Gary: The original Belden Lineman

[bref]

I noticed Leah's Twitter account, too, Rho. Blecchhh at that shit.

[BucFan]

Whenever I see the title to Gary's thread I see it in my mind as -Gary The Original Bin Laden

[kathy42977]

Gary loves to criticize Amber about her parenting skills.

But somebody needs to have a serious talk with him. If he loves Leah as much as he says he does he needs to do something about his weight. And he needs to do it NOW!

At the rate he's going he won't be around to see Leah's tenth birthday. Or he'l be so immobilized he won't even be able to leave the house. He'll be like these morbidly obese people on tv that can't leave the house because they physically can't get around.

Poor Leah would probably spend her childhood helping to take care of him.

Can you imagine Leah having to fix all his meals and help with his hygiene needs?

Or if he dies, there's a good chance that Amber, whom he criticizes as a mom, could get her.

Either way, Gary needs to get his shit together. Quickly.

Edited May 10, 2015 by kathy42977

[MollyZee]

Welp, looks like the next Shirley spawn has been... spun? spewed? Either way, gf Kristina had her baby, and it seems like Gary is up to his usual shit.

 

Quote excerpted from Reality Tea:

 

“Spending time with my lovely family and the newest of them all,” gushed Gary. “I love my beautiful daughter Emilee Grace Shirley. She is so perfect in every way. I love the wonderful woman who gave her to me and put her body through many changes including an emergency c-section.”

Gary continued, “Kristina you are more beautiful to me now than ever! God has a path for us all and I’m so glad he put you in my life! Leah and I are better to have you! You truly are my Mrs. Wonderful. I know you tell me all the time how blessed you are to have me, but it truly is backwards. I’m blessed to have you.”

 

(Bolded emphasis mine)

 

This guy is almost too good to be true. His girlfriend is recovering from a c-section and he still doesn't miss a chance to remind her (and us!) how lucky she is to have his slovenly, layabout, one-tshirt having ass in her life. Gag.

[MissMel]

Ick. I just want to scoop up Kristina and bring her to my house so she can see how actual men act. I've got a 14 year old more mature than Gary. 14. (Think about that for a minute, Gary.)

Edited May 11, 2015 by MissMel

[brandyelf]

Does Gary have a job? Besides baking cookies?

[FozzyBear]

I'm gonna call it: Kristina is off. I think she's with Gary (and having his kid) solely for the relative fame of Teen Mom. That is just nuts, especially when you consider that she's in her 30s.

[NikSac]

I'm gonna call it: Kristina is off. I think she's with Gary (and having his kid) solely for the relative fame of Teen Mom. That is just nuts, especially when you consider that she's in her 30s.

 

Is she really?  Wow!!  I thought she was Gary's age, and that Gary looked really old next to her. If she's that much older and he STILL looks really old next to her...yikes.

[FozzyBear]

Is she really? Wow!! I thought she was Gary's age, and that Gary looked really old next to her. If she's that much older and he STILL looks really old next to her...yikes.

Gary's actually older than Amber by a few years (God their whole relationship is fucked up). I think Gary and Kristina are around 28 and 31.

[Lpeach22]

Sooo Gary wAs 21 when Amber gave birth at 16?!!!

[Tatum]

"16 and pregnant" is frequently a misnomer. Amber actually turned 18 when she was only three months pregnant with Leah.

[Lpeach22]

Ooh ok, thanks!!

[DoctorWhovian]

Wait. She turned 18 while pregnant.. and still had to get her GED?

[SeenYouWitKieffah]

Yeah I think she dropped out in her last semester. 

[FozzyBear]

Wait. She turned 18 while pregnant.. and still had to get her GED?

Yeah, I don't actually think Amber dropped out because she was pregnant. If I remember correctly she had already stopped attending traditional school when she found out she was having Leah. I think she may have been going to a continuation school sporadically, but for all intents and purposes had dropped out of high school before she even knew she was pregnant. My suspicion is she never got her GED because she can't read well enough to take the test. I remember watching her take that practice test in a library on TM and and she got really frustrated and started crying. A lifetime of public service tells me the test was beyond her basic literacy level and she was too embarrassed to say so. That was also my guess as to why she spent all that time wanting to get a diploma instead of a GED. For a student was a low literacy level like Amber a diploma program is probably easier. Honestly, the minimum requirements for a HS diploma in most districts aren't the tough (by the time I started my senior year I technically had enough credits to graduate, as did most of my friends)and a student like Amber could skate by with help from friends, points for showing up in class, and a few lucky guesses on tests. The GED is one test she has to do on her own. I don't think she could read well enough to take it without asking what the questions were, which she wouldn't be alowed to do in a GED test but MIGHT get away with in a classroom setting.

[MissMel]

^^this is very true^^ My son had a childhood friend show up at our house years after no contact. Very well mannered, polite kid. Just not the sharpest tool in the shed. He wanted to ride with us for their graduation events. I was shocked. I nicely asked my son how this child was actually graduating. He said, and I quote, "He came to school, Mom. That's the diploma he is getting." Not to be mean but, no, there's no way this kid could have gotten a GED. None.

I still took pictures and cheered and cried happy tears for him, though. He works at a high-end dealership washing cars. Not addicted to anything that we know of, either. Just had a crazy upbringing, not that much in the way of intelligence, but just had the drive to be something better. Too bad this skipped Amber. Well, maybe it didn't but MTv didn't help any.

[MyPeopleAreNordic]

Amber did get her GED while she was in "gel."

[GreatKazu]

Children just have different ways of learning. I have two children who struggled a bit in school. Come to find out they needed to have some tests administered orally. Same test, same questions, they just needed to have someone read the questions out loud to them. Once the tests were changed to fit how they learned, they excelled. One of them to this day won't read a manual to anything. She looks at the device or the product, fools around with it and learns the ins and outs of how it works.  It is not that she can't read, she is an excellent reader, it is just how her mind works. She excelled in reading and spelling, but her comprehension was an issue. She could read out loud five pages in a book with no hesitation or problems of any kind, but when we asked her questions about what she read, she would have issues. I struggled with math in 7th grade. I ended up with a tutor who taught me a different way of learning it and it did wonders for me.  I just think overall in a classroom with 25 kids (give or take) there are likely at least a handful of kids who are just not learning things the way the rest of the class are learning. They need it taught to them to fit their way of thinking and learning. Nowadays, kids have a better chance. Back in my days, there were only the "smart" kids and the "dumb" kids. Looking back, those kids were not dumb, they likely had comprehension issues, they had some other learning disability, or they needed a different way of being taught.

 

I think I just read on Amber's thread that she was at 12th grade level in her reading and as for math, she was at 9th grade level. She did get her GED while in prison. I had hoped she would go further in her education and get herself in a career. That chick is stuck on that damn couch.

Edited May 16, 2015 by GreatKazu

[cheatincheetos]

 

 

Does Gary have a job? Besides baking cookies?

"Gary Time" brand condoms spokesperson?

[Snarky McSnarky]

Does Gary have a job? Besides baking cookies?

Consuming said cookies.

[Shelby]

I just hope they give her a normal-ish name. As far as 16 & Pregnant baby names go, Leah really lucked out as far as her name and its spelling. She won't have to spend her lifetime explaining to people how to say it, spell it, or why it's SO unique. I hope her half-sister is just as lucky.

And don't add an unnecessary Y or extra vowels, etc.

(yes, Maci, looking at you with that unnecessary Y in Jayde....although it is at least a normal name, even with the Y)

Agree that the TM baby names are the worst, save for Leah. I guess Bentley can go by Ben, if he's not too much of a momma's boy to do it.

Is Jade really a normal name these days? It rings stripper-ish to me.

[Tatum]

Agree that the TM baby names are the worst, save for Leah. I guess Bentley can go by Ben, if he's not too much of a momma's boy to do it.

Is Jade really a normal name these days? It rings stripper-ish to me.

 

I also think Jade sounds stripperish, but Jayde is worse. In my head though- I pronounce that Jay-Dee.

 

To give the devil her due, Sophia is a nice classic name, spelled correctly. Aubrey is a little trendy, but not terrible. I actually like Isaac. I think Leah Dawn holds the record for handing her kids the tackiest names and she's a repeat offender.

 

I don't even remember any of the names of the Teen Mom 3 babies, although I think at least one of the girls exchanged a "y" for an "i" which I always find kind of trashy.

[Elizabeth9]

Nova- how can we forget Chevy Nova, Volume 1?

Arabella, Gannon and Molli

[Shelby]

I also think Jade sounds stripperish, but Jayde is worse. In my head though- I pronounce that Jay-Dee.

To give the devil her due, Sophia is a nice classic name, spelled correctly. Aubrey is a little trendy, but not terrible. I actually like Isaac. I think Leah Dawn holds the record for handing her kids the tackiest names and she's a repeat offender.

I don't even remember any of the names of the Teen Mom 3 babies, although I think at least one of the girls exchanged a "y" for an "i" which I always find kind of trashy.

I like Sophia too, I just couldn't bring myself to write anything nice about her shrew mother, not even the name she picked for her kid.

Nova- how can we forget Chevy Nova, Volume 1?

Arabella, Gannon and Molli

Someone on one of the shows had a Neveah, heaven spelled backwards. These poor kids. In the future, if they are the types to try to get proper jobs, I can see the resumes they send out going straight to the trash.

[Tatum]

I like Sophia too, I just couldn't bring myself to write anything nice about her shrew mother, not even the name she picked for her kid.

Someone on one of the shows had a Neveah, heaven spelled backwards. These poor kids. In the future, if they are the types to try to get proper jobs, I can see the resumes they send out going straight to the trash.

 

I don't remember a Neveah on 16 and Pregnant (not saying there wasn't, I only catch a handful of episodes each season), but I do remember a Neveah on the super classy precursor to 16 and Pregnant, Engaged and Underage, and I believe Neveah's mother was a 17 year old pageant queen who was finally marrying the 25 year old father of her two kids- one of which was like 3 or 4 already. Yikes.

 

As far as the resumes going straight in the trash- I'd agree with you, but at the risk of sounding classist, if any of these offspring have enough initiative to even create a resume (or for that matter, even apply for a job that requires a resume, vs a one page application) I would be pretty damn shocked.

[Elizabeth9]

Valerie, the girl who best the crap out of her foster/adoptive mother, named her baby Navaeh. She was 15, so...

http://www.examiner.com/article/16-and-pregnant-valerie-fairman-accused-of-assaulting-mother

Arrested for prostitution recently too: http://starcasm.net/archives/306465

[FaithsMum]

I'm a nurse on A+E so we get a lot of kiddies with injuries. We all joke with one another that we can guess the age of the kids mother just by their name alone. 95% of the time if the kid has a stupid name, their mother was in their teens/early 20's when they had him/her.

I'm still upset that I have something in common with Ferret Face from TM2; Addie's middle name is the same as my daughters first name. It still makes me want to weep. I guess we should all be grateful she didn't spell it "Faiythhe" since we all know Leah loves those superfluous letters.

[brandyelf]

I think this was Gannon's mom, if I recall correctly.

http://www.tmz.com/2015/05/19/mackenzie-mckee-breast-implants-kickstarter-teen-mom-boobs/

Maybe she should eat a "sammich". Worked for Gary! (To bring me back to topic)

[MissMel]

I named my son, James, after my father (little Jim) and his father (big Jim). He also had an uncle on his father's side named James (Jimmy) who has a daughter named after him (Jamie). So when it came down to it, I taught my son how to write his name with an "s" or a "y". He got to choose if he was James or Jamey. He chose Jamey. Which with the Internet and Google, turned out for the best. His given name, without a middle, is the same as his uncle's was. The name he uses is the same as his cousin's name but easy to tell the difference between the girl and the boy.

Confused yet? Lol. My point, yep, I was 19 when I had him. And he has a "y" name. For various reasons but the young mother spelling still applies, as well. ;)

[FaithsMum]

I named my son, James, after my father (little Jim) and his father (big Jim). He also had an uncle on his father's side named James (Jimmy) who has a daughter named after him (Jamie). So when it came down to it, I taught my son how to write his name with an "s" or a "y". He got to choose if he was James or Jamey. He chose Jamey. Which with the Internet and Google, turned out for the best. His given name, without a middle, is the same as his uncle's was. The name he uses is the same as his cousin's name but easy to tell the difference between the girl and the boy.

Confused yet? Lol. My point, yep, I was 19 when I had him. And he has a "y" name. For various reasons but the young mother spelling still applies, as well. ;)

I had to read that about three times I was so confused at first!! :)

I have a "y" name too - and my mum was 24 when she had me. In fact, my first name has two; Kayley. It's definitely a "young persons" name (I'm 27), as in I've never heard of a 60 year old with my name but mostly I think it's fine. Kayleigh is the more traditional spelling and my mum spelled it my way so it would be easier for me to learn as a kid. The problem is everyone else spells it incorrectly!!

Edited May 23, 2015 by FaithsMum

[Maharincess]

I read it four times and am still confused.

It sounds like my Uncle and the name David. My uncle was Dave, my cousin Davey, his son Little Davey then my other cousin married a David and he had a David Jr.

We ended up with about 6 or 7 Davids in the family.

[purplemonkey]

Oh, I get Gary's style now: he has one of those chinstrap beards. So you can tell where his chin is. /snark

[Brooklynista]

Oh, I get Gary's style now: he has one of those chinstrap beards. So you can tell where his chin is. /snark

 

 

He'd be better off having arrows tattooed directing me to where the chin should be.  That damn thin line of hair just confuses me.

[truelovekiss]

Naming that child Emilee was kind of an "almost there" moment. I love the name Emily. It's beautiful and classic. The double "ee" kind of takes away from it, in my opinion. Kind of like how Leah is a very nice, traditional name but then they gave her the middle name LeAnn, which is a nice name but makes no sense with her first name. Overall, it could have been so much worse.

[fliptopbox]

I went to high school with a guy named Gannon. I never thought of it as much of a designer name...if anything that makes me think traditional Celtic name.

 

Gary and Kristina were *almost* there with Emilee! Why did they have to go with "ee" over "y"? They ruined a perfectly good classic and doomed her to a life of misspellings by teachers, friends, and employers. Sometimes people need to just stop with that need to be original shit.

[Maharincess]

I feel bad for my kid. I should have named her Uhmanduh, but no. I had to be boring and spell it like a normal person.

[Brooklynista]

I feel bad for my kid. I should have named her Uhmanduh, but no. I had to be boring and spell it like a normal person.

Totally stealing that name! Too bad, so sad for you! Uhmanduh...GENIUS!

[GreatKazu]

Hey all. I was watching The Little Couple last night. There was a couple with twins. One of the twins' name was Knatalye. In case you can't figure it out it is a different spelling for NATALIE.

 

It is not just teen moms who do that shit.

[Thorkim]

Knatalye.  Huh, sounds like an insect. That is all kinds of hell no.

[SPLAIN]

I saw that on Little Couple, too. Dear God almighty, the insanity of some parents never ceases to amaze me. They want to have a child with a unique name and think by spelling it different, they are achieving that goal. Wrong. They might as well name their kid Unique and call it a day.

[Maharincess]

Oh geez, that's worse than Uhmanduh and I was joking with that name.

[MyPeopleAreNordic]

I'm a nurse on A+E so we get a lot of kiddies with injuries. We all joke with one another that we can guess the age of the kids mother just by their name alone. 95% of the time if the kid has a stupid name, their mother was in their teens/early 20's when they had him/her.

I work at a community college and trust me, many of my colleagues make assumptions about the students' mothers' ages and the students' socio-economic group based on ridiculous spellings of names.

Emilee isn't too bad. But that heinous spelling of Natalie above? OMG.

Edited May 28, 2015 by MyPeopleAreNordic

[NikSac]

I saw that on Little Couple, too. Dear God almighty, the insanity of some parents never ceases to amaze me. They want to have a child with a unique name and think by spelling it different, they are achieving that goal. Wrong. They might as well name their kid Unique and call it a day.

 

There was a woman on some other show recently - maybe Catfish?  Her name was Unique and I was so excited. Just cut to the chase, parents. And thank you for not spelling it Yewneek or something.

[SlothLoveChunk]

My daughter's name is Riley and when we told people that was what we were naming her you wouldn't believe what our friends and family said.  "Why not Rylee?  Or Rileigh?  Or Rilee?  That's much more feminine."  This is from 30+ year-old, college-educated folks.  I hate to say it, but the stupid name trend isn't always from young moms.

[Elizabeth9]

There was a kick-ass Unique on True Life- something about being broke. She lived up to her name!

[FozzyBear]

There was a kick-ass Unique on True Life- something about being broke. She lived up to her name!

She was awesome! And an actual stripper, so there you go. Why on earth would you spell it Knatalie? What is the silent K for? Please tell me it's actually some sort of spelling from another language!

Emilee isn't so bad. The kid should be ok. It's better than Jayde. Oye, Maci. For someone so disgusted by porn you sure picked a porn name...

Edited May 28, 2015 by FozzyBear

[GreatKazu]

 

Why on earth would you spell it Knatalie? What is the silent K for? Please tell me it's actually some sort of spelling from another language!

Or another planet. lol   The couple was Hispanic. They even gave the twins the very common middle names "Faith" and "Hope".  Oh, and the mother's name is Elysse. I knew a girl named that, but she had only one "S" in her name:

http://www.cbsnews.com/news/conjoined-twin-girls-in-texas-will-undergo-separation-surgery/

 

Yeah, Gary's daughter's name is looking more and more normal.

[truelovekiss]

Hey all. I was watching The Little Couple last night. There was a couple with twins. One of the twins' name was Knatalye. In case you can't figure it out it is a different spelling for NATALIE.

It is not just teen moms who do that shit.

I saw that! And the other twin was Adeline, which I think is a nice name. I like that spelling, but with all the Adalynn, Addison, Madeline, etc I feel like she will probably deal with the misspelling too. It's still a world better thay Knatalye!

[truelovekiss]

My daughter's name is Riley and when we told people that was what we were naming her you wouldn't believe what our friends and family said. "Why not Rylee? Or Rileigh? Or Rilee? That's much more feminine." This is from 30+ year-old, college-educated folks. I hate to say it, but the stupid name trend isn't always from young moms.

Very true! In my early college years, I worked part time in a pretty upscale daycare where the parents, for the most part, were all in their mid-thirties. There was all kinds of uniqueness going on in that place! Especially girls names ending in -leigh that didn't need to.

Edited May 28, 2015 by truelovekiss

[MyPeopleAreNordic]

Some interesting readings on names & unique spellings and how they impact a child for life:

http://healthland.time.com/2011/12/02/how-baby-names-affect-your-childs-future/

http://www.foxnews.com/health/2013/06/07/baby-names-reveal-parents-political-ideology/

I just know my friends who are named Angye, Ashlee, Cristin, and Brittni harbor some ill-will about constantly having to spell their names for people or correct people's spellings of their names.

We considered naming our baby Jordan if we had a girl (we had a boy & named him after his grandfather - a very traditional, well-known name shared by famous Britsh monarchs, American athletes, politicians, and other celebrities; I've only ever seen this name spelled one way- yet some people asked how we were going to spell it!). I can't tell you how many people asked if we were going to spell Jordan with a "y" - Jordyn. I don't think anything is really wrong with Jordyn (but say Jhour'dynn...now that name would probably make many assume the mother is uneducated, young, and from a lower socio-economic class), but I didn't want my child to spend the rest of her life telling people how to spell her name when there is a traditional and widely-accepted spelling for it. This is the problem Emilee and Jayde are going to have for the rest of their lives. But I guess they are actual names (unlike North or Apple) and at least make sense phonetically.

"Newer" common names like Brayden/Braden/Braeden, Kylie/Kylee, Kayleigh/Caylee/Kaylee/Kaylie don't really have one (or even two, in some cases) commonly accepted spellings, so I understand maybe choosing Brayden over Braden or whatever (and I think that's a much more middle class kind of name decision than say choosing Bhraydinne instead of Brayden/Braeden/Braden). I feel really classist right now so I'm gonna go drink some wine from a box that's sitting in my fridge.