I am Emotionally Abused

Dear Avid Readers...I've always thought of myself as a strong, independant female who would never be caught in an abusive relationship. And as I get older I felt that with age came even more wisdom and strength. However, in the last three years I've begun a relationship with these two men below and realized that I am in an abusive relationship. I didn't really realize the extent of how abused I was until I read an article that outlined the details of abuse. I fit EVERY SINGLE ONE OF THEM!

Meet Sawyer (Abuser Number One)

Meet Jack (Abuser Number Two)

Here is how the article started off:

Let's just say you had an exciting, seductive, thrilling lover who mysteriously and secretively disappeared, leaving you with hundreds of unanswered questions. Eight months later, he's back. Do you give him an hour of your time? You do if he is a TV show, and if that TV show is Lost. Fans already know the deal: the ABC program is an exercise in exquisite torture, the primetime equivalent of an emotionally abusive relationship. What makes it abusive? Let us count the ways:


1. According to The National Domestic Violence Hotline, you may be in an emotionally abusive relationship if your partner (in this case, the show), tries to isolate you from family or friends. When you watch Lost, the world divides into two groups; those who also watch and those who don't. Even my own mother will be denied and ignored if she dares to call while I'm watching tonight. And heaven forbid if she asks, "What's the show about?"
The wellness site Third Age asks, Do you feel as if your partner keeps you dangling on a string? Does he or she seem to have all of the emotional control? Does this make your own life feel out of control? Yes, yes and yes! Lost leaves you dangling, controls emotions, makes you fall in love with foxy foxes, no-goodniks and heart-melters, muddles their backstories, confuses whether they are good or bad and then snatches them away from you just when you thought you could count on seeing them shirtless once a week.

2. Dr. Phil himself says a relationship might be abusive if your partner is making you afraid by using looks, gestures or actions. The black smoke is terrifying! So is Henry Gale/Ben Linus! So is the fact that people manifest things from their past -- Kate's horse, Jack's dad? Another mark of the emotional abuser is if the person makes light of the abuse and doesn't take your concerns about it seriously. You think they listened when I begged, "Please don't kill Mr. Eko!"? No!
You're being abused if your partner does not want you to work. Lost wants me to spend all day cross-referencing conspiracy theories, watching secret videos that may or may not hold insight and reading Hurley's blog. I just know it.

3. Lastly, emotionally abusive partners are known for punishing by withholding affection. It's been eight months! As Emily Nussbaum says in New York Magazine today: "Basically, we're kind of like John Locke: Befriend us under false pretenses, steal our kidney, smash us through a window, toss us in a mass grave! You're still our daddy, and we'll follow you anywhere."

I mean is it any more clear. I need help immediately!

Food For Thought

Dear Avid Readers, Just a fun, slow day in the office so I thought I would share with you some things that I've been thinking about...

First, since I've donated my hair back in August I haven't had a cut/trim since. I was looking through some old pictures and was thinking of some new looks as I want to get my hair cut in the next week or so. So, for my dear avid readers, please let me know whether you think I need bangs or no bangs.

Secondly, here is a first for Yours Truly, and I think it was due to this picture. First of all, this is my little nephew Max. He is tiny and perfect and adorable. Well, as I was looking at all the pictures of Max yesterday I fell in love with this one where he is in a stocking. Last night, I went home, ate some polenta, watched some Making the Band 4 and then went to bed. And dear avid readers, I had my first maternal dream. It was crazy. I dreamt that I was in the hospital about to deliver and I couldn't get a hold of anyone. Not the baby's daddy, not my mom, my brothers, or even girlfriends. And I kept trying to hold it in, but I ended up delivering a baby with the doctor looking very similar to the picture below Max.

This is the Shock Doc (Again I blame the postings of Royally F#%^ed for giving me vision of a Shock Doc) Either way, it was my first dream where I was a "mother" hmmmm interesting.

This next picture is for Yours Truly's little brother who is miles and miles away in another country. We had a fantastic chat today on gmail where I informed him that his brother and cousin both have decided to grow a mustache. After he laughed for a good three minutes he wrote that he can't wait to see it. Therefore, this post is for Rob. (do you see what I mean by 13 year old and catepillar?)

That's it folks. My dear avid readers with blogs and who actually update...I love reading them and promise to comment more!

Are my eyes deceiving me?

Dear Avid Readers. This may not be the nicest posting by Yours Truly, but the boy sent me a picture of him with his co-workers on a boat in China, and as I kept looking at the man in white at the front of the picture (the boy's BOSS) it suddenly dawned on me why he looked so familiar...

Dear Avid Readers...i give you Yao De Fen....The world's tallest woman. It's a bit scary the similarities...In fact I had to look twice.

Enjoy!

My Sister-In-Law

Dear Avid Readers. Yes, today is January 16th. Not only is today a Wednesday, but it is also the day that my fantastic sister-in-law was born 26 years ago. Having come from a family of ALL boys I had to make many female friends outside of the F.A.M. well, that is until my brother married this beautiful lady.

She is wonderful on the inside and out and I am so lucky to have her in my life.


Therefore, this post is dedicated to the top 10 reasons why May is Great!

10. She is able to take all he Lee/Yu crap that is dished out.
9. She not only married, but actually loves M.Lee.
8. When one throws up at her house she will make one xi-fan with ro-Shong. mmmmm
7. Even though it could've been the most humiliating event of the century, May stood up in front of the whole congregation as part of the F.A.M. and sang "Jesus (pronounced Hay-zeus) Loves Me This I Know."
6. She is a great Karaoker.
5. She has now made me NOT the shortest person in the family!
4. She usually is the one to teach me how to drill, build, and fix things around the house.
3. She's pretty amazing at Lily's Cafe which does not happen often.
2. I love that she kept her name as Yang-Lee
1. She is one of my favoritest person to go to for advice.

So happy birthday May. I can't wait to celebrate with you over the weekend! Yeah....ribeye...here we come!

2008!

Dear Avid Readers:
The vacation is over, 2007 is over, and we begin a whole new year with all new posts. Here are some pictures of Aunt Truly with little Maxwell. It was so nice to meet the little man, and he is SO small. I forget who little they are when they are less than a month old.

It was nice to see Anna and Scott. I can't believe how grown up they are. In fact, to embarrass us all at one point Scott was texting his friends and Jeffe grabbed the phone from him and read outloud, "Yeah, I'm stuck hanging out with a bunch of Twenty-Some-Year-Olds" well, jokes on him cuz I'm 30 sucka.

Here is a shot of some of the F.A.M. with Uncle Rob in the middle holding Max. Speaking of Uncle Rob, he left the day after this picture was taken with a one-way ticket to Taiwan. Yes, he is officially a resident of Taiwan and living with his girlfriends parents. When I asked him how that was going and if it was awkward his response was, "no, her mom and dad are both in China so we have the whole house to ourselves" so let the baby-making begin.

I also got a chance to see some High School Friends over Christmas break which was super nice. I realized as I sat drinking with my buddies that I am very lucky. Throughout Junior High, High School, College and Post college I've been adding and collecting friends and although it is to be expected that one should lose a couple friends here and there along the way, I am lucky that I have kept more than lost, which makes me happy. I have very few people I look back on and think, "I wonder where so-and-so is at now"

As for a New Years Resolution, Yours Truly has decided that this year I want to be more vocal in the things that i want and need. Specifically with work. As I still have to deal with Princess (yes the same crazy girl) everyday that I would play less a victim and more of an bystander. And I started with the fact that the other day she was very behind in her work, and since her work affects the rest of us I offered to help her with some. She hands me a HUGE stack (which I thought was rude as when someone offers to help you usually divide the stack evenly) anyways, as I was there typing away doing all her data entry I see her across the hall from my office chatting up a storm about her new "living room set" that her parents got her for Christmas. Before 2008 I would have sat there totally fuming and typed away, instead, I finished a handful of sheets and walked over to her and gave them right back to her saying, this was all I got to for today. I felt better.
Example 2:

Princess: "Hey I have a favor to ask of you"
Me: "yes?" (while continueing to type and work)
Princess: "well over Christmas I found this old friend of mine on Facebook and I realized she lives in Chicago so I was wondering if I could go on the next trip to Chicago instead of you?"
Me: "well, I am pretty sure Mark has already planned on me going during the january trip, but if you want to talk to him about it you certainly can."
Princess: "Well, I know that if I ask him he will say that you have family there, so I thought I would ask you, well what about the Chicago audition in March?"
Me: "Well clearly, because I have family there I will always say yes to going to Chicago, because it is important to me to see them, but, like I said, if you want to ask Mark about future Chicago auditions I can't stop you but that is something you two have to work out."
Then I proceeded to look down and do work and she walked out of my office. I mean she actually came in thinking I would trade my family in for "SOMEONE SHE JUST FOUND ON FACEBOOK!!!!" unbelievable. In 2007 I would have said sure, but now, I decided that I like going home with work so I was going to continue unless our boss says otherwise :)

And that, my dear avid readers, is a quick glance at the last week or so!