Mama Leila on the Warpath
So parent-teacher conferences revealed that my nephew is getting C's and D's. He gets A's on all his tests, so the teachers know he's smart, but he turns in his homework late, incomplete, or not at all. This is a case of bored genius in his rebellious pre-teen phase. See, in elementary school, he drove his teachers mad simply "making up" answers when he got bored, but now it's turning more serious.
As punishment, his parents aren't letting him sleep over (my house) tonight, but we'll see when he makes it over because the children apparently have a four or five-day weekend. If he thinks his PARENTS are bad, just wait till he sees how pissed his aunties can get.
As far as I'm concerned, all his video game systems can go. He spends way too much time playing and obviously he hasn't been getting his work done like he's been telling his parents...
See, I realize my family has had unrealistically high standards since FOREVER...they would tell me they were disappointed if I received a B and that I could do better...which I could. And I did. When I got first place not once but three times in Creative Expression for speech, I didn't get a congratulations, but a "where do you go from here?" I'm not sure I even bothered to tell them about the English awards I received my graduating year for papers I had written because there was no point. Before I was even close to completing my BA, I was asked if I was planning on getting my Ph.D.
And you know...as mind-fuckingly aggravating as it is sometimes, I strove to be the best. Not necessarily the best I could be--I kinda coasted through high school and a lot of college and still managed all A's--but the best on paper, documented somewhere. Failure has never once been an option.
Which is why, when hearing about the kid doing so poorly, the only thing I can think to say is, "that's pathetic" and my sisters are the same. He's smart. School is (mostly) a joke. He should be able to be at the top of his class with both eyes closed. I don't want to be one that pushes and pushes him until he explodes, but COME ON. He KNOWS the work isn't hard, he just doesn't want to put in the 1/5th amount of effort it takes to do it.
And that...is pathetic.
He's SO going to get it this weekend. I am NOT happy.
Strange Family Bonding Rituals
Today is my brother's birthday. I wasn't going to get him anything since we don't celebrate "the adults" in my family, but yesterday he came home and offered me a rice crispie treat.
Then he proceeded to show me a bunch of movies he'd gotten.
Then he pulled out this plastic bag and handed it to me, which was full of Star Trek DVDs of the original series. "It's not all of them, but my boss was giving them away..."
Then at some point, before I went to bed, he mentioned, "Tomorrow's my birthday."
(awkward pause) I gave a noncommittal sound as a reply.
So today...I thought, dammit, now I have to get him something because those Star Trek DVDs are expensive, even if he didn't actually pay anything for them, and even if he usually doesn't get me anything for my birthday, he kinda buys things for me throughout the year just because (like, video games and DVDs). So I went to Best Buy to get him a gift card and quickly decided on getting him the one that's a race car.
No seriously. It's a toy hotwheels car that you can PLAY with, but it has a barcode dealie on the bottom and it doubles as a gift card. And I couldn't stop laughing at the idea of him going to pay for a video game and fucking having to hand over a little hotwheels toy car. XD XD XD *dies*
YES.
TO: THE DUDE
FROM: LEILA
MESSAGE: It is your birthday.
(Yes, I'm pretty sure The Office has spawned the most widely used birthday quote ever)
He commented, "Oh man...I have to carry this stupid toy car around until I buy something?"
Then I decided to bake a damn cake and make my own frosting since my sis didn't want to hit up the grocery store. I'm sitting there sifting stupid powdered sugar into the frosting for like an hour and when I'm digging through the cupboards, I spot some food coloring. We have red and green.
I pick up the green and think it's his favorite color, but then I grab the red instead. When I dye the frosting pink, I think, "cuz green woulda been gay."
XD XD
In short, for his birthday, my brother got a toy car to buy video games with and a cake with pink frosting. LMAO. YES.
To think, today at work, I had a conversation about how mean I can be and said how I've been trying to become a nicer person. FAIL.
As punishment, his parents aren't letting him sleep over (my house) tonight, but we'll see when he makes it over because the children apparently have a four or five-day weekend. If he thinks his PARENTS are bad, just wait till he sees how pissed his aunties can get.
As far as I'm concerned, all his video game systems can go. He spends way too much time playing and obviously he hasn't been getting his work done like he's been telling his parents...
See, I realize my family has had unrealistically high standards since FOREVER...they would tell me they were disappointed if I received a B and that I could do better...which I could. And I did. When I got first place not once but three times in Creative Expression for speech, I didn't get a congratulations, but a "where do you go from here?" I'm not sure I even bothered to tell them about the English awards I received my graduating year for papers I had written because there was no point. Before I was even close to completing my BA, I was asked if I was planning on getting my Ph.D.
And you know...as mind-fuckingly aggravating as it is sometimes, I strove to be the best. Not necessarily the best I could be--I kinda coasted through high school and a lot of college and still managed all A's--but the best on paper, documented somewhere. Failure has never once been an option.
Which is why, when hearing about the kid doing so poorly, the only thing I can think to say is, "that's pathetic" and my sisters are the same. He's smart. School is (mostly) a joke. He should be able to be at the top of his class with both eyes closed. I don't want to be one that pushes and pushes him until he explodes, but COME ON. He KNOWS the work isn't hard, he just doesn't want to put in the 1/5th amount of effort it takes to do it.
And that...is pathetic.
He's SO going to get it this weekend. I am NOT happy.
Strange Family Bonding Rituals
Today is my brother's birthday. I wasn't going to get him anything since we don't celebrate "the adults" in my family, but yesterday he came home and offered me a rice crispie treat.
Then he proceeded to show me a bunch of movies he'd gotten.
Then he pulled out this plastic bag and handed it to me, which was full of Star Trek DVDs of the original series. "It's not all of them, but my boss was giving them away..."
Then at some point, before I went to bed, he mentioned, "Tomorrow's my birthday."
(awkward pause) I gave a noncommittal sound as a reply.
So today...I thought, dammit, now I have to get him something because those Star Trek DVDs are expensive, even if he didn't actually pay anything for them, and even if he usually doesn't get me anything for my birthday, he kinda buys things for me throughout the year just because (like, video games and DVDs). So I went to Best Buy to get him a gift card and quickly decided on getting him the one that's a race car.
No seriously. It's a toy hotwheels car that you can PLAY with, but it has a barcode dealie on the bottom and it doubles as a gift card. And I couldn't stop laughing at the idea of him going to pay for a video game and fucking having to hand over a little hotwheels toy car. XD XD XD *dies*
YES.
TO: THE DUDE
FROM: LEILA
MESSAGE: It is your birthday.
(Yes, I'm pretty sure The Office has spawned the most widely used birthday quote ever)
He commented, "Oh man...I have to carry this stupid toy car around until I buy something?"
Then I decided to bake a damn cake and make my own frosting since my sis didn't want to hit up the grocery store. I'm sitting there sifting stupid powdered sugar into the frosting for like an hour and when I'm digging through the cupboards, I spot some food coloring. We have red and green.
I pick up the green and think it's his favorite color, but then I grab the red instead. When I dye the frosting pink, I think, "cuz green woulda been gay."
XD XD
In short, for his birthday, my brother got a toy car to buy video games with and a cake with pink frosting. LMAO. YES.
To think, today at work, I had a conversation about how mean I can be and said how I've been trying to become a nicer person. FAIL.