If you want to know what your kid is thinking about. If you want to know what he's scared of. If you want to know what he identifies with. If you want to know what he loves or hates or cares about...listen to what he listens to.
It'll tell you everything.
Wednesday, April 29, 2009
Sunday, March 22, 2009
Reality Check
Big news. I got cable. I'm off of network and onto cooking shows and design shows; so I can sit around like a slug on my couch and wonder what it would be like if I actually cleared away the clutter in this house and made the most of my "space" so I could actually cook something or "entertain". I'm not ashamed to say that I'm currently trying to friend David Bromstad on Facebook.
When I veered off of the instructional and into "reality", I got a rude awaking. I was really enjoying Jon & Kate until it struck me that Kate says, "our kids deserve this" an awful lot...and I realized that they get tix to Phillies games and ski trips sponsored by athletic gear companies an awful lot. Of course they can do what they want with their lives and their kids, but it's got me thinking about privacy and celebrity and the ramifications of turning the spotlight on yourself and your family. I still watch, but I'm much more jaundiced about the whole process. I wonder what their kids will think of them when they're old enough to realize their parents are the ones who shined that spotlight in their eyes. I'm thinking Franny And Zooey.
I find the Countess and her NY society friends ridiculously entertaining...it's like staring at a car wreck, I can't seem to turn away. They have no compunctions about talking about each other like dogs in the asides, between air kisses and Hampton parties, ON AIR. I'm reminded of the anonymous nastygrams that breed on internet message boards; only these chicks are lobbing their little grenades in a forum where they're sure the bombs will go off in each other's faces...while still not directly handing them to their target. That's rather chicken-sh*t, isn't it?
I could go on for days: Tori & Dean, the quest for even more families with multiples or a thousand kids, the Little People, the Bad Girls, the Playgirls, the Matchmaker and the people that want Extreme makeovers. What does it say about us as a society when we are entertained by this?
More importantly, what does it say about me that I feel the need to comment on it?
When I veered off of the instructional and into "reality", I got a rude awaking. I was really enjoying Jon & Kate until it struck me that Kate says, "our kids deserve this" an awful lot...and I realized that they get tix to Phillies games and ski trips sponsored by athletic gear companies an awful lot. Of course they can do what they want with their lives and their kids, but it's got me thinking about privacy and celebrity and the ramifications of turning the spotlight on yourself and your family. I still watch, but I'm much more jaundiced about the whole process. I wonder what their kids will think of them when they're old enough to realize their parents are the ones who shined that spotlight in their eyes. I'm thinking Franny And Zooey.
I find the Countess and her NY society friends ridiculously entertaining...it's like staring at a car wreck, I can't seem to turn away. They have no compunctions about talking about each other like dogs in the asides, between air kisses and Hampton parties, ON AIR. I'm reminded of the anonymous nastygrams that breed on internet message boards; only these chicks are lobbing their little grenades in a forum where they're sure the bombs will go off in each other's faces...while still not directly handing them to their target. That's rather chicken-sh*t, isn't it?
I could go on for days: Tori & Dean, the quest for even more families with multiples or a thousand kids, the Little People, the Bad Girls, the Playgirls, the Matchmaker and the people that want Extreme makeovers. What does it say about us as a society when we are entertained by this?
More importantly, what does it say about me that I feel the need to comment on it?
Friday, January 23, 2009
Tim Geithner
WTF, Dude?
You're THE hotshot finance guy in America and you do your taxes on TurboTax? Just like I do?
And you "accidentally" owe $34K in back taxes that you neglect to pay as an "oversight" until ten minutes before you're senate confirmation hearing?
Really.
WTF?
In other news, who knew Turbo Tax wasn't 100% effective?
You're THE hotshot finance guy in America and you do your taxes on TurboTax? Just like I do?
And you "accidentally" owe $34K in back taxes that you neglect to pay as an "oversight" until ten minutes before you're senate confirmation hearing?
Really.
WTF?
In other news, who knew Turbo Tax wasn't 100% effective?
Tuesday, November 04, 2008
Left Turn
I've been a Republican all my life.
That being said, while I still believe in Republican government, I feel like I have nothing in common with today's GOP platform, on so many levels. I'm pro-choice. Not pro-abortion. (Don't get me started.) I do not believe God belongs in our State Houses or in our White House. I think the law should be the law for all of our citizens.....white, black, brown....Christian, Catholic, Jew, Hindu, Muslim....each and every single one of us. I don't believe in smiting those who don't share my God or my customs or my holidays. I feel like the GOP jams democracy down the world's throat while jamming a Christmas tree up its collective @ss. I'm not ok with that.
I think it's time to take a turn from what's not working for today's America; apparently, I've turned left. It's clearly time for the GOP to reinvent itself and get in touch with what today's Republican cares about. But I have to say that if it is to rise out of the ashes, Sarah Palin will never speak for me.
Regardless of the outcome of today's election, America is forever changed and I see only positives in that. I see on TV the lines of people in Virginia and Florida waiting patiently to excersise their most basic right as Americans, to raise their voices, to speak through their votes, and it heartens me. We'll soldier on, right or left, and we'll be okay. It's how we do.
My Pop always said that no administration could wreck this country in eight years....though George F Bush certianly tried. I still believe that our system is the best system in the world; and on this election day, I am so thankful to be a part of this country and this process.
I'm proud to be an American.
That being said, while I still believe in Republican government, I feel like I have nothing in common with today's GOP platform, on so many levels. I'm pro-choice. Not pro-abortion. (Don't get me started.) I do not believe God belongs in our State Houses or in our White House. I think the law should be the law for all of our citizens.....white, black, brown....Christian, Catholic, Jew, Hindu, Muslim....each and every single one of us. I don't believe in smiting those who don't share my God or my customs or my holidays. I feel like the GOP jams democracy down the world's throat while jamming a Christmas tree up its collective @ss. I'm not ok with that.
I think it's time to take a turn from what's not working for today's America; apparently, I've turned left. It's clearly time for the GOP to reinvent itself and get in touch with what today's Republican cares about. But I have to say that if it is to rise out of the ashes, Sarah Palin will never speak for me.
Regardless of the outcome of today's election, America is forever changed and I see only positives in that. I see on TV the lines of people in Virginia and Florida waiting patiently to excersise their most basic right as Americans, to raise their voices, to speak through their votes, and it heartens me. We'll soldier on, right or left, and we'll be okay. It's how we do.
My Pop always said that no administration could wreck this country in eight years....though George F Bush certianly tried. I still believe that our system is the best system in the world; and on this election day, I am so thankful to be a part of this country and this process.
I'm proud to be an American.
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