Stupid Is As Stupid Does.

I was lying on the couch yesterday afternoon contemplating a do-it-yourself hysterectomy

 image courtesy of Cake Wrecks

on account of having bitchin' cramps significant discomfort in my lower abdominal region...and was flipping through the television channels when I came upon the Dr Phil show.  The show's topic was, in essence, incredibly-stupid-young-people-doing-incredibly-stupid-"stunts"-in-which-they-took-on-dares-that-caused-physical-harm-to-themselves.  (Like that aptly-named show/movie JackAss...are you familiar with it?)  People doing the most idiotic things like jumping off roofs and crashing into buildings...and one speechless-inducing activity that might actually give new meaning to the word 'imbecile', lighting one's underwear on fire while wearing them.

Two thoughts came into my head as I watched the show.

1.  A couple of the idiot parents of these idiots kids were on the show alongside them.  Some were even smirking, in a "wow, I'm on the Dr Phil show - yuck yuck" kind of way...and I'm talking about the parents, not their kids.  Let me tell you something.  If my kid was going around throwing himself off of roofs and setting his wing-ding on fire he would be immediately placed in either a mental institution or military reform school.  He would not be on national television displaying his idiocy for all the world to see.  And I certainly would not be beside him, displaying my own idiocy as I blubbered about how "I keep asking him to stop doing it" blahblahblah.  Step up, stop wanting your kid to think you're 'cool' and be a parent, plain and simple.

2.  You know how when we were kids our parents thought we did stupid stuff?
And remember, too, how our parents would shake their heads and worry about how our generation, who were all doing all kinds of stupid stuff, would one day be running the country?  Yeah, that's where I'm at now.  I'm fearful of these idiot kids one day being decision-makers and having their decisions affect me.
Clearly, I'm getting old.

Speaking of stupid, here's one more thing for you to try and wrap your mind around:  did you know that kids are now pouring vodka into their eyes? 
Yup, it's called eyeballin':

One optometrist told the Washington Examiner that eyeballing can  get “you drunk a lot faster on a lot less alcohol,” because it works much like an injection. But he cautioned against the practice (ya  think?) as it can essentially melt the cornea.

I'm starting to really believe that maybe our parents were right in worrying about our generation running the country because, well, look at all the crap that's happening now in our country...and the stupid stuff we did back in the day was tame and far less stupid compared to what kids today do!

It all makes my head hurt.

Bloggers WITH Makeup Day.

One of the first things I read when I woke up this morning when I set down at the computer with my the first dose of personality in a cup (coffee) is that today is Bloggers Without Makeup Day.

Sorry if you're participating, but...
What a bunch of redonkulousness!

Apparently the premise of the whole thing is that you, dear reader of blogs, are not seeing the 'real' author of the blogs you read because in their profile picture or whatever they are wearing makeup.

huh?

For the record, I, for one, have not ever been in the act of reading a blog and suddenly started wondering what the blogger really looked like under her makeup.  I have never once thought to myself, "gee, that was a terrific post I just read by one of my favorite bloggers but, ya know, I'm not sure I can trust what she was saying because in her picture she clearly is wearing blush".  

And what's with the 'really' thing?

I can get someone to take my picture one morning at the exact minute I wake up; hair piled on top of my head and all confused and bleary-eyed and use it as my profile picture - because once a day that's what I really look like.

Or how about a picture when I'm cleaning my house?  Sweaty and disheveled in that ancient, holey t-shirt I wear when cleaning and post it as my new profile pic...because that, too, is what I really look like sometimes.

Better still, why not a picture of me at that time once a month when I'm a raving, crying lunatic who may or may not be simultaneously gorging on salt and chocolate?  I'm really that person, as well.

I'll take this even further and say that the "real me" has hairy legs and underarms if I don't shave them and might even have a Frida Kahlo unibrow if I didn't pluck/wax that area. 

So, next up there should be a Bloggers Without Shaving Day?   

Ugh.

What's so wrong about wanting to present your best self to the public? 

I happen to adore makeup.  I'm obsessed with mascara.  My eye makeup is 'smoky' which involves the application of several shades of shadow and a good deal of liner. 
This is my 'look'.  This is how those who know me, know me.
(And if I didn't have to hide out from my stalker behind my Kissy Lovestuff pseudonym I would be proudly sporting my full-makeup profile picture here)

However, very often I actually do go without foundation or mascara or liner but that's a choice usually based on something like being lazy or wanting to get some sun and is not at all based on me trying to make some kind of pointless statement.  I'm not a feminist (but that's a topic for another day - no emails, please); I have no problems whatsoever with all of things out there that are available to enhance and beautify.  I love how they make me look and how they make me feel and all that is stirred together in the pot of stuff that makes up the real me. 

Bloggers Without Makeup Day and other such proclamatory days that involve sheep mentality group participation feel to me like an ever-so-slight erosion of credibility and individuality.

Kind of in the same way that something like Hawaiian Shirt Friday does, you know what I mean?

Please forgive me if you are at work reading this today, Friday, 

and are wearing a Hawaiian shirt so that everyone thinks you are a 'team player'.

"When you look at me, I want you to see the real me."
Good Lord, that sounds like a line straight out of a soap opera or cheesy romance novel.
Call me crazy, but if I'm thinking that by showing you a profile picture in which I'm wearing makeup that I am somehow not showing you the me I want you to see, then I should just take a picture with no makeup, upload it and call it a day.
No?
Too understated?
Too undramatic?

In revolt of all of this nonsense, I am proclaiming today to be Bloggers WITH Makeup Day.

In fact, you know what?  I think I'm going to channel my inner Mimi and wear extra makeup today just to prove a point!

Viva la L'Oreal!  MAC!  Clinique!  Maybelline!  Revlon!  Lancome! etc...