ah, the latest out of the United States that is just making the rest of the world go "What the fuck?" - pharmacists denying woman birth control. Actually, this isn't new news, we've heard it before, but still. It's utterly ridiculous that it's even an issue.
The biggest argument I'm hearing against pharmacists spewing their moral beliefs onto their clients is that a lot of woman take birth control for health reasons that have nothing to do with attempting to prevent pregnancies.
A very logical argument, and a very good approach when trying to reason with people who are unreasonable.
Here's another reason why you shouldn't deny woman birth control - besides the fact that its none of pharmacist's god damn business - some people have sex because it's enjoyable. Crazy! Stop the presses! You can have sex without the main goal being to reproduce! Can you believe that even married folks do this? It isn't just the morally repulsive?! Madness! The world really is falling apart what with this sex for pleasure thing and Harry Potter tainting the minds of our children.
The real issue, the way I see it, is all these pharmacists who never have sex for pleasure. Now that's a tradegy. Why? Why are they denying themselves this? It's fun! It's free! You don't have to have a 100 babies! And in many relationships no one gets hurt even! Is there a better way to spend a Sunday afternoon? After Church. Of course.
Seriously, one of the stepping stones to a modern, democratic society is equal rights for woman. The United States is admired (and also hated in some cases) because it's this country that values freedom and equality for all, and part of that equality is girl power! I'm not being flippant either, I did an entire report about this for a graduate level course a couple of years ago. Empowering woman allows a country to not only control its population (woman frequently make the decision not to be baby making machines when they have the choice to make that decision) but poverity is reduced, infant mortality goes down, and more children become educated and contributing members of society. I'd give you references if I weren't so lazy, and not procrastinating from doing my current projects. Look it up, there's lots of scientific studies that prove this.
Birth control may be a moral question for some, and that's fine. No one is forcing you to use birth control, but the perks of living in a free and democratic society is that we have the power to choose. Let's stop moving backwards.
If you're a pharmacist willing to fill birth control prescriptions now is the time to put up a sign, you might just double your business :).
And just to be fair in the reporting of the ridiculous, a Toronto cop lied about needless punching this poor dude in the face. Turns out someone caught the cop on tape. The guy who was punched tried to get in to see the hearing but this whole slew of cops showed up extra early and took all the chairs in the court room. That really has no bearing on anything except that I found it moronic. This will just further my stepdad's belief that all cops are tainted.
I wrote this some time ago but never posted it... but I've got nothing to tell you. I harvested an unreal number of peas this weekend, that was exciting. I'm working on two projects for school, and although interesting to me, I'm not sure how interesting it is to you. This weekend will be exciting, we're going camping to Quadra Island with some friends! Hee! Camping! Islands! The Excitement! In the meantime, listen to me rant:
Have you ever wondered what happened to responsibility? There is almost never a news article where I don't think to myself "step up to the plate and take some responsibilty". Everyone is out to place blame squarely on everyone else instead of recognizing that the person who has the biggest influence on our own decisions is ...wait for it... ourselves. Shocking, that.
The most recent bit I'm reading or seeing over and over again is the obesity problem. We're getting fat, our kids are getting fat, hell, even our dogs are getting fat. Yet somehow, this isn't my fault, oh no, I can place blame clearly in the hands of the junk food producers and government because they're responsible for what I shove into my own mouth. I don't get up extra early in the morning to go for a run because of the government, not because I'm exceptionally lazy and would much prefer to sleep in.
I watch TV and soak up the advertisements for the new DQ blizzards (for the record, not that great) and other handy, processed food that is being packaged for my convenience today. So I buy it. That clearly is the government's fault for allowing these things to be produced that tempts me. Or perhaps I should lay the blame on Miss Amy of Amy's Kitchen because damn her for making the BEST microwavable veggie pot pie on the planet (seriously, these really are the best convenience foods I've ever tasted, and apparently they're organic, whatever that means to Amy's Kitchen).
I don't work out for two reasons, 1. I'm lazy and 2. I'm tired. Note that neither reason is because the government, or the TV, or my friends and family for that matter, are saying to me that I need to consume all these calories and sit my ass in front of the TV. When I'm weighing what is and isn't important to me, working out at the gym isn't that high on the list. If it was, I'd get up half and hour earlier, gym clothes at the ready, and haul my ass to the gym or around the block. Is my health important? Yes. Yet I still don't work out. What gives? What gives is I've decided that the race for more money is more important than my health. The extra sleep and internet surfing is more important than my health. That school is more important than my health. This might be a manifestation of living in a developed nation where it's a race for more and more things, more and more money, but I'm strolling quite willingly, within that trap. The key word being willingly. If I didn't work 8 hour days, would I spend more time minding my health? ~shrug~. Maybe I'd knit, maybe I'd cross-stitch. Maybe I'd garden. I'd like to think I would spend more time minding my health, but until my own value system changes, chances are I won't until I take responsibility for my own health.
This applies to me as an adult, and if I was a parent (and I plan to be someday) it would apply to my kids. Parents are responsible for their kids, not the school, not the government, not food producers. I agree that the government has a hand in this and should be monitoring the food industry and ensuring our safety in matters we no longer control in this society but we have to also realize that we are still the main caregivers of our own kids, the government isn't. As such, we have a responsible to monitor what they're eating. I recognise that having pop available to kids in elementary school is a little ridiculous, and I also realize that a big company like Coca Cola using their power to prevent the removal of said pop machines from the schools is incredibly sad. The 'system' is a little, or perhaps a lot, fucked. However, if your children are over-weight, that isn't the fault of Coca Cola. I'm sorry. It isn't.
Basically, we live our value systems. If we're getting fatter, our value system needs to change, but we need to want to change it. And by we, I mean me. I'm responsible for me.
From a recent article at Slate:
It is hard not to wonder, though, whether making the books more timely will make them less timeless. Critics have been atwitter about Harry Potter lately. Some believe the books belong alongside the classics of children's literature. Others scoff that Hogwarts is no Narnia—that the world Rowling has imagined is narrowly conceived and filled with too many cheap references to our own. Reading the Half-Blood Prince today, Rowling's references to terrorism don't feel cheap. They feel terrifying. But how will they read in 50 years?
This is what happens when you think the entire world revolves around the United States.
Christ. Get a grip. First of all, terrorism isn't new to this decade. Second of all, Harry Potter is a fantasy story about wizards that is drawing on the old good vs. evil angle. You know, that same theme appears in a lot of children's stories. Harry Potter is this crazy phenomena because the characterization is good and kids and adults alike feel involved with this trio of kids. It's the characterization that made kids recommend the books to other kids and then more kids and then adults, and then more adults. This isn't politics, stop trying to make something more out of what is simply a novel for kids.
In other news, it has been proven that Steve and I have failed miserably at growing tomatos. It's like a tomato graveyard in our garden as it appears they acquired some sort of fungus (happens to many, I'm told) as a result of all the rain that didn't stop until last week :(. We have peas coming out our ears, though. And kale, spinach, lettuce and carrots. My weekend is going to be spent blanching and freezing the entire contents of my garden.
Our peppers died too, and much as I'd like to blame that too on disease they were tucked safely in the greenhouse and the blame lies firmly with the adult caretakers that failed to water them. I blame Steve, because I can.
Next year we're taking a different approach to our garden. We're going to stagger plant everything into plots so that each plot will ripen throughout the summer and we'll have a variety of veggies in stages. This is only going to half-ass work because you can't actually stagger plot too much as veggies like different seasons, but our plan is to be a little more planting organized. We also plan to plant far fewer peas, because honestly, the peas we got going on could seriously feed the Canadian army for a month. I also hope to get some herbs in there, I had great plans this year but damn, this year has been a little too busy for that much intensive gardening.
We're also going to try to keep some vegetables going all winter in the greenhouse in pots. We're considering trying our hand at tomatos again in the greenhouse as well. My heart literally ached while I watched that tomato patch die. I had dreams of all the things I was going to do with all those wonderful tomatos. Damn rain.
I stayed up until all hours last night finishing the new Harry Potter. I'm very sleepy.
It was great, I liked it far better than Order of the Phoenix! It was really good, I was very pleased.
I won't say any spoilers here, but if you want to talk about the book, we can in the comments. Consider yourself warned, assuming anyone talks, that is :).
HAPPY BELATED BIRTHDAY R. YOU'RE THE BEST!
(this is me trying to make it up to you that I didn't call on Saturday ~grin~).
Even nonspoiler Harry Potter conversations are spoilers. STOP TALKING ABOUT IT PEOPLE. I CAN'T HELP MYSELF. I READ THE SPOILERS.
I didn't get the book until 8:30 last night, but then had to go to Grandma's so didn't start it until 10:30 and what with this working for a living jig, I'm on Chapter 5. The book is at work with me (because I'm a dork) but I can't just sit back and read Harry Potter. That would be wrong. Right? Wouldn't it?
And trying to explain to my Grandma why I was an hour late because I HAD to drive into Nanaimo to get the book since Parksville didn't have it was utterly impossible :). I don't know why. See above, I'm a dork.
In other news, I'm so freaking busy that I'm stressing right the fuck out. I hate being stressed. I hate that I caused this pain what with my froliking at the lake skiing and drinking and just plain old having fun.
It's GORGEOUS here. Summer has officially begun.
This is what I get for living in the middle of freaking no where -
Subject: Clarification: Your Harry Potter Order Will Not Arrive on Saturday
Dear Amber,A confirmation email regarding the shipment of your Harry Potter order, incorrectly stated that you would receive your order this Saturday, July 16. This was our mistake and we would like to apologize for this inaccuracy.
To clarify, you can expect to receive your order early in the week of July 18th. Unfortunately Saturday delivery of your order is not possible because your postal code fell outside of Canada Post's Saturday delivery area or your order was placed after our Saturday delivery deadlines had passed. Please rest assured, we will make every effort to deliver your order as quickly as possible.
Again, we sincerely regret our misstatement. We value your patronage and wish to offer you a $5 coupon included below. Your coupon will remain valid up until Dec 31, 2005, and can be used towards a purchase at http://www.chapters.indigo.ca.
well, at least I get a gift certificate.
The definition of stupid? Locking myself out of MY OWN COMPUTER. Let me tell you, this is not a wise thing to do. Not wise at all.
In other news, my course is actually kinda fun. And I figured out I can use the university's computers to check email! Hee! We get to go out and look at creeks. Seriously. This is my course, I walk around all day, outside, looking at creeks. It's surprisingly fun.
The other day Steve commented that it almost felt like Armageddon what with tsunamis, hurricanes, floods and earthquakes going on these days. Terrorists aren’t helping to debunk his theory.
I recognize that this is common stuff in a lot of the world, but it’s not that common in London, and for some reason, a lot of Canadians feel close to London, so for those of us who generally have this illusion of peace and safety, it gets to us. Fair with respect to world events? Probably not.
Fearthainn has links of information if you think someone you loved may have been traveling during rush hour in London.
You know when you're feeling in the dumps the best thing to do is to get out there and DO something, but the thing is, you just don't have the energy to get out there and do something.
Or when you feel fat and lazy you can't be bothered to get up off the couch, turn off the TV and go for a walk or go to the gym and follow the routine the trainer already laid out for you (I mean, it's not like I'd have to think)
Or when you're so tired you think you'll die but you still stay up, doing basically nothing, instead of going to bed.
I think this is God fucking with us for his own amusement. Damn him.
I have much homework to do, much reading to do, two projects to complete in ..uh.. let's see, three weeks. I haven't been to the gym in weeks, and what am I doing about it? I'm searching the internet. God's a real joker.
I sit in a cubicle in the "Buildings Department" of Steve's company. Since we all sit in cubicles I'm privy to all the phone conversations going on around me. One of the things I most enjoy is eavesdropping on the boys talking to their wives.
The one thing I've noticed is that most of the guys in this section are smitten with their wives. It's really rather heart-warming, and gives me glee to overhear these conversations and then to listen to them bitch about their wives later and know that they are so full of shit.
The other thing I've noticed is that most of these guys refer to their wives with a petname. One calls his wife "sugar", and coming from him, it works. I don't know how he pulls it off but it is neither sickly sweet or cheesy. Another it's "baby", which is a petname I am guilty of over-using myself, although I'm more of a babe person. Another will see the call display and know its his wife and answers "why, hello sweetie".
Not only do these guys have a special names for their wives, they talk to their wives everyday, and it's not always the wife calling them and "bothering" them at work. They call home and check in.
I feel so cheated.
First off, I do not have a petname. I'm Amber. That's it. There is no heartwarming moniker that leaves Mr. Steve-o's lips when he refers to me. Bastard. Several of my friends have petnames for me (ranging from salabamber to Bamber to Amberberber) but the husband? Nothing.
Second off, I swear he sees it's me on the call display and ignores it. He denies this, but I don't buy his excuses. He certainly doesn't seem all that pleased to hear from me when I do call* (and, I seldom call so it's not like I'm some sort of stalker wife or anything). And it would be a cold, cold day in hell he ever uttered the phrase "I love you" at work, but the guys over here? Very free with that phrase and they still seem to be all man.
On the way to the airport on Thursday I brought this up with that sweet husband o' mine and declared that he needs to find himself a petname for me. He informed me he isn't pet name material. I informed him this wasn't up for discussion.
He settled on wench.
Everytime he says it, it cracks me the hell up. It brings me glee, people. Glee. This is why I love the man. Plus the dimples. The dimples really help his cause.
*for the record, neither of us are phone people which is the real reason we don't call each other all that often but that logic doesn't fit in that nicely with the bitching I've got going on here.