I had a dream the other night that I was completely broke. Not my family, just me. Hubby still had money, as did my in-laws, but no one would help me out. The water was turned off, but only for me. I couldn't bathe or wash clothes or dishes or even drink (I couldn't afford to buy bottled water). I woke up dehydrated and thoroughly bummed out. :)
I had to keep reminding myself that, despite what was said in the dream, being a stay-at-home mom does NOT make me a moocher!
I guess that's what happens when I go on Facebook right before bed. I'd been reading about all these poor folks in Detroit who've had their water turned off. Last summer it was the electricity, right in the middle of the worst heatwave in the city's history (and it stranded a pregnant woman in an elevator). Now it's the water. Detroit has become a third-world country. It's horrifying.
We are a nearly 2 weeks into Phase 1 of Summer Vacation. LG started summer school on Monday, and WG is off until July 7th. So far, not horrible. I mean, other than colds, runny noses, meltdowns, and complete exhaustion (for all of us). On Tuesday the kids were so tired they didn't even want to go swimming! That was a first, seeing as these are 2 kids who would swim in the arctic at 3 AM if given the chance.
We'll try to get to the pool today, even though the weather isn't great. Maybe we'll have it to ourselves, mwahahahahahaha!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Another 1/2 pound gone this week. I was kind of surprised that I lost anything, to tell you the truth. Last week was rough, and I certainly didn't work out like I usually do. I DID, however, take a really nice, 90-minute, heated power yoga class on Sunday. Hopefully I can get there on a semi-regular basis.
Aaaaaaaand...in yet another case of small degrees of separation (which seems to happen a lot), my mom's colleague had lunch with Benedict Cumberbatch the other day. Why, you may ask, was this man afforded this privilege? Because he wrote the book "Black Mass" about Whitey Bulger, which is being made into a film, and is currently shooting in Boston. BC is playing his brother Billy. Who, in reality, is short and bald. But, hey, it's Hollywood!
By all accounts, he (Benedict) is a really nice guy, and is pretty close to perfecting his Southie accent. He's also been reading the Boston Globe quite often, which is the paper my dad wrote for.
Small, small world.
OK. I started this post 2 days ago. This morning I clicked on one f my most favoritist blogs in the whole wide world, "The Great Fitness Experiment." Charlotte is an amazing person and a TERRIFIC writer. She is also thoughtful, sensitive, empathetic, and thoroughly researches the topics she writes about. Today she wrote about a weight loss system that is apparently very popular.
And, boy howdy, did the trolls come out!
She made it very clear that the opinion stated in her blog was just that: HER OPINION! And that she read the research that was available to her, as well as talking to a friend who sells the product. But did any of that stop the personal attacks? Of COURSE not! Because we now live in an age in which it's not enough to disagree with someone, we have to belittle them, as well. One poster said "I hope you understand that the only thing at stake here is your reputation and credibility. And OH BOY did you ever put those on the line today...Better luck next time!" While others accused her of misusing her friendship with the woman who sells the product, and of being classless.
REALLY?!?!?!?!
This is just MY opinion, but it seems to me there may be some astroturfing going on. Which is when a person, a corporation, a political group, etc. sends its supporters to a blog or post to troll the comments. I'm not saying the company necessarily did this, but they do have a number of independent contractors, and who knows what one individual can get up to?
This is the sort of thing that we're used to on Facebook, twitter, tumblr, etc. Charlotte's blog will get the occasional troll, but they are usually taken care of (gently). I've been following her blog since almost the beginning, and I have NEVER seen anything like what happened today on it.
Charlotte and I have never met in person, but we have been corresponding for some time, and I consider her a friend. And if someone goes after my friends, I am not going to sit by silently. The folks saying nasty things to and about her, by their own admission, don't know her at all. Yet they feel free to slam her.
Again, it's nothing new. People will say things online they'd never dream of saying face-to-face. It's cowardly and mean. They, themselves, are exhibiting the very behavior they accuse her of.
Here's another of my opinions: If the company has ANYTHING to do with this, they should be ashamed. This isn't marketing, this is bullying. If they're NOT behind it but get wind of it, they MUST denounce this behavior immediately. And if it IS just a bunch of random individuals, then what a sad, sorry state we are now in. And those individuals should be ashamed.
But I won't hold my breath waiting for them to know better.
In the meantime, I'm going to go watch some re-runs of "Doctor Who," and dream of a madman in a blue box who repeatedly saves the universe.
Even when we don't necessarily deserve it.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment