Interviewing a Criminal About Another Criminal

It's disturbing to read the newspaper sometimes. Majority of the articles are just plain dampering. And sometimes there are articles and interviews that make you think, "WTF?" Like, this morning, I got on NCTimes.com and the first headline I see is an interview from an ex-roommate of accused killer John Gardner. If you don't know, John Gardner has been accused of murdering Chelsea King and Amber Dubois. The girls' remains were found earlier this month.

I have to admit that I started to read this interview. In this interview, statements were made from the ex-roommate, who by the way, is a convicted sex-offender himself, about the personality and day to day life with John Gardner. O.k. I'll have to admit that at first I was intrigued by this interview and wanted to know more about what was going on with this accused child murderer. But then, not even half way through the article, I thought, "I'm reading an interview from a registered sex-offender about another sex-offender." The ironic part of it is that, he gives his opinions and perception on John Gardner as if he had credibility. But then again, what better way to get into the mind of a killer by someone of the like.

I don't know what upset me more: a sex-offender, giving his "professional" expertise, or the media interviewing this guy and letting him have even the slightest bit of fame, though his name was not mentioned. Our world is so twisted.

Me Time vs. Husband/Wife Time

I'm having ME time and I'm loving it. With my encouragement, my husband went out with his friend. He doesn't go out too often and I encouraged him to go out and have fun, to hang out and be a guy. Plus, with him being out, it gives me time to myself.

I love having ME time. It gives me time to think, to relax, to watch the shows I want to watch, to be a woman. Woman need to have alone time; to be away from their significant other at times and not be so "clingy". I love having my own space and love that my husband can also have his own space.

Women tend to cling to their men because of their lack of self-esteem and vice-versa. I think every relationship needs to have time and space once in a while. Being around your significant other 24/7 could drive couples to arguments, contempt, animosity, among other feelings that can arise from being around each other too long. It is almost comparable to people who work together on an everyday basis. There are always tension among co-workers and peers when time spent together weighs more then time they spend doing other things enjoyable.

Couples who take the time for themselves are more likely to survive the ups and downs of a relationship. It's like when you argue. It's best to walk away and come back later when you're head is straight and you are able to talk things through. I'm not a relationship expert or anything, but I know what works with me and what doesn't. Each couple is different and you have to try every venture possible to find out whats right for you.

I love the relationship my husband and I have. We are open with each other, we have our time together and we have our time apart. The time apart makes us miss each other and gives us something to talk about. This works for me..this works for us.

Mean Girls

Today my daughter got suspended for what is called "benching" another girl. I'm not going to go into details about what benching is, but it all seems fairly innocent until someone gets hurt. In this case, someone did.

I got a call from the vice principal of her middle school this afternoon. My first thought was that something had happened to my little girl; she was hurt or got hurt. Then when I heard the tone in the VP's voice, I knew it wasn't the case. Instead, my blood pressure started to rise and I was beside myself.

From what I was told by the VP: my daughter, along with another girl, had pushed another girl and that other girl got hurt. This lead up to taunting and teasing which apparently had been going on for quite awhile. This was not the first incident that occurred, so the vice principal tells me.

My initial reaction was to think, there has to be a mistake. My daughter was not brought up to be a bully and she knows better than to tease and hurt other people, physically and emotionally. And I definitely didn't think she could hurt anyone physically because of her small size. But then, the vice principal said something that reminded me of a movie. He said, "Well you know how these popular girls are...they get into the gossip and drama and sometimes they tend to be mean to each other." Oh no! My daughter, a Mean Girl!! A Plastic!!! It can't be!

I remember high school drama class, me and a really good friend of mind (I'm not going to mention any names....Tamara Bradley) used to make fun of a girl who wore glasses, fairly tall with really pale skin. She had to carry these needles with her just in case she got stung by a bee. I guess she would have gone into anaphylatic shock or something. Well, anyway, every time she walked through the classroom door, we would make a buzzing sound. And of course we would giggle and laugh. She would just sit down at her desk and look away. One time, during a film viewing with the lights off, we started making buzzing sounds again. When the teacher flicked the lights back on, I looked over to the girl and I could have sworn I saw tears in her eyes. I don't remember what happened because this was so long ago, but I do remember the look on her face when the light shown; how painfully hurt she was, emotionally. Girls can be so MEAN!!!

Now, as a mother, I have always taught my children to treat others how they want to be treated. I have spoke to them about bullying and being bullied. For the most part, I felt they understood where I was coming from. For the most part, my daughter has always been really respectful, caring and helpful. Everyone says that about her. I never thought I would have a problem with her being the MEAN GIRL. And I'm not going to have that problem. Although today was unintentional and my daughter and her friend did not take the consequences of their actions into consideration, you best believe that my daughter will know, and be taught, that being plain out MEAN will not be tolerated.