The Old School Lunch

UPDATE: If you’re going to pay full cash for prescriptions, you should probably call Costco beforehand (always lowest prices) and then go to your pharmacy with that and ask for a price-match. The folks at your pharmacy should suggest you do this anyways but nooooo, they didn’t do this for me today. I’d like to think that they just didn’t know and they’re new on the job but i’ve seen these folks there at this pharmacy for a while.
Well, shit. I knew it was going to be a lot but I didn’t think it’d be that much.

My workplace doesn’t give insurance to full-time employees until their three months of “training” is done so i’m about two months into it which means paying cash for prescriptions. Which wouldn’t be so bad if I didn’t get/need two new prescriptions by the new doctor (old somewhat unreliable one retired). You know it’s bad when the pharmacy tech person at Rite-Aid, before you even say anything, says “very, very expensive…”

Let’s just say that it’s cheaper than what I paid for the body of the Canon Rebel XT but it’s just barely cheaper. Barely.

The longer this Michael Vick thing goes and the more I hear about animal rights activists so loudly saying how evil he is and how he should burn in hell, the more I wonder what these people are thinking when Bosox Julio Lugo takes his wife’s head and slams it on the hood of his car. I wonder where these people are when MLB rising star Elijah Dukes sends his wife a voicemail message of “you dead, dawg.” I wonder where the boycotts and picket lines are when the Denver Broncos give a hefty contract extension to a player who has had repeated run-ins with the law for repeatedly beating his wife.

Dogs don’t deserve the barbaric treatment that they get in these dog-fighting circles, I get that. I get that they can’t speak out for themselves so that’s why people need to do the speaking. I get that everyone is going after Vick because he’s the big, famous target of the most popular sport in America and maybe then people will stop and think before they raise a dog to fight. What I don’t get is how people can prioritize injustices in such a way that basically says that cruelty against dogs is more important of an issue…is an issue that people are more passionate about and organize quickly for…than men’s violence against women.

[Real question that we ask at the New Job, real answer from a single mother]

Q: What do you hope your son or daughter will learn over time from this experience?
A: To learn to respect women.

I’ve always had a thing for cooking/food shows but without cable, my viewing options are pretty limited in this regard. So for the past few seasons or so, i’ve watched Hell’s Kitchen in an “if it’s on i’ll watch it” sort of way. If you’ve been watching this season, you know the contestant of Rock and that he is, as he’s shown today, an asshole with what I really think is an abusive personality. I know, I know it’s a reality show and i’m sure everyone’s real personality there is warped and such but there’s no denying what he did and said on the last episode. Though Rock didn’t lay a finger on anyone on the show, his intimidation of namely the other female contestants through verbal abuse and direct but not so direct that he’d get kicked off the show threats just really stink of one who gets what he wants by putting fear into others (women) and thus controlling them. For those who don’t watch the show, basically he “blew up” and “lost control” after he’d been sucking ass in the competition, been sniping back and forth with a female chef and said chef asked him to put a bowl of something near the sink to which he didn’t and said something along the lines of “I don’t jump when you say jump.” He then proceeded to call this woman (and another woman who came to her defense) bitch this and broad that all while splicing in the after-hours commentary of “I like working with women in the kitchen…but not these bitches.” Throughout his raging verbal attack of the two female chefs, he did some of this including “you don’t want to mess with me” as he’d walk past one of the two women, slam some kitchen utensils and trays around, stop to say what he was going to say and then proceed. It’s hard to remember all of the shit he said, it was just so much but if i’m missing anything, he roared on about “don’t fucking talk to me” “get the fuck outta me way” or some nonsense. But the idea is pretty clear. My dad destroyed furniture and punched walls in his moments of “rage” when he argued with my mom. He would always tell me that no matter what, he’d never hit my mom but it didn’t clear away the fact that he used physical intimidation to get what he wanted.

At the old job, there were many, many men who acted like this. When someone stands up or doesn’t take their shit, they throw an adult man-tantrum and try to intimidate their way through life. They know enough to not say “i’m going to kill you” but then again when you’ve got an abusive personality, you learn to blur the lines enough so that dumbasses like the show’s producers and Chef Ramsey don’t call him out and instead simply say “stop arguing.”

Come to think of it, I think in the last season of Hell’s Kitchen, there was another douchebag of a male chef who, after having lost a gender vs. gender competition, barked back at the women with something like “shut your mouths…women belong in the kitchen, get your ass back in there, woman.” But anyways.

While I was thinking about this abusive piece of shit, I wondered if I was being biased in seeing what he was doing as abusive when Chef Ramsey (some could argue) appears to do the same thing. Rock is Black and Chef Ramsey is White. Some could argue that through subtle layers of subconscious racism, I hold Black guys to a higher standard and that Chef Ramsey gets away with the same thing day after day. But I don’t think that’s the case. Sure, Chef Ramsey is verbally abusive (and sexist) in his comments to the different contestants and sure what he says is just awful all of the time, but the aspects of that abusive personality stop there. From what i’ve seen, he doesn’t say “don’t mess with me” which is a nice way of saying “don’t mess with me or i’m going to inflict harm on you” and he sure as hell doesn’t walk around the kitchen slamming shit around for the sole purpose of putting fear into the other people, namely the female contestants.

That Rock wasn’t eliminated in the last show makes me physically sick because Chef Ramsey didn’t for a second take into account Rock’s abusive (and i’m saying this word again because that’s what it is and there’s no better word for it nor is there a reason to use any other word) behavior and that to me reflects on an inability or unwillingness for Ramsey and the rest of the show’s team to say to the world “you may be a great chef, but if you’re going to treat people like that, if you’re going to treat women like that, fuck off because we don’t want you to represent our show.”

I wish I had one because I imagine it’d be pretty quiet in there. Which would be pretty useful not only when a robber comes in but also when you have one of the top 5 worst migraines you’ve had your entire life. Because when that happens, as it did today, staying in a quiet, dark and comfortable place is pretty much the only thing you can do besides going to the ER for drugs. So today I was in the fetal position in the closet (pretty quiet with the natural clothes-hanging-on-the-wall sound insulation) for a few hours and then the drugs kicked in so I could actually function. I’ve been pretty careful about eating certain things, namely processed meats and such, but now I know that triggers for me are also in the realm of Aspartame and playing shooter video games (seriously) on top of doing something strenous when you haven’t taken the time to ease into it. Roll all those into a 3-4 hour span and you’ve got a migraine complete with the “aura” teaser trailer which I just found out is only 20-30% of migraine sufferers actually get so I guess things could be worse. I can somewhat sense when i’m about to be hit with it so I can run to take an Excedrin and hope that I catch it in time, which today I didn’t really do.

I think it’s time to step up to Imitrex because the stuff i’m on right now (which i’ve been on for a few months straight to get at tension/migraine type persistent headaches) is eating away at my stomach. But I don’t have insurance yet from the workplace (1.5 months, countdown!) so the doctor’s appointment and the drugs itself are going to cost a bit. Mostly i’m worried about the Imitrex because i’ve heard that even with some good coverage, it’s ridiculously overpriced. And then that’s not even mentioning the stuff i’ve heard from folks who can’t even stand Imitrex because the side-effects are that bad. I hope I can stand it.

I was so looking forward to watching Sunshine this weekend but I guess their “Limited Release” really, really means limited release. There’s not one showing in this entire state. So, we watched Live Free or Die Hard which was entertaining purely on the action/adventure but just a real piece of shit with the boggling plot and of course the old “Asian hooker bitch” and “kung fu shit” lines said so eloquently by Bruce Willis. So after seeing this and then finding out how wrong I was (privilege check!) about sexism in Transformers (as I admittedly gave it a super general “it’s good!” review a few posts ago) that a few other bloggers have posted about already, I think I need to stick with my thought out in advance selected Netflix viewing for a while.

[Lame excuse #2: I shelled out for a Pro Flickr account so I gotta maximize that, right?]

It was only a matter of time. I managed to push it out of my mind for a month or so, but I finally caved and ordered the Canon Rebel XT with a new lens and a CF memory card. I kept telling myself that it’ll be really useful for the job and life in general. And even more unbelievably, I used the lame rationale that I somehow “saved” money by not going for the XTi (which I really, really wanted in the first place).

Q: You sound awful.

A: It’s the flu. I’m getting my ass kicked. I had to take a day off work the other day.

Q: You aren’t supposed to do that, aren’t you? You’re still training?

A: Yea, but if you’re sick you’re sick.

Q: When did it start?

A: Wednesday night, after I watched Transformers.

Q: Transformers made you sick, figures.

A: I thought it was good, actually. I mean, there were some eye-rolling moments with the “it’s gotta be Japanese” lines and “I always fall for the bad boys” moments and such but overall, it was fun. I don’t understand the folks who say “it’s too serious” or “it’s not serious enough.” It’s robots turning into cars and ships, after all.

Q: Didn’t mind all the GMC/Chevy ads then?

A: It’s to the point where I think viewers are used to it. I wish they could’ve been a little more subtle but it’s certainly not as bad as…say the Dr. Pepper shot in Spiderman. I think the ad-campaign by the automakers makes it worse than it is in the movie.

Q: So what’s been new otherwise?

A: Work. An under-wraps project that I won’t talk about at length (and jinx) until it’s out. Ummm, friend’s birthday coming up, so I managed to finally use that Amazon gift cert I had originally saved up for a camera I wanted to buy.

Q: What’d you get for the present?

A: Season one of….a certain TV show. DHARMAINITIATIVE*cough

Q: I hope he’s not reading this.

A: I don’t think he is.

Q: Do any of your in-person friends know about this?

A: No, I doubt it. They’d have to dig around a bit to find it. Or get at it through the Flickr.

Q: Why don’t you want them to read it?

A: Eh, it’s the lesson I learned from the first blog.

Q: You learned a lot of lessons from that “trial” I imagine.

A: Oh yea.

Q: You want to buy a camera? What for? You’ve already got one.

A: The most advertised feature of mine is that it also doubles as an MP3 player. And it was a gift. From my uncle who I don’t like. It’s time for an upgrade.

Q: What are you hungry for?

A: Nachos. Not really. I wish I wanted nachos so I could go get them. I have zero appetite right now. I could’ve gone the entire day yesterday on tea but I forced myself to eat a salad and then a mini-pizza.

Q: You’re about to say something?

A: A certain flickr group popped into my head just now. I posted about it a long time ago, but basically it’s a group called “feminism” and a majority of the photos people add there I have no idea how they’re related to feminism. So someone posed the question in the group…and the first response was something like “women are beautiful, mothers and nature” and stuff like then and then later on a guy chimes in with the old “this is a good discussion to have” and then proceeds to talk about how his photos (almost voyueristic photos of mainly young, white, attractive women) are somehow a comment on feminism. I don’t get it.

Q: People want views and subscribers. Hence they add their photos to every single group they belong to.

A: Yea.

Q: Are you going to talk about Chris Benoit?

A: God. I’ll just say that while i’m not a medical professional and I don’t know with intimate knowledge the effects of steroid use…just the way in which people are making this out to be purely roid rage is just ridiculous. It’s like a bad SVU episode. Society will always find ways to minimize, evade, cover up domestic violence, men’s violence against women, etc. If we suddenly found out that Dubya physically assaulted his wife, people would start saying that he’s just crazy, stupid and power-hungry. While the latter certainly is true for DV abusers, people just wouldn’t say “hey, it’s a man hitting a woman.”

Q: In Dubya’s case it seems like they’d concentrate on him though and not “the victim” which is unusual for how society reacts.

A: Right, it’s a different case because obviously the man is who he is. But in either way, it situates the abuse in a certain way to avoid looking at it directly. It’s like taking a side-glance at Dubya and focusing solely on him to avoid even considering that it’s indicative of a larger societal problem.

L: I’m trying to get Mom to buy a new TV and a satelitte thing so she can watch all those Korean shows like grandma has.
M: Huh. Alright.
L: There’s a pretty good Dell tv, 30-some inch for like $800 bucks.
M: What? No. Don’t get a Dell. Those Dell tvs aren’t good. You have to see it in person.
L: It’s $800 bucks. It can’t be that bad.
M: Well, you just have to see it in person.
L: You’ve seen one in person?
M: Yea, and it was pretty bad.
L: Well, if you can find one that’s in the 800 to mayyybe 1200 price range then fine.
L: Because, you know, their TV right now is not only broken [some weird inverted image] and it’s not even that big. I don’t think they’re going to care so much as long as it’s a good tv, a good value.
M: If you’re going to buy a tv, you have to buy a good one.
L: [Waiting for the TV suggestion that never came] …