I've got a couple of videos on YouTube. In fact, I've got about 20 videos... most of them are related to hobbies of mine. A couple of them are pretty popular... I have a couple of Harley exhaust videos that have over 15000 hits. Nothing spectacular by any stretch of the imagination, but reasonable popular.
So some troll decided to come by and talk shit... calling me a faggot and idiot for owning a Harley. I took the high road in my response... and he responded again. I figured I'd make one more high-road response before blocking him... thus proving him an idiot and getting the last word. But alas, I accidentally deleted his message. I guess that was God's way of telling me to just shut up, block him and delete his troll words.
Tuesday, April 14, 2009
Saturday, April 11, 2009
Reviewing the Norelco 7310 Rotary Razor
People who know me in the real world know that I hate shaving. It's just a hassle, and I've never really seen the necessity of hacking all of the hair off of my face with a sharp metal object. Thank God I was born after Don Johnson popularized the slightly unshaven look. But then again, I've tended to take that to an extreme... shaving approximately once or twice per month, whether I need it or not. And during the winter I tend to not shave at all.
I've had an electric razor in the past... it was a Braun, and I liked it well enough. I finally stopped using it because the foil got trashed and I couldn't find another one. That was several years ago; about a month ago, I came to the conclusion that it was time to try another electric razor.
When the foil on the Braun went, it blew in a spectacular fashion, and tore my face up pretty good, so I was inclined to try out a rotary razor this time. In the end, I settled on the Norelco 7310.
I'm going to start by saying that no electric razor will ever cut as close as a blade. That stated though, the 7310 is more than "good enough." Right out of the box, I put it to a test I never thought it would pass... I used it to shave two weeks worth of facial hair. It took a while, but the 7310 was up to the task, and it removed all of that stubble painlessly. That's right -- no pulling, just shaving. I was really impressed.
Based on my understanding, there's always an ajdustment period when you change shaving styles. My experience certainly echoes that conventional wisdom. I had a little bit of facial irritation for the first week or so... that combination of mild itching and burning that usually accompanies shaving with a slightly dull disposable blade. Again though, I tend to shave so infrequently that I get this with a brand new blade.
The adjustment period was over in about a week, and I can shave without irritation. For me the shave is quicker than a blade shave, but again it's not quite as close a blade shave. Some things I've noticed about the razor...
Pros: It's really quiet. Cleaning is quick and easy, because you can rinse it with water instead of having to use the brush to clean it.
Cons: The sideburn trimmer doesn't lock open, so it tends to snap shut while trimming the sideburns. And since it's a rotary razor, it's difficult to get that sharp sideburn trim. The power cord is really short. Not a major problem, because it's coiled, but I'd like it a bit longer. The box says something like "up to a month of shaving on a single charge," but that's certainly not the case for me. I get about a week and a half on a charge.
Overall review: My list of cons looks longer, but I'm happy with this razor. If you're considering an electric razor, consider this one. It works for me.
I've had an electric razor in the past... it was a Braun, and I liked it well enough. I finally stopped using it because the foil got trashed and I couldn't find another one. That was several years ago; about a month ago, I came to the conclusion that it was time to try another electric razor.
When the foil on the Braun went, it blew in a spectacular fashion, and tore my face up pretty good, so I was inclined to try out a rotary razor this time. In the end, I settled on the Norelco 7310.
I'm going to start by saying that no electric razor will ever cut as close as a blade. That stated though, the 7310 is more than "good enough." Right out of the box, I put it to a test I never thought it would pass... I used it to shave two weeks worth of facial hair. It took a while, but the 7310 was up to the task, and it removed all of that stubble painlessly. That's right -- no pulling, just shaving. I was really impressed.
Based on my understanding, there's always an ajdustment period when you change shaving styles. My experience certainly echoes that conventional wisdom. I had a little bit of facial irritation for the first week or so... that combination of mild itching and burning that usually accompanies shaving with a slightly dull disposable blade. Again though, I tend to shave so infrequently that I get this with a brand new blade.
The adjustment period was over in about a week, and I can shave without irritation. For me the shave is quicker than a blade shave, but again it's not quite as close a blade shave. Some things I've noticed about the razor...
Pros: It's really quiet. Cleaning is quick and easy, because you can rinse it with water instead of having to use the brush to clean it.
Cons: The sideburn trimmer doesn't lock open, so it tends to snap shut while trimming the sideburns. And since it's a rotary razor, it's difficult to get that sharp sideburn trim. The power cord is really short. Not a major problem, because it's coiled, but I'd like it a bit longer. The box says something like "up to a month of shaving on a single charge," but that's certainly not the case for me. I get about a week and a half on a charge.
Overall review: My list of cons looks longer, but I'm happy with this razor. If you're considering an electric razor, consider this one. It works for me.
Thursday, April 2, 2009
Sorry, He's not a Victim. He's a Fat Bastard
Today's post started with Paulius. Last Friday, he started a rant, which brought a comment from Kelly, which brought about another Paulius rant, and another Kelly comment. Now I've got enough fodder for my own complete post. Please bear in mind though, I never saw the original Oprah interview that Paulius is talking about, so I may be speaking a bit out of turn. This doesn't negate my overall opinion though.
Sorry Kelly. I agree with Paul. I think that one of the largest problems with American society is that we lack any sense of personal responsibility... we're all victims, and everything negative that happens to us is somebody else's fault.
Your comments on both of Paul's articles underscore my point. I will happily concede that mom contributes to fat bastard's problem, but at some point he's got to take responsibility for his own actions.
Saying that he doesn't know any better is a fallacy, because the media, schools and the government all spend countless dollars and hours preaching the benefits of a healthy diet... even going to the extent of recommending a general daily caloric intake (2000 calories) and the number of servings of specific types of foods for a healthy diet. I find it difficult to believe that this kid's never heard of or seen the food pyramid.
Again, I'm not absolving mom of her part in this... obviously any mother that would feed her kid ten fried chickens per day deserves to have her parental rights revoked. But I'll bet this kid thinks he's ready to drive a car. How can you be responsible enough to drive a car, but not be responsible enough to eat sensibly?
And since the double-standard was brought up, let's compare this to smoking. I started smoking when I was 17 years old. I've smoked off and on (mostly on) for over 20 years. I've quit so many times that I've lost count. I was raised with the knowledge that smoking is unhealthy, but I made a personal choice to try tobacco... and I got hooked. I knew the risk. I took the chance, and I will pay the price for the rest of my life. Assuming I'm lucky and my willpower is strong, my most recent quit will stick, and the only price I'll pay is that I'll have nicotine cravings for the rest of my life. If I'm notlucky strong enough, I'll fall back into my tobacco habit and I will actually purchase the carcinogen that gives me cancer, providing me with a slow, agonizing death.
That's right. I am an addict. If you follow the twelve-step mentality, I am a recovering tobacco addict... blah, blah, blah. Backing up to your "double standard" though. Yeah, people revile fat people and make jokes. Nobody's trying to outlaw being fat though. If you think that being fat is frowned upon, try being a smoker! I can't think of a more scorned group of people than smokers.
"Why don't you just quit?" Ummm... non-smokers don't get it. The addictive properties of tobacco are so strong that asking someone to "just quit" is like asking someone to "just not drink water." Yes. It's that powerful. Going back to my original point though... I made a choice to start smoking. And each successive cigar or cigarette that I smoke (or don't smoke) is a personal choice. Just like fat bastard's decision to stuff another chicken in his tubby little face is his decision. Yeah, mom may make the chicken, but ultimately, it's the kid's hands picking up the chicken. It's the kid's teeth chewing the food, and it's the kid's throat swallowing the shit.
It's easy to call overeating a disorder and think of the kid as a victim. It's also easy to say I'm addicted to tobacco, give up and smoke until I die. At some point though, personal responsibility and accountability has to kick in. If the kid's never held accountable, then we as a society are doing him a greater disservice than his enabling mother.
Sorry Kelly. I agree with Paul. I think that one of the largest problems with American society is that we lack any sense of personal responsibility... we're all victims, and everything negative that happens to us is somebody else's fault.
Your comments on both of Paul's articles underscore my point. I will happily concede that mom contributes to fat bastard's problem, but at some point he's got to take responsibility for his own actions.
Saying that he doesn't know any better is a fallacy, because the media, schools and the government all spend countless dollars and hours preaching the benefits of a healthy diet... even going to the extent of recommending a general daily caloric intake (2000 calories) and the number of servings of specific types of foods for a healthy diet. I find it difficult to believe that this kid's never heard of or seen the food pyramid.
Again, I'm not absolving mom of her part in this... obviously any mother that would feed her kid ten fried chickens per day deserves to have her parental rights revoked. But I'll bet this kid thinks he's ready to drive a car. How can you be responsible enough to drive a car, but not be responsible enough to eat sensibly?
And since the double-standard was brought up, let's compare this to smoking. I started smoking when I was 17 years old. I've smoked off and on (mostly on) for over 20 years. I've quit so many times that I've lost count. I was raised with the knowledge that smoking is unhealthy, but I made a personal choice to try tobacco... and I got hooked. I knew the risk. I took the chance, and I will pay the price for the rest of my life. Assuming I'm lucky and my willpower is strong, my most recent quit will stick, and the only price I'll pay is that I'll have nicotine cravings for the rest of my life. If I'm not
That's right. I am an addict. If you follow the twelve-step mentality, I am a recovering tobacco addict... blah, blah, blah. Backing up to your "double standard" though. Yeah, people revile fat people and make jokes. Nobody's trying to outlaw being fat though. If you think that being fat is frowned upon, try being a smoker! I can't think of a more scorned group of people than smokers.
"Why don't you just quit?" Ummm... non-smokers don't get it. The addictive properties of tobacco are so strong that asking someone to "just quit" is like asking someone to "just not drink water." Yes. It's that powerful. Going back to my original point though... I made a choice to start smoking. And each successive cigar or cigarette that I smoke (or don't smoke) is a personal choice. Just like fat bastard's decision to stuff another chicken in his tubby little face is his decision. Yeah, mom may make the chicken, but ultimately, it's the kid's hands picking up the chicken. It's the kid's teeth chewing the food, and it's the kid's throat swallowing the shit.
It's easy to call overeating a disorder and think of the kid as a victim. It's also easy to say I'm addicted to tobacco, give up and smoke until I die. At some point though, personal responsibility and accountability has to kick in. If the kid's never held accountable, then we as a society are doing him a greater disservice than his enabling mother.
Saturday, March 28, 2009
Antarctica to Pyramids — Lights Dim for Earth Hour
That's the title of an internet article I saw today. That's fine and everything, but didn't Earth used to have an entire day? Does this mean that in the last few years we've made the Earth 1/24th as important as it used to be?
Friday, March 27, 2009
A Review of Mt. Olympus Water and Theme Park, Wisconsin Dells
... and you thought that I'd forget about this post. Sorry... this post is a freebie, so I've got to take advantage of it.
That's right. Today's post is a review of Mt. Olympus Water and Theme Park in the Wisconsin Dells. There are several different aspects to Mt. Olympus... there's the hotel itself, the indoor water park, the indoor theme park, the outdoor water park, and the outdoor theme park. Due to the fact that we went during the off-season, the outdoor water park was unavailable, so I won't be giving it a review. We checked out most of the other stuff though, and I'll happily give you a review. Hopefully, this review will help others who are considering Mt. Olympus or a trip to the Dells in general.
The first thing I need to mention about the Dells in general is that it's a tourist trap type of destination. This in and of itself is not a good or bad thing... you just kind of need to be in a mindset where you realize that you're in a tourist trap before you head out. Food is REALLY expensive there, and every other shop is a crappy little shop that sells stuff plugging the Wisconsin Dells. Backing up to the food... I take pride in my desire to try out local restaurants, and trying the local cuisine. The Dells is one place though, that I'd recommend NOT trying the local food. The local establishments tend to be significantly more expensive than the national chains, and the food isn't that good. And good luck finding a place to take a leak. But getting back to Mt. Olympus...
I really wasn't impressed with the hotel rooms - or the hotel for that matter. There was a cursory attempt to make the hotel look Roman, but the designers did a piss-poor job of pulling it off, and the maintenance crew further undermined the designers' mediocre vision. The halls were carpeted with 1970's-era carpet squares, the lobby was decorated with chipped Styrofoam columns (translation: babies could have choked on the foam beads), and the rooms were furnished with 2X6-constructed furniture. The furniture wasn't bad in and of itself, except that it clashed with the decor of the hotel... the furniture would have been fine in a rustic cabin-style room. By the way, there were NO drawers in which to store clothing.
The TV was ancient. There was cable TV, but no place to hook up a computer, portable DVD player or gaming console. Not a problem for me, but a horrendous oversight on the part of a "resort" that caters itself to kids. Thank God the kids were able to occupy themselves with the pay-per-view porn. (KIDDING!!)
I was equally underwhelmed by the indoor water park. It was too small, there weren't enough water slides, and the hot tubs were more accurately called lukewarm tubs. The indoor theme park was okay... if you were 12 or under. It had a small roller coaster, an indoor jungle gym, laser tag, a few games, and an indoor go-kart track. The kids liked the roller coaster. The laser tag arena was okay, but apparently a rather old setup, or the employees were idiots, because the only way to play was free-for-all... no teams. Personally, I think the employees were too lazy to configure it.
The games were the worst!! Every game there was one of those ticket-dispensing games... no games of skill... no race games... no pinball... no old-school nostalgic games... it all sucked! And the indoor go-kart track? Oh man, what a disappointment! The first day, the woman working the track was a veritable go-kart nazi! If you didn't ride single-file, slightly below the kart's maximum speed, watch out! Furthermore, the line was too long and slow. This could have been alleviated by a greater amount of efficiency on the part of the staff, but again, they didn't really care.
The real highlight was our last day... the one day the outdoor theme park was open. The roller-coasters looked respectable. (The kids rode them and had fun. I avoided them because of my tweaked neck.) But the outdoor go-kart tracks!! They rocked!! They alone were worth the crappy experience we had up to that point! Of course I suspect that if you go in the summer, you're going to spend all day in line. Suck to be you.
Oh yeah. One really good thing about Mt. Olympus. Before I say this, remember that we were there during the week, during the off-season... but we all played hide and seek/tag in the hotel on our last night. We played on all three floors of the hotel, running up and down the stairs and halls, hiding behind vending machines, and so forth. We made sure to try to keep things quiet, but when you have a herd of people running up and down the halls, you can't be fully successful in any endeavor to remain silent. At no point did any staff member or guest give us any grief about this. In fact, the staff simply gave us knowing smiles and continued about their business. I must say that THAT was cool.
At the end of the day, I wasn't impressed with Mt. Olympus. I liked The Wilderness better. The accommodations were better, the water park was MUCH better, and the arcade games didn't suck NEARLY as bad. But I think we spent a lot less at Mt. Olympus.
That's right. Today's post is a review of Mt. Olympus Water and Theme Park in the Wisconsin Dells. There are several different aspects to Mt. Olympus... there's the hotel itself, the indoor water park, the indoor theme park, the outdoor water park, and the outdoor theme park. Due to the fact that we went during the off-season, the outdoor water park was unavailable, so I won't be giving it a review. We checked out most of the other stuff though, and I'll happily give you a review. Hopefully, this review will help others who are considering Mt. Olympus or a trip to the Dells in general.
The first thing I need to mention about the Dells in general is that it's a tourist trap type of destination. This in and of itself is not a good or bad thing... you just kind of need to be in a mindset where you realize that you're in a tourist trap before you head out. Food is REALLY expensive there, and every other shop is a crappy little shop that sells stuff plugging the Wisconsin Dells. Backing up to the food... I take pride in my desire to try out local restaurants, and trying the local cuisine. The Dells is one place though, that I'd recommend NOT trying the local food. The local establishments tend to be significantly more expensive than the national chains, and the food isn't that good. And good luck finding a place to take a leak. But getting back to Mt. Olympus...
I really wasn't impressed with the hotel rooms - or the hotel for that matter. There was a cursory attempt to make the hotel look Roman, but the designers did a piss-poor job of pulling it off, and the maintenance crew further undermined the designers' mediocre vision. The halls were carpeted with 1970's-era carpet squares, the lobby was decorated with chipped Styrofoam columns (translation: babies could have choked on the foam beads), and the rooms were furnished with 2X6-constructed furniture. The furniture wasn't bad in and of itself, except that it clashed with the decor of the hotel... the furniture would have been fine in a rustic cabin-style room. By the way, there were NO drawers in which to store clothing.
The TV was ancient. There was cable TV, but no place to hook up a computer, portable DVD player or gaming console. Not a problem for me, but a horrendous oversight on the part of a "resort" that caters itself to kids. Thank God the kids were able to occupy themselves with the pay-per-view porn. (KIDDING!!)
I was equally underwhelmed by the indoor water park. It was too small, there weren't enough water slides, and the hot tubs were more accurately called lukewarm tubs. The indoor theme park was okay... if you were 12 or under. It had a small roller coaster, an indoor jungle gym, laser tag, a few games, and an indoor go-kart track. The kids liked the roller coaster. The laser tag arena was okay, but apparently a rather old setup, or the employees were idiots, because the only way to play was free-for-all... no teams. Personally, I think the employees were too lazy to configure it.
The games were the worst!! Every game there was one of those ticket-dispensing games... no games of skill... no race games... no pinball... no old-school nostalgic games... it all sucked! And the indoor go-kart track? Oh man, what a disappointment! The first day, the woman working the track was a veritable go-kart nazi! If you didn't ride single-file, slightly below the kart's maximum speed, watch out! Furthermore, the line was too long and slow. This could have been alleviated by a greater amount of efficiency on the part of the staff, but again, they didn't really care.
The real highlight was our last day... the one day the outdoor theme park was open. The roller-coasters looked respectable. (The kids rode them and had fun. I avoided them because of my tweaked neck.) But the outdoor go-kart tracks!! They rocked!! They alone were worth the crappy experience we had up to that point! Of course I suspect that if you go in the summer, you're going to spend all day in line. Suck to be you.
Oh yeah. One really good thing about Mt. Olympus. Before I say this, remember that we were there during the week, during the off-season... but we all played hide and seek/tag in the hotel on our last night. We played on all three floors of the hotel, running up and down the stairs and halls, hiding behind vending machines, and so forth. We made sure to try to keep things quiet, but when you have a herd of people running up and down the halls, you can't be fully successful in any endeavor to remain silent. At no point did any staff member or guest give us any grief about this. In fact, the staff simply gave us knowing smiles and continued about their business. I must say that THAT was cool.
At the end of the day, I wasn't impressed with Mt. Olympus. I liked The Wilderness better. The accommodations were better, the water park was MUCH better, and the arcade games didn't suck NEARLY as bad. But I think we spent a lot less at Mt. Olympus.
Thursday, March 26, 2009
You Want the Drama? You Can't Handle the Drama!
I guess I asked for it. Well, technically, you requested this blog entry. But when I asked you all whether you'd prefer me to write a hotel review or a story about teen angst, I really should have known what you'd say. In fact, your answer should have been so predictable that posing the question was unnecessary. Well... it was. Anyway...
This drama involves four girls... my kid, neighbor girl, Beth and Violet, and it pretty much revolves around Violet. You see, Violet is what you'd call a drama queen. This most recent round of teen angst all started when my kid broke up with her boyfriend Ken. Ken and my kid dated for over a year, surviving a couple of mini-breakups along the way. I was initially impressed at how well they handled the split... even managing to remain cordial with one-another and not badmouthing to their friends. Enter Violet...
Somewhere along the line, a little sexual tension developed between Ken and Violet. This kind of makes sense to me, because Violet has certain mannerisms about her. To put it as delicately and tactfully as I possibly can, she acts like a classless little slut around boys. She bats her eyelashes, tosses her hair, twirls her gum around her finger, invades personal space and so forth. It should come as no surprise that horny little teenage boys would be attracted to this kind of behavior.
When my kid found out about the flirting, she was realistic enough to acknowledge that she was uncomfortable at the prospect of her friend dating her ex; she let them both know her discomfort, and they said that there was nothing going on, that they had no plans to date, and that they would honor her request. Despite this, my kid, neighbor girl, Beth, neighbor girl's parents, Mrs. Evan and I all suspected that these two would probably end up dating. We were right. We just couldn't predict how things would unfold...
The girls all decided to skip this year's Sadie Hawkins dance and have a party at neighbor girl's house. The day of the party, Violet said that she was grounded and couldn't go to the party. During the party, my kid, neighbor kid, and Beth found out that Violet wasn't grounded, she went to Sadie Hawkins with Ken.
But wait... it gets better. Violet had the audacity to show up at neighbor girl's party later that night... she said that her parents let her come over after all, trying to play things off as if nothing had happened. When she was called on her deceit, Violet became hysterical, crying and screaming stuff like "I can't help it if I'm the pretty one! I can't help it if nobody wants to date you and everyone wants to be with me!" By the way, nobody in this story has really discussed who the pretty one is, but we have unanimously agreed that it's not Violet.
After this drama, neighbor parents, Mrs. Evan and I all recommended that my kid, neighbor girl and Beth all let this thing go. Just ignore Violet... at least until this round of drama dies down. Of course they were all pissed at Violet; they acknowledged our advice but said they weren't going to follow it. Understandable. After all, they are teenage girls.
For the next couple of weeks, there were many snide comments left on Violet's facebook profile. Violet tried to make herself look like the mature one, and to come across as a victim of petty action on the parts of my kid, neighbor girl and Beth, but her story was inconsistent enough that it wasrelatively completely unbelievable.
Fast-forward a bit, to a day when Violet actually posted pictures of her in the shower on her facebook profile. The pictures didn't show any nudity, but they were provocative enough that she looked downright trampy... especially considering that she's not an adult. As soon as the pictures were posted, the claws came out, and the other girls started tossing unbecoming words around her facebook profile. The most frequently-used word rhymes with 'nut.' The shower photos were pulled from Violet's profile faster than... well, it was really fast. Once again, neighbor parents, Mrs. Evan and I recommended that the girls let things die, and the kids again politely disregarded our sage advice.
Circumstances, however, actually forced the kids to stop for a while. Neighbor family and the family of Evan went on a mini-vacation, and we brought Beth. The kids were all kind of catty amongst themselves about Violet, but they had no communication with Violet during this vacation. Apparently though, Violet didn't like the lack of attention. While we were on vacation, she spent a couple of hours deleting from facebook any negative comments she had written (whether on her profile, my kid's, neighbor girl's or Beth's profile), and removed any provocative photos of her from her profile, and then went to her parents, claiming that the other three were forming a hate club against her. The parents then called Beth's parents to complain. Beth's parents got involved, logging on to Beth's facebook account and changing the password so that she was locked out of her own facebook profile, and they called beth while we were on our mini-vacation to yell at her about the whole thing. Beth, of course, was very distressed.
I might also add that Violet's parents never called neighbor parents or us about any of this... they didn't even leave a message on our phones while we were on vacation. I have some theories about why they didn't call us, but that's beyond the scope of this story.
Hopefully, the kids are ready to let this die. Ideally, they're ready to cut off any ties with Violet. This story is really one story in a long pattern of behavior.
We did get a standing inside joke out of the whole thing though. Whenever someone had a WTF moment (Damn, I can't believe I did such-and-such) someone else would throw in a "That's okay. You can get away with it when you're the pretty one."
This drama involves four girls... my kid, neighbor girl, Beth and Violet, and it pretty much revolves around Violet. You see, Violet is what you'd call a drama queen. This most recent round of teen angst all started when my kid broke up with her boyfriend Ken. Ken and my kid dated for over a year, surviving a couple of mini-breakups along the way. I was initially impressed at how well they handled the split... even managing to remain cordial with one-another and not badmouthing to their friends. Enter Violet...
Somewhere along the line, a little sexual tension developed between Ken and Violet. This kind of makes sense to me, because Violet has certain mannerisms about her. To put it as delicately and tactfully as I possibly can, she acts like a classless little slut around boys. She bats her eyelashes, tosses her hair, twirls her gum around her finger, invades personal space and so forth. It should come as no surprise that horny little teenage boys would be attracted to this kind of behavior.
When my kid found out about the flirting, she was realistic enough to acknowledge that she was uncomfortable at the prospect of her friend dating her ex; she let them both know her discomfort, and they said that there was nothing going on, that they had no plans to date, and that they would honor her request. Despite this, my kid, neighbor girl, Beth, neighbor girl's parents, Mrs. Evan and I all suspected that these two would probably end up dating. We were right. We just couldn't predict how things would unfold...
The girls all decided to skip this year's Sadie Hawkins dance and have a party at neighbor girl's house. The day of the party, Violet said that she was grounded and couldn't go to the party. During the party, my kid, neighbor kid, and Beth found out that Violet wasn't grounded, she went to Sadie Hawkins with Ken.
But wait... it gets better. Violet had the audacity to show up at neighbor girl's party later that night... she said that her parents let her come over after all, trying to play things off as if nothing had happened. When she was called on her deceit, Violet became hysterical, crying and screaming stuff like "I can't help it if I'm the pretty one! I can't help it if nobody wants to date you and everyone wants to be with me!" By the way, nobody in this story has really discussed who the pretty one is, but we have unanimously agreed that it's not Violet.
After this drama, neighbor parents, Mrs. Evan and I all recommended that my kid, neighbor girl and Beth all let this thing go. Just ignore Violet... at least until this round of drama dies down. Of course they were all pissed at Violet; they acknowledged our advice but said they weren't going to follow it. Understandable. After all, they are teenage girls.
For the next couple of weeks, there were many snide comments left on Violet's facebook profile. Violet tried to make herself look like the mature one, and to come across as a victim of petty action on the parts of my kid, neighbor girl and Beth, but her story was inconsistent enough that it was
Fast-forward a bit, to a day when Violet actually posted pictures of her in the shower on her facebook profile. The pictures didn't show any nudity, but they were provocative enough that she looked downright trampy... especially considering that she's not an adult. As soon as the pictures were posted, the claws came out, and the other girls started tossing unbecoming words around her facebook profile. The most frequently-used word rhymes with 'nut.' The shower photos were pulled from Violet's profile faster than... well, it was really fast. Once again, neighbor parents, Mrs. Evan and I recommended that the girls let things die, and the kids again politely disregarded our sage advice.
Circumstances, however, actually forced the kids to stop for a while. Neighbor family and the family of Evan went on a mini-vacation, and we brought Beth. The kids were all kind of catty amongst themselves about Violet, but they had no communication with Violet during this vacation. Apparently though, Violet didn't like the lack of attention. While we were on vacation, she spent a couple of hours deleting from facebook any negative comments she had written (whether on her profile, my kid's, neighbor girl's or Beth's profile), and removed any provocative photos of her from her profile, and then went to her parents, claiming that the other three were forming a hate club against her. The parents then called Beth's parents to complain. Beth's parents got involved, logging on to Beth's facebook account and changing the password so that she was locked out of her own facebook profile, and they called beth while we were on our mini-vacation to yell at her about the whole thing. Beth, of course, was very distressed.
I might also add that Violet's parents never called neighbor parents or us about any of this... they didn't even leave a message on our phones while we were on vacation. I have some theories about why they didn't call us, but that's beyond the scope of this story.
Hopefully, the kids are ready to let this die. Ideally, they're ready to cut off any ties with Violet. This story is really one story in a long pattern of behavior.
We did get a standing inside joke out of the whole thing though. Whenever someone had a WTF moment (Damn, I can't believe I did such-and-such) someone else would throw in a "That's okay. You can get away with it when you're the pretty one."
Our Mini-Vacation
The house of Evan just got back from a quick three-day mini vacation in the Wisconsin Dells. As we did last year, we went with the neighbor family. I really like vacationing with the neighbor family. There are more kids, which keeps our kids occupied, and Mrs. Evan and I thoroughly enjoy neighbor parents' company. In fact, we had an adults-only dinner -- our first since we've known each other -- and made the kids stay in and order room service. The trip was wholly uneventful in the way of unexpected adventures, so we made due by making references to past tribulations.
The kids, however, had a little drama relating to a so-called friend of theirs. Maybe I'll write about that tomorrow. It's either that, or a review of the hotel's accommodations. Preferences?
The kids, however, had a little drama relating to a so-called friend of theirs. Maybe I'll write about that tomorrow. It's either that, or a review of the hotel's accommodations. Preferences?
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