Thứ Tư, 14 tháng 3, 2007
Thứ Năm, 8 tháng 3, 2007
Birthday Thoughts
Today is my birthday. Hard to believe I've been part of this ol' world for 38 years now.
For some reason, I think my 25th birthday was most traumatic for me. At that time I was working as a secretary and taking some pre-med or pre-nursing classes. I think it was bugging me that I was 25 and still didn't know what I was going to "do with my life." I could no longer pretend I was just starting out - I'd already graduated from college. Yet here I was back in undergrad courses, taking out loans for more tuition, and still not sure what the heck I was doing.
Today, I'm feeling pretty darned happy about where I've ended up. Seeing my brother hard at work studying to get through medical school reminds me of how nice it is to be finished with school once and for all! (Sorry, Buzz.) After years of working overtime, nights, weekends, and holidays, I now have a part time job with paid holidays and very rare night work. After years of researching, planning, saving, filling out forms, jumping through hoops, and praying, we are thrilled to have adopted two wonderful kids. For the first time in a long time, I don't have any big hurdles in my immediate future. Life is pretty well balanced. I'm enjoying it.
Night Safari Anaconda
Esto es lo que pasa cuando vas al primer safari nocturno del mundo y te eligen de entre unas 500 personas para ponerte en el cuello una anaconda gigante que tienen que mover entre cuatro empleados del safari.
Un dulce.
La foto fue tomada sin flash para que no se pusiera nerviosa la culebrilla, por eso esta un poco borrosa.
Un dulce.
La foto fue tomada sin flash para que no se pusiera nerviosa la culebrilla, por eso esta un poco borrosa.
Thứ Tư, 7 tháng 3, 2007
My Super Sweet Bullshit
Sorry folks, but this is going to be one angry post about nothing.
Channel surfing today, stumbled across MTV.. I never watch MTV anymore and I realized why. Anybody seen that show "My Super Sweet 16"? Well, if you haven't, its basically a 20 minute thing following a girl who's turning 16 and documenting the build up to the lavish party celebrating this oh-so-important milestone. I've ranted in private about this show before and I've made my distaste for it quite obvious to those around me, but today I decided to go public with it. Why? Well, it just happened to be an episode where the girl was that bit extra spoilt and it completely got on my nerves.
It cost her mother $180,000 to throw the party, inclusive of a brand new Audi. I'm pretty sure this wasn't the most expensive party ever portrayed on this piece of trash masquerading around as entertainment. I don't know who watches this shit, but it certainly embodies everything that is wrong with American society in particular, and the human race in general. I'm not sure if its put out there for people to ridicule, or to provide insight into the lives of those who just don't deserve what they have.. but if its being aired for people to actually enjoy and wish it were their life then that's pretty fucking disgusting.
The kids on this show come across as the most shallow and ignorant people you could ever meet. I know montage can be a powerful tool for producers to portray their subject in a negative/positive light, but I can't help but believe that the people involved have some measure of control over how their image is broadcast. The concept of taking a rich little 15 year old and giving them license to spend that kind of money on a birthday party WITH THE CONSENT AND COOPERATION of their parents is absolutely appalling. The tantrums, the lack of respect for anyone around them (including the parents), the complete disregard for the worth of money and the abhorring lavishness of the whole thing.. is this actually being encouraged? Have we reached a stage where actions such as these are laudable, even enviable? The party itself is disgraceful, with kids dressed and acting like adults twice their age, which really begs the question.. where are their parents? There're spoilt bratty kids all around the world, but it seems to be a competition for who can be the most shocking at this point.
Its an inescapable fact of life that there will always be a minority of rich people who will control things and shit on the heads of the lesser endowed majority. For us to portray the ugly face of decadence on a show that kids watch with such intrigue is completely irresponsible. I know most adults would turn their eyes away and would get that what is being shown is ludicrous. What concerns me is that there are 15 year old girls out there who now expect that this kind of behaviour is the norm, and you just HAVE to make a spectacular entrance in to your $100,000 party or else you're just going to look the fool. MTV, you should understand that you do (unfortunately) set the bar for all things cool when it comes to your teenage audience, and portraying this kind of crap in anything but a negative light is infuriatingly counterproductive in the molding of an impressionable young adult into one who is a responsible, useful part of society.
For a light-hearted take on the same show, see South Park season 10, episode 11 entitled "Hell on Earth 2006", in which Satan plays the part of one of those terrible 15 year old brats and eventually gets what he deserves.
Channel surfing today, stumbled across MTV.. I never watch MTV anymore and I realized why. Anybody seen that show "My Super Sweet 16"? Well, if you haven't, its basically a 20 minute thing following a girl who's turning 16 and documenting the build up to the lavish party celebrating this oh-so-important milestone. I've ranted in private about this show before and I've made my distaste for it quite obvious to those around me, but today I decided to go public with it. Why? Well, it just happened to be an episode where the girl was that bit extra spoilt and it completely got on my nerves.
It cost her mother $180,000 to throw the party, inclusive of a brand new Audi. I'm pretty sure this wasn't the most expensive party ever portrayed on this piece of trash masquerading around as entertainment. I don't know who watches this shit, but it certainly embodies everything that is wrong with American society in particular, and the human race in general. I'm not sure if its put out there for people to ridicule, or to provide insight into the lives of those who just don't deserve what they have.. but if its being aired for people to actually enjoy and wish it were their life then that's pretty fucking disgusting.
The kids on this show come across as the most shallow and ignorant people you could ever meet. I know montage can be a powerful tool for producers to portray their subject in a negative/positive light, but I can't help but believe that the people involved have some measure of control over how their image is broadcast. The concept of taking a rich little 15 year old and giving them license to spend that kind of money on a birthday party WITH THE CONSENT AND COOPERATION of their parents is absolutely appalling. The tantrums, the lack of respect for anyone around them (including the parents), the complete disregard for the worth of money and the abhorring lavishness of the whole thing.. is this actually being encouraged? Have we reached a stage where actions such as these are laudable, even enviable? The party itself is disgraceful, with kids dressed and acting like adults twice their age, which really begs the question.. where are their parents? There're spoilt bratty kids all around the world, but it seems to be a competition for who can be the most shocking at this point.
Its an inescapable fact of life that there will always be a minority of rich people who will control things and shit on the heads of the lesser endowed majority. For us to portray the ugly face of decadence on a show that kids watch with such intrigue is completely irresponsible. I know most adults would turn their eyes away and would get that what is being shown is ludicrous. What concerns me is that there are 15 year old girls out there who now expect that this kind of behaviour is the norm, and you just HAVE to make a spectacular entrance in to your $100,000 party or else you're just going to look the fool. MTV, you should understand that you do (unfortunately) set the bar for all things cool when it comes to your teenage audience, and portraying this kind of crap in anything but a negative light is infuriatingly counterproductive in the molding of an impressionable young adult into one who is a responsible, useful part of society.
For a light-hearted take on the same show, see South Park season 10, episode 11 entitled "Hell on Earth 2006", in which Satan plays the part of one of those terrible 15 year old brats and eventually gets what he deserves.
Thứ Ba, 6 tháng 3, 2007
first choice?
I saw this link on an adoptive parents' website I visit frequently. It's about an adoptee's thoughts on being her parents' "second choice," in the sense that if they could have had biological children they most likely would not have adopted her.
http://heartmindandseoul.typepad.com/weblog/2007/03/the_runnerup_is.html
It's painful to imagine my own children might ever feel this way, but realistically it would be very natural for them. And it's a double whammy - to an adoptee, it can too easily seem that they were not "first choice" for EITHER their biological parents or their adoptive parents. Ouch.
Like many adoptive parents, we did try to conceive before starting the adoption process. Unlike some, we also always hoped to adopt someday. When we ran up against infertility, we decided to forego any treatments and proceed directly to adoption. We knew we were already interested in adopting, even if we eventually conceived, and it just seemed like adopting was the right way for us to become parents. Will knowing this help Alex or Sam? I don't know. What I DO know is that I have absolutely no regrets. I can't imagine life with any other children besides the two I have. I may not be able to keep them from internalizing the messages society sends to adoptees, but I hope we'll be able to have honest dialogue about it all someday.
http://heartmindandseoul.typepad.com/weblog/2007/03/the_runnerup_is.html
It's painful to imagine my own children might ever feel this way, but realistically it would be very natural for them. And it's a double whammy - to an adoptee, it can too easily seem that they were not "first choice" for EITHER their biological parents or their adoptive parents. Ouch.
Like many adoptive parents, we did try to conceive before starting the adoption process. Unlike some, we also always hoped to adopt someday. When we ran up against infertility, we decided to forego any treatments and proceed directly to adoption. We knew we were already interested in adopting, even if we eventually conceived, and it just seemed like adopting was the right way for us to become parents. Will knowing this help Alex or Sam? I don't know. What I DO know is that I have absolutely no regrets. I can't imagine life with any other children besides the two I have. I may not be able to keep them from internalizing the messages society sends to adoptees, but I hope we'll be able to have honest dialogue about it all someday.