"I always get exactly what I want."

This seems to be the week for 'packaging'. First we have a Harvard-bound teenager whose life and 'book' are packaged; then we have parents who are going all out to package their daughter as a 'celebrity'. I was joking with my sixteen-year old daughter about the fact that one great thing about her dyslexia and ADD is that her mediocre grades have put her out of the running for admission to a high-profile university and she (not to mention her single working mom!) will get to skip all the expense and pressure of applying to one of those elite institutions. It's the local community college for this kiddo, and afterward she'll have to make her own way on the basis of hard work, talent, and actual accomplishments. Now I suddenly feel very grateful both for my daughter's 'disabilities' and for the fact that my annual income would barely cover one of the fancier cars Marissa sports about in. (Speaking of cars, my car is a 1988 Honda Accord assessed at $ 850; the car my daughter will drive is a low-mileage 1997 Honda Civic purchased from a friend with $5000 borrowed from the credit union.) Anyway, Mommas, don't let your kids grow up to be 'celebrities'.

I think vapidity is a large part of the human condition, and always has been. I don't think there's anything especially vapid about our times.

We can hope that the lesson "you can't always get what you want" will be delivered sooner rather than later, but I'm afraid that she'd just blame everyone around her, rather than taking any responsibility.

I'm glad no one had a national TV camera on me when I was 16, and I was not as bad as her. A raging jerk, yes, but not very spoiled. ;-)

Gee, my parents didn't provide me a 16th birthday party like that. I guess they didn't really love me. They merely provided me with food, clothing, and shelter and they heavily subsidized my education all the way to grad school. If only they had thought to give me killer birthday parties instead!

That was disgusting. I must purge my memory of ever seeing it.

A few weeks ago in a moment of weakness, I actually watched an episode of "My Super Sweet Sixteen." After seeing an example of "how the other half lives," I'm glad I'm in "this half" thank you very much. From an early age, my parents taught me the value of a buck and, before I was gainfully employed, if there was something I wanted to buy, to quote those Smith Barney commercials with John Houseman, "I earrrrrned it." That ethic stuck with me when I started paying taxes. Sometime ago, I decided I wanted to go to New Zealand. So, I saved for a year, did my own research about tour companies, and even had to convince the tour company I went with that, even though I use a wheelchair to get around, I didn't need a personal care attendant but that's a story for another time.

Even though I'm a registered independent with liberal leanings, I'm fiscally conservative. I'm no tightwad mind you, but a firm believer of living within your means.

Like Zeno, I must have had a deprived childhood because my parents merely made sure there was food on the table, a roof over my head and they put me through college. :) When it came for me to find "a roof of my own," every time I would talk to my parents about it, there would be a great big gap in the conversation where I could almost hear them thinking, "When is he going to ask us for money?" I never did because I was able to borrow from my 401(k) to cover the down payment on my place. When my Dad recently asked me about investing in his business venture, that same fiscal conservatism meant that I was able to become a 10% shareholder. I did it despite my "deprived childhood" :) because it was the right thing to do.