My reality show detox – A.K.A Project Switch That Shit Off!

Over Christmas, while I had some time off, I was glued to my television set (or rather E! Entertainment) to keep my mind busy while I was “trying to relax”.

Being a celebrity reporter, my fair share of dealings in my daily life revolve around reporting on the Who’s Who’s and their shenanigans, but for me to not waste my time away watching E! would be a sin.

After I grew tired of watching Kim Kardashian’s cry face, I channel hopped over to TLC (maybe because my Mom’s mind was melting) and came across Toddlers and Tiaras.

First of all, let me state, this show should bear a warning before the show starts. Somehow E! does warn one of “flashing images that could lead to epilepsy”, but there was no warning on TLC to warn me of barbaric burstings of anger that could lead me to flinging my remote at the TV. No sir. No warning at all.

Secondly: I have watched this crap before, but this time I managed to see the episode that really sent out the wrong message to the world and the mindless slaves that watch the show.

So, the episode started off with one of the pageant directors, Bonnie Crow, proudly exclaiming: “If you are chubby, then it’s not just going to cut it. You don’t want to see a fat child on stage.”

At this point, you could cue me and my WTF-face, burning holes through the TV.

How can a grown-up even say this?

My problem exactly comes in here. And this is where I delve in deeper to the mystical world of adults whoring up their children for reality television.

Cue Kris Jenner, the beloved mother by a spawn of 6, who’s she has branded out into the entertainment industry. Although we never get to see the real Kris on Keeping Up With The Kardashians, we do sometimes get a taste of how she has the same mindset as the pageant director I mentioned earlier.

Can I go on to lay down Dallas Divas and Daughters, Mob Wives and Sister Wives into the mix of evidence as well?

Jersey Shore… ‘Nuff said.

And this got me thinking.

At the end of the day, either way you look at it, reality TV has killed itself and dragged society along with it.

I don’t like to make assumptions (cause I never like making an ass of you and me), but I want to peg reality shows down for most parents erratic behaviours these days.

If pageant director Bonnie Crow could make a “profound” statement, saying that “being chubby won’t cut it”, then how do you explain mothers starving their children till they are thin?

How about teenage girls with identity issues, bought on by parents who found it right to break them down and raise them according to what they saw on a reality show?

Not even to mention little girls becoming such fame whores …

Then, teenagers thinking their lives can be just like the crew from Jersey Shore. Drinking till the wee hours of the morning, hooking up with random people, and sleeping the whole day. No ambitions are seen anywhere and you never (ever) hear them do anything positive.

As much as it is sad to see how the real reality killed the faux one we want to live in, we still find ourselves falling victim to reality shows. Even if it is Jersey Shore or Guliana and Bill, it’s still a false reality created for TV.

From now on, I propose a new warning for all reality shows:

Warning. The follow show has been scripted and directed, and does not indicate any real sense of reality. If you choose to watch further, you will be brainwashed. Rather choose to switch off your television set and go for drinks with your girlfriends.

It’s simple and the truth, but we all now I was dreaming right there. The day that warning is aired, is the day Kris Jenner admits she is a “bad mother”.

For now, I am going on a reality show detox. I’d rather live in the universes of multiple series I know is fake, than loose myself in one that is beyond trash.

100 views :)

In two months, my blog has had more than 100 views on WordPress.

This might seem like “nothing” to most people, but I feel quite proud of myself for talking to a lot of fellow bloggers out there.

So, here’s to another 100 views!

Thanks for all your support and love!

The Confessions of a Shopoholic (#1)

If the layout of our country resembled that of a shopping mall, I would never need a GPS to find my way.

As a matter of fact, if our economy was run like the sales at Factorie, Cotton On, Jay Jay’s and YDE, I would be like the Minister of Finance.

Oh, and if I had my say, top designer labels would be made much cheaper and affordable for the “poor” man on the street.

If you have not gathered by now, I am a Shopoholic. I am pretty sure that is not how we introduce ourselves at our Shopoholic Anonymous meetings, but I don’t see a problem with being in love with swiping your card more than actually hugging your best friend.

People have asked me this question a lot: Are you crazy enough to spend money on clothes, rather than build up your savings.

To which I fondly quote Carrie Bradshaw from Sex and The City: I like my money right where I can see it – in my closet.

I am not crazy, nor am I a special kind of stupid, but I believe clothes is a basic human need. And why bring yourself down to a level where you can’t feel good wearing something that makes you stand out and brands you even more as an individual?!

Yes. I will easily spend a wad of cash on a nice shirt if I feel good in it. Yes. I will rather eat dry bread for two weeks than pass up a nice pair of shoes. Yes. I do experience a euphoric sensation when I hand my card over to the cashier. Yes. I do feel guilty when I stare at the bags on my passenger seat, while driving home.

How long does the guilt last? Minutes. Mere minutes.

But, as much as I can go on about my obsession with shopping, I have to express the negativity surrounding shopoholics.

Did you know that shopping is not an accredited sport or an official Olympic event? I am like: Seriously world, get with the times. Some of us would sprint faster in mall filled with sale signs than Usain Bolt ever could.

The backlash received from the general public to Shopoholics is atrocious. I mean, we are branded as “crazy” folk who need some extent of psychological help. Let me tell you: Shopping is therapy to us. Would you rather want us taking a tire iron and smashing in someone’s skull, than express our anger in a relatively safe way? Would you rather have us sit down and pour our sob stories out for hours, leaving your head spinning and ears bleeding, or have us in a store, silently browsing the racks for something good. Your choice.

And then. Have economists ever called us out on our “great work” when it comes to shopping? Last time I checked we are helping out the economy (those of us who have “clean” debt and pay with cash yes) by swiping our cards. Just saying…

(Please not the extreme sense of sarcasm in all of the above mentioned…)

Alas, I confess. I love shopping and maybe sometimes a little too much. But hey… They say Rome was not built in a day. To which I say: My closet has never been this empty.

*Sigh*

My weekend was one of those where I am staring at the ceiling right now, saying: “WFT…” silently.

Change your view silly

If we just choose to change our mindset once in a while, saw things differently, then maybe we could change the way we look at things forever. Just a thought…

Live YOUR life

Many of us might not like Megan Fox a lot… But she does speak the truth here, and it’s a truth we can’t argue with. And it’s a lesson we can all take home. Live YOUR life.

When does too much, really become too much?

When does too much actually become too much?

Does it reach that level where we inevitably raise our hands and say: “Woah! Stop right there!” Or do we push through, till we actually destroy ourselves.

I have this gym instructor who frequently likes to remind the class that “our bodies can be pushed further than we actually think it can”.

Interesting enough, I think this can be applied when it comes to our minds as well.

We only stop the bus when we perceive that we had enough to deal with, but when we keep piling it on, we can push ourselves much further than we think.

For example. A looming problem we somehow keep shoving to the back of our minds.

In my case, I tend to believe that the expression “Out of sight, out of mind”, really does have some power to it.

I have had situations where I pushed myself to the extent, with some bad consequences. I kept somehow telling myself that I wouldn’t have to face the problem yet. And then the problem just somehow managed to jump from the “Denial” box right into the “Current” box and I literally had to call the “Stop”-rule on life.

Hey, nobody likes to call the “Stop”-rule on life, but when too much has become too much, you have eventually deal with everything.

We all know problems also have a way of piling up on each other. It’s like Life has a way of saying: So, you are avoiding this problem. Let’s throw this one onto the pile. Wait. Another. Incoming!

Although we think we can carry an immense load of shit in our lives, there does exist a point where too much does become too much – believe it or not.

I for one, am guilty of this. Ignoring my limits and piling up stuff and living in denial.

“Out of sight, out of mind” may have power to it, but it doesn’t help at the end of the day.

Instead of calling the “Stop” rule when he have had enough, I think I should just deal with stuff like “normal” people do. If I keep pushing through problems and issues in life, denying that it is enough already, I could potentially blow myself apart.

Key being here: Deal with your shit when it pops up. Denial may be a river in Egypt, but you can’t swim against a current that is stronger that you are.

Dear Mom…

Our relationship might not always be the best and I give you hell all the time, but I will never resent you ever.

Forgiveness

Whenever I hear “forgiveness” I think of that scene in Just Friends where Anna Faris sings her lame song to Ryan Reynolds.

And in her song she says the following: “Forgiveness is more than saying sorry…”

In my life, I have never been able to forgive easily. It never came naturally, though my Mom taught me that it is customary to forgive people when they’ve done you wrong.

Even though my Mom based this on playground logic, she had it right.

Someone breaks your toy – forgive them when they say sorry and move on. Someone pushes you on the playground and you fall – when they help you up, saying sorry, you forgive them.

So, Mom… How do I forgive someone at age 22 when they have managed to break me down? Do I really just forgive and forget when they say “Sorry”?

It was much simpler when someone pushed me on the playground, and they said sorry. But when a lover breaks your heart after you discover them cheating on you, how do you forgive them?

I was fast enough to have pulled out the old: “It’s okay”, when they said sorry. But at the end of the day, I didn’t really mean it. And almost a year later, I find myself realising I have not forgiven them. This in turn has made a bit of a situation for me, but one with a simple solution: Forgiveness.

In the Bible, we are reminded of many instances where Jesus forgave sinners and people who have wronged him. If he could do it so easily, then what about me?

Hey – I mean. Give this man a Bells. If he could forgive his “friend” for selling him out to the Sanhedrin priests, then I can sure as hell forgive my heart breaker!

But, at the end of the day, forgiveness is really more than just saying sorry…

Oprah Winfrey once said: “Forgiveness is giving up the hope that the past could have been any different.”

When a friend of mine shared this quote with me, I looked over it a couple of times before it really made sense.

All this time I had been secretly hoping that the past could have different. Creating secret scenarios in my head, it was better for me to think back at how I could have changed everything, avoiding all this pain. Avoiding all this hate and resentment.

But why would I want to hope that the past could be any different? It happened. I can’t turn back the clock. The milk was spilt, and there is still no use crying over it.

What’s the use of carrying around pain? Why do I have to keep telling myself I need to forget about this? Why did I have to deny forgiveness?

The answer, again, was simple: I didn’t really have to. It was my choice and I was only doing this to myself.

As much as I’d rather want to cling onto the feeling of hate, I think I should just let go.

In Eat Pray Love, Liz also realises that forgiveness had some key to everything:

“In the end, I’ve come to believe in something I call “The Physics of the Quest.” A force in nature governed by laws as real as the laws of gravity.

“The rule of Quest Physics goes something like this: If you’re brave enough to leave behind everything familiar and comforting, which can be anything from your house to bitter, old resentments, and set out on a truth-seeking journey, either externally or internally, and if you are truly willing to regard everything that happens to you on that journey as a clue and if you accept everyone you meet along the way as a teacher and if you are prepared, most of all, to face and forgive some very difficult realities about yourself, then the truth will not be withheld from you.”

So, here is to letting go. No more anger. No more resentments.

Disappointment

It is said that disappointment comes in many forms and identities, but has one thing in common with each and every human being on this planet: the feeling that follows when you realised that you’ve been let down or have let down yourself.

It’s been about 36 hours since 2013 has kicked off, and I can say it’s been really disappointing.

Have it be friends who showed me another side to themselves, or have it be me setting myself up for a disappointing twist, 2013’s been really disastrous so far.

Let it be known: I am not being negative and stuff on a brand new year, but I am just facing the reality that something needs to change if one wants the rest of 2013 to be eventful and positive at the most.

So, my New Year’s Eve was not like I wanted it to be. It enjoyed it in its own special way, but I have to admit that some part of me was disappointed by drama that had unfolded over the course of the day and the 1’st of January.

It was not really fun to find out that you had been blinded about certain unfolding events that was hurting your best friends, or yourself.

[I choose not to go into detail about this, as I feel I can prove my point without sharing the private nature of it 😉 ]

Setting myself up for disappointment, I once again realised how stupid and selfish I can be. Having my WTF-moment and threatening to slam my head into a wall repeatedly, I knew this was just another failure along the way for me. But setting this apart from other failures, was the fact that I could have made different decisions, and not hurt anybody in the process. Avoiding all this drama in the process.

I can say “Sorry” as much as I want to, but this won’t beat out the intrepid feeling of complete disgust with one self.

But, on the other hand, when other people disappoint you, it’s a complete 360.

Anger at the most fills one when you realise you trust someone or expect more of them, and they let you down. Anger at the fact that they are such idiots to prove you wrong and at the same time wreck havoc to their reputation.

I am a person that builds high hopes and expectations of events and people. As much of a realist I can be, I am a big dreamer.

So, then this could be why I am left disappointed time after time. I expect too much, I hope too much, only to receive nothing or pain in return.

Just like countless other times I was left disappointed, the best thing is to get up and move on. I would probably never forget what happened or transpired, but I can only be a bit smarter and open minded in the future.

As much as disappointment hurts, it’s just a challenge sent by life to make us stronger. Maybe it teaches us to not have so much faith in someone, or build monuments in their honour. Maybe it could just teach us to issue out trust and good faith to those who really deserve it.

I was told not to have so much high hopes and expectations, then I wouldn’t be left disappointed. In adopting my KISS-plan (see blog: https://princespalace.wordpress.com/2012/12/18/back-to-the-basics/), I think I should work this in as well. Having less high hopes, keeping my expectations simple and reliable.

2013 may have started on a disappointing note, but that’s just the thing. 363 days remain for things to change…