the UK is officially a police state

i'm watching UK Border Force a tv show about immigration officers who roam the streets, arresting anyone who "reacts to them / looks at them in a funny way" or anyone who "acts suspiciously". you'd think this program would be of the whistle blower type, but since all tv stations are owned by bbc (ie the government), it's more of a bad boys type.

in this episode, they're posted at north greenwich tube station, questioning dark people who've apparently looked at them the wrong way. what right do they have to question people? what happens if you ignore them? one man's session went like this:

border force: what right do you have to be in the UK? (straight off the bat!)
him: i'm an EU national
bf: and how are you an EU national (what, b/c he's black he can't be an EU national?)?
him: my wife is an EU national
bf: and where is she from?
him: france
bf: and is she in the UK?
him: no, she's in france.

at which point, they try to lead him away for further questioning, but he makes a sprint for it, and 3 of the them tackle him to the ground, kneel on his back, while he yells, "i am not a criminal!" repeatedly. far after they've quieted him down, they get off his back, cuff him, and ask, "if you're not a criminal, why did you run?" his reply, "i was trying to catch my bus". fair enough. no one plans to be harassed by the border monkeys in their daily routine.

While the guy is being led off, an onlooker starts gesticulating: "he was not a criminal! why don't you ppl go do something useful! like getting knives off streets!* why are you here harassing innocent ppl who are just trying to make something better of their lives?!" the short fat blonde bf woman responds, "get your hands out of my face!" (the guy is punctuating his sentences with his hands). about 3 seconds later, 3 of the bf arrest this new guy (who was not doing anything illegal AND had perfect right to be in the UK). pan to blondie waddling away, "he was getting quite aggressive with his hands in my face. if we didn't do something then, i was afraid he was going to hit me, and i'm not paid enough for that." (smug bitch. he was no where near hitting her. he wasn't even focused on her).

surprise! she's walking to him, sitting contritely in the back of a van. she's willing to be magnanimous, "i'm going to let you go this time. but next time, don't get involved in other people's business, ok?" he nods. he's being a good boy now, but he doesn't get off completely scot-free. she's going to report him to his local police station, so he'll be in the system, and they can keep an eye on him (he's obviously too outspoken for the good of the People, and must be eliminated once the State seizes total control! moohaha!).

and meanwhile, what happened to our original friend? he got deported!!!!!!!!!! WOOHOO! SERIOUS?!!!! how is this happening? and then, how is it on tv?!

*knife crime is a Big deal here. a series of teen jackets even came with latched on knives (on a silver chain). there was an outcry of course and they were retracted. but the point is, some designer thought they'd be popular. and, the other week, from the newspaper: some hospital emergency room had to be shut down b/c a fight broke out. the grieving family of a 21 yr old guy who died of stab wounds spotted his attacker, who was in the ER for stab wounds as well. it was a gang thing, and the dead guy's gang got revenge on the attacker. wow.

3 hour naps fuel my day-to-day

canned soup wisdom: "do not overheat as this will impair the flavour."

if i'm going to keep using blogging as procrastination, it would behoove me if my friends would blog more often (you know who you are). otherwise, i might have to go figure out what the big deal is about twitter or myspace.

a bit of disc

they've finally made a handler out of me. i've spent so many years avoiding it. even in hk, i managed to sneak myself into the cutting ranks often enough to satisfy. oh well. i guess it's time to grow. and to learn to catch a pull (yikes!).

after a weekend of practice, i've found that i have no idea where to stand behind the disc or how to make a dump cut. luckily, the O we're learning doesn't have any dumps behind the disc, so those are two things that will continue to elude me.

even on herd, where i'm supposed to be a mid, i'm often called as a short fill. i'm having some issues with the herd leadership. they've put our fastest girl, who gets at least 1 d per game, on the o line, where she is timid and unsure. they've put me on the d line (which is fine), b/c they need some "handlerish" ppl on the d line, even though my official position is mid. they've got more female handlers than you can shake a stick at (well, enough, in any case).

and the big thorn in my side last week: at the scrimmage against flump, i was relegated to the b team so that we could have even numbers of girls on each team. except, flump's b team only had 2 girls, so they played 6-1 for most of the game, and i ended up covering a guy anyways. what the f is the point of me playing with the b team? i was told that even if more ppl show up, i shouldn't move teams b/c we were supposed to gel within our teams. except...um, is there any good that could come out of me gel'ing with the b team? i'm positive that si (our captain) didn't mean anything by it, and that it was just a boneheaded move on his part. but could he not see how this might make me angry/sad/confused? i'm trying not to be a whiny bitch about this. si did do a good job of planting a nugget of "i'll show those bastards" that i can pull out in a tough game. after all, i play best when i feel i'm underestimated.