excess verbiage

They were talking about this on the radio yesterday morning. It was pretty funny. So many people have weird issues with certain things. There were people calling in saying that they can't take a crap unless they're naked, and unless they can take a shower afterwards. One guy even said that he works close to home so when he has to go, he'll drive home to do it just so he can shower afterwards. Oy.

For me, I'm kind of neurotic about phone cords. There is nothing that bothers me more than a twisted up phone cord. If I see one, I will detangle it, even if it's not my phone. I just can't bear to see it like that.

Also, I don't like food touching each other too much if it's saucy. It's generally not a problem but when you go to buffets and places like that, that's where it gets messier. I don't like white sauces touching red sauces, or sweet things touching savoury. I just don't like them mixing flavors. Each thing should be as it's meant to me. Yeah, neurotic.

The sound of someone crunching on cereal gets on my nerves too. I think this is from sitting next to someone at work who did it every single day in close proximity to me. It drove me crazy and I wanted to scream at her to stop. It was like nails on a chalkboard to me and I often had to walk away to get away from the sound.

I've mentioned this before, and I don't know if this qualifies as neurotic, or if it's just a food thing, but I hate green onions. So I will not eat my food until I've picked out every single one of them first. Even if I'm eating fried rice where it's all mixed in there, I will take 5 minutes and do some digging before I'll start eating.

And you know when you eat instant noodles and it comes with the flavor packet? Those usually have dehydrated green onions in them, so what I do is take one of those mesh strainers and I pour the flavor packet into it over the pot of water, so that I can get out every last green onion. Otherwise, I won't eat it. Cup of noodles can be difficult since the flavor powder is just loose in the cup oftentimes. So I have to carefully read the ingredients, as some flavors don't have any in them. What pisses me off is when it's listed as onions, which I like, but it's actually green onions. HUGE difference. Also, I like chives too, but won't touch the other stuff. Gross.

So what neurotic tendencies do you have?

This is from a while ago when I was in the States. Had a huge American breakfast that was essentially a heart attack special - the biscuits and gravy meal. It came with sausage and eggs. It was such a heavy meal, I could only eat the eggs, a couple of the sausages, about 1/3 of one of the biscuits, and the grapes. And I believe the gravy was sausage gravy - meaning they sauteed crumbled sausage into the gravy. Oh yes they did. I think I died a little that day. Took off an extra 6 months off my life. Tasted good though. But those kinds of foods always do, don't they? They're the devil on a plate.

I'm not ragging on all cyclists, just the smug ones. You know what I mean - the ones who have an air of superiority over everyone else because they're leaving less of a carbon footprint than the rest of us selfish assholes.  The ones who demand to have the same rights as car drivers do, yet won't obey the same rules as drivers do, ie. not stopping at stop signs or red lights, or riding on crowded sidewalks, not being considerate of pedestrians. Anyway, I can appreciate most cyclists, but these particular smug ones really bring out the road rage in me.

Was driving in Kitsilano the other day, and the residential streets are designed so that if you're coming from one direction, you need to yield to the cars coming in the opposite direction before you can go forward. So I was approaching one of these yields and I saw a cyclist coming up the hill. I decided to wait for him to pass by before I went, because I would need to pull over to the left and by doing so, if he were there at the same time, I'd have hit him. So I thought I'd let him pass first.

But as he was peddling closer he kept pointing at me and saying, what's your problem? And as he rode up beside me, this smug asshole said to me in the most condescending and patronizing tone, "What's your problem? There was plenty of room for both of us!" And I was kind of shocked, and at that moment I was like, is this asshole seriously giving me shit because I was considerate and let him go first?? WTF?! Unfortunately, all I could muster up at the time was a sarcastic, "Thanks buddy, didn't notice!" but man, did I ever want to get out of my car and punch that guy in the face.

I'm not a confrontational person. I don't really get into shouting matches with people, but every now and then, someone like this comes along and tests my last nerve. Some people are really amazing - not in a good way either.

My cat doesn't have fleas, but for as long as I can remember, we've always put flea collars on our pets over the years. Recently, I went to the pet store and noticed that it's been increasingly difficult to find flea collars, let alone in a wide variety of brands, types, or colours. So I bought the one that they had there which was different from what I normally get.

Usually, when you first put on the collar, there's a strong smell for a few days because of the chemicals in it. So I try to put it on him and let him go outside a lot to get some fresh air so that the chemicals don't bother him too much. He's never had a problem and he's 17 years old, so he's used it. But this time, I put it on in the evening and let him out for an hour or so. When he came back he was fine so I didn't think anything of it. The next morning though, he was acting kind of weird and I wasn't sure what it was. I had to leave for work, so I couldn't do anything about it at the time anyway.

So when I got back from work, I knew something was wrong, because normally when I get in, he comes running, all perky, wanting to go outside right away. And he's very chatty too. But this day, he was laying on the stairs in the sun and could barely move his head to look at me. He was really lethargic. Yeah I know, cats sleep 20 hours of the day but this was different. He was slow to get up to walk around, wouldn't talk much, no appetite. That freaked me out as well.

Then it dawned on me that it was all because of the flea collar. This one smelled a lot stronger than the usual ones, so my poor kitty was doped up all day. He couldn't escape the smell obviously, since it's around his neck. So he was like some stoner, only without the munchies! I took it off and went to the pet store and just bought one of those other collars that come with a bell, though I removed the bell because that's pretty annoying. I guess there's a reason they don't really sell flea collars anymore. They're not very good for the pets, and they have these other things to help against fleas if that problem arises.

So I got him a cute light blue collar with rhinestone paws decorated on it. It's quite the snazzy collar and brings out the blue in his eyes. lol. The next morning, he was back to his perky ol' self, and I was so relieved. I hate seing animals (and people) doped up like that. But yeah, for any of you who do use flea collars, beware. It can make your pet sick and it's pretty unnecessary these days.

When we see people drive like assholes on the road, or see them in the middle of road rage, is what we're seeing their real personality? Or is it their driving personality? Are there people out there who are meek, quiet, and reserved in real life, but once they're behind the wheel, they're a completely different person? Or is it generally a true reflection of who they are? Maybe it's a mix.

I know someone who is an annoyingly cautious person in real life. Doesn't take a lot of chances, doesn't cut corners, follows directions to the letter, not spontaneous at all. And yes, when he drives, it's the same. Doesn't drive over the limit, doesn't go around a car that's turning left, even if there are no cars behind him or beside him, basically drives like a grandma. And on the opposite end, I know people who are fairly nice and normal in person, but on the road, it's like they're possessed by some sort of driving demon.

I only wonder because there was a driver who was making some douchey moves this morning and I was wondering whether he'd have the nerve to be as douchey if he weren't in the car. Like, if we were in a supermarket lineup or something, would these people have the balls to do shitty things face to face? People get brave when they're behind the wheel, just like they're brave on the internet, behind the mask of a user id. It's weird.

I've had this stuck in my head all day, so now you can get it stuck in yours. It's "Show Me What I'm Looking For" by Carolina Liar, and this is the live version. I generally love live versions over the originals. So here you go....

In honour of John Hughes, here are a few classic clips from my favourites of his films.

I guess I can understand why people think I'd want to see the film. I'm kind of a foodie, spend lots of time in cookware stores, watch a lot of cooking shows and like to cook. My best purchase last weekend was a knife block set of 13 Henckels knives for only $39.99!! (Really, how kick-ass is that?!) I was so excited - though a friend of mine laughed her ass off that out of everything I could've purchased at the outlet mall, it was the knife set that got me excited.

But surprisingly to most of my friends, I'm not really interested in seeing this, at least not in the theaters. And I'll tell you why. 1) I'd rather see a full biography on Julia Child only. I mean, the woman was kind of a spy during WWII; and 2) Amy Adams' hair is putting me off. Really. I hate the way Amy looks in the movie and I don't want to have to look at her for two hours with that frumpy 'do. It's an eyesore and I don't care how good of a story this might be. I don't want to see it on the big screen. I'm happy to wait to rent it.

I'd like to see a film about Jacques Pepin too. That guy rules.

He's a bit of a man-whore, but there is something really appealing about Gerard Butler in this clip! The accent doesn't hurt either. hehe

Laura Ling and Euna Lee's release from North Korea was the big story yesterday and I was glued to all the news clips and videos all day. There's just something about this particular story that moves me. Isn't it an unwritten law that journalists are always granted amnesty and access to war-torn countries, battle zones, and politically unstable places in order to get their story? That's why you see journalists reporting live broadcasts from Iraq or Israel in the height of bombings and shootings. Certainly on occasion, truly evil people will kidnap or imprison some of them for their own blackmail missions. But for the most part, journalists are untouched.

The thing about this story is that these two didn't actually do anything to warrant 12 years in a hard labour camp. I'm not sure about the details but I think I read that they were caught near the North Korean border. I don't know if they were trying to get across the border illegally or not, but if so, then at the most, I could understand arresting them and holding them for maybe a month or something like that, or maybe charging them a huge fine. But 12 years hard labour? That's insane.

But of course this is a Kim Jong Il's country, so insane is normal. I feel really sorry for the citizens of North Korea. You can say that a country is evil, but people confuse a country's political system & policies with its citizens, who may not have anything to do with choosing its leaders. Especially in a dictatorship run by a creepy douchebag, the people living in North Korea obviously have their hands tied and would love to get out if possible.

Anyway, I think this situation has made people look more carefully at North Korea and Kim Jong Il, and what can happen when you let irrational egomanical morons run a country. And yes, it's a good reminder that those of us living in democracies should thank our lucky stars that we don't have to endure those kinds of injustices on a daily basis.

Although Bill Clinton is the face of the humanitarian mission here, I heard that it was the Swedish Ambassor to North Korea who was instrumental in getting the ball rolling. Smart move to send Clinton over though. That man has the kind of personality that can diffuse any situation, obviously. The thing is, with all of this, it puts the spotlight on Clinton again and it kind of feels like the man is the president again. For a second there, I was like, oh yeah, Obama's actually the president right now. It feels like Obama wasn't part of this at all and I'm not sure why that is.

But Clinton is like a superstar again and rightfully so. It really is a shame that American presidents can only serve two terms. But then, if they can stay involved in major issues like these, then I guess that's even better. For Laura Ling & Euna Lee though, I'm sure they're one of the few people in this world who can say that Bill Clinton saved their lives, and that's pretty cool.