Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: birthdays, cigarettes, daughters, Dr. Laura, friends, girls, kids, mistakes, parenting, priorities, smoking, stupidity, teenagers
Tomorrow FD turns 14.I can’t believe it, seriously, I cannot believe that I have a 14 year old…..who’s half an inch taller than me, and I’m not short! It got me thinking about all of the stupid stuff I did at her age, and it made me very thankful that I’m a much more involved parent than CAM ever was (but this is not about CAM!).
By the time I reached the age of 14 I had already tried my first cigarette (and that’s all I’m telling you about). I will NEVER forget this story, mainly because I learned what an incredible idiot I was. I was about 12 or 13 and CAM was always working all the time, she didn’t get home until late. My friend Lisa was planning on coming over after school and when we got home she produced a cigarette that she had stolen from her mom. We really had no idea what to do with it but we were so excited we couldn’t stand it! Since we were so afraid that someone would see us, we decided that the best place to try this cancer stick would be in my bathroom, window open, fan on……that should take care of the smell right? Wrong. CAM came home about 2 hours after we had lit up and she could smell it from the front door to the back of the house. I was toast, as usual. Funny thing was that her ranting was so normal that I think I took to tuning her out really well. I’ve repressed the memories of the punishments……that’s not a joke, I seriously don’t remember what happened even though I know I was punished!
My point is that with everything that the kids are being taught in school there is no way that FD would even think about trying a smoke. The schools have these kids scared so straight I am amazed. And I’m not the only mom that feels this way. When I talk to other moms about what we did at this age versus what our girls are doing now we all laugh and thank God that we’re able to keep better track of our kids. And maybe that’s why we do it. CAM didn’t make me a priority and most of my other friends had moms that worked and simply trusted that the kids would be okay and stay out of trouble. But for those of us that got into trouble we’re so knowledgeable about what the kids could be doing that we’ve made a conscious effort to be home when the kids get home from school or volunteer in the classroom or get to know our kids’ friends parents or install home alarm systems in an effort to keep the kids in (not burglars out)!
Either way I’m thankful for the fact that the schools are doing a great job with drug and tobacco education, that there are people like Dr. Laura who aren’t afraid to tell people that kids are the priority, NOT careers and I’m mostly thankful for the knowledge that I gained through my own stupidity. My hope is that my children learn from my mistakes and that they benefit from my knowledge of what NOT to do! Well, one can hope!
Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: aging, Billy Idol, crush, David Letterman, Facebook, idol worship, MTV, rock, teenagers
I started thinking about this earlier today when I noticed that my daughter had become a fan of Joe Jonas on her Facebook page, and that made me smile. He’s such a wholesome looking young man. Nothing like Billy.
It was a different time almost 25 years ago……holy shit, it was that long ago. MTV was actually music television and videos rolled 24/7. That’s when it happened. Idol worshipping began with “Flesh for Fantasy” and “Rebel Yell”. Billy Idol had the bad boy persona down to an art form and I was all over it! Then Rolling Stone came out with a Centerfold of the bad man wearing a leather thong. It pictured him from behind, glancing over his shoulder with his magically famous sneer and I thought I would pass out at the site of those perfect butt cheeks staring at me, daring me to slap them. The image was almost more than I could handle at 14, and just thinking about it again makes me a little weak-kneed! (Dad if you’re reading this, I’m sorry)
Billy Idol
During his rise to fame Billy Idol made an appearance as a guest on late Night with David Letterman. You could have knocked me over with a feather…….the site of Billy Idol, wearing all leather, including the leather vest WITH NO SHIRT UNDERNEATH; and the way he sat in the chair, slouched down like it was no big deal to be on Dave’s show….he was uber cool! Then he did it, he took his hand and rubbed his chest with it…………..
Bad Boy Billy
When I finally came back to consciousness, Dave was asking Billy about drugs. Apparently there were pills on the street with names of Billy Idol songs. He said something like “I understand there are street pills known as white weddings…” and Billy’s response was typical. With that give-a-shit sneer he simply responded “Yeah”. Then Dave said “You must be a very proud young man!” and I thought that was very disrespectful of Dave to say, he was obviously making fun of the man I worshipped and that was wrong.
Then came Money, Money (like moanie, moanie) and my Idol worship ended. I hated that song, I still hate that song. I’m not sure why but I think that part of it was that deep down I knew that Billy Idol singing a cover tune would be the end of his career, and I was pretty much right.
25 years is a long time and Billy is showing serious signs of aging. I would like to think that it’s just aging but there’s no doubt that years of hard living and drug use have taken their toll on him. I have to wonder what FD will think of her teenage crush in 25 years. Of course her “idol” is wholesome and wears a chastity belt…..so he’ll probably age gracefully. But me? Nope, I had to choose the bad boy of 80’s rock, and look at him now 
Yikes, Billy Now
Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: addicting, addiction, Blackberry, communication, Facebook, sleep, status update, teenagers, text messaging
OMG, like IDC wat u do…..wat evr!
WHAT? Okay, I’m addicted to Facebook and my new Blackberry(aka: Crackberry)…..and I’m learning how to speak “text” and “chat” and it’s seriously like learning another language. The best part is: I can now communicate with my children again!
Have you ever had the opportunity to check out Facebook? It’s pretty neat, I mean cool, or awesome!Actually it’s a great way to connect with friends, family, co-workers, networks, former classmates…..you name it. This is not an advertisement for Facebook but I am able to connect and communicate with people that I may otherwise loose track of. In fact, I’m catching up with friends that I went to high school with and since I went to HS in New York and now live on the west coast there are quite a few people that I’ve lost touch with. I’m talking and communicating with friends that I haven’t seen in over 20 years, and that is very cool! In fact I’ve been dissed by my HS boyfriend, again! Ah, memories….LOL!
Technology is hard to keep up with though, and in all honesty if it wasn’t for MFH I would probably be lost. He has miraculously “sinked” (I know that’s not how it’s spelled) all of my “stuff”. But, between my Crackberry and FBI have found a much larger addiction. If you are familiar with FB then you will understand: the status update.
Thanks to the mobility of Blackberry and the “status update” on FB, I am now able to tell all of my “friends” exactly how I’m feeling, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week! I actually find myself thinking about my mood as I would have it show up on my facebook “wall”. It’s a total addiction! So that you can understand, here are a few of the moods that I have had….and they all begin with ”Stacy is………..”
- “happy for her friends and their laughter!”
- “wishing she wore more comfortable shoes to shop in!”
- “speechless.”
- ”thinking that Tom Cruise has had a nose job……”
The list goes on. It’s been made even more fun by the fact that I can now update my status on my Blackberry!
But here’s the real problem, I find myself thinking in “status mode” throughout the day….constantly. I even woke up the other morning realizing that I had been dreaming in “status” mode: Stacy is falling and afraid she’ll hit the ground…..Stacy is running from an attacker and can’t scream…….Stacy is snuggling with her husband…………for crying out loud, it’s an addiction! Why would people care what the heck I’m doing 24/7??
But they do care, because they respond. They comment on my status. They ask questions and show concern. They are as addicted as I am and we all have a problem. I have over 55 “friends” on FB and at any given time we can know each others mood, feelings, thoughts, whereabouts etc. anytime of the day or night! It’s weird, it’s almost too connected…..but it’s addicting. In all reality I could update my status every minute or less!
And therein lies the next great 12 step program: to ween people off of the Facebook and in particular the need to constantly update everyone on their statusi, 24/7! AND in this fabulous economy that we’re experiencing, I think that I have a winner of a money maker!
(BTW, spellcheck went Ape S*** on this post, LOL! Maybe someone should invent a text dictionary…..ooooo, another money maker!)
Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: attitudes, insecurity, parents, talk, teenagers, teens
I just spent three hours with three wonderful teenage girls and I have a few questions:
- Why do they talk so fast? I cannot understand them half of the time because they are talking so fast that they are slurring their words and sometimes they stutter to get it out so fast….amazing.
- How come every other word out of their mouth is “like”? I think that if they would slow down that they wouldn’t need the filler word like “like” all the time. (uh oh, a double like….now I’m doing it!)
- Why do they all have to talk at the same time? Is any one girl saying something that is so important that they can’t wait their turn? Trust me the answer to that question is NO!
- Why are they so insecure? We were going door-to-door on a food drive through a neighborhood. I was driving, they were door knocking. I told them to go to separate houses each, spread out. They all gave me puppy dog eyes because they all had to go together!! It took three times as long, THREE times!!
- Why, whenever they see someone they know, must they roll down the window and scream that person’s name? This is why window locks were invented…..well maybe it wasn’t the first reason but they work……when the window is actually locked (that’s a mental note to me to lock them!)
- Why do teenagers sneakers attract dog shit like a magnet? That’s right, dog do-do was tracked into my car. I gagged the whole way home.
I couldn’t get out of that middle school fast enough! After we delivered the food to the auditorium and tallied up the cans (it was a contest) I was gone like a shot! But the entire trip home I couldn’t help but wonder: Was I just like them at that age? Is it possible that I was that annoying to my parents? Was I ever that insecure? I know that the answers are all yes and then I remember that my parents never participated in these types of events, probably for this very reason: There’s not enough aspirin in the world for the migraine that develops!
Then I think: That’s okay, God willing, someday they’ll have teenagers too. (Evil laugh!)
