August 10, 2009

  • I might just go crazy with all that is happening today.

    So, the entire immediate family decided they want to get a dog (how I happen to be the odd man out in this still confuses me). Okay, that sounds cute enough.

    Oh, wait, we still have a fish, a toad, a hamster, and a rabbit to take care of. Now, personally, I do think a person can handle a large amount of pets. However, I also know the amount of attention a dog desires and the amount of attention we give our current pets. Fishes and toads need little attention; hamsters and rabbits are another story. Plus, there's the damn principle behind it. Everyone is crowding around a book, looking and which dog is cuter and which one they want - it's like a present. It's like the idea behind buying crap - you're excited because it's something new and the idea of dealing with the item for an entire lifetime you don't bother to acknowledge.

    Alright, fine, let's give them the benefit of the doubt (as is fair) that they can give equal and proper attention to all five animals and properly care for them.

    How about we look at our financial situation. You see, my brilliant mother has a spending issue. This first manifested itself in the form of credit card debt - very, very large credit card debt. Since barely recovering from that fiasco, my father tries and tries to have her learn the concept of not spending money when we're not in a position to spend.

    Okay, great, struggling to pay the mortgage every month - fantastic place to be in. Now, let's add in the concept of tuition payment for college, shall we? To illustrate it better, debt+debt=BAD.

    Now, let's add a dog into it with which we have to pay for, pay for its food, pay for other expenses that may come up (vet, infections, etc.) - plus all the other pets you're already paying for.

    Ohh, the Obama plan allowed for us to cut 1,000 dollars from the mortgage  I'm pretty sure the concept behind the plan was to cut expenses from you so that you could better address your current expenses - not make more of them.

    Furthermore, if anything, it's the mindset behind the whole damn thing: "I have more money - therefore, I must spend it."

    NO!

    Unless you're one of those special people whose income greatly out ranks their debts, you need to take advantages of those little breaks you get and not spend that extra money you earn. A raise does not equal buy a new car. This is basic monetary handling, people. Not only does that car depreciate the second you get it off the lot, you put yourself in the same position (or worse) as you were before because that extra money is spent.

    Alright, fine, say all my points are moot and I'm just talking out of my arse. If you so think so.

    How about we revisit my mother's last interaction with a dog.

    Because, in my mother's infinite amount of graciousness and caring, she doesn't do well when animals ruin her house (such as pooping around the house and making noise - you know, we're supposed to expect better from untrained animals, of course). So, she finds that beating them is the appropriate solution to her problems.

    Now, I've gone over the detrimental aspects of such actions before multiple times in past entries on xanga (in case it's not obvious enough); I won't do so here.

    I'll simply say this - this idea is all around stupid and idiotic and I cannot fathom, for the life of me, why I seem to be the only one to realize this.

    Yes, it's possible they may take care of all of them fine. Yes, it's possible to handle the money financially with the purchase of a dog (though that still puts a lot of it to luck and assumes nothing unexpected will shoot up - and allows for this really bad habit of buying, when you're bored, something new to continue). Yes, it's even possible that she won't beat this dog, for a variety of reasons.

    It's also possible it can go an entire two weeks without raining in Massachusetts (or most of the east coast) during non-snowing seasons - you don't see me placing money on that anytime soon. She touches that animal and I swear to God I'm calling an animal protection agency.