My Take On The Trainwreck That Is The Gosselin Family

When my sister-in-law changed her Facebook status recently to “inexplicably sad about Jon and Kate,” I knew I had to say ~something~.

I will admit I am not an avid watcher of the TLC program, “Jon and Kate Plus 8,” however, I have watched my share here and there. What can I say, I am a bit of a voyeur. Usually I catch it on the weekends, when they’re running a marathon of episodes. I did make a point to watch this current season’s first episode, mostly because I wanted to see how they would deal with the Jon and Kate drama-rama. Aaaand because I do lurve my celeb gossip, I am always catching the latest dirt and keeping up to date with various mags and online sites.

I think anyone who has watched the show will agree with me when I say that Kate treats Jon like shit. Constantly correcting him, controlling him and embarassing him, she is a total shrew. She even admitted on this season’s first episode, that she knows she’s “been hard on Jon.” It is very clear who wears the pants in this family and there seems to be no equality whatsoever.

I believe that Jon has been unhappy with the situation for awhile. He ~never~ seems to look happy, but instead always seems to look harassed. It was even mentioned in the Utah ski episode, that there on the slopes was the first time in a long time that Kate had seen Jon look so happy and youthful.

While I think there is love there still, I don’t believe they are ~in love~ any longer. I believe that Jon has not had his emotional needs met for quite some time, and I’m guessing probably not his physical needs either, and it’s taken a toll. The same could probably be said for Kate. I think that turning their marriage and their family into a working environment was a huge mistake, regardless of the financial benefit. It has sucked all the intimacy and emotion away, leaving a husk of what once was. Now, instead of lovers who parent, they are caretakers who shoulder the responsibility of maintaining a business arrangement that provides quite extensively for their huge family.

I cannot say with certainty what failed there for Jon and Kate, no one can, we can only assume. I feel strongly though that if Jon cheated, or even if he didn’t, it was Kate who drove him to look elsewhere to fulfill his needs in some way. Being in a onesided relationship is lonely, and after awhile, it chips away at your soul. You crave that which the other person is not providing. You search to find something, any little thing to fill that void. Kate is driven, clearly, by financial gain and providing for her family. She enjoys what she does. This fulfills her. What does Jon have?

I don’t feel sad for Jon and Kate, not at all. I sympathesize with Jon–I’ve been there. I feel pity for both of them, but I do not feel sadness. They created this mess themselves, together. I think Kate would like to have everyone believe it’s the media’s fault, but they made that choice a long time ago, to open up their lives on national television, be it for financial gain or not. Media and paparazzi, they come with the territory. In making an informed choice regarding whether or not to do the show, they should have and must have considered what could be the result of such a decision. It’s too late now to go back and change things. I have seen entreaties online from Kate and “her public” to the media to stop hounding the Gosselins and let them heal and move forward in whatever way they can. It’s too late.

I think the people that are being hurt and traumatized the most here are the kids. They have become little more than a commodity. I do feel great sadness for the children, because in the end, they are the ones who will end up paying the price for Mom and Dad’s decisions and choices, whatever they may be. They seem, almost, to have gotten overlooked and lost in the media frenzy that is now the Jon & Kate drama-rama. What must those kids be feeling and thinking right now?? I know most adults probably believe the Gosselin kids are too little to understand what’s going on, but as a child of divorce, I can tell you–children are very perceptive as to the emotional state and condition of their parents and their marriage. Those kids know trouble is a-brewin’ and I can only hope that Kate and Jon are sensitive to that and are able to set aside their own issues and differences and deal with it with the kids in an appropriate manner.

As always, smoochies,
~TC

The Information Highway is Paved With Good Intentions and Porn

So, I’m sitting here at work, basically just trying to keep myself sane until 5pm, when I decide it’s definitely time for a blog update. My poor bloggy has been so neglected, sometimes I think I should just give it up and hit the delete button, but then I remember all the really good stuff I’ve written here and I just can’t bring myself to do it. I tell myself that I’ll get better, and post more often, but as they say, the road to Hell is paved with good intentions, and apparently so is the internets. Good intentions and porn.

Things have not really changed too much since my last post. I’m still struggling in a job I can now say that I honestly hate. It’s not the position at all-I love my role as a receptionist. It’s actually what’s going on within the restructuring of the company as well as the behind the scenes drama-rama that’s just making everyone insane. It’s only getting worse with each day. Needless to say, I am looking for another job-no big surprise there, right?

I think I’d like to do something a lot less receptionist-y, and maybe more administrative. I have mad admin skillz! *sillygrin* I’d also really enjoy something in which I could actually use my college degrees-maybe editing or proofreading?

Of course, if I won the lottery and became a multimillionaire, this would all be a moot point and I’d be writing blog updates from Cabo, so maybe I should just better start working on that!

My dad is doing well, though we’ve been told he’s reaching the end of his physical therapies and will need to be moved to a permanent, semi-private room soon. He’s no longer a candidate for assisted living as he is still very impulsive about his decisions and is not very ambulatory by himself. What this means of course, is we’ll now have to switch to private pay and begin the whole process for applying to Medicaid. What a pain in the ass.

I just began another bellydancing session with Michelle at The Goddess Hour. Loves it! I’ve also been working a lot on my hoopdancing with the help of online tutorials and I found a wicked awesome online hoop community, Safire Dance, through Safire’s youtube hooping tutorials. I’m not brave enough yet to post my own hoop video-I fear I still look like a seizure victim at times and I’ve not lost that “learning a new trick” face of utter concentration. When I’m more confident in my skills and flow, I will definitely post some vids!

I have some new pics to post too, which I’ll try to do either tonight or sometime soon.

Smoochies!
~TC

The Good, the Bad, and My Aunt Ellie

So, I’ve been trying to write a blog post for days now, but nothing’s coming. The problem is not that there’s nothing going on. The problem is that there’s too much going on and honestly, where do I freaking begin?

Some stuff I can’t discuss, namely the stuff at work. Work is completely ridiculous right now. Things are happening in upper management that are just drastically changing the face of how my company has always done things. Employees are nervous, scared, confused, upset, frustrated, angry—you name it. There is very little communication. Couple all of that with what’s going on with the economy and you have a pretty good idea of the chaotic mess we face daily. Not good.

Dad had quadruple bypass surgery 10 days ago at Rochester General and is doing great! He was discharged this past Monday and is happy to be back at the nursing home. I’m still having a really hard time balancing all this Dad stuff. It takes so much time from not just me, but Craig too. Finances, appointments, visits, needs, wants—it is definately alot. And then dealing with his sister, who’s been such a huge bitch, is just another headache. She called on Sunday around 7 or 8pm, the night before he was discharged, telling me she and her family were coming for a visit this coming weekend from PA & MD. Several times, I very patiently explained why I thought this was not a good idea. He’s just getting discharged, he needs recovery time, he will be very tired and not really up for an extended visit. She told me in no uncertain terms that she comes “now or not at all.” She also was intent on asking wildly inappropriate questions, such as how we’re paying for his care. *shakes her head*

She doesn’t understand. This is not about her. It’s about him. Let the man have some recovery time for crying out loud, before you come blasting your way up here, expecting all day visits. Saying you’re coming now or not at all, doesn’t punish me, it punishes him. I could give a shit whether you came or not. In fact, it would be one less headache for me if you stayed home. And it is absolutely none of her business how we’re paying for anything! Of course, I said none of this to her in the spirit of niceness, getting along and respecting one’s elders.

She didn’t hear a word I said the entire conversation, but rather competed by talking over me. Just like my dad does. I just let her do it. She was rude and classless, and bullied me for information, while I was nice to the Nth degree and tolerant, oh so tolerant. At the end of the conversation, I was left with the impression that she will do whatever the hell she wants to do, regardless. I think she thinks I am deterring her visit because she believes I’m hiding something from her and so now she’ll be more determined than ever to get up here this weekend. Grrrrrr. Let the poor man have some rest!!!!

I feel stressed. I feel like I have no control over my life. I feel like my life really isn’t even my own any more. It sucks. THIS SUCKS. And there is no light at the end of the tunnel.

There is some good stuff though. *sparklygrin* I’m enrolled in bellydance classes again-actually my 8 week course is almost over and it’s nearly time to sign up again. I took a hoopdance class as well this time around and absolutely loved it. I’m completely hooked now. As soon as my instructor posts her new class schedule, I’ll be signing up again for that as well and bringing a friend or two with me.

Thanks to Facebook, I’m back in touch with my cousin John (from my mom’s side) *grinwavies* as well as a few other people I’d kinda lost track of. Yay! I heart Facebook.

We saw Fleetwood Mac in March and had mad awesome seats!!!! Craig had gotten us tickets for my birthday the day they had gone on sale. Then a couple weeks before the concert, I won two more tickets, also pretty great seats, and gave those to a friend of mine and her boyfriend. It was such an AWESOME show. I loved it!!!!!! And I was sooo sad when it was over-I didn’t want it to ever end. Lindsay, Stevie and Mick all looked fantastic and performed as though they enjoyed every second of it. It was a magical night!

The nice weather is slowly starting to get here. Yay! I’m excited about doing gardening and flowers and vegetables again this year.

My inlaws are moving back to this area from TN. They close on their new house in May, so that’s pretty exciting. We’ll be glad to have them back.

I’m rereading the entire Laurell K. Hamilton “Anita Blake” collection and so I haven’t really read anything new, so to speak, in awhile. I’m on the 14th one right now-“Danse Macabre.” These later books are so full of the ardeur-it sometimes gets a little tiring, but I do still enjoy them. Once, I’m done with those, I wanna reread Charlaine Harris’ “Sookie Stackhouse” series, hopefully before the new season of True Blood starts! *happysigh* I lovelovelove that show. That alone is worth the cost of HBO, not to mention the Tudors and Big Love and all the other great series.

I’m also addicted to The United States of Tara on Showtime.

I guess that’s about it for now. Happy Hump Day! We’re almost to the weekend-yay! Now, if I can just make it though the rest of the day…..

Smoochies,
~TC