clementine | Entries tagged with wtf

( what a moron )

Mirrored from Oh Clementine. You can leave any comments there.

I'm back from my holiday! Overall it was excellent¹, but something happened today that's really upset me.

During our trips, we need someone to take care of the cats. Usually we get one of my school friends to do it; she lives two blocks away, and she works at a vet clinic, so she obviously loves animals. Last time, she spent hours with Jet just because she loves him that much.

Unfortunately, she was in Mexico for part of our trip, so we had to find someone else. I asked someone who I went to middle school with and who I sometimes meet for coffee (about once every 2-3 months). We're not great friends; she usually comes along because she goes to school with one of my best friends. But anyway, she also lives close by, so we thought it would be fine.

APPARENTLY NOT.

I asked her how the cats were on Christmas, 3 days after we got to my aunt and uncle's house. She said they were "divine".

We came back today to find the food and water dishes COMPLETELY empty. Like, COMPLETELY. The water dish was bone dry, not one drop of water left in it. The food dishes? Absolutely nothing in them. And out of the 8 tins of wet food we left on the table, there were 7 left. Wow! Good job NOT feeding my cats!

This REALLY makes me mad. Like, maybe more than it should, but it REALLY makes me mad, to the point where I really don't want to associate with her at all anymore. First, it's such an easy job. You walk two blocks and scoop out some food – and it's only for a week. Seriously. NOT HARD. I get paid $50 for 6 hours of doing ACTUAL WORK. And, I mean, they're just helpless little cats. I don't think they're going to die without food (since she did come in once, so it was probably 3-4 days that they were without), but STILL! It's not like they can do anything other than walk around hungrily. And to let the water dish become empty is really unacceptable.

My mother, for some inexplicable reason, still feels that we should pay her $50. I really don't think someone should be paid a lot of money for NOT doing an easy job.

Maybe this is all a big misunderstanding, but I doubt it. If she had some reason not to come, it's not like we were unreachable. I left her my cell phone number and my uncle's number, and there's always Facebook! Like I said, I even asked her how things were over Facebook. Anyway, I really can't see myself talking to her again in the near future. Overreaction? Maybe. I just don't want to talk to someone who treats my cats as if they're worthless.

if you don't include the part where I STILL had my horrible cough and my horrible sore throat and my horrible headache [↩]

On a happier¹ note, I was able to see my cousin's cats again. Last year, they were adorable little kittens, and now they're full-grown cats². Here is some kitty spam:

Rosie really grew into her looks!

She's adorable, although I don't necessarily appreciate the fact that she was using my slippers as a pillow! My feet were cold.

I still think Snow is adorable, if a little goofy-looking.

He's also MASSIVE – my legs weren't particularly happy with his chosen resting place.

See? Silly-looking!

(And because this entry wasn't mish-mash enough, my cousin's friend was lovely, sweet, and adorable, and I was so happy to have met her. She loved all her presents; after opening the stuffed sheepdog I picked out for her, she never put it down. She even brought it bowling!)

though still cat-related [↩]
though still pretty cute [↩]

Mirrored from Oh Clementine. You can leave any comments there.

So, I saw New Moon on Saturday. Why am I only blogging about it now? Well, normally it would just be that I am lazy; this time it's because my computer, after suffering its own series of unfortunate events, finally crapped out completely, with the keyboard breaking. Now, I don't know if you've tried to use a computer without a keyboard, but it's hard to get anything done, let alone blog. I ended up having to reformat, and all the problems I was having with it appear to be fixed.

Anyway! That was not the point of this post. I am just good at getting myself off track.

So, New Moon. I saw Twilight last year and was thoroughly entertained by it. I was not expecting to be blown away by the acting or the plot, and I wasn't. I just thought it was so funny that I didn't mind spending $12.50 on a ticket to see it for a second time only two weeks later. It was just that hilarious. The general opinion seems to be that New Moon is better, so I was semi excited to go see it, thinking that if it wasn't unintentionally funny it might actually be okay.

And… no. Just no. It was horrible. I was so happy to get the day off work so I could go see it, and I was completely disappointed. It wasn't that funny, deliberately or otherwise. The acting was just plain bad. The pacing was completely off. Everyone looked way uglier than they did in Twilight. (What? I'm allowed to be superficial.)

The movie started off nicely enough. The opening scene certainly looked pretty, although I nearly threw up in my mouth when I saw Edward. I really think they need to lay off the white makeup – and it would probably be smart to get rid of the crimson lipstick, too. I also found it funny that Charlie bought Bella a $250 camera, while Renee bought her a scrapbook.

I had a good laugh when Edward walked in slow motion near the beginning of the movie, and I cheered quietly when Bella told Edward that he was creepy (since he is 109 years old). The effect was kind of lost when she decided that she wasn't actually serious enough about this thought to, you know, act on it or anything.

Other things that didn't make sense: 1) Bella gets a papercut (that bleeds like WHOA; that is not what a papercut is like, okay?), which is not such a huge deal – and Edward flips his shit and throws her against the wall, causing her to bleed even more. Wow, that was smart, Edward! Let's make her BLEED ALL OVER THE PLACE in a room of RAVENOUS VAMPIRES. Good job, buddy! 2) When Edward leaves, Bella runs after him and the screen gets darker¹ until she finally curls up to… die? Who knows. 3) Bella screams every night, apparently having nightmares about Edward dumping her or something equally horrifying. Now, okay, maybe people scream when they're having bad dreams, but I'm pretty sure they don't scream like that. 4) When Bella throws Jacob a piece of pizza, he catches it and it turns into a wrench. This confused my friend so much tha she can't stop talking about how much she hated that part. 4) Jacob: "Oh, by the way, Harry Clearwater had a heart attack." Bella: "Oh. Is he okay?" Jacob: "Eh, you know, he's gone. Now let's get you into some dry clothes." Uh… really? Nobody is at all upset by this? I realise that this is just a plot device to get Edward to freak out when he hears that Charlie is "planning a funeral" (which he thinks is Bella's), but it could have been just a tiny bit more believable.

Things that I found hilarious: 1) The first time Jacob took his shirt off. I'm told that people at other screenings screamed and yelled various things about how hot Taylor Lautner is. At my screening, the theater burst into a mutual round of laughter. It's just so ridiculous. He's bending down next to Bella after she cuts her head open, and suddenly he stands up and whips his shirt off? This was apparently to dab the blood off of her forehead (although it didn't seem to help much), but it was completely out of the blue. 2) When Jane starts torturing Edward. His facial expressions? Priceless. I'm pretty sure the only word to describe how he looks is "constipated". 3) The fact that the movie that Bella, Mike, and Jake go to see is called Face Punch. I mean, really? Really? Need I even say more?

Now, let's talk about the pacing! Oh my god, the pacing! The Laurent plot point takes up, oh, three minutes. It's over nearly as soon as it starts. Twilight (movie) was decent that way – in the book, it's just a bunch of "omg I love you but you want to eat me but omg I don't care make me into a vampire omg you're so beautiful and you sparkle omg", followed by Stephenie Meyer's eventual realisation that this may need to have a plot somewhere (like, say, after 250 pages); in the movie, there was some foreshadowing. In New Moon? Not so much. It's a very literal interpretation of the book. This is a problem, since the books kind of suck.

The acting, as I mentioned, was just awful. I can get very, very into movies, to the point of feeling actual fear/elation/whatever, if the acting is good. I mean… sometimes, it's not like I'm watching a movie. It's like it's actually happening. While I was watching New Moon, the whole thing just felt like watching people act. Awkwardly. Which was what it was, of course. Kristen Stewart is just not a good actress. People thought she did a better job in this movie, but I didn't see it. Robert Pattinson² isn't much better. His "American" accent really gets in the way of my enjoyment – and let's face it, he's not a very good actor anyway. I found all the Cullens as awkward as they were in Twilight. The only standout performance for me was Charlie, although I thought Taylor Lautner did a good job too.

I thought the movie version of Twilight was surprisingly decent, and not just because it was funny. It emphasised the novel's few good points and did its best to detract from the many problems. In New Moon, this just didn't happen. It was the most boring book in the series, in my opinion, and the movie was just as bad.

I was not fooled; it did not look like it was becoming night. It looked like the screen was getting darker. [↩]
as much as I kind of love him for saying how ridiculous Twilight is [↩]

Mirrored from Oh Clementine. You can leave any comments there.

Today I was walking home from a job interview¹, and by "today" I mean "a few minutes ago". Here I am, minding my own business and walking down the street carrying a huge case of contact solution that I picked up at the mall, when a woman walks into me. From behind. Know why? Because she's texting.

Now, when people walk into me because they're texting, or when cars don't slow down at the crosswalk, I tend to give them a dirty look. That's justified, right? I mean, this woman walked into me. From behind! Because she was texting! So, of course, I shoot her a glare. And you know what she does? She shoots me a glare right back.

Yep, because I should have known that she was behind me, about to walk into me, all because she wasn't paying attention to where she was going. Clearly it's my fault. God, Clem, why on Earth would you be pissed off at her? Seriously now.

People text too much.

There, I said it. It's true. I read an article about a girl who sends and receives 500 texts a day. Since I got my first phone 3 years ago, I don't know if I've even sent 500 texts total. And, yes, I realise I'm weird. I know people my age text a lot. But you know what? I don't like it.

I don't like walking down the street with my friend while she responds to the 85 billion incoming texts she has and trying to hold a conversation. I'll say something while she's texting, she'll look up and go "Huh?", I'll say, "Never mind," and she'll say, "No, no, really! I really want to know! What did you say?" Uh, if you really want to know, why don't you pay attention the first time? Why don't you NOT respond to texts for the ten minutes that it takes to walk home from the subway station? It can't be that urgent.

And texting during class? Please. Okay, maybe the occasional "oh my god I am dying of boredom in this stupid class", but if you text throughout the whole class and then complain to the teacher that you need another week before the test because you really, really, really don't get it, too bad for you. Some of us actually pay attention and do well on the test. (Okay, maybe I didn't do really, really, really well, but I genuinely do not understand many aspects of chemistry. I also have little desire to understand it.)

One last item in this little rant – texting during the Remembrance Day ceremony.

I'll just give you a little time to let that sink in.

Yes. It happened. Here we are, 2000 students², listening to poems and speeches, when somebody's cell phone starts to ring. Their ring tone? My Humps, by the Black Eyed Peas. Really now. To top this off, my friend, standing next to me, was indeed texting. Now, I don't care if you hate war. I don't care if you don't think that the soldiers died for our freedom. They did die, and this is the time to respect them. You can't turn off your phone for fifteen minutes? Because, yeah, the ceremony was literally fifteen minutes long.

Honestly. I'm not saying nobody should ever text, but it seems like people are becoming incredibly dependent on their phones. Texting is an easy, convenient way to reach people, but it takes you away from the real world. Is it really necessary to be in contact with them all day long? Maybe it's just me, but I feel like sometimes it's nice to turn of your cell phone and live in the real world.

ETA: I did mean to add this to the original post as an aside, but I forgot. ANYWAY! Jem just had her daughter Isabel today, so YAAAAAY, CONGRATS!!

I did get the job [↩]
my tiny school and the larger one that we share the building with [↩]

Mirrored from Oh Clementine. You can leave any comments there.

In my Civics class, we recently watched a documentary called Sticks and Stones, which is mainly about how polarised left- and right-wing politics in the US are becoming. A lot of the students in my class found the documentary – and politics, in general – boring, but I really enjoyed watching it.

The documentary featured people like Ann Coulter ("We should invade their countries, kill their leaders and convert them to Christianity") and Bill "SHUT UP!" O'Reilly. I found the things Ann Coulter said to to the interviewer (CBC's Bob McKeown) pretty shocking, but I was completely unprepared for the things concerning Bill O'Reilly.

One man who had lost his father in 9/11 but who didn't support the war was on The O'Reilly Factor¹. O'Reilly told him that the Afghans killed his father, which was bad enough – but when he told the man that his father wouldn't have agreed with him, that was just too much. I may or may not have shouted out, "Do you know his father? No? Then shut up, [expletive]."² Then, they showed him having an argument with Toronto's Heather Mallick, telling her that they (the US) had destroyed France's economy (citing a financial journal that is, in fact, non-existent) and that he would do the same thing to Canada's economy… and that it would be her fault. He asked her if she was prepared to take the responsibility for the total collapse of our economy. (Funny, actually, considering the fact that they're still in a recession and we're doing just fine.)

I don't know precisely how to describe it, but seeing the exchange between Bill O'Reilly and Heather Mallick somehow fired me up. I've been considering journalism as a possible career for awhile now, and watching this documentary almost cemented this idea. And I know I don't want to be the kind of journalist who sits in a news room and talks about an art fair at a high school, or even the kind of journalist who sits in a news room and talks about war and violence. I want to be the kind of journalist who challenges people like Bill O'Reilly and Ann Coulter. I want to go out there and have my voice heard. I want to change the way the media works. I want to make it truly fair and balanced, so that people like Bill O'Reilly can't just yell at people to shut up when they say something he doesn't like and still claim to be the "no spin zone". I want to make a difference in the world.

Although I know there's a possibility that I will change my mind, but I don't think I've ever been so sure of what I want to do with my life (and I've changed my mind a lot of times). I guess this could be called a crucial point in my life.

Do you know what you want to do with your life? If you do, when and how did you know for sure?

supposedly the "no spin zone" – yeah, just like Fox is "fair and balanced" [↩]
My Civics teacher didn't mind – in fact, I think she agreed [↩]

Mirrored from Oh Clementine. You can leave any comments there.

I've complained about it before, but yesterday I finally did something about it. There were a few reasons, but once Facebook launched the news feed, I was over it. I do not need to know every person my friend adds. I don't need to know that someone in my English class is a fan of ice cream or that they joined the group "1,000,000 PEOPLE AGAINST THE NEW NEWS FEED!!!" (Like that ever works anyway.) I don't need to see every picture my friends are tagged in and I definitely do not need Facebook telling me to reconnect with people who went to my middle school and who I have never even connected with in the first place. Stop micromanaging me, plzkthx.

This has actually been easier than I expected. I deleted my shortcut link and now I'm not really tempted to go on. There are lots of ways to contact me should anyone have the need; my school has its own virtual bulletin board, so my peers can easily contact me through that. I don't need Facebook and I'm looking forward to seeing how long I can go without it.

(Oh, and I also had a job interview. Just so you all know.)

TIANDA WON THE NEXT STAR D: D: D:

For those of you who somehow don't know,

aisy's cousin was on the show, and he was SO MUCH MORE talented than Tianda. But she ~told her whole town~ to vote for her. Oh, and she stayed in her hotel room to vote while everyone else was, you know, out for dinner and socialising and stuff. And she is not talented and she is annoying and I VOTED FOR BROCK LIKE 1500 TIMES AND HE STILL DIDN'T WIN.

I feel like I should have voted more. :( :( :(

Facebook quiz!

25: A pretty peffect age to get married. Old enough to live on your own, and not so old that you wasted to much of your life, yay for you!!!

So if you don't get married you waste your life?

*has nothing else to say besides ARMAGADS SCHOOL*

WHO DID THIS?

Whoever you are, I love you and you should probably identify yourself so I can love you even more.

I just heard something really disturbing on the radio.

For anyone who doesn't know (aka pretty much everyone who's reading this), Toronto is in the middle of a city workers strike. This means that our garbage bins are overflowing and now all the parks are turning into dumps. The city smells REALLY REALLY gross right now, which is why I'm not making any plans to go out. Even just going to the corner for an ice cream cone is pretty disgusting. We're coming up to our FOURTH WEEK, and there isn't an end in sight. :| Lovely. So far three weeks' worth of garbage piling up, with more ahead.

The place where we adopted Jet and Hank from, Toronto Animal Services, is run by the city, so their workers are all on strike too. I just heard an interview with a volunteer dog worker for Animal Services. He said that, near the beginning of the strike, he went there to go walk some dogs. He was disturbed to find that it was all closed up. He tried calling, but nobody answered the phone.

There's probably someone going in there and feeding the animals once a day, but they're being left alone for most of the day. Nobody can walk the dogs, who obviously need the exercise, and all the animals are cooped up. The cats' litter may not be getting scooped. It's disgusting.

Honestly, this strike is so stupid. The workers are pissed because David Miller (our mayor, fyi) is trying to take away a benefit that they have: they get something like 16 vacation days a year, and if they don't use them that year, they get to save them up. This means that they usually save up their vacation days so they can retire months early and still get paid. He wants to take it away from them, because, honestly, they don't need it. So of course they're throwing a fit and striking.

It's the STUPIDEST THING to strike over, and look at the consequences. First, we have our second garbage strike since the summer of 2006 (and it looks like this one is going to worse), which is so bad that nobody's going out because everything smells gross (and we can't even use our parks because they're acting as dumps), and it's affecting the animals at the shelter too. JUST SO THEY CAN HAVE THEIR STUPID VACATION BENEFIT.

Ugh. I'm so angry with them right now.

Why are both LJ and Twitter down? Hello? How else am I supposed to occupy my time? *annoys cat by trying to play with him*

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je voudrais être un yeti

i am clem

Entries tagged with wtf

idiot and a half

Cat-related ramblings

The tragedy that is New Moon

Turn your phone off

What I want to do with my life

What I did yesterday

armagads

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OKAY, FOR REAL NOW.

this strike can go die.

:(

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