the price of integrity

A 20-year-old Italian model has announced that her virginity is up for sale. She isn't the first and she won't be the last, and women give up their virginity all the time for stupid reasons, but what really struck me was the claim of her religious devotion.

Fico's family backed her claim she was still a virgin, citing her "devout" Catholic faith and discipline with prayer every night. "She's never had a boyfriend — I swear on my mother's grave," her brother said. “She's a devout Catholic and prays to Padre Pio every night."

Prays to him for what? A million euros? Is Padre Pio just not delivering fast enough? Somehow this 'devout Catholic' has decided it's okay to sell herself and hey, if the guy turns out to be ugly she'll just 'have a glass of wine and forget about it' (she said).

The article doesn't say anything about the reaction of her priest. That would be an interesting confession. I wonder what she would do if he told her that in addition to all the 'Our Fathers' and 'Hail Marys' she also had to give the money back in order to be forgiven.

This kind of hypocrisy irks me. If the girl wants to give away her virginity, that's up to her. If she wants to get paid for it, again...her choice. I think it's kind of appalling, but it's her body. But to then turn around and claim to be a devout Catholic ~ to in fact use that as a SELLING POINT ~ that is just off.

It's like those teenage 'Christians' in the US Bible belt who make virginity pledges and then think that limiting themselves to oral and even anal sex is keeping it. It's not just hypocritical, it's downright delusional. I get that there is a lot of pressure on them to conform to the rules of their parents, church and community, in appearance if not in actuality, but there is a certain number of these people who believe they have all their bases covered; that they have found the holy loophole and are 'right with God' even though they are basically spitting in the face of everything their supposed pledge stands for. What a crock.

"I can't wait to see who's going to pull out the money to have me," Fico said to magazine Chi.

Devout my ass.

you WILL have a good time

After party notes to a friend:

There's a difference between being a good hostess and being so intent on everyone having the best possible time that you make the atmosphere in the room tense. You can promote fun just by relaxing a little and enjoying your own party.

For example:

1. If my drink is empty, I don't need you to leap to your feet and run to get me another.
2. If I don't eat an appetiser every minute, this doesn't mean I don't like them.
3. Ditto having seconds of dinner. The food was great. I just didn't want to roll home.
4. People wanting to go home before midnight doesn't mean the party sucked. 11:30pm is late for people whose seven and ten-year-old children are at the party with them.
5. Dancing: not everyone's into it. And that's okay.

We all had fun. I'm just not certain we had enough fun to satisfy her sense of what a 'great party' is. And I didn't like feeling like that was my role.

a little east of sleepy

Getting in early on a Monday morning is like playing darts with a nerf ball.

There's no point.

Okay I have to go do some important grumbling now.

the most pointless man alive

After all the hoohaa about Miley Cyrus' Vanity Fair photos (bit risque for her young years), Hugh Heffner has generously piped up to let Miley know that as soon as she's old enough, he'd love to see her naked body gracing the pages of his magazine.

Seriously, when is that man just going to die?

pitching contest

The Writers Festival was on this weekend. I went to the author session with Camilla Noli (which I'll write about after I finish reading her book) and afterwards there was a pitching contest. I was kind of stunned there were only 12 pitches. I mean how often do you get an open invitation to pitch your book idea to three working publishers? I desperately wish I'd had a pitch to make. I certainly will if it's on next year, but this time around I only found out about it at the session before.

There were a few interesting ones (e.g. insight into the Russia you never knew by someone who lived there one month a year for the past twenty years; two rather funny proposals for novels; non-fiction on how nanotechnology and other scientific phenomenons are going to change our world; a 10,000 word novel in rhyming verse about lawyers). I considered pulling something together (the contest was pretty fun and casual), but when I tried to write an outline I realised that although I have a great idea for an internal character dilemma, I really haven't sorted out at all what her external dilemma/s will be. Can you see why I didn't pitch? Not exactly prepared.

Sadly the $50 cash prize went to an obnoxious thirteen-year-old who was not nearly as funny as he imagined he was. He read us a few pseudo-witty lines from the text he’s completed a whopping five pages of so far, recycled any joke that went down well, and generally made me want to roll my eyes (he first announces that his story is totally unique because it’s about emos, and then tells us that one of the three main characters is a goth, apparently under the impression that they are the same thing). But of course because he was the only kid who pitched they gave him first prize on novelty value. I find that annoying. I know it’s only fifty bucks, but some people really gave an interesting pitch and they deserved a fair shot at the prize, and if you want to encourage a kid it’s perfectly reasonable to do it with an honourable mention.

Anyway...next year!

chain mail from hell

Chain mail irritates me at the best of times. Even if it’s something cool or important that I want to send on, I always delete any chain mail instructions (or threats of bad luck) before I forward the email. The stupid stuff goes straight in the bin. But this rancid piece of spam I received takes the prize for most horrible chain mail I’ve seen in years:

Once you have opened this e-mail, there's no turning back. Below are True descriptions of zodiac signs. Read your sign, and then forward it on, with your zodiac sign and label on the subject line. This is the real Deal, try ignoring or changing it, and the first thing you'll notice is having a horrible day starting tomorrow morning - and it only gets Worse from there.

CAPRICORN - The Go-Getter (Dec 22 - Jan 19) Patient and wise. Practical and rigid. Ambitious. Tends to be Good-looking. Humorous and funny. Can be a bit shy and reserved. Often pessimistic. Capricorns tend to act before they think and can be Unfriendly at times. Hold grudges. Like competition. Get what they Want. 20 years of bad luck if you do not forward.

AQUARIUS - The Sweetheart (Jan 20 - Feb 18) Optimistic and honest. Sweet personality. Very independent. Inventive and intelligent. Friendly and loyal. Can seem unemotional. Can be a bit rebellious. Very stubborn, but original and unique. Attractive on the inside and out. Eccentric personality. 11 years of bad luck if you do not forward.

PISCES - The Dreamer (Feb 19 - Mar 20) Generous, kind, and thoughtful. Very creative and imaginative.May become secretive and vague. Sensitive. Don't like details. Dreamy and unrealistic. Sympathetic and loving. Kind. Unselfish. Good kisser. Beautiful. 8 years of bad luck if you do not forward.

And so on, until this ending:

Send away!!~ Ready . set............ GO!
1-3 people= 1 minute of luck
4-7 people= 1 hour of luck
8-12 people = 1 day of luck
13-17 People = 1 week of luck
18-22 people = 1 month of luck
23-27 people = 3 Months of luck
28-32 people = 7 months of luck
33-37 people = 1 year of luck

Seriously, wtf? I’d like to smack the author of this email with a rotting fish. I hope they get all the bad luck they’ve wished on others.

some people should just be eliminated

...or at the very least not allowed to breed.

Sylvia Gough, a college student in Canada, went out one weekend while her roommates were having a party. She came home to discover that some of her roommates' friends had decided that a fun party activity would be to put her three-month-old kitten through a washing machine cycle. Unsurpringly, the little orange and white tabby died.

Seriously, who gets their fun that way? Is a party not a party until you've traumatised a small animal? Bastards.

just once...

I want to come home on a Tuesday night and find that someone else has put the bins out.

Just once, yo!

dum dum dumdum dum

dumdum dum dum dum DUMB!

This week a kid in Melbourne decided to throw a party while his folks were out of town (they didn't leave him home alone - they'd arranged for him to stay with a friend, but he used the empty house for the party). So far that's just normal teenage tomfoolery, right? Now add the fact that there was going to be a heap of underage drinking. Recipe for disaster, but still within the normal stupidity range, right? But here comes the kicker. Then the guy decides to put the invite on his mySpace and, you guessed it, this is not a 'friends only' page we're talking about. FIVE HUNDRED people turned up to his house.

Yeah...

Ian's written a good post about the fallout of that decision, complete with a photo of this kid as he was interviewed after the party, half naked with a pink doona wrapped around him. And this link has a little video interview ~ he's such a bogan!

The police are considering making him pay the $20,000 the callout cost. Why so high? Well, that's what happens when 30 cops, a helicopter and a dog squad come to your party and drunk teenagers pelt bottles at police cars. Hmmm. I try to work up a little sympathy for him, but he hasn't shown any remorse at all, saying that he doesn't see how he's to blame for the damage done to the neighbourhood by his party guests.

When asked by the Nine Network what advice he had for other teenagers considering throwing a party while mum and dad are away, he said: "Get me to do it for you.

"Best party ever, that's what everyone's saying.''

I wonder if $20,000 worth of community service would change his mind...

For me the most angering comment came from Dr Michael Carr-Gregg, an author of books on adolescent psychology:

"I really do hope police do send the bill to the parents because it is appropriate,'' [he]...said.

"To blame poor old Corey is a little bit unfair. I think he is a normal, 16-year-old kid.

"This is absolutely a parental responsibility.''

His parents arranged a place for him to stay, and the only reason he was left behind was because he had gotten a part-time job and would have had to miss work. They, unlike him, are horrified at his behaviour and he is so aware of how they will view this that he still has not answered any of the many, many calls they've made to him. But somehow "Dr" Carr-Gregg thinks THEY warrant the 20G bill for all this. And this guy talks about teenagers on TV. O_O?? Madness.

ohhh, so this is why people hate having teenagers

Oh, how I miss my apartment in Osaka. Sure, it was the size of a large matchbox. And yeah, I had to store my bed in a cupboard each day. But that apartment had one fantastic attraction that my current unit just can't offer.

I lived there alone. My current boarder is 20, but he might as well be 15. His friends are all still teenagers and they are often around here playing video games or watching movies. I am soooooo sick of people who:

• won't put lids back on containers properly
• won't put things they use away
• leaves dishes on the counter,in front of the microwave, on the dining table...pretty much anywhere except the sink
• will only do housework when specifically asked
  
• not only drinks my raspberry cordial but also leave it to stain the counter when they spill it
• leave their clothes on the bathroom floor
• puts empty jars and ice trays back into the fridge/freezer
  
• are somehow blind to the fact that a recycling bin is overflowing and needs to be emptied, and my stress level's personal favourite
  
• occasionally leaves the house unlocked when going out (twice the door was not only unlocked, but open!)
  

Oh, did I mention he owes me money?

Word to the wise: nice person outside your home ≠ okay to share a house with.

why i will never be on facebook

200,000 or so people join Facebook every day. Here's why I won't be one of them.

An interesting flash presentation on the subject of Facebook and the way they treat user information.

By posting User Content to any part of the Site, you automatically grant, and you represent and warrant that you have the right to grant, to the Company an irrevocable, perpetual, non-exclusive, transferable, fully paid, worldwide license (with the right to sublicense) to use, copy, publicly perform, publicly display, reformat, translate, excerpt (in whole or in part) and distribute such User Content for any purpose on or in connection with the Site or the promotion thereof, to prepare derivative works of, or incorporate into other works, such User Content, and to grant and authorize sublicenses of the foregoing.

Basically, you are giving them the right to publish anything that you publish on Facebook, and not merely in its original form. Note that this appears in the Terms of Service, not the Privacy Policy, even though it specifically pertains to privacy and the use of your information.

Facebook may also collect information about you from other sources, such as newspapers, blogs, instant messaging services, and other users of the Facebook service through the operation of the service (e.g., photo tags) in order to provide you with more useful information and a more personalized experience.

I hate this in particular. Firstly, while I'm aware that whatever I put on the internet can be found by someone else, a site which gathers all of the seperate pieces of information I may post on very disparate sites and puts them all in one profile is giving people a much more complete picture of me and my life than they would otherwise have had. When this starts to include where I shop and what I buy there, it becomes even more intrusive. If that is going to happen, shouldn't it be a choice I deliberately opted-into, rather than one I have to opt-out of site-by-site? But Facebook doesn't want to offer that option, in spite of user feedback demanding it. Secondly, they are also including non-electronic sources such as newspapers. WTF?

From a Nov 30, 2007 article on Facebook's Beacon online ad system:

A CA security researcher [Stefan Berteau, senior research engineer at CA's Threat Research Group] is sounding the alarm that Facebook's controversial Beacon online ad system goes much further than anyone has imagined in tracking people's Web activities outside the popular social networking site...

Beacon tracks certain activities of Facebook users on more than 40 participating Web sites, including those of Blockbuster and Fandango, and reports those activities to the users' set of Facebook friends, unless told not to do so. Off-Facebook activities that can be broadcast to one's Facebook friends include purchasing a product, signing up for a service and including an item on a wish list...

But Berteau's investigation reveals that Beacon is more intrusive and stealthy than anyone had imagined.

In his note, titled "Facebook's Misrepresentation of Beacon's Threat to Privacy: Tracking users who opt out or are not logged in," he explains that he created an account on Conde Nast's food site Epicurious.com, a site participating in Beacon, and saved three recipes as favorites.
He saved the first recipe while logged in to Facebook, and he opted out of having it broadcast to his friends on Facebook. He saved the second recipe after closing the Facebook window, but without logging off from Epicurious or ending the browser session, and again declined broadcasting it to his friends. Then he logged out of Facebook and saved the third recipe. This time, no Facebook alert appeared asking if he wanted the information displayed to his friends.

After checking his network traffic logs, Berteau saw that in all three cases, information about his activities was reported back to Facebook, although not to his friends. That information included where he was on Epicurious, the action he had just taken and his Facebook account name.

"The first two cases involve the transmission of user data despite 'No thanks' having been selected on the opt-out dialog, and are causes for deep concern. They pale, however, in comparison to the third case, where Facebook was receiving data about my online habits while I was not logged in, and was doing so silently without even alerting me to the cross-site communication," he wrote in the research note.

If a user has ever checked the option for Facebook to "remember me" -- which saves the user from having to log on to the site upon every return to it -- Facebook can tie his activities on third-party Beacon sites directly to him, even if he's logged off and has opted out of the broadcast. If he has never chosen this option, the information still flows back to Facebook, although without it being tied to his Facebook ID, according to Berteau....He repeated the Epicurious experiment with Kongregate.com, another Beacon-affiliated site, and got similar results.

In e-mail correspondence with Facebook's privacy department, Berteau was told, among other things, that "as long as you are logged out of Facebook, no actions you have taken on other websites can be sent to Facebook." [Obviously a lie, given his test results.]

Some good news to finish with:

• If you happen to be a Firefox or Opera user, it's possible for you to block Facebook Beacon traffic to and from partner sites.
  If you use Firefox, install the AdBlock Plus add-on and add the following URL: http://*.facebook.com/beacon/*.


• If you use Opera, go to Tools Advanced Blocked Content and add the same URL there.

If you use Internet Explorer, and plan to use Facebook, you're out of luck. IE will change the URL to simply *.facebook.com, which effectively blocks all active content from the site. Which isn't a bad thing for those of us who don't use Facebook, but would be an issue for those who want to use it within IE.

dis nt b nglsh

Am I some kind of phone/net speak Luddite that this:

hey ppls dis b my new number! sori 4changing al da time but u knw how it is! Luv N

makes me want to delete the number from my phone?

adventures in frustration

Big storm last Friday. I got home that night around midnight to find the computer fine, but the router/modem completely fried, and having taken the ethernet port out with it. The 320GB external drive I bought a about two weeks ago was also toasted to golden brown uselessness. Sigh. My powerboard claims to have a surge protector, but I'm sure you can understand my skepticism.

Saturday I bought a Belkin model, only to find that they have a protocol problem with exactly one internet provider in Australia: TPG. Guess who I'm with... TPG also has issues with NetGear. These are, naturally, the two most popular brands, sold everywhere. Somewhere around Wednesday I found a computer store that sold NetComm and finally our net is up and running again with newly bought surge protection in place.

To use my dad's favourite reward when I was a kid...a golden nothing to the first person who can guess what the computer guy found in between two little panel things in the computer when he was putting in the new ethernet card!!

window on our ugly world

Amongst other cheerless headlines on MSN's newspage, such as "Maddie case: Police search pet crematorium" and "Man forced to dig own grave, court told" come these two gems of humanity:

Student 'gave teacher oral sex on bus'

Riley, a teacher at the 17-year-old's school, had a two-month affair with her involving not just oral sex while he drove a minivan and chatted on a mobile phone with a colleague, but supplying her with cocaine as well, because apparently "sex and coke is mind-blowing." He told her this at the beginning of what ended up being 400 pages of emails, text messages and internet messages they exchanged during the course of the relationship, which reportedly started after the pair did mouth-to-mouth Sambuca shots during a drinking game at the high school.

Teen jailed over brutal rape of grandmother

A 15-year-old boy has been sentenced to 13 years in prison (non-parole period of only 8 years) bashing, raping and threatening to kill an 83-year-old woman. He dragged her off a path into a nearby creek bed and raped her. He punched her face so brutally that her own daughter (who had gone looking for her mother after she didn't return from her walk as expected and ended up hearing her cries and rescuing her) could not recognise her. The judge said:

The violence with which you attacked your elderly and vulnerable victim is simply beyond the comprehension of any decent person.

Exactly.

But decent people are getting a little thinner on the ground. People say the world is getting better. I don't think so. These are just two stories that made it to the press. What about all the abuse going on that we don't hear about, families where 'disfunction' is a pseudonym for cruelty and manipulation, teachers/scoutmasters/clergymen who use their authority to seduce and attack. And when you extend that to the world at large, with its 'shame' killings, child sex trade, human trafficking, websites where pedophiles get together to exchange tips on trapping children, female genitalia mutilation, sweat shops, drug mules, etc, etc, etc, etc, etc till you want to throw up just thinking about what exists outside (and for some people inside) your own four walls, some days it's hard to even see that good exists.

has dubbya has been watching family guy?

How do you spell 'oaf'? Well apparently today, as on so many days previous, it starts and finishes with a 'W'.

I heard somebody say, Where's Mandela?' Well, Mandela's dead because Saddam Hussein killed all the Mandelas.
(George W Bush, press conference, Washington)

(a) Mandela is still alive
(b) if he had died, at 89 it would probably have been from old age
(c) Mandela has never been, to my knowledge, threatened by any Middle Eastern leader, dictator or otherwise.

But hey, it's all about saying words that make people afraid, right? Mandela's an inspiration to millions, Saddam Hussein just a step or two from Satan, so if we say Saddam (who is dead) killed Mandela (who is alive) people will just hear the scary words, ignore the idiocy of the remark, and cheer for our Iraq policy, right?

outraged over austen

This story just has me floored ~ not the fact that they would reject the work (plenty of good authors get rejected) but moreso the fact that 17 publishers couldn't recognise Austen's most famous works at a glance. Good grief, this is their industry, and even if they (amazingly) aren't well read, there have been several movies made of these works. Have they been living in a cave?

Modern publishers 'reject' Jane Austen

She might have sold millions of books in the past 200 years, but a daring experiment has found Jane Austen would struggle to secure a book deal today.

David Lassman, a frustrated author and director of the Jane Austen Festival in the English town of Bath, sent off manuscripts featuring several chapters of Austen's most famous work to 18 publishers and agents, claiming it was all his work.

To his amazement all publishers rejected the manuscripts, and most failed to spot that he had ripped off opening chapters of Pride and Prejudice, Northanger Abbey and Persuasion.

"I was staggered," Lassman told The Guardian newspaper.

"Here is one of the greatest writers that has lived, with her oeuvre securely fixed in the English canon and yet only one recipient recognised them as Austen's work."

Lassman decided to send off the manuscripts, which contained only slight alterations to Austen's words, in frustration at having his own original thriller rejected.

"I know it isn't a masterpiece but I think it is publishable," he said.

"Yet nobody wanted it. I was talking with some friends and we wondered if Jane would find a publisher or agent if she were around today."

Apparently not.

I just love being told off for doing a good job

I just answered a query from an overseas regulator explaining our policy on a particular issue. I sent it to my boss for her okay prior to sending it, and her response was to say that "we don't need to answer all of his questions so thoroughly. It is generally better to guide people to our website and let them do their own research."

Um, yeah, fair comment, IF THE ANSWERS TO HIS QUESTIONS WERE ACTUALLY ON OUR WEBSITE! When I explained that the only relevent information I could find on the site was on pages that he had quoted in his query (read: had already read and on which he was asking for clarification or more info) she basically said that if you answer too well they'll just keep asking more questions.

Now, let me see if I have this straight. She wants me to create a reply that I know doesn't answer his questions and provide links to pages he's already read. Wouldn't that mean that he would NEED to ask me more questions, because I haven't ANSWERED any yet?

Edit: In fairness to my supervisor I have to add an edit. The guy did write back with thanks and two more very specific questions (asking for examples basically). She was totally cool about me writing back and didn't change anything I wrote, so I guess she's come to terms with my "too helpful" nature. :) I haven't had any further queries since then, but the guy did agree to send me some info on how his country's policy develops when this research period is finished, so I feel like karma will bring some good stuff back in the end.

comings and goings

Miss Flighty, who had been thinking about boarding with me for a few weeks, asked if she could move in last Sunday. She and her far-too-much-for-one-small-bedroom stuff arrived in two trips, the second ending after dark. She's been trying to get back all week to get it from the carport to the room, but always had something delaying her till after dark. Unfortunately this includes her bed, which is leaning against one of the poles on the open edge of the carport, exposed to the weather. All well and good during this hot, sunny week where any dew that gathered could dry off easily by 10am.

Today, however, the dark clouds are gathering and the forecast is for possible light rain. While a lot of her things are in danger of getting wet, the bed is what most concerns me, because it will be most damaged if it gets wet. I'm here alone and the carport has a dirt floor, so if I try to move the bed further in by myself I will have to drag it and it will get hella dirty. I rang some friends up the road but they were...unavailable (read: unwilling) to help.

And "where is the owner of this soon to be rained on gear?" I hear you asking. Well, I'd like to say that she's at work, which I'm assuming is the only thing that would keep her from rescuing her own belongings. Sadly I have no idea if that's the case, because she hasn't bothered to let me know what's happening. I called and text messaged (no answer) and that's about where it stands. It's very frustrating, because even though all her stuff is here, because she hasn't technically moved in, she also isn't paying any board. That might not seem like a problem (she's not eating her or using my electricity, etc) but the thing is that while she is dithering around, I have to assume she IS moving in, which means that I can't advertise for anyone else.

This became an even more pressing matter yesterday when Silent Bob got home and announced that he's probably moving out next week. His engineering subjects are a lot harder this year and he's spent a lot of time at a friend's house going through material in the evening. He doesn't get home for dinner very often and it looks like this might continue. This friend is also Chinese (they know each other from their hometown in China) and doing some of the same subjects, and he's willing to discuss the work with him (which is very generous), so it looks like the best thing might be if he moves in with that guy and then he won't need to find dinner and catch the late bus every night. Which all makes perfect sense, but he's the easiest, most considerate boarder I've ever had, and I will definitely miss him if he goes.

I wish this was all a little easier.

and here we go again...

I read the other day that some ridiculous group has released a anti-Mormon DVD US-wide. I'd like to ask, "why do they bother?" but the sad truth is that some people will actually believe the tripe on the DVD without ever once checking it for accuracy with an actual Mormon. Or rather I should say with an actual member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. And that refutes claim no.1: that 'Mormons' are not Christians. Notice the words 'Jesus Christ' in the name of the church? They're relevant.

An excellent point-by-point response to the DVD has been put together by the FAIR group. I'm sure it didn't take them long, because the misrepresentations and inaccuracies on the DVD are the same old chestnuts that have been misquoted, half-quoted and taken out of context a bazillion times already. And answered as many times as well. I won't reproduce the whole thing here obviously, but I will paste in a couple of paragraphs from the response to the introduction that identifies the flaws in the main premise of the DVD. Personally I think that gives enough information that anyone would see that the best place for the DVD is in the trash, but if you want to go on and look at specifics, feel free to check out the link above to the whole response.

This video begins with an ambitious declaration put forth by Patrick Powell, "Today we're going to investigate two of the world's most prominent and influential men to determine once and for all which one holds the truth." There are several problems involved in such a task.

First, Mr. Powell sets up a false dichotomy—he proposes to compare Joseph Smith and Jesus Christ. But Mormons do not equate Joseph Smith with Jesus Christ. Mormons proclaim Jesus Christ to be the divine Son of God, the only perfect and sinless person to ever be born on earth. Mormons believe that Joseph Smith is a prophet of God, subject to the same imperfections as other men; he did not live a sinless life. Indeed, in the LDS view it would be more accurate to compare Joseph Smith with Peter, Abraham, Moses, or any other biblical prophet. To state otherwise is a false comparison that serves no other purpose than to mislead the viewer.

Second, the statement attempts to set Jesus Christ in competition with Joseph Smith and presupposes that if one is right, the other is wrong. Joseph Smith, in acting as a prophet, was a witness for the divinity of Jesus Christ, bearing strong testimony for the efficacy of Christ's atoning sacrifice and the reality of Christ's resurrection.

You might wonder why I'm bothering to even post on this crap, but sometimes it does get on your nerves. I've actually been told occasionally by people on internet discussion boards that I don't know what my own religion teaches. Yes, I do. Because I'm there, every Sunday. And it's the height of arrogance to suggest that people who've read some flimsy, unsubstantiated anti-LDS pamphlet (or in the current example, watched a deliberately deceptive, flimsy, unsubstantiated DVD) know more about the beliefs of a religion than the people who live that religion every day.

*sigh*

Good gracious, it's been 12 days since I posted. Time is moving too fast for me lately.

Everywhere I turn at the moment there is something to be disappointed about. My supervisor at working is only acting at her level, and last week she found out she didn't get the ongoing position. She's pretty mad, too, because she has over four years experience in the area, knowledge of the relevant legislation, and has been acting successfully in the job for months. Also, the feedback given really doesn't properly explain why she wasn't chosen. There seems to be a general trend in our organisation at the moment to hire from outside rather than promoting people internally. I don't want to believe that's deliberate but it's happening again and again, and last year the situation was quite opposite. I'm disappointed she didn't get it and I'm concerned that we will lose her as a result.

In much more depressing news, yesterday a kid I know was found out for breaking into someone's house and stealing something. He was lucky in that the person sorted it out privately rather than going to the police, but that isn't the point. I feel gutted. Amazing how scary, how upsetting it is, to watch a teenager do something so obviously wrong and realise that you don't really know them at all and that worst of all you really don't have any control over whether they do something like that again. And it's not like he stole something he needed ~ just a worthless 'want'. I try to never assume that anyone is flawless ~ humans are human ~ but I have to honestly say that if someone had asked me if this kid would do this I would have said, 'of course not, no way'. I also just feel so angry. Because the way he is with me is obviously not the way he is otherwise, I feel like he's played me. I love the guy, but I now can't trust him, and my respect for him is draining away. And I hate feeling like that.