Rare Personal Family Rant

This is going to be a personal post but I am not going to name names but I am going to rant away! There's two things that are bugging me- one has been in my mind for a few years while the other is rather new. Time to let it all out! Remember: It's my blog and I can post what I want and how I feel (if you are related to me)

1. My Aunt- by marriage. I've known her since I was a toddler and for the most part she's been real nice and part of the family. Then for the past few years- I would say 5 now- things have been on breaking point. There's been heavy duty family drama but I am not going to get into it because it does NOT involve me and, at this time of writing (er, typing) she is not aware of my feelings towards her. I don't even intend to let her on it because quite frankly, I don't believe it would make much difference.
Every time she hosted a party, she would assign drinks and ice to my Mom and I. She knows I cook, and every time I offer to bring a dish, she normally shots the idea down. I don't know her problem with that is. In her mind, I guess all my mom and I are good for are bringing drinks. I brought it up with my mom and even she's been getting fed up about it! We've been rebelling quietly. One Thanksgiving, we decided to not attend her party and went to a local restaurant that was having a Thanksgiving special and played it to them that we told them that we decided not to go but apparently it either didn't register or they weren't paying that much attention to us. Yeah it's a little white lie but thankfully (on Thanksgiving! HA!) they bought it. Not too pleased though as they were looking forward to putting ice in their drinks. Yeah I bet they did. So heartbroken to not go down the street and get it themselves. I mean, really? How hard is that? They got kids, one or two have a car, let her do that easy task! Another Thanksgiving (a few years before us standing up the family), my mom was sick so she wasn't going to go to dinner at my Aunt's house, I planned to go. I kept urging my Aunt by marriage to let me bring a dish over! Please, please, please! But noooo, she was very firm that I bring the stupid drinks and ice. With my other Aunt, she encourages my cooking and is happy when I offer to bring a dish or two. Finally, with my hands shaking the urge to go through the telephone wires to strangle her, I decided to screw it and fake being sick, claiming that I got the bug from my mom and was going to stay in at home. Thankfully (another Thanksgiving pun!) my Aunt is a germ-a-phob so I was easily off the hook but what killed me was when she said "was looking forward to the dish you were going to make..." REALLY???? After having a few days of hearing no, she said that? I couldn't believe it. So, on Thanksgiving eve, I bravely went to the store, got what I needed and made Thanksgiving for two at home. It was very delicious. When I ranted this to my step-grandmother, she suggested that to just bring a dish so that way the Aunt would have no choice but to include the dish into the 'buffet'. This past Easter, I did just that and guess what? My soup was gone quicker than all the other dishes that were available.
Then there's Christmas. For the past 3 years, I've received nothing but Christmas ornaments from this particular Auntie. Gifts that I could only use once a year. And some of them I don't really use as ornaments- I just yak/cut off the string and use it as a do-dad on display. Cheap. Lazy. I mean, just give me a gift certificate for Barnes & Noble or a clothing store and I'll be happy and it wouldn't be something I would have to use once a year. Meanwhile, two Christmases ago, I got her a nice spice gift basket that was NOT cheap and it didn't have the kind of spices that you can just simply get the grocery store. Last Christmas, there's this game called White Elephant where you re-gift and someone with a number gets to pick and if someone wants it, gets to take a gift for themselves. I personally think it's a stupid game and refused to play it but watched. My step-grandmother got a re-gift and after looking at it closely I realized it looked awfully familiar...it was my spice gift basket! And what's worst was that it was still in it's packaging (that see through thing- I dunno what's it's called). That was NOT a cheap thing to buy! Heck, my paycheck didn't even afford it but as a thoughtful giving person, I ignored my woos and was in spirit season that I got it, only to find that one year later she would re-gift it. I wouldn't have been too upset about it if the packaging had been open and at least try one. So now, I am not going to buy anything for HER. Yes to my Uncle, I don't think it's fair to exclude him for doing nothing wrong other than being married to a cheap ungrateful loon.

2. This is brand new. On Facebook, everything I post something (whether it's funny, sad, heartwarming, whatever) I rarely get a "like" from members of my own family. Local or distant. Meanwhile I look at their profiles and I see a lot of "likes" from their own stuff! Do I post something to offend them? I don't think I'm invisible because I get notifications that my friends- not family but my friends- liking my stuff. Maybe at most I'll get 3 family members liking whatever I put up. The only time I get my own family to give me some Facebook lovin' would be on my birthday, posting their greetings on my wall. Yet they can't click (or press on their iPhones, or iPads, androids, etc) "like" on my pictures, statuses, jokes, and so on? Do they disagree? Am I invisible? Is there some kind of rule not to "like" my things? Lately, I've been wanting to go on their own profiles and say Screw you. Chances are they wouldn't even care.
Sometimes I think I'm definitely the black sheep of the family

Black & White to Color

 Original- black and white

Photoshop- colorized

(Okay it's not the same exact picture but you get the idea- at least I hope you do...)

 

I've been aware of this black and white pictures (including movies, TV shows) to color for about a decade now and to tell you the truth: I hate it. From my understanding, it started with Ted Turner- the founder of TV channels CNN, TBS, TNT and ex-husband of Jane Fonda. I don't know what his thinking was but he had some idea to make shows like Bewitched, I Love Lucy, I Dream of Jeannie (among others) and movies like Casablanca that were black and white (Bewitched was black and white for the first 3 seasons and I Dream of Jeannie for one season before becoming color by 1966 so those colorful seasons don't count; it was naturally done) into color. Now these days it seems to be everywhere, so much so that people are starting to think that the fake colorized photos were real. I don't see anything wrong with having things black and white- in fact I think there's a lot to it in black and white. There's a mystery sense- even fooling people into thinking that Lucille Ball, Rita Hayworth and Jane Asher were blondes when they were redheads. There's emotions, there's beautiful shadows and contrasts that color pictures simply do not have. When someone colors a picture, it looks painted on, fake, and best chances would get the color wrong- whether it's an outfit or hair or the surroundings of a place where the picture in question was taken. You are not going to see me coloring classic B&W pictures at all. In fact, if I find a colorized picture, I will dig deep until I find the original B&W photo to use instead. If someone could find that picture to color then I could find the picture myself and enjoy it. Don't get me wrong, I love color pictures as much as you do but only when they are done naturally with the right film or digital or  whatever's the thing these days. I also love black and white pictures- there's an historical feel to them even if it was taken recently and done right.