Lying will take you far

After some years of observing people in the work and social life I have come to a weird conclusion : lying is worth it. I should have disregarded all the good parental and moral advice about lying and just started to do it, and properly, a long time ago.

Especially in the past year, I have noticed how much some people lie. I have observed two pathological liars at the work environment - one of them got herself a job promotion with lying, after spending weeks and months in several occasions sick for a reason that isn't medically credible (but when one just keeps lying systematically, no one seems to even notice that), and the other person was a bit surprisingly close to me.

The sick and then job promotion liar according to this other liar, keeps lying constantly. The second liar helped me recognize signs of lying - where she thought she'd be hiding her own signs of lying so well. Anyway. Normally when one has four sick incidents in any six months, the person is fired. The only exceptions to this have been one boss who had really really many and who was then sick for a year in the row but that didn't matter either because of her position or someone that she knew or because pregnancy gets somehow so special treatment (even though it is one's own fault to get in that condition in the first place), and this liar. She got allergies that caused her to be sick for weeks - the great stories of medication that she mentioned included details about her allergy medication, Xanax ... even if that medicine hasn't ever been used for anything else than mental disorders and panic. Still allergic (for work?) for weeks, on Xanax and booze .. no questions asked. After coming back for work for a few weeks then a tennis elbow, from using the mouse. Which was another weeks in a row of being sick. Physiologically, anyone using a mouse except maybe as a tennis ball replacement doesn't really cause it. So you would think that weeks of rest and physiotherapy would fix it if it was present. And if it didn't fix it, at least steroid injections would. She got those, and that in the storyline just made it worse .. I remember seeing her occasionally after that at work, probably because the management started to be suspicious enough, and shortly after she landed in a new job. I am definitely curious to see what kind of stories were involved in getting this new job as I know a bunch of more compatible people than her who were running for that particular job. Unless of course what the other applicants were missing was the ability to feed BS to everybody and lie without any consciousness issues.

The second liar taught me how to see when someone is talking BS.

Both liar would fit to the categories of pathological, chronic and habitual liars. Both liars main points are usually to make them appear nicer, to make the reality appear nicer to them, to get something (money, pay rise, sell things, get what ever you have they want), avoiding being caught of lying (by telling more lies), avoiding embarrassment and so on.

What they sometimes forget that once they start to treat you as their trusted friend, and reveal the amount of total lies ... you will have hard time believing anything they say. Or what they do and say may look totally nonsense. Once you get a lot of results of lying just keep lying and everything will be fine ... and then just keep lying. So the second one went to a holiday, landed in a week holiday to a job offer with 50 % more salary. She thought about it for a while, decided being bored with her actual job then, and quit. Telling some people about taking that job she was offered, other people that she'd get to the other side of the world to study, and went to live in a boring country 'while the visa would be processed for a maximum of two weeks' months ago. I don't fully get it but it will be a lot easier to believe what I see. So for most people to just ignore what they say and concentrate on what they do, believing in what they say when they have done it.

Another good example of how far you can go with lying is observing the politicians... of any country.

I think my new year's resolution would sort of have to lie more and better. And not have any moral problems lying so that the lying is even better.

Enough paperwork BS, again

Six more weeks or so, before the Department of Justice will have to give an answer.
And to send our paperwork back.
Can't wait really.

Six months without a passport, driver's license, marriage certificate.... can't travel anywhere even inside the country where you would even stay overnight, no way of getting out of the country (did I mention my parents are over 70 and sick?), can't drive the car without the driver's license (not that we could afford a car with one lousy salary for two), and part of us who can't work before getting the papers back, can't get a PPS (SSN) number before those papers are back .... being forced to not do anything during the day for so long time is getting on the nerves. It's not really getting on the nerves, it's been very much on the nerves since last August. Really, enough of this paperwork BS. And really, it sucks.

And even more BS if the non-EU part of us would have had a working visa here to start with...

When we'll get that paperwork, then will be months and months for other paperwork perhaps, but just can't wait to get out of here. We are both going thru some interviews - thankfully I have a stable job - he here, I there... would be nice to get the things running again. Life feels too stale when you can't get a weekend break, when you can't afford to rent a car for a weekend, to buy a new toy like an iPod when you happen to see something that you like... it becomes stale, and having a seasonal depression and all this happening during the winter will not make it much better either. There are moments when the work sucks (no matter which work, any of them), when you need a break, want to go out, can't afford to .. and the other part is glued in front of the computer for all day, with the lousy network speeds not allowing to even basic browse on a broadband... days become repetitive, drag on to work, not for the pleasure of it but because of the need of an income, do the job, serve, get back home, another lousy night without being able to get anywhere... days go by, making it one by one a day closer to getting the papers, getting those damn pieces of paper, stamps on passport, more visa applications...

May this be a better year from now on.

2006 in a few lines

2006 in very few lines :
Depression most of the time, while trying to survive the daily BS in life
Marriage - finally. No more of the 90 days BS either way
Visa hell - 6 months two on a lousy salary .. and well, this after finishing the 90 days hell
Reorgs - how much worse can everything get reorganized?
BS - way too many levels
People - social networking when I really want to be alone
Gadgets - nothing really exciting
Home - the third year in same house
Money - at least still used to life in student income ...

2006 - travel experience changed because of the shampoo terrorists

In 2006 the traveling changed because of the shampoo terrorists. A bunch of Asian origin, Arabic sounding named Brits were caught by the British police while they were supposedly getting ready to explode planes flying from UK to US using explosives hidden in juices, shampoos and moisturizers. Never mind that most of them didn't even have a passport so they could possibly not have got into those planes...

These shampoo terrorists got the experience of flying to a new low. Think of 1960s when you could bring the guns in the planes.. even those who would have been using their guns, would never have done it in the planes. The plane itself didn't give the impression of a cattle carrier - it was the experience of travel, people put on their best clothes for travel as it was a big experience, and they enjoyed it. A lot has changed. A lot was changed already before 9/11, but after that the traveling experience has gone just downhill. Move all your belongings to the x-ray belt (excluding your baby), including your belt, shoes, .. anything you can. They would strip you naked and use the rubber gloves if you would keep flying with that low experience. Most people wouldn't, so just move your belts, shoes, .. everything. Unpack your laptop and electric gadgets, show the camera lenses, unpack the iPods, and the newest addition to the security theater : put all your liquid belongings in a zip bag of a certain size - excluding baby formula which can be of unlimited amounts, and some medicines. They even confiscate your rocks.

A few weeks after this shampoo terrorism caused new additions to this liquid security theater had been going on, you would already find a whole new range of cosmetics in the stores. Shampoos, deodorants, conditioners, moisturizers that were in the new 75-100 ml size range. Same stuff you would get the bottle 5 times bigger for the same price, sometimes even for less. The shampoo companies sure make money out of that theater. Just as the companies making the x-ray machines made money in the 1980s after sponsoring bank robbers and hijackers to get up the need for a lot of new x-ray machines. And the programmers of ATS make out of the need to have some automated system that looks like they are doing something smart.

So the assumptions behind this liquid theater are that 1) terrorists don't hide their liquid bombs in infant formula or milk (since that will not be confiscated, the milk formula must be safe...) 2) anything in amounts less than 100 ml in a can and being max 10 bottles of that same stuff must be safe (since allowed to bring) and 3) liquid or gel like substance in bras are safe. You don't have to move your bras.

Talk about a whole new kind of recruitment strategies for all these terrorists : hire women with infants (or hire women AND get infants), and women wearing bras. White women preferably, with plain Western sounding names, so rather a Mary, Judy, or Hannah than an Ayisha. Who will also pass the ATS screening while they carefully do not ask to get a window seat, don't order any specific meal ever, pay always with their own credit card issued in the same country their passport was issued and they have lived all their life in, have never had a no-show on any flight they have purchased, have never got any one-way tickets or paid their fights in cash, and have a car of expected price range...

Eating worth a million euros of coke to become famous

UPDATE : There are TWO models with the name Mercedes Brito... one from Venezuela who is innocent, and one from Dominican Republic, who was the one trying to traffic the coca. My apologies for the Venezuelan model for a wrong picture previously, I should not have believed some of these worst newspapers. You look gorgeous - all the best for your life and career. (See the comments)

Way to go. Way to get famous... in fashion like in every other business where becoming famous matters, every possible way will do for some people...
At least it was so for the Dominican model Mercedes Brito, who in less than a week has got her name all over news in Europe.
First, there was a small story in La Repubblica on Christmas eve, they didn't even mention the name there. And days later, the details leaked out .. or the detail that matters : the name. Daily Record : Julissa Mercedes, 24, who has starred in cosmetics and clothing campaigns, had nearly 3lb of the drug inside her, which police claim was worth up to £1million. [..] "We believe that this cocaine was destined for local Mafia and it would have been sold in the run-up to the New Year's Eve festivities." Flying the deal from Belgium to Sicily does not usually make much sense ... that's not the usual route for the drugs.
It hit also sawf, The Sun (how could it not? That smells like The Sun first page news right there), Mirror, even Aftonbladet in Sweden, T-Online news...
Well well. Famous on these The Sun type newspapers for less than a week, and then shrunk to the oblivion. Of her agency, Max Models, there is already no sign of her left... as there is nothing left on L'Oreal.
Mercedes who in other sources gets even a full name, Julissa Bianela Mercedes Brito, at least got famous ... Seriously. With the salaries a model that looks decent gets, why on earth would anyone risk their life and everything for a few thousand euros? Greediness, or just incredible stupidity?

Stupid Spammers: Beautifulswiss.com War on Spam

Beautifulswiss.com Part I
Stupid Spammers: Beautifulswiss.com War - Part II

... can get quite anal when the spammers use innocent people's email addresses in their reply-tos.
Grr.
Ever had your inboxes invaded by these undeliverable mails?

Small steps on catwalk

The reaction to the death of the young models that died of anorexia recently caught my eye a few weeks back. This autumn or winter, two South American models, Ana Carolina Reston and Luisel Ramos both died of anorexia complications.

So at least there is something good coming out of it...
Madrid bans waifs from catwalks
Is ultra-thin going out of fashion? : Action may have been prompted by the death of a 22-year-old Uruguayan model who collapsed after a catwalk show in August. She had reportedly eaten little but leafy vegetables for months in order to lose weight.
Commentators have also questioned the negative impact of underweight models on ordinary girls' and women's body image, amid concerns over anorexia.
Of course, whether the move away from the super-skinny gathers weight will not be down to the models - it's the modelling agencies, designers and fashion magazines who hold the clout.
The question is, will the powerhouses of the industry listen to the chorus of concern - or argue they are simply meeting the desire of the buying public to see clothes on waif-like women?

Italian designer Giorgio Armani, writing in the UK's Independent newspaper before London Fashion Week, admitted he preferred models "on the slender side" because "the clothes I design and the sort of fabrics I use need to hang correctly on the body". [...]
However, there is some evidence of a shift away from the current trend for American size 0 (British size 4) women, among them one of the UK's most successful models, 18-year-old Lily Cole. [...]
And the Clothes Show Live, a high-profile UK fashion event, has said that from December no models smaller than a British size 6 will be used.
But observers warn it may take a long time for attitudes to change.

She points to studies showing that over the past 30 years models in magazines have grown steadily thinner, so that now they tend to be about 15% underweight.
"There's a growing disparity between the bodies women have and the ideal being displayed to them," she said.

Italy's fashion capital, Milan, has announced a new catwalk code of conduct to protect young models vulnerable to anorexia and exploitation - Under Milan's new code, which is due to come into force in time for the next fashion week, in February, models will have to carry a medical certificate showing they are healthy.

Almost every teenage girl hates the way they look, a survey suggests. One in five is so unhappy they suffer from anorexia or bulimia.
The survey of 2,000 girls for Bliss magazine found six out of 10 would be happier if they lost weight.

Small steps to change. At least the society talks more about those things now. Then again I don't understand why it has taken so long time for the media and the public to find out a few very basic things .... like teens and pre-teenagers dieting and being weight obsessed. I remember being in the elementary school ... at least then doctors and nurses were looking at the book definitions of anorexia. And if those kids that were skinny, who had ALWAYS had a sick attitude to food .. they could continue being skinny as they were too young to comply with the criteria they had on their books .. or on their notes from their study time, when they dealt with the eating disorders maybe half of a lecture years back...

It will take a lot longer and more than having a doctor write a certificate to a model to show they are healthy.
It will have to be the designers to change what they think is pretty, or how they design.
It's a lot easier to design to insanely skinny people.
And enough many people buy their ideology and clothing.
And enough businesses and industries make money out of products sold for losing weight, slimming, cosmetics, cosmetic surgery ...

What if ... women (and men) were happy right now and here with the shape they are now? Screw the dieting products and weight loss this and that.
That would be the ultimate change, from inside.
Not many people, of ANY age, are comfortable with their body.

Creative Commons Christmas music

A great find on Uwe Hermann blog : 235 songs which are all explicitly released under a Creative Commons license - so get your free christmas music from there and enjoy. :)

Holier than thou people

Why is it that some people have a constant air of holier-than-thou attitude?

The coffee they drink is better than the coffee you drink, because they think they have so much more eclectic taste of coffee. They bring their own espresso machine to work, and they get violent and aggressive if anyone touches their home edition of the industrial strenght coffee maker.
Or the ones who are holier than you because they don't drink coffee. They are so much better than you as they don't have to drink coffee, or they find some weird reason that shows they are so much better than you anyway. They so have to rub the reasons why they are so much better, and why they don't drink coffee.

Their camera equipment and their photographic skills are so much better and holier than yours. They carry their Nikon SLRs to work and to all parties, never mind that at work one isn't allowed to take pictures... they blog obsessively about their camera experiments, they flickr whore, .. and all their color, composition, style, photographing skills are just so much underlining how much better they are than you are.
Their blog contains the superprofessional opinions of something they want the world to think they know everything about (as the world doesn't know that widely that the closest to professional part of what they want to be known as experts of, was and is a phone monkey, and not a particularly skilled one).

Their wine or other alcohol taste is so much better than yours. They read the wine magazines, and subscribe to the opinions of the famous wine tasters.
Or they make such a big thing about why they don't drink alcohol.

They are fashionably vegetarians, or vegenazis, because that fits their manga artistic emo look, their better than everyone else attitude and look...
Or they have a fashionable eating disorder, wanarexia, wannabe-bulimia, or they are on atkins because that's the fashionable thing to do. And they are so much better than you because of that.

They are fashionably metro bisexual.
And fashionably buddhist or other fashionable religion.

.. and it goes on and on, in every single bit of the life you observe. They are so much better than you, and they make sure you know it.
If they find someone to tolerate them, I am sure we will know how much better their spouse or significant other is.
They paint the clouds on how the next year they will be a professional photographer. move to Australia or other different location, or become this and that at work.

Maybe it's the overgrown generation G or Z .. or whichever was the latest, one or two after the X. They move abroad like the generation G, if by doing that they can show how much better than you they are.

When they are sick, even their sicknesses are better than yours. They are more sick, or their medicinal needs are so much better than yours. Just like their grandparents talked about their ulcer and kidney stones and overweight just as it was their beloved child, the better than you person's health stories get a lot of love and attention in their description. And when you have just a normal asthma, their asthma is so much better and so much more special than yours.

They are the disposable income and the marketer's dream... they buy the toys because with that fashionable toy they can prove they are so much better than you and the other neighbors and workbuddies they have (but as a difference to the usual get a bigger car to show your neighbors you are better and richer than them-kind of person, the holier than you person chooses way more eclectic items to brag with, and rather ideologies than cars or house decoration kitsch). They buy books about Buddha's life and add their Buddha statues on a pretty display hosting also all their South Park and manga dolls and plastic figurines.

Sometimes it would be fun to crush them and their better than yours dreams in their better than yours coffee grinder like the better than yours coffee.

Xanax for allergies, malaria meds for flu - Ireland sure is creative

Here, in Leprachaunland, once you've seen someone been put on xanax for her allergies, you will be wondering wtf ... until you see that everyone approves it completely fine, as if it was the norm. Maybe in this country they cure allergies with xanax which in other countries is reserved for uses like OCD.

Somehow to that same category of very weird medicine uses is getting malaria and malaria prevention medications for a simple flu.

It will take quite a bit of innovative medicine use to surprise me at all in this country.