*headdesk*

Why the frak are people so STUPID?

Sample conversation:

OtherPerson: Oh, I think A for reasons 1, 2, 3!
Connie: I disagree with A, I think B, because of reasons 4 and 5. Plus, I don't think 3 is really right... maybe you mean 3.0.5 instead?
OtherPerson: How can you think C, when it's obvious that it's A?
Connie: I don't think C. I think C is silly, for reason 6. I really think B, though.
OtherPerson: Wait - you said reason 6! But if you think reason 6, you can't really believe D, that doesn't make any sense!
Connie: WTF? I never said D! I said B! Oh, and since you're not e. e. cummings, can you please capitalize correctly? It's a bit hard to read what you're saying (and I hope by saying that, I'll remind you that I *am* interested in what you're saying, though I disagree with you)
OtherPerson: Wait - if you're not trying to prove D, what *are* you trying to prove? WHY THE FUCK ARE YOU TALKING TO ME? And I can write like a famous poet if I wanna! You're being rude! Everybody writes lyk meh!
Connie: YOU IDIOT! B! B! B! AND STOP TYPING LIKE THAT!

And it just devolves from there. I'm wondering if maybe I should just unplug my computer and throw it in the bay, because it'll cause a lot less pollution then asking everyone else to do that instead.

*deep sigh*

Winter isn't a good time to be arguing with me, methinks - I've definitely got some sort of seasonal problem here. I've spent the past three weeks feeling nervous and anxious, for no reason whatsoever. Since I've got nothing going on in my life, there's no way for me to say that it must be school-stress or worries over my family. It's definitely got to be the change of seasons.

And with this newfound knowledge about myself, I can go forth and do... absolutely nothing. Yeah. That was useful :(

(Actually, it was - now I don't stress myself out worrying about my anxiety, I just feel it like a stomachache and ignore it. So it's not that bad.)

Today's haiku

Bitter freezing cold
Cars racing in the cold rain
Hey! I'm standing here!

That's pretty much my day. We went to visit Ana's friend Elliot, which was great until we had to leave - Ana needed to be slowly kinda poked, prodded, and then eventually shoved out the door. Elliot wouldn't nap with her there, and he shouldn't be expected to, really - naptime is a time for rest and relaxation, and though he likes Ana, she's really a bit... energetic?

As near as I can tell, the kid has two expressions on him - fear/misery and HAPPYHAPPYJOY! He cycles viciously between the two - he'll grin when Ana's playing with him, then freak as she chases him, then grin, then freak when she wants to get a piggyback ride from him (no, I don't know why she thought that'd work, and I'm just happy she stopped at the grabbing his neck part), then grin when sharing the popcorn, then yell "NO PLAYING!" as she doesn't eat it (and he was quite right).

He's nearing two, on my dad's birthday.

You know what argument I really hate?

The one about how "Aren't you glad your parents chose life?", like that's going to make me feel bad and hate abortions. Mal posted lately a list of mostly pathetic arguments against tubal ligation, one of which was "Were you a whoops baby?" (same concept).

Y'know what? My grandparents met after the Second World War. They wouldn't've met at all if it weren't for the war. Does this mean I should be grateful that so many people suffered, because it enabled my eventual birth?

My nieces are, as I'm sure many of you know, half black. Their ancestors would never have met if it weren't for slavery. They would've all lived in their separate parts of Africa, and 'dul would never have existed, and even if he somehow had, he would not have found a way to meet Jenn. Surely we can all see how absurd it would be to have stickers saying "Aren't you glad your ancestors were enslaved?", right? (Please say I'm right!)

There are any number of ways people could not have been born. Nobody's telling people they need to be glad their parents fucked, and therefore they should stop being virgins as quickly as possible, are they?

Of course not. So why say that people shouldn't get sterilized because of the chance of an accidental pregnancy? I can at least understand using that argument for abortion, because of the whole "life begins at conception" idea (which I profoundly disagree with, at least in the way it's meant. I'm not a vegetarian. I have no qualms about stopping "a beating heart". It's sentience I'm concerned with).

More proof that most of humanity is a bit dumb. Alas and alack.

Ana's really not wanting to speak French anymore...

The other day, my mother was giving her her bath, and she said something (in French) about the soap. Savon. And Ana quite seriously replied "No, it's soap!"

Mommy: Non, savon.
Ana: No! SOAP!
Mommy: Ana, non, c'est savon.
Ana: It's soap!
Mommy: Savon.
Ana: *sighs* Nanen. Dit soap.

She understands the French, but she wants to speak English. So my mother's really trying to only speak French to her, and not English. Once she's got that down, she plans on making the replying in French more important.

In other news of multilingual (kinda) adventures, I was sitting on the bus yesterday. And this kid and her mom(?) get on. Kid can't be more than seven, just reading. And the kid reads a sign across from us: LOOK! FOOD!

Mother: (clearly bored to tears) Yes, food. How do you spell that?
Kid: F-o-o-d
Mother: *still bored*
Connie: *flash of inspiration* And you know, you can spell that with your hands too! Look, f, o, o, d!

Kid was fascinated. Mother was grinning. Another kid came up to watch and surrepitiously follow along as I carefully spelled out everybody's names and completely exhausted my ASL vocabulary by teaching them "thank you". I'm lucky nobody had a name involving P or Q, 'cuz I kinda can't do those :)

And this kept everyone occupied through the entire bus ride. So I think I may do myself a favor and work on a little basic vocabulary building in that area. I have no delusions, I that this does not in any way comprise knowing the language, but if it can keep kids from making nuisances of themselves, I'm all for it.