Opinions Opinions

During the past couple of days, since the news of Robin Williams death. The internet has be plagued with post about their love for Robin Williams. Picture after picture. Heartfelt message after heartfelt message. He truly was an incredible man, a man who filled my childhood with laughter. He was a comic genius, and extremely talented. He bought life to any movie that he was apart of, he put 110% into everything that he did, and it showed.

On the flip side of the love that people have for Robin. There are the opinions, so many opinions about his death. It has been ruled as a suicide and linked to extreme depression. So of course that has now opened a can of worms in regards to whether depression is a viable illness, or that suicide is ok or not ok. People think that he is now free, which does send a message that suicide is ok. So then the opposing side come back and say that no it is not ok, that suicide is not the answers. I myself am not going to give me opinion. I know what it is and if I talk to someone about it in person I will share it. But on the internet and in this current situation, I think that we need to sometimes just keep our opinions to ourselves. Plus there are plenty more out their, and you don't have to look hard to find them.

In regards to Robin Williams, I'm choosing to remember him for the amazing work that he did, and not the way his life ended. He was a man that touched world, with his little spark of genius. I watched Mrs Doubtfire the night I found out he died, it truly is one of my most favorite movies of all time, and that's how I'll remember him. As Mrs Doubtfire, as Peter Pan, as the Genie, as Teddy Roosevelt, as 'Wizard', as a reverend several times, as Fender, as Bicentennial Man, and as the Professor in Flubber. I will remember him for the laughs that he gave me, and the characters that I remember.

I just want to end by saying that Depression is a mental illness, one that you can seek help for. But also remember that if your friend or family member doesn't seem fine, ask them if they are ok. Be persistent, because as a society we have somewhat turned asking for help into a shameful thing, it's not an easy thing to do. So instead we need to maybe just look outside of ourselves and see the people around us, just stop for a minute in a hectic lives and think about the ones we love. Because there is always time for that.

A weekend with Bek

Last weekend my friend Bek came into town from Virginia where she is also an AuPair. Bek and I have known each other since we were 9 years old. We have been at school together on and off since then. We had Sociology class together last year, and it was during this time that Bek was talking about this whole AuPair thing. Something I honestly didn’t even know existed. So it’s all on Bek that I’m here. 

It’s so nice knowing that someone you have known for so long, and someone from home is in the same country as you. She came down late Friday night, which began with some excitement. It turns out the bus stop she was at wasn’t the one that I was at. So when she arrived it began with the challenge of trying to actually find her. On the way there I look in my rear view to find that a cop is behind me flashing his lights. Oh shit went through my head and my heart started pounding. I couldn’t for the life of me figure out what I had done wrong. I knew I wasn’t speeding and I had literally been driving in a straight line for a while, so I couldn’t have made a wrong turn. Turns out I hadn't put my headlights on. The car I drive has automatic dim lights that are on all the time, and as the city of Philadelphia is well lit, I didn’t notice that my main lights weren’t on. He didn't give me a ticket or anything, just told me to be more cautious. After that I finally found Bek a this stage is was 12.45am.

It took us another 45 minutes to get back to the house and by this stage I was overtired and wide awake, however we were good and went straight to bed as we had a busy weekend ahead planned. Saturday morning we awoke and had to head off to my stupid monthly meeting that I have with other AuPairs in my area and my LCC (Local Childcare Coordinator). The meeting was at my LCC house, and what I thought would only take an hour, took nearly three! This is due to the fact that my LCC doesn’t have any friends and we are the only people she can talk to once a month. I’m actually being serious, she doesn’t even talk about things relevant to us, it’s all about her. Anyway we finally left and headed to the shops. Something I thoroughly enjoy doing nowadays. We shopped for a couple of hours and then went to the supermarket to get some healthy food for dinner… Um did I say healthy? I mean ice-cream and Potato Gems. We headed back to the house where we had a pretty boring evening. There was absolutely no alcohol consumed, no swimming, and no fun had at all.

The next day we arose and headed into Philadelphia for a little bit of what I like to call ‘tourist time’! We went down to the water front an area called Penns Landing. When we got down there we couldn’t figure out why on earth this area had been recommended to us as there was nothing and no one down there. After walking a couple of miles we found out what they had been talking about. There was an event that had been set up for the months of July and August. There were around 50 hammocks set up in the park, food stalls, a beer garden, plus a heap of shipping containers converted into mini arcades. 

Bek soon found out that the big love sign was in fact in Philadelphia and not New York. So we left the waterfront and headed there. We took a few snaps, then headed to Max Brenner for some chocolatey goodness for dinner. I can just say it was amazing, and extremely healthy! After we were put into a chocolate induced coma, we tried to shop a little, with only a small amount of success. By this time Bek needed to be back on her bus. So we said so long, farewell, and I drove off into the sunset towards Jersey Shore. The land of people who look like tanned leather bags!