The Return of the Ex

     For those of you who haven't been watching Brothers and Sisters all the way through ever since they put all five seasons on Netflix, here's some brief background so you will understand what I am talking about. The Walker family from Pasadena experience things in their lives over five years that would literally cause most people to take a long walk off a short pier. One of the most common occurrences in this show is the fact that every season, at least two or three times, some ex-whatever of one of the Walkers comes barreling back into their lives for no good reason trying to either get back into the family or royally screw everything up.

     So we get the theme of this post: Unwanted guests. What is it about people that we don't want to see ever again making sure that one way or another they will always come back into your life at the most inopportune moment. These people always seem to manage to make themselves known when there is something going on where them being there is just wildly inconvenient.

But, even when it seems like everything is going wrong because they are back, we learn something about ourselves. These people, for good or ill, are part of who we are. They make up the base foundation of the lessons learned during our time with them. So when they come back into our lives we get scared. Scared of who we once were and scared that we might become that person again.

My advice for this? Embrace it. Don't be scared of who you once were but acknowledge the fact that without them you wouldn't be the person that you are today. I know that it sucks and I know that the last thing that we might want is to be reminded of the mistakes that all we want to do is leave behind but at the end of the day what has past has past and once we can accept that, once we can truly realize that the person we once were is gone and we are better for it life just doesn't seem so scary.

I'm out!

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Yeah this happened. Don't judge me.

Ok so I'm sitting here working over my second $1.59 PBR tall can from Safeway following a night of mangoritas with my girl Victoria and felt the sudden urge to put some works on a page. We decided to watch some shitty movies and drink some even shittier drinks and thus landed ourselves on 13 Going On 30. No night of fun times is complete without some shitty Jennifer Garner movie times. Because of my intoxication and lack of real thinking I have for you a sweet photo set of some of my personal fave insane fashions from the recent London Fall Fashion Week. Comment as you feel needed.

Well that's all for now. Comment what you want to see in the next couple of days and I'll do it!

I'm out!

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/bettencourtslife\
Twitter: @BettencourtP
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Money Can't Buy Happiness, But it Can Keep You Alive

So I sit here looking at my week ahead and I come to the harsh and yet totally normal reality that despite everything I find myself working almost every single day this week. Today is coaching. Thursday, Friday, Saturday is Urban Outfitters. And I can pretty much guarantee you that I will be working again on Sunday. And what is it all for? For the minimum wage pay that barely covers rent and food not to mention the gas getting from place to place, the utility bills to pay, being forced to eat out several times a week because I have a break from work and need food. So if money can’t buy you happiness, then why is it so damn important to live?

I decided, for laughs, to sit down and figure out how much I actually work a week when you factor in travel time and divide that by how much I make before taxes. I work approximate 37 hours a week if you factor in travel time. I get paid, however, monthly and so if you figure that we are looking at more like 148 hours of work/driving a month. And so, all in all, once it is all factored up I make approximately $7.80 an hour working.

For some out there, that might seem like a good amount of money especially if you live in a state where a living wage is $7 an hour because the cost of living is so cheap. I live in California, however, where the cost of living is so high that in our major cities we have a required $10 an hour minimum wage for within city limits to make up for the fact that rent to live there is so damn expensive. It would only figure to make sense then that in a city with such high rent and thus high wage that all other expenses, from groceries to gas, would be so highly inflated.

So why do I work so much in a city like Santa Cruz where everything is insanely expensive and nothing is free only to find money slipping out of my hands faster than I can bring it in? What’s the point? The point is that money, in life, is everything. Our entire society is built on the idea that you have to have money in some amount in order to live. Even the homeless, living on the streets, need to beg for enough money to buy food because without cash there would be no meal and without meals they were eventually die. And so while it may be said that money can’t buy happiness, it sure as hell will at least keep you alive.

I'm Out!


Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/bettencourtslife\
Twitter: @BettencourtP
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Top 5 Movies I Would Die Without

Every once in a while I like to delve into the lower side of writing and produce what I like to refer to as “ranty lists”. Basic principle is that some comes up with a comical (or what they feel is a comical) list of things that annoy/surprise/excite them. And so, with that, here is what I have come up with, in no particular order: My Top 5 Movies I Would Die Without.

1. Sweet Home Alabama (2002):

     So I know I may get some flak for this one but honestly this movie is incredible. You have Reese Witherspoon in her natural habitat as a down to earth Southern girl and Josh Lucas looking fine as hell as the hilarity ensues. The shining gem in this piece absolutely has to be Candice Bergen playing the cantankerous and overbearing mother-of-the-bride/New York City Mayor. Her classic one-liners and just overall nasty tone never fails to put a smile on my face.

2. Sex and the City (2008):

     Fashion, fun, flirt. This movie has everything a total spacey chick flick needs for a fabulously good time. Forget about the fact that this movie may or may not be considered and actually “good” film, it is definitely one that I know that if I sat down with a cosmo and a good grilled cheese I would be able to sit through the whole thing from start to finish (as yes, I have done this). The shining gem: naked Frenchmen. Yum.

3. Mean Girls (2004):

     Do I even need to list why I love this movie? Hands down the most quotable film ever made and I guarantee that I can recite the entire thing from beginning to end without even missing a step. Lindsey Lohan? Flawless. Rachel McAdams? Total bitch and great at it. Amanda Seyfried? No one can play stupid like she can. I would mention Gretchen Weiners but I don’t even know that actresses name. Womp womp. And none for Gretchen Weiners BYE! The shining gem: My favorite moment is when Gretchen kicks the stereo and it flies into the crowd and hits Jason in the face at an alarming speed.

4. The Lord of the Rings Trilogy (2001-2003):

     Definitely the most insanely amazing (and insanely long) movie trilogies ever made, Peter Jackson has taken one the most iconic books ever written and created an almost 10 hour masterpiece. If you ever have the chance to watch all three extendeds back-to-back DO IT. I know that it seems wildly different than the three I already listed but It is actually really incredible. The shining gem: the amazing comedic timing that takes a long fantasy epic and turns it into a perfectly paced film series.

5. Monsters Inc. (2001):

     Absolutely adorable and makes my boyfriend cry literally every time we watch it. Monsters Inc. takes everything that we were afraid of as kids and shows it in a lighthearted and fun way. Entertaining for adults and brilliant fun for kids, this movie makes me feel good every single time that I watch it and my life would not be the same without it. The shining gem: The Medusa haired Celia Mae inserting her own brand of crazy chick comedy into this wildly male dominated film.

Well folks, there it is. I know it’s not exactly ground breaking and I assure you that something else will come out any day now with some real substance. Until then…

I’m out!