The World of Stuff .com

I have something to say

I have something to say. But first, let me throw out a few facts to give you an idea of what my life is like:

• I am not allowed to have a cell phone. I have never owned one. I can hardly use one, in fact.
• I am not allowed to have a TV in my room. When I was little my parents would say, “When you’re 14,” but now that I’m 15, they “forgot” that they ever said that. Don’t get me wrong; we use 3 TVs (and have several more), but none of them are in my room.
• And having a computer… that’s entirely out of the question. What, you think I blog from my room? Why would you think a silly thing like that? Is it because everyone else does? Oh yeah, that’s right.
• I can’t get away with saying “shut up” around my parents (or “stupid,” I think; it has to have been a while since I’ve tried).

So, at dinner tonight, my mom mentioned that she just (about a week ago) found out about my two-week-old video, “One Day in the Desert,” in which I documented the 24-hour fast which she obviously knew about. You know the scene early on in the video where I was frustrated and disappointed that some of my friends weren’t going to be there? Well anyway, my mom was mad that I was mad about that, even though I got over it quickly. She was also mad that I never say anything to her, and instead I post everything here.

I responded by saying that if she and my dad wanted to pry out of me as much as I say here (which really isn’t a lot, trust me), they could go ahead and do it. I’d talk if I were inclined to. Because at the dinner table, it’s always “How was school?” “Good.” “Do anything interesting?” “Not really.” You know how it is. But my dad asks joltingly specific questions (by comparison) such as, “What did you do in [insert name of class here] class today?” That’s what I’m talking about. I don’t mind it. It makes things interesting. It lets my parents know what’s going on. (They claim that I never say anything… well, they never really ask.)

Everyone wears different masks when with different people. We have different demeanors when we are around strangers, friends, lovers, co-workers, parents, grandparents, and other relatives. The “me” you see here is more or less how I present myself to my friends; the readers who are my friends in real life (my reader-friends or friend-readers) can attest to this. I just act differently around my parents. If I were to write this blog as if I were talking to my parents, only my parents would read it, wouldn’t they?

As we have seen, my parents keep me on a very short leash. The World of Stuff is supposed to be an outlet for the things I can’t say around them; everyone has thoughts that they need to express but can’t because of what those close to them might think (that’s the purpose of a diary/journal/blog). But since they know about this site, that doesn’t exactly work. If they didn’t read the blog, I’d feel more comfortable expressing certain things instead of having nowhere to let them out except to some of my friends (who aren’t that many and can’t always be around to listen).

While they’re on this kick, they should talk to my sister, whose blog (well, LiveJournal) is private; my parents can’t read any of it. She’s no more talkative than me at the dinner table, and yet she seems to escape criticism. (Does that make sense to any of you? Because I don’t understand it. But that’s just me.)

I won’t bother addressing my parents directly here. That’s exactly what they complain about; that they have to read this instead of talk to me. Instead I’ll tell them in person just what I’ve written here at the next opportunity — before they’re likely to read it.

In conclusion, I’d like to tell them:

1. that I can talk about the sorts of things I write here, and therefore
2. to stop reading this blog.

In case you found any of that boring, here’s today’s link: Writing English: Proofreading and Copyediting Services. Check out their rates: $0.01 (US) per word for proofreading, and $0.03 per word for full-fledged editing! I could make a killing off that kind of thing.