Kinda Long Social Commentary Rant so Strap In!

Ok so I haven't written here in awhile because I actually got a pseudo-job. I babysit an 8 month old baby who is so effin cute. I have some funny videos and pictures of him but I'm not going to put any up yet until I ask his mom Annie for permission.

Annie, by the way, cracks me up. She is so funny and kind of the mom I hope to be like. I felt the same way about Christal, the woman I babysat for back in Salisbury. She would arrive home at the end of the night, write me a check, and I'd make like I was going to leave, but we would always end up sitting on the couch chatting away. I'd text Dennis when I saw her headlights coming up the driveway, saying "Christal's back, be home soon" or something like that. When I didn't show up 15 minutes later Dennis would start to call and I'd ignore it usually. No offense Dennis but those conversations got pretty intense.

So anywho, I am trying to decide what topic to tackle next. So far my entries have been a mix of me listing off things that annoy me (mainly psychics, tv shows, or the combination of the 2), some mildly serious political views, and some observational humor (at least it's humorous to me) (Have I used enough parentheses in this sentence?). So where next?

I endured a rather trying experience this month that leads me to think I should attempt some social commentary. This same feeling of wanting to write and direct my very own PSA for the stupid people in my life happened after another crappy experience in my past. It's not exactly the same but somehow it seems like when bad things happen to you, you can better observe the actions of others and judge them more harshly/accurately. For example, you'd think this was common knowledge but clearly it isn't as I see it happening all the damn time. Using FACEBOOK as a medium to express condolences over a serious tragedy, such as oh I don't know, a death in the family, is not acceptable. Or it shouldn't be. But facebook rules all these days so it very well may be the sole vehicle we all will have to use to communicate with someday.

Having gone through a tragedy, I have plenty of social commentary to offer - mostly a list of "What Not To Do!" This one is difficult though because I try to keep in mind that people are acting with good intentions and perhaps they really don't know any better. Someday I will make a film about it and make everyone watch it Clockwork Orange-style.

My latest social commentary comes on the heels of some "guests" I had staying in my home for a long LONG weekend. I put guest in quotes because I was trying to be sarcastic or something, inasmuch as the word guest seems to imply that the people in question are gracious and respectful, while the ones at my house were not... but maybe I am reading into it too much.

So I have a long weekend and I'm ready to have my house back to myself. I love all of my friends and I like being social but a lot of times I get so easily annoyed by people and think how much better my day would be if I didn't have to interact with certain people. Is it a surprise that I identify very strongly with Liz Lemon, Tina Fey's character on 30 Rock?

By Sunday morning, nothing too bad had happened but I was still grinding my teeth and popping my legally prescribed Xanax (for just such situations!) in anticipation of when my guests would be leaving. We attended an event that lasted until the late evening. A sad realization came over me when I knew that the event had ended at such a time that the guests would most likely stay another night at our house. Sigh.

Then I panic and think about Monday and how Dennis will be at work and thus I'm going to be the sole entertainer. I like having Dennis around because he is quite a social butterfly and gets along with people so well. I get along with people too but.. hmm. How can I put this? When his phone rings he answers it 95% of the time, whether he knows the number or not. I answer mine about 5% of the time, even if I do recognize the number. I just don't feel like talking to or being around people sometimes. It doesn't mean I don't like them most of the time or even all of the time, it just means I need to not be around people in general. And by people I mean everyone except D1 & D2.

So I plan a completely unnecessarily long trip to get lunch with my BFF Mere. I was going to say the lunch in itself was unnecessary but it wasn't. I totally needed to see Mere. I had been seeking advice from her all weekend for my calamity and I thought it would be nice to sit down and talk in person. I drove an hour both ways to eat a bagel with cream cheese. It was fun and worth it, and I love seeing my Mermy, but it was just a way for me to get out of the house.

It was so bad that I got home early from lunch and had an hour before I had to go babysit, and instead of going home I went to a Marshall's and looked around. I don't even have any fun souvenirs to show for it!  Ok I'm getting ahead of myself.

Knowing I was going to have to share my home for the next 24 hours (at least) with the likes of this prick was really frustrating to me. It made my stomach churn and so I removed myself from the situation. When I got back from babysitting on Monday I went upstairs and took some phone calls in the privacy of my room. Every second that ticked by made me feel more and more distressed. When they finally left my house, I felt so relieved. That wasn't the end of it - I told the guest he wasn't welcome in my house again until he learned not to be a bigot. His reaction was to delete me on facebook. Oh facebook, you wily minx, you cruel-hearted mistress, when will you cease your endless torment?!

So I guess my commentary here is regarding my obligation to my guests and their obligation to me. The reason I was getting so annoyed by their presence was because I supposed they would leave on Sunday night, and then they didn't and didn't say when they were leaving nor make any move to pack or leave by 8pm on Monday. It had been a 4 day weekend that I was ready to end. At one point I was texting Mere and she asked if I thought I should go to the event on Sunday or if it was possible for me to skip it. I said something like, "Yea I was thinking about skipping it but social etiquette demands that I go." Then Mere said "Your mental health comes first." What an epiphany.

Isn't that sad, that people need to be reminded of that? How many events or phone calls or conversations have you sat through when you really wanted to leave? You could have walked away at any time but instead you think, Oh I can't do that. Why can't you? Says who? Says everyone. But then why isn't the same stigma applied to people staying at my god damn house! If I was to kick people to the curb, I'm an asshole... but what about the people who overstay their welcome - what are they? Are they not assholes??

Falling asleep - to be continued later.

psychics continued

Adding on to my last post, I just saw this commercial:

"Why leave your future up to chance? Call California Psychics!"

Isn't that a little redundant?

terrible tv shows

I'm going to see 311 Pepper & Offspring tomorrow with 3 people I really like. Oh boy.

OMG I am watching this show Snapped on the Oxygen network. I like watching murder mystery shows so don't judge me. Anywho, I like this show but the commercials are really hard to get through. For example, 2 new shows that have been advertised are called "Mary Knows Best" and "Hair Battle Spectacular."

MKB - doesn't really sound that bad at first glance, but then you find out it's about a psychic mother named Mary who says things like "Mama mia!" and her kids say things like, "Just turn off the ability for like 2 seconds!" I hate psychics, or people who claim to be psychics rather, and the fact that she has her own kids fooled is even worse.

If I had a dime for every time my parents called me out for breaking the rules or whatever, I'd have a lot of money. It's parental intuition, c'mon. Had they ever once tried to convince me that they knew I was lying due to their psychic abilities, it would have been game over. I never would have caved again.

Psychics are lame and the only thing worse than them is the people who give them credence and enable them. Enter lame TV show.

HBS - Oh my god. It looks like Project Runway, except with hair instead of clothes, and D-list stylists instead of Heidi Klum and Tim Gunn. The commercials look awful awful awful. And the judges are worse, because like the psychics mentioned above, someone is enabling them. It's like watching VH1 shows like "Top 100 One Hit Wonders" and then watching people make fun of the artists featured. Then you realize the people poking fun are Kathy Griffin and... uh... yea my point exactly. I can't remember anyone else because they are less memorable than the one hit wonders.

Stupid people perpetuate stupid shows.

On an unrelated note...

Meredith: I would like to shoot ***** in the woods

and pay some hick

to do away with him

deliverance style

Meredith: you know what I'm saying?

oink oink

Now THERE'S a housewife who needs a TV show.