money matters

sometimes i wonder where people get there 'people skills' from. apparently they were available in a Corn Flake box round bout the time my dad was born. he lacks so much style n smoothness in the way he treats my mum, and other ppl too. things like work and some stupid dvd's seem to sit alot higher on his priorities than spending time with his wife. its my mums birthday today.

she just had a call from her mum, but cud hardly hear anything that was being said bcs Dad decided he wanted to watch a movie that was kinda loud. i will say tho, that he did have it kinda low AND we hav a cordless, so really mum cuda just left the room to avoid noise ruining their conversation. so they are both as stubborn as each other. but dad really screwed up wen he said "ive been tryingto watch this movie since 6 o'clock"...omg. REAL SMOOTH. like AS IF that justifies ignoring ur wife on her bday. mum was less than impressed to say the least. i guess instead of sitting here, i shud go n console her. but she's been a little funny all day. a little hard to talk to. so im just not really in the mood for someone who is going to shut me off anyway. considering it was her bday it was hardly a special day for her. so i feel a little bad that i didnt go out of my way, as i usually do, to try n make it special. but she always says "dont make a fuss etc etc"...so this yr i didnt. n she seemed upset. almost offended. we spent all day doing nothing. haha. i asked her if she wanted to go anywhere n she said no, that she was happy staying in. which was fine with me. i had no plans to leave the apartment thats for sure. then, after dinner, while we did the dishes together i sensed a feeling of disapointment within her. i apolagised that it wasnt a very exciting day. she sighed and mumbled something about it not being the first birthday that was non-eventful. ahhhh woteva. i ignored that comment.u cant say stuff like that. n u cant act like that if u've asked ppl NOT to makea fuss over u. geeeeeeeeeeeeez. i just dont get either of my parents sometimes.their behaviour is that of a child.

another issue thats "HOT" in the news is the money owed from shani's recent trip to beijing. last weekend she went to beijing on a youth camp. she, as well as mum n dad were under the impression that the camp was only 400 Yuan. as this is wot the camp forms had written on them. however wen shani got on the train to beijing she was approached and asked for her camp fee's. when she handed over the 400 yuan she was asked where the rest of the money was...the camp was actually 1000yuan!!! shani only had 400 yuan on her, apart from 200yuan spending money and the train had already left dalian so she couldnt bail on the camp and go home. poor chicken.she must have been so embarassed.

When she got home she told us all about it. Mr Bowman (the camp co-ordinatar, family friend n father of shani's best friend, natalie) had to fork out for the remaining 600yuan that shani didnt have on her. the camp was totally unorganised. they were told that they were going up to the mountains...but they didnt, they were in the same 'hotel' as last time. which had NO hot water mind u.HOW u pay 1000 yuan to have no hot water for showers for a weekend is beyond my comprehension.and to top it all off, the girls got the 'japanese rooms', with stupidly thin mattresses on the floor, while the guys got all the plush rooms with lovely beds. no prizes forg uessing what sex was in charge of the camp..yep a BLOKE...RUDE!!! i mean far out.SINCE WHEN do guys get prefernce over girls anyway? ESPECIALLY on a christian camp. its just how things r done! but i know the male leaders that went on that camp and they are all arrogant pigs so im not suprised.

we felt that there was no reason we should have to pay that extra 600Yuan as the forms that my parents signed only said 400 yuan. but apparently that 400 Yuan only covered the costs of the camp, not the transport. omg. i pretty much went nuts wen i heard that. like AS IF the transport isnt part of the camp! and therefore part of camp fee's. wot did they expect the parents to say to the kids "oh here, take 600 yuan, JUST IN CASE you need to pay for transport. *sigh*

the ppl who payed for shani are also the ppl that organised the camp. n they hav been getting a little anxious to b re-imbersed. so much so, that they grounded their daughter (shani's best friend) becos shani hadnt paid them back! if thats not crap parenting i dont know wot is. they said that natalie was in charge of 'spreading the word' of camp costs n she hadnt done her job properly. wot a load of CRAP. mr bowman is the youth leader. HE wrote the forms for camp therefore it was HIS responsibility to communicate the TRUE costs of camp,not a happy-polished-con-artist version of camp costs.*sigh*

either way, despite my willingness to have a go at mr bowman for being a d---head i somehow spoke my parents into not joining me. we came to the conclusion that since shani was 1 out of 3 ppl that made the same mistake (out of about 150-200 kids) that she must have somehow had a clue of the real price...now that 600 yuan is coming out of her savings. :-( i feel sorry for her. but i see logic in their decision. she is pretty upset tho. but even said herself that she's learnt her lesson. she wont be going on any more youth camps organised by mr bowman thats for sure...which sadly includes the mission trip to thailand planned for january. i can tell she's heart broken about that. but secretly mum n i both agreed it wasnt safe for her to go anyway. we dont trust mr bowman at all anymore.

i just hate disorganisation sooo much. and especially wen it involves something like a youth camp. bad organisation doesnt just stop at paper work, it continues thru to leadership,bad advice and stupid actions. i guess im thankful that this lack of organisation only lead to a 600 yuan hole in shani's savings - not a serious injury of my baby sis. this sure has shown me how organised the youth sector of my church is. something like that wud NEVER happen. everything is conducted in excellence.

just goes to show how ugly money makes things. it made me think, after going thru all of this stupidity, that i dont ever want alot of money. why wud u. it nearly ruined some friendships. id imagine its at least wounded them permenantly. money just messes up so many things, even tears families apart, as my poor tyrone knows all too well :-(

well thats my release for the day *sigh*