Inadvertently Racist - part 2

You might recall I have a tendency to be inadvertently racist. If you don’t know what I’m talking about, go here.

Anyway, I’ve had a couple more of these moments lately and I thought I’d share them with you.

A few months ago, I was out with some friends and we met a couple Italian lads. As we struck up conversation, the topic of “what are you and where are you from” came up. Going around the table, everyone had their own little story, consisting of growing up in another province or country that was filled with culture and all the things that I lack in my upbringing.

Everyone laughed more than they should have, considering most of them didn’t even know my last name.

Most recently, I met a friend of a friend. Somehow, his last name came up. He told me what it was (I couldn’t even attempt to spell it out or repeat it) and then said “My last name is like 20 letters long and most people can’t pronounce it because it’s Finnish”. I said “My last name is five letters long and everyone can pronounce it.  It’s White”.

He gave me a strange look and asked, incredulously, becoming obviously offended, if I realized that Finnish people (himself included) are also white. I was confused; I had no idea why he was so upset. I started saying “Of course I know that…” but didn’t even finish my sentence before he cut me off, burst out laughing and said “OH!!! White is your last name!!”. I laughed and said yes.

Having a rough go

I’m having a bit of a rough go right now. First off, it’s been super, super busy at work and it’s consuming my life way more than it normally does. It’s basically like the perfect storm as far as reasons why work gets busy. They’re all happening at once, causing an utter shit-show.

Top it off with the fact that I’ve come down with this brutal cold. It’s the kind of cold where you feel so crappy that you can’t sleep, even though what you need most in the world is a good night’s sleep.

Friday was the first day of that; I had a really sore throat and I couldn’t sleep. And when I finally managed to fall asleep I woke up within a couple hours and had problems falling back asleep.

Saturday I woke up for work (because of the chaos that is happening) and my sore throat had morphed into the worst throat pain ever. Okay, not the worst… Strep is worse. I started sucking on cepacols, which are essentially lozenges that numb your throat. Within a couple hours of being at work, I had already had a couple; by the end of my 6 hour shift, I’d had a few more. I stopped at a grocery store on my way to my dad’s to buy more because I was running low. Naturally, I had another.

Then my stomach started feeling bad. At first I assumed it was because I consumed a bunch of lozenges and not much else. But when I started trying to put other things in my body (water, tea, food), my stomach was not happy.

Immediately after eating dinner (and part of the way through it) I knew it was going to get way worse before it got any better. I thanked my folks for dinner and said I had to go, because of my cold, of course. I spent the 40 minute drive home focusing all my energy into paying attention to the road and not the fact that I was going to throw up and/or shit myself.

I made it home without incident, but spent the remainder of the night willing myself not to get sick. I was feeling pretty shitty about the whole situation, but I felt even worse when I read the package and the dosage was clearly outlined as “one drop every two hours”. I’d had 5 or 6 in just as many hours.

No wonder I wrecked my stomach. The next day, after too few hours of sleep, I woke up sick from the cold. My body was aching, my head was pounding; I felt like I’d been hit by a train. I drank fluids and stayed away from cough drops. I felt like I was on the mend.

Monday, I called into work sick because it turned out I wasn’t on the mend. But I had a massage therapy appointment booked that day, so I went to that. I’ve regretted it ever since. Let’s just say getting a deep tissue massage on all your injured parts isn’t a good idea when you’re having a hard time moving around because of body pain from illness. I feel like my back is bruised to the bone.

But… there’s always a silver-lining, right? So. I’ve been at home, on the couch, in bed for days. I’ve watched movies, read blogs/books, watched YouTube, and played video games. I was still bored. So I did what any “normal” person would do. I re-activated my POF account. And started talking to people.

Just a matter of time now before you get more crazy dating stories. You’re welcome.

And as if that’s not enough, I think the universe just gave me a sign that said “You have no idea just how bad it’s going to get”…  my (ex??) stalker just texted me. Seriously. It’s been a year and a half. I guess he missed Valentine’s Day, so he’s just checking in to see how I’m doing. FML.

Blooper Reel

This just goes to show that perfection takes practice. And by “perfection” I mean better than the first go round. And by “practice” I mean a lot of unwarranted laughing.

Good job, Gorm at assembling the (too many) attempts into a very humourous outtake video.

You’ve seen how it ended… here’s how it started.