I probably have no readers left because I have not been posting regularly and the posts I have done have not been remarkable in any way. So if there is anyone out there that is still interested in “O’s Opinions”, here goes.

I have thought many times about my blog and have felt pressure to post something. There are a few reasons why I have been neglecting this, though. People ask me to “write one of my hilarious posts”, but I haven’t had anything funny to say in a while. Sometimes the things that are going on around us are not amusing to ourselves, and certainly not to others. One of the other reasons that I haven’t been blogging is forgetfulness.

I have gotten so forgetful lately. I used to pride myself on my excellent memory, but I can no longer do this. There have been a few times when I was going to blog about forgetfulness, but forgot to do it. 

Let’s move on. The reason I actually sat down to write is because I am fuming over the poor writing skills and salacious, sensationalistic stories that appear all over my home page. I use Sympatico as my home page because I like having a variety of things to glance over when I go on the computer. On so many occasions in the past little while, I find the “headlines” for the links have almost nothing to do with the story and are made to look so much more newsworthy than they really are. It usually just ends up being regurgitated drivel with a scandalous tidbit to drive more users to a page. So much out there is just gross and vulgar, and if I feel that way, it must be really bad.

The other bit that irks me to no end is the horrible grammar and spelling that some of these writers use. I cannot believe that these people are able to have their stories linked from a popular site, or are actually paid to write. Does no one edit their pieces before they are published? Did these people actually take any writing or journalism courses? There are so many good writers out there trying to get read, how can this crap earn a living for these people?

I blame blogging. Any butthead with a computer can put whatever they want out there. Yes, I am biting the hand that feeds me. No, wait a minute. NO ONE PAYS ME TO DO THIS! There are so many good bloggers out there trying to have their writing skills noticed that they write for free, to gain experience and maybe have someone notice them. If people like what they read, that is a major bonus to most bloggers.

I’m not saying that I am the next great writer, I just like writing and putting some of my quirkiness out there. I still think that I am a waaaaaaayyyyyyy better writer than half of these people that are on the payrolls of these big websites that make a lot of money. How is this possible? Hell, I’ll do it for half of what they are paying the ignoramuses!

Is there anyone else out there that is sick of the tabloid-like garbage that passes for news? How do we change this? I was going to say something else, too, but I forgot. Sigh.

I have never discussed about politics (per se) before and I never intended to.  For all the people living outside of Canada, if you have no interest in Canadian politics, you can leave now, unless you want to read one of the incoherent rants that I am famous for.

For those of you that are unaware, Canada has been governed by a Conservative minority government for the past few years. I have never supported or voted for a Conservative government, and my views right now are surprising.

I live in a very strong, urban NDP riding and proudly vote this way, even if it is seen as a wasted vote, because my NDP MP is a powerful woman with an excellent record in Parliament.  I have strong leftist leanings (child of two “Pierre Trudeau bleeding hearts liberals”), even though I believe that politics, like religion, shouldn’t be talked about because it causes a lot of bad blood.

Today I read an article regarding Canadian politics that really made me angry.  It appears that Michael Ignatieff, the leader of the Liberal party, has voted against the Conservative government on two issues, that in this economy, makes a lot of sense to make a stronger Canada.  Don’t get me wrong, I am not supporting the Conservative government, but come on! We have got to make sure we are creating a stronger Canada to tough the economic times.

First, the Liberals voted against a tax credit that will go to homeowners that have done renovations to their home within the last tax year.  I can’t believe that I am agreeing with the “right”, but this makes sense, to both stimulate the economy and give people a break on their taxes at year end.

The second thing that the Liberals are opposing is a condition to the Employment Insurance and long-term workers.  I don’t pretend to understand half of what is going on because I have only a passing interest in politics, but again, this makes little sense in the struggling economy. 

Are the Liberals trying to totally screw any chance they ever have of regaining power?  What the hell are they thinking?  If they ever want the average Canadian tax-payer (which is most of us) to ever vote for them again, why are they making the Conservatives look good?

I can’t believe that I am backing the Conservatives over the Liberals.  The Liberal Party has completely fallen apart and has become a joke.  How do they ever expect to govern the country again with such bad decisions?  In my opinion, the NDP should change their name like the old Reform party did.  It worked for them.  They’ve been governing the nation for a while now.  I’m just saying.

Now I know why I called my blog “O’s Opinions”.

I spent my twenties trying to figure who I was and what I should be doing.  You know, forming an identity.  I spent my thirties creating stability and settling into my roles.  Now in my forties, I feel the need to change many aspects of my life and revamp parts of my identity. 

I guess this is the so-called mid-life crisis.  I’m not doing the stereotypical things like buying sports cars or having affairs.  In fact, as I look at my peers, most of them appear to be doing a lot of the same things I am doing - looking for something that will make the next decade different, in a positive, productive way. 

I think society should stop using the phrase “mid-life crisis” and find a more positive term to describe the need to make changes in our lives.  “Mid-life crisis” conjures up images of leathery blondes in tight clothes desperately looking for a young lover, or a man with a bad comb-over buying a yacht to compensate for his lost virility.

I was trying to come up with a new, positive phrase for this period of life, but the word “change” kept popping into my head.  As this is associated with a woman transitioning into her menopausal years, I decided that it is not the terminology I was looking for.  I also thought “mid-life” sounds so old.  Although people in their forties are in the middle period of their lives, they are still very vibrant and full of life, not at all the image that “mid-life” is associated with.

I checked a thesaurus to see what they had listed for synonyms of mid-life and the last entry was “the wrong side of forty”.  Ugh.  That is horrible.  Who I am at 41 is a different person than who I was at 31.  Why is that wrong?

Does anyone have any ideas for a new name for this period of life?  Let’s start a revolution and make people think about this differently.  Send suggestions to me, I’m on board!

I’ve been very preoccupied lately and I realized that my more recent posts don’t have any of the old fire and zing that I usually display.  Often I’ll have one of my trademark firecracker thoughts, but then they slip away because I’ll be busy dealing with something else.

The other day I started jotting down these ideas as they came to me and thought that I would share some of this stream of consciousness with my readers.  I’ll try to get it to flow somewhat cohesively, but really, this blog is a bunch of disjointed thoughts strung together.  Hopefully it’s not too rambling and incoherent!

I’ll start with a short rant on feminism.  My youngest daughter, Rosemary’s Grandbaby, likes to play those dress up games online.  There are princesses, actresses, singers, and characters you can dress in different outfits, change hairstyles and make up.  There are hundreds of these sites and she is always finding new ones. 

The other day, she found one with the characters from Shrek.  My problem started when I saw that Shrek was fat like in the movie, but they made the Ogre Fiona (as opposed to the Princess Fiona) skinny!  The whole point of Fiona turning into an ogre was to make her attractive to Shrek!  As an ogre, she is not supposed to look like a princess!  This really irked me.  This shows little girls that you must be skinny and pretty, or even an ogre won’t find you attractive.

I started talking to the child about this, trying to explain body image, self-esteem and feminism.  She just looked at me and said “Mom, I don’t know what you are talking about.  I’m only six”.  Okay, point taken.  I’ll have to take this up at another time.

My next point is a related rant.  I’m not a huge hip hop fan, but Big Daddy Kev likes some of it.  Lately, I’ve discovered a few hip hop songs that I like, so I downloaded them.  We were listening to these songs when I realized that almost every one of them talked about “dey asses”.  I know hip hop is not known to be among the forerunners of the feminist movement, but I did not realize just how pervasive the sexism is in that subculture.

It’s easy to laugh at these songs and brush it aside, but I think that so many young people listen to these lyrics that the next generation of young men may bring misogeny back in a big way.  It concerns me that women are so objectified in these songs.  What can I do about it?  Absolutely nothing.  I hope this fad goes away quickly before too much damage is done.

Well, folks, I see my word count is nearing 500, so I guess our time is up for today.  I have many more thoughts and ideas jotted down on my scraps of paper, so stay tuned for the next disjointed ramble.

So Susan Boyle didn’t win “Britain’s Got Talent”.  Boo hoo.  The whole bloody internet is in an uproar because she came in second.  I’ll be quite honest.  Who gives a shit?

A lot of you are going to be angry at me for that statement, but let me explain.  I think she really is an amazing singer and it’s great that she has had this opportunity.  I think she belongs on Broadway or London’s West End.  In our pop culture obsessed society, we’ve made a big deal about this woman who has lived a hard life and doesn’t portray the image  that we have come to expect from pop stars.

The whole idea of having to be surgically enhanced, airbrushed, fluffed and polished to make music is relatively new.  Musicians and singers have always presented an image to the public to be consumed, but this envelope gets pushed further and further as we get more obsessed with celebrities.  My generation is responsible for much of this, as we were teens in the 1980s, when the use of the music video as a marketing tool became de rigeur.  I remember me and my friends going crazy for Duran Duran videos because there was not one unattractive guy in that band.

This is gone to such an extreme now, that when a woman that can sing but is considered unattractive comes along, a huge media circus is created.  Has anyone ever taken a look at some opera singers?  In this era of lip syncing and Pussycat Dolls, people are surprised when a woman without a nose or boob job gets on a stage and sings.  Whatever happened to getting a recording contract based on talent, not looks?

I am really sick of celebrity obsessed culture.  You see it plastered all over the internet, tv and magazines at the check out stand.  It screams out at you everywhere.  Do I care if Jon and Kate are having marriage problems?  What are Britney and Lindsay and Paris up to this week?  WHO CARES!!!!  I used to like Mel Gibson movies, especially Braveheart, but now because of the anti-semitic trash he spouts and now all this pregnant girlfriend stuff,  I can’t even watch his stupid cheesy face anymore!

Congratulations to the winner of “Britain’s Got Talent” (whomever you are) and congratulations to Susan Boyle.  You got pretty far for an ugly girl (I hope you all get the sarcasm).

I’ve been wanting to post to my blog ever since I finished the last one, but had nothing interesting to say.  I had nothing fun or exciting going on in my life, so I just left it.  I’ve been surfing the ‘net to find something to rant about, but nothing piqued my interest.

I spend a lot of time on Twitter, following people, getting to know them, reading their blogs and checking out their sites.  I’ve been watching the trending topics on Twitter to see if anything  would inspire me, but it’s just been a lot of crap like American Idol, Britain’s Got Talent, and jokes about sex.  There are sometimes topics regarding American politics, but I only follow the basics of that, I’m not interested in all the nitty gritty.

Today I tried to start a trending topic on Twitter, #truenorthstrongandfree.  I posted about 15 to 20 facts about Canada, hoping to get people talking about our beautiful country for a change.  I got a few other Canadians involved and some questions from a guy in Singapore regarding the claim that a Canadian invented the zipper, but for the most part, nobody was interested!  Why is Canada perceived as being so boring?

Again, I lost several followers, this time because of my pro-Canadian tweets.  There’s one thing that really bothers me, a patriotic person that doesn’t want to hear about how others love their own country.  And what about all the other Canadians on Twitter?  Why are they not interested in sharing that information with their followers?  Show the world what an amazing, beautiful and diverse place we have here!

We are so lucky as Canadians to have fresh air (in most places), clean water and health care.  I know that our health care has fallen down a bit, with long waiting times and a shortage of staff, but it is there for all of us and we are well taken care of, for the most part.  We are among the wealthiest of nations, have an excellent track record when it comes to education, and have long life expectancies.  Most of our children get jobs to earn money for themselves, not sold into slavery or supporting their entire family.

I think that we take things for granted and forget that even though we all struggle, our lives seem like luxury to a large portion of the world’s population.  I want Canadians to open their eyes and look at the beauty we have!  From the autumnal foliage on the east cost that dazzles the eyes, to the amazing rain forest on the west coast, boasting some of the oldest trees on the planet.  We have golden fields of wheat that feed the world, vast forests that house a multitude of species and cities that have become home to innovative and creative masses.

I love Canada and being a Canadian.  I want the world to know!  Pass it on.

Okay, I was hardcore getting spammed by a bot, so I had install one of those stupid “Type the Words” things in order for people to leave comments.  Sorry to inconvenience you guys, but it’s better than all that garbage on my site!  Hope everyone is having a great weekend, and for all the Canuck readers, enjoy your day off tomorrow! – O

To all my readers, new and returning, I have made a slight change in how people can leave comments.  My blog has been hijacked by a spammer, so I have had to set the comment box up that you have to log in to use it.  Sorry for creating this extra step, but I don’t approve of others taking my vehicle for expression and putting their garbage on it.

Also, comments will no longer automatically appear like they used to. I have set it up so that they have to be approved before they appear on the page. No worries though, anything that is not spam will be posted, even if it is an opinion that is contrary to mine. I love a good debate!

Take care all, and I hope to have the creative juices flowing once I get rid of this freeloader! – O

An old friend of mine from high school, LG, is a sexy little sexual education nurse for a clinic here in our city.  L, if I got your exact title wrong, I apologize!  Anyway, today on Facebook, she posted: “Irony: 90 people get the Swine Flu and everybody wants to wear a mask. A million people have HIV and no one wants to wear a condom”. 

I thought this was great, and used (copied!!) it as a tweet on Twitter.  What were the results, you ask?  Well, let me tell you!  I lost about 20 followers!  WTF!  Last time I talked about my Twitter followers (The Homophobia post), I only had about 250 followers and I now have almost 1600.  So, really no big deal, I don’t care if I lose followers.  The point is WHY I lost them!

Are people still that against the use of condoms?  We know so much about prevention and the spread of diseases and a lot of people out there still think that it is morally wrong or a sin to wear a condom.  It literally blows my mind.  We all know that every generation of teens becomes more and more sexually active (and thinking back 25 years, I thought we were very sexually aware!) and for all the talk of abstinence, most will become sexually active by the time they graduate high school.

Justin and Britney have admitted that they lied about being virgins when they were together.  There are people like Jordin Sparks and the Jonas Brothers that  are committed to abstinence, but even the Jonas Brothers are backtracking on all that.  What I’m saying is, they’re going to do it anyway, why don’t we educate and protect our children!  I would hate to be a parent that refused to discuss sex and protection with my child and have her come home to tell me she has been diagnosed with an STI or HIV.

A certain number of young people (and some not so young) will be sexually active with multiple partners.  I’m not going to pass judgement on them because most of these people are actually looking for something more than sex, they just don’t know how to find it.  When these people find what they need, what good is it if they are committed to a life sentence from a sexually transmitted infection?  What about the poor, exploited women who have few choices in their lives?  I’m referring mostly to the horrific situation with AIDS in Africa, but it occurs to a lesser extent everywhere around the globe.

So bottom line, I really have no patience for people who are offended by me making an observation about condom use.  I get really irate when I discover that there are still so many people out there that want to stick their heads in the sand and pretend that these things don’t happen and we CAN stop the spread of such a hideous disease.  To all those people, I say “Pbbbbbbbtttttt, go away then, I don’t want you following me”!

I think by now, most people are familiar with the Miss USA 2009 incident that happened over the weekend.  Miss California Carrie Prejean  was asked by judge Perez Hilton if she thought that all the states should follow Vermont’s lead and legalize same-sex marriages.  Ms. Prejean’s answer was completely retarded (Please excuse this expression.  I do not mean it as an insult to those that have developmental disabilities, because I think most of them could have put their thoughts together better than this bozo.  I mean it in the “to hinder or impede” usage of the word.) and she looked like a fish on the deck of a boat gasping for air.  Now there are rumours that Ms. Prejean may sue Perez Hilton for costing her the Miss USA title with that question.

Oh, where to begin?  Seriously, there are so many things wrong here that I just want to rant!  First of all before I take off on my feminist tirade, I want to discuss Perez Hilton as a judge for a beauty pageant.  Honestly, I am trying so hard not to laugh right now, my tongue is going to bleed.  Okay, who asks this guy to take part in the interview portion of the circus, er, I mean pageant, without some kind of controversy?  Did they try to get Paris Hilton but she was attending the opening of a shoe box?  Did the guy in charge of this not realize WHY Perez is famous?  That guy’s tongue could filet fish and they didn’t expect controversy?!?!?!?!  And did they not figure out ahead of time that he would choose something along those lines for a question?  Perez is openly gay!  I know nobody really figured out that Liberace and Freddy Mercury were gay, but come on!  We all know now what that flamboyance indicates!

I say good for Perez for doing this.  I’m not a huge fan of his, but I think he is very shrewd and clever.  He opened up that can of worms in an environment where everything is always exactly the same and got people talking about an issue that he cares about.  I suspect he probably took on this gig just to ask that one question.  Finally someone is talking about an answer that one of these women gave instead of how long her legs are or how well she can twirl a baton while reciting a passage from “Romeo and Juliet”.  I haven’t watched a beauty pageant in years, they make me sick to my stomach.  But I don’t recall there ever being a lot of talk about Miss Arizona’s answer about how she is going to clean up the environment or Miss West Virginia’s solution for world peace.

That brings me to my next point.  Why are there still these pageants going on?  What is the purpose?  I think the worst thing about these pageants is the way these girls are groomed (brainwashed) from the time they are babies.  I see ads on TV for a show about little tiny girls competing in these pageants.  They are covered in makeup and their hairdos look like something a drag queen would sport.  It is 2009!  Why are we not past this?  Why do we parade females around to be judged?  I see absolutely no reason for this.  Someone is going to say “Well, they get scholarships out of it”.  To which I say, what does a bathing suit have to do with college or university, unless you are on the swim team?

Anyway enough of the feminist rant, these arguments have already been made over the years.  On to the last point.  Ms. Prejean may now sue Perez?  I heard somewhere that she said that she knew he would ask a question along the lines that he did.  So why was she not more prepared and composed?  Why now is it a big deal?  Why does she feel that it “cost” her the win?  Was there a guarantee somewhere?  This whole situation is so ridiculous and surreal, I just want to laugh!  If I lose something, I can sue the person that I blame for my loss?  Okay, I am now officially at a loss for words.

What do you think?  How do you feel about this issue?  I’d love to hear from you.  I can be emailed at donig@mts.net or you can reach me at http://twitter.com/OrianneD.

Orianne