Monday, October 15, 2012

Sick of Bully Prevention Crap on Facebook

I’m sick and tired of all this bullying awareness/prevention crap. I was bullied all through school, by peers and friends. To this day I’m still bullied and here I am nearly 30. Bullying doesn’t stop, it doesn’t go away after school. It exists everywhere in all kinds of social situations. You can be bullied by strangers, people young and old, friends, family, by your spouse… see where I’m going with this. You can’t prevent and eliminate bullying, but you can learn to cope with it and handle situations. I don’t understand what they are trying to accomplish with the title of awareness being “bully prevention”. You can’t prevent others from being and becoming assholes. So maybe the awareness message actually should be “PREVENT your reaction from making the situation worse when your being bullied”. That’s the coping method I had to take so that I get through my day to day life without decking someone. (there are a lot of people I would like to deck, but as my roommate pointed out, that’s assault) Which points you into the direction of “when does bullying become prosecutable?” In the adult world we have defined laws (for some things) that lumps certain behaviors & actions as breaking the law. We call these things assault, harassment, negligence…blah blah.. But kids don’t fall under this category, we’ve generally accepted that children can’t be held accountable for their actions in the same way adults can. FINE. I get this.. most normal people get this (no I’m not normal) So are we essentially telling our children to grin and bear it until they are 18, then you can slap that asshole with a lawsuit or restraining order, if they haven’t stopped being assholes by that time? I dunno what we’re telling children.. I mean, I guess it’s nice we’re telling them something.. but what that is, is just completely beyond me. My point is, teaching children to prevent bullying doesn’t really make any sense to me.. everyone has been bullied in some form or another, by someone, somewhere… Shouldn’t they be teaching children proper coping methods.. not just this “prevent bullying” . How about “social interaction 101” . That’s a course everyone needs to take and be refreshed on at least once a year. Let’s add “Manners: Don’t Let Them Die” because I think that one should be taken yearly as well.. by everyone.. especially seniors and young children.. but I kid. (no not really, I’m serious.. seniors sneer at me even when I’m holding a door open for them.. would it kill them to say Thank-you?!) OOO what maybe a course on “How To Be Less Bitter and the bi-product of Treating Others Better” . I’d take these courses. I think the last one should be mandatory at my place of work. Alright, before I start a dictatorship here…does anyone agree with me? I think bullying is a part of life that will be ever present. You can’t change it, but you can learn to deal. Lets just tell our kids how to deal… because they’ll be dealing with it their entire lives. (also learning to cuss does great things for your self esteem when your 14 and full of pimples)

Sunday, October 14, 2012

Seitan

So I have been experimenting with Seitan lately. Yesterday I made a "fishy" type seitan by combining the wheat gluten with a packet of bonito stock from one of the local asian markets. I then boiled it in water with soy sauce and fish sauce. I was super happy with how it came out. VERY Flavourful! Here's a pic of some seitan I've made lately:
Also, I wanted to link this blog. I'm definitely going to be making this crazy seitan pepperoni sometime soon!