Original McDonald's

We were driving around the other night and stumbled upon the original location of McDonald's in Des Plaines. It is a museum now. The video is not top quality as it's shot from my digital print camera. But it'll do for now.

The Ron

Last night, a bunch of us from work attended a debate between a pastor, from the xxxchurch.com and drumroll, Ron Jeremy.

Yes, the Hedgehog.

It was interesting. I wouldn't go so far to say enlightening.

We certainly felt old surrounded by the full house of Tech students. Blech!

Sadly, I didn't get a personal picture or autograph from the man himself. It was getting late and I was worried about my darn dog. (That dog sure was not worth returning to. That darn animal refused to come to me when I called him yesterday and today.) Yeah, Bentley blew my chances of cozying up to the man.

Slamming bodies and almost-rabid fans

I never thought the day would come when I would go to a WWE event. M dragged me to it (like he does for a lot of events) to photograph fans for the Web.

I didn't exactly kicked and screamed on my way there. But I was quite ticked off that I didn't have the foresight to dress appropriately (and I knew this was coming up. I just forgot when). So there I was in a suede skirt, sheath sleeveless top and a cotton casual jacket. Oh, and high heels! I was unfortunately, the most overdressed idiot in the crowd.

The "assignment" was easy enough. Each armed with a camera, we would be taking posed shots of the fans. The sight of those eager fans were enough to validate my purpose. These fans are traditionally the undercovered in our newspaper biz -- hispanics and a relatively low-brow "sport." And by far, they are the most fun to photograph in all my time spent asking people to pose for me. (Not fun when the stiffs give you a half-hearted "hmm".)
These fans came with their amateurly-made signs, fake gigantic belts, tacky T-shirts, and were the most willing to be photographed. It made my "job" a lot easier.
The biggest surprise of the night came when we were allowed to go into the arena and photograph a few fights.
In we went along the tunnel like we were hot shots (and we saw some wrestlers), and led to the "press area." It was essentially the floor in front of the USA network cameramen who were stationed on the rows of seats. Now, my photographic endeavor just got a little trickier. I have no where to sit but the "floorboards" at the first row of seats. And since I had the short lens, and M the long ones, my task was to shoot more pics of the fans. So there I was, sprawled so precariously on the floorboard or the floor, depending on the angle I needed to be, hoping that a stray camera will not expose my fragile state for all of wrestling fans at home.

I gave up after a while and decided to watch the show. While I still don't quite appreciate WWE, the spectacle and crowd made up for my lack of enthusiasm. It was such a giddy experience watching grown folks and young kids chanting and screaming. And those signs. Wow. K, you are so right about that. If I knew this was the legit thing and they were going to show it on TV, I might have made one myself. And fill it with all kinds of Singlish gibberish that only few of us would understand.

When authority fails to be role model

The lonely hours of unemployment, short of the commitment to work out, housework, dinner preparation and spurts of self-improvement on various hobbies, can lead one to rely on daytime television on occasions.

No, I don't indulge in Dr. Phil, soaps, Lifetime movies. I haven't sunk that low.

Rather, my sense of adventure led me to Bravo's "Party Party." I think it is their version of Sweet Sixteen, the little glimpse of which left me to deduce that it's an exploration of spoilt, rich brats squandering their parents' money on their graduation party? Like I said, it was a glimpse.

I watched only one episode of it the other day. It showcased two families whose daughters were graduating from high school, and how they planned to throw the most fabulous party, like, ever.

What prompted me to write this blog is my ever increasing amazement at the parents, as observed in this show, and various youth-oriented networks.

This one mother encouraged her underage child to drink secretly, and protected her and her friends when the police showed up. In her drunkeness, she slapped her young son across his face because he didn't resign to his room as told, and later carried on an argument with her husband before the children. All the while whining that he wasn't "on her side."

I'm not a parent yet. But I like to think that I'm putting serious thought in child-rearing before I have my own. I don't believe in making your child your friend. I believe strongly in not sparing the rod. I believe in spanking, but not in anger. I believe in being able to dictate what my child wears to school and in picking out the clothes. I don't think the child should hold on to gift money, when it should be deposited in a savings account.

I fear the day when I flip on the television and see my offsprings prostituting themselves in some R-rated Cancun expose. I hate to think that they would resort to reality TV as the means to a livelihood, like those oversexed, constantly drunk twentysomethings Real Worlders and Road Rulers.

I understand that these perceptions are shaped by what the entertainment industry provided. But something has gone wrong somewhere in their upbringing. And I wonder what.