Sunday, July 27, 2008

Rants and Season Premieres!

First off, thank you guys for the welcome back! :D

But now I must put a warning on this post: it contains potentially offensive, politically incorrect material, as does every post by me. I have two major issues to rant about.

1. Obesity


I've always heard the statistics that Americans are vastly overweight, but I've never seen it in my area, so I always assumed people were making a fuss for no reason. That is, until we traveled around South Dakota in 2005. Where are all the fat people? In the Midwest! I mean, sitting in the massive Cabella's store I counted five people who were so overweight that they had to be pushed around in wheelchairs. But what's even worse is that these people have spread to the Sierra Nevada of California!

Now, I'm a young, currently single gal, so while camping I kept my eye out on any newcomers in case there'd, you know, be a cute guy my age camping with his family. I've kept my hopes up ever since the one time when I was 16 I learned how to eye flirt by checking out this guy with a body like a model. Then one evening he stopped me with the cheesy line of "Excuse me, but don't I know you from somewhere?" I wish I could remember the conversation but my mind went so haywire that I could hardly talk. I have no clue what the poor sod's name was and when he asked me mine, I panicked, having no clue what I was called, and remember thinking, "Crap, he won't know the difference, just tell him a name, any name! Um, Bob! Shit, wait, that's a guy's name! OMFG I can't think of any girls' names! Katie! Is Katie a girls' name? I'll tell him I'm a Katie" and then, of course, in the split second it took to freak out like that, I stuttered out my name. He was probably twenty or something but talk about hilarious. After our chat (again, of which I remember nothing but I think he invited me to his campfire) I was so shy that I'd look away whenever he'd look at me. And as always, my brothers were ready to shoot him.

But anyway, this year I kept thinking "How come all the guys here are fat?" which quickly eroded into "holy crap, all the guys here are fat because everyone here is fat!"

The first thing I saw when we pulled into our campsite was a fat kid's buttcrack hanging out of his pants as he played catch. He may have been 10 and was already so overweight that he could hardly move. That disgusts me. I know you can't tell your kid, "Listen up, hun, you're FAT" but you could at least try to change the family's habits as a whole to help your child. Don't people want their kids to live lives with the most opportunities? That doesn't exactly happen when you drop dead from a clogged artery at 11.

Then a whole family of fat people moved in next to us. Fat red necks were constantly waddling down to the beach with their beer, sitting in chairs in the water. My eyes! My eyes!

Okay, so I'm being a little dramatic, and the fat family that moved in next to us were the nicest people. So here's the part where I admit, in case you think I'm fatist (like racist except against fat people) that I get over appearance in a few seconds and if you're a fat friend of mine, I seriously don't notice unless you keep pointing it out, in which case I'm not sure what to say. I mean, "I've seen fatter" isn't exactly comforting.

But camping is an environment where people spy on each other in their daily lives. I mean, we're all squatting in the dirt (and paying money to do so) and get bored. And when you're camped right by the lake, you get the whole show. And I don't feel guilty seeing fat strangers and thinking that they're wrong.

Being fat is not good. I know some, or maybe a lot, of people have serious health issues and/or are just built bigger and couldn't lose weight/be thinner no matter how much they tried. But I also know that a lot of fat people in my family are fat because they don't exercise and they eat shit. I imagine that much of the country is like that, as well.

This is where it gets complicated because I do believe in unconventional beauty, no one should ever be discriminated against because of how they look, and Mika's "Big Girl (You Are Beautiful)" is one of the most amazing songs ever. But obese people upset me because it's so unhealthy. It's like watching a chain smoker. A lifestyle habit that's harmful. Sure, it might not be any of my business, but when it's an epidemic in my country, it kinda is.

I'm not trying to pass off any sort of "skinny person" judgment, because I could easily lose a few pounds, but I'm talking about people who were so large that my brothers literally had arguments over how someone that big could possible wipe their butt.

America, and the rest of the world (I actually saw more fat Aussies on my tour in Ireland than Americans) please, exercise! It's not that hard and it's needed to stay sane! The human body is the same as it was when we were living in caves -- we're designed to move. Lots. So please, start moving and lay down that donut. In nature, sugar occurs in fruits, so when you're craving something sweet, you're really craving fruits/vegetables, not sugar cane extract and processed, hydrogenated cupcakes!

In case you hate me right now, you might like to know that I have this little game. I judge my attractiveness every year while camping by if a guy asks me if I want a beer or not. I never say yes, but it lets me know I've "still got it." This year? Nada. That's right, at 24, I'm a wash up. A hag. Maybe the fat people sense my unattraction to them or maybe it's because we were only there 10 days rather than the usual 2 weeks, but still, the results are in. I'm nasty!

2. Bad Parents


I should say piss poor parents. Or something even ruder. Remember how I said everyone spies on each other? Well, there were plenty of parents on the beach in front of us, day in and day out, and it re-enforced the idea that not everyone should be a parent.

Remember those pretty Canadian geese and duckies I took pictures of? They'd cruise by every day in their various flocks, and almost every day, some little shit would chuck rocks at them. The parents would just sit there and let their kids try to harm the local wildlife. Only once did anyone say anything, and it was one of the awesome fat people near us, talking to a kid who she didn't even know, telling him not to chuck rocks at ducklings.

But seriously, what the f*&#@ is wrong with these kids in the first place to think, "I have a good idea. Imma chuck a rock at an adorable little duck!" and furthermore, what the *^%##!!$^*()&^$##@!!#%^&*()_)(*&^%$#@@!! is wrong with the parents who just sat there with bovine interest, letting their kids get away with it?!

And to make matters worse, these were the same parents who, half the time, would get up from sunbathing and randomly spank one of their toddlers. I can only imagine that it was because the kid was mouthing off, but what the f&*%!? If your kid is being a dick, you put them in time out, you restrict them from something they enjoy, etc. You don't spank them -- that teaches them nothing other than fear. My dad and his uncles were all spanked (more like beaten) when growing up every time any one of them would do wrong (yeah, if one kid stole a cookie, they all got whipped) and it taught them no sense of right or wrong, only fear. They'd behave because they were afraid, not because they knew better. Now two two are in jail. Go figure.

You know what spanking is? Laziness. It's "I'm too tired to put in the effort to actually teach you so I'm just gonna slap you to get you to knock it off." I'm a nanny so I know what it's like to be at the end of your rope with a kid, and can't imagine doing it day in and day out, but if you can't properly raise your kid then you shouldn't've had one in the first place. There's these little yellow pills and these things called condoms, people.

Okay. Rant is over. Fat people need to get healthy and lazy parents need to grow up. On to better things, like... our new fan film!

Our second season premiere, Stargate Atlantis: Hidden II is now up on YouTube!

Funny story about when we made this. After we finished filming on the second day, our water ran out. I was stuck as Ronon, with the beard, for hours. And it was hot, too! It reminded me of a conversation once had at the dinner table, when I excitedly suggested to Alex that for our second season, we switch who plays who, so I'd get to play Weir and she could play Ronon. My mom overheard and matter of factly said, without looking at us, "No, Kellie looks more like Ronon anyway." My own mother thinks I look like a man. Maybe the saddest part of this story is the fact that this isn't the first time I've heard this. Even a few years ago when we were making the Lord of the Rings fan films, the Lord of the Freaks, I constantly heard that I resembled Elijah Wood/Frodo. No wonder I didn't get offered a beer!

I'm ugly enough without being stuck as a man!

Enjoy!

Stargate Atlantis: Hidden II

Description:
In our season two opener, Carson is mourned, secrets are revealed, and you won't believe the last five minutes... or maybe you will.

Part 1
Part 2
Part 3
Part 4


MacKenzie's Momma -- Aww, bless your heart. That would've been awesome if you'd farm sat for us. What set up do you have at home? What do you raise/grow? And I think your hair looks lovely!

Mo -- Yes, the braids! As a kid I never had my hair out of twin braids. ;) I should've tied a message onto one of those geese and hoped he/she delivered it to you! Maybe they weren't from Canada, though, since it is summer. But yes, I'd love to see photos of your campus!

3 comments:

Mackenzies Momma said...

*nods* YES! Fat people! I work in a very physical job and I am constantly amazed at how FAT most of the boys are that work there. We have one guy(not on our crew) who must weigh over 300 lbs. We work in these little teeny glass boxes that are MAYBE 50 sq feet. For 12-14 hours a day.

As for bad parenting- yes I agree there are for sure people who should NOT be allowed to reproduce. I work with a good portion of them. Actually most of the boys are lucky that by the end of season I don't lose my temper and castrate them all. *evil grin* Have I mentioned I'm one of the only girls out there?

As for farm set up- we have just under 3 acres and raise goats, chickens and a couple of ducks. We have an acre out back that is for the dogs(2 boxers and a mutt), an acre the house, warehouse, and kid and chicken pens sit on. Plus the acre out front that is subdivided into the goat field and regular field. We have a small 'barn'(its really just a garden shed) and a nice kid pen that doubles as a sacrifice area. At the moment we have 7 adult does, and 2 doelings. We also have approximately 25-30 chickens, and 2 ducks. Oh and 7 cats wandering around.

Thanks for the compliment on my hair! I'm much happier with it this summer than I was last summer- it was always in the way when I was crawling on, in and around machines.

Anonymous said...

spanks*
(...Google search is amazing.)

**
Happy Camping!
**
*Will*~runs off, with his skinny ass, showin!...tee-hee!
:)

melissapaakkonen said...

I completely understand your rant. I'm a short one, I'm like 5'3" (if I converted right...I dont know anything but the metric system) and have hips made for birthing, but I can walk outside my house and see women who are taller than me and are the size of my bookshelf. Here it sees to be Native Canadiens, but since I went to elementary school with only 10 "white" kids in my school and the rest Native Candadiens, I don't give into distinguishing in "race". But yes, back to the point at hand, I'm not the most active person, due to the fact that at 12 I had broken my knee in half and a year later broke my back, but even playing on the trampoline or going to the park, walking to the store is good enough exercise for everyone. Being to the point of a child being so disgustingly overweight not only disgusts me, but as a teacher in training, scares me, because their preformances is shot to hell because they are so busy craving food or demanding sugar and sweets that their education is suffering. I believe that most over weight children is the cause of Bad parenting, they are the ones that are allowing the children to live like they are, and by punishing children with abuse does absolutly nothing to the childs motivation. I had to watch as a two year old was beaten to death by her father, so believe me, I have very strong feelings about this subject.

As for your film; LOVED IT. I laughed oh so hard. One can tell you are an English Major, a very twisted brain!

Oh and its CanadIEn ;) and you probably could! Tell them to go north to the lake with more swimmers itch and seaweed than it should be. The geese hang there. But I can assure you, they are Canadien geese, its easy to tell haha!

When I went camping, my hair was either in pigtail braids, or I'd get my mom to do them in tiny braids. I went to this girl guide camp for 10 days-we had no hot water and limited actual drinking water- so I was SO thankful for the braids, because as soona s i got home and took them out, it wasn't as gross as it should have been!!