Wal-Mart, police say that a line began forming at 9 p.m. Thursday and that, by 5 a.m. Friday, there were as many as 2,000 customers outside. A video showed about a dozen people knocked to the ground as the doors were opened and the crowd surged, breaking the doors.

Minutes later, police trying to give Damour first aid were jostled by customers still running into the store, authorities said.

The union is calling for an investigation "by all levels of government" to ensure justice for Damour's family and make sure that such an incident never happens at Wal-Mart again.

"If the safety of their customers and workers was a top priority, then this never would have happened," said Patrick Purcell, a projects director for the local UFCW. "Wal-Mart must step up to the plate and ensure that all those injured, as well as the family of the deceased, be financially compensated for their injuries and their losses. Their words are weak."

The UFCW has long been a harsh critic of Wal-Mart's, arguing that the world's largest retailer offers low wages and poor health care for its workers and pushes competitors and suppliers to do the same or go out of business.

The group has had only marginal success in organizing Wal-Mart workers in the United States and Canada, citing aggressive anti-union efforts by Wal-Mart.

The UFCW has 1.3 million members working largely in the retail, food and food-processing industries.
********************

This was not necessarily WalMart's fault, in my opinion. People want to pin the blame on the store for not providing sufficient safety measures or security. Let's just play the blame game. Who's really to blame? Let's ask the people who were just so hell-bent on being one of the first inside the store the nanosecond that door was unlocked. Let's ask the customers who were ripping the doors off the hinges. Let's ask the crowd of people who just felt they had to go stampeding in like a herd of cattle and couldn't even be stopped to notice, "HEY! I think I just ran over someone! Are they conscious?"

How have we let ourselves as a society get to this point, where we get so crazy that we start getting vicious and brutal over shopping and Christmas gifts. This is NOT what the holiday season is all about.

Here's what I propose stores like WalMart, Target, etc., do on Black Friday to keep terrible things like this from happening. Start treating your customers as if they're in elementary school. Make them go in the store one by one, in a single-file line, slowly. And if you catch them running or so much as breaking into a sprint in the store, kick them out. There's no need to be acting like heathens inside a department store.

OR....they can take a cue from the folks at Disney and do what they do at Disneyland/Walt Disney World when they open the parks. Here's what they do at Disneyland, and I am quoting from The Unofficial Guide to Disneyland 2008 (published by John Wiley and Sons, Inc.):

"Recently Disney has beefed up the number of cast members supervising the rope drop in order to suppress the mayhem. In some cases, the rope is not even 'dropped.' Instead, it's walked back. In other words, Disney cast members lead you with the rope at a fast walk toward the attraction you're straining to reach, forcing you (and everyone else) to maintain their pace. Not until they come within close proximity of the attraction do the cast members step aside."

Work, family, social life....everything except for my love life.

I'm getting sick of work by the day. I keep telling myself, "Every job is like this," but it's really starting to try my patience. I've been working eight-hour shifts every day since last Wednesday, and I don't get a day off until Friday. For the last three days, by the time my shift is over with, my feet and knees are killing me. I seem to always get stuck on register ten, where the hand scanner doesn't work--HASN'T been working properly for the last few weeks--and I have to physically go around and lift the heavy stuff for the lazy customers.

The customers are grating my nerves more than normal. I swear, the next time I ask, "Did you find everything you were looking for?" and I get a smart-assy answer such as "No, I couldn't find the money tree/winning lottery ticket/bag of money/lost hundred dollar bill" (and the last one has irritated me even more so in the last few days, given that I fucking FOUND a fifty dollar bill and did the honest thing and turned it in to the service desk)....I want just be entirely blunt and tell the customer "I got tired of that joke after the first fifteen minutes of working here." But noooo, can't do that! Then they'll complain to management that I have no sense of humor, and I'll get a speaking-to about that. Trust me, customers do stupid shit like this. Like they have nothing better to do. You know, some days I just don't feel like joking around, okay?!

Customers always feel the need to bitch about the consoles, especially the whole fact that you have to sign your name on the pad now instead of on a piece of paper. Seriously, it's not that hard to sign! The harder you press the stylus to the pad, the more likely nothing will show up; use a light touch! And please quit bitching about "this looks NOTHING like my signature, I don't see how you guys can accept this." Then maybe you shouldn't be paying with your credit card. It's this shit that's gotten us into the credit pinch/financial crisis the USA is in right now--unnecessary purchases on your credit card.

Oooh, and yes, the stylus has a blunt, rounded end. Yes, you can sign with it. Don't look at it for two minutes with that "you expect me to write with this?!" expression on your face. Hell, you can write your name on there with your damn fingertip. God, people are picky.

Also, if you normally wear glasses, is it so hard to wear them while you do your damn grocery shopping?! Next customer I hear complaining that they can't see shit on the credit card console because "I'm not wearing my glasses," I'll slap a bitch.


"Jinkies! Where are my glasses?!"

If the UC asks the customer if they want paper or plastic bags, the customer will usually ignore them and then tell me how they want their stuff bagged. Guess what? I'm not the UC. I'm the cashier. Tell the UC how you want it bagged. Don't act like they don't exist.

And while I'm on the subject, I refuse to do anymore bagging of the groceries until I'm done with the money transaction, so the UCs need to be ON IT with the bagging. I think a lot of me helping with the bagging has a lot to do with my till being off--I'm not paying attention to the transaction because I'm too busy picking up the slack.

You have two separate orders? Fine. I'll ring them up separate. I don't need to hear the story about how "this is for church charity" or "for my sick neighbor" as to why it's a separate order.

If I ask for coupons, don't be a smart-ass and be all, "Oh yeah, that'd be smart." Uhm, yes, it WOULD be smart. Don't bitch to me about high grocery prices, then buy a bunch of useless junk food and not try to save money. "Why? Do you have any for me?" Nope. Not anymore. I'm not going to pass along the unused coupons in my coupon holder to help you out anymore. You jerks sure don't appreciate it. Go search the newspapers and Internet. Not that hard.

As for the UCs....do your freaking job, and shut your trap while you do it. I'm tired of seeing a cluster of UCs around my register just chatting and gossiping during an order and not getting much work done. Doug always talks about the chicks he talks to and his supposed girlfriend that I don't think exists, and then there's Andy who's always going on and on about something, usually wrestling, or high school football, or how the Cubs suck, or whatever programming's on Vh1's CelebReality block. Andy's a nice guy, don't get me wrong, but damn, he gets downright irritating.

Keep telling myself I need a new job or a second job, trying to save up to move out...feeling like that'll never happen. Feeling trapped.


Family life....whenever Dad's home, he just lazes around the house and sleeps a lot. Then he'll want to watch late-night TV and fall asleep with the TV blaring. This is opposite my room, and it keeps me up late, which is why I'm usually online so late anymore. BECAUSE I CAN'T GO TO SLEEP. Makes a bunch of messes and doesn't clean them up, and expects me and Mom to do it. Mom gets frustrated with him a lot. Goes off to do his hunting and fishing, never around the house when we need him.

We all know why Mom pisses me off. Sometimes I wish she would just lighten up and try to be positive. I think a lot of her attitude rubs off on the whole family.

Hunter....okay, I know where he's coming from. He's busy with his erratic work schedule and college classes. But he's out with Bobby a lot more lately. (And here comes Bobby now, speak of the devil.) Doesn't pick up after himself. Just locks himself in his room playing "Guitar Hero" or "Rock Band." Drives Mom nuts. Can't even be bothered to do as much as take Bo out for a walk.

Poor Bo is stuck inside the house while I'm at work, driving Mom nuts. He's so energetic, and Mom can't keep up with him. We can't just leave him outside because we can't let dogs run loose anymore. Might get hit by a truck, or the neighbors will call animal control and we'll get fined.


I have practically NO social life anymore. All I do is work and hang out with Kevin. Nothing wrong with hanging out with Kevin. It's just I wish I had more friends outside of work to go do things with. He gets to do his gaming stuff with Boojie and all of them, and I get to hear about that, but I don't do shit outside of working all the damn time. Makes me feel like nobody likes me.


Running into a rut with my own online gaming, especially with Starbright. Sort of regretting the whole storyline/angle I've got going with Rio, especially since they're looking to hook Jem back up with Riot. *GRRRRRRRRRR* I know, I shouldn't get so worked up over it. They're just characters, after all. But you get attached to whom you're playing, and you feel the same sort of emotions. So much I want to do with Rio, but just feeling stifled.

Feeling like a failure with my writing in general. Have so many ideas, but none of them translate to paper well. Getting very discouraged.

Always tired and exhausted. Semi-depressed. Feeling like there's a big void in my life. Just questioning a lot of things going for me right now. The tiniest things make me want to cry anymore, for no stupid reason. A couple of days ago, Andy was going on and on about how long I've been working at Strack's and he was all, "You should be so proud!" What, for working at Strack's a little over a year? I was at Blockbuster for about four years. Believe me, I'm NOT proud of this job. I'm grateful I have a job, but this is just a crappy paying job. This is nothing to be proud of. I can do much better than this.

Casey Anthony finally named a suspect in her daughter's disappearance.

I've been following this case on "Nancy Grace," and it makes me angry and sick. Casey's been lying to the police and investigators from the very beginning. Seriously, who waits a whole damn month to report their child as missing?!

What kills me is what a liar she is. She tells the police that she left Caylee with a nanny. How on Earth can she afford a nanny when she hasn't held down a job in two years? How is she "so busy" with no job that she needs a goddamned nanny? She tried lying to the police and told them she worked as an "event coordinator" for Universal Studios when in reality, she was fired from Universal two years ago. She even pinned a name on this "nanny"--Zenaida Gonzalez--when the real Zenaida doesn't even know Casey, has four or so kids of her own to take care of, and works as a cleaning lady. (Nancy interviewed Zenaida last night, and I seriously hope that this Zenaida takes some legal action against Casey Anthony because Casey's ruined her life with these false accusations.)

They went through her old laptop and discovered a bunch of links that she visited involving chloroform in a search. Over 200 pictures of Caylee were deleted recently from her laptop. And there were a bunch of text messages found on her cell involving barely anything about Caylee, but she sure had time to text all of her friends about "wet t-shirt" and "hot body" contests at local dance clubs. And the few texts that mention Caylee refer to her as a "snothead." Then she's busted on fradulent check charges--forging her friend's checks, and using the router number on her grandmother's checking account and wiping it clean. (Of course, she's going to rip off money to keep up her club-going lifestyle when she HAS NO REAL JOB OF HER OWN!) She's been put in jail three times because of the fraud and bailed out each time on very high bail. She's wasting taxpayer's money, and she's been continually lying to the police and sending them on a wild goose chase when deep down, she more than likely killed Caylee and disposed of her body in such a way that the search teams will never find her at this point.

Casey Anthony needs to rot in prison. Plain and simple.

http://www.cnn.com/CNN/Programs/nancy.grace/

I'm gonna get it out of the way. I'm a liberal Democrat, and I'm voting for Barack Obama in this upcoming election.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barack_obama#Political_positions I especially like how he defended FRD's New Deal social welfare policies, and I am fully behind us getting the troops out of Iraq. We don't need to be over there, but at this point, we "need" to be over there as a sort of "babysitter" so things don't get worse. It's a waste of taxpayer's dollars, that's what it is. We need to keep our troops home and focus on our own damn problems, take care of our economy.

I was never for Hillary Clinton when she was trying to get the nomination. I like most of her issues, BUT...I don't think she would've been working for the greater good of the country. In my opinion, Hillary was running for Hillary, for a position of power. That loan she took out to herself just to fund her campaign raised my eyebrows. With the economy problems the way they are in America now, who's to say that she wouldn't run America into either bigger debt? Believe me, the fact that I didn't want Hillary Clinton as the Democrat nominee doesn't make me anti-feminist. It just means that I just didn't want HER with the nomination.

Because believe me, I'm a feminist, but I do NOT like the idea of Sarah Palin as John McCain's running mate. Just because she's a woman isn't going to make me want to vote for McCain in the upcoming election.

As for me, a single, working white woman in her mid-20s with no kids of my own, I don't have a favorable view of Sarah Palin. "I'm pro-life, and I'm all for abstinence, but my teenage daughter's pregnant, and she's going to have her baby! Isn't that great?!" NO, it's NOT great. That makes you look like a freaking hypocrate. I have seen all of my cousins get knocked up while in high school, had to drop out, and they all milk welfare and food stamps and don't do any REAL work while I actually finished high school, currently busting my ass working full-time, and can't afford the sort of luxuries that they've been able to get on food stamps/welfare, all because they got knocked up when they were younger.

Am I bitter? YES. How does this affect my view of Sarah Palin? Your daughter's been knocked up and she's having the baby. Good for you. Good for your daughter. It's her choice. You gonna help support her ass, aren't you? Or is she going to be a welfare/food stamps bitch taking advantage of us working Americans? Why don't you do advise John McCain--you know, the one who's actually running for PRESIDENT--to do something about welfare reform if he gets elected so I have a better view of people like your daughter?

I'm not slamming everyone on welfare or food stamps because there are some people who really do need that sort of help, but there are FAR too many Americans totally taking advantage of it, and people like me pay tax money to support them.