Love Yourself or Fuck Yourself

I spend a lot of time gnashing my teeth.
Not even on my own behalf, just on the various ways that people insist on not looking after themselves.
It annoys the fuck outta me.
Classic case in point.
My son just came home for exeat and he was telling me (once he was through communing with his phone - did I see a porn site on there? nope) about the Kenya Music Festivals that he's participating in. Now his voice is still going up and down so I was wondering how he can even sing, but apparently he and his crew were reciting a poem. The school they were staying at, because the regionals are out of town, was one of those nobody's heard of. I forgot the name as soon as he said it.
Anyway.
So he tells me that they hadn't been able to go to the loo the entire time they were there because the loos were a hole in the ground. And not even a deep hole; shallow ones where you can see generations of poop floating around stinking up the place.
Mind. Explodes.

They were there for three days.
Three. Days.
My son held his poop the entire time.
Bad as that may be, and I impressed upon him the dangers of holding in poop that long; I am more in bogglement over the pupils and teachers who day in day out, use these facilities on their daily ablutions. Putting aside the risk of disease...
shudder...

Pooping is a very cathartic experience which one should be able to do in a way that doesn't compromise your mental and physical health and the rules of hygiene. At the very least, can they not cover up the hole and dig a proper latrine or five? It's self-neglect. It's an attitude wherein someone, somewhere doesn't feel like it is necessary for an entire school to have a place to relieve themselves with dignity. It's a violation of human rights people!
I saw on +Instagram that some reality star named, Aysia or something was asking for donations to pay her medical bills.
Why?
Because she had a car accident and she wasn't wearing a seatbelt.

The girl is lucky she just broke the bones in her face. I know people who have died from that. What does it take away from you to grab the leather strap and click it into that little holder put there for the purpose? It takes like one second. And it saves so much heart ache. Come on people! Do better.
But the thing that really makes me gnash my teeth and rent my garments (or whatever the expression is, I haven't read the bible in a minute) is people not paying attention to what they put in their mouths. Girls in clubs taking drugs from strangers because 'It'll give you a whole new high' or whatever. What is it you're escaping from which causes you to be that reckless? Maybe, whatever it is, you just need to face it and move on.

Worse than that, a doctor or a chemist gives you some drugs, and you don't even enquire what they're for. You don't even remember the name of the drug; have no idea how it works. Some 'medical practitioner' gave it to you, so you're just gonna take it. No questions.
What's the worst that can happen?
One word.
Prince.
Sometimes I feel like I'm the only person I know who is interested in long term survival. Like people laugh at me for being so careful and conscientious about things. For wanting a plan, for thinking ahead. To me, it's just basic self care.
Loving myself.
Why don't y'all love yourselves?

Speaking of loving yourself, +Google is celebrating world emoji day or something. And they are asking TEEN GIRLS to code an emoji unique to them. I feel like that's an oxymoron. You've already grouped them as 'teen girls'.Hardly unique. I thought these days we were all about 'identifying as' whatever the fuck we want. So what about 'teen boys'? what about older people who 'identify as' teenagers? I don't understand the exclusivity. I really side eye Google these days. What with searches for 'nigga house' showing the white house and the whole mess with "Professional Hair" vs. "Non-professional Hair".

I cannot conclude this post without mentioning +Taylor Swift 's take down by +Calvin Harris. That was just about the most epic thing that happened this week. It makes me feel good to know I saw through that hypocrite years ago. It also makes me feel good that before I saw the video, I did not like This Is What You Came For. It sounded more like something Taylor would sing than Rihanna.
huh
Turns out she wrote it.
No wonder.
The #TaylorIsOverParty is ongoing over here if you're late so come on down.

Leo Won An Oscar

I feel like my work here is done... Okay, no I don't but it's like a major achievement of mine personally that this has happened. I haven't even seen the +Oscars yet. Just scrolling through my twitter feed and facebook page and every single post about the Oscars is either about Leo winning or...Leo winning. It's kind of an anticlimax though. Like we just wore the Oscars down with our perpetual disapproval and they wanted to appease us seeing as they are doing so badly at everything lately. Still.
Congratulations!

I'm still salty though. He totally should have had one ten years ago.
Meanwhile +KanyeWestVEVO went from letting +Kim Kardashian make all his pronouncements on social media to bombarding us with his presence. It's not an improvement. Nobody needs that much Kanye in their lives. Like seriously, can +Twitter please just listen to Kim and suspend his account? He's made me rethink my posting habits too. I think something that's even a little funny and I feel the need to post it for the world to see. Now, I'm like What Would Kanye Do? Then I pause. And think. Does anyone need to know about how I'm dancing around in my super short shorts and inventing a new dance to Desperado on +Rihanna's Anti while I find the fastest way to rustle up some cooked food? I mean...does anyone except potential stalkers really need to know that? Ain't nobody interested bih...

Also this week, the site where I publish my books, sent me a lovely promo pic for Child of Destiny. It tells you where my books are available and shit. I was stoked because I've been trying to think how to get all the sites in one place and failing. Yay Pronoun.

And finally...it's the 29th of February which only comes around every four years. If you're a Celt, you can ask your man to marry you today and he can't say no. Good luck with that. I've been bombarded lately with examples of just how far women will go to get that Mrs. in front of their name. I've been pondering why that would be because I likely wouldn't be able to parade around in my short shorts doing choreo for Desperado if I was under some man's disapproving stare. It always puzzles me why men feel threatened when a woman is a free spirit. Anyone have the answer? Free copy of Child of Destiny to the first person with an answer.

Keeping It Real

A close friend told me about a mutual acquaintance's new husband who is apparently having a hard time with the fact that he has a new family which he has to provide for. He keeps saying stuff about how he can't believe this is his life and he never dreamed that his life would turn out this way. He says it aloud as well, in the hearing of his wife...what. an. asshole.

Anyway so when I heard about that, I wondered what would be the best remedy to get him to slap out of it. I mean what kind of jerk says such a thing. But then when you really think about it, the average guy does tend to be a rather selfish bastard unless there is something in it for them. And I guess having a baby and a wife doesn't count in this guy's case.

Which brings me to the stories we as womenz tell ourselves in order to reconcile our perfect 'Mills and Boon Man' with the actual reality out there. I mean, the movie 'He's Just Not That Into You' was made to disabuse womenz of that very premise. That we should stop telling ourselves these stories that we make up to account for the fact that your man is a grade A bastard with no redeeming qualities.

It's a dichotomy I struggled with when writing. On the one hand, the whole point of reading books is to escape from reality. That's why Harry Potter, The Man in Black, Jamie Fraser, Father Emilio Sandoz, Sam and Dean Winchester and alla dem, are all larger than life.They're what we wish and hope and dream of to find in real life. However, they don't really exist in real life; do they?

This is Leo to the life

So when I was writing Leo into existence I wanted him to be so real that he could maybe actually exist in real life. I wanted him to have typical male imperfections; I wanted him to be as selfish and self-absorbed as the average teen, as unhappy and all about himself as any lonely neglected teenager would be...and yet, something special about him that would allow us all to fall in love with him, not in spite of his faults but because of them. Its a delicate line to maneuver. I don't know if I nailed it. You'll have to tell me when the book goes live.