Things that make you go hmmm....
Sat Jan 12 2002

I suppose I have lived a very sheltered life. I have been fortunate enough to grow up surrounded by people who love me, and have never really felt the typical pressure other teens seemed to have felt. I did what I wanted and if other's thought I was a (fill in the word here for whatever is currently used for dork/nerd/geek/twerp) I just plain didn't care. I liked who I was and what I was doing and was not about to change or submit to their attempted peer pressure. I used to tell them that peer pressure would only work if I considered them a peer, which I did not. Needless to say I didn't make too many friends this way!

While at Walmart today, I saw in the parking lot a young couple (late teens, maybe early twenties) who were so completely out of it I don't know how they were functioning enough to walk. Coming from the life I grew up in, I just don't understand what is so appealing about drugs that would draw someone to them. Are they cool? No. Do they make you look cool or sophisticated? No.
What they do is make you look like you are not intelligent enough to make your own decisions or stand on your own two feet.

The whole thing that makes me angry about drugs, and those that use them is that I was an unwilling drug user at one point. Many years ago I went to a friend's for a spaghetti dinner. One of the people at this friends home thought it would be funny to put what was at that time called Shrooms into the spaghetti and not tell anyone about it. Fortunate for me I am not altogether fond of Spaghetti (unless I make it) and I did not have much. Everyone who did eat it became quite ill. The person who did this ended up in prison because of this little act as some of the dinner guests that night decided to press charges.

Oh yea, drugs look like something I would like to get into.....NOT.

I suppose the whole thing about this that scares me is that all three of my children are on meds for ADHD. These meds are quite addictive and a part of me is concerned that inadvertantly I am teaching my children to submit to an addiction. Our family does the This is a MEDICATION talk all the time with the kids, and almost daily we do role playing games to help them say no to drugs, alcohol, smoking, strangers and all the other hazards there are out there for our wonderful children. I sincerely hope some of it sticks.






The object of my obsession

Hugh Jackman. From the moment I saw Wolverine snarling in the cage in the X-Men movie I was hooked. Having read the X-men comics since I was a little kid (yes, as a 37 year old mother I still read them and Lord help you if you come between me and the comic I haven't read yet!) I have been a long time Wolverine fan (and when I was about 9 or so thought I would grow up to marry him...).
This amazingly handsome and talented actor nailed the Wolverine persona to the T. I immediately went surfing on the net to find out more about him. There I discovered that he sings too! He has been on stage as Gaston in Beauty & the Beast, Joe in Sunset Blvd., and Curly in Oklahoma!. Wonder of wonders I found a site, http://www.onlineclassics.net and last year they had Oklahoma! running for several months. I had the ultimate pleasure of watching this on my tiny computer monitor and boy can that man sing! Listening to him in Oh What a Beautiful Morning almost literally made me melt.

I discovered he has done TV shows and movies down in Australia. He was in a handful of episodes of Return to Snowy River (US Title), and the show where he met his beautiful wife Deborra-Lee Furness "Corelli". Two Australian movies, Paperback Hero and Erskineville Kings, were lucky to have him in the cast. This man has done just about every kind of character he can (although he has not played a woman that I have seen yet,but would love to see him do a remake of Some Like It Hot).

After X-Men came Someone Like You (previously titled Animal Husbandry and I believe billed as Animal Attraction in the UK). Wonderful performance and absolutely believable as the character Eddie. Of course I had to buy the DVD where I discovered when in the theater they really should have used the alternate ending.

Now comes Swordfish with John Travolta. Hugh shirtless wrapped only in a towel from the waist down. Need I say more? The classic scene in the Disco where he has to "prove himself" while being "distracted" was classic.

Onto Kate and Leopold. Does this man have no end to the type of character he can play? He is so versatile in what parts he has taken and mastered. He next plays Robert DiNero's son in Pride & Glory, a movie about cops & corruption in (I believe) NYC. Then after that X-Men 2.

Obsessed? No, not me! Whatever gave you that idea?

6 Comments
  • From:
    Struggling (Legacy)
    On:
    Sat Jan 12 2002
    hiya. I just had to comment on this one, especially since you are a mom and this might be important to take into consideration. I am still a teenager myself and I have never gotten into this whole drug thing myself either (even though "peers" ridiculed me for it too). But as I see it, first it is curiosity and peer pressure that gets them taking drugs in the first place and then it is this state of mind, the forgetting, and the way it is so different from the lives they know. Most kids I know that are druggies have major problems at home, feel alienated from their parents, feel they don't even try to understand them. It is not peer pressure alone. Most of the time it is loneliness and that (in teenagers all too common) feeling of not being understood and having no one to talk to.
    Just some thoughts on this... sorry for rambling.
    I am glad there is one more mom out there who gives their kids the feeling that they can talk to her about everything... keep it up!

    Struggling

    (thanks also for your comment on my entry today)
  • From:
    Shellybien (Legacy)
    On:
    Sat Jan 12 2002
    I have to say that I too, didn't uderstand all the potheads/druggies and such in school. I was raised in a loving and very open family and also with an understanding that drugs would NOT be tolerated. I hope to bring that to my son as well. I can only love and be open and guide him through life with example.

    I'm glad to see another mom on the same road as I.
  • From:
    Fallinstar (Legacy)
    On:
    Sat Jan 12 2002
    obsessed? never... ;)

    I loved him in xmen and Someone Like You also (just what was the alternate ending? I don't have dvd) :(

    well...hope you're having a great day :)

    (((hugs)))
    Christina
  • From:
    InfiniteDawn (Legacy)
    On:
    Sat Jan 12 2002
    I really think, as a teen myself who has only ever smoked the occassional J, that a major factor in most teen drug use is the lack of a supporting environnent at home/school or just generally feeling alienated. I have had addict friends and they don't do it from peer pressure or because they think it's an easy way to have fun - genuine addicts have serious problems in dealing with the issues in their lives in a functional manner. They get into it at first becuase it might look fun but after trying something if they continue it's just plain escapism. It's great that you seem to be genuinely interested and loving enough to be wary for your kids. I do get worried about the so-called Ritalin kids because it just seems to blur the line between what's acceptable for medical use and social drug use. It is difficult but I am impressed by your resourcefulness in using role playing games with your kids. I think that their knowing that home is a safe, loving place to go to is the most important thing in keeping them away from the need to find an alternate reality.
  • From:
    InfiniteDawn (Legacy)
    On:
    Sat Jan 12 2002
    p.s. Wolverine rocks! I so want his extendable razor claws! LOl It's just so kewl especially in the movie - great effects! The comics are great too except I hate the post-movie ones they did on the actual movie because they moved away from the classic comic art and that was some bloody great stuff!
  • From:
    Sezrah (Legacy)
    On:
    Sat Jan 19 2002
    ahaaa, *now* i know who hugh jackman is ;)
    btw, i'm another one of those people who thought it was cool (and still do, for that matter) to be a good girl

    sez