Mom please....We're in public

I always thought when I was younger how great it would be to just stay at home forever living off of my parents, getting an allowance and all that and doing whatever I wanted without having to worry about bills, food , or any other expenses. Of course, as I get older, that doesn't sound as appealing. Granted I'd still love to lounge around all day and mooch off of my parents as long as possible, but only if it was like off of a large inheritance or something. Just as long as they aren't directly in the picture.

When it comes to difficult, my parents definitely top my list. And I know it's kind of cliché, "oh, a teenager bitching about her parents, how original"; but honestly they're our biggest problem in life for the most part. Since we live with them, we have no exterior expenses to worry about, and we’re set on living conditions.  School, homework, sports, friends is all I really have that could be causing me problems or stress, but all of that I can handle on my own just fine. My parents, however, are another issue. They stress me out WAY more than any assignment ever could. I tend to like to handle my schoolwork on my own, and I think I do a pretty damn good job of staying organized and on top of things. It’s only when my parents try to get involved that we have a problem.

Thankfully, for the most part they leave things alone. It’s only when they see a “B” on the report card that they start nagging me about getting on my work in that class and want to “make sure I’m handling things”. It’s utterly ridiculous how quickly my parents can jump into action and start interrogating me on how every little quiz in that class went and asking me about homework in that class every day. Honestly, if you’re going to do that then the assignment book was a waste of money. Multiple  times my parents have tried to suggest a tutor for me (like I have time for that) or tell me I should skip my first period class the next day so that I can stay up and study for physics after hockey practice, which is something I’d  never be allowed to do for something like Japanese. Like seriously, mom and dad, I’ve got it.

When’s it’s not school they’re bothering me with, it’s just them. They’re personality, cluelessness, and annoying ass quirks they possess. It's kind of unbelievable how two people can encompass all of my pet peeves without fail. And for some reason, coming from them makes it all the more annoying.  Making noises while you eat is inherently annoying on its own, but when my dad does it, I can’t take it; it’s incredibly difficult to resist the urge to slap him. Normally I’m fine with people playing the piano, but when it’s my mom pounding away at 8 in the morning on my day to sleep in, that crosses the line.  Personal boundaries are also a concept that for some reason eludes my parents. They don’t understand why how trying to go on my Facebook and friend themselves when I’ve already rejected they’re friend request like five times crosses a line. No, mom, it’s not okay to put my dog on my bed with me and take pictures of the two of us while I’m asleep. I’m sure it makes cute pictures for your scrapbook, but it’s still UNACCEPTABLE. Sometimes I think they intentionally try to piss me off.  I mean, how in the world can someone act like that all the damn time?

Someday I’ll get over this, I know. I’ll realize that I was also a pain to live with and will be grateful to my parents for not putting me on the streets. I’m sure I’ll reach a point where I look back on my life with my parents fondly.

It'll be a while, though.

Country Strong ≠ "weak"

I happened to be glancing through the newspaper a few Sunday's ago and noticed there was an insert that had reviewed Country Strong, a movie I had seen a few days before. I decided to flip to the page and see how the critics were raving.

 "Two out of four stars?? ‘Country Strong is weak’? What the hell!” 

An overreaction? Perhaps. A faulty review? I would argue most definitely.

It wasn't like I was waiting for Country Strong to come out for months and memorized all the songs from it. Oh no. I leave that to others. Truthfully, I had pretty low expectations going into it. Gwyneth Paltrow and Leighton Meester singing country doesn't sound like the kind of movie that could blow someone’s mind. Plus, I heard the song “Country Strong" by Gwyneth Paltrow before I ever heard they were doing a movie and thought the Country Strong was going to be a movie about Gwyneth Paltrow as a singer like Justin Bieber and his Never Say Never movie, which would just be really pathetic. I went anyway, with one such Country Strong savant (who really did know all the songs and sang along with them, I kid you not), paid the $6 fee, smuggled some sour patch kids in, and grabbed some front row seats.

 I was really surprised; I wasn’t expecting to enjoy the movie as much as I did. For one thing, the fact that Gwyneth Paltrow really can sing and have a believable, and not overdone, country accent I found to be pretty impressive.  Even Leighton Meester played a country singer quite well,  and as the movie went on I stopped thinking of her as Blair from Gossip Girl and more as Chiles Stanton, the rising country star.  I thought the whole story line was original and the way they presented it by giving little bits of information about Kelly’s (Gwneth Paltrow’s character) past and problems here and there really kept me intrigued, and they made all the breakdown scenes really believable and real. I must say, Gwyneth Paltrow can play a drunk person quite well. I also really liked the fact that they didn’t use too many big name actors (other than Paltrow and Meester of course) and instead let us see the actors as the characters they portray.

One main problem I had with the review was that it claimed that "Country strong was weak“ and "my God was the script predictable”. I mean, I thought it was pretty damn original. I’m sure for someone whose job it is to watch thousands of movies and analyze them, it might be a little easier to call things that are going to happen. I only called one thing: the whole Kelly’s husband punching Beau for admitting that he was more than just her sponsor and hinting at them having an affair; but really, what else is he supposed to do when someone just admits that they’ve been sleeping with his wife? Give him his blessing?  I personally found the movie refreshing and genuine.

And for the record, I’m giving Country Strong four stars.