TV To Rot Your Ideals, Part 1: The Perfect Family, Brady Bunch

We all want that perfect family like The Brady Bunch, right? Pleasant dad, sweet mom, three boys, three girls (the youngest of course has curls), a dog, and a housekeeper so that sweet non working mom can lay around all day. What else could be more perfect? These are unattainable ideals even by TV standards. Even if we forget about the behind the scenes issues, The Brady Bunch is still not as perfect as you remember.

First off, Mike Brady is a widower meaning that a wife and mother of three had to die for The Brady Bunch to form. Not exactly happy. Yet none of the boys ever talk about their dead mother and even call Carol 'Mom". This seems to make the statement that wives and mothers are replaceable. Your mother died? Let's go get a new one.

Carol Brady is divorced. Out there some where is a dead beat dad named Mr. Martin (as this is her last name in the beginning but, her maiden name is Tyler). No one talks about him either and I never saw Carol opening child support papers. The first products of an absent father on television, not exactly perfect.

Then there is no wonder that the Brady girls have some disorders. Marica has signs of OCD, Jan has major jealously issues and extremely low self-esteem, and Cindy had a lisp and some developmental delays. It is not their fault that they have these issues but, why did their parents not put them in therapy? Jan really needed it for all of the problems she had displayed.

As you can see they were not a perfect family. They just pushed the issues under the rug and never brought them up again. Real life is not like this. You could have a happy family if you forget where you came from and ignored the elephants in the room. Or you could just hire that sunny housekeeper for your lazy wife. =)

Boba With A Side Of Mall

Today, I went to the Boba House and the mall with my sister, Vicky, and my cousin, Jessica.

A Boba are chewy tapioca beads that taste and feel like sweet almost tasteless gummies. You can add Boba to any drink but, at the Boba House they have Slush, Tea (also called Bubble Tea), and Coffee. I ordered a Honeydew Slush and a pack of Chocolate Hello Pandas (kind of like Koala Snacks which for those younger than me are plain cookie bites with either chocolate, strawberry, or vanilla in it) and Vicky got a Cherry Slush. Very Yummy!

Then we headed to the mall. I have not been in a packed weekend mall for a very long time. It is loud and super busy. I am broke at the moment but, I bought a cheap yet nice lipstick. I had to put back the Yellow Submarine shirt I eyed with the hope to come back when I have the money to get it.

I am not a mall rat by any means. I like my clothes lightly used and very cheap at the thrift store. There is no feeling better than finding a brand new brand name garment for five or less dollars. I do go to the mall though every blue moon and if the price is right then I buy. I go to Burlington Coat Factory and I look about for discount clearance items. The best deal I ever got was at Hot Topic on a Little Mermaid white shirt with a big red stain down the side discounted from $20 to $5. One cycle in my washer and that stain was gone, band new shirt for $15 less. I found out today that the Dillard's at The University Mall is a discount store. I might pop by there when I get a job and some green.

New Emily

It has been a while since my last post and much has changed. I lost my relationship and my apartment. I now live in a shared apartment with a roommate who was a complete stranger a few months ago. It started with a car accident that happened on March 23rd. This left me with a herniated disk and a mess of a life. I am putting one foot in front of the other to climb out of this hole I have been put into.

It is not all bad, I could have ended up back at my parent's house out of other options. I have an interview at a well known children's early education center (I'll call it Kids' Place) on Wednesday. Kids' Place is a dream job and I really hope I get it. If I do then I should be on my way up. I find it funny that a simple job could change my whole life, considering I am not a material person.
I should stay afloat even if it falls through but, it is the best job interview I have had yet and to get a job I would love in a down economy would be a dream.

I got so lonely tonight that I went to a sit down restaurant by myself. I noticed that the waiter paid more attention to me than when I went with someone else. Pity maybe? There was a time I cared very much what others thought about me but, that has changed. I don't want to seem mean or rude but, I don't care about the rest. So, I ate my burger, dropped my tip, and went on my way in peace.

I thought maybe it is time to start up my blog again. I noticed I had more of a grip of what was out in the world than if I sit here alone playing Sims and sending out my applications to jobs. So, here is the first post of 2010 and to many more.

Alive! Wait Where Is My Bag?

I made it alive to D.R. Yay! This really is great news. I survived delays, the flights, the hunger, and my need to sleep. Yet I have one small problem: Richie's and my bags were lost somewhere between Tampa and here. I have one set of clothes, some airplane activities, purse contents, and this laptop. I would have loved to post picture of the wonderful day I have had but, alas, my camera is MIA in a bag. They should be here tomorrow. This is a very good thing because, nothing is more akward then wearing your boyfriend's mother's clothes.

Airport

I am here at Tampa Airport. I feel surprisingly calm. I have been pushing bad thoughts out of my mind all morning, trying to stay calm as possible. Everything will be fine. I will be fine. By this time tomorrow I will be in the Dominican Republic and everything will be dandy.

Shoe Loving Cat & Reincarnation

Ramona is already a strange cat. She opens doors, swims in toilets, and stands like a meerkat. Yet, I find one thing that makes her even stranger: She loves shoes. She sits in front of the shoe rack and moves them all around. I always thought she just liked playing with them until this afternoon. I took out my new shoes and put in insoles in them and put them inside the box them came in. This crazy cat came out from her hideout under the couch and starts to try to open the box. I have given her old, empty shoe boxes to play with but, even with catnip she looked at me like I was out of my mind. I said nothing but, she soon gave up and right now she is cuddled up to the box of shoes. I could understand if they were leather shoes and smelled nice to a cat but, they are pleather (glorified plastic is a wonderful thing). Last night this was the cat who tried to drag my purse across the house.

These events got me to thinking about reincarnation. Maybe, Ramona was a human woman who loved shoes and fashion in her last life. My vet had estimated Ramona's birthday was between the last two weeks of March and the first two weeks of April 2007. I looked up who died those two weeks and though I found interesting that three female writers died that April 5th, I found no glamor puss. This is when I realized that those who believe in reincarnation believe it happens at the point of conception. It takes cat 63-65 days to carry their kittens to term. This means that Ramona was created in late January or early February and would have a soul from that time frame. Back to Wikipedia I went. In that time span I did find a woman who loved fashion.

Did Anna Nicole Smith reincarnate as Ramona Quimby the Cat? They both came from a poor background and became wealthy (if you think of cat wealth as food, water, indoor living, and toys). Ramona does always looks at the camera and at times even looks to pose for it. I can never get a side view picture of her she always looks even if I have not flashed a picture yet. She also has a impulse control problem at times, running around or as I said before swimming in the toilet. Maybe, when she hides under the couch she is enjoying something she never had in her past life: privacy.

I must say that if Anna Nicole's soul did end up in a calico cat's body it would not be that bad for her. Cats have it easy if they live in a home with free food and nice places to sleep all day. Ramona did respond to "Anna Nicole" but, she also responded to "Garbage Can" and "Bobette" as well. I really do not know if I believe that Anna Nicole is my cat, that is for the cosmos to know. Yet, with all of the famous and talented people who have passed away these past few weeks if reincarnation is really what happens and that a new peaceful life for all might make us feel better about of this natural part of life.

Looking For A Purpose

In ten days I am going to face my fear of airplanes by taking two of them to The Dominican Republic. I am going to visit Richie's family and see where he comes from. I hope to post some of my trip while I am there but, if not I will when I get back.

More important than my trip to D.R. is the trip I must take to find my purpose. In June I lost alot. I lost my job, found out school was a scam, and overall lost my purpose. I had everything lined up and now I have no plans past this trip. I think it will really hit me on August 31st when I wake up at home and find I still do not know where I am going. I just want to wait until my real trip is finished to take this unpleasant trip. I just want to have fun in the moment.