A Final Miss Thing Update

This will be the final update on Miss Thing for a while. Here's the email I sent to Miss WTF and Mumfies explaining what was going on with my First Daughter, and I think it will explain why I'm done talking about it:

:::cue flashback music::: As you know, Miss Thing left last week to start her new life in America. The new life that was her idea because her life here was so terrible. She was off to live with Gabe & Mrs. Gabe under their condition that she go to school, which she agreed to. A new life, new opportunities.

Cut to present. Or a few weekends ago... We started getting clues that she wasn't serious about this whole move. Clues like, oh I don't know... the bit of bling she was wearing on her left ring finger. The bit of bling she resolutely didn't talk to us about. The bit of bling that we thought couldn't possibly mean what we thought it meant... until we found a notebook full of wedding ideas. Clues like the credit card she was supposed to be paying off but didn't... oh sure she paid it, but charged it right back up again. Of course this was my fault as the $50 a week I transferred into her account plus the pantry full of food I left while we were away wasn't enough. Explains all the charges for Maccas and clothes. Clues like her total absence from the house instead of packing up her stuff. Clues like her lack of doing anything she was supposed to do before she left, like researching schools.

Still we held out hope that once she got there on her one way ticket she'd pull her head out of her backside. After all this was HER idea!

So she got on the plane last Monday with her friends who would travel with her to NC (via Las Vegas and NYC... nothing like your third OS holiday in two years on your way to your new life). By Tuesday I was getting text messages saying she thought she'd made a horrible mistake. Before I even had time to text back that she'd only just gotten there and to give it some time I was getting messages that she was coming back to Australia WITH HER FRIENDS! What a coincidence, I thought! To be able to get tickets not only from NC to LA but back to Brisbane on the same flight as her friends when she has so little money! How fortunate!

Yeah, and not only was I born yesterday, but I fell of the back of the turnip truck as I did so with a deed to a bridge I'd like to sell you.

To say that I'm angry and disappointed is something of an understatement. Mrs. Gabe is also most upset with Miss Thing as Mrs. Gabe turned down a teaching job at Duke University in order to help Miss Thing, and knowing that Miss Thing had no intentions of staying but is trying to pass it off like she did? Not. Happy. Jan.

When I pointed out to Miss Thing what her aunt had given up, she became angry with me and asked me why I was trying to make her feel bad. At least that's what I think she meant - her text said "... make me feel." But let's go with my explanation. Then she pulled out the high drama and said she'd just stay out of everyone's life since she couldn't do anything right anyway. I don't think she liked it very much when I told her that it was her choice and to enjoy her journey.

The last time I heard from her was Saturday, when she texted me tell me she was in NYC. Ta, I said. She asked if I was still mad at her. Uh, yes. How long was I going to be mad at her? Until she's 25, suggested The Hermit (who, I have to say, has been so good through all of this - he's really stepped up and stayed remarkably calm). Instead I said that her asking showed a remarkable lack of insight and I wouldn't discuss it further. Haven't heard from her since.

I also note how quiet she's been on Facebook. No announcements of her plans. Of course it would be nice if she hadn't lied to her friends as well, telling them the same story she'd told us. I know this after seeing her BFF S at the pool on Saturday and he asked me how she was as he hadn't heard from her since Monday. I told him he could ask her when he saw her next week. Yeah, I know that look he had on his face as I had the same one on Tuesday.

So she's due back in Brisbane next week, will be moving in with her... whatever he is since we haven't been told anything about the diamond on her finger... and has just generally pissed a whole lot of people off. She has no job and still no plan.

And this, my bloggy friends, is why I'm pretty much over the antics of Miss Thing. I love her, but I just don't like her right now. This was written last week, so she should be back in Brisbane by now. Her things have been cleared out of the house by her... whatever-he-is... with the remains being moved by us. Her dresser is on the front veranda and when she comes to collect it I really hope I'm not here as I am still so upset that I don't trust what would come out of my mouth.

So don't expect many updates as regards her. I have 3 other children plus a husband who need my attention, not to mention my own sanity. Sure she could've done a lot worse things, but I'm tired of making excuses for her lies. It just hurts too much.

Me Speak Good English, Honest

I read this article in my local rag newspaper this morning, and I wanted to hit my head on the kitchen counter in frustration:

Australian denied nurses registration until he passes English test

The first three paragraphs sum it up nicely:

ENGLISH is the only language Gerard Kellett has ever spoken, but he has been denied registration as a nurse until he passes a competency test in his native tongue.

The 41-year-old Australian citizen recently completed a Bachelor of Nursing Studies at the Queensland University of Technology with honours and had been offered a job as a graduate nurse at the Royal Brisbane and Women's Hospital, starting this month.

But the Australian Health Practitioner Regulation Agency, which registers nurses, has told him he must first pass an English language test because he completed high school in Northern Ireland, not Australia.

Look, I'm all for making sure people working in health care can understand English and be understood in English, which is what Australians speak. But I'm pretty sure they speak English in Ireland. In fact I'm fairly certain it's the primary language. In addition, the guy has not just one, but 3 university degrees, all earned here in Australia. Don't you think that should count for something in assessing his English skills? I'm not against a test per se - which by the way costs $535 and takes up to 2 months to correct - but to apply it in this way is insane. Surely an assessment of English skills during the university degree could be done so that those who really need the test - and not just those educated outside of Australia, but EVERYONE - can take it and those who have a working knowledge of English can not waste their time and money and get right to work? And I do mean everyone - I've read some shocking nursing notes in my day that look like a 12 year old wrote them. Not the penmanship, but the grammar. Penmanship is another issue.

What was actually worse were some of the comments left. In summary - people from other countries are hard to understand with their accents and so they should sit the test. Where's that brick wall again for me to bash my head against??? People can be so effing dense. So taking the test will somehow take away their accents? Well hell, why didn't someone tell me I can erase my accent by shelling out $535 and waiting two months? Oh and hey, can you pass me that dictionary so I can show you the definition of xenophobia?

I get that with my accent I can be hard to understand sometimes. It's why I consistently spell certain words for people - because experience has taught me many Australians won't understand me the first time. But to assume that because I have an accent that is different to yours it means I'm not smart enough to be your nurse? Kinda ignorant. Which is what I think of the AHPRA in this case - kinda ignorant.