Trading Places

I happened to stumble into this week's expisode of Trading Places or Wife Swap or whatever that show is where families trade mothers for a week. Did you see it? My god! It was . . . I don't even know what to say about it. In one family the Dad is an astrologer and the Mom is a hypno-therapist. They're newlyweds, met on Match.com, and have a call-in radio show about relationships. Their garden is full of gargoyles. They celebrate solstice and eat tofu and soy products . . . The other family is christian, and by christian I mean of the "born-again saved and everyone else is going to hell" variety, the hellfire and brimstone type. The mother seems to be particularly possessed by Jesus.

So, they switched households. And everyone had a HUGE culture shock. But still the astrologer's family and friends seemed open to the new mom, saying grace before meals and things they normally didn't do. The christian family even seemed open to the new mom, the daughter had a hypno-therapy session with her. The hypno-therapist herself really seemed to want to make the most of the experience. But the christian mom! Wow! I mean I know these people exist, but to see this woman freak out like she does, literally throwing up from her fear of things "not of god" (which is just about everything), it's pretty wild. And her friends back in her town were so terrible! So judgemental and closed off and full of themselves!

The whole show made me feel ill. I wanted to turn it off, but I couldn't. To know that these people are real, not characters, and that so much of society agrees with them, it's just appalling. There is absolutely nothing you could ever say to these people that would convince them to live and let live, not even to toss their beliefs, but just to tolerate other belief systems. When that friend kept attacking that poor woman about her religion, air quoting "a higher power" with her nose all curled up . . . I wanted to go through the tv screen and slap the smirk off her face. The arrogance! It was really upsetting to me . . . and this was only the first half. Apparently, next week as the show ends the christian mom tosses a shit fit like we've never seen the like of before, renouncing everyone in jesus' name, tearing up the letter from the other mom telling them how the money they've all won is supposed to be spent, kicking the camera crew out of her house . . . I don't know that I'll watch. I think I've seen enough.

Mood: got an achy knee
Drinking: nothing, just polished off a bottle of water
Listening To: boys in the yard . . . one just said he was going to break another's arm . . . are they joking or fighting for real? Are they MY boys or visitors? Things that make ya go hmmm.
Hair: pulled back so tight my head hurts