1991 – A trainer slipped and fell into the tank of Tilikum, Nootka 4 and a pregnant Haida 2. All three Orcas had never had any humans in their tank before and they were presumed to have been playing or being overly protective of a newborn calf.

1999 – An idiot decided to stay behind and swim with the whales. He died of a combination of hypothermia and drowning and was bitten by Tilikum either before or after he died. And evidence suggest Tilikum may not have been in fault.

2010 – According to Chuck Tompkins, SeaWorld, Orlando’s curator for animal behaviour, Brancheau was actually rewarding Tilikum for his good behaviour and performance that day right before he pulled her into the water. Who knows what made the whale decided to grab Brancheau into the water.

Dawn Brancheau was one of less than half of the 28 trainers that were allowed to interact with Tilikum.

Also, MOST of the Orcas currently at SeaWorld were born there.

Now I’m not saying any of you are wrong or correct. I’m just stating some facts.

I don’t think they should destroy Tilikum. I think he should live out his life right where he is, but away from the public eye. His caretakers should be allowed contact with him (OUT of the water obviously) to feed him and interact with him and to stimulate his intelligence.

While I do not agree of having animals locked up in cages, I’d rather see them in their own free habitat in the ocean. I can however understand the need of these animals in these shows. It is a double edge sword really. On the one hand you want them to be free, but on the other hand you want the opportunity of seeing these magical creatures in real life and not everyone is able to spend the money it takes to actually make such a trip.

And I can actually count on one hand the people I know that visited a SeaWorld, didn’t know any better than that the animals were in a good place before realizing that yes, perhaps they are in a good place and well taken care of but should be in their natural habitat. If nothing else… it makes a lot of people aware that animals should be in their natural habitat.

But like in a lot of cases where animals are concerned… they are in danger of becoming extinct and if not for the breeding programs that a variety of Zoos have… No one would even be aware of that.

Yes it is very much a double edged sword. I too enjoyed my trip to SeaWorld in Orlando and yes I saw the magistic being that is Tilikum, but I also do realize that animals should be in their natural habitat. Not to mention I can actually name a few people in my life who are vehemently against animals in Zoos and yet visit them on a biannually basis.

One witness, Victoria Biniak, told WKMG-TV that it was a violent scene. Tillikum took off really fast, grabbed Brancheau by her waist and “started thrashing around and one of her shoes flew off.”, while another said that the 40-year-old whale trainer was grabbed by her arm and pulled under and subsequently drowned.

Since her first visit to SeaWorld when she was a young girl, Brancheau knew she wanted to be a killer whale trainer and vocalized as such. Everyone knew about her dream to become a trainer and since 1994 she has been contracted by SeaWorld, the same place her dream of being a trainer was visualized.

Dawn Brancheau and friend during a performance on December 30, 2005 / Orlando Sentinel Files

Though this would be a very unfortunate mishap if it happened once, but this mishap wasn’t Tilly’s first; he was one of three Orca’s blamed for the 1991 death of trainer Keltie Byrene, who slipped and fell into the water and was dragged around and pulled under several times by Tillikum, Nootka 4 and Haida 2 at the now defunct Sealand of the Pacific in British Columbia before he was sold to Orlando and on another occasion in 1999, Tilly was found swimming around with a naked man on his back who, according to a report, died of hypothermia, but was bitten and disrobed by Tillikum.

While I can’t really comment on the naked guy and how much Tillikum is really to blame for that one, seeing as naked guy had snuck into his enclosure which, for me, is a clear sign he didn’t seem to be of sound mind, but the other occasions do raise a lot of questions. Not only questions for the safety of the humans, but the safety of the animals as well.

What makes an animal like that, one that has had to put his trust in his trainers hands for survival,  snap like that? By all accounts he wasn’t mistreated by any of is trainers nor did it seem to be stress related. So what is it?

More importantly, what should happen to Tilly now? Most other animals, for instance dogs, would have been destroyed after just one kill, heck they most likely would have been destroyed after just 1 ’simple’ bite that would require stitches and some were not even their fault because they were either a) raised bad or b) were bullied and fought back. This animal was involved in three separate incidents involving human deaths (two of which were undoubtedly his, or partly his fault) and , as reported by staff, was considered an especially dangerous animal.

Dawn Brancheau was one of only less than half of the park’s 28 trainers who were allowed to work with Tillikum.

Though there were reports that Tillikum had been acting strangely, SeaWorld, Orlando’s curator for animal behaviour, Chuck Tompkins was quick to dismiss that notion and in fact, he said that just seconds before Tillikum dragged Brancheau into the water, the trainer was rewarding him for his good behaviour and how well he had performed that day.

So I ask again, if Tillikum was having a good day, what made him snap and kill his strainer, one of only a handful that was allowed to work with him and according to Jack Hanna, a personal friend and colleague, Dawn Brancheau was one of the, if not the best trainer in her field.

Was he just playing around? Did he panic for some unknown reason? Or did he just simply snap?

I can’t even begin to think on how I would deal with the question as to whether Tillikum should be destroyed or if he should be allowed to live out his life away from the public eye (heck, maybe even released back into the wild but that is a whole different ballgame which I won’t get into in this post).

All I know is that, from hearing and reading the reports, Dawn Brancheau was one of a kind.  These animals were her passion, it was her life’s work. She knew the risks of working with these animals, these so-called ‘Killer Whales’ and I personally think that she wouldn’t want him destroyed.

What do you think happened?

What do you think should happen next?

A person in my life has broken up, and discusses this vigorously with me, and got together with someone at least a dozen times in the span of six months. First he’s too demanding and wants a lot of things she doesn’t want. Then they get back together because he still makes her laugh – only to break up two months later for the SAME damn problem – and then the circle starts again.

And the funny part of it all? She is a people user and puts it, falsely, on her feelings. Sure, some of the feelings are real and she, like everyone, deserves someone to be happy with, but this is just insane. With the snap of a finger he comes crawling back. He lets himself get used because he doesn’t want to be alone either. Are people THAT desperate to not be alone they’ll be miserable instead?

I get it, I do. I wouldn’t want to be alone for the rest of my life, but I have enough strength in me not to be with someone just for the sake of being with someone. It would destroy me. I’d rather be alone than miserably together.

I don’t know about you all, but when I watch lesbian sex, be it in a movie, television show, or the uh, ‘other variety’, I like it hot, I like it sexy, I like it raw, but most of all, I like it realistic.

See how I avoided the ‘real’ word? The on-screen variety of lesbian sex is never real, not even in that ‘other variety’, it is still acting after all, but if there is one thing that I appreciate, it is the effort people put in to make it look realistic, like the people in the situation make it look like they’re really into the other person and are committed in bringing the best they can to the screen.

So when I heard there was a trailer out for the upcoming movie Room in Rome (Habitación en Roma), that had people watching it multiple times before running to the cold shower, I knew I had to check it out.

I can tell you I was not disappointed.

We’ll get back to that a little later. See how I’m building up the tension? Trust me; you’ll thank me for it later. Room in Rome revolves around “two women who meet in Rome and share a night of lust” in one of their hotel rooms.

While the movie is set in Rome and it is not the actresses’ native language, the movie is mostly shot in English, save for a little dialogue here and there (Russian and Spanish if I heard correctly in the trailer). Something the lovers of accents all around will surely appreciate.

Now, let me tell you a little about this trailer and movie that has everyone so hot and… well, hot and it is absolutely NSFW, or any public place but the privacy of your own room, preferably bathroom, because you’ll need that cold shower right after.

Based on Matias Bize’s ‘In the Bed’, Room in Rome is Julio Médem’s first English-language film. In the Bed tells the story of a man and a woman sharing a night of passion and secrets. And if the trailer is anything to go by, Julio Médem promises us exactly that, except this time it is between two women and the décor is set in Rome.

The women are Natasha, played by Natasha Yarovenko, and Alba, played by Elena Anaya and the two are absolutely gorgeous together.

You know what; I’ll let you be the judge of that. Remember though… NSFW or uh, any place but your bathroom with the cold shower already running. Or you know, watch it with your girlfriend. Heck, watch it with your boyfriend, I’m sure it’ll have the same effect on him as it has on you.

Click here to watch the trailer.

One, a study of 89 11 and 12 year-old children in several Glasgow schools, showed that in many cases, the children thought a man hitting a woman was justified if she had done something wrong. Virtually all the children thought it was acceptable to hit a woman who had been unfaithful, while 80% of them thought it was justified if she was late getting her husband’s dinner on the table.gaelick.com, How we justify abuse and rape | gaelick, Feb 2010

You should read the whole article.

I’ll do a bullet update list.

• Next week a personal trainer is going to kick my ass in the first try out session. Yes I’m switching to a personal trainer.
• I have been doing research on my family, going generations back – if that one link between my grandfather and great grandfather and great-great grandfather works out – there’s a couple dozen entries and we’re not quite sure which is which. IF it works out… I am an 11th generation, and more if I go back before 1700’s.
• Random: you can now formspring.me! So ask those questions already!
• I received a copy of my medical history and it seems that there is a missing link or two. Since I clearly remember having my wrist split open because I hit a garbage bag and had to go to hospital – and yet it is not in the medical history overview.
• I also received a copy of my mother’s medical history, including her autopsy report (which, according to my family physician I shouldn’t even have gotten that information, but whatever, I still got it), and found out what it exactly was that killed my mother. Plus, I found out that there was severe degeneration of the aorta valves, which the coroner could not depict if that was from the infarction or if that had been going on a while…
• … and because my mother’s biological brother also had an infarction of which he died… I am going to discuss the option of getting an ultrasound to check if I may have the same thing. BUT I am not sure if I want that or no.
• Speaking of biological family…. I am in the process of submitting a form to an organization that will help me search for my mother’s biological family and in turn possibly find out if there was indeed a heart problem in the family… and hopefully why the hell they gave my mother away.
• Random: This is way too cute for words.
• I now have TWO leaks in the basement… FML
• I am getting laser therapy for Hirsutism – thankfully it is not that excessive as some people, and only in the beard area, but enough it  requires me to shave and thus mess up my skin, which is more worrisome than the actual hair. and yes… I JUST TOTALLY ADMITTED THIS ON MY BLOG. GET OVER IT

Yeah, I’d say that’s about it for now.

Here’s the proof. Lea Michele and Idina Menzel

It’s like SHAZAAM!

Also, who else is abso-friggin-lutely bummed that we have to wait until APRIL until we get the new episodes? There’s a ton of buzz going around about the final 9 episodes of the first season. Vogueing, Idina… April you have to hurry up and get here already!