RANDOM STUFF

I don't like competition. Never have. It's everywhere of course and we must compete for every damn thing in life which I find horribly exhausting.  Even on TV that is all we see. Competition, competition, competition. You're better, you're lousy, you did it, you didn't. Eight out of 10, 2 out of 6. Scores, rates, evaluations. Dancing with the Stars, The Biggest Loser, American Idol, X Factor, even competition shows to find your future spouse (LONG, LOUD SCREAM).

I find all of this competition on TV so ironic considering how the last generation of kids were raised ... indulged, loved, encouraged, patted, petted, always got a hi 5 and a "good job!" for eating their fucken cereal. Oy.  Let's go back to my childhood when kids were kids and adults were adults and no one gave a crap how a 10 year old felt. IT BUILT CHARACTER PEOPLE!

1966. Me, Arnie, Georgie and Eddie sitting on the curb outside staring at the Sun to see who could do it the longest. After burning our retinas out we decided to have a screaming contest. After three minutes of screaming Tia Chata comes outside in her house dress with a cigarette screams louder than the four of us together ....

"SHADDUP!!!!!!!"

NOTE: She didn't think someone had been hurt, run over by a car, or lost an eye. All she knew was that we were bugging the shit outta her and she had HAD IT. These were the moms in the 1960's. They didn't care about about our fragile little egos. If we lost a game and started crying we didn't get medal for "participating" ... a mom would just bark something like "don't be such a crybaby! Go outside and play dammit!" then back in the house she'd go as she took another drag on her cigarette.

And we were okay with that. No one grew up psychologically damaged.
No one was ruined for life. We bounced back just fine and figured out another game to play ... "I know you guys ... let's play parade!" This game consisted of sitting on the curb and clapping every time a car drove down the street. And this was a shitload of fun to us. If our parents were like parents today they would have been gushing and oohing over our brilliant, creative little minds and would somehow turn that into a scholarship to university because the child showed inherent ability to moderate the flow of traffic at different times during the day which would then allow for a psychological profile of not only drivers, but bystanders as well, and then a study would prove that ....*#*@&p)!!!!!  It's so damn insane.


Have you seen the Super Nanny?  Yet another reality based program that helps parents learn how to parent ... don't even get me started.  I happened to catch an episode once. What a disaster.  The kids in this particular family ran the entire household and the mom and dad were completely useless. In one unbelievable incident little Johnny was screaming his head off having a conniption fit because he didn't want to drink his milk unless he was able to do so while sitting on his dad's shoulders. Next shot:  kid sitting on dad's shoulders calmly drinking his milk. O.M.G.

This would NEVER happen at our house.  

Manzanar Avenue, circa 1965.  If one of us didn't want to do something my dad would proceed to take his belt off with a menacing sneer "orale veras!" (translation: you're gonna do exactly what I tell you to do you little bastard or else!) No bargaining, no reasoning, no B.S. You know why? BECAUSE HE WAS THE DAD AND YOU WERE THE KID. Period. End of story.

I can recall many a madcap chase through the house mom yelling "don't run away from me you little shit!"  For years I thought that was my name.  And forget the world's greatest pitchers ... Mexican mother sitting on a couch ... my mom could throw a brush and make it round a corner and cock you right on the back of your head.  Swear.  

*SIGH* ... how I long for those good old days when kids were kids and adults were adults.  Kids today won't have stories like mine.  They're all so loved and well adjusted and brimming with self-esteem.  It's just not right I tell you.