Frustrating

 Not the anemones, no. I think that they're rather nice, actually, and it amuses me that they contain secret porn.

Look below if you don't believe me. You might have to click on the photo to see it full-sized. And of course I didn't mean human porn; just copulating beetles.

What's frustrating at the moment is my father's computer. It's served him well over the years but it's definitely showing its age, especially to someone who works on something so much faster during the week. To boot this thing up on a Saturday morning, for example (and I promise that I'm not exaggerating), I come down, turn on the computer, sort the laundry, start the first load, go back upstairs and make some breakfast, and then come back here... and eat my breakfast while I'm waiting for the computer to be ready to do anything.

Yes, seriously. And then, of course, there's those random moments where you'll be working on something and the computer will decide to go all hourglass for you never know how long. Sometimes a minute; sometimes you're better off finding something else to do for a while.

I was going to say that it's practically an abacus, but that would be wrong since people who really know their abacuses (abaci?) can get stuff done amazingly quickly.

Incidentally, I have an abacus. It's mostly meant as an ornament, but it's fully usable. My speed on the abacus? Comparable to this computer. As I said, it's been chugging along doing its jobs for years, but since I've had three different computers at work in the time he's had this one -- and I work for a non-profit, so it's not like we replace things quickly -- I'd say that it's time to retire the old hamster wheel, Dad. Besides which, XP isn't supported anymore. Isn't that excuse enough?

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Another frustrating thing that I meant to talk type about ages ago is perfume. I read a "must have" cosmetics list a while ago that honestly kind of ticked me off a bit with the stupid things it suggested. Ok, maybe the list didn't tick me off so much as the stupid women who wrote it and the stupid people that I know would follow it. In the first place there is no such thing as a must-have cosmetic. Hey, I wear make-up. Of course I do. I've also been known to go out without it without being totally horrified. Or, I hope, horrifying. Frankly, I think that the amount of money some women spend on make-up is more horrifying than being seen without cosmetics.

Same goes for shoes, by the way. I completely don't get the shoe thing.

Anyway, one of the worst must-haves on the whole stupid list (and believe me, there were some really stupid things on the stupid list. Do stupid people really live like that?) was fragrance. Fragrance to put on in the morning, fragrance to freshen up with during the day, fragrance to top up with if you're going out right after work... it goes on and on and I hate it.

Yes, really.

I'm just wondering if a) people actually do that, and b) have they ever been around another human being? From what I've seen, the usual reaction to a perfumed person is what is that smell, and not generally in a positive way. Perfumed people advertise their arrivals, don't "leave" until some time after they've gone, and cause even those of us who don't have scent allergies to want to back away when speaking to them.

And let's talk about scent allergies. I work with kids. I wish some of those scented people could see the slight look of panic on some of those kids' faces when they enter the room. Does everyone have their inhalers, boys and girls?

No one should have to put up with that. The perfume industry is huge, and I don't understand why it's even necessary. You want to smell nice? Be clean. Yep, that's it. That's all that's necessary. There are enough scents in our soaps and shampoos that bathing is really all it takes to have a... let's say signature scent. Of course, not bathing gives you a signature scent, too. Your choice which suits you.





So, considering that blogging may or may not happen over the next couple of weeks, is this enough words to satisfy? I hope so, because I tried. If the order of the words doesn't do it for you, you could always cut them out magnetic poetry style and rearrange them. Send me your poems, even. It'd make for a few posts.

Lunch, now. See you when I can.