More pictures is more better:
(the original, if you’ve been living under a rock)
More pictures is more better:
(the original, if you’ve been living under a rock)
I guess I’m feeling a little more petulant than peaceful – after whining to Gill about the overnight popularity of some local blogs written almost entirely in exclamation points and vapid fawning, she said:
If you were a TV show, would you rather be on HBO/AMC/Showtime or NBC/CBS/ABC?
That was pretty much exactly what I needed to hear. When it comes down to it, I KNOW what it takes to be popular online – but am I willing to be Two and a Half Men over True Blood? Full House instead of Six Feet Under? Everybody Loves Raymond or Rome? King of Queens or Oz?
The choice is easy. I’ll take gratuitous sex, violence, nudity and swearing over Charlie Sheen any day. You can keep on winning; I’ll keep being me. I may not ever get the exposure, but at least I have content I’m proud of and, if I’m really lucky, two sweaty naked dudes rubbing their cocks together in a prison bathroom.
Also, boobs. Never forget the boobs.
You know, I was so worried about the possibility of passing out yesterday that I completely forgot to mention two things I had swirling all up in my brain:
Thing One: My zombie face is so much better you can’t even tell I was ever undead. The light patches around my mouth are still there, but they’re likely only noticeable if I point them out (that’s what I’m telling myself, anyway) and the horrible scaly skin is gone. It was pretty much completely better within a day of using the Dire Creams the doctor prescribed, and I’m so pleased at how quickly they worked that I care not about the facial perils I may have delivered myself into. Hooray for not looking like I’m suffering from a wicked case of syphilis-induced leprosy! I am once again a pretty, pretty princess!
Thing Two: Things were pretty dark while I was figuring out the whole “k, crazy now” thing, but those who had my back had it good and I appreciate them with all my person. Ed (who actually unlocked his Twitter account so you sh0uld totally follow him), Gill, Heather .. yer the best. And double boob thanks to Gill, who’s been a very effective sounding board for the past week – I’m going to write a post about it later, but all the attention my riot posts got freaked me out a little and there was no one I could talk to (and no one wanting to talk to me) except Gill, and it meant a lot.
In the end, I didn’t pass out from the vertigo. I won’t be taking vitamins on an empty stomach anymore, either. It’s all a journey, right? I know more than I did yesterday, so the day is already a success.
I am tired – I was up until 2am reading. Ed is watching Game of Thrones, and I am reading it. We are racing. He’s on episode 6, and I am ever so slightly behind in book form .. but I will win. I can read far faster than he can watch TV, even without commercials. I AM SPEED READER!
I am .. not content, really, but at peace.
It’s been a week since I started my new medical routine, which is long enough to give me a pretty good idea of how it’s going. So, how’s it going?
With the exception of right now, I feel almost normal again. I could probably stand to be a little giddier, but I’m hoping the onset of summer will help with that. I haven’t stared at walls in a few days, and an entire week of outrage has shown me that I apparently still do have emotions. These are all good things!
Except for right now, though – right now all I want to do is lie down in a dark room until everything stops spinning. I have an extreme case of the verts, and I don’t like it one bit. I’ve been taking a metric assload of vitamins each morning to offset the crazy pills I take each night, but today I took them on an empty stomach and now I am dizzy as fuck. I was actually worried about riding Lola into the office this morning because my eyeballs don’t seem to want to focus on things and everything is all wooshy – I really hope it’s because of the empty stomach thing and not the flu. Hell, I’ll even take an accidental dosage of muscle relaxants stored in my vitamin jar over the flu.
I honestly feel like I’m 30 seconds or so away from passing out. I don’t know that I’ve ever truly fainted before, so hooray! A new experience! I am so dizzy.
Other things:
It was fun – or something – while it lasted, but I’m done talking about the riots (and I really mean it this time). Please forward all interview requests to my agent (who is really just me in pants); I’ll be over here writing about my usual stuff: boobs, ironically subversive ways in which I defy authority while being the voice of said authority, and Having Adventures. I do so love Adventures; don’t you?
I am not a morning person by any stretch of the imagination, but there’s something magical about being out in the city before dawn. It was spectacular outside at 05:36 – the streets were quiet, the sun had just come out, the air was refreshing, and I didn’t have to pay for parking. There were other perks, too: I got the best scooter spot in the garage, the lights are still out in the office making it much easier to work, and the breakfast buffet in the deli next door was fresh and tasty. These are all good things. However, they’re not worth getting up at 03:30 for – I can live with parking Lola in a still-awesome-but-not-prime spot, I prefer my eggs dry anyway, and the fluorescent lights above me in the office have been long disabled for my comfort. I’ll deal with the super early morning if there’s a really good reason, but it’s not something I want to make a habit of. I like my sleep.
I am amused by the guy who commented that my blog post about being on TV was “all about me”. Um, this is my site. It’s a personal blog. It’s where I write about stuff that happens to me. So .. congratulations on getting that, I guess? Funny.
Dear riot apologist and sympathizers:
Feeling sorry for the outed rioters because of what social media is doing to them?
Read this, and try again:
I’m a female gamer of questionable sex appeal who grew up online, so if you want to call me names or hold me responsible for everything “social media” has done in response to the riot so far, go ahead – there’s not much you can say to me that I haven’t heard already. I do question your priorities, though. If you can’t read the post linked above and steel yourself against some (some being the key word – I don’t condone racist, sexist, or homophobic remarks, or the direct contact of friends/family/employers of those involved) of the backlash the rioting assholes are getting because of their actions, then are you really any better? Or are you the kind of person who has to cheer for the underdog at all times?
I refuse to apologize for my riot posts, and the nurse’s take on that night is exactly the reason why.
For each person cheering about the fate of the rioters and looters, it seems as though there’s another person standing in the background saying “who are we to judge these people?”. That’s a valid line of thinking, and there have been many posts made already about the evils of mob justice and social media and snitching. That’s not what this post is about, though.
M. Wallace left an interesting comment on my Only Human post:
I don’t by any stretch of the imagination defend the actions of the accused; if proved guilty, they should be punished accordingly. We all know what they have done is stupid, irresponsible, incomprehensible…(or insert any or all other derogatory adjectives of your choice here).
Okay now relax, take a deep breath and reflect on YOUR past for a moment. Haven’t you ever done anything stupid and/or illegal at some point in your life? Haven’t you ever been caught up in a moment and done something careless (even to a lesser degree) that you’ve regretted. I think many people are jumping on the self-righteous band wagon, joining the witch hunt and demanding we crucify the accused when there are skeletons in their own closets. Ironically, I’ve noticed many bloggers flirting with the boundaries of the law to see justice served. Again, I think it’s important to note that I don’t defend their actions however I think many people are getting off track. Yes, we love our city. Yes, we are embarrassed by what has happened. Yes, we don’t want this type of thing to occur again. Let’s focus our attention on the positive and let’s not forget that there are murderers and rapists out there that don’t get a fraction of the attention that these people are receiving.
So before you judge too harshly…what’s in your closet?
His/Her comment is far from the only one I’ve received in which people ask if I’d like MY past spread out all over the internet for people to see and judge; I’m only picking on it because it’s a) probably the most eloquent and b) the most recent, and I’m too lazy to dig through the rest for more.
So how about it? What’s in my closet? Am I so perfect that I have nothing in my past to be ashamed of? If the shoe was on the other foot, would I want my misdeeds hung out like dirty laundry for the world to see?
I got to thinking about my misspent youth and all the terrible things I’ve done, and decided the naysayers have a point. So, here: a comprehensive list of the horrible things I’ve done:
How shameful of me. How would I feel if someone posted this information all over the internet so it could follow me for years?
OH WAIT.
These are but some of the bad things I’ve done, but they’re likely the very worst because I am a square.
Let me know which ones are as bad as setting cars on fire, smashing store windows, looting, flipping cars, beating up strangers, torching cop cars, or punching police.
My whole point (and I do have one) is that yes, everyone has things they would hate to have out in the open – but it’s the severity and magnitude of your actions that dictate public response. Do I deserve to lose my job because I bought pot a couple times? Of course not. Would I deserve to lose my job if I was filmed and identified as being a drug kingpin responsible for untold amounts of public misery? Absolutely. Maybe that’s not the best analogy, but I stand by it – my misdeeds, youthful or otherwise, are nowhere NEAR as bad as anything that happened on Wednesday night, and it would have to be a slow news day in hell for anyone to want to out my actions on Facebook or blogs.
If you don’t want people to know your shameful actions, don’t do them in a public place.
If you don’t want to be named as a criminal, don’t commit crimes.
If you don’t want to hurt your family and friends, don’t do things that would hurt them.
This isn’t rocket science, people.
What’s in YOUR wallet closet?
Although his father told CBC that the photo of his son lighting the police car on fire was “misleading“, he’s turned himself in and made a televised apology. He’s also been provisionally kicked off the water polo team, and the University of Calgary says he is not enrolled there.
Brock Anton, who is 23 years old, has deleted his Facebook account and his friends who originally liked his now-famous status are pulling away; apologizing for being associated with him in the first place. On Twitter, a different friend of his is wildly defending Brock’s actions and suggested to me that my post was a “bad idea if [I] knew him” and that “everyone makes mistakes” because, after all, it’s not like he raped or murdered anyone.
The Screaming Asian Air Cadet has indeed been arrested, and was confronted by police at school.
A variety of rioters have turned themselves – or had parents drag them – into the police after realizing how widespread the post-riot manhunt was.
Tim Kwong from Burnaby tried to deny his role in the riots, but confessed after the videos surfaced. After turning himself into the police, he’s been charged with 4 counts and posted an apology.
Camille Cacnio has been fired from her job for looting the night of the riot. Interesting, Camille was a member of the Enspire Foundation. Her profile – which has since been removed – quoted her as saying “As cliché as it sounds, I really do try to make the world a better place – which is why I am so excited that I am taking part in the Bulacan Community Project as an Ambassador. Life is hard back at home, but through our dedication that can slowly change.”
Every single person I’ve read about being arrested or named as a thief or rioter was outed because of Facebook – and every single one of those Facebook profiles have been deleted. That won’t help, guys. You are fucked.
I’ve heard of at least a half dozen people who were fired on Friday after their pictures appeared in The Province’s multi-page spread of riot photos, and there are likely countless others.
City officials are under a great deal of pressure to find and charge these assholes, and it looks like they’re doing just that. This pleases me – it’s an excellent birthday present.
Many people have asked me to keep posting information and images about the rioters, and I appreciate the support – but this will likely be my last post on this subject. There are several reasons for this:
Yesterday was one of the strangest days I’ve ever had in my life. The Fountain of WTF peaked around 5pm, when I was interviewed at CBC for Connect with Mark Kelley – you can check it out below; my segment starts around 8:30 mark (but the whole show is great; lots of talk about the riots and people who tried to help during it).
Incidentally, it’s hard to get a screen cap with my name (spelled right this time!) in which I do not look like some sort of tool.
Some things to note:
I’ve got birthday things to do now, but I’ve got a follow up post about the rioters I featured below a-brewin’ in my head – I’ll try to get that up later today. A lot of stuff has unfolded in the last 36 hours, and it’s all fascinating (in a voyeuristic kind of way).
Who is this YouTube-link-posting fiend I have turned into? I do not even know. At any rate, the following video made me laugh so hard I cried. Actual tears! On my face! creggerca, you are a genius of epic proportions and I would like to lick your guitar shake your hand.
So, so, so much love and hilarity.