Thursday, July 16, 2009

I'm Raging

Anyone who has followed this site for any length of time knows that I love to read. And anyone who knows me personally knows that even more than reading, I love to learn about other people's lives and experiences. Some might call that "being a interfering, nosy, busybody" .... I prefer to call it "being a people person" --- whatever. Just hush up about it.

So, when I got an invitation to review **this book**



written by Danny Evans of Dad Gone Mad,

I was all, "Score!! Both my favorite pastimes at once!! Reading, and being a meddlesome snoop!!" And, I might have felt just a wee bit smug and superior and sanctimonious that I was receiving an advance copy of the book before it was available to the rest of you peasants the world. You know, because I'm gracious and humble like that.

Regardless, the book showed up a few weeks ago, and I devoured it in one sitting. As in, I pretty much sat up one night after my kids went to bed so I could read it uninterrupted, from start to finish. And I laughed .... oh! How I laughed! Despite tackling a difficult subject matter, Danny managed to poke fun at himself the entire time and I thoroughly enjoyed it. I knew my review would wait a few weeks, so I put the book up on my bookshelf, and continued to giggle whenever I thought of certain passages. Like "Coach Danny's T-Ball Rules" in chapter 34 --- seriously, funny stuff.

Then, as the time came closer for me to write my review, I read it again, more slowly, and paid closer attention. Really tried to absorb the experience Danny has so bravely shared of his struggle with "male" depression ... a topic not often discussed as candidly as it is here. I think I might have enjoyed it even more the second time around, because I was really, truly, "listening" .... if that even makes sense.

Regardless! It is a great book, and I highly recommend it to everyone.**

In an effort to help Danny promote it, I sent him a list of stupid questions that I wanted him to answer .... like pouring his blood, sweat and tears into the book wasn't enough, I wanted him to write more for ME personally. If nothing else, it will give you a great perspective on the attitude and personality that he shares with us in the book. One which I, personally, am happy I got to know. After the interview, continue reading for a fab give-away .....


********************************************


1. You talk about your parent's desire to make you the ultimate Hebrew student and possibly even a rabbi .... I know very little about rabbis except that some of them have those long strands of hair above their ears and they seem to be very wise. One thing I *do* know for sure, however, is that all rabbis have super powers, like Batman and Superman. So had you ever become a rabbi, what would your superpower have been, and why?

I'm fairly certain I would have been able to summon the voice of God through my farts. I would also be able to turn invisible. My greatest trick would be combining these two gifts---farting and disappearing simultaneously, which would cause everyone in the congregation to assume that the blue-haired woman in the front row was the one of ass-blasted. Amen.

2. I also know very little about Jewish customs or food, and the concept of "keeping kosher" confuses me .... like this one time, some friends and I were in a deli, and apparently it was Jewish, because I asked for a ham and cheese sandwich and you would have thought I just spit on the floor or something, the way that women behind the counter looked at me, but then what was even more confusing to me was the waitress came up to our table while my friend was giving her baby a bottle and asked my friend if there was milk in the bottle and my friend (truthfully) said no, it was formula, and apparently that was allowed but I've always wondered what would have happened if it had been milk? Would they have made her put the bottle up? Made the baby go hungry? What if it had been breast-milk in the bottle? Does that count? Anyway, very confusing. So my question to you is, if you were inviting a goy like me to dinner and wanted to serve the best kosher meal ever, what would it be? Because clearly I can't have a ham and cheese sandwich and a glass of milk.

Breast milk.
Gefilte fish.
Matzo ball soup.
Corned beef sandwiches.
Beer.
Breast milk sorbet.


3. What was the coolest, most innovative product you ever advertised at Outside the Box?

We had a start-up, dot-com client whose site was designed to blend golf with the caution-to-the-wind, money's-no-object attitude of the late 80s and early 90s. I don't remember specifically what the site actually sold, but I have a clear recollection that the senior management of this "company" were total marketing cowboys. They wanted to put their logo and URL on EVERYTHING. I remember very specifically a meeting during which we all discussed the merits of putting that logo on what those in the sanitation industry call "urinal burgers." For the uninitiated, those are the little, round, pink antiseptic discs placed in the middle of a urinal. We ultimately decided against the idea, given that the notion of having the company peed-on seemed a little...unbecoming.

4. As evidence by the list on page 120 of your book, you had a pretty dismal athletic career right from the get-go. But imagine if things had been different ... imagine if those Little League dreams of yours had come true, and had played out into high school ball, college ball, and beyond. Let me hear the abbreviated version of your Hall of Fame acceptance speech.

"Today (ay-ay-ay)...I feel (eel-eel-eel)...like the luckiest motherfucker (ucker-ucker-ucker)...on earth (rth-rth-rth). I would like to thank my friend Kristie (istie-istie-istie)...without whose demented brain and sick sense of irony I would just be sitting at home playing with my balls (alls-alls-alls). I would also like to thank my balls (alls-alls-alls)...for letting me play with them all the time (ime-ime-ime)."

And so forth.

5. Speaking of sports, you mention in the book that many Jewish athletes play baseball, but very few play basketball. Why do you think that is? Surely you're not the only tall Jewish man on the planet?

We're a pretty hairy lot of blokes in general and that has a really bad effect on our aerodynamics and athleticism. Only the shaved survive.

6. You talk openly about your habit of using humor as a shield and reflector for unpleasant experiences in your life. Imagine you had taken comedy a step farther and turned it into a career. What would your stage comedian name have been, and what professional comedian would you want to work with?

Ladies and gentlemen, please welcome to the stage...Mister! Sheky! Goldfarb!

I would have wanted to work with Dad Gone Mad. He fucking rules
.

7. On page 180 of your book you claim at the end of 9th grade you were voted "Most Likely To Die Without Ever Having Kissed a Girl That Wasn't His Mom." If you were to go back to your next high school reunion, what do you think you would be voted now?

Most Likely To Offer A Perfect Stranger Hand Relief In Exchange For That Stranger Purchasing A Copy Of His Book, RAGE AGAINST THE MESHUGENAH, Which Will Be Released On August 4 And Is Available For Pre-Order On Amazon.com And Other Online Book Retailers.

8. On to the meat of the book, your struggle with depression. In the time since you were first diagnosed, until the release of your book, how do you believe the public opinion and acceptance of this issue has changed? What needs to happen in the future?

Sadly, I don't think a lot has changed. We've certainly seen an increase in the number of antidepressant medications advertised on television and in magazines, but I don't believe that does much to increase awareness of the disease itself. Mental health issues in general, and depression in particular, remain a dirty little secret for millions of Americans. I think an open, honest, direct discussion about depression needs to find its way into parts of the population -- in particular, men -- that haven't yet found the guts or the inclination to talk about it. That's part of what I hope to accomplish with RAGE. Whether we talk about it or not, it's there. And until we shine a light on it, it will remain under the dark cloud of stigma and ignorance.

9. You talk about the men in your life (friends, neighbors, co-workers) who you discovered had also struggled with depression. Have you had any experiences with total strangers coming up to you and relating their own occurrence with depression?

Not face-to-face, but certainly online. Interestingly, I've had quite a few women write to me with admissions that their husbands are depressed and they're at a loss in terms of how to help them. This same scenario played out in my own home, which I detail in the book. To those women, I say that the best thing they can do is to help their husbands get the help of a therapist and/or a psychiatrist as soon as possible. Depression is disorienting, and people don't always understand what's happening to themselves. As the spouse, you can play an active role in moving him (or her) in the direction of recovery.

10. What's your opinion of celebrities using their "celebrity-ness" either FOR the awareness of depression (Brooke Shields comes to mind) or AGAINST (I'm pretty sure we both know what couch-jumping freak I'm referring to ....)

I'm all for anyone who raises the public awareness of depression, and I'm certainly all for any dipshit movie star who tries to make a case AGAINST medical treatment by demonstrating his own dire need for anti-psychotic medication. I would really like to see a male celebrity who has suffered from depression -- and there are MANY -- come out and say, "I was depressed. I got help. So should you." Men need to see a normal guy come out of the shadows, even if some deem that to be uncool or career suicide.

11. Final question: A statement on page 228 of the book, discussing the birth of your daughter, really resonated with me: "Grace under pressure is not close to the top of Danny's Personal Strengths." I realize in context that statement was meant to be funny, but it got me to wondering. You've not only survived unemployment, serious depression, and addiction, but you've managed, with this amazing book, to share that journey in a way that is honest, touching, introspective, educational, and downright hysterical. Having arrived where you are today, what strengths would you say ARE near the top of the list?

I would say that I've become quite adept at pimping my book.

******************************************************

See? See why you should buy this book? Trust me, this is only a hint of the humor and honesty that is between the covers of RAGE.

I was so excited when I first heard about the book that I rushed over to Amazon.com and pre-ordered my own copy. Then Danny asked me to review the book and sent me an advance copy. (You see where this is going, right?) When the release date arrives (August 4th) I will receive my copy from Amazon, and while I freely confess to being a greedy little shrew, I don't neeeeeeeeeeed two copies of the book. So I'd like to offer my paid, Amazon copy to one (randomly drawn, of course) reader/winner who leaves a comment in the comment section here.

Simply leave a comment about your own RAGE, and what it is you're Raging against this summer. For me, it's the humidity that turns my hair into a dandelion, that some moron in Hollywood changed the movie ending to My Sister's Keeper, and the sad fact that it will be a while before I can read Danny's second book, whatever it is, and whenever he decides to write it. I realize my own "rages" are frivolous and lame when compared to the topic of serious depression, but it was the best idea I had this morning (and please no rude comments about how sadly, it might be the best idea I have all day, week, month, etc.)

Let me know what you're Raging against by leaving a comment -- entries closed by 9pm CST Saturday night. I'll draw a winner and announce it here on Sunday ... then once the second copy of my book comes in, I will send the copy to the winner.

In the meantime, head over to

Amazon.com to pre-order your copy of "Rage" ... or look for it in bookstores after August 4th. If that link doesn't work, just go to Amazon and do a search for "Rage Against the Meshugenah" .... it pops up, I promise. Assuming you spell meshugenah correctly, which I did not the first two times I tried. Or just go to Danny's site and follow the prompts from there. Trust me, you'll be glad you did.

**OK, here's my teeny-tiny disclaimer. At times, the language in this book can be a little strong. Personally, I find it fucking hilarious and am not at all offended. Assuming you're one of the many who already follows Dad Gone Mad, you probably already know this. But I recommended a different book to someone earlier this year and she felt the language was bad and I was all, "Language? What language? Was there bad language in the book?" so perhaps I am just a little obscenity-obtuse and not the person who should be serving as Potty-Mouth Patrol Officer. So with that in mind ... just a little heads up here.

77 comments:

Brenda said...

OK, I'll rage...

My personal rage right now, this summer and life in general is my never-ending yo-yo diet and weight-loss lifestyle. I lose 40-50-60 pounds only to have the other shoe drop and eat my "weigh" right back to where I started. Food is my comfort..."really, Brenda, it's ok to have that piece of chocolate while watching that chemo drip in to Travis' veins...again."
And then later, "nitwit, you did not need that chocolate. Travis is fine. His kidney disease has remitted. Find that wagon...again!"

Kristie, you do not need to put me in the drawing. I've been following your reading since about the midway-point of your caringbridge days. I'll buy the book. Better yet, I'll download it to my kindle if that option is available. The avid reader that you are...consider getting one. Best purchase ever!

www.caringbridge.org/fl/tehlebracht

RSMDianne said...

Hrmph. I'm raging against our health insurance company for denying my daughter's 90 day stay in a residential treatment facility to the tune of $30,000 out of our pocket, because they are saying the facility is licensed to only treat part of her issues, and not licensed to treat ALL of her issues, even though they are addressing all of her issues. Hello? Now it's a battle to appeal, and we're at the mercy of some telecommuting representative who can decide whether or not to reverse the denial.

Jenn said...

Looks like your going to get depressed reading these comments! My rage right now is that my mother passed away on June 22 and my brothers won't speak to me and my dad told me that I broke her heart and that's why she died. So, my rage is quickly turning into its own depression, yet I have 7 beautiful, healthy children that need me to care for them. I need to carry on and all I want to do is sit and cry. Sigh.

Anonymous said...

Speaking of rage....you know "it" but I can't print it...enough said. I will call you with an update soon- let's just say it's looking pretty fucking GOOD!
M from the old lMnop

Anonymous said...

Kristie,

I was going to comment before I got to the give away part, because I love this post & always link over to Danny's site when I see an update notice on your site. I am planning on buying the book when it comes out (not just becuase I pink puffy heart Danny, but for personal reasons as well.)

My rage for the summer is that even if we have a heat wave in the next month or so, the weatherman told us last night this will go down as the coldest summer on record here. Our winters are so long & COLD we look forward to summers very much. Cold summers suck. Pretty lame reason to rage, but thankful I don't have a better reason. = )

Rachel
in Grand Forks, ND

Anonymous said...

hello... hapi blogging... have a nice day! just visiting here....

Stephanie D. said...

Oh my goodness- I love Danny. I found him through your site (years ago) and thinking he is flipping hysterical. Oh and the language doesn't bother me at all.

As for my rage...I'm OVER being tubby... I lost 26 lbs and have put 10 back on. Waaahhh! It's so easy to put on...why can't it be easy to take off!

Oh well... I guess I could "move my ass" and start exercising... WHAT? was that the ice cream truck outside? Gotta run... :)

Sue K. from the MN said...

I'm raging against bad customer service these days. I made a HUGE deal out of taking my kids to Sonic for a treat (after reading about your love of them and then our state FINALLY getting one -- I was so excited I nearly wet myself). We had to wait in our hot car for 15 minutes for 5 drinks. Drinks. We ordered drinks. Okay. I feel better now. You ROCK. Your blog ROCKS. Danny ROCKS. I'll read anything you recommend.

Donna said...

Man! First you got to hang with Pioneer Woman, now you get Danny's book ahead of time AND an interview!!! Lucky!!!!

Rage, rage, rage. I spent much of my summer raging about the (dis)organization of our summer ball league. One short control freak tries to handle the whole thing and does a piss-poor job of it. Ignores the rules designed to keep the teams from being ridiculously lopsided, sends rude e-mails to the coaches (perhaps not intentionally, just has bad social skills), can't get his teenaged umpires to show and then enlisting the umpire dad of one of OUR own players to call the plate in OUR tournament game...sigh. But ball season is over, and so, perhaps, is my summer of rage.

But then there is the issue of the budget cuts in our school district that may or may not eliminate my job sometime in the next month...

RM in MA said...

Kristie,
Thanks for sharing your review of Danny's book with us. It is certainly on my reading list.

My rage this summer is the cloudy, rainy weather that has dominated our Spring and early Summer here in New England! It has been the coldest start to a summer in 100 years.

Cindy in Yukon said...

The book is available on Kindle and Brenda I totally agree......I love my Kindle! I will pre-order today.

Anonymous said...

sooo....I don't really have a lot of rage, it's a pretty strong word but my personal rage would be my inability to lose weight and my rage on a larger scale would be watching so many caringbridge friends battle cancer - cancer sucks!
judi mitchell

p.s. the weather in New England really has been lousy - it's raining today....again.....

Anonymous said...

My rage is my know-it-all teen, trying to find a happy medium with him. He is a wonderful, smart, outgoing, kind, happy kid.... but lately we clash. I know it's the teen years and "I'm not alone" and thing will get better the older he gets, but I feel we are missing out on some wonderful mother/son experiences. Ugh! Man, do I love that boy though!
Also, I agree with Rachael in GF, ND. I live just north of her in northern MN, and this weather, SUCKS!
Brandi
in Karlstad, MN

Anonymous said...

Kristie,
This was a great post...loved it!
My rage is hearing the phrase "that's the achilles heel for/of ____" I feel like lately in sports on tv, commercials and even cartoons I keep hearing this! Let me just say it is NOT so amusing to hear that analogy since I am only 21 and suffered an achilles injury 2 years ago that took me out of playing the sports that I love..I am finally having surgery in a month and I am really hoping I wil this book to have something to do while I sit on my ass!! :) Keep up the great writing!

-Lilly

Anonymous said...

Road Rage - nuff' said.

Lori said...

I work in the basement of a real estate office, well it rained 7 inches in 1 hour last night and our office flooded leaving us with about 3 inches of water and our stored files, everything on the floor, including power cords, outlets, surge protectors and everything plugged in ruined. Including the one thing that I stored there in case of fire etc. or anything happening here at home. Our 250 GB external hard drive with all of my kids and families pictures on them. Archives emails, and everything that might mean anything to us. I have most of them on CD's but being the procastinator that I am, I have not done this in about 6 months so all photes are GONE. I have been so upset ALL DAY. I am still waiting for the drive to dry out and hope it will work long enough to save my pictures.

The Road Rage is my other "rage" . I hate drivers that drive 30 in a 55 with no way to get around them and the ones that sit at a stop sign until I get close and then they pull out in front of me and go 30. I wrote "Road Rage" in the previous comment, but was not signed in.

Sherri said...

My rage....someone gained access to my debit card # and went on an expensive online shopping spree on Tuesday. Customer service when calling Bank of America SUCKS!! Now I have to deal with a long process that I really do not want to deal with 10 days before leaving on vacation.

Also, the summer here in New England sucks too! The coldest/rainiest summer of my 37 years!!

Sara said...

Like others before me, I'm raging at my inability to make changes from within. Lose weight. Get in shape. QUIT SMOKING! And my job. Which I may not have much longer if my bosses can't get their finances in order. *sigh*

Jessica in GA said...

My rage is my JOB! We moved to our brand new office about 3 weeks ago. They've only been building/planning this thing for 5 years now. I'm thinking things would be better...but everybody in here has some major additude problems and are power-tripping over the stupidest stuff! Grrrr...I'm so ill about it!

krueth said...

Goodness, after reading the first few about their families, I feel my rage with my weight is nothing... Also, I am in agreement with Brani and Rachael, I live in Northern Mn and we have had such a cold winter, spring and now summer...so frustrating....Wendy

Anonymous said...

I can relate to Danny and depression but not so much to being a Jewish man. Oh well....

But on the rage front, I am trying to figure out how to help my 19 y/o survivor with life choices and how to deal with her post-tramatic stress from her cancer treatments 15 years ago. One would think that just being alive would be an anti-depressant but our babes have gone through so much....

Oh, and have I mentioned my weight?

Lynette

Kate said...

My personal rage this summer is having to deal with Comcast, the devil reincarnated in to a fast-access internet company.

Anonymous said...

My rage is in the form of a 2002 piece of crap silver mini-van that has only 79,500 miles on it and needs $4500 worth of transmission work on it. The transmission died only 70 miles after I put in $1100 worth of new radiator, hoses, thermostat, etc. Oh, yes, and I paid a $795 diagnostic fee to find out about the necessary transmission repairs. But a piece of crap car seems like nothing compared to some of the other "rages" listed above. If you give your book to one of them, I'll totally understand!!! Can't wait to read it-

Carol Fisher
Greenacres, FL

Amanda said...

oh, i'll have to get this book. my boyfriend was treated for depression back in high school, so it hits close to home. my personal rage this summer are twofold: trying to exercise & lose weight - and trying to procrastinate less. one of them is going well..... but the second might stop that soon. ugh.

karen said...

Rage...LOL Rage...from a person on depression meds because of rage. Did you know that rage/yelling can be a sign of depression...
Oh and how no one remembers or cares that Sept. is Childhood Cancer Awareness month...

Ann from St. Peter said...

Rage? Mine seems kind of boring after some of your commenters... Michael Jackson is dead. He is probably buried. Can we now talk about something else on the news instead of this? Also - being that I am from Minnesota, more names I would prefer not to hear on the newscasts for awhile include Al Franken, Norm Coleman and Bret Favre. Thank you!

Little Bird said...

My rage...I could also go with the hair frizz but I think I'll say the schizophrenic weather. Good luck planning ANYTHING Summer '09.
Plan something outdoors, it will monsoon and be 40 degrees. Plan something inside and your town all of a sudden resembles the pristine beaches of Tahiti!

Anonymous said...

I am raging at the economic downturn and the lose of many close friends and other co-workers who no longer have jobs. It just plain sucks!

Postcard Cindy

Chris and Erin said...

My personal rage makes me feel guilty... this summer I am the proud new mom to 3 beautiful babies- very wanted. 2 of whom are home and 1 is doing great in the NICU and will be home within a month or so. My rage is the struggle of new motherhood... the lack of sleep, frustration over babies crying, and fear of how I am ever going to raise 3 babies to become healthy, happy, adults without screwing them up to much. But mainly right now, it is the exhaustion. It does get better right?

Anonymous said...

You don;t have to enter me in the contest...I pre-ordered mine months ago! I can't wait to read it!
I LOVED your interview too!

Meg from Ga

Carol said...

I am raging against state mandated tests that third graders must pass in order to go to fourth grade. I am raging against the authors of those tests that make questions tricky or just plain weird and call them "higher level thinking".

A Mom said...

I'm raging that it took me 20 minutes to figure out how to post a comment. I kept clicking on the wrong thing. I am also raging that currently my kids cannot get along!!

Love your blog!

Anonymous said...

I am with Ann....if I hear Bret Favres name one more time I am going to FREAK out! Seriously tho, my biggest rage is when I walk up to a co worker and ask them a question the person in the next cubicle answers it....I just want to scream I AM NOT TALKING TO YOU!

There I feel better already!

Debbie said...

My personal rage is the man I have been married to for 30 years! He all of a sudden thinks he is single. Stays out on the nights he doesn't work, doesn't pay the bills, our house was auctioned off for non-payment of property taxes!! I put three of our 4 children through college (with no help from him), paid for the weddings of both of our daughters (one was just married on 7/11/09)No help from him! The fuel pump went out on my car 2 days before the wedding. It's still sitting in the Church parking lot where it broke down! And, I've had to bum rides to work with co-workers every day this week! On top of that my baby will leave 9/14/09 for boot camp (he joined the Marines.(Although I'm not raging about that)So yeah, I'm a LITTLE bitter and full of RAGE!! But on a kinder note, I love "Dad gone Mad"!
~Debbie~

deb8able said...

The heat is making me wilt. I spend all my time inside trying to survive.

Anonymous said...

I am raging against my daughter's fucking lice that she brought home from cheering camp...which we got rid of...but then they decided to come back and take up camp at OUR house. Just discovered their reappearance on her head again today...after spending a day with my friend and her three kids as my daughter and her daughter walked through the place we brought them to with their arms around each other's shoulders and their heads touching as good little girlfriends do....as a matter of fact, come to think of it, my friend might be raging against lice sometime soon too. :) I'll share the book with her if I win it! That's what good friends do..besides sharing their kid's lice.
Lanette in PA

Unknown said...

I'll rage. I just got a catalog in the mail of Halloween costumes. The amount of slutty little girls costumes enrages me. So does the fact that Target sells string bikini low rise underwear in a size five.

My kids are going to dress as the Amish do for Halloween, and I may not let them take it off.

Laura in Michigan said...

I am raging against my bedroom door that fell off last night, and now the refridgerator that doesn't want to keep anything cold. When it rains, it pours....

chinnchimneysmom@yahoo.com

Meredith said...

I don't have a lot of rage right now - I know I am blessed. But, I work in a public school and it just makes my blood boil to see how hard the teachers and staff work to teach and help out our little rugrats, and then the powers that be in the govt. - Fed. and State - can't see clear to give us the money we need to do our job. Whew, that felt good. Maybe I do have a bit of rage. Thanks.

Anonymous said...

Rage, rage, rage is driving 8 hours yesterday to be with your daughter while she goes to court today for a speeding ticket...only to have it continued! Two days of vacation, motel bill and many miles and we sat in court for 3.5 hours and it took 30 seconds for them to give her a new date. I sure could have used a book today.
Kathy

Mrs. Denten said...

My Rage right now, at this very minute, is the fact that I am 40 years old, but my face is broken out like a 14 year old boy. I went to the dermatologist to remedy the situation. While there, he decided that I had a "suspicious looking" mole on my back and carved it out. Now my tan is ruined and whatever tan I get in the next few weeks is going to have a band-aid tatooed over it.
And, my face is still broken out.

Unknown said...

My rage is similar to Danny's. My husband suffers from bipolar disorder and we have a consistant struggle daily with controlling it. This is an illness that bonds a family at the same time as it rips it apart! There NEEDS to be more talk, their needs to be more help! There NEED to be less people saying "just suck it up buttercup" its just not that easy... If left untreated most mental health disorders are a death sentence and that is no laughing matter!!!

Unknown said...

glad i'm not the only one who was PISSED about the changed ending of My Sister's Keeper.

i'm also raging about: not hearing from graduate school, stupid bosses, and the 2 children in my preschool class who were diagnosed with cancer a week apart - one with ATRT and the other with leukemia. so i'm hardcore raging against cancer.

Anonymous said...

My rage is the state of the economy here in California & the man who put us here & is digging us in deeper even as I type. Our governor (who shall remain nameless but who should hightail it back to Hollywood ASAP) forgets that he's the one with money. The rest of us need to work for it...job losses, hour cuts and involuntary furloughs don't help!

Pat in CA
patricia.manning@comcast.net

Anonymous said...

Right now, my personal rage is my children riding in my car to and from camp. The ride is an hour each way, and the fighting is terrible. I try my hardest to be a good mom, but geez, even good moms have a breaking point! Amy in Chicago

Natalie said...

In a word: Cancer.

Anonymous said...

I'd love to read the book. I've suffered with depression myself, but my husband and teenage son have also been diagnosed. We sound like a dismal household, but it's anything but that. We're actually a lot of fun, with the right meds and lots of therapy. Like my husband says: "Better living through chemistry!"
Debbie Shumaker
p.s. LOVE your blog!

Marie said...

My current rage is against the late cognitive effects that my daughter is having to deal with, post ALL. As if going through the 26 months of chemotherapy wasn't enough, now we all get to deal with this crap.

But then again, you know very well what it's like to slug down a crap sandwich and find out that you get seconds, FREE.

Marie

Unknown said...

me thinks my husband should read this book. i think he could TOTALLY identify with the subject matter.

Unknown said...

Unlurking in hopes of winning Danny's book, love your blog and his. I'm raging against: Hearing "I'm bored" from my 8 yr old during summer, my iPhone's incompatibility with my car's bluetooth after the new 3G software update, and the 10 extra pounds that the wrong side of 40 has introduced.

Anonymous said...

My rage...credit card interest rates!

Elaine C. said...

I'm raging against long distance relationship fighting. Also the moving company who lost my stuff and my dog who is so stressed about moving that she has spontaneously turned destructive.

DeborahB said...

Hmmm...what am I raging about this summer? Daughters with attitudes, bills and money (or lack thereof), probable layoffs at work, moving and leaving all my friends/work/church/family behind. Yeah, that's enough. I was planning on buying this book anyway, so it's ok if I don't win. I love Danny! His blog is one of the funniest out there, next to yours of course!

hyzymom said...

Thanks Kristie for "turning me on" to Dad Gone Mad in the first place.
My Rage is against whatever moron decided 16 year olds were "mature" enough and "responsible" enough to drive 50,000lb (slight exaggeration, but how much does a car weight anyway) vehicles? Now Brenna is doing a great job, with lots of "rules" from Mom and Dad, but that doesn't stop me from going through every worst case scenario I can envision every time we let her drive!

Melissa said...

I just started a new job where I take the train everyday. My rage? When there are dozens of empty seats, why does the huge guy with six bags cram into the same seat as me? WHY?

Anonymous said...

I am raging against my sons complaints about going to camp while I have to work...maybe more guilt than rage.

Robbin
acbmom99@yahoo.com

Mrs. Flamingo said...

Kristie, I have very little to rage against this summer. You've seen the cute little pink thing that has taken up residence in my house since the early spring. How can I rage when I get to look at those cheeks everyday? But, there are a few things that piss me off lately...
1. My daughter can't always find her thumb and the paci just doesn't always cut it.
2. People look at me like I'm a murderer when I carry my baby in my Ergo Carrier through Target. It's like a very capable one-legged person should not have a baby... You should have seen the looks while I was pregnant!
3. Low supply and then medications that prevented me from nursing.
4. Expensive preemie formula.
5. cardiomyopathy from cancer treatment 20 years ago!

But, then again, I do have sweet baby cheeks to make it all better.

Kati in Ga!

Broken Bindings said...

Right about now I am raging against the powers that be at Social Security. My employers felt that I was unable to work with MS seven years ago, and I am now appealing AGAIN SSI's decision that I am not disabled enough to collect. GRRRRRRR

Anonymous said...

Kristie~

My rage - the fact that Obama thinks that those of us that go to a job should pay taxes out the rear! Seriously, when did it become OK to tax my family at 42%?

Today is my birthday and I asked for Kindle - so I am hoping I join that bandwagon today!

BTW - I found "Dad Gone Mad" off of your blog. The first entry my DH and I read was all about his vastecomy and laughed our asses off!

Susan

KirstyB said...

Woohoo!! I have been waiting for this book to come out!! My rage this summer? Playing the hurry up and wait game with the Air Force. Hurry up and wait to see when this deployment will end. Hurry up and wait to see how long it actually takes for DH to finally make it home from said deployment. Hurry up and wait to see if we got picked up for a school slot. Hurry up and wait to find out if we are PSCing. Not really a big deal in the grand scheme of things...but in this woman's control freak mind, it's a giant PITA!

Thanks for the fab interview!! Funny stuff!!

Anonymous said...

I'm totally raging against the ridiculous hospital bills that I received for a surgery that I had to have AFTER my initial tonsillectomy... Not my fault the damn surgeon didn't make sure I wasn't bleeding before he let me go.... How could I have known I would be puking up blood and have to be put back to sleep to have another surgery to stop the freaking bleeding! Anyways, now that I have gotten that out I feel better!

Anonymous said...

I have two rages. First is the cold, overcast not hot summer we have been having. It's my first summer not having to work and being able to be home with the kids and I'm not able to be out in the sun everyday. The second is the amount of money that is flying out of my house. Orthodontist, repairs on the van, soccer and everything else that seems to come up.

Lisa C

Anonymous said...

My rage is my son will be a senior in high school. How can my baby be that age and let's not even talk about my age.

My other rage is my husband has worked part-time for the past year and doesn't do nearly as much as I would around the house. My expectations of him are probably a little overboard.

If I win this book I hope he will read it because he had a shitty childhood. Inspite of it he is a wonderful husband and father.

I do read dad gone mad thanks to you. I enjoy your blog very much!

Lynn
neillynnbrent@aol.com

Anonymous said...

Right now I'm RAGING against laziness. MY laziness. I'm too lazy to exercise. I'm too lazy to clean my house. I'm too lazy to actually fold the laundry and bring it upstairs when the dryer stops. I'm too lazy to go through my stacks upon stacks of mail to decide what needs to be shredded. I'm too lazy to go buy hedge clippers so I can trim the two trees that are taking over the front of my house. And I'm too lazy to pull the dead weeds that I sprayed Round Up on 2 weeks ago. I. AM. LAZY. And it pisses me off.

:)

Abbie
DSM, IA

Cindi said...

My rage? Hmmm...

Well, I'm a teacher and happen to have 11 weeks off this summer. No classes, sons old enough to drive themselves wherever they need to go, wonderful husband who does the grocery shopping, etc.

My rage is that I have absolutely NO motivation to do ANYTHING. I barely clean the house, cook, or do laundry.

I could get used to this.

Shannon said...

I am raging again my desire to go back to school and the reality of my life trying to hold be back...I won't let it happen! I will get a degree, even if I am 40, 50, or even 60...

Sue said...

My rage this summer is that my husband was laid off 1/2/09 and still hasn't found work. My job substitute teaching ended in June, so there's very little income here. However, the toilet broke and needs to be replaced, we are fighting with the insurance company and hospital over a $12,000 hospital bill, the dog needs her shots, the kids need doctor appointments, the light fixture in the bathroom will not work - I could keep listing for several paragraphs the number of things that are breaking right now. Added to that, the too much togetherness of having hubby home all day every day is stressing me out. So I'm raging against everything going wrong all at once - when it rains, it pours. Having a 10-year old cancer survivor at home, it makes me wonder when and if that other shoe is going to drop, too, just to kick us again when we're already down.

Cari H. said...

There is a never ending list of things I rage on, but to keep it short, here are two. First, the summer here in Arizona! It is flipping hot!! It it also very hard to keep 4 kids inside all day long. I need a break. Which brings me to my next rage. My husband and I were supposed to go to resort tonight without the kids, but we woke up to a water leak, and finding out I need new brakes on the car. So much for being able to afford the special rate of $79 a night at the resort (which is a great rate, but we still need to buy breakfast, lunch, and dinner)!! Oh well, at least my mother in law is still going to watch the kids over night. At least I will get a break even if it is at home.

Mosiphine said...

I rage against stupid people, all day every day, other than that, I'm a very happy person ;-)

Marie said...

My rage is having to continuously fight the school system to help my son learn to the best of his abilities instead of making his life one filled with anxiety and fear. Just thinking about this past school year makes me want to go punch the principal.

Alisa said...

My rage all of a sudden does not seem to be in the "rage" category.
Like you said before- if money can fix it its not a problem.

Anonymous said...

My rage is against the people who are supposed to represent us in the U.S. Congress and Senate and who are spending money faster than it can be printed and THEY ARE NOT EVEN READING THE BILLS THEY ARE PASSING!!! My son is struggling to get work, our retirement savings got cut in half after the election and we know that they aren't going to recover. Social Security recipients didn't get a cost of living raise this year and we all know that inflation is going to take off like a rocket. It is tough to keep from raging when the president and his wife fly to Paris for dinner and don't seem to care that his "priorities" are really hurting our country. Enough of the rage -- thanks for the opportunity to vent.

bearie1 said...

Yep, the ending of My Sister's Keeper (the movie) was disappointing. The ending in the book would have played well in the movie, don't get why they changed it. Because they could I guess.

No particular "rages" right now. And, I just checked our library system and am Number 1 on the holds list for the book. Elaine

Kathy Scovill said...

I rage when I go to shake the coffee creamer and it spurts all over the kitchen because I forgot to screw the lid on tight enough. I rage because I can never remember the names of movie titles, celebrities and book titles when I'm trying to discuss them with friends. And I rage because there isn't anyone to share my tiny writing triumphs.

mbarker said...

I'm raging against kids summer camps that start early in the morning. Hello? Don't you know we have already gotten into a late-morning-summer-routine??

Mindy

Nate's Mom said...

My rage is that it is 110 degrees today. We got water park passes, but its been to hot to be outside, even in the water (which will scorch all of us). I want to go back to ALASKA!

What's this about the movie ending to Sister's Keeper? Haven't seen it yet. But, I feel another rage coming on!

Sheri in CA

sawaff said...

My current rage is against my 4 hour daily commute. I have done it for 10 years and I'm sick of it.
Hopefully, it will end soon. I have several interviews coming up!