barbie liberation organization

Has anyone ever heard of the Barbie Liberation Organization (BLO)? It was founded in 1989 when I was, uh, 4 so I hadn't heard of it until a co-worker told me the other day. Their mission: to wipe out gender stereotypes by replacing the voice-boxes of Barbie dolls with G.I. Joe voice-boxes, and vice versa.

Apparently Mattel came out with a Barbie that said some stuff that people thought was sexist:

Over the years the original "Math class is tough...Party dresses are fun!" morphed into "Math is hard, let's go shopping!" Don't you just love that history is basically one giant game of telephone?

So, my co-worker is telling me about this and I'm laughing out loud because that is the coolest saying ever and essentially my motto in life. I immediately decided to, well, go shopping and started searching for products online with that slogan. Unfortunately there weren't any...but fortunately you can pretty much get anything you want from someone on the internet so I contacted an Etsy seller who specializes in the classic Keep Calm & Carry On posters and asked her if she would consider a custom order.

End result:

Rock. On.

Also, check out this video of the Barbie Liberation Organization from an old Current Affair segment...it wouldn't let me embed it but it's awesome nonetheless.

social amnesia

There's this woman who I run into frequently on my walks with Tater Tot that has major social amnesia issues. I'm not poking fun, since I think it's a genuine health problem, but it is so strange to see her 3-4 times a week and have the EXACT. SAME. CONVERSATION.

And not like in the "Oh how's your day? Weather has been nice lately...hope it doesn't rain again" sort of way, like an exact transcript of introductions and questions. It's as if I'm a character in Memento or something. Very bizarre feeling.

It goes something like this, my answers usually vary slightly, but hers are identical every time I see her, which is the strangest part to me. She remembers enough to ask the exact same questions...but doesn't remember that she's asked them before:

Oh is that a pomeranian?

Yes it is.

I love pomeranians, they're such cute dogs. Is that a boy or girl?

He's a boy.

Oh, how nice. How old?

He's going to be 8 in June.

8?? He seems so young! What a nice dog. Can I pet him?

Sure, he loves being pet.

Awww, what a friendly guy.

That's weird, right? I mean that's a pretty lengthy conversation...and I've had it with her about 15 times now.