long overdue AFA2012 post

Okay so I went to AFA2012 with Tamara (@i_nom_allday) and Mike (@yatogamikun) (mike is an arse and changes her username like all the time) only on the second day, because my mother had some surgery and basically couldn't get out of bed. Not to sound like an asshole, but I'm pretty sure she could have managed without me for one day.

Anyway, we spent most of the time at the main stage, squished right behind the barrier separating us from the judges, and waited for Kaname - mostly. We schemed and schemed and ran in about forty minutes ahead of schedule just to be at the front. Danny Choo was fun, though, so we didn't waste the forty minutes.

Here's a picture of a sexy Allen. 

It's important to note that most people - about 99% - utterly fail while cosplaying Allen Walker (D. Gray-Man), presumably because Allen is just too fucking hot. Thus this cosplayer deserves worship.

Here's a picture of the sexy Tamara, which I took while waiting for Kaname.

He was late for an entire hour. During that time, we worked out that half an hour is fashionably late, and to be expected, but an entire hour means that someone somewhere has fucked something up.

Anyway, the regional Cosplay championships - stage lighting, bad photos, nothing much anyway - and the judges. There was a sexy judge called Mikoto, from Taiwan, I think, who shocked everyone when she revealed that she, well, wasn't a she at all. Really sexy, except now I'm not sure how to refer to her. He? She? I'm just so confused. Okay I think he.

Just really sexy, okay. (League of Legend's Morgana, apparently.)

And then there's Kaname, who was high enough to do Gangnam Style with Danny Choo. Not only the horsey dance part, but also the wriggle-under-the-other's-legs part. Everyone squealed and started leaping up onto the barrier.

Sorry, only a few shitty photos here. But Kaname looks appropriately high.

Also here's Reika, who's also sexy as fuck. Also.

There isn't much else, so I'll just dump some pictures over here.

@hikari_taiyaki's umbrella - no idea who she was cosplaying, though. Must remember to ask her soon.

Whee moar spin

What Tamara wore on day one, when I wasn't there... sigh.

A wonderful... something?? Just wonderful. Also sexy.

 I presume it's some kind of fashion culture/subculture thing, which flew right over the head of yours truly, who sometimes cannot differentiate right and left.

moar

moar moar

Kaname, twitter, page, as Fushimi Saruhiko of K.

So... that's it, I guess. I'm done. Unlike my STGCC post, which somehow is unfinished...

pro-choice is bullshit? okay here's a post for you

*Angry post alert. Post will be reordered and made more coherent later.


I saw a picture on Facebook, and it went along the lines of "like this, save babies, abortion is wrong". You know what's wrong? That post.

First let's talk about not shoving stuff down others's throats. It was a post by a page called "teen swag" (side note: ha ha HA) and I presume that teen swag means something like cool clothes and cute couples and maybe skateboards. I don't know, I don't have swag.

But let's make it clear: most people who liked the page didn't sign up for pictures of fetuses and questions about morality. They signed up for some "swag" - cool things. I think. Work safe things. I'm thinking cute couples kissing and people wearing beanies and colourful chalked hair.

Here's to the page: why don't you get back to posting your swag. Atheist pages post atheist things, godly pages post things about god. Hat pages post about hats!! It's not that hard, you know. If I wanted some pictures of refrigerators I wouldn't go liking shoe pages. If you MUST post about abortion, then post it on your personal account.

Yeah. You know? That's called not being an asshole. If I like a page called "pretty hair", I sure as fuck didn't sign up for porn.

So, dear "teen swag" page, shut the fuck up and get back to posting swag, whatever that is.

So now I'll get around to talking about why pro-choice is called pro-CHOICE.

Simply put, pro-choice is giving people the freedom to CHOOSE. I'm going to give you a pear and an apple. That's pro-choice. If I hand you an apple and tell you that pears are against the law now, that's anti-choice.

Anti-choice, in the case of abortion, is often called "pro-life". Now I'm assuming that "pro-life" means "against abortion except in cases where the mother's life is threatened". That's good. That's called being moderate, and that makes sense.

So how did it become anti-choice? When you chose to enforce it on others. Keep in mind, that's YOUR view. If you accidentally get pregnant, then you'll have the baby, because your life isn't in danger, and you don't like abortions. That's your view, right?

YOUR view.

This starts being anti-choice when you start making others do that as well.

You don't understand? Let's look at it from another point of view.

I think that all accidental pregnancies should be terminated by abortion, as early as possible (I don't actually think that way, but for the sake of debate). That's fine, that's my view. If I accidentally get pregnant, I'm going to abort it. But it starts being stupid when I try to make it a law, doesn't it? You're pregnant? By accident? Here's an abortion to go.

You'd say I was taking away your freedom of choice.

THAT'S IT. THAT'S EXACTLY IT.

When pro-lifers choose to enforce their views by making it a LAW, they are taking away our freedom to choose. Want an abortion? NO.

That's ludicrous, that is. Hey, keep your baby if you want, but I'm not keeping mine. That's none of your business, so stop trying to make it yours.

Pro-choice: keep abortion legal, so that those who want it can get it.

That's it. There is no more. Nothing to deduce. Nothing's hidden. There are no nasty implications or whatever.

Pro-life: make abortion illegal, except when the mother's life is in danger.

That is NOT it. What nasty things are hidden behind this facade of "pro-life"? The fact that if you want an abortion, you can't get it, because their morals stand between you and your vagina.

Pro-choice: want an abortion? Okay, you go get one, but I'M not getting one because I don't believe in abortion.

Pro-life: want an abortion? No, you can't get one, because I don't believe in abortions.

It's that simple.

The part above was for moderates. Here's the reasoning for religious people, or people who think zygotes have souls, or for people ... I don't even know. Anyone who thinks abortion is murder, step right up. This part is for you.

You guys eat apples, right? Apples have seeds, right? An apple seed is to an apple tree what a fetus is to a person. A potential apple tree, a potential person. Both are ready to grow if you give it the chance.

Then agin, you don't campaign to "save apple seeds!", do you?

Souls? A fetus has a soul? Give me a rest! You can shut up about your "souls" bullshit until you hand me proof. And I mean scientific proof, validated by thorough research and experiments. Not the dubious kind of "I died and saw God" proof. That's called delusion, in case you didn't know, or perhaps some kind of scientific phenomena mistaken for god.

Also let me show this all to you in story form, which I heard is much easier for the human brain to digest than abstract things:

A woman gets pregnant by accident, because contraception works 99%, leaving 1% to chance. If she gives birth, she'll have a hard time taking care of the baby. Her life will be thoroughly disrupted. SHE DOES NOT WANT A BABY, DAMMIT. Too bad the doctors think abortion is immoral, oops! Too bad her country thinks abortion is ILLEGAL.

So now she has a baby that she never wanted.

(Side note: I'm getting a little angry here.)

And hey, for those who think no one should ever get an abortion, even in cases of rape, here's something for you: you want to be reminded of your rapist for the next forever? Because that's how long you'll have to deal with that baby!

Punishing the unborn baby for its fathers sins? Bullshit! That "baby" knows nothing right now. That baby has no idea it even exists - if you can euthanise a dog, you can abort a baby. That dog has years of bonds to sever! That baby has none.

The victim does NOT want to deal with this shit! The victim has been raped and now wants this the fuck over with. The victim does not want any bloody lingering trauma! Her body has been violated! She does not want to violate it any further! Shut up about not letting her get an abortion!

Oh, but then sometimes the baby is kept.

We're going back to the normal working woman, who wasn't raped:

Too bad for the baby! The baby gets an unwilling mom, or the baby gets sent off to an orphanage. Living costs are rising! This woman certainly canNOT afford to raise a bloody baby. She scrimps and saves and ends up absolutely miserable! The baby is ruining her life! For the first three years, AT LEAST, she's randomly woken up in the middle of the night, has to deal with baby barf, has to deal with a troublesome child 24/7, has to change nappies, has to feed a baby who sometimes wreck things for no reason.

If you're a pro-lifer who's never had to deal with a baby, shut up right now. Shut up. Your opinion is gone. You are not allowed to tell people keep their baby and then torture themselves. Anyone who's ever helped with a baby before knows this - sometimes you just want to shake the little devil until it shut up, dammit. I'm not even saying that you have to be a mom! Maybe an older sibling old enough to have to deal with the younger sibling! Maybe an uncle!

Maybe a woman who's gone through this two times doesn't want a third baby.

Guess what? Then she should be allowed to NOT have that third baby. She should be allowed to abort a baby that she KNOWS she can't take care off. You think the orphanages aren't crowded enough? You think we need more babies without parents to look out for them? (Don't get me started about not letting homosexuals adopt children!)

I've had enough of this shit!

Making abortion legal means that desperate women won't have to seek out quack doctors! It means having abortions in the relatively safe and controlled environment of a clinic! It means keeping your life in order.

It means that if YOU don't want an abortion, YOU don't have to. It means that if YOUR FRIEND wants an abortion, SHE CAN HAVE ONE.

Oh, but there are more issues to address! Why stop here? We also have women who say "fuck contraceptions" and then get pregnant!

I do admit that it's phenomenally stupid. What about STDs? Because the condom is a contraceptive. But forget STDs, if you don't use contraception, then it's just basically your own fault for getting pregnant! Because for the other "yay contraception" cases, it's only 1%, and some of that 1% just says "oops! But okay, baby. Yay!".

So if you don't use contraception, and you get pregnant, then it's stupid. But fear not! YOU CAN STILL GET THAT ABORTION. Stupid choices, yeah, but you're allowed that abortion! Nowhere does it say that people who make illogical choices can't get abortions.

Basically, choices! People would look down on you if you went for multiple abortions BECAUSE you're still not using contraception, but they HAVE NO GROUNDS to dismiss you. They have to get you an abortion. And that's not taking advantage of the law, by the way. If you want to talk about that, lawyers do that every day.

Actually, I think I'm done here, there's not much else to say.

(There IS a optimal abortion period, I think, so if you go past that you just have to keep the baby.)

(My philosophy has affected this post. I don't want to give birth, I'm going to adopt. Definitely. And I think more people should adopt. Because adoption > giving birth - and shut up about wanting "your own baby". What era is this?! - No nine-month torture, no pain, and you help a kid who doesn't have parents. That's pretty good, if you ask me.)

(Also I admit to finding the huge stomach thing offputting. It's something like, if I poke it, it might burst. It makes me uncomfortable.)

that's avoidance not passive-aggressiveness

A lot of things piss me off, but only a few things can ruin my day. Here's one: avoidance.

What do I mean?

Avoidance as in having an issue with something and then pretending that there's nothing. For example, being annoyed by a post, and then venting your frustration on another site. That's the kind I'm talking about.

Why is it annoying? Because it makes no sense. Granted, there are a lot of things that don't make any sense whatsoever, but this is one of the really pointless ones.

If you have something to say, say it. If you're pissed off by something, you don't necessarily have to say "fuck I'm pissed at you", but the least you can do is to let the other party know. The most pointless thing you can do is to keep it to yourself/post your frustration where the other party probably won't see it.

Why? Because nothing's going to be done. If you know the other party IRL, you're kind of obligated to keep friending/following that person, and you're also obligated not to offend him/her. God knows, no one likes strained relationships.

In this case, you either kept your irritation to yourself, or say it out. And you'd better not keep it to yourself and CONTINUE being angry, because that's like poking yourself with a needle. When I refrain from commenting on IRL friends's posts, I put it out of my mind. I'm not going to do anything about THAT, better not keep myself angry. See? Alternatively: I'm not going to do anything about THAT, and I'm going to continue being angry. ANGERRR!!

If it's not an IRL person, or if you're not bothered with petty social media courtesy, then unfriend/unfollow. It's not even that hard.

Bottom line: do something about it, or stop being irritated by it. By all means, continue being pointless and angry, but it ruins my day when I see this sort of stupidity. I mean, do they want to be irritated and angry all day or what? It's not even a nice feeling.

*By "ruining my day", I mean it makes me want to write passive-aggressive posts. This has been a passive-aggressive post. I would gladly show it to that person, if he/she showed any signs of wanting to talk about the issue at all. I don't like starting arguments, because then you're the one who's obligated to continue the line of reasoning, when you're not even the one with the issue.

*i was going to post this as a comment reply, but it became too long

*if you're looking for those Amanda Todd nudes, go to tumblr. There are a lot of them. Amanda was no angel. Amanda brought it upon herself. Amanda is whiny. (Was whiny??)

This is a comment reply to the comment left by an anon on my post about Amanda Todd.


Dear anon,

*you're

That aside, I fail to see how I have been narrow-minded. I fail to see where I have created scenarios and then presented them as facts.

I feel the need to explain my words, which you seem not to understand.

Viewing this incident from another point of view does not mean that I am narrow-minded. The possibilities that I have examined are mere possibilities, and nowhere is my post do I say that that is exactly what has happened.

"Clear signs of complete lack of understanding to the mentally unstable". Sir, in what way is it "clear" that I have a "complete lack of understanding" of the mentally unstable? Are you qualified to identify and categorize who understands the mentally unstable, and who does not? Sir, please read the following sentence slowly: no one is able to understand those who are mentally ill.

I severely doubt that you yourself understand what the mentality of Amanda Todd was, so please restrain yourself.

I question the authenticity of the story because Amanda Todd herself presented it. As the "victim", she is definitely biased towards her own viewpoint. The video was made for sympathy; it was calculated for maximum emotional impact. Although I question her story by using words like "apparently", I do not say that it is false.

Also, anon, "apparently" is a perfectly acceptable word when one is unable to ascertain the facts.

Suicide is not wrong, in my opinion, but it is extremely selfish. Selfishness is a human instinct. We tend to put ourselves first. There is no need for you to say that you "know" that it is "wrong".

Let me now address your point about the two options that we are left with. We can either "mourn her death and try and use it to eradicate bullying or we can not mourn it and bitch about how selfish she was for killing herself". I must say that those two options are narrow-minded.

Mourning her death has a certain limit. It is tasteless for people who have never known Amanda and will never know Amanda to make posts about what a "wonderful girl" she was. They know nothing about her personality, just as I know nothing about her personality. I merely object to people who pour out useless sympathy to dead people.

All we know are her actions, and her actions don't seem to be very positive. The media glosses over her drug and alcohol abuse, and chooses to capitalize on the tragedy of her young age, and how she was bullied.

This is, anon, is most certainly not using her death to eradicate bullying. I see nothing on twitter about "Amanda Todd RIP. Today I will stop bullying kids and be nice to outcasts", and nothing on facebook about "Amanda Todd's death serves as a chilling warning to us about the effects of bullying. Pledge to stop bullying today! Like this page 'Against Bullying'!".

Instead, social media is flooding with posts about how she was pretty, how she didn't deserve to die, how her bullies should rot in hell (and creating a whole new vicious cycle of verbal abuse).

You are mistaken about this.

We could also "not mourn it and bitch about how selfish she was for killing herself". I have done nothing of the sort. I did not "bitch" about her death, mainly because there was nothing for me to bitch about. Anon, my post was about how I found this incident to be overblown and thoroughly irritating. She's dead, and your sympathy is useless.

I did not say that she was selfish for killing herself. What I emphasized, several times, was the fact that she made very stupid decisions. Her selfish actions have no direct impact on me, hence I mentioned it sparingly. However, I did state in the beginning that this post was a result of the flood of sympathy on social platforms. That affected me, and that is what I was "bitching" about.

I understand how you might be mistaken about the point of my post. The section about Amanda Todd's video is a whole lot longer than the section about useless sympathy for a dead girl.

Dear anon, your inflammatory comment has no substance, and to be honest I am at a loss as to what you wished to convey. Your points were insufficiently explained, and even though I spent quite a few minutes puzzling over what exactly you wanted me to do, and what exactly were your feelings towards this post. I am equally confused about your "childish" comment, and your "that's just my two cents and your welcome to yours".

You're welcome to reply to this.

P.S. There is no need to say that I have touched on "good points" if you don't really think so. Which, as I assume from your first comment, you do not.

a short post about amanda todd

*it was supposed to be a short post, but then it became really long.

*if you're looking for compromising pictures of Amanda Todd, go to tumblr. There are more than a lot of compromising photos. Amanda was no angel.

First of all, I'm writing this because I'm irritated. Twitter and Facebook were flooded with sympathy and pity and "she's so pretty, she didn't deserve to die" and WHAT THE FUCK.

This is a video that she posted on the 7th of September this year:




Her story was that during seventh grade, she went online and chatted with strangers over webcam. The strangers called her "beautiful", "perfect", and asked her to flash them. Apparently, a year later, she did.

I'm not sure what came over her, but it's an understandable thing - she was flattered and she felt like she had to reciprocate. Let's skip over this.

Another year later, the guy that she flashed sent her a message on facebook, telling her that if she didn't put on a show for him, then he'd send the pictures to all her friends and relatives. It seemed that he knew all about her - address, school, personal information.

This is creepy, and she should have asked for help. Then again, it's hard to ask for help when 'help' requires you to reveal to everyone that you've flashed someone. So let's skip over this too.

Apparently she didn't "put on a show for him", so during christmas break, the police arrived at her door and she found out that all her friends had received the picture.

(I'm slightly confused - why would the police go to her house for this?)

Then she became a wreck, apparently. She had anxiety issues, major depression, and panic disorder. She took drugs and alcohol. Her anxiety got worse, and several times, she emphasizes that she couldn't go outside because of it. She changed school twice, but the bullying continued. At some time during the video she tells us that she overdosed on her anti-depressants.

The stupidity starts here. She had issues, which was fine. She took drugs and alcohol, which was not fine. At that point of time she would've been fifteen or fourteen. Drugs and alcohol? I'm not sure where she got them, but it couldn't have been easy. Unless she's talking about prescription drugs, which she can get from her own house, and alcohol like common beer, which, again, her house probably has.

My question is that where were her parents? Not very easy to hide the symptoms of a hangover. And if she's actually depressed enough to be doing drugs and taking alcohol, then she wouldn't be taking small doses. Nowhere in the video were her parents "there for her". (She mentioned that she moved to her mother's place, and that her dad found her once after she was bullied, but nothing else.)

Another year later, the guy that she flashed found her again, and made a facebook page. Her nude was his profile picture. She started cutting.

At fifteen or sixteen (sorry, she was fifteen) years of age, she started cutting? Very self-destructive behaviour, isn't it? Not a very clever choice.

Then she started talking to one of her male friends from her original school, and he told her that "my gf's on vacation", and that she should go over. From what it sounded like, they had sex, and she thought that he really liked her.

Let's make this clear. She was still  haunted by the 'flashing' incident and its consequences. And she was fine with having sex with a boy. Who had a girlfriend.

Then a group of girls and boys from her original school found her - the boy, the boy's girlfriend, and fifteen others. They said "look around, no one likes you" in front of apparently 50 people from her newest school. Then someone else said "just punch her already", so Amanda was pushed down and punched.

At that point, she lied and covered for the boy, because she thought that he liked her.

I'm not sure to whom, but she covered for him after he was in the group of people who sought her out and bullied her. Clever idea. Not.

She hid in a ditch until her dad found her. When she got home she drank bleach.

If she was going to commit suicide, then I don't think bleach is going to do it. It was a phenomenally stupid decision to drink bleach - she's not going to die from it, so her problems aren't going to end; it's not going to make her drunk, so she's not going to forget about her problems.

One thing that I really loathe is half-hearted suicide attempts. Suicide is important. It could potentially end your problems, but it could also turn you into a brain-dead vegetable if done wrongly. Of course, I'm not advocating suicide as a solution, because it's a stupid solution.

Amanda was then brought to the hospital. When she got home she saw that people were making fun of her again, on facebook, saying things like "I hope she's dead" and "she deserved it". Then she moved to her mother's place.

We should understand that the taunts were from childish, immature students, and Amanda, having been online for years, should have understood that too. Hell, she should've known that that's how the internet generally responds to a unsuccessful suicide attempt. That's how the internet responds to everyone.

Another six months pass. The bleach taunts continue. She doesn't understand she "gets this", why they're still following her -

Wait a second. She doesn't understand? Was she or was she not chatting to strangers when she was twelve/thirteen? Did she or did she not flash someone? It's been like three years. She doesn't understand how ugly the internet is? This isn't the what she should be saying. What she should be saying is: why was I so stupid when I was younger? Now the older me has to deal with this shit. I hate life.

She cries "constantly", cuts "constantly", and didn't go outside or meet anyone because of her anxiety issues. A month before the video she overdosed on her anti-depressants despite being counselled.

Now I present to you two screenshots from the video, and one screenshot of the video's description:

I'm not sure what she thinks she means by "to be an inspiration". She included a picture of what I assumed was her own forearm - bleeding from various self-inflicted cuts. This is how the video ends. In her defense, there was a picture of an upside-down forearm with the words "stay strong" or something tattooed on it. 

Then again, "everyones future will be bright one day". I'm not sure what she means, because her video does not show that. At all. 

Also grammatical errors and such throughout the video. I mean, I understand, I guess. She was so depressed that she couldn't do much, so obviously her studies would suffer. 

A summary of what I feel about her and her story: she was stupid to flash someone, but some asshole decided to blackmail her, and spread her photo around, and then she became depressed and made other stupid decisions. She didn't deserve to die, but she also doesn't deserve that much sympathy. She had to face the consequences of her actions, and she couldn't. 

OH WAIT. I forgot. Apparently her severe anxiety issues didn't stop her from making a video of herself singing. Some weird anxiety issues, huh. Strangely exclusive.

What I feel about people who make posts about how it's sad and how RIP!! you'll be in our hearts forever and such: stupid.

"she's so pretty she didn't deserve to die"

Are you saying that she didn't deserve to die because she was pretty? Are you saying that if she was ugly then it would be okay for her to die? Whether or not she's pretty has nothing to do with the fact that she killed herself.

I don't know what these people mean by it, and I'm not sure they themselves know. Because complimenting a dead girl doesn't help anyone. I mean, you could say it to her mother. Her mother might feel better. But you didn't say it to her parents, you said it to the stone-cold internet.

This entire thing is overrated. There's nothing to learn from Amanda Todd's story, except:

1. If you spread nude photos of a girl around, then she might commit suicide

2. If you commit suicide and you receive media coverage then everyone will be nice to your corpse

Seriously.

Now that I think of it, the entire thing's pretty pathetic. It's evident that she brought it down upon herself, but the media plays it like a sob story because it's not very popular to criticize a dead girl. And everyone else starts tweeting about her.

Why don't you go and be nice to people around you, or just continue on with your hypocritical life. I don't think Amanda's corpse appreciates your sympathy. I mean, if you knew her then you should have been nice to her when she was still alive. If you didn't know her then all you should be feeling is a slight regret that this world drove another teen to suicide.

People commit suicide every day. The only difference is media coverage. Your sympathy for a dead girl is stupid when there are people who are alive around you.