7-12-10

In case you missed it...

A VACATION WRAP-UP, THE JERSEY SHORE, SURFING, SHARKS AND A WATER PARK
The Rosie Radio crew is back from vacation! And after a few minor technical issues with Rosie's headphones the show was under way. And then it was time to discuss what everyone did on their vacations! Jeannie said she didn't really have a vacation because she was still working. Jeannie is a early childhood speech-language pathologist and I'm assuming she meant she was still providing speech therapy for her clients during the past two weeks. Lou shared that he went to one of Rosie's favorite hangouts in Nyack, Casa Del Sol. Lou said that Nyack is a "weird town." He said he couldn't get a good feel for it and he said it's like "The Village meets a ski town." He didn't like the meal he ordered at Casa and Rosie recommended to him their blue cheese encrusted steak. He said that he spent $15 on one pack of cigarettes while he was there and Rosie audibly gasped at the cost of cigarettes!

Jeannie sent a mass email last night to everyone on the staff to let them know there would be dessert for them at the studio today to help ease them in the transition back to work. She made a chocolate Heath Bar crunch cake and then described it in detail!! YUM!

Then it was time to hear what Rosie did on her vacation! Rosie went to the Jersey Shore and hung out with Snooki and The Situation. (LOL, just kidding, just wanted to check to see if you were paying attention). Rosie and her girlfriend Tracy each drove up with the kids to a shore house that they rented on the Jersey Shore in Loveladies. Rosie said they had a great time but the owner of the house neglected to mention to them that the house next door to where they were staying was under construction! This meant that every morning they were awakened to the sounds of jackhammering and men yelling and fighting. Not only was it loud in the morning but you couldn't spend a lot of time outside the house because of the noise. Aside from that, they had a lovely time but Rosie said next year she would like a house with a pool and maybe less noise.

Rosie said the water was beautiful and she even went surfing! Tracy is a surfer and to teach Rosie how to get up on her board Tracy drew a surfboard in the sand. She then proceeded to show Rosie how to get up on her board by pretending the sand-drawn surfboard was a real board. Rosie thought this was way funny and had Tracy show her how to do it many, many times. Rosie did surf but she never really got all the way up.

Also the second day of their trip there was a Great White Shark being tracked along the shore. They chose not to tell the kids of the shark warning so they wouldn't be scared to get in the water and luckily no one got eaten.

Rosie and the family did go to a water park while they were at the shore. Rosie said, "If you're famous and fat, a water park is a bad place to be." Initially, Rosie stayed back with the towels and bags while Tracy went out and tried a few water slides. When she returned she wanted Rosie to try some! Tracy again wanted to know if this wasn't something on her bucket list. This is a frequent tactic Tracy uses to try to get Rosie to try something new. And I have to say, Rosie may make fun of Tracy for it but it ends up working because Rosie usually gives in! Who's the winner in that scenario?! That's all I'm sayin. Rosie told a hilarious story of riding a luge water slide and how all she could do was think about the luger who died during the Olympics. At one point she fell off her tube and screamed and lifeguards had to jump in and save her. Janette added to this story saying that she once got stuck on a water slide when she was heavier so it could have been worse.

FIREWORKS, JULY FOURTH, AUTISM, LIFE WITH GPS AND PARKER AT CAMP
Rosie said that they celebrated the Fourth of July at a restaurant at the shore where they could watch the fireworks. There was an Elvis impersonator at the restaurant. Rosie said fake Elvis was sweet and nice to the kids and all Vivi wanted to do was give him a tip for his tip jar. Fake Elvis was also very sweet to Tracy's son Wyatt who absolutely LOVED the fireworks. Wyatt is Tracy's youngest son who has Down Syndrome. Rosie talked for a few minutes about how special Wyatt is and how he enthusiastically appreciates so many things that typical people do not even notice.

Tracy did lots of planning for things to do as a family while they were at the shore and one of the things she was excited to do as a family was to make cheese as a group! Yep. They made their own cheese. That has to be a first at the Jersey Shore.

On the way back to Nyack from their trip Tracy took one car full of kids and Rosie took another car full of kids. Both cars stopped at a rest stop together but then they drove home separately. Tracy put "home" into her GPS and ended up driving all the way back to the shore house! Whoops!

Rosie and Chelsea also went to visit Parker at his Academic camp during their two week break. Parker has chosen to attend a fairly difficult high school in the fall and in order to be fully prepared for the course-load they recommended he go to a 5-week sleep away camp. He is now in week two of the five week camp. Rosie said that she used the GPS to help navigate her way up to the New Hampshire camp and then Janette and Rosie then discussed the wonders of GPS and how it is so different than using a map like in the olden days. ;)

Rosie said they're going to make the Jersey Shore trip a family tradition for every year over the 4th of July!

Rosie's friend and makeup artist, Eric, came with them to the shore. When Eric first arrived at the house Archie's friend Connor was over. Archie is Tracy's 9 year old son who has Autism and Connor is Archie's 6 year old friend who also has Autism. Rosie thinks Connor is so funny and she just loves him. Connor had never met Eric and when he walked in Connor said "Oh my God, Archie! How did you get so big?" Rosie told Connor that that was her friend Eric, not Archie and Connor said that Eric was "Archie from the future." Rosie thinks Connor is gifted in his thinking and she loves his quirkiness and unique way of seeing the world. Over vacation, she read House Rules and she recommended it to the listeners. House Rules is a story about a boy with Asperger's who is accused of murder. Rosie really liked the book except for its ending. She and the staff talked about Autism and how interesting it is how kids with Autism see the world. Rosie compared it to her son Blake who has Auditory Processing Disorder who once took everything that was said literally. Rosie admitted that she's totally fascinated with Autism and she also recommended the book The Curious Incident of the Dog at Midnight to her listeners.

ANTI-DEPRESSANTS, BED AND BREAKFASTS, AND SEEING YOUR PARENTS CRY
Rosie shared that she's been off her anti-depressant medication for a month now and said it is interesting to her how different she feels. She had trouble putting it into words what the exact difference is but she said she remembers feeling similarly before she ever needed medication. She also said the medication she has been on for the past 10 years was very necessary for her survival. She attributed her ability to get off of the drugs to the use of bio-identical hormones she is taking for her menopause. The Rosie Radio staff talked about the frequency of use of antidepressants amongst their friends and the high incidence of anti-depressant prescriptions that are given out. Jeannie recently went on anti-depressants and said that they have really helped her be there for her daughter who has really needed her lately. For Jeannie, the anti-depressants are completely necessary for her right now. Jeannie did say that they went to see Toy Story 3 as a family and everyone around her was sobbing and she couldn't shed a tear, she wondered if it had anything to do with the anti-depressants she was on.

Rosie said that she and Chelsea had reservations to stay at a Bed and Breakfast in New Hampshire when they went to visit Parker. She is generally not a fan of Bed and Breakfasts and when they checked out the room where they were going to stay it was full of "antiques" and it was way too hot. They had a hard time finding a place to stay in the little town. Rosie and Chelsea ate at the restaurant in the hotel in town and she said the people there were so nice to them. She decided to turn on the questions on her blog while she as there because they sometimes use the topics people write in to her about for show ideas. When she checked the questions later, a mean blogger named Tom wrote to her and told her how he was at the restaurant at the hotel and he could barely finish his meal because of how fake and horrible she was. Rosie doesn't understand why people choose to be so mean just for the sake of being mean. She also said that everyone in that town was so nice to her and that most people generally are and she doesn't understand why she lets the horrible things a few people say bother her so much. This totally reminded me of a poem called Incident by Countee Cullen. You can hear a million nice things about yourself but it's always the one mean thing someone says to you that you remember and you think must be true. Why is that?! Janette referenced a book entitled Lafcadio's Adventures by Andre Gide about gratuitous violence. The reference gave the staff a big chuckle because no one had ever heard of the book or the author and Janette often has an obscure reference to some random author or novel that no one has ever heard of.

Rosie explained that her family is not a big "sleep away camp" family. She said that Chelsea went to a horse camp last year and that this year she is going to Outward Bound but that's been it. Parker is doing really well and getting great grades at his summer camp but as she and Chelsea were leaving he started to cry and said he wanted to come home. She said it broke her heart to pieces. Rosie said she cried as they drove away from the school and that Chelsea, who was riding with her, wasn't comforting to her as she was crying. Deirdre said that was because you rely on your parents to be your rock and when you see them crying it can make you feel unsafe. Jeannie agreed and said that when her younger kids see her crying they become completely undone. Rosie said she wanted to scoop Parker up and bring him home even though he had made this very adult decision to go to this Academic Summer School to prepare for high school. Deirdre said she used to cry every time she went to summer camp. Janette said she has an "underground documentary" about boys at camp that's never been released and told Rosie she'd give it to her to watch.

Rosie took several callers who sent their kids to sleep away camps and who attended sleep away camps themselves. Rosie said as a parent, sometimes her heart cannot take the amount of love she has for her kids. Rosie has emailed Parker 4 times since she's left. He's allowed to receive email but he's not allowed to send any. One caller sent her 7 year old and 11 year old to sleep away camp for 28 days which completely horrified Rosie! Rosie took several callers about the pros and cons of summer camps and why parents do it and why it's good for kids. Jeannie, ever the one to call Rosie out on her BS, said that Rosie needs to be careful because it's as if she's implying that those who love their children most want them at home and those who don't send them away to summer camp. She also said that many of Rosie's hangups about sleep away camps are about her feelings and not her childrens'. Janette said there can be value in the struggle of camp and said that the definition of courage is not the person who doesn't feel fear but the person who feels fear and does it anyway. Conversely, if I can add my two cents, humans are the only animals on the planet who feel fear and talk themselves out of it. Every other animal feels that gut instinct and retreats when they feel fear. For example, a woman who feels that a stranger might be unsafe yet doesn't flee because she does not want to appear rude. She is then taken advantage of because she didn't trust her gut. I'm just saying, fear can be useful too sometimes. Rosie eventually had to change the subject so she could call her therapist because she was getting all emotional talking about it.

MEL GIBSON - WHAT THE "F"
Rosie started the next topic but simply saying "Mel Gibson, dear Lord, what the F!" Rosie explained Mel's history of saying some very hateful things over the years. In the December 1, 1991, issue of El Palms Sunday magazine, Mel said some very bad things about homosexuals. Gibson was asked his opinion of homosexuals and he replied “They take it up the ass.” According to the reporter, Mel laughed, got up, bent over, pointed to his butt, and continued, “This is only for taking a shit.” He also said “With this look, who’s going to think I’m gay? I don’t lend myself to that type of confusion. Do I sound like a homosexual? Do I talk like them? Do I move like them?" He refused to apologize and said he would only do it when hell freezes over. Here is an article about that instance.

In 2006, Mel had a drunken anti-Semitic tirade against a female police officer. In the police report filed after his arrest it says that Mel launched into a barrage of anti-Semitic statements including "Fucking Jews... The Jews are responsible for all the wars in the world." Here is an article about that incident.

NOW Mel has done it again and Rosie said that this incident was even harder for her to believe....until she actually heard it. Mel and his girlfriend are broken up and she tried to get a restraining order against him because she had said he knocked her teeth out. She then began to record some of the phone calls. The phone calls were released to the media and they played the audio....

Rosie wondered how his real self has managed to stay hidden for so long? Pete suggested that Mel hides it so well because we only typically see him in his roles and not as himself. Pete said that Mel's religious experience is all centered on pain and he said he cannot be considered a mainstream Catholic. Rosie's first thought when something like this is exposed about a celebrity is that they're going to kill themselves because to have your essence exposed for who you really are seems irrecoverable. Pete said that Mel comes from a twisted religious belief that God hates him and therefore he hates everyone else. Jeannie's first thoughts when she heard this phone call audio was what happened to Mel in his life to make him like this. A listener called in to talk with Rosie and said that Mel's behavior is alcoholic behavior whether he's actually drinking or not. The caller said she was shaking because she was once in a relationship like this. Rosie thanked the caller for her phone call and told her how happy she was for her that she was free from that horrible relationship.

Rosie ended the show commenting that she doesn't think she will ever be able to get Mel's tirade towards the mother of his baby out of her head.

And that's what you missed -kw