AUTHOR: Kelly Bean TITLE: are you fucking kidding me? DATE: 9/21/2006 08:35:00 PM ----- BODY:
having been pointed to this information is courtesy of one angry girl. Hooters Girls Give Thanks Quotes from the official Hooters Calendar, November 2000. • We are thankful we don’t understand anything Nietzche wrote. • We are thankful there are no Hooters guys. • We are thankful for every day we wake up without a chalk outline around our bodies. • We are thankful that wrinkles don’t hurt. only because i didn't really believe (and had to see for myself) that something like that would be advertised as normal and sane, i broke down and did it...i went to their website. it just got worse. and if you don't beleive me, i encourage you to see for yourself. i.e. (these are direct quotes): "Hooters is the only place you get 2 spectator sports for the price of 1." "The Hooters Calendar has come a long way since the beginning, improved in size and shape as well as in quality and content." "Some corporate slogans speak to improving the human condition...some speak to improving human relations...and then there's the Hooters restaurant chain. which cheerfully admits to no higher calling than lowbrow pleasure: 'Delightfully tacky, yet unrefined' (Fortune 100: September 1, 2003: linked to Hooters website). "If you piled up the 15,000 current Hooters girls...well, they'd really be stacked" (Fortune: 2003). nice to see fortune magazine really rising to the occasion by bringing out all the suggestive little quips they can come up with. nice to see a restaurant so proud of the trashy agenda they're selling (yes, it obviously sells well and i'm not denying that...deathly important to note, though, that the reason why it sells is obviously a much larger social issue). maybe it was latent rage caused by a half an hour wait at the post office earlier in the evening only to be told that they can't find the parcel they notified me about and had me drive up there for (we won't dwell on the fact that the "parcel" is probably the text book that i'm supposed to have read 6 chapters out of by monday-nor will we dwell on the fact that i almost burst into tears in the middle of the post office after being told that). could be the fact that for some reason when i got home, i started having to fight the urge to go buy a pack of cigarettes in order to smoke each and every one in it. whatever it was, when i read the above mentioned quotes i began to feel a little violent. as if it's not bad enough that they have to allow the women to appear "dumbed down" so that it will sell better...fortune 100 magazine takes it as an opportunity to sound "fun" and "hip" by turning the article into a adolescent's wet dream. this is how far we've come.

Labels: ,

----- -------- AUTHOR: Kelly Bean TITLE: why does europe laugh at us again? DATE: 9/13/2006 10:53:00 AM ----- BODY:
oh, yeah...i almost forgot. if you've forgotten, please see the above linked article. even more worthy of commentary is what some of the general public have to say about it in an open forum: http://starbucksgossip.typepad.com/_/2006/09/principal_tells.html#comments. case and point...this is what one post had to say: "And everyone who has said that the principal shouldn't do that, either doesn't have kids, doesn't have boys, or just do not care about their kids." (i won't even go into the embarrassing misuse of the english language...too easy) really? seriously??? i have problems with this on so many levels. to begin with this is what is apparently so down and out dirty: mermaids are a mythical creature-those aren't even a real person's breasts that the drawing is representing. the following words are not ones i would choose when describing or referring to women's bodies or sex: dirty, shameful, bad, frightening, embarrassing, disgusting, perverted. yet this is precisely the prevailing legacy we give many of our children without even having to say those words. this is what we teach a lot of our little girls for example, and then we send them out into the world expecting them to make successful choices regarding their sexuality and self-esteem. they actually get told in their teens that they are supposed to value themselves, have self-esteem and respect themselves. how incredibly confusing for an adolescent that grew up with so many messages that their body is dirty and wrong (don't even get me started on the "hygiene" products that women should supposedly be using that are shoved in our faces during every other t.v. commercial) and that sex is bad and shameful. and still, we are "shocked" at how many end up pregnant in their teens, suffering from STDs by the time they're 20 or even in abusive relationships. yes, there are definitely many other factors that play into all that; but no one will ever convince me that America's attitude towards sexuality and women's bodies don't have a lot to do with it. not to mention the fact that after navigating the mess of adolescence many of us then get to struggle as women with whether or not it's okay to acknowledge our sexuality. besides...kent is a pit anyway; i would think they have bigger problems to tackle in their public schools than a mermaid printed on the side of a freaking coffee cup.

Labels:

----- COMMENT: AUTHOR:Anonymous Anonymous DATE:9/17/2006 12:54:00 AM Wow, Kelly, all I can say is that I completely agree with you, and I couldn't have said it better myself;) ----- -------- AUTHOR: Kelly Bean TITLE: hardware store etiquette DATE: 4/29/2006 01:22:00 PM ----- BODY:
after the whole infected sliver debacle (courtesy of hours of bare gardening) last weekend i realized it would be best to invest in some garden gloves. since i have become maniacal about my rented backyard i decided it couldn't wait and one day last week went from work right to the home depot that is a block down the street before driving home. i went right to the garden center to locate gloves and was hoping to find a nice trowel as well to assist with weeding. before i found the gloves i happened upon the shelves of various decorative fencing/stonework. in my rented backyard there is a tree that stands near the garage; it sits among a bed of bluebells whose dirt had begun to overtake the walkway. apparently that dirt had also swallowed a few pieces of the red brick edging that had once surrounded it. as luck would have it the first aisle i walked down boasted that exact same brick edging. of course, because i've gone insane about the yard, i was forced to grab a few. they were heavy, and became more so the longer i toted them around the store. i continued on to look for a trowel and gloves. as i was carrying around the equivalent of a brick baby from hell (it also had started to feel as if it was actually 80 degrees outside) i heard a male voice say "those are a couple of nice lookin' bricks you got there". seriously? i actually stopped walking and turned to find out what kind of male would utter such veiled harassment. the guy had to have been at least 60. had he been even 20 years younger i would have hurled the brick baby from hell right at him for assuming that i was so vapid as to think he was actually complimenting it. okay, so i would only have done that in my fantasy world where it would be completely acceptable to act on any absurd impulse that presents itself. at the very least i would have chewed him a new ear. i think it was clear evidence of my progressing maturity when i realized immediately that anything i attempted to say in response to that salty old character would have been wasted effort. so instead i blinked at him a few times and, at a loss for words, just kept on walking. pick your battles, right?

Labels: , ,

----- -------- AUTHOR: Kelly Bean TITLE: when did the world start belonging to us? DATE: 4/12/2006 07:13:00 PM ----- BODY:
i say "us" intending it to mean americans. driving home from work this evening i pulled up to one of the last lights i would have to sit at prior to getting home. while sitting there waiting for the light to change i subtly rubber-necked (as i usually do when stopped at a light or in traffic) at the various cars and people that surrounded me. what i saw on the bumber of the pick-up truck in front of me caused me to wince (seriously, i actually winced). the woman in front of me had seen fit to proudly display the following: "god unites the world for the US". what? once the light changed and we crossed aurora, i changed lanes & while passing the pick-up truck couldn't resist investigating what kind of human puts a sticker like that on their car when it's obviously not a joke or something. female, mid 40's...didn't look crazy (of course, i should know better; plenty of the questionable people i've known in my life don't actually look it). for a split second i wanted to tell her to pull over so that i could ask the question that was burning holes in my mind - exactly when did he/she/it tell you that...and why on earth did he/she/it pick you? although i am aware of the pervasive attitude in this country that smacks of arrogance like that, i had never seen anyone actually fessing up to it with pride so plainly like that. as if i needed more of a reason to be sickened by humanity...more specifically this country? i didn't, and i'm not thankful that i have more of a reason now.

Labels:

----- COMMENT: AUTHOR:Blogger Kelly Bean DATE:4/13/2006 08:31:00 AM without going on for hours my personal opinion is that, no, that US is not that good. at least not enough to warrant that kind of attitude. and it sort of makes me sad that i'm a part of it. if my family that i love with all my heart didn't live here, i wouldn't either.

and thanks, i'm working on the crazy pills and thought process part. ----- -------- AUTHOR: Kelly Bean TITLE: at what junction in the process is one healthy enough to be angry at their therapist? DATE: 4/08/2006 10:27:00 AM ----- BODY:
i question it because thinking of therapy literally "therapizes" my thoughts. 'am i displacing anger towards her that actually has to do with something and/or somebody else?' 'has an issue been brought up for me and my brain is cloaking it with the current situation in an attempt to not deal with the issue?' of course there is always at least one thought that just doesn't fit in with the therapized thoughts, the black sheep of the thoughts, if you will. it translates into layman's terms as the following: 'i am pissed off at the current situation and damnit i have a right to be.' you might ask what caused the thought dyslexia. i'm happy to oblige. i cancelled my appt. on thursday after crossing the invisible 'not 24 hours prior' foul line. there has been only been one incident prior to this in which i violated this boundary; the cause of which, was out of my hands. admittedly, in the past month or so i have felt the need to reschedule appt's more than i would have liked but i did so while respecting that 24-hour boundary. obviously this boundary was set by her in the beginning of the relationship as a means to respect her time/schedule while still allowing me the freedom of dealing with real life where sometimes other things might have to take priority and schedules shifted around. that's all good and fine. the message i left when attempting to get ahold of her relayed the following: i was not feeling well at all and hoped she would understand the need to go home and rest; i was happy to mail a check for her time being that it was such short notice and hoped she could return my call to confirm that she got the message (i also apologized that it was such short notice). considering my track record, my assumption was that the message i received in return would go something like this: i'm sorry to hear you aren't feeling well and i understand the need to go home and rest when that happens. please contact me as soon as you can if you would like to reschedule (and here she would either say that it wasn't necessary for me to send a check, or that she would like me to go ahead and do so). i was in for a hot fudge sundae of a therapy surprise because when i was able to check my messages again it went something like this (forgive the not totally accurate paraphrasing): i'm sorry you are not feeling well, and of course you don't need to send a check as canceling for illness does not incur a charge (fair enough). however, i would like to raise the question of what your commitment to therapy is like at this time (what?). it seems there have been times you have rescheduled on short notice before for various reasons (maybe you should make your boundary 48 hours in advance then if 24 hours is too "short notice"?) and i just wonder what commitment level you're at right now as i do have other clients that would like appt. times as well (perhaps if you have too many clients you should not have agreed to take me on?). of course things happen sometimes that are out of our hands (yes, i'm painfully aware; since right now my insides feel as if they're betraying me & have done so all day long) but i would really like you to do some soul-searching about what point you're at right now (try ill). maybe think about whether you might be avoiding and what kind of priority counseling is for you right now. seriously? really. my emotional brain and my logical brain then had the following pseudo-discussion in almost exact order: emotional: i am never going back there. followed by, commit this therapist! logical: not returning at all would definitely be counter-productive. emotional: guilt-guilt-guilt logical: i wonder how, exactly, the window cleaning guys secure those ropes on the roof that they hang from to clean the windows. (i was outside work at the time) emotional: that was a totally inconsiderate way to communicate that to me...in a voice mail. logical: were the roles reversed i would really not think it acceptable to leave those sort of thoughts on a message for a client. emotional: anger-anger-anger logical: where did my initial reaction come from? am i justified in feeling angry and put-off? is this bringing up some sort of issue that has nothing to do with this situation? emotional: anger-anger-anger that's where i ended up & then i had to go back inside to work. so, anger-anger-anger is where i've stayed. now i have to cook up how to question someone's therapeutic methods while avoiding 'making it personal' for either her or me and sounding logical/reasonable all at the same time. i.e. i have to come up with some sort of intelligible way of communicating my thoughts/feelings so that i don't revert to "anger-anger-anger" and "seriously carolyn? really?"

Labels: ,

----- -------- AUTHOR: Kelly Bean TITLE: there is a pool full of asshats in ballard now DATE: 3/09/2006 10:44:00 PM ----- BODY:
this evening we spoke about anger. that word that in the english language actually consists of five letters but that for most of my life has been a four letter word. angry. anger. that emotion that, if not resolved sometime soon, will cause me to stroke out by the age of 50. she asked me to pick a person that i'm angry at and describe what i thought of them. i did as she asked and after i did she parroted the words i had chosen while jotting them down. "selfish...childish...fearful." and then, while leaning towards me questioningly, "ass what"? "asshat". which caused such a round of laughter for her that she cried a little. i entertain my therapist. awesome. but then we continued on to make the pool of anger. i think she might have actually created a makeshift pool with her pen for the names we put in there. all it can take is one person to set off anger that has been shoved down and compacted. one person and one event that by itself really didn't mean anything, but when compounded with everything else can cause one to pull out all the other pieces of anger like scarves that never end in a magic trick. the magic trick was her metaphor. mine was clowns...endless clowns exiting a car. then, because we both thought it was so funny it became asshats exiting a car. once the first asshat makes it out, all the others follow. so commences the [angry letter] portion of therapy. i have two weeks to produce at least one to show her. my prediction is that i will over achieve and write all of them. we're starting with angry letters because i just don't think i'm ready for kick boxing yet. on a side note, i shared with her the dreams i have had the unfortunate pleasure of dealing with as of late. she suggested that maybe this was positive...that my subconscious was starting to assist with the process of resolution. she also shared that she regretted having failed to warn me after the last time i saw her that the dreams might happen. yes...in hindsight a warning might have been helpful.

Labels: ,

----- COMMENT: AUTHOR:Blogger Nate DATE:3/27/2006 04:15:00 AM What is it with you and the asshats. They seem to follow Ke-ri around everywhere.

Sorry about my weirdness last night on the phone - I was BEYOND drunk. Had to be assisted home. ----- -------- AUTHOR: Kelly Bean TITLE: "to the moon, alice" DATE: 3/07/2006 09:29:00 PM ----- BODY:
The bill, carrying a penalty of up to five years in prison, would make it a felony for doctors or others to perform abortions. "The bill, carrying a penalty of up to five years in prison, would make it a felony for doctors or others to perform abortions. Bartling and other supporters noted that the recent appointment of Justices John Roberts and Samuel Alito make the Supreme Court more likely to consider overturning Roe v. Wade. President Bush, a Republican and an abortion foe, might also have a chance to appoint a third justice in the next few years, they said. Opponents argued that the measure was too extreme because it would allow abortions only to save the lives of pregnant women. They said abortion should at least be allowed in cases involving rape, incest and a threat to a woman’s health." if there is a heaven i wouldn't be surprised in the slightest if all the people in our history who had ever fought for anyone's rights is seriously pissed off right now. say hello to the dark ages guys and gals cause we're heading full speed ahead right back into them again. i do need to add that i am not an unreasonable individual. on some levels i can understand where the belief that abortion is morally wrong comes from...saving babies, life begins at conception, blah, blah, and blah. the particular pro-lifer wackos in south dakota went way too far though. if there is a line they stepped over to the dark side of it...they might as well legalize rape and incest in that state at this point. of course, they did say that emergency contraception was still acceptable. pure generosity. let's take a look at the facts: "Combined ECPs reduce the risk of pregnancy by 75 percent if started within 72 hours of unprotected intercourse. For example, eight out of 100 women will become pregnant after having unprotected sex once during the second or third week of their cycles. But only two out of 100 will become pregnant after taking ECPs. Progestin-only ECPs reduce the risk of pregnancy by 89 percent if started within 72 hours of unprotected intercourse. Only one woman out of 100 will become pregnant after taking progestin-only ECPs." [© 2005 Planned Parenthood Federation of America, Inc.] 72 hours. how many 13 year olds who are victims of incest do you think are going to make it to a clinic in time to take advantage of that? as for the unfortunates who are forced at gun point, knife, or with fists? "Sexual assault is one of the most underreported crimes, with more than half still being left unreported." [© RAINN 2005] if more than half of us after being attacked like that don't feel safe enough to report to 'officials' i wonder how many are too humiliated by what some domineering asshat did to them to find a clinic. it is a sad pathetic day and if i had been a resident in south dakota at the time this was passed i would have blown up the capitol and then moved to montana. please excuse me while i go make dinner in bare feet and scrub the floor on my knees.

Labels: ,

----- --------