inpromissum

Beating with a reality stick.

Have you ever had a person in your life that needed a good hard beating with a reality stick? I've got a bunch. Mostly (okay, all) members of my family. I know we all overreact/freak out/misbehave from time to time and need a bit of a lashing, but I'm talking about the people who are totally functional in an alternate universe in which everything (usually) revolves around them. Okay, I just had that revelation as I typed it . . . the problem with these people is that they don't see anything past their own nose. My cousin and her ex have this problem. And my cousin's mom. All three of them are *massively* self-absorbed to the point that they don't understand why they should parent, own a car, or pay rent. I wonder where these kinds of people have been while I have been living life in the real world. I don't deny that I have had many privileges (sp), but I also like to believe that I know how most things work, such as credit, loans, debt, cars, rent, the responsiblities of parenting, the need for the bathroom not to smell like urine, that when someone gives you an inch you take at most two inches - not a mile, that a household pet should not go a whole day without water just because you tripped on the bowl and it made you angry, that utilities cost money, that loaning out your car is risky, that doors to a house need to be locked, that painting walls doesn't require getting paint on the floor, that rat cages cannot be left open when there is a cat in the house, that you can't take an engagement ring back over a woman's hesitance to set a date when she is 19 years old, that screaming at someone in public is not acceptable, that a sweet face doesn't get you that far, that cell phone minutes are not worth fight over, that resumes cannot have spelling mistakes like "murchandise" . . .

Okay, here's the real problem with all of this - somehow I have been put in charge of the beating. AKA "Mentoring". As if I have the time and the mental capacity to parent a clueless 19-year old, let alone the bargaining power, since I'm only 5.5 years older. Fcuk. Seriously, people. Um, law school?? Mom breathing down my neck about losing weight? Long distance relationship?