I decided to take part in Twilight Dad Bloggers Experiment over at Dad Blogs. The questions that were asked are "What are your thoughts on Twilight?" and "Do you think the books are appropriate for young ladies?" To be honest, I had a post half typed up until I went to the school book fair and decided to change it.
If anyone has read my previous Twilight post regarding the books and movie, you know that the books were suggested to Mini-Me by a friend of hers when they were in the 5th grade. Also, as anyone who knows me, knows that I don't censor a lot of what my kids hear, watch, or read. I have an open-door policy which I started with my son, who is now twenty-two, and have kept it going. I feel that if I'm open enough with my kids, that they will make informed decisions no matter what they see, hear, or read. It goes way beyond that, but for now I'm keeping it relative to the Twilight books.
As you all know, I was obsessed with the books and movie for a short while. But as time went on, I became less and less fascinated for the simple reason that I FINALLY thought about the subject matter more. First, there's this obsessive love thing. Bella feels like she can never live without Edward. She's whiny. She's not emotionally strong. She's needy and clingy. Her whole life has become Edward. In other words, she's a hot mess. I have spent all of my girls' lives, since they could understand, that their happiness is dependent upon them. Their happiness is not dependent on a man. Whatever they want in life, whether it's success, possessions, money, etc., is all up to them. Maybe I hate the character of Bella so much, because she is codependent, as I was somewhat raised up to be by my parents. My parents always did for me. I always got what I wanted. I don't want that for my girls. It didn't help me learn how to not always get what I want, to be alone, etc. I learned how to be alone and doing things for myself after my ex and I split up. I was 36. I was too old to be learning that lesson.
The abstinence issue, which some have pointed out, is good to a fault. Why are they abstinent? Basically because Edward gets rough, as all vampires are apparently when they have sex, and could kill her. If not for that, they probably would have went at it in the first book. Abstinence in my eyes is not totally realistic, but I totally admire those who can do it. Then you have to look at the age issue which a lot of people have pointed out as well. He's a hundred year old vampire in love with a seventeen year old girl. It's obvious that, being around so long, he has far more experience than her. Even had the age gap not have been this big, a man in love with a young girl, is just a little too much. We know how much society freaks out if even a twenty one year old man is with a sixteen year old girl. There are probably a few more things, but I don't want to give away too much to those who might still be reading the books.
I did not read the books previous to Mini-Me starting Twilight. Would it have made a difference if I had? No. I didn't feel like there was any subject matter that was too strong and no strong language. When the movie came out, Mini-Me, Miss La-Di-Da-Di, and I went on the night of it's release. I knew it deviated from the book a little bit, but not so much that I was upset about it as some people were. The subject matter of the movie didn't really weigh heavily on them. They are able to distinguish fact from fiction pretty easily, and because I have the open-door policy, I know if they have any questions about the subject matter in books or movies, they can ask me about them. We can discuss how they feel about it.
As for the status of Mini-Me and her venture into reading the Twilight books? She's been only half way into New Moon for about a year now. lol She likes Twilight, both movie and book, but she says she is bored with New Moon. I wonder if that has anything to do with the fact that the books are fourth grade level reading! She's twelve and reads at about an eleventh grade level. Miss La-Di-Da-Di hasn't bothered with the books at all. She shows no interest though she liked the movie. Of course I'm wondering how much her love for Twilight is because Mini-Me likes it. A lot of times it's the little sister always trying to be like the big sister.
Obviously you can see that I would and have let my girls read the books, however, I always believe that it's up to the parents on whether they let their kids read certain books, watch rated R movies, listen to parental advisory music, etc. I can't tell any parent how to do something, but I think that if you keep lines of communication open with your kids, that these types of books shouldn't be too much of an issue. Breaking Dawn is probably the only book I would contemplate on whether a young lady could read it or not.
Teens, when it comes to the whole Twilight phenomenon, are quite calm compared to their mothers and other middle-aged ladies! lol So guys watch your ladies, though in some cases, it could help your sex lives. LOL Moms, remember, our kids think we're already embarrassing enough. Let's not do this, k?:
I got nothing for Flash Fiction or Fatherhood Friday today. I've been too busy trying to keep up with my homework and such, that I haven't really had the time to blog as much. It won't get any better next semester when I plan to take THREE classes. Who knew that two would have me this swamped? I guess it's due to the fact that one is five units which means I have to be at it for 15 hours outside of class time. I spent most of the morning finishing up the homework for the chapter since it's due tomorrow. Do you know how hard it is to focus on online homework? I get distracted, bored, etc., sitting at the computer. I have a quiz for History on Monday and haven't begun reading the chapter yet. In two weeks, I will have a history paper due and an exam in Spanish. My head is spinning. LOL
As some of you know, Wednesday was my birthday. I'm officially forty-three years old and counting. There are a lot of days when I don't feel that old and some when I do. Heck, there are days when I feel a hundred years old (mostly this week).
My birthday started off with History class which I enjoy a lot thanks to the instructor: a very funny man with a LOT of knowledge in regards to history and other subjects as well. When I got home, Stinky took me to a lunch of my choosing. I chose Mongolian BBQ. I will probably post "A Taste Of: Favorite Places to Eat" edition about it in the future. I also got to pick out a present of my choosing, and I chose this:
I haven't taken a lot of photos with this yet, but it will be interesting. One of the issues with this camera, is there is not much in the way of manual settings. The camera does a lot of it itself depending on scene you choose. I have seen great pictures come from point and shoots, and I've seen bad pictures come from DSLRs. Unless you really know what you're doing w an SLR, you're mostly photoshopping your photos. LOL
I had wanted an SLR, but I know that our budget is limited. I also know that Stinky is a cheap ass and is the first to admit it. LOL I am rather spoiled though when it comes to these things. Last year, I got the two gifts that I had asked for: the iTouch for my birthday/anniversary and a Wii for Christmas. Stinky thinks I'm funny, because I love techie gadgets so much. I have a long list of things I would like to have in the future. LOL Hmmm...I wonder what I'll get for our anniversary which is coming up next weekend. ;0)
One great thing about my birthday, when it comes around, is that I don't have to cook dinner. I also got to pick where I wanted to go for dinner. I chose Golden Corral. For those who don't know, it's a buffet. I chose it for two reasons: one, it's quick and two, it's easy. We were in and out in an hour. Considering that I have been wiped out all week, this was a good solution to me. I think Stinky would have preferred that I had picked somewhere a little more decent. He kept mentioning Applebee's. LOL
I'm a little late getting this up, but never too late to promote peace. There's still time to join. Just grab your peace globe over at Mimi Writes. Once you get it up on your blog, link here. You'll be glad you did. :o)
Halloween weekend was a busy one. Friday was the girls' Halloween parade and class parties. Mini-Me was a fairy with a very cute pink & purple outfit. For her to wear anything resembling a dress is far and few between. She's not quite girly-girl and she's not exactly a tomboy either. I keep trying to make her venture away from crew neck tees and skinny jeans. Hey, at least she's started wearing v-neck tees. I guess it's all baby steps. Miss La-Di-Da-Di wore her sister's old costume from 5th grade in the same class with the same teacher. It was a cute little sailor's outfit. I had done up their hair in curls with Mini-Me in softer ringlets and Miss La-Di-Da-Di in tighter curls. Miss La-Di(shortened cos I'm lazy :0)lol) reminded me of Shirley Temple. All she needed was some gigantic lollipop and to start singing "On the Good Ship Lollipop". It was adorable.
I went to watch the parade. There were some interesting costumes, and it looked like the kids had fun. Mini-Me's class walked their Kindergarten buddies around. These are their buddies that they read with, I believe, once a week. Too cute.
Miss La-Di's class had a party which I could have stayed for, but she decided that if I did, I could only stay a short while. I decided to bypass the party, though I did manage to snag a cupcake at the end of the school day. :0) In case you didn't know this, cake/cupcakes are my weakness. I don't need them, but I like them. I figure one on occasion doesn't hurt.
Saturday was Halloween of course. The girls decided to hang with friends at the park until it was time to come home and 'ready' themselves for trick-or-treating. I took them back out to the park to meet with their friends. Once everyone was there, I left them to their own devices. This is the first year that I didn't go with them. They were adult-less until one girl who wanted to go with them had to have her aunt go. They all hated the aunt. I told my girls that they should have ditched that girl and her aunt.
Despite the fact that I said that I would NOT be answering the door and passing out candy, I did have to some of the time. I was highly annoyed with the obnoxious teens who came to our door without costumes. They were also stupid enough to knock on our door AFTER the lights were off. Hello, is your name Moron? One brave teen came to our door. Stinky answered the door. He gave the kid some candy, and the kid asks, "Do you think I could have a little more?" Stinky says, "Are you kidding me? You are a little too old to be out here doing this anyways." That kid is lucky I didn't answer the door. I'd probably be even more rude than Stinky.
Sunday I woke up at 6AM. So much for getting that extra hour of sleep. I was very tired, but I knew that we had to do the last day of FrightFest at Six Flags. You guys know how much I hate amusement parks, right?
The day there started off well. It wasn't overly crowded which is good when you want to do a lot of the rides. Showboat brought Butterfingers and Rock, and my girls only had one friend come along this time. They all seemed to have fun. Showboat and his friends had skanks following them around. I'm sorry, but if you're ugly and you're following me around, I'm going to tell you to go away. I guess they like the attention. The girls ventured off on their own, but I saw them occasionally. They stayed with us at the latter part of the night.
As for me, I don't do rides, BUT I did manage to have some adventures of my own.
Eating twisty innards & hearts. Yum :0p~
Something tells me they were being very bad boys.
Fountain of Blood
Attended a White Wedding...The bride and groom looked like death on a stick, but I didn't have the heart to tell them (I ate it earlier, remember?)
If you thought that the past Football Confessionals were funny, wait until you get a load of the one I have for you today (no pun intended...you'll see why lol).
Stinky had gotten the boys from practice one day last week when this was overheard in the truck:
Spaz: Someone told me something about spanking the monkey. What is spanking the monkey?
Rock: They're probably saying that spanking the monkey means you're a fast runner.
Rest of the crew just all agreed with that.
I'm sorry, I never laughed so hard in my life especially considering that these are all 15 year old boys. I'm sure they spank the monkey, but to not realize that's what it is is humorous.
One night a week, Stinky takes the boys out to "Taco Bell Night". My girls and I usually go somewhere like Hometown or Golden Corral (buffet places). One night we went to Hometown, and Mini-Me always gets the ice cream there. This particular night she happened to see a lot of 'cute' boys. She says to me, "I'll be back. I'm going to get ice cream.....with a side of boys." I just had to laugh.
Showboat was starting quarterback of the freshman team at school, but his since been moved up to the JV time (at this current time, his hs only has 9th/10th grade). His best friends, Rock & Butterfingers are definitely missing him. For Showboat's first game on JV, the boys wanted to go so Stinky picked them up after school and headed out about 2 hours away to watch Showboat play a team that totally kicked JV's ass. 42-0 kind of asswhooping. You could tell that Stinky and Showboat didn't take it to well when they got home and barely discussed it. They both hate to lose, and for Stinky, it doesn't even matter if it's not him that's playing.
Anyways, as usually, there are always funny conversations coming from these boys. We even have a new kid to add to the mix. He's not new, per se, but new to football confessional. I don't know how often we will see this kid. Hopefully, not much. Without further ado, the football confessionals:
After the game where JV had their asses handed to them on a platter, Rock saw that all the boys from the other team looked freshly showered. He says, "I want to do that. I want to shower with everyone." (I'm not sure if that's something you want to say out loud. lol)
During the game, Showboat's auntie was there along with her daughter, who is Showboat's goddaughter. The little girl wanted Butterfingers to 'babysit' a stuffed dog that she had. So Showboat's auntie told him that her daughter would like him to watch the dog. He took it and looked like 'oookay'. He had it sitting next to him, and the little girl was pointing out to her mom that he had the dog next to him and seemed very happy. Rock wanted to go walking around, but Butterfingers had a dilemma. He wanted to walk around, but he also promised a little girl that he would watch the little stuffed dog. He thought about leaving it, but didn't. He decided that he would take it with him. Rock looked at him and said, "If you take that thing, I'm not walking with you." Butterfingers tried to explain why he needed to take it, so Rock said, "OK, if you take it, I'm not walking with you (as in he'll pretend he doesn't know him)."
Hearing the two stories above make me wonder, Rock is wanting to take a shower with a bunch of guys, but feels embarrassed by his friend carrying a stuffed dog?? Uh, what does THAT say? lol
Stinky doesn't know how this conversation got started, but the boys started talking about Shamu. Someone said, "What is Shamu?" I can't remember what someone else replied but the GM (the new kid) said, "It's a big dolphin." Someone is saying, "No, it's not. It's a whale." GM said, "No, it's a dolphin. Whales can't jump high and do tricks." Stinky had to inform them that Shamu is a killer whale.
After all that, you have to wonder the state of our youth. LOL
Because I'm a rebel and I can't be a follower, I decided to do things a little different this week. I have some writing, but it's not mine and it's over 55 words. I know, I know, I'm a rule breaker. Rules are meant to be broken, no?? ;0)
I'm a firm believer that writing should be encouraged and not hindered especially in youth. When Miss La-Di-Da-Di writes or draws, I am always amazed at her talent. I often wonder where she gets her ideas from. The reason I say this is because Miss La-Di-Da-Di can be somewhat of a daydreamer at times. Maybe it's all the daydreaming. I don't know. :0)
Miss La-Di-Da-Di can often be heard singing songs, but usually not ones that you've heard before. Out of nowhere, she is just ad lib as she goes. Those songs are not one any that she has written down. She may or may not remember them again. A lot of times she writes what she calls 'songs', but never sings them. I guess not unless I ask her how they go. I have shared two examples on my blog here and here(ok, can't find the other one yet, but I'll add it when I do).
While I was helping her clean her room (which I've sworn I would never do again after the third, fourth, or whatever time), I found this. Bit sad, but good. Also seems like a lot coming from a ten year old.
Love Fails
Love Fails and it will never make you happy. You don't know what it's like to be in the middle of the circle Or the outside of the square, life is so unfair You don't even know how you'll get there But we all know love fails on everyone But I'll be the one who's left out There's no doubt Someday everyone will find a true love And I will be the one in the middle of the circle Or Outside of the square.
Where she gets this stuff from I do not know. She is one of the most carefree, happy-go-lucky, free-spirited girls I know. What do you all think? Reading her words actually almost made me cry. LOL
Flash Fiction is brought to you by the G-Man. If you feel like playing along, simply create a story using exactly 55 words, pop over to his place, and let him know you've posted. While you're at it, stop by Dad Blogs and check out all the great Fatherhood Fridays by clicking badge above.
From time to time you may see reviews of websites and/or products that I may or may not receive products and/or monetary compensation from. Just wanted to let you all know ahead of time and to say that I plan to keep my blog filled with mostly my own personal blogging material. So keep reading! :)
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