Sunday, November 28, 2010

money/ scam/ safety

Nov. 25 Money: Today I went to work and was there for 3hrs. My shift was cut short because it was so quiet. I also got a small amount of tips because I had a short shift and had to split with my other busser. Then money got good again because I got EI money deposited into my account.

Productive: I went home and went on the internet to look for a job. I only applied to 1 place, but I pitched my script to 28 production companies today.

Nov. 26: I got paid today from my restaurant job. Today I applied to 1 place, and pitched my script to 43 production companies. It was may day off so I spent 4 and a half hours on the internet working.

Nov. 27 Good writing: I have writer's block so I will analyze some good writing on other TV shows. It's November sweeps.

Hellcats: Alice sent her boyfriend some sexy photos of herself. It gets around the entire campus. A gets a talk from her teacher. A says she's not ashamed of herself. She then shows she's upset to her ex-boyfriend Lewis. That's good to show how she acts differently to each person.

I was watching MTV and I saw this really good PSA commercial about sexting. This naked teen girl with her privates blurred out was talking about how she was sexting. The lesson is: "There is a thin line between him and the whole school."

Criminal Minds: A family with mom, dad, son and daughter go camping. The kids get kidnapped in the middle of the night. The boy ends up getting molested off screen. The little girl runs away. The serial killer takes the boy into the city into this halfway house. He trades the boy to another pedophile for drugs. The boy is about to get molested again, but he fights back and runs. It was scary and dark, more than usual for this kind of show. Probably because it involves children.

The Mentalist: There's a scene where Agent Lisbon is talking to a sheriff on the phone. The sheriff then gets shot in the head, and that made me jump because it came out of nowhere. Another good surprise was at the end, the killer was set on fire. That was totally unexpected. There was no foreshadowing.

Law and Order: Special Victims Unit: There was a creative episode where this guy used this abortion powder to have sex with this girl, and then she will miscarry. The ep discussed how it's safe for poor people in Brazil to take the drug because it's cheaper than to have an abortion.

Veronica Mars: However, Veronica Mars kind of did that episode. VM has to figure out who slipped the RU486 pill in this girl's drink that made her miscarry. The suspects are the religious father, boyfriend, or guy she cheated on her boyfriend with. It turns out it was the girl's best friend who did it. The reasoning:

Friend: Did you really think either of those guys were going to be good fathers? 5 years from now you're going to be divorced with a baby to take care of!

Vampire Diaries: There was an ep called "Masquerade" written by the creators of the show Kevin Williamson and Julie Plec. It had good plot twists and unpredictable. Who would have thought that Caroline was playing the bad guy Katherine? Katherine was threatening Caroline, but the tables were turned because Katherine got trapped into a room.

Other twists was that when Katherine was getting hurt, so was her doppelganger Elena. Bonnie meets another witch and it turns out they were related. You keep thinking: "I didn't see that one coming."

Dream: I had a weird dream last night where I was 2 and a half months pregnant. I asked the female doctor if it's too late for an abortion and she said it was. Tyra Banks made an appearance in the dream, probably due to me watching her talk show about this topic.

Scam: I was watching W5 and they discussed about the "Grandson scam" where seniors are targeted and asked for money over the phone by their supposed grandson. Here's how to prevent that from happening:

1. Ask "Which grandson?"
2. Ask personal questions about him that only your grandson would know.
3. Call your grandson up and ask where he is and if he asked you for money.

20/20 did an ep last month, but about charities scamming over the phone. The host Brian Ross confronts one Guy. Guy tries to get away, and backs car and hits the one black car behind him. The neighbors were staring at him and dissing him because they didn't like him.

The black car owner wasn't even angry that his car got wrecked. Maybe he had insurance and there was proof on camera that it was the Guy who did it. Guy blames his ex- wife for taking all his money so that's why he's running the scam.

The scam was to send money to get $1 million. Federal Trade Commission and Make a Wish Foundation don't have sweepstakes. Police were raiding criminal call centres in Costa Rica and that's how the found the Guy.

West Ed mall: I went to the Waterpark giftshop, which I have never been to before. I went to Calender Club, I like looking at all those pictures in the calenders. I went to Forever 21 and Urban Outfitters which are the only stores in Edmonton.

I mentioned before that I am so sick of shopping, but I only went to those places because I had job interviews at the mall.

Nov. 28 Safety: I found this article in the Edmonton Journal last week: "Ad campaign targets men who prey on drunken women." I'm sure we all know the safety tips for women:

1. Don't drink too much.
2. Guard your drink and never leave it unattended.
3. Bring a friend.
4. When in doubt, pour it out.

The article mentions that: "In the first 6 months of this year, 52% of cases investigated, involving 153 victims, had alcohol as a factor."

One ad says: "Just because you help her home...doesn't mean you get to help yourself."

"Just because she isn't saying no...doesn't mean she's saying yes."

In men's bathrooms at 26 bars it says: "Just because she's drunk doesn't mean she wants to f---."

The last line of the article was: "This innovative SAVE committee believes that, as long as society directs prevention strategies at women, we all stop looking at what the real problem is- the perpetrators."

Thursday, November 25, 2010

funny and weird/ Pizza 73/ blog emails

Nov. 19 Funny and weird: I was watching Tosh.O and there's a video clip.

Cut to a mostly empty subway train. Camera pan to a young woman sitting.

A young Punk ass guy goes up to her and knees the empty seat beside her.
She seems scared. He's trying to scare and psych her out for no reason.

A Man who sits across, gets up and pulls the Punk ass guy's pants down.
Me: What?!

I burst out laughing. I expected the Man to pull Punk ass away and throw him somewhere, not pull his pants down.

Cut back to the subway.
Punk ass looks at Man. He pulls up his pants and walks away without saying anything.
Man asks if Girl is okay. Man picks up his newspaper and sits back down.

This is how you solve a problem without violence, pull the guy's pants down. He will be humiliated and embarrassed. While I'm at it, to the Punk ass: "Shame on you for being a jerk and scaring a woman for no reason. You pick a fight with a woman because you know she can't or won't fight back. You got schooled."

Nov. 22 Tosh. O: Months ago I saw an episode where Daniel Tosh gave a web redemption for Nick. He's the guy who was trapped in an elevator for 32 hours.

DT: How can you not jack off?
Nick: Someone on Youtube posts that question on everyday.

They discussed how N put a lawsuit on the elevator company, but it didn't go through. So he laughed.His show is full of video clips, it's funny, but also very random.

Another web redemption was a The Bachelor parody. This Goth guy kind of did a personal ad video on the internet. It was a poor video so they kind of redid it.

DT interviewed two guys who called him Josh instead of Tosh. DT also got a pic with him and the rapper Jay-Z from years ago. That's not even a funny video clip, it was a pic they showed at the end.

Nov. 23 Food: I tried little bit of lamb today. It doesn't taste good. I also tried cheese made from buffalo's milk. It doesn't taste good either. It's from my job.

Job: I got more tips today because I was the only busser. If there were two bussers, I would have to split with the other person. I also cleared out trays from the hotel hallways today and got $2 in tips. I got way more when I was bussing at the restaurant today, so that's good.

EI: I filed to reactivate my EI claim two weeks ago, and now it went through. Today I filed for EI.

Nov. 24 Paramed: I applied as a receptionist at Paramed and there is this long process on their site. There was one question: "What's the funniest thing that happened at work?" I mentioned that I told this guy Mark that he looked like the actor Kyle Gallner. When he didn't know who I was talking about, I gave the pictures that I printed off the internet to him.

Mark: Oh my God, you rock!
lol.

Robin Thicke: I was listening to some songs from RT's first cd "Beautiful World" on Youtube. This was before he got big with the song "Lost Without U" on his "The Evolution of Robin Thicke" cd. I can't get enough of him and am listening to unreleased songs that aren't on any of his 4 cds. I found this great hot song called "The Things You Make Me Do" by Ashanti feat. Robin Thicke. I love it.

Pizza 73: I applied to be a telephone service representative at Pizza 73 yesterday. They called me when I wasn't home. It's in downtown. But then I thought about it. I think it pays like $11-$13/ hr. That's good, but if I quit my busser job, then it would be like going from one regular job to another. If I'm going to quit being a busser, I have to go to something that's a step up like an office job.

I talked with my dad to confirm it. He said it's late nights like end at midnight. He and I both don't like me taking the bus late at night. You're not really learning any new skills, but how to use the computer program to take orders. I do like my busser job. If I hated it, then I would quit. So I won't call Pizza 73 back. I will say their pizza like the Chicken Mushroom Melt is great.

Nov. 25: I got a flashback of 2006. When I got laid off from Call Centre #1, this girl Christina who worked there with me said she got a job at the Pizza 73 call centre.

Blog emails: This woman in Oct. 2010 emailed me on my blog. She took the time to email me, I will put it on my blog.

CSN stores:

"Good Morning!
My name is Jocelyn and I’m part of the Promotions Team here at http://www.csnstores.com , a Boston based company. We have been seeking out high quality websites and blogs, gauging interest in doing a giveaway with one of our sites.

We love the look and feel of your blog and think that your US and Canadian readers might be interested in a giveaway with our sites www.cookware.com, www.allmodern.com or www.luxebycsn.com. Have a look at a couple of our sites and let me know if you think that this might be something you’d be interested in. Perhaps we could give away a selection of our home decor or fitness equipment. I’d be happy to brainstorm some other ideas with you if you’re interested. Alternatively you could do a review of something from our site.

Please let me know if you have any questions for me. I hope to hear from you to further discuss the details of the giveaway.

Kind Regards,

Jocelyn

Here's one from June 2010. Subject title: "hey there, nice blog =)":

Hi there blogger!

Just visited your "Tracy's Blog" blog and I was super impressed by its design and content. We just opened up our community Lookville for beta testing. It's a place for people to have discussions, share tips, and ask questions about fashion. Currently, memberships are by invitation only and I would love to have you on it! Please accept this invitation if you're interested: http://lookville.com/signup?c=CAFASHION2342&ref=fb_ca

And we would love to hear your feedback.

Ciao!- Bethany C.

Tuesday, November 23, 2010

comparisons/ American Music Awards/ office job

Nov. 19 Comparisons: There's lots of similar story lines in 90210 and Gossip Girl.

Dad gets into legal trouble and runs away: Nate's dad on GG embezzled money and ran away. Now he's in prison. On 90210, Navid's dad had underage girls in his porn films, and that's child pornography. He ran away. Nate then became poor for awhile, and I'm guessing so will Navid. I will give points for 90210's storyline about and underage girl in a porn film. I never saw that storyline on teen drama. There was good acting when Navid confronts his dad.

Young mom runs away, single dad storyline: On GG, Georgina is not a good mom or person in general. She has a kid with good guy Dan. G runs away and D is forced to be a single dad for some episodes. G comes back and says she had counseling with her parents and she will raise her kid. D is not really the father, so he's absolved from responsibility. On 90210, Jen is not a good mom or person in general. There is good acting when Jen starts crying when her baby gets hurt. J runs away, and leaves good guy Ryan to be a single dad.

Jock is gay: I saw this on Smallville, Glee, Hellcats, and Degrassi.

TV shows with dancing routines: At first Glee had all the singing and dancing since it came out last year. Now Hellcats came and it's more with cheer leading routines. There has recently been an episode where they danced to Michael Jackson's "You Rock my World" which is one of my favorite songs of his.

Couple divorces at party: I saw Milhouse's parents divorce when the Simpsons throw a dinner party on The Simpsons. I just saw on Desperate Housewives where Brian Austin Green's character Keith's parents get divorced at Bree's Thanksgiving dinner.

Cartoon moms get into fighting: On The Simpsons, Marge gets into MMA parody "Ultimate Punching Kicking Choking Association. Lois on Family Guy gets into boxing.

Scientology cult diss: On The Mentalist, they did two episodes where the CBI team investigates a organization that is similar to Scientology. I recently saw it on Lie to Me.

Serial killer with mother issues: I was watching Criminal Minds which is about FBI catching serial killers. Robert Knepper (T Bag from Prison Break, Samuel from Heroes) plays a serial killer with mother issues. He was talking to his mom the entire time, and it turns out she was dead. It was very Psycho.

Hoarding is a storyline: I saw this on South Park and Degrassi.

Character falls into a hole at a ranch, and someone rescues them: I saw this on Heartland where Mallory and Badger fall into a hole. That reminds me of an episode of Save by the Bell from the early 90s where that happened too.

Guest- stars: It's November sweeps and that's when they have all the big guest- stars come on like the singer Fefe Dobson on Hellcats and Joe Jonas on 90210.

Nov. 21 Job: This busser job pays $8.80/hr, but the tips are really good. On a week day I got a $10 tip because there are two servers and I split my tip with another busser. On Sat., I got a total of $24.25 tip from three servers. On Sunday, I got $35 tip from four servers. I split with the other busser.

This pays more than the Soup place. I got a starting wage $9/hr and raised to $10/hr. I get tips every 6 months. I was a food counter attendant. It was easier to make sandwiches and serve soups.

This busser job is like Robin Thicke's "Sex Therapy" song lyric: "Stressed out, uptight, overworked, wound up." At the Soup place, it was busy, but I wasn't running around. I stood a lot. This busser job, I'm constantly running around by cleaning tables, setting tables, putting dirty dishes away in the back.

Gym: I realized that I have been working hard mentally on my job search by going on the internet and applying. By working at the busser job, my legs are tired. I am not physically fit. I haven't had a physical job since I worked at a restaurant in a couple of months. The last job I had was an office job where I sat all day.

American Music Awards: I was on the internet looking for a job, and this was on in the background. There were constant musical performances to watch from Usher, Justin Beiber, and Kesha, etc. They were all very entertaining. I think they saved the best for last because for the first time ever, New Kids on the Block and the Backstreet Boys all teamed up together and performed a medley of their songs.

They all dressed great in black and white. They sounded and looked good. It was a very fun and energetic performance. I liked how the cameras cut to grown women in the audience and singing and dancing to the songs. lol. Then it kind of reminded me of Glee the first season. Mr. Schuester and three other teachers formed a boy band together. Glee reminded me of when NKOTB reunited together because they're a group of grown men singing and dancing together.

My sister saw it and said: "This is so rich."

Inspiration: I was watching Heartland and it showed flashbacks of Ty's past and it reminded me of my The Fighter script. I can really see Ty (Graham Wardle) in my script. There was season 2 premiere of Human Target. It was good. There are two women added into the cast when last season there were only three guys.

Nov. 22 Office job: I look over my old notes and see that there was this East Indian couple that came into the office when I used to have that office job. They ordered furniture and they needed it that weekend. They ordered it months ago and never received it. They had to have this prayer before being able to move into their home.

There was this woman who worked with me there, and she ranted to me about this bad sales guy. How he says whatever the customer wants to hear, and sells it to them. When the customer isn't happy with the product, the customer service is stuck dealing with it.

Woman: We had a big fight before I went on my maternity leave.
Me: But that was months ago.
Woman: Actually that was years ago and we never got along after that.

I thought since she ranted to me, she is like putting me into the office culture. However, not really because later on I was dismissed.

Sunday, November 21, 2010

guest article/ job/ missionaries

Nov. 18 Guest article: Matt Phillips wrote a guest article for my blog about birth control. Well here's my email to him, and he hasn't replied yet. But here's more of my extensive comments about it:

Hey Matt

Well first I would like to say that it was very well-written with the grammar and vocabulary. You're saying something bad about birth control pills, but you don't talk about how women can use depro-provera or other forms of birth control that aren't oral.

I feel like you're dissing people who don't want to have kids and calling them selfish. There are lots of people who don't want to have kids, and use that money to donate to charity that helps others.

You say: Worse still, unmarried, young couples have also seized these forms of birth control to recklessly satisfy their desires.

Yeah, well I would rather have people who don't or aren't ready to have kids to use birth control. You sound like having sex and enjoying sex is a bad thing.

I would be hard pressed to find someone who waited until they were married to have sex. I think you would like to watch 16 and Pregnant and Teen Mom. You should go on televisionwithoutpity.com and read people's comments about these shows and teen pregnancy.

One more thing, can you tell me a little more about yourself? Like your education, upbringing, and what you do for fun. I want to see where you're coming from.

I think I could put this up on my blog, but I would have to put up my above comments right underneath it.

Productive: Today I didn't have to go to work so I pitched my script.

Money: I called the office job asking about how it's been 3 weeks, and I still haven't gotten paid. I got direct deposit. The manager said he got my paycheck at the office a few days ago, and he'll mail it to me. He also said he sent the Record of Employment to my Service Canada, and then it will help reactivate my EI claim.

Job: I'm still feeling a little sick, but better than yesterday. I called my HR and asked to start at 9am tomorrow instead of 8am. It's a lot easier if I get there at 9am. She was accommodating. At first I thought, you should do what they ask, but they can be helpful. Months ago I was to start at 7am at this restaurant. When I got there I asked if I can come in at 10am instead and they were cool with it. A couple of weeks later I was dismissed and it's not because I wanted to start later. It's because I wasn't good at it.

Nov. 19 Sick: Yesterday my sister offered me a slice of leftover pizza and I took it. She asked if my appetite was back. A little, I did eat some crackers and chips today. I drank water. I took all the Ibuprofen. Mainly my stomach hurts so I'm taking Tums.

Busy: I went to my new job today. I was feeling sick in the morning, but I forced myself to go. If I'm really sick, I can always leave early. I'm not really desperate for cash, but I don't want to miss out on making money. I missed out a lot already by being unemployed for months.

I worked from 9am-2pm bussing tables. It was alright. There were certain ways of setting the table, learning where to put the dishes, etc. I was walking around the restaurant. I was told the weekends are really busy, so I'll prepare myself for that.

Smart: I feel smart that I figured out how to create my own Service Canada account. I then see that my office job did send the Record of Employment to them, and they are processing my EI claim right now.

Celeb news: A few weeks ago, I thought it was funny when Eva Longoria Parker's character Gabby on Desperate Housewives said: "It's so hard being married to a pro athlete." It's funny because ELP is married to a pro athlete in real life. Now it's not so funny because she filed for divorce. Over in 3 yrs. Unless they reconcile.

Nov. 20 Food: Yesterday I had one meal which is a small plate with a samosa, mashed potatoes, a piece of chicken, and some hash browns. It tasted good. After wards I was sick. It's not the food's fault. When I ate a little to eat on Thursday, I wasn't sick. I had a few crackers, chips, and one slice of pizza.

Today at lunch I moderated by eating some hash browns and Egg Benedict which I never had. I had a few cookies in the morning. Drank a lot of water, lemonade, a cup and half of coffee. When I got to the mall, these two guys from McDonald's was giving free coffee away, so I had to take one because it's free. lol. And I could use a little coffee.

Nov. 21 Missionaries: Yesterday I was waiting for the bus, and this guy came up to me wanting to give pamphlets on religion and stuff like how to quit smoking and deal with stress. I didn't take any of those. One time I did back in 2004. It was in the winter, and I didn't exactly see what I took because it was so dark.

It also reminds me of the time in 2004-2005 when I was at NAIT. 20 of my classmates in the hallway eating lunch and talking about missionaries.

Jessica: And they keep getting me at the bus stop!
All of 20 classmates (unison): Oh yeah.

lol. That means that has happened to all of us. They know we can't walk away from them because we're waiting for the bus.

Thursday, November 18, 2010

funny video/ 20/20/ John of God

Nov. 11 Funny video: I found this on Yahoo about a woman who was on Wheel of Fortune and solved the puzzle with one letter. She guessed "L" and then said: "I would like to solve the puzzle. 'I got a good feeling about this.'"

Pat Sajek: Yes, that is correct.
I burst out laughing! She guessed one letter and was able to solve the puzzle. I always thought Wheel of Fortune isn't a game with a lot of skill, but fun. I have to say I was impressed.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=los4ndpEqYs&feature=player_embedded

I was reading the Youtube comments and this other person mentioned Family Guy because I was thinking that too. Peter Griffin was on the show and he guessed the Batman symbol and was able to solve the puzzle.

Nov. 15 Joke: I was talking to my friend Angela the other day and she said she was kind of confused of the email where Oprah went camping with someone and she didn't know it was.

Me: It's Gayle, Oprah's best friend.
A: Yeah, well I don't really know Oprah so I wouldn't know her friend.

Then I thought: "Of course she doesn't know. Gayle doesn't have her own talk show." lol.
Oprah gives her friends talk shows like Dr. Phil, Dr. Oz, Suze Orman, and Nate Berkus.

20/20: It was kind of funny on 20/20. Everybody knows the Better Business Bureau because they grade companies and can tell which company is bad so you can stay away from them. But how do they grade them? It turns out companies pay BBB to give them good grades.

Someone played a trick on BBB. The guy's face is hidden, but he signed up his fake company Hamas and gave a real credit card number. BBB got $400 and graded it an A. Hamas is a terrorist group. Then the trick was done again with a white supremacist group under the name Aryan Whiting and with a real credit card number. These tricks are kind of expensive to play on a company, but the point was made. BBB will give good grades to anyone who will pay them.

The BBB president said it was a mistake and quickly took down the fake companies. He was supposed to be there for 1hr, but left at 45min.

Happiness: I read in the Globe and Mail that a way to be happy is to write a love letter to yourself everyday. It's free and it's easy. Imagine you are your future self 5 yrs into the future. Then write a letter to the person you are now. Think of how 5 yrs from now your problems are solved and the solutions to it. The happy feelings last for months after wards.

Nov. 16 16 and Pregnant: I finished reading all the twop.com comments on the Samantha episode last season. It's about a Latino girl who had a boyfriend named Eric. S's mom kept them apart, but E's mom helped them get back together, then S ended up pregnant.

S's mom Soledad was a teen mom herself, and here's the cycle repeating again. S had a friend who said: "Once you start having sex, you can't prevent pregnancy." That was so stupid, but at least her other friend said: "There's birth control pills, condoms, etc." E seemed like a nice and good guy. He went to school and worked at Subway. He was a little immature, but at least he's going to school and has a job.

E treated S with respect unlike the other boyfriends on this show. He stepped up and took responsibility for his kid. There was some updates like E and his dad are going to work at an oil rig and S got a job at Best Buy. I read comments that this is the best case scenario with both families helping out, the father of the baby stepping up, they both have homes, going to school and work. However, even with all that, it's still really hard to be a teen mom.

Writing: I have pitched my script to a bunch of production companies and I have a flood of rejects coming in. I was discouraged for a bit, but that's okay. One woman producer rejected after reading the script, but gave me helpful comments. I'll use that and I thanked her. Then a guy emailed me back saying he's interested in reading it so I sent him the script.

I even emailed my talent Kit Cope and Giles Panton giving them an update. I haven't emailed them since July.

Nov. 17: After that I emailed 28 more production companies, because yesterday I only emailed 2 back. I went and took time to watch TV.

Sick day: Today I woke up sick. I felt like throwing up, but didn't. I didn't eat breakfast. I was awake for 20min and was reading a bit of the newspaper. My sister comes up.

S: Did the Globe and Mail come?
Me: I didn't check.
S: What do you do all day?
Me: I feel sick.

S always asks: "What do you do all day?" because I'm unemployed. I actively look for a job and this morning I woke up early so I could get to my orientation for work. I'm annoyed that S asks me that when I woke up 20 min ago. It's hardly a day. lol.

I went to orientation, it was 2 hrs of listening to a lecture and watching a video. I did tell HR that I may not be able to make it on Fri. since I'm sick today. I went home and read the newspaper and concentrated on getting better.

John of God: I watched Oprah about "John of God." It's this Brazilian guy who's a miracle healer. There is footage of him cutting an egg sized tumor out of a man, scraping a woman's eye, putting scissors through people's nose to the brain, without anesthesia. O talked to doctors who saw it first hand and the patients who went through surgery without anesthesia. They reported no pain.

Nov. 18: I'm feeling a bit better today. Took some Tums for my sour stomach, and Ibuprofen. My sister was the one who gave Ibuprofen to me.

Guest article: This woman emailed me this article. I thought it was average and fun to read. Check it out.

Hi Tracy,

We would love to share with you an article that we just posted on our own blog! “10 People I’d Love to Talk to On The Phone” (http://www.landlinephoneservice.net/blog/2010/10-people-id-love-to-talk-to-on-the-phone/) would be an interesting story for your readers to check out and discuss on your blog, so we hope you will consider sharing it!

Thanks for your time!

Lindsay Willison.

Tuesday, November 16, 2010

Family and Parenthood versus Shallow Living By Matt Phillips

Any parent will agree that few things are as rewarding as having children. Unfortunately, that reverence has been corrupted today as cheap fulfillment has become the norm. Couples today actively seek out ways to avoid having children and proudly display their unwillingness to remain childless. Some joke they took exotic trips with the money they saved by not having a baby. Others point to sports car bought with an unborn child’s college fund. Regrettably, the act of having children and raising them in a loving household has been largely replaced in society by a trend of satisfying selfish desires.

Unfortunately, in the spirit of that disregard for the sanctity of parenthood and family, many couples choose to prevent pregnancy through contraception. Worse still, unmarried, young couples have also seized these forms of birth control to recklessly satisfy their desires. Even more troubling still are the countless young people engaging in this act because an assortment of modern contraceptive devices makes it apparently convenient and safe. The entire notion of unnatural birth control methods distorts the very notion of children and the family itself.

Indeed, when couples view sex as a legitimate shared activity before a serious commitment has been made to each other, they risk bringing a child into the lives that might not be compatible. Therefore, children for sexually-active, unmarried couples become seen as a burden. This is in direct opposition to the contention that children are a gift to be treasured. In this way the entire bond of a relationship is corrupted, with carnal pleasure replacing deeper, worthy forms of connection.

Along with these negative feelings towards children, respect for one’s partner also becomes secondary to selfish pleasure if couples don’t appreciate the gravity of an intimate relationship. This disrespect is especially evident for women in relationships because they bear the burden of most premarital sex consequences. Viewing unplanned marriage as the fault of the woman, many unmarried men successfully force their guilt on their partner for an act they had full participation in. This leads to a willingness to compromise their partner’s safety through risky contraceptive methods. Indeed, without the loving history of a long-term relationship, this unconscionable decision is made easier.

This disrespect is illustrated openly in society today as dangerous contraceptives are endorsed everywhere, from the media to schools. Unfortunately, this also leads to the creation of future generations of Americans unaware of the reward in having children and raising a family. Unfortunately, the most dangerous of these birth control options openly discussed, oral contraceptives, are also the most popular form of contraception. Indeed, the temptation for sexually active young people to turn to these methods is easy. Women need only take a pill each day to effectively eliminate their chance of pregnancy. Unfortunately, side effects are frequent.

Because oral contraceptives are hormone-altering drugs, they carry dangerous side effects. These hormonal methods, while effective, can also falsely imply complete protection against sexually transmitted diseases. Although schools fulfill their minimal obligation and warn students about the dangers of sexually transmitted diseases, this incomplete education might simply prompt more confused young women to turn to this drug as a safeguard.

Misconceptions about these oral contraceptives are easily understood after examining the marketing done for many of these products. Bayer HealthCare, for instance, spends millions each year on ad campaigns declaring their birth control alternatives a total quality-of-life improvement option. According to this company, these drugs alleviate everything from acne to premenstrual depression, in addition to parenthood. However, the FDA recently requested Bayer remove misleading television commercials, citing the fact those claims have not been conclusively proven.

Despite these revelations about the credibility of this drug manufacturer, the worst side effect of this drug is still the physical effects it has on women. In fact, the growing number of complaints against oral contraceptives, exemplified by pending Yaz lawsuit, indicates that the safety of such birth control options is far from guaranteed. Users of this particular product have seen serious, and sometimes fatal, side effects including heart attack, stroke, blood clots, pulmonary embolisms, and gallbladder disease.

As if the physical dangers of these contraceptives weren’t enough, these manufacturers also succeed in devaluing the fulfillment children bring to a parent’s life. It’s important to recognize the threat some aspects of society pose to our most valued roles. While parenthood is undeniably not for all Americans, we should be intelligent enough to recognize that products promoting a simpler life without the miracle of birth fail to address what a couple will feel when they grow old and realize they made no lasting contribution to the world, only took from it.

rant/ Caron Oderbien/ sad news

Nov. 13 Rant: I was thinking about this time back in gr.9. It was triggered by how Leslie complained to me about Dr. Tranter playing favorites. In class, the vice principal Mr. Zuckerman was lecturing the class about when to go to our lockers. I wasn't really listening because I follow the rules so the lecture doesn't apply to me.

Mr. Z: Not naming names- Jantony- oh, whoops, sorry.

Nick who sat behind me said: "What a jackass." I thought Mr. Z was trying hard to be cool and clever, but that was mean to single out someone. Is there anyone here who thinks that Mr. Z wasn't a jerk for deliberately naming names? He was consciously singling out someone. He said it in front of the entire class, so there were 30 witnesses. It was a very blatant and obvious example than Dr. T giving Leslie a flag with a wrinkle in it. Jantony could totally go to the principal and complain.

Principal: And you want me to do what exactly?
J: I want a sincere apology from Mr. Z.

Food reviews:

Chips: I tried out that Doritos new flavor called Cheeseburger. It really does taste like a cheeseburger. I was kind of surprised. You should try it. I had tried Miss Vicky's Original Recipe. It tastes alright. I did try their Balsamic Vinegar and Sweet Onion. It was good.

Coldstone Creamery: My dad bought an ice cream cake from Coldstone Creamery because it was on sale. It had Oreos on top. There was ice cream, and cake mix in it. It tastes good. I guess I prefer Dairy Queen cakes because it's vanilla, and chocolate ice cream with Oreo bits in it.

KFC chicken bowl: I tried this earlier this year. It's $5.24 for a bowl of corn, chicken, mashed potatoes, gravy, and cheese. It tastes alright.

Caron Oderbien: I was watching W5 and they talked about this scam artist Caron Oderbien who was scamming people out of money for her "charities" like having a horse farm and teaching autistic kids to ride horses. She takes the money and keeps it for herself.

She also gets into relationships with men and scam them out of hundreds of thousands of dollars. W5 crew starts investigating and they caught her in her car while in the Tim Horton's drive through. The report David Malerek was asking: "What about the money you scammed back in Edmonton?" She scrolls up her window.

Me (to David): Knock on the window!
D didn't knock on the window. She ended up driving away and didn't order a coffee.

Ha ha! It's a good thing W5 dragged her name through dirt on national TV. Throw in the little thing of her not getting her coffee is a good thing.

Nov. 14 Cinemavault: I was pitching my script and I found this production company that produces feature films. Here's a trailer to the movie Clash. It's an Asian movie. This young woman has to complete one last mission so they won't hurt her daughter. She and 4 other guys are doing the mission, and one of them is a double agent. The action scenes look good.

http://www.cinemavault.com/#

Cliche: My nitpick is that the premise is unoriginal. Sheesh, one of my scripts I'm working on sounds similar to this. A lot of movies are about a character doing something so the bad guy won't hurt someone close to them. Except I will give points to the movie Red. It's about all these old spy agents who retired. Then they get bored in retirement and go back to being a spy.


Clash is very similar to my script.

1. Both leads are a woman and they have to do something for a bad guy to protect a family member.
2. The lead works with a group of guys.
3. The lead falls in love with one of the guys.
4. One of the guys is a double agent.

Uffie: I saw her music video before, but forgot about it. I went on Youtube to listen to Pharreal and he did a song with her called "ADD SUV." She's being compared to Kesha because they sound alike with their dance music. I like both artists.

Weekend: It was cold and rainy all weekend, so I stayed in and pitched my script to production companies. I did have a little fun by watching new episodes of TV shows I like.

I also listened to new music by Pharrel and Mya. I then talked to my friend Dan L. who I went to jr. high and high school with. I told him about Clash and he told me about his idea already being made into a straight-to-video movie. He thought of a guy who falls in love with someone who turns out doesn't exist. Kind of reminds me of The Sixth Sense with the Bruce Willis plot twist.

Productive: I pitched my script to 40 companies yesterday and 51 companies today. I feel very accomplished.

Nov. 15 Sad news: I got a call and my other grandpa from my mom's side has passed away. My grandpa from my dad's side has passed away earlier in Aug. On Sept. we went to his funeral. I was kind of worked up last night because I got the news at 9pm and couldn't really sleep. So I listened to some Robin Thicke.

I wasn't really close to either of them, but it's still sad. Yeah, well at least they lived long lives and I can say they were happy. It's cold comfort, but you know and the grandpas know they have little time left. What I don't like are those sudden deaths that come out of nowhere so you can't really prepare for it.

It's kind of like that girl Sarah who died in a car accident when I was in gr. 12. That came out of nowhere. She was like 17. The cold comfort for her is that she spent her last night with her friends.

Money: My problems don't seem so big. Here's a mild rant. I worked at my office job for two weeks and I still haven't got paid yet. I should by Nov.24. I reactivated my EI on Nov. 5 and I still haven't got my money yet. Yeah, well at least I got a new job.

Nov. 15 Guest article: This guy Matt Phillips emailed me on my blog saying he wanted to write an article about pregnancy and birth control. I read the article and thought it was well -written with the vocabulary and grammar. I disagreed with his article because it sounded the only reason to have sex is to have kids and not because it's a fun thing to do. Well that's the vibe I'm getting. I have attached the article and will put it up on my blog.

He takes the time to read my blog, I'm going to put his article up.

Sunday, November 14, 2010

job search/ George W. Bush/ Shaw Conference Centre

Nov. 10 Job search: I was looking for a job on job-raipido.ca and when I clicked on the links to get a job as a receptionist, it led me to Kijiji.ca postings. The thing is, you should go to Kijiji.ca first. There are hundreds of job postings per category than job-raipido.

Nov. 11 Katherine Jackson: Oprah interviewed Michael Jackson's mother Katherine Jackson earlier this week. They talked about MJ's death, and how KJ is still grieving. After KJ found out he passed away, she took MJ's kids to her home.

O interviewed MJ's kids and they seem normal and well- adjusted. They interviewed them in their really big mansion. It was a sunny day. The oldest Prince likes playing video games and sports. Paris wants to be an actress when she grows up.

George W. Bush: Oprah interviewed him about his book called Decision Points. He was actually intentionally funny. If you see him talk to the press, he often stumbles and sounds stupid. I'm going to say it: I wanted John Kerry to beat him in the 2004 election.

GWB talked about 9-11. He said he had to act calm and show no fear. He also mentioned about when he was sleeping in the White House that he was woken up in the middle of the night, and rushed downstairs to the bomb shelter because a plane flew close by. He talked about Hurricane Katrina and how he didn't land there right away, because if he was there, all the security is going to him and not to the people in need.

Talk show hosts: Oprah interviewed all these talk show hosts yesterday.

1. Phil Donahue: He was on air for 29 yrs and had 20 Daytime Emmys. He was on since the 1960s, so I won't remember watching it because I'm too young. O says he opened the door for her. PD says: "When I'm at the airport a lot of people come up to me and say: 'Because of your show, I left an abusive relationship, etc.'"

2. Geraldo Rivera: He was on the 1980s and I don't remember watching it. They showed a clip of how he got into a fight when Neo-Nazis were on the show. There were like 30 people on stage and a chair was thrown at GR that broke his nose.

3. Ricki Lake: She was on TV for 11 yrs. I remember seeing her in the early 90s, but I didn't really like her. I was a kid back then. She did talk about how she had this reverend on her show and he was picketing AIDs victims funerals.

RL: You may be a reverend, but this is still my show. Get out!
The Oprah audience cheers.

4. Montell Williams: He was on TV for 17 yrs. I saw a few episodes, and thought he was alright. He talked to a black woman who was raised in a cult since she was a kid. I remember him talking to another black woman who was being held hostage in some sort of robbery and she inadvertently became the hostage negotiator.

He talked about having MS. I'm getting a flashback of high school. I was at Leslie's house and she said her mom likes him.

5. Sally Jessy Raphael: I remember seeing a few eps of her show. She talked to a rape victim. She talked to this man and his teenage son who's two young daughters were kidnapped by their ex- wife and mom, two days before Christmas.

Nov. 12 Remembrance day: So yesterday was Remembrance day. Ricki Lake had mentioned that she saw Sept. 11 first hand in the city. She thought to get out of NY, bad marriage, and finish her TV show contract (it ended in 2004.) She does charity work and is writing a book.

A couple months ago there was an update on Oprah. There is this woman who had 85% of her body burned in Sept. 11. 9 months later, she came back on Oprah and she looked mostly normal. 9 yrs later, she's beautiful and has a second kid due to a surrogate.

Job interviews: I did a job interview at a clothing store Eddie Bauer yesterday. Did you know that store came out in Seattle in 1920? In 2009, it filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection. During the interview, I was told they lost money in 2005.

Shaw Conference Centre: After that I went and did a banquet server job at the Shaw Conference Centre. I applied there months ago and turned down an interview because I got hired someone else. I decided to give this a shot and gleaned a lot of info.

Did you know there are 300 part-time staff and most are college students? The base pay is $9.20/hr, but you can make up to $12-$14/hr gratuities. There are flexible schedules where you can pick days and nights. You will have to stay until 10pm if you work on the night shifts.

I'm not really comfortable with taking the bus at night. It's only a 2 blocks (10 min walk) from a well lit bus stop at the Stanley A Milner library. A good thing though is that they pay for your Pro- Serve course. It's an online course that you do to get a license to serve alcohol. You can use it for the next 5 yrs anywhere in Alberta.

Volunteer: I read in the Edmonton Examiner that 48% of Edmontonians volunteer. I was going through my job notes from months ago and my sister told me about volunteering. She told me about this site:

http://www.volunteeredmonton.com/

Writing: Also from looking from my old notes it said: "Email Graham Wardle." I had added him as my friend on Facebook, but now he doesn't have his own page anymore. There are fan pages of him on the site though. He was one of my choice actors that I wanted in The Fighter.

Merge: While I'm at it, the Edmonton magazine Merge has folded after 8 issues. Going through my notes, I had sent them my charity article. Looks like that won't be published.

Coincidence: Last month I sent out 66 resumes and I got the office job. Now I sent 66 resumes in one week, and I managed to get a busser job. I hope this one works out.

Nov. 13 Fun: Today I pitched my script to production companies all morning. I find that it's easier to pitch than to look for a job. You are doing the same thing by looking up companies and reading about it. Instead of sending a resume, you're sending your pitch. Maybe I because I like to see the script actually be produced.

After wards, I watched all three Gossip Girl bloopers. Each were 10 min long and funny. One for each season.

Thursday, November 11, 2010

funny performance/ dark jokes/ crazy news

Nov. 8 Funny performance: I saw this performance where Madonna and Britney Spears was singing Madonna's "Human Nature."

Madonna: I'm not your bitch.
Then M points to B.
M: She's not your bitch.
B: It's Britney bitch (from her song "Gimme More.")

B laughed and so did I. lol.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aT9o4FjXNls

Dark jokes: I was thinking about how TV shows like MADtv, Tosh. O and South Park seem to shock and offend the audience and disguise it as humor.

For example, South Park made fun of Unplanned Parenthood three times. Cartman's mom goes there saying she wants an abortion, but she really meant adoption.

Then another time this woman is going to have an abortion. She's talking to the doctor and there's this laugh track.

Woman: Can you turn off the TV?
Dr.: Yes.
Cut to outside the door and there's this loud machine sound.
This guy is pushing a vacuum cleaner.

Me: You guys are really pushing it.

Another episode had Cartman drink Kenny's ashes. Then he needs the ashes out of him so he goes to Unplanned Parenthood.

Cartman: C'mon, get these ashes vacuumed out of me.

Does anyone find this funny? At least the writers know when they're being too dark. There was an episode where Cartman got AIDS and gave it to Kyle. Everywhere they go when someone asks them: "Are you sure?"

Cartman: We're positive. HIV positive.
Kyle (angrily): AIDS is nothing to laugh about it.

Though this show can be light. The kids become "Lil Crime Stoppers" like CSI. They were going to watch a TV show called Crime Drama.

Crazy trigger: I was reading the Globe and Mail with an interview with the author of Diary of Wimpy Kid. I have never read the books, but they're good enough to make a movie. The author was talking about if he wants to age the characters like Harry Potter or make them never age like the Peanuts gang. He said he can't exactly tell the press his decision until the book come out.

Then it reminded me of the TV show The Young and the Restless. It was years ago and someone on twop.com was dissing Scott who wrote a book. S was talking to a PI and said: "Well it looks like you have to read the book."

Twop: "Scott, this is a guy investigating a case, not some press interviewing you."

Then I thought: "Hey, that guy who play Scott! Isn't he Oscar on 90210?"

I looked it up, and I was right. Interesting how one interview with an author, can lead to an old episode of a soap opera, to an actor on a teen show. lol.

Job interview: I went to an interview at classy jewelry store today. It pays $11/hr and 2% commission. I then called the Flight Centre, a travel agency. They said there's a base salary with commission.

Nov. 9 News: I found this article that the FBI rescued 69 child prostitutes and 99 pimps held. The children are in protective custody or going back to their families.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/40084045/from/RSS/?gt1=43001

Feelings: I feel angry at my job search. However, I must keep things in perspective. Like look at the above. Someone always has it worse than you do.

Saving money: I can focus on doing things that make me happy like saving money. Today I finished using up this old cherry chap stick that I found in bathroom months ago. I don't have to buy another chap stick because my mom gave me one. I also saved $1.46 by buying hot chocolate mix and marshmallows separately instead of buying 1 can of chocolate mix with marshmallows in it already. I had ate a 1 month expired jar of Nutella. I didn't get sick at all.

Fun: A couple of weeks ago I saw Oprah and Gayle go to this camping trip at Yosemite. This African- American Shelton says few African- Americans go camping. When S met Oprah, he was calm. O and G meet this black man Woody and his wife Judy. I thought it was kind of funny that Woody and Judy Square's name rhymed.

O invited them to her show, and gave the couple the red Chevy car and trailer that she and G had used for camping.

Rhyming names: That reminds me of the singer Mandy Moore with her then tennis player boyfriend Andy Roddick. Mandy and Andy. There was an episode of 16 and Pregnant and the couple's names are Lori and Cory.

Crazy news: I saw this on Yahoo news that occurred in Vancouver. There's this guy who's trying to pass a fake $50 bill and the woman clerk calls the police and refuses to give him back the money. He gets angry and gets behind the counter and starts wresting with her to get the money back. I was getting angry watching it.

Then this guy in a wheelchair gets behind the counter, and pulls the guy off. Then the other customers started coming in. The police did come. However, he won't be charged because there wasn't exactly any proof he knew that it was a fake $50 bill and the assault was minor.

Though if he was innocent, he could have said: "Sure, call the police. I have nothing to hide." If he was guilty, then he should have just ran out and left because it's not even real money anyway.

The report when on about how Larry Skopnik says: "Doesn't mean that I'm in a wheelchair, means that I can't help defend someone." The woman clerk Cindy Grewal thanked him. It's not likely that the guy with the fake bill is coming back. The guy's face was blurred out. Though I will say this to him: "You hitting a woman? Shame, shame on you. Also you getting beaten up by a guy in a wheel chair? That must be a blow to the ego."

Funny video: My friend Jessica sent me this video because it was entirely shot on a cell phone camera. She thought it was cute. The first thing that came to my mind is: "Hey isn't that guy from Slumdog Millionare?" Yes, Dev Patel. On the bus ad in the short film, it showed Pamela Anderson and Ed Westwick (Chuck from Gossip Girl).

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o9ME5_ZzeKI

Tuesday, November 9, 2010

job search/ Southern Fried Stings/ business news

Nov. 5 Job search: Well I'm back on the job search. I look at all the places I turned down in a month since I got that office job. I wasn't working for 2 weeks because they were checking my references. I did use that time to pitch my script. Then another 2 weeks of actually being on the job.

1. A store that sold kitchenware.
2. A data entry job.
3. A clothing store.
4. A department store.
5. This big company that's really far away.
6. A server job at a downtown restaurant.
7. A charity.
8. A kitchen helper job at downtown restaurant.
9. Another clothing store.
10. A store that sells gift baskets.

I'm not mad that I didn't do any of these interviews. They were all regular jobs, and not an office job that I had obtained. Also, even if I did get any one of these jobs, how will I know that I will stick with it? There are still a lot of jobs out there.

90210: There are some good things I liked about the latest episode. They did a story line about a straight guy experimenting his sexuality with a gay guy. On The OC and 90210, it's always a girl experimenting. Maybe because it's more accepted, but it's more common in real life.

Here's a example. Back in the days when I used to watch Cheaters, the girls who cheat on girls with other girls seem to be experimenting. As for the two cases where I see a guy finding out his boyfriend is cheating on him with another guy, all the guys seem to be 100% gay and not experimenting.

A good surprise is that a rich teen girl turns out to be a drug dealer. That's a good storyline. Then there's the surprise where Navid finds out that girl at school is porn star. N's dad is porn producer. Then Oscar redeems himself a little by helping catch the rapist Mr. Cannon. The week before he slept with Ivy's mom and Ivy to get back at Ivy's mom.

Throw in a little PSA where Teddy was smoking pot and driving. His friends Dixon and Navid get him to pull over. There's also continuity with the black female cop investigating Mr. Cannon.

Southern Fried Stings: I'm going to admit something to you guys. I saw the last 2 min. of this show. I first saw a clip of it awhile back when my little brother was watching it. It's like Cops and there was this fight at a wedding. Two guys knocked a table down as they fight. This woman grabbed the punch bowl and poured it on this guy during the fight.

Cut to a prostitute at a truck stop, and it's revealed the john is an undercover cop. She runs out really fast, and a camera crew is on her. Fortunately, my brother changed the channel. It looks like a train wreck with cops, and fights involved. It looks like I would get angry at it, and laugh at it at the same time. But I can't watch TV shows that are like that because it raises my blood pressure.

The last two min. I saw was a black female cop telling these two white girls to respect themselves because they were running around naked.

They arrested a naked white guy.
White guy: Don't tell my wife.
Male cop: He says that, but you know she's going to know about it when he calls her to bail him out of jail.

Now I'm done confessing. I remember talking to this guy about how I quit watching Cops because I get too angry.

Guy: I get angry because the people on the show are so stupid.
Me: I get angry because the people are disrespecting the cops.

Business news: On my job search, an IHOP (International House of Pancakes) is opening on Calgary Trail.

This is a couple of months ago, but Blockbuster has filed for bankruptcy. I read about how they're not doing well months ago. I though of: "When Blockbuster files for bankruptcy, not if."

Nov. 7 Miley Cyrus: I checked out her cd from the library today. I remember reading her in the newspaper saying that her cd is about empowerment, and not letting anything hold you back.

Nov. 8: I'm going to admit something else. Last month I tuned into How I met your Mother because Maury Povich guest- starred. It's not a bad sitcom, and my sister was watching it. I haven't watched Maury since 2006, but this must be a sign that I still like him if I watch a sitcom I don't usually watch because he's in it. He was doing cameos on the show like sitting on the bus and a restaurant.

Sunday, November 7, 2010

pros and cons/ flash back/ phony sentimentality

Nov. 4 Pros and cons: I got dismissed from my office job because I wasn't good at it. Here are the pros and cons of this experience.

Pros:

1. I proved to my parents and myself that I can get an office job on my own. My parents told me that I only got that last office job at the bank because of a bank employee's reference. Yeah, well nobody knows my family and me when I applied at this company. I got this job on my own merit. My parents were temporarily proud of me. lol.

2. I made a good amount of money because it paid $14/hr.

3. I felt that I really helped the company by working at the switchboard. One person was on vacation, so they were short handed. I was taking all the incoming calls as they were helping the customers.

4. The woman I was being trained with was part-time, and she wanted full-time hours. Well she got her wish because she'll probably end up taking my hours.

5. I appreciate the opportunity that the company gave me. They trained me for 5 days, and I worked there for 4 days in the office.

6. I feel good because I gave it my best shot. I arrived on time, followed the dress code, and didn't read the newspaper. When I went on breaks, I asked first. I could have gone for a hour, but I went for 30min because we were short handed.

7. The manager told me that I had a good resume. He basically said it's one thing to have a good resume, but it's another thing to actually be working there.

8. I'll throw in that I met a lot of new people.

9. I had a good work out at the "brain gym" of this job.

10. It's a good thing I didn't visit this girl Ashley who I went to college with. She worked at the mall where my company was. She would be like this:

A: So why are you here?
Me: I work at this company.

Cut to a month later when I stop by to say hi.

A: So are you still working there?
Me: No, I got dismissed.

11. I did get a much deserved break from my job search. It did make me go and pitch my script to production companies which I haven't done in months.

Con: Besides the obvious that I got dismissed.

1. I would say I am a little disappointed that I had 5 days of training and only worked 4 days in the office. I really wanted to work there for 5 days in the office to balance the amount of training I got.

Nov. 6 Fun: I went to Staples to recycle my dead batteries. I then bumped into my friend Chase who works as a janitor. He told me that it's a good time to apply to retail now for the holiday season, because it will get harder in Jan. I thought of that. That's some more motivation for me.

I went downstairs at the Stanley A. Milner library for the first time and checked out the book sale. It's really cheap, but I didn't buy anything.

License plates: I saw the following two today: LILDOBS, and MISSUS.

Nov. 7 Teen pregnancy: I was thinking about that time last summer where Angela and I were hanging out in downtown.

Me: Do you remember that teen pregnancy joke I found: "Tell all your teachers that you're pregnant, and then they will lower their expectations of you and you can skate through jr. high."
A (smiles): If I was teacher, and I found out that one of my students was pregnant, I'm not going to go easy on her. She's going to be a mom so she needs to be able to keep up with her grades and take care of a baby.

Me: But your expectations do lower. When a girl graduates out of high school, that's good. When a teen mom graduates out of high school, that's great.
A nods in agreement.
Me: 60% of teen moms don't even graduate out of high school.

People consciously or subconsciously lower their expectations when they find out a girl got pregnant as teenager.

Flashback: I got this flashback in gr. 8 of my friend Leslie ranting to me about her teacher Dr. Tranter playing favorites.

L: Dr. Tranter was passing out these Canadian flags to all the students and she purposely gave me a flag with a wrinkle in it. She's like "Here you go Leslie."

L thinks Dr. T consciously gave her a flag with a wrinkle in it. There's no proof, but L perceived it that way. However, Dr. T could subconsciously gave her the flag with a wrinkle in it. What's L to do? She rants to her friends about it. Though L could go to the principal about it.

Principal: You want me to do what exactly?
L: I want you to tell Dr. T to stop playing favorites and show some respect. While you're at it, give me a flag that doesn't have a wrinkle in it and we'll call it even.

lol. That's overreacting. L could go to Dr. T and confront her about her favoritism. Though this is what could happen.

Dr. T: I wasn't looking at the flags if there was a wrinkle in them. I passed the flags randomly to people.

Well if L could compile a list of incidents where Dr. T plays favorites, and then confront Dr. T about it. However, this is the only time where L told me about her playing favorites. At least what I could remember.

Shopping: I might as well throw in shopping as an example. Sometimes you are consciously thinking of what you're buying and subconsciously making decisions when shopping.

Phony sentimentality: I remember watching Dark Angel and Zack says to Max: "Everything else out there is a bunch of phony sentimentality." I hate phony sentimentality. Here are the examples:

News: I was reading in the newspaper about how a young woman pretended she had cancer so she get donations and make her estranged parents feel bad for her. There is actually another case of a woman doing that.

Then I thought of charities where they call me to donate to the children's hospital: "These children have more surgeries than birthdays" and that's true. You do feel sorry for them, and play on the feelings. That's true sentimentality.

Mixed feelings: I have mixed feelings for this Jamie Kennedy Experiment sketch. There's this reality talent show sketch where Jamie plays a trick on the 2 judges and the entire studio audience. J wasn't talented at all, and the audience boos and laughs at him.

J: My wife died about 6 months ago and she told me to do what makes you happy, and performing makes me happy.

The audience stops laughing and goes silent. I guess you could use this as an example to teach people a lesson. You may hate reality show contestants, but they are all real people. They all experience pain, joy, and the good and bad things in life.

Reality show: I remember seeing this Survivor clip where this guy has his friend tell him that his grandma has passed away when he was on the island. All the other contestants felt sorry for him. Then it turns out his grandma wasn't dead, he got his friend to lie about it so the other contestants would feel sorry for him.

That is phony sentimentality. Unless some of you guys want to wank it in your mind and say: "Look this is a game. If he lies to move himself forward in the game, he will." Yeah, well at least he's not scamming people out of money by lying that he has cancer.

Friday, November 5, 2010

cute and funny/ dialogue/ good writing

Oct. 30 Cute and funny: I was watching Jay Leno and there's a video clip of a dog praying. The dog puts his paws on the sofa arm chair and tucks his head underneath it as his owner was praying.

Owner: Thank you lord for this meal.... and give me strength to not chase my neighbor's cat. Amen.

The dog lifts his head. Jay then shows a clip of a satanic cat. The cat really did look possessed.

Stupid criminals: Also on Jay Leno, there was videos of stupid criminals. 2 robbers with light sabers into a convenience store. The clerk gets his lead pipe and starts hitting them with it so the robbers ran.

JL: That's the Employee Strikes Back.

Cut to a clip of a robber who puts on his Darth Vader mask in the store before robbing it. So of course, you see his face without the mask. He got arrested.

Cut to a 911 call. This woman bought an escort for her teen son to go to grad with him. The escort took the money and didn't go to grad with him.

911 operator: What's your address?
The mom and son hang up.

Joke: I was watching the rapper Jay Z as he introduces his song about addiction called "I know."

Jay Z: Don't Lindsay Lohan on.
The audience laughs.
Jay Z: Maybe I went too far. We'll have to edit it (the joke) out.
lol.

Nov. 1 Office job: Today I went to my first 8hr shift at the office. I was able to handle the switch board. Now, the challenging thing is to do the call backs and be able to help the customers. The morning was quiet, and the phone calls came every few min. I could read the newspaper, but I have to be working.

Instead, I studied my notes. When I've been there for 3 months and I totally know how to do my job, then you're allowed to slack off. The employees were joking around and having fun, but remained professional to help people. I worked on answering the phones in a professional manner, transferring calls, and taking messages.

Nov. 2: I think I can last for the rest of the week. One person's on vacation. They may be baby sitting me and my new co-worker, but I am helping. I am answering all the incoming calls and directing them and taking messages while the others are busy.

Guest- stars: Yesterday I was watching Gossip Girl and they managed to get three big celebs playing themselves in one episode. We got fashion designer Rachel Zoe, big fashion magazine editor Joe Zee (he's on the reality show The City) and the singer Robyn.

Robyn: I like Robyn's old songs like "Do you know what it takes?" and "Show me Love" way back in the late 90s. She has been doing music since then, but she was mainly staying in Europe. But now this year her music is appearing in the Canada and US.

Halloween fun: It's a little late with this, but I was watching Degrassi of the Dead. It was from a few years ago, but I haven't seen it. It's a 15 min. short film of "What if Degrassi was infested with zombies?" It was fun to watch. After it, there was a short "Making of." They then aired The Curse of Degrassi which was 30min. I saw it before. The story was more plausible with a ghost haunting the school than zombies coming out of nowhere.

Drake: You know the singer Drake? I love his song "Find your love." His real name is Aubrey Graham and he was on Degrassi: The Next Generation for years. After his role ended, he went by the name Drake and got a record deal. After the Degrassi of the Dead, it showed him dancing in his zombie costume. I got to say Drake can dance.

Brandy: You know the singer Brandy? She's now on Dancing with the Stars. I read an article where she's helping a girl who needs a heart transplant. Brandy is raising money for her surgery. B also invited her and her family over to celebrate the girl's bday. That is so nice.

Dialogue: I was thinking about that 90210 scene where the three high school girls Adrianna, Naomi, and Silver were crowding around the computer. The way they were acting and talking excitedly trying to trap the bad teacher Mr. Cannon was a really bad scene. They acted so stupid. I know teen girls can get really excited, but I thought it was written unrealistically. They were acting stupid, and it wasn't even funny.

There was that TV show The Sausage Factory, and the three high school guys Gilby, JC, and Zack discussed about how Z had contracted VD without having sex. The dialogue was stupid. It was realistic because there's misinformation about sex out there. I don't know if anyone will think this following dialogue is funny. You be the judge.

Gilby: Did you use any public restrooms recently?
Zack: Yeah, I did last week.

Cut to a scene with Z in the washroom.
Cut back to the restaurant.

JC: Did you use a toilet seat cover?
Z: No.G: What? You shared a toilet seat with that guy? Then that means you got a VD from a guy!
JC and G: Ooooohhhhh!

You may be thinking: "This is totally stupid and ridiculous. It's not a VD because he didn't have sex."

Good writing: I was watching Hellcats, and I thought it was kind of predictable. Is there anyone here who didn't think that Marti lost her virginity to her best friend Dan? However, I did like the ending when Savannah finds out that her boyfriend Dan lost his virginity to Marti.

Savannah was going to lose her virginity, but when she found out her boyfriend lost his virginity to Marti, S was really upset. S ran away crying. Great acting and filming.

I was watching Criminal Minds and this guy was going to kill himself. His cop father than shoots the guy's arm so he wouldn't shoot himself. Damn. That's a good shot, and it also made you think: "Can you ever shoot your own kid?" Well to prevent him from killing himself.

STDs on TV: On a side note, I got to give points to Hellcats for showing a condom on TV. Safety first kids.

Tuesday, November 2, 2010

office job/ Red: Werewolf Hunter/ dialogue



Oct. 30 Office job: Yesterday, the woman I was being trained with, she told me that she overheard the manager fire a sales guy.

Manager: You don't show up for work, and you don't even call to say you're not coming in. I don't need you.

That's good to dismiss people for bad behavior or performance. 

Chances: At the Soup place, my managers were way too patient with this co-worker of mine. This co-worker often misses Mon. and Tues. and often doesn't call. My manager Stella says she will give her one more chance and if she doesn't meet up to the standard, they will fire her.

However, the employee kept missing Mon. and Tues., and not calling. She keeps working there. The managers have lowered their expectations and dealt with it. The managers have stuck with their guns on this other employee who was a 13 yr old boy. He missed some shifts. He either quit or got fired, it doesn't matter. He's 13 yrs old, you can lower your expectations. It wasn't a major loss for him or the managers if he wasn't working there.

16 and Pregnant: I finished reading the dozens of pages on twop.com about the season 2 episode of Lori. My thoughts are that it's a good thing that Lori gave her baby up for adoption. L was adopted and her biological mom was a teen mom. I liked L's adoptive parents who pushed her into giving the baby up for adoption.

I thought L's friend was stupid for saying to L: "I think you can keep the kid and raise it as your own." I thought it was really weird for someone to say that to a teen girl. I would never tell a teen girl to keep the kid and raise it as her own because it's really hard. The people on twop.com thought the friend was stupid too, and that she probably only said that so she has a baby to play with, and L is the one raising it.

I thought the friend was stupid about wanting to throw a baby shower for L when it wasn't really decided on if she is going keep it or give it up for adoption. I was glad when her mom said that getting pregnant as a teenager is nothing to celebrate.

L's mom: Why throw a baby shower when you're not even going to keep the kid?
L: So I can give the baby stuff to the adoptive family.

L's boyfriend Cory was alright. He was a few years older, and lived with a roommate in his own apartment. I didn't think he was a jerk. There was a lot of skepticism about C and his female roommate who he is "just friends" with. I believe that he was just friends with his roommate. There was skepticism on twop.com that L was taking birth control pills with antibiotics that made the birth control pill less effective.

Maybe I'm gullible, but I did believe that. I remember writing about it in my blog/ weekly email: "Be careful when taking antibiotics with birth control pills, because the birth control pill would be less effective."

KFC: Yesterday I tried the Double Down Burger from KFC. You know it's a burger with two pieces of chicken as the bread, two slices of cheese and bacon. It's $7.34. It tastes good, but it's too expensive. I'll add trying this burger and a burger from Fat Burger on my "List of things I always wanted to do." This burger and burgers from Fat Burger are way too expensive like $6. I would spend that money on a combo like burger, fries and a drink. I have been to a couple of KFCs and it's advertised that it's sold out. I read in 24 that it's estimated 350,000 of these burgers were sold since it came to Canada on Oct. 18.

Oct. 31 Red: Werewolf Hunter: I read about this TV movie in the newspaper. It's about the re-imagining of Little Red Riding Hood. There has been Tin Man (remake of The Wizard of Oz) and Alice (Alice in Wonderland.) It stars Felicia Day who you may have seen as a slayer- in- training on Buffy and on Joss Whedon's other creation Dr. Horrible. I like the supernatural, but I didn't like this TV movie.

I'll admit that I have been trying to cut down on watching TV movies because it's often mediocre. It's about a young woman named Virginia, and her nickname is Red. She is an FBI agent and so is her fiance Nathan. R has a family secret that they are werewolf hunters. She wants to tell N that, but first she asks her grandma. R introduces N to her Grandma, and her two brothers. R's parents were killed by a werewolf.

R brings N home, and then this guy comes up to N when he's alone. The man dies right in front of him. R is forced to tell him the family secret because you can't explain how this body bursts into flames. N understandably freaks out and goes out for a walk to process what's going on. He then gets attacked by a werewolf.

N is locked up in a cage when it becomes full moon. The antagonist is introduced as Gabriel. He attacked the man, and he attacked N. I thought I saw Riley from Degrassi: The Next Generation making an appearance, but he wasn't credited. There is a good surprise with the girl that was in the trunk of the car. However, I thought she should have been tied up.Unless it was a really fast kidnapping, you throw her in without bothering to put tie her up. The story is how the Sullivans and the Werewolves called a truce to not kill each other as long as the werewolves lock themselves up on the full moon.

Gabriel took over and the werewolves are kidnapping people and putting them in this game so the wolves will hunt down the humans. It's like that short story "The Most Dangerous Game" about hunting humans.

The newly turned werewolves then hunt down the Sullivans.

Dialogue: In the Globe and Mail, it said there was "clunky dialogue" and the Edmonton Journal said "Check out the movie." I have to agree the dialogue wasn't really good. Of course, a lot of writers and producers have told me that I need to work on my dialogue writing. I was on imdb.com and one review said about the line delivery wasn't good.

Here are some examples from the movie:

Gabriel catches good guys and knocks them out.

Gabriel: Welcome. I've been looking forward to this. Get some rest.

I would have rewritten it to: "I've been looking forward to this for a very long time." You may think my line's not very good.

Later Red and her brother Marcus are talking.

Marcus: If I become a wolf, kill me.
Red: I'll make a note of it for future reference.

Marcus and Jake are running, and J retrieves something that will help them.

Marcus: Our odds of survival just improved dramatically.

Excuse me, no one is going to say that. They would just say: "That's great." The audience already knows that it will help the characters.

Line delivery: I remember a few months ago I was watching a Buffy rerun with my sister. It's where Xander sees his ex-fiance Anya hooking up with Spike on video.

Shortly afterward, Willow goes up to Buffy.

Willow: Xander's gone, and he took your axe.
My sister and I kind of laughed at that line. It's not a bad line or delivery, but it was kind of funny. In real life, anyone is going to say that line, and say it that way.

Post Secret: I read this post card: "I've been using lines from Grey's Anatomy on my ex....and he thinks they're so clever he's been repeating them. (I can't decide if I want someone to call him on it!)"

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I used the "you dont get to call me a whore" speech on my ex who had cheated on me. He cried.

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I used Burke’s wedding vows as my own, because I was so busy planning the wedding I forgot to write any. I only saw a few episodes of that TV show when it first came out. I couldn't get into, so that's why I stopped. Looks like this show has good dialogue that people will use them in real life. I usually quote from funny TV shows like The Simpsons to make people laugh.