overheard

marya: wow. did you know that 10% of the people of South Africa are HIV positive?
jaxon: that's really bad. they should do something about that.
marya: they are; they're creating a new muppet.

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hmmm... well that's sure to make a few conservatives upset, hiv positive muppets leading to premarital sex and all.

sfgate.com seems to think there's a new teletubby in the works as well:
"In somewhat loosely related news, the creators of the Teletubbies are planning on introducing a new character to the wildly popular toddler program next season, tentatively named Zonk, who will allegedly be a mullato lesbian dwarf quadriplegic encephalitic autistic scoliotic genius waterskiing dentally challenged philatelist with multiple STDs and a wandering eye."

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and on a not related other note, i've been incredibly grumpy since returning from my 9-day meditation retreat. i can't explain it. but people's speech -- meaning sarcasm or even their opinions -- is sending me over the edge. i don't get it. usually i'm pretty easy going. but everything's been bugging me for about a week now. i think i used up all my love and compassion while on the gomden. damn. i even got into a semi-argument with a friend at Music in the Plaza. he was stating this ... maybe sometimes mostly true ... stereotype. but his tone came off as very condescending and patronizing in a very innocent way. he probably didn't realize that he was conveying either of those things...

he said that it is impossible to empathize with parents unless you are one yourself. i disagree. i mean, probably most of the time that could be true. but to say that no one could empathize without being a parent seemd like a very limited view. then he went on to explain the difference between empahty and sympathy to me. i'm not sure which insulted me more -- the english lesson or being so pigeonholed.

m.