Cameron Vs. Family

Before we even start, let's get a collective thought on what I mean by relationship. When I refer to relationship in this post, I'm talking intimate relationship. Ya know, like a girlfriend.

I've never been any good at introductions, so I may as well just tell you how I got this topic. With the introduction of the new author on the blog, I've found a new motivation. With that said, this blog stems from Josh's post on Wednesday. If you don't already know, Josh is the new guy on the stranger, and if you haven't already read his post then you should really take a moment, read it, then come back. Really. I'll wait. All finished? Okay. If you didn't read it, shame on you. In a simple way, he has a fear of raising a child in the coming future based on how kids today act. And it's a pretty reasonable fear, but this post isn't about him or his phobia. Instead, mine precedes the whole off spring thing. I'll be working backwards, do try and keep up.

The Family Thing:
Growing up, I never really had the best familial ties. They were there, just never really like the "TV family" or "nuclear family" or what ever you want to call it. During my teenage years, I cut ties with my father and his side of the family for - a lack of better word - my own mental health. That cut in itself eliminates half of the "family." Moving to my mom's side; yes I still talk to them, but there always seems to be something awry. I can't really put my figure on it, but something is amiss. I guess what I'm trying to say is that I've always had the thought of the big family get-togethers, in the back of my mind, as some kind of perfect.

The Kid Thing:
Josh basically sums it up. If I were to raise a kid with my experiences of people, I would be scared out of my mind. I don't really have any other way to expand on what he had said other than to say that I have the same fear - to an extent. How do I explain to my kid where the family is?

The Marriage Thing:
Probably my biggest and most ironic fear. You see, I have this fear of dieing alone. At the same time, I fear marriage for one reason. Divorce. With how high divorce rates are, I fear thinking that I've found the right one just to get into daily arguments leading to shouting matches. It disheartens me. Do I let this stop me? No because of the whole preluding, "not wanting to die alone." Does it hinder? Among other things, yes it does. Which brings me to my next topic.

The Relationship Thing:
Now, I've never claimed to have the best relationships. In fact, I feel as though I hold some notoriety for bad relationships. I can honestly say that, save one, I haven't had a genuine, loving relationship with any girl I've been with. It's just been train wreck after train wreck. In this order, have been my past relationships first to last: she used me to get with another guy, cheated on me, the good one, a harlot, and the last had been married. Yes, you read that correctly. Stories to tell for another time. As you can probably assume, I'm a vegetable medley of distrust and doubt. Still working on it, and I feel as though things could shape up with time.

The Single Thing:
Yes, it is nice being single. You can see it in one of two ways: bad or good. Money you earned if spent on you, more freedom than if you were seeing someone, and of course a quiet phone. But there's also the other side of this. The money you earn can't make you happy. The person you share it with and spend it on can. The freedom is negligible based on the principle that you are with someone. Be faithful.. And the phone? There's someone who cares for you, they like talking to you. Could be a problem.

What you have just read is the paradoxical nature of my thinking. I want to be with someone, but I don't want to be unhappy were it to end. So let me ask you this: What would you do or what have you done or what would you suggest? And don't give the whole, "you're over-thinking" ploy. Let's get some real answers.

-Cam

A Schedule

Well as you can probably tell, the stranger has a new author and with that comes more posts. Right? Possible As far as my posts, I will attempt to keep a biweekly posting schedule. My posts will usually come on Mondays and Fridays sprinkled with extras every-so-often. As for Josh, you can wait for him to tell you! Hope you all are having a good week and continue to do so. That's it from me for now, expect a new blog Friday!

Much Love,
Cam

My Secret Public Fear

I would be lying to you if I didn’t say I spend a good amount of time watching tv, so I feel I am quite qualified to say I know what effect tv has on our behavior as people. Anytime something funny or entertaining comes on, you can easily expect 850 out of the 900 people you see in an average day to be talking about it non-stop. If there is news of a potential ailment going around, people go to extreme precautions to prevent contraction of it, no matter how slim the chances may be that they even could do so. Heck, my mom can’t even sleep in a hotel room without being in her own sleeping bag because of some 60 Minutes report on the crazy stuff a handful of people have done in them (I will admit, after watching it, even I was skeptical of some things in hotels, no matter how expensive and fancy).

I say all of this to bring up my #1 secret fear, which subsequently been brought about by tv; raising a child. No, I’m not one of those deadbeat douchebag guys that go around trying to have sex with every female that has a heartbeat, praying that I don’t get a girl pregnant because it would get in the way of my “notch on the bedpost” lifestyle. This fear stems from tv showing me just how terrible kids can behave, and (because of our ever crumbling legal system) how little a parent can do in rebuttal to these little bastards.

To truly know my perspective on this issue, you should know how I was raised. I’ve always been raised in a strong Christian household. As a kid I can remember going to church on Sunday mornings in my best attire, learning the difference between moral right and wrong. My parents were very strict when it came to adhering to the rules of church, and when the big man upstairs didn’t punish me for me being stupid, they DEFINITELY picked up the slack. You see, they believed in one thing that I have noticed that many adults today think is ridiculous; spanking. Caught cheating on a test? Spank. Went into bad parts of the neighborhood? Spank, and if you knew my old neighborhood, you would know why. Talked back to one of my parents like I was crazy? Spank. Starting to catch the trend? I did, hence my lack of bad behavior. But I digress.

Let me paint a picture of what I’m talking about. Let’s look at your average tv family: two parents, two to three kids. Of these children, there is always the one rebellious teenager (or tween, you take your pick). This…demon is usually always in trouble with/questioning authority, with an under-developed sense of understanding and reasoning. He/she will do ANYTHING just to prove the point, that they have free will, and whatever your will is, they will go against it. Any sort of non-physical punishment imposed upon this child is…100% ineffective to say the least. Now, a couple of decades back, if such defiance was to wreak havoc in a household, some serious sense would be whipped into said child. Kids today have a tool though that is practically a trump card for this though. Three words: Child Protective Services.

If a distraught child came to you, crying about their extremely abusive parent, and then the parent comes to you furiously arguing in opposition, who are you going to believe? How would you feel if you went with the parent and that kid ended up dead from abuse? Difficult questions, eh? CPS has to properly asses any call from a child with these kinds of questions. Initially, all cases must be treated as if they are the real thing, which means an investigation would be launched. If people found out about this investigation, they most likely would assume the worst and see you in a new (tainted) light. People then shun you as a new social pariah, your parents disown you, and a giant panda flies out of nowhere to punch you in the face! This may be a worst case scenario, but it’s the kind of stuff that goes through my mind constantly because of tv.

I don’t know, I guess I’m just over-thinking it. I do feel like without some sort of physical punishment for a child, behavioral problem could arise more frequent, but that’s just how I was raised. I’m not talking like Guantanamo Bay style torture, but maybe a quick swat or two to say “Hey, don’t do that!” I supposed only the worst of the worst really go as bad as faking abuse to get their way, but I think at that point there are a lot of different factors going into it, like mental issues. It’s whatever though. I sure am glad we don’t live near pandas though, or I think I’d be a lot more paranoid about this :P

A Decision

To those that have been following me, I apologize for the non-updatedness of the blog. I intend on posting biweekly to keep you all in the loop and entertained. I don't exactly know which way I want to go with the blog so I'll be experimenting with ideas and suggestions throughout the next few months so if the writing style or themesies change, that's what's up. Thank you for the support of you few readers and I hope to make this a thing again.

Until next time,
Cam

Yo Momma is so Fat, THAT she has increased risk of cardiac arrest due to high blood pressure

So it's been a while interwebs. How have you been? Let me just apologize in advance for the false post about an upcoming post on that following day. Can you forgive me? Yes? All right then. Let's get this show started.

As you may or may not know, I was kind of, sort of, definitely stuck in North Dakota for about a week longer than planned. The events preceding my fiasco were all well and fine except when I had made the attempt to flee from a blizzard. Mother nature hates me apparently. Well about three hours into the trek back home, the car hits ice, and ends up in about a foot deep worth of snow in the median of an interstate. Long story incredibly short, that car ended up totaled.

But there is some what of a life lesson that can be taken from this. Other than the whole "DON'T USE CRUISE CONTROL ON THE INTERSTATE WHILE OUTRUNNING TERRIBLE WEATHER" thing. Dumb, I know now. Well in order to not be stranded two hours from a friend's home and ten from my own home, it became necessary to hitch hike. Now I know what you're thinking, "Oh haha, you got raped to get a ride." And no, that's not at all what happened. Instead there was a trucker that got us half-way back to our destination in North Dakota before he had to stop. But he still continued to help! He actually managed to find us a ride all the way back to where we needed to be. They were genuinely good people. As in every situation there was also the complete opposite of just mean, but they don't deserve mention.

I guess the moral of the story is that people from North Dakota and (parts of) Minnesota are actually really nice and the rest of the country could take a lesson in hospitality from these people. I'll put up the story of this venture sometime in the next week.