Category: Seriously WTF?

Pubs & Single Life Downtown

by maryhelenc, posted in Dear Blank, Douchers, My New Life As Me, Seriously WTF?

Last night I went out for the first time as a single woman.

It was a friend’s birthday party & while it was fun catching up with friends, I found myself very ill at ease with myself by the end of the evening.

It wasn’t the company; my friends rock and are alot of fun. It wasn’t the losers leering at me while we were walking down the street. It was the fact that I was downtown.

I’ve made no secret that I loathe downtown. I hate the 19 and up, drunk douchers who hit on everything in a dress while drunk girls compete over who can find the guy who makes the most money. It’s actually pretty gross. I would tolerate it maybe three times a year for friends with the idea that my husband was the buffer between me & the gross losers. Fortunately, the pub we went to was for the more mature set (25 +) & there were no issues, but I guess the idea that I was out at a bar for the first time in the part of the city that I hate the most was a little intimidating.

There’s the mom guilt of going out as well as the guilt of being the stereotypical single mom who parties, even though I rarely do.

So, when does the guilt go? Is this a normal single mom moment? Much like the rest of parenting, there’s no handbook for this & I’m trying to figure out how to do this the “right” way.

Oh Kat Von D, You Lucky Gal!

by maryhelenc, posted in Celebrity Fluff, Relationships, Seriously WTF?

Why more women aren’t lining up to marry Jesse James, I’ll never know.

Our favourite professional sleazeball penned an autobiography in which he reveals intimate details of his life with former wife Sandra Bullock. He also belittled her sexual prowess on Howard Stern, raving about his new fiancée Kat Von D.

Keep reading this post

No Flowers For you!

by maryhelenc, posted in Relationships, Seriously WTF?

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/new-brunswick/story/2011/03/16/nb-riverview-florist-1009.html

This story caught my eye and I felt compelled to say something about it.

Obviously, same sex marriage is a hot button issue for many people, even though we live in a society where homosexuality is part of the norm. So much so, that Glee’s Kurt & Blaine can share a sexy liplock on primetime & nobody bats an eyelash.

This issue particularly stuck out as for the last year, I have been helping a friend plan her wedding to her longtime partner. One chapel refused to conduct the ceremony but otherwise, no one has said “boo” about it. Obviously ASH Multimedia will shoot a same sex wedding, as we support all relationships, as long as they are positive.

Which brings me to my point. Religious beliefs are great, everyone needs to believe in something and kudos to you for finding what works for you. However, when you open your doors as a business, I don’t care if you worship Snuggles, the German speaking cat, your religious beliefs cannot affect your business.

Let’s reverse the situation; say these flowers were for a funeral & the widowed spouse was the same sex. Would this florist turn them away again? What about date night flowers? Does this florist check the gender of the plants’ intended? For all she knows, hundreds of her sacred Christian blossoms have gone to *gasp* the gays!

The Bible is man’s interpretation of God’s words. While it’s an excellent guide to follow, it’s not finite. Many animals have shown to engage in same sex unions, so who are we to say that it’s not just another part of the norm. We are not God, nor do we truly understand his feelings on any one subject. All we SHOULD do is continue to love one another until whatever higher power chooses to tell us what’s what. The flowers are already cut, does it really matter who carries them in their final hours?

No Kenneth Tong, I won’t aim for size 0

by maryhelenc, posted in Fitnesslicious, Seriously WTF?

As week two of my weight loss challenge begins, I was pleased with myself and horrified with the world around me.

My first week of burn produced a six pound loss, thanks in part to the flu haha. Either way, it’s a positive step. I’ve taken to drinking more water & I’ve cut out almost all caffeine. Not to mention that the burn program is hard, so the feeling of accomplishment is worth the shin splints & the sweat.

Enter Kenneth Tong, the “self help” guru who has earned the ire of Gordon Ramsay & Simon Cowell for his size zero campaign. Tong claims that the tiny size is the standard for beauty & self control. Except that not everyone can be a size zero. Some body types are just not built to be a size zero and pushing these women may just kill them.

The problem with these idiots is that even though we know they’re idiots, the seed has been planted in the minds of women everywhere. They’ll mock him publically but then loathe in private because they aren’t the elusive size zero.

We can preach that women need to discover real beauty, regardless of weight but let’s be frank; no one’s listening. Everyone still wants to be thin. So, let’s promote realistic goals; no shakes, no fads, just a combination of smarter food choices, excercise and accountability. There’s nothing wrong with wanting to be in the best shape for your body type, as long as you do it safely & aim for a realistic goal.

My status brings change!

by maryhelenc, posted in Seriously WTF?

A recent Facebook status change has prompted controversy & no, this time it’s not about bras or purses.

A request to “end violence against children” by changing your display picture to a cartoon character has prompted all sorts of controversy, ranging from rumors that it was started by pedophiles to people speaking out against the idea that a FB status will bring social change.

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How can it be pedophilia if all the kids are grown?

by maryhelenc, posted in Celebrity Fluff, Seriously WTF?

GQ Magazine’s Glee-ful cover had tongues wagging this week as fans were treated to cast members dressed scandalously. The Parent Teacher Council claimed the shots were “borderline pedophilia” as stars Corey Monteith, Lea Michelle and Diana Aragon play teenagers on the Fox dramedy. The PTC says the men’s magazine is promoting the sexualization of young people.

While one can applaud the PTC for speaking out against the objectification of children, Monteith, Michelle and Aragon are all adults (Monteith is 19 and his ladies are both 24). Rolling Stone featured an equally as salacious Glee cover earlier this year where a draft swept up Michelle’s skirt, exposing her panties. The cover was met with rave reviews & no PTC complaints.

While the actors do play teenagers, they aren’t teenagers themselves. This isn’t the first time an adult playing a teen has posed provocatively for a magazine. Jessica Biel famously posed topless for Gear magazine in an attempt to get fired from 7th Heaven. Another 7th Heaven alum Ashlee Simpson posed in Maxim’s Blender Magazine promoting her first album (while still playing virginal Celia). Neither spread received flack. Not to mention that GQ is a men’s magazine. It’s not like these shots made their way into Teen Beat.

I’m surprised the PTC hasnt spoken out about nine year old Willow Smith, who has recently released her first music video. Surely that violates child labour laws. Either way, more people are talking about Glee, which makes Ryan Murphy very gleeful indeed.

For Sale: My Family’s Legacy

by maryhelenc, posted in Relationships, Seriously WTF?

While surfing e-bay, I stumbled apon a listing for some World War II memorbilia. Namely, a man’s medals, logbook, cufflinks, medals and stripes. There were several auctions like this, apparently someone wants to sell off their late grandfather’s things and pocket the cash. There was another auction similar where someone was auctioning a longtime family heirloom, passed down over six generations because she wanted a vacation.

This angers and saddens me. My family has no real history to speak of. After my father’s untimely passing, a relative took most of our family possessions and ran. My mom doesn’t really talk much about my grandfathers (who both served in WWII) and it wasn’t until I married my husband that I really understood how important it is that you know where you came from. I’m rather sad that my daughters don’t have anything passed down to them besides an onyx ring and their great grandfather’s service cap. The fact that these people can’t see the value in something like that makes me sad. The medals are the worst, as Grampa risked life and limb to earn those stripes and medals. A museum would gladly take those off of your hands. I actually bid on something from this guy’s collection of auctions because it made me sad to see something that was likely once so prized being sold with unlocked iPhones and Justin Bieber’s hair.

I understand desperate times sometimes call for things we once loved to be sold but some things should be kept sacred IMO. My sister in law proudly wears her grandmother’s wedding rings and I imagine short of life saving surgery for one of her daughters, nothing would pry those things from her finger. I can’t imagine my husband putting his grandfather’s service cap on ebay. I would rather eat glass then sell my wedding rings. You get the idea.

While yes, they are just meager things, they are things that connect you to your roots and tell a story. Someday, Gramma and Grampa are long gone and the only thing that keeps them with us are the stories, the knicknacks and the treasures. Why give those things away?

I guess I don’t get it because the idea of family means so much to me. It wasn’t until I was a teenager until I felt like I was part of one and my husband entertains my constant need to build memories and traditions and all of the things that it seems were lost with my parents’ generation. Either way, I would hate to think that something I wore (or earned) and cared enough about to give to someone would end up auctioned off to a stranger, who would never know it’s true value.