Lilypie - Personal pictureLilypie Angel and Memorial tickers Lilypie 6th to 18th Ticker

Wednesday, July 23, 2008

Narcissism Central

I am pissed off today. I'm not going to say I woke up that way, it would be stupid considering I'm never amiable before I've had my first four cups of coffee. However, now I am pissed. And annoyed. And generally disappointed with humanity, or at least the shallow humanity in this country.

What is it that matters so much about weight? I get that to be very large can be a real blow to your health, but beyond that why do we care so much? There seems to be a real hostility blooming (festering?) towards the bigger folk in our society. My SIL once sent me a link to a news program about the cartoon movie out about the samurai panda, whatever the heck it was called. Some pointy-faced, bony, blond, pinch-lipped prude was going on and on about how the movie promotes, for lack of a better word, fatness. Are you freaking kidding me?!? Nobody said a word about violence or language or any of the other things that would actually help me decide whether or not my kids should be allowed to view this movie. It was all about how this evil movie made it sound okay to be fat. First off, prude b*tch, giant pandas are no lightweights. Females usually weigh slightly less than 220 pounds while males can reach 250 pounds. They spend between 10 and 16 hours a day finding food, and they require about 80 pounds of food a day. Guess what else they do? They eat the food they find and they sleep. While people seem to think that pandas are vegetarian because the eat a lot on bamboo, they are actually carnivores, and they are as dangerous as any other bear. What does this mean? It means that if a panda heard the pointy prude calling him fat he would feel free to very capably kill her and eat her for dinner. This would work out well since she's so insubstantial he'd just think she was an excessively wiggly bamboo stalk. And if he didn't think she'd be tasty, and I couldn't fault him for that, he could just sit on her.

Secondly, since when does a string bean who has no medical or dietetic degrees even get off judging what makes someone fat? Dom Deluise was a big star for years, a truly funny guy and very likable. I don't remember ever thinking that since Dom was a big man, and successful, it must be ok for me to aspire to his size. I used to like to listen to Courtney Love and I never decided it was ok for me to try and become a violent, heroin-addicted, self-absorbed singer either. I like Ben and Jerry's but I've never thought it would be ok for me to try and become ice cream. I think it's far more likely that children will decide that they want to be a panda, a samurai or, in my son's case, a water tower because they are the biggest, that they won't even really comprehend the nonexistent issue of fatness. Or if they do they will want their poor, annoyed mommies to Google pandas to see what they are really like, like mine did after one preview. What did mine decide after we had sufficiently educated ourselves on the panda? That they are really cute and that he wants a stuffed one. What does this mean to my overall rant? That the pointy prude is so afraid of getting fat herself that she is willing slam a kids movie on a nationwide news show. What a self-important little prig! I'd be willing to bet that if she has any of her own kids they are well on their way to eating disorders. And too, what the hell is wrong with showing kids that people come in all shapes and sizes, but that their shape or size really has no importance?

Something else that annoys me is when someone famous loses a bunch of weight and is immediately lauded as some sort of hero, no matter if they accomplished it with gastric bypass or whatever. Star Jones Reynolds, for example. I thought she was really pretty on the View when she was heavy. She had a lovely face and I fully admit to paying little to no attention to her figure. She lost a bunch of weight, was photographed extensively and proved a few things to me. She looked lovely when she was bigger, she was never dressed like an insane hooker when she was bigger, and that she has a face that was never, EVER meant to be skinny. She looks like Michael Jackson. There is nothing left of the person that I used to admire on the View. Wynonna, on the other hand is, in my opinion, one of the most beautiful ladies I've ever seen, and I think her weight is part of it. She is lush and rich everywhere, her hair, her face, her body and her voice. Ann Wilson from Heart is also beautiful. Her skinny sidekick? Not so much. Queen Latifah is drop-dead gorgeous and has a glamour unmatched by any of her scrawny contemporaries, if you can call them that as there are few successful actresses with a music career like hers. All these fabulous women just prove to me that we are not all meant to be the same size. Also, are you aware that there is a movement to make Santa skinny? Fat Santa apparently also teaches children that fat is ok. It's a good thing Mother Theresa and Ghandi were skinny or they'd be out on their bottoms as influential folk. They were smart enough to know that starving does wonders for the figure!

Finally, I would like to point out that the vast majority of skinny women I've met in my life were so absorbed in their looks that they had an astonishing lack of character. They weren't especially honest, nor friendly and they seemed more interested in themselves than anything else. I met many who drove themselves into irreversible debt to keep their closets and cosmetic cases stocked and they never seemed to be able to manage a meaningful relationship with another human. They tended towards cattiness and competition and were mostly two-faced. The friends that I've enjoyed who couldn't fit into a size two pair of jeans have mostly been loyal, honest, intelligent people who sport great humor and a willingness to work at friendship.

So what's wrong with being fat? Nothing, unless you're a stupid, skinny, materialistic, jackass with nothing better to do with your time than nitpick a children's movie looking for imagined slights to your anorexic lifestyle.

That is all.

Monday, July 21, 2008

Um, does this fool ever get it?!?!?

Hi Willis, you vacuous jackknife. Get a life will you?

Signed, ever disdainfully,
Query

Saturday, July 05, 2008

The funnest 4th ever? Not quite.

So. My dearest pal absconded with my oldest and treated him to the parade and to a festival that apparently involved food and face painting. Witness exhibit A:


This was a great thing since my youngest wasn't feeling up to the challenge and I doubt we would have gone anywhere because of that. Corb had a great time and talked of nothing else all afternoon. Linc was clingy, fussy and apparently constipated all day. He pooped several times, bunny nuggets mostly (thank you for the term, SIL), and didn't clear the offending stuff entirely until late evening.
I thought his disposition would improve after that. I was sooooo wrong! He remained clingy and fussy and added in jumpy once the noise started. I don't know if it was teething, feeling icky or just developmental insecurity but it wasn't fun. Finally, he settled down and this is how he spent the 4th:


At least one of us felt at peace. Happy 4th y'all!

*Update* So, in the house-hunt. I have sent a number of e-mails to people renting out houses and I just got one back. I requested some photos and the woman sent me six. I was pleased until I found out that there were two of the front door, three of the kitchen from almost the same angle and one of the bathroom mirror. Ever so helpful, don't you agree? That one is no longer on my list.

Thursday, July 03, 2008

An update about a whole lot of nothing.

My week thus far.

Monday we were still recovering from the weekend with as little activity as possible.

Tuesday we wandered into town to go to a birthday party at the local bowling/video game/mini-golf/go-cart place and that was fun.

Wednesday my mom came in the early evening to see the kids and we went for drinks at the pub to catch up, since she'd just come back from New Mexico. She caught me up on the extended family and I caught her up on the college crap we are dealing with now. Got home from that, put the kids to bed and started a movie (License to Wed) which sucked. We watched maybe 30-45 minutes of it and then shut it off. I then vaccuumed the whole house (except the boys' room, they were sleeping in it) and spot cleaned all the carpets and rugs. They look much better today, but I think we'll still rent a carpet cleaner before we move and do them again. I'd like to move with clean rugs.

So, yeah. My week has been pretty boring so far, and I'm ok with that. I've visited with a few pals, but mostly it's just the daily grind. Here are some random photos for your enjoyment.