"Contradiction"

This picture is reposted from "losmadden". It is a picture of Benji Madden from the band Good Charlotte in London during the riots..... Self explanatory.

"You Are Not Allowed To Go To The Neighbors And Boff Your Girlfriend"

Some things as a parent you expect to discuss with your children. Especially when you have as many as I do. But there are some conversations that you never expect to have with them. Especially if the conversation contains the words "boff", "neighbors" and "girlfriend" in it. This indeed is a conversation that I walked into the other day as it was happening. All I could think of in that moment was the good old days.

Today is another world compared to when I was a teenager. We did and discussed things a lot different back then. The less your parents knew, the better. You remember the "be home when the street lights come on" era. Or the "I am cleaning the house, go outside and play and don't come back until I call you" time. It was nothing for us to ride our bikes ten miles to get to the BMX track. Then we would ride the track for hours and then have to ride the ten miles to get back home, hoping that we made it back before our parents got home from work. That was usually during the summers when we stayed home by ourselves because both of our parents worked all day. We were only eleven or twelve at that point. But that is another story. We had a lot more freedom back then, but a lot less to worry about then we do now.

Also, my parents never thought twice about letting us wonder around our neighborhood at all times of the day and night. Or drop us off at the mall to walk for hours. And the skating rink every Friday and Saturday night, well that was an adventure. Now, there is no way that my kids are doing any of that without an adult watching over them. There was nothing to worry about back then. It was another world.

Nowadays it's the opposite. You have to know what your kids are doing every minute of the day. There are too many people out there trying to harm them. Some people would consider this being over protective. Yea, so what? If you ask my kids, they would probably agree. But at least I can say that I do everything possible, every day, to ensure that they are protected from the idiots in the world. We just last year started letting our seventeen year old track and cross country star go running outside of our neighborhood and that was a big step for us.

There are so many more things to worry about nowadays. For one you have the internet. It scares the hell out of me when one of my kids asks to get on-line. All they have to do is click on the wrong thing or search for the wrong word and someone knows everything about you.


To add to it, I can't believe now we have to worry about our kids going to the neighbors house.....

"Sometimes You Just Got To Say It"

Boy what a week! Not only did we all get to witness the Charlie Sheen one man show (winning), I actually learned a lot about people that I know, especially myself.

Starting with myself. I have learned that I can not keep my mouth shut when it comes to people that act like idiots. I have told myself for years that when something happens that I feel very strongly about, and want to comment, that I just need to give it a couple of hours or even until the next day to respond. If by then I feel like writing or speaking the same thing as I did when it happened, that it was okay to do so. By then I have given myself ample time to debate what the fallout is going to be and if I am actually right or not. When I allow myself the time to think about it, about half the time I calm down and end up responding in a different way. The other half I respond the exact way I wanted to in the first place. You know how you have to play the politically correct card some times, I'm not very good at playing that card.

The problem that I have is that I don't normally give myself that time to think about it and just go with my initial feelings and respond immediately. I have found that sometimes this is the best way to go. Some people live in a bubble and need to be reminded that they are stupid idiots some times. They tend to forget from time to time and I think that it is my duty as a human being to remind them.

My favorite is when I am talking to someone about their rediculous, stupid, childish decisions and someone, not part of the conversation, puts their ass right in the middle of it and tries to add their two cents. This tends to happen quite often with some people. This makes me particularly mad and ignites a flame in my Core and all I can think about is putting a scarf in their mouth to shut them up. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't.

Now on to the other people. I really, really hate people that only think of themselves no matter how many times that you have helped them out or how many thousands of dollars you have spent on them. See, they tend to forget all of that stuff when it doesn't benefit them. When I was much younger and was not as stable as I am now, I never forgot anyone that ever helped me or my family out. And I would not expect anything from anyone. That is just the kind of person that I am. And I would return the favor every chance that I got. That's just what normal people do.

It seems now a days that there are more and more people out there that always have their hand out. No matter what it is, they expect something from other people in their life. Believe me, I understand that some people are having a very hard time making ends meet at this particular time. And with the gas prices going up so much the last couple of weeks, it's only going to get worse. But when I see someone that always has their hand out waiting for someone to put something in it, I really want to throw something at them, like a grenade. I notice a lot of the time when they do this they don't always come straight out and ask for it (sometimes they do) but it's more like subtle hints that aren't really that subtle. I feel like saying "you have had every opportunity to get it yourself like everyone else, so get off of your ass and go do it."

I feel that I have had every chance to make the kind of life that I did (with my wife's help of course). I was not given any special opportunities. No special handouts. No free rides. I got my head out of my ass at an early age and got out into the world and worked for what I have. No matter what it took. If it meant working 18 hours a day or being away from my family 25 days of the month to get where I wanted to be, I did it. Those days really sucked and I still have to do it from time to time, but that is what it takes sometimes to be successful and I have learned that. If one day I decided that I didn't want to do that anymore, I would not expect anyone to be standing at my front door waiting to just hand me what I wanted.

We all have decisions to make. Sometimes we don't make the right decisions. That's life. But when you continue to make the wrong decisions, and you know it, that is a big problem. And what is even worse is when people like me continue to give you a handout even when we know what you are doing.

So I pledge to myself that I will continue to call you out from time to time to remind you of the things that you are doing and I can't guarantee that my comments will be politically correct or that you will take it in a constructive way. What I can guarantee is that I will be honest and my comments will come from my heart. Sometimes that is the best medicine.....

"Idiots Everywhere"

This is going to be short and to the point. Watch out around you. There are idiots everywhere!

Just because you are of age and you may or may not have moved out of your momma's house, does not help you make the right decisions. You are still an idiot!

Whether this applies to you or not, run with it!

Get your head out of your ass and join society!

That's all for now.

"Creatures of Habit"

I recently took a personal day off from work to stay home with my wife because she was sick and could hardly get out of bed. I always assumed you wake the kids up in the morning, fix their lunches and they take care of the rest. Boy, was I wrong....

Apparently we have these little creatures living in our house that I was unaware of. It's not as easy as fixing the lunch and you're good to go. One of them comes downstairs looking like he got into a fight in the middle of the night and someone gave him a swirly in the toilet. He eats cereal every morning and expects it to be on the table ready for him when he arrives. After he eats his cereal, and might I add, leaves the bowl on the table, he gets his clothes for the day and goes into MY bathroom to take a shower. I asked this young lad one time why he takes a shower in my bathroom since there are two bathrooms with showers upstairs just feet from his room. He replied "my brothers are disgusting". I can't say that I blame him.

We have another one that comes down every morning after his shower and has a BLT cooked and waiting for him on the table. If you mess up his order, he is not as baffled and will eventually eat whatever you have put in front of him, but will tell my wife that I have interrupted the breakfast space continuum at his earliest convenience.

Now this one will forget to put socks on if you don't remind him. One other time when I was in charge of the morning duties, I asked him if he was ready to go and he said "yes sir". I said "how are you going to do anything at school today when your backpack will be here sitting beside the couch"? His reply was "Oh, I guess I better get it". When I dropped them off at school that day I asked each of them if they had everything and they all replied with a yes. About an hour later I got a call at home from this particular son of mine asking me to bring his backpack to him. I said "son, I saw you pick that thing up after I reminded you and I know that you took it with you". His reply was "I did pick it up, but I left it in the back seat of the car when I was getting out at school". I was in disbelief. I just got into my car and took him his backpack.

The third one is a little more resourceful. This one can make his own breakfast and remember to bathe himself every morning, but don't expect him to remember anything else. During wrestling season this year, my wife was taking him something that he forgot at least three times a week. How you leave the house without things like shorts, underwear, socks or wrestling shoes and expect to have a good practice baffles me.

The oldest is the easiest of them all. He get's up a little later than the rest since his school starts later. All you really have to do is fix his lunch, and most of the time he changes it anyway, and you are good. Except having to go behind him and turn off all of lights in the house. His girlfriend picks him up for school everyday and he has even trained her to pack his lunch up for him while he is getting ready.

They hate when I am in charge in the mornings. Usually I start off with putting whatever is the easiest out for breakfast. I say start off with because after they tell on me, I am instructed by my wife to do it the correct way. Their lunches are never what is on the lunch board and they end up putting almost everything back and making their own (The lunch board will be addressed in another update down the road. It will take an entire post of its own). And I apparently don't drop them off at school the correct way. My wife ignores the sign at the front doors that says "move up as far as possible before letting your children out". She thinks this sign says "stop in the middle of the line and drop your boys off at the front doors so they don't have to walk as far". Of course I always follow the rules.

I will never understand how my wife does this every morning, much less get it right to where she doesn't have all four boys whining about the way she does it. She needs a Mother of the Decade award just for what she deals with the first two hours of her day.

These kids are definitely "creatures of habit" and they will not hesitate to tell on you if you mess one part of the process up.