Princess is a 1/2 hour TV show based on the concept of a "Princess," defined as a totally self-centered female who spends far beyond her means to pay the bills. Today, I watched an episode about a young female on "stress leave" from her demanding job as a make-up demonstrator in a shopping mall cosmetics department who is spending money like she earns $6000/month, rather than living off her disability checks. Yeah, disability checks!!
She's over $20k in debt to her family, but here's what I found interesting: her theory of debt repayment.
The money was spent a long time ago, so why don't we all just move on? She doesn't understand why her family cannot just forget the past (because Princess has), even though her elderly aunt loaned her $10K for school bills and is repaying the loan every month because the Princess can't afford the payment herself. The same aunt would like to have her car back, but the Princess can't return her only means of transportation -- or pay for the insurance, the gas, or her parking tickets -- so her aunt should just get over it and move on. And her mother? She REALLY wants her favorite daughter to pay back the $7200 she's borrowed from her own mother? We could probably also talk about credit card debt, but you get the picture.
Cue the giggles when she spent her rent money on a totally cute pair of hot shoes she just had to have ... .
Sunday, July 28, 2013
Friday, July 26, 2013
Juror's Remorse
One of the TM jurors has come forward to say she was going to be the juror who stayed the course and voted for a guilty verdict on the manslaughter charge, but "according to the law in Florida," she couldn't find him guilty. So, what's all the public appearances, posturing, and comparing her regret to TM's mother's pain?
If you could not find Zimmerman guilty under the law, he is not guilty -- under the law. If you don't want this kind of verdict to happen in another case, either find enough legal evidence to lead to a guilty verdict or change the law.
Or, consider that if he's not guilty under the law, he's not guilty.
It's just as plausible that a young, testosterone fueled teen, all dressed in black and deliberately conducting himself in a suspicious manner in a strange neighborhood, decided to teach the man following him a lesson by jumping him. He'd have a great story to tell to all his homies, posturing about what he did, when he did it, and how he prevailed over "the man." Could have been the story of how a young black man killed a Hispanic man just as easily as it became the story of how a Hispanic (turned white by the media and protesters) man killed a black man. If TM had found the gun, would he have used it? and then regretted that decision for the rest of his life. Zimmerman would have been just as dead if TM had pulled the trigger during the fight as TM is dead because Zimmerman pulled the trigger during the fight.
We can "what if?" for years to come, but six people made a decision based on the law, a decision that no amount of remorse, regret, or righteous indignation will change.
Nor TV appearances.
Nor riots in the streets.
Nor playing the race card.
If you could not find Zimmerman guilty under the law, he is not guilty -- under the law. If you don't want this kind of verdict to happen in another case, either find enough legal evidence to lead to a guilty verdict or change the law.
Or, consider that if he's not guilty under the law, he's not guilty.
It's just as plausible that a young, testosterone fueled teen, all dressed in black and deliberately conducting himself in a suspicious manner in a strange neighborhood, decided to teach the man following him a lesson by jumping him. He'd have a great story to tell to all his homies, posturing about what he did, when he did it, and how he prevailed over "the man." Could have been the story of how a young black man killed a Hispanic man just as easily as it became the story of how a Hispanic (turned white by the media and protesters) man killed a black man. If TM had found the gun, would he have used it? and then regretted that decision for the rest of his life. Zimmerman would have been just as dead if TM had pulled the trigger during the fight as TM is dead because Zimmerman pulled the trigger during the fight.
We can "what if?" for years to come, but six people made a decision based on the law, a decision that no amount of remorse, regret, or righteous indignation will change.
Nor TV appearances.
Nor riots in the streets.
Nor playing the race card.
Monday, July 22, 2013
The Heat
Melissa McCarthy and Sandra Bullock are perfectly paired in the comedrama The Heat that had me LMAO while ROTF. It's R rated for good reason as the dialog is pretty raunchy, but the comedy is so good and works so well that I let the language slide. For a 1 PM matinee, the theater was packed and everyone genuinely laughed together, which is a sign of a well-executed script.
Sunday, July 14, 2013
The Lone Ranger
My nomination for the WORST MOVIE of the year: The Lone Ranger. It earns this distinction on so many levels that it's hard to spotlight just one flaw!!
Profiling
The way it seems to me is that if you are a black perpetrator, you are a victim of racial profiling; if you are a black victim, you are the victim of racial profiling. Whoopi Goldberg may be right in her insistence that blacks don't live in the same world with the rest of the population.
Saturday, July 13, 2013
Foreign Driving
Shenyang, China features a variety of vehicles that creates a confusing mobile traffic jam through which the majority of motorists wander unscathed. But don’t ask me how. It took the first week of abject fear without accident before I could enter a cab and not cower in the corner. Looking up at a decrepit city bus from the back seat of a cab driven by a driver determined to cut the bus off is not for the faint of heart.
Let me explain what I’ve learned, beginning with the basic rules of the road. First, and foremost, any driver in any vehicle has the right to do whatever s/he wants to do on the road. Signs, signals, and striping are simply suggestions for those drivers who lack the confidence to pick a destination and then get there, come what may in interference. Thus, buses, construction dump trucks, privately-owned vehicles, pedicars, small, three-wheeled cars the size of a typical living-room barkalounger, donkey-drawn carts and repurposed bicycles all compete for road space with the taxis, which by sheer numbers command attention. The only commonality between this polyglot of vehicles is that survival depends on one’s vehicle’s horn: even the burro-drawn cart must have a horn.
The horn provides access to multi-maneuvers on the road, bypassing either the rules of the road or common usage agreements. Thus, in the states, a two-lane pathway would, at any given time, have a maximum of two vehicles abreast. In China, that is a minimum; the maximum lane usage practice incorporates the parking/curb lane, the first striped lane, the lane centered over the first stripe, the second striped lane, and the lane centered over the double-striped lane that separates oncoming from ongoing traffic. The horn announces where a vehicle is and presages that it’s going to be moving about the traffic pattern, but it is up to the other drivers on the road to be alert and move out of the way. Failure to drive defensively while aggressively pursuing one’s ultimate destination results in a traffic accident.
Smaller vehicles defend their size against the biggest vehicles on the road by stationing themselves near either the front or the rear bumper of the much larger vehicle. When the traffic flow begins, the small vehicle beeps its horn, then pulls out into traffic, perhaps feeling invincible and/or protected by the much larger vehicle it’s using to open a hole in the traffic. Based on the relative size differential, I’m guessing that the only way the bus knows there is a far-too-small vehicle hiding from view is past experience. One person can squeeze into these micro-cars, but there is a “back seat” with a passenger holding on for dear life. The pedicabs have been motorized (they used to be bicycles and still look like enclosed bicycles), but I saw few with any kind of lights aboard, which minimizes being seen by other vehicles on the road, especially after sunset. Regardless of the relative safety of being in either of these two vehicles, it’s somewhat better than being a pedestrian.
There are few traffic lights in Shenyang; hence, traffic continues to scurry about helter skelter. A pedestrian risks life and limb each time s/he crosses a street because the vehicular traffic does not stop for man, woman, or child. Ever. As the cabs dart about the roads, there, perched on the center “no crossing” lines are temporarily halted pedestrians who have been unable to cross the street fully. If the cab is using the “center line” as another passing lane, it behooves the pedestrians to be especially alert to line-sharing. On one of the few streets with a pedestrian lane, traffic becomes even more aggressive because that is wasted lane space for motor vehicles, as well as wasted driving time, so they ignore the pedestrians with disdain for their selfish mindset in claiming that crossing lane as their own.
By the end of the first week of cabbing around Shenyang, I felt better at being surrounded by steel and steadfastly refused to even try to cross the street. By the end of week two, I was able to conquer my fear of crossing some of the less busy streets, but it took nerves of steel to do so, especially because drivers simply do not react as if any of the more civilized road rules apply to them. A right-hand turn at a corner can be made from the double yellow “no passing” line farthest from the right-hand curb – as long as the horn is administered properly and profusely. A U-turn can be made across the double yellow “no passing” line into on-coming traffic as long as the horn is used to indicate … something is happening on the road somewhere, so look out for it. And, of course, passing another vehicle is simply one of the rules of the road, and if the car was intends to pass fails to heed the horn, muscle against the front bumper and just keep coming on: the car being nosed out doesn’t want the hassle of a traffic accident and will move out of your way.
People who have lived in and/or visited major cities tell me that this craziness is universal, but that doesn’t make it any less frightening. It does, however, explain some of the driving I’ve witnessed on the California freeway systems! People who move here from other areas disregard line striping, even on freeways, but here? We call them statistics.
Let me explain what I’ve learned, beginning with the basic rules of the road. First, and foremost, any driver in any vehicle has the right to do whatever s/he wants to do on the road. Signs, signals, and striping are simply suggestions for those drivers who lack the confidence to pick a destination and then get there, come what may in interference. Thus, buses, construction dump trucks, privately-owned vehicles, pedicars, small, three-wheeled cars the size of a typical living-room barkalounger, donkey-drawn carts and repurposed bicycles all compete for road space with the taxis, which by sheer numbers command attention. The only commonality between this polyglot of vehicles is that survival depends on one’s vehicle’s horn: even the burro-drawn cart must have a horn.
The horn provides access to multi-maneuvers on the road, bypassing either the rules of the road or common usage agreements. Thus, in the states, a two-lane pathway would, at any given time, have a maximum of two vehicles abreast. In China, that is a minimum; the maximum lane usage practice incorporates the parking/curb lane, the first striped lane, the lane centered over the first stripe, the second striped lane, and the lane centered over the double-striped lane that separates oncoming from ongoing traffic. The horn announces where a vehicle is and presages that it’s going to be moving about the traffic pattern, but it is up to the other drivers on the road to be alert and move out of the way. Failure to drive defensively while aggressively pursuing one’s ultimate destination results in a traffic accident.
Smaller vehicles defend their size against the biggest vehicles on the road by stationing themselves near either the front or the rear bumper of the much larger vehicle. When the traffic flow begins, the small vehicle beeps its horn, then pulls out into traffic, perhaps feeling invincible and/or protected by the much larger vehicle it’s using to open a hole in the traffic. Based on the relative size differential, I’m guessing that the only way the bus knows there is a far-too-small vehicle hiding from view is past experience. One person can squeeze into these micro-cars, but there is a “back seat” with a passenger holding on for dear life. The pedicabs have been motorized (they used to be bicycles and still look like enclosed bicycles), but I saw few with any kind of lights aboard, which minimizes being seen by other vehicles on the road, especially after sunset. Regardless of the relative safety of being in either of these two vehicles, it’s somewhat better than being a pedestrian.
There are few traffic lights in Shenyang; hence, traffic continues to scurry about helter skelter. A pedestrian risks life and limb each time s/he crosses a street because the vehicular traffic does not stop for man, woman, or child. Ever. As the cabs dart about the roads, there, perched on the center “no crossing” lines are temporarily halted pedestrians who have been unable to cross the street fully. If the cab is using the “center line” as another passing lane, it behooves the pedestrians to be especially alert to line-sharing. On one of the few streets with a pedestrian lane, traffic becomes even more aggressive because that is wasted lane space for motor vehicles, as well as wasted driving time, so they ignore the pedestrians with disdain for their selfish mindset in claiming that crossing lane as their own.
By the end of the first week of cabbing around Shenyang, I felt better at being surrounded by steel and steadfastly refused to even try to cross the street. By the end of week two, I was able to conquer my fear of crossing some of the less busy streets, but it took nerves of steel to do so, especially because drivers simply do not react as if any of the more civilized road rules apply to them. A right-hand turn at a corner can be made from the double yellow “no passing” line farthest from the right-hand curb – as long as the horn is administered properly and profusely. A U-turn can be made across the double yellow “no passing” line into on-coming traffic as long as the horn is used to indicate … something is happening on the road somewhere, so look out for it. And, of course, passing another vehicle is simply one of the rules of the road, and if the car was intends to pass fails to heed the horn, muscle against the front bumper and just keep coming on: the car being nosed out doesn’t want the hassle of a traffic accident and will move out of your way.
People who have lived in and/or visited major cities tell me that this craziness is universal, but that doesn’t make it any less frightening. It does, however, explain some of the driving I’ve witnessed on the California freeway systems! People who move here from other areas disregard line striping, even on freeways, but here? We call them statistics.
Wednesday, July 10, 2013
Wuz Gunna
I wuz gunna post my trip to China, but decided instead to make an official report, with color photos, and send it to nearest and dearest. If anyone wants to know about "Shenyanigans" (as I'm calling the 3-week vaca), feel free to post a comment that includes an address and I'll send it to you.
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