Windy walks and a special request
08 Feb 2012 8 Comments
in angry megan
Day two of pseudo-forced vacation was a total bust due to weather.
The only highlight was that I took a long walk in the morning with my mother. It was incredibly windy, so the kite boarders were loving it, but it was a pain in the ass for us bipedal people. I could barely hear a word my mom was saying as we were walking side by side. But even though the wind was kicking up white caps like mad, we also spotted a whole bunch of frolicking whales way off in the distance. My first whale sighting in a year. It was wonderful.
We also came across an open house being run by a friend of ours, Gail, the realtor that hooked us up with our home in Maui. That was also really nice.
The walk, however left me feeling beyond exhausted and, since it started POURING rain I just spent the day napping, or surfing the web.
Which brings me to the worst part about this vacation…
Every. fucking. time. I try to relax and read emails, or comments on my blog, or click through my beloved RSS feeds, or even WRITE a blog, or write 750 words, or even glance at my phone, I get at LEAST one person bitching at me for what they perceive as working.
“Are you working?” “No.” “Mmmm hmm. I don’t believe you.” “I’m just [enter something here.]” “Well, you look like you’re working/it says you’re working on your IM status (that I haven’t thought about in over a year)/been online for a while.” “I’m not.” “Well, you better not be working.” Or people telling at me to do other things that, if they were at all possible to do at the moment, I WOULD BE DOING.
In the last two days I’ve been scolded by seven different people, and mostly SEVERAL TIMES by the same people. It was mildly annoying at first, but now it’s starting to anger me. ESPECIALLY since the whole “not working” stipulation to this trip was not even my idea. I feel like I was forced into not working and, so far, it’s turned out to be just as stressful as if I still had deadlines to worry about. Only now it’s promises to keep, and appearances to keep up, and actions to constantly defend.
And I know everyone who has lovingly bitched me out, indeed, has the best of intentions, I know you all are just looking out for me. But OMG it’s stressing me out. I hate having to defend my actions every time I open up my laptop. Just because I’m on the internet does NOT mean I’m working. Yes, I work on the internet, but I also do OTHER things on the internet, I also find it relaxing to just surf the internet, just like normal folk.
But unlike most normal folk, I actually LOVE my job. The act of turning a blank page into something entertaining and/or inspirational is a wonderful feeling. I would LOVE to be getting my mind off of things by writing new posts, but I made a promise to Aaron that I wouldn’t, so I can’t. And that sucks, because I could really use a distraction when my mind starts racing with all the thoughts that eventually ramp up to an anxiety attack.
Anyway, this is all to say. I love you all, but if you see me online PLEASE stop asking me if I’m working. Ask me ANYTHING else, because if I’m online it means there’s shit-else to do, so a chat would be nice. But the constantly checking in to make sure I’m relaxing is seriously stressing me out.
Now, to give a little bonus to those of you who actually read this entire tantrum, here’s a video that Stephanie (Offbeat Mama) shared with me that really cheered me up:
This is straight up REAL
19 Oct 2011 14 Comments
in angry megan, sharks Tags: aaron, shark attack, shark bite
So I got an email from another Flickr member, Madam Bizarro with the subject “stolen photo” which read:
Megan–you might wanna bust this guy.
[insert now defunct link to a photo in Lightko Studio's facebook portfolio]
Took one of your photos of Aaron’s bite and claimed it is his special effects make-up. Yeah, dude, I guess it DOES look real, since it IS.
And sure enough, I clicked over and saw this: (WARNING: If you don’t want to see the inside of my husband’s leg, do NOT read any further.)
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Bloggers, don’t do this…
26 May 2011 5 Comments
in angry megan, offbeat bride Tags: star wars
Today I got an email from someone trying to get Offbeat Bride interested in linking to, or featuring their post about Star Wars weddings. In the email they stated, “if you want to lift a couple of photos that’s cool… but please use with a link to us.”
My response:
I find it interesting, if not a bit hypocritical, that you feel so strongly about link-backs, when at least one of those photos came from Offbeat Bride with no link back. I should know, because I’m the one who took that photo! I also don’t appreciate that it’s been shrunken down so much that my photography logo can’t be seen, and photoshopped beside two other photos that aren’t mine, neither of which have credits or link-backs.
Also, as a photographer who works for a professional website, “lifting a couple of photos” for our own use is not something I’d be comfortable doing.
Not surprisingly, I haven’t heard back from him and my uncredited photo still remains uncredited.
Protected: Let’s talk about coorporate AsshOLes
09 Mar 2011 Enter your password to view comments.
in angry megan
Is Twilight horribly anti-feminist. Or am I just crazy?
11 Jan 2011 36 Comments
in angry megan
WARNING: the following post is about Twilight. I apologize in advance. I can’t believe I’m doing this, but I wrote it, I obviously have a strong opinion on the matter. So, therefor, why not post it. Feel free to totally ignore this post. Though, I have to say, I am curious about other takes on this subject. So if you DO read, I’d love your feedback…
I read the first Twilight book to find out what all the ruckus was about. I remember when Harry Potter was so popular that I decided to check it out and BOOM! Amazing books! Twilight, not-so-much. It read like a cheesy bodice-ripper (but without the bodice ripping). Sometimes cheesy bodice-rippers can be a harmless and fun waste of time. But cheesy bodice rippers with a clearly anti-feminist message that are marketed to young women, are a waste of time, yes. But harmless, they are not.
I know from the first book that the lead character, Bella, is described as almost being entirely nondescript! And I remember being startled by this. But beyond this and the fact that book is just filled with paragraph after paragraph of how beautiful Edward, the vampire is, I didn’t see much to get angry over. Of course I wasn’t taking it seriously, so I probably wasn’t paying attention.
Then last night I turned on the tv to find the movie New Moon had just started, so I thought, eh why not. At first I found the movie hilarious. The sappy, impossible lines being acted out so… sincerely (I guess) was just down-right amusing. But, after a while it started to make me angry.
As I watched a started to make a list of all the things that were beyond fucked up…
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Radvent: the bright side of holding grudges
04 Dec 2010 Leave a Comment
in angry megan, radvent
It’s hard to come out of a place of resentment, and it takes practice (just like everything). Practice forgiving about small, everyday things. You can always non-forgive later. Who and what are you ready to let go of resentment toward?
The thing that I like about Radvent, thus far, is how we kind of feed off of each other — clearly we’re all feeding off of Lasertron, (she is, after all, leading this crazy journey) but sometimes, when Ariel writes her post first, I get to read that and then both Lasertron and Ariel’s posts can inspire me and lead me to think about different things than I might have originally wrote.
Today in Ariel’s post she wrote, “My favorite sentiment on this issue boils down basically to this: when you hold grudges, you’re letting some asshole live rent-free in your brain. Forgiveness = eviction.”
I like that. It makes sense. But the thing is with me… It works in the opposite manor. I hold on to grudges just long enough to figure out if I want to have this person in my life and then when I make the decision that I still wanna keep them around, I drop it! I totally let it go. I think that’s one of my guy-like qualities — one day I’m pissed and the next I’m like, “Whatever, let’s get a beer.”
Of course the grudges I do keep? Oh ho! They stick around forever… thereby allowing me to keep the ones who’ve done me wrong completely out of my life. I’m a very weak person in a lot of ways, especially when it means, confrontation and/or saying “no” to people. I often let people who treated me like shit remain in my life because I was afraid of hurting their feelings. So keeping the grudge coals hot inside of me allows me to tell them to “fuck off and keep fucking off.”
That’s the long way of explaining that basically… I don’t believe holding grudges is a bad thing — it’s the only way I can really keep up boundaries and defenses. I am not ready to let any of these people back into my life…
- the school bullies who made my life a living hell from 3rd to 12th grade
- insensitive and untrustworthy family members
- overly dramatic friends
- neighbors who express their desire for me to get raped
- the gutless assholes who robbed me at gunpoint
- managers who’ve thrown me under a buss to protect their own asses
- any one who’s ever hurt Aaron
So who am I ready to forgive? Who is welcome back into my good graces? I’ve thought about this all day long and (unfortunately?) (fortunately?) there’s no one I’m willing to let down my guard with under the guise of “forgiveness.” Because, when I thought about it, I need to keep the grudges that remain to keep myself protected still.
And when you really get down to the heart of the topic… I think that I’d be better asking for forgiveness more often. Now that’s a bigger problem for me.
Worst. Hotel. Experience. EVAR. (or “Metro Hotel and Crazy Pants”)
13 Jul 2010 6 Comments
in angry megan, idiots, travel Tags: petaluma, sonoma
This past weekend Coco and I traveled to Sonoma for a wedding, but I decided to splurge a little and treat me and my assistant to a little mini vacation — a relaxing stay at a “cute” hotel. Unfortunately my choosing the Metro Hotel and Cafe in Petaluma was the WORST mistake I could have possibly made. From the website it looked like a funky kitschy hostel-type place. Shame on me for mistaking “BAT-SHIT CRAZY” with “kitschy.”
Upon checking in to the hotel I was told by the guy behind the desk that they had just “changed their computer system” so I would now have to give him cash for the room that I had already paid for online two days prior. I laughed because I thought he was joking. Then he insisted again that I give him cash (totaling almost $300 for two nights!!!) and when I asked, “Wait, are you joking?,” he responded, “No, I’m Russian.” Clearly thinking then that it was all joke I proceeded to ask him where my room was and he proceeded to ask me for cash again. When I told him, confused and getting very frustrated at this point, that I can’t get the money even if my credit card was refunded, I just don’t carry around wads of cash, and I guess that I should just leave? He then gave up and showed us to the room saying something about how he would just take care of it somehow.
Immediately upon getting to the room I looked up my bank statements and no, the money had not been refunded — it wasn’t even pending! And yes, it seems that this guy had totally tried to scam me. NOT the way to welcome a guests to your hotel. Coco and I were immediately stressed and concerned about the type of people who run this place. Needless to say whenever we left our room we took all of our expensive belongings with us. Shady shady goings on.
Ah but the crazy continues!…
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The Real World and women’s body issues
14 Jan 2010 1 Comment
in angry megan, idiots Tags: body issues, women
I admit it, I watch The Real World. I’ve been watching it since I was a youngster and I watch it still. This newest season, the D.C. season, is probably the LEAST interesting bunch of kids that have ever been cast. But beyond boring, the girls got downright PATHETIC in the last episode.
I can’t STAND women and their body issues. I feel like body issues should be like your genitals: keep them to yourself unless invited to share. I have body issues, other women have body issues, boys have body issues, EVERYONE does. I have been fortunate enough to surround myself with friends (boys and girls) who don’t harp on and on about theirs, at least in public. The few times when I’ve actually been on the receiving end of someone saying something negative about their body it’s kind of shocking to me and I don’t know how to act. I don’t want to encourage them by giving them a compliment back, but I don’t want to be a jerk and ignore them. So… I don’t know. I’ve been blessed with really secure friends and those awkward situations have been few and far between.
So it was angering to me to see these “women” on freaking TELEVISION having a pity party about their looks and just being so pathetic! If that damn show had been scripted a more stereotypical scene of women sitting around bitching about “the things that women bitch about” could not have been more perfect. It made me embarrassed to be a woman.
One of the girls spoke up, as I reached my saturation point of disgust, and even noted how pathetic their conversation was becoming. She started to communicate with the others that they, and all women, should really love their bodies. And here I’m thinking, yes! Thank you! Redeem yourself! And in the very next sentence she said, “I’d trade my body for any one of yours in a heartbeat.” NO!!!!! That is the fucking opposite of what you had just said! That one totally sane thing that you have probably EVER said. And you went and canceled that out.
And do you know what started the whole pathetic, whiny-woman body issue conversation? Well, apparently one of the girls made a comment about how she wanted to model for Playboy and one of the boys in the house said, “you’re not skinny enough.” To which, later, she admitted that he was right, but that even though he was right, he just shouldn’t have said that. That statement that was, admittedly, right.
My brain twisted into a pretzel of confusion and outrage and I thought my head was going to explode. My reaction, of course, was to Twitter my total disgust, but what I felt while watching it couldn’t be contained within 140 characters so here I blog.
Dear SUV driver that almost killed me today,
31 Oct 2009 1 Comment
in angry megan Tags: rants
You know, STOP SIGNS are there for a reason right? Not only did you not stop, you didn’t even pause! Not even a California roll!!! I felt the wind of you car as you zoomed past me and my dogs, standing in the street. Like you were too important to stop, and my life was not important ENOUGH to give a moments thought too. And I hope to HELL you heard the things that I yelled at you.
I had one foot in the street when you were half way down the block, surely, I thought, enough time for you to see me and come to a full and complete stop. I had taken my second step by the time you hit the stop sign and thank GOD I didn’t take that third step or I would’ve been plastered to the Mercedes sign on your grill.
What if I was one of the dog owners that let their dogs walk out in front of them? If that had been the case you would have killed my family. I would have had to see my dogs run voilently under the wheels of your ugly silver monstrosity. Happy Halloween I guess!
Look, I’m writing this to vent because I am just so damn frustrated by how many people just DON’T STOP! This isn’t the first time I’ve seen this happen, it’s just the first time I’ve actually felt the wind the car makes as it puts my life, and others, in danger.
I’m also writing this open letter as a way to ask/remind/beg every one who reads it to please at least PAUSE at stop signs, if not stop completely. I never really gave thought to how important a “full and complete stop” was, until I became a twice daily pedestrian when I got my dog. And I was amazed at how many people just didn’t care about other people (or their pets). If just once one of my dogs got away from me, as dogs are want to do, they could’ve been killed so instantly. And for what? Shaving .00001 seconds off a drive to work? Or, in the case of today, to get to the god-damned 7-11!??? (Yeah, she pulled into a freaking 7-11.) Anyway, where was I? Oh yeah, stopping. So important.
Just think of the puppies! Won’t someone just think of the puppies!? Seriously though, that’s what I do. Every time I come up to a stop sign, or come out the other end of an alley, I imagine someone is walking their dog without a leash down that street. And it makes me think before I just keep going. I wish I could remember who told me to do that, but whoever did totally changed my whole attitude about stopping. Believe me, I was QUEEN of the California roll! That person, and dog ownership have changed that for the better.
Okay, I feel better now, thank you for letting me vent. And thank you for (maybe?) taking this message to heart.
And SUV driving bitch that almost killed me? I hope you choke on your Slurpee.
with aloha,
Megan, Jackon & the Peez
Jackson sez, "Drive safe!"
Nothing saves a marriage more than expensive gifts…
15 Mar 2009 4 Comments
in angry megan, idiots Tags: gifts, marriage, twitter, wedding
Found this “article” through @marriageguide (who decided to follow me on Twitter) called “Together, Forever – Five Great Pieces Of Advice For An Undying Marriage.” I thought hmm, that title sounds pretty epic. I’m gonna check out these 5 GREAT pieces of advice. Maybe I could even learn something. Not only did I NOT learn something, I was actually OFFENDED by the “article.”
According to the writer, Jo Alesto, here’s the #2 thing that you can do to save your marriage:
Special gifts counts
For husbands, it is best if you give your wives special things that they will treasure forever. It doesn’t mean that even if you’ve been married for more than ten years now, special gifts don’t count anymore.
If, back in your wedding day, you failed to give her some of the most precious wedding jewellery available, now is the time to regain your score. A beautiful set of pearl bridal jewellery is not a late gift after all. You can still give your wife some good pair of stud earrings made of pearl and make them a part of your family’s heirloom.
WOW.
Okay, okay, spelling and grammar mistakes aside. Still… WOW.
I guess my husband FAILED on our wedding day. I mean, all he gave me on our wedding day was the most amazingly fun day at the beach. But, that’s just a memory that I can “treasure forever” and not the kind of physical treasure that I can wear around my neck and show all my friends just how much my husband loves me because he spent loads and loads of money on jewelry! Because those are the only “special things” that count. But the good news is that he can correct his massive fail at any point in our marriage, if he wants to be “together forever” that is. WOW.
Aloha there, I'm Megan Finley. I'm a 30-something girl, living in Los Angeles with that guy I married and our rescued pets. I work online (a LOT) for the 
