Has Anyone Watched This Little Kid?

I have two nieces who are in high school and they are into some pretty weird stuff, I tell ya. Like, I know all about their fascination with YouTube, I can even appreciate their addiction to YouTube because, I’m the same way….if there’s something that I wanna see again, something I want to catch (a new YouTube hot shot musician or singer singing something really cool) that I missed or just looking up old stuff, you can find it all on YouTube.

But, there’s a world of difference in what I’m watching on YouTube and what they’re watching on YouTube.

Check it out:

This is what I watch on YouTube:

This guy’s name is Chris Wong and he can get down on the ukulele and I am really digging this song.

Now, this is what my nieces watch every week on YouTube:

This kid’s name is Ryan Higa or whatever and he’s got a bunch of How To video’s and rants on YouTube that are 1) really stupid 2) kinda funny and 3) really stupid. I search YouTube for the latest and greatest youtube singers and tv shows that I’ve missed, my nieces browse through YouTube, trying to find all of these NigaHiga videos.

WTF?

The Youth These Days…

…growing up in my Church, when you turned 12 you moved from Primary to the Youth Program. The girls went on to Young Women and the boys went to Young Men. I remember when I was in Primary (the class all kids went to before moving up to the Youth), I looked forward to moving up to the Youth because the Youth always had the cool activities, they had the cool dances and they were just always so….cool.

My sister Ingrid was moving out of the Youth when I moved into the youth and I was glad for it because where I was always shy growing up, Ingrid was the “cool” sister because she was so sure of herself and so outgoing that everyone wanted to be her friend…well except for my friend Ralph at one time, but that’s another blog for another time. I didn’t want to live in her shadow so I was glad that by the time I came into the youth, she was moving out of it.

My years in the Youth program were the best years of my life. I mean, we had a good group of girls that came out every week and participated in the activities we planned, we had a good group of girls that I would attend Youth Dances with and Youth Firesides, Girls Camp and all those fun activities and I totally looked forward to hanging out with likeminded people who shared the same beliefs as me and had the same standards I held close to my heart. It was a good time in my life. In my day, we had about 20 girls in the Young Women and about the same amount in the Young Men and EVERYONE was active in Church, everyone came out to ALL of the activities and ALL of us were pretty close.

Yeah, we all had to come to Church or we would get sasa from our parents, we had to attend all the activities because our parents dragged us to them but when we got there, we made the most of it and always had a good time. But, nobody played softball on the weekends, nobody was allowed to miss Church to go dance in this show and that show, Sundays were a day of rest from all of that and Sundays were for Church and family.

Things sure are different nowadays.

It’s always fun to come home from a Young Adult activity and gush about what happened with who and who said what with Chloe and Chelsea. They’re always so interested in the goings on at my Singles Branch and so I always have some funny stories to share with them because my Branch totally rocks out like that but what always brings me up short is that when I was their age, I had the same amount of stories to share with everyone. There was always an activity that was worth talking about or a speaker that spoke in Youth Conference that gave me food for thought and made me want to be better and what not. There was always a good turn out to the activities we planned and there was always good leaders.

With Chloe and Chelsea, they’re the only active young women in our home ward and their activities never get approved from the Bishop because times have changed and I feel bad for them because they don’t even like going to Church but have to go because they’ll get sasa just like I did when I tried to fake sick and not go to Church. With their Dad being the 2nd Counselor in the ward, they have to go attend Church functions all the time but they’re the only girls in Church aside from one other girl who comes to Church every Sunday and they’re the only girls that show up to the ward activities. The other girls their age either moved out of the ward or are no longer active, or have this softball game or this dance function that they need to go and dance for which takes them away from Church functions and Church itself.

It’s sad to see that religion has taken a backseat in so many lives these days. It’s sad because my nieces Chloe and Chelsea are growing up with not too many good memories from their Youth days and their testimonies aren’t as strong as mine was when I was their age. I’m not the most perfect of examples for them but it’s sad to see their young women years remembered by cancelled activities or the Bishop scolding them about bowling not being a spiritual activity (hey we had bowling activities) or going to Knotts Berry Farm is too far and what not.

These are the learning years for most teenagers and if they don’t have anything fun to remember their youth years from it scares me to think about how active they’ll be when they turn 18 and will have the choice to continue going to Church or not. My Church is everything to me and I love it and it saddens me that the Church isn’t as important to Chloe and Chelsea as it should be.

What’s really going on?

Oh and Before I Forget…

…so me and Chloe had it out last night.

I told her I didn’t appreciate her handing out my clothes and she swore to me that it was an innocent thing. *rolls eyes* She said that she forgot that she wore it to her softball game and then afterward, she was so hot, she put it in her locker and Anuhea (that’s the friend who was wearing it) got cold so she just handed it to her to wear because she was cold.

Uh huh, sure, that’s why it’s been missing for 2 months and she just barely had it yesterday? Seriously, this girl doesn’t understand that you can’t lie to a liar, when will she learn?

I told her if she can’t respect my crap then she can’t wear any of my stuff, she apologized and swore it’ll never happen again.

Oh and she didn’t ask me for a ride to school this morning, matter of fact, she was out of the house before 7:30 AND she walked all the way to school by herself, yeah that’s what I’m talking about you big boof!

Some Hiatus….I Know.

Just when I announce that I need a break from blogging, I find something that I need to blog about before I completely lose it. But since its my blog, I guess I can do that since I do what I want, huh?

Oh well.

Let me tell you about my crappy morning. So everyone knows that I’m in charge of lunches in the morning. There are 9 kids that need lunches so before my sister leaves for work, she does lunch prep, she does the lunch bags (puts the kids name on them) and she drops the fillers in. In the drinks and the snacks go, so all I have to do is make the sandwiches and make sure the kids take their lunches. Not such a big deal but every morning it’ll take me like twenty minutes to get the sandwiches made. So I’ll have time to take a shower, dress and get my daughter dressed and looking spiffy before we’re off. One thing that has been bugging me at home lately is that I’m missing a sweatshirt. One of my favorite sweatshirts that Mulu got me for my birthday a couple of years ago. It’s gone missing, nobody seems to know where it is and it bugs me and yet every morning, part of my routine is to ask all of the kids if they’ve seen my sweatshirt.

No luck yet.

If you get in the way of my little schedule, I’ll be more than a little annoyed with you. Especially if you’re a 16 year old lazy ass who nags me every damn morning for a ride to school. Let me explain to you how far away the high school is from my house.

Say I live on 220th Street. The school is on 222th Street.

You do the math.

Now, someone please explain to my niece why I’m always annoyed with her in the morning. She starts school at 7:50am every morning. She goes to Seminary which starts at 6 o’clock in the morning. Seminary (a Church class for high schoolers) ends at 6:45 and she’s usually back home before 7am. Her school is literally a 5 minute walk from my house.

Why can she NOT walk to school?

Oh that’s because she lags around the house before she finally gets around to getting dressed and when she gets ready, instead of gouging how much time she has to get ready and on to school without being late, she takes her time, straightening her hair and eating breakfast and chatting on her phone with her friends to see where to meet up before class to exchange whatever it is they exchange.

So this morning, I’m making the sandwiches and she starts in on her nagging. “Can you take me to school, I’m going to be late.”

I’m not paying any attention to her, her Mom is already gone and so it’s just me and the kids. I don’t answer her, I just continue making my turkey sandwiches for the kids. She stands in the kitchen just looking at me, I guess waiting for me to say something, oh and it’s 7:40.

“Ween, can you take me school. It’s almost 7:50.”

I shook my head and said, “No. I’m going to be late if I stop and take you. Why should I make myself late if you don’t care about being late.”

“Ween please? We got home late from Seminary cause my Mom had to stop off at the store.”

I stopped and just stared at her. “Chloe you got home 5 minutes later than usual, that shouldn’t make a damn bit of difference. You can still make it if you rush, run because I still need to shower.”

She starts whining about being late and blah blah blah, I sigh and tell her, “Alright this is the lasl time I’m taking you to school, if you’re late from this time forward, you’re on your own.”

She readily agrees and then I take her. We’re pulling up to the school and I can see her tense up. I look around to see what made her embarrassed and I almost crashed the car. Because not 3 feet from where we are is Chloe’s friend….wearing my fucking sweatshirt, that I’ve only been looking for the past 2 months.

Who the hell does that shit? Who takes someone elses clothes and gives them out for their friends to wear. I don’t care if Chloe or Chelsea wears my stuff, they’re my family. Just you know, put it back when you’re done with it. And if I ask about it and you KNOW where the hell it is, TELL ME so I don’t get all pissed off about it. Just FRICKING TELL ME! Don’t sit there and lie about not knowing where the hell it is, knowing damn well your friend (the one I can’t stand any damn way) has the thing. Oh and DON’T GIVE MY SHIT OUT FOR OTHER PEOPLE TO WEAR DAMMIT!

It pisses me off and she knew I was pissed. I didn’t say one word about it, I just said, “You wait until I get home.”

So then I get home, I’m already pissed as all get out but I shower since Chaylene finished up the sandwiches for me. After my shower, I have to rush to finish getting ready which means straightening my hair is out of the question so mousse it is today. I finished moussing my hair and then I put it up to dry off of my neck. I slip into my dress that I’m going to wear today, it goes great with my black wedges and the necklace that I bought a couple of weeks ago and the bracelet Mulu gave me for my birthday last year.

Only, the bracelet’s not in my jewelry box and neither is my necklace…in it’s place is a note from Chelsea.

“Ween I wore your necklace today, the one with the little circle pendant, I hope it’s okay you weren’t around for me to ask. Sorry.”

*sigh*

I swear, my morning set the tone for the rest of my day too because it just kept getting shittier and shittier…

Feck.

A Song Dedication, if I May…

So Chloe has been having some boy drama for a while now. Her boyfriend, or “ex” boyfriend Ryan has gotten her into way more trouble than she should be getting into at her age. She’s snuck out to meet him at the movies, got caught, she snuck him into Lexi’s house and got caught and so after time and time of talking to her, beating her and what not, she has finally decided to give up her relationship with him.

And then summer began.

Her supposed love for this boy started to drift away until school started and she realized that she doesn’t really “love” him anymore, if you ask me, I don’t think she ever loved him, but that’s neither here nor there.

So anyway, last night, Chloe, Chelsea and I were talking and Chloe was telling us how she talked to Ryan a couple of times throughout the week, since being back at school and she’s come to realize that she doesn’t want to be with him like that anymore. But that’s not the case with him, he wants to be more than friends with Chloe and he’s willing to wait until she can date again.

Gag me.

So anyway, Chloe asked me what she should do, what she should say to him, because she doesn’t want to be with him anymore, not in ANY kind of way if not a friendly one.

Well, after thinking long and hard on this, this is my advice for Chloe.

Chloe, sing the following song to Ryan. I think it’ll get your message across quite nicely if I don’t say so myself.

Say Goodbye by Chris Brown.

Baby come here and sit down, let’s talk
I got a lot to say so I guess I’ll start by
Saying that I love you,
But you know, this thing ain’t been
No walk in the park for us
I swear it’ll only take a minute
You’ll understand when I finish, yeah
And I don’t wanna see you cry
But I don’t wanna be the one to tell you a lie so

[Hook]
How do you let it go? When you,
You just don’t know? What’s on,
The other side of the door
When you’re walking out, talk about it
Everything I tried to remember to say
Just went out my head
So I’ma do the best I can to get you to understand

[Chorus]
There’s never a right time to say goodbye
But I gotta make the first move
‘Cause if I don’t you gonna start hating me
Cause I really don’t feel the way I once felt about you
Girl it’s not you, it’s me
I gotta gotta figure out what I need (oh)
There’s never a right time to say goodbye
But we know that we gotta go
Our separate ways
And I know it’s hard but I gotta do it,
And it’s killing me
Cause there’s never a right time
Right time to say goodbye

Girl I know your heart is breaking
And a thousand times I
Found myself asking, “Why? Why?”
Why am I taking so long to say this?
But trust me, girl I never
Meant to crush your world
And I never
Thought I would see the day we grew apart
And I wanna know

[Hook]
How do you let it go? When you,
You just don’t know? What’s on,
The other side of the door
When you’re walking out, talk about it
Girl I hope you understand
What I’m tryna say.
We just can’t go on
Pretending that we get along
Girl how you not gonna see it?

[Chorus]
There’s never a right time to say goodbye
But I gotta make the first move
‘Cause if I don’t you gonna start hating me
Cause I really don’t feel the way I once felt about you
Girl it’s not you it’s me.
I gotta gotta figure out what I need (oh)
There’s never a right time to say goodbye
But we know that we gotta go
Our separate ways
And I know it’s hard but I gotta do it,
And it’s killing me
Cause there’s never a right time
Right time to say goodbye

Listen to your heart
Girl you know,
We should be apart, baby I
I just can’t do it
I, I just can’t do it
Listen to your heart
Girl you know,
We should be apart, baby I
I just can’t do it
And sometimes it makes me wanna cry
Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh [4x]
Do you hear me crying?
Oh, oh, oh [4x]

[Chorus]
There’s never a right time to say goodbye
But I gotta make the first move
‘Cause if I don’t you gonna start hating me
Cause I really don’t feel the way I once felt about you
Girl it’s not you it’s me.
I gotta gotta figure out what I need (oh)
There’s never a right time to say goodbye
But we know that we gotta go
Our separate ways
And I know it’s hard but I gotta do it,
And it’s killing me
Cause there’s never a right time
Right time to say goodbye

[Chorus]
There’s never a right time to say goodbye
But I gotta make the first move
‘Cause if I don’t you gonna start hating me
Cause I really don’t feel the way I once felt about you
Girl it’s not you it’s me.
I gotta gotta figure out what I need (oh)
There’s never a right time to say goodbye
But we know that we gotta go
Our separate ways
And I know it’s hard but I gotta do it,
And it’s killing me
Cause there’s never a right time
Right time to say goodbye

Change all the Girls to Boy and then you’re straight, now aren’t I the best Aunt ever? LOL.