I spent today at my parents' place. (Well, my brother picked me up a little after 11am, we dealt with a doctor's appointment, and another errand, and then we headed home.) I went with my brother and mother to see Billy Crystal's "700 Sundays" at the Wilshire Theatre. It was decent and definitely had some very funny moments (especially in the second half), but it wasn't anything special in my opinion and he dwelled on many points far longer than they deserved. My brother was actually seeing it for the second time, so I guess he really likes it. Most of the audience seemed to love it, but to me it was no more than decent.
My mother was having lots of trouble walking, and I noticed one of those 4-legged things people can use to help stabilize themselves when they walk (although she didn't use it). I hadn't seen that before (including when I was here a month ago), nor had I noticed this degree of difficulty in her walking before. Getting down the stairs after the show was quite a chore, and the theatre was not designed in a way that facilitates things for people having such trouble. Anyway, my grandparents were already old when I came into the world, so this is obviously a bit different mentally (as far as the way I see these things).
There's stuff I found out today I could rant about a great deal (like apparently having to suddenly write a check for a HUGE sum within two weeks when the person [my brother] who informed me of this today already knew about this several months ago and never bothered to tell me---actually, I still don't have a complete explanation of where this is coming from, so I'll be getting that and seeing the "bill" before I am willing to pay a cent---and the simple apology I got for this was on the order of an I'm sorry I ate your hamburger apology that just doesn't come close to cutting it), but I'll stick with this for now. If I go completely all out on this, it will help to remove the calm state I am attempting to attain for my interview. I have managed to calm myself down today, and maybe it's just the existence of other problems removing the "immediate" stress I've been experiencing lately.
Oh, and a nice microcosm of what it's like dealing with my family (and why I don't consider myself to really be a part of it---it's like I'm their et mathematician or something---he's refuting what we say; oh how cute!) comes from the following snippet of an exchange with my father about 30 minutes ago:
My father: [[states an opinion]]
Me: "That's against all empirical evidence."
My father: "It doesn't matter."
Note that there was no attempt to refute my statement about where the evidence lies (which is fair; maybe there's some reason to believe that's not what the evidence shows)---just a statement that empirical evidence makes no difference to when it comes to his making his claim. My comment was simply dismissed.
Now the matter being discussed happened to be inconsequential, but I've seen him do the same thing on political stuff, world events, etc.
My response was to give a firm rebuke, finish the conversation, and return to the comfort of my computer and solitude. If attempts to bring evidence into play are just going to be dismissed as being irrelevant, there's really not much point to having any sort of conversation.
Oh, so how many separate 666 point cards are getting played from this one?
At least I ranted while remaining calm. Hell, I ranted more about the microcosm than about the fucking over I got, and the latter is kind of more important (at least financially)---probably because I couldn't have remained calm if I went on too long about the latter.
Now it's time to do the best I can with my interview. The place is a really good fit for me, and I think this is the best opportunity I've ever had.
I sometimes wonder what the Gazebo would write if he did not know I log in from time to time.
ReplyDeleteBreak a leg at the interview!
That's a very relevant point.
ReplyDeleteI have a policy, however, that if I don't want something to get back to somebody, I won't write it in the first place. Certainly, some of my rantings might have gotten back to them, but I don't particularly care.
Unlike me, my family doesn't seem to believe in saying what they actually think. Oh, I've seen them claim that they do, but as far as I can tell, they only believe in sincerity when it's convenient. I, however, am honest to a fault---why is one big reason I don't have a lot of friends, but I couldn't live with myself if I were any other way. My family can't stand the fact that this is how I interact with people, but at the same time I can't stand facades of any kind.
I have a great deal of admiration for honest people. You develop that when you've been around the other kind enough. (I once practiced law and am now in the real estate business....)
ReplyDeleteSo keep telling it like you see it MtU. You'll get no quarrel from me.
As my blog has become more visible I've been more aware that just about anyone could come across my blog, and this naturally prevents me from posting items about my personal life. Given that many such items that I used to post are embarrassing in hindsight, I regard this as mostly a good thing.
ReplyDeleteIt's nice to have an outlet for such things, though, so one solution might be to maintain a second, pseudonymous blog. I've considered this but I don't think it would be very fulfilling; it only works if none of my friends know about it, and all of the fun of blogging is having my friends read and comment. So for now I confine the personal stuff to private discussions.
Here I can rant without anyone hanging up on me. :)
ReplyDeleteI don't feel embarrassed by writing this. Perhaps I should and maybe I will later, but I don't. I figure that random people coming across this won't care, and as I mentioned, whenever there's something that I care whether it's passed along (and such things do exist), I don't put it here. Of course, if I change my mind about something I wrote in the past, that's another story.
I'm definitely not going to use pseudonyms. I am me, for better or for worse. I may be hopelessly shy, tactless, and antisocial, but at least I know who I am. :)
Besides, far more people are likely to see weird pictures on my regular website than anything here that I'd later consider embarrassing. :)
Yeah, I certainly don't think you have any reason to be embarrassed of this post. With me, I usually write things in the heat of the moment that seem silly later on when I have more perspective on the situation, hence my embarrassment with the personal stuff.
ReplyDeleteThere was one response I gave where I tripped out which kind of goes in that direction. However, I purposely put it in a different post from the other one to see how many of my entries a certain anonymous person was reading.
ReplyDeleteI can't sleep. Damn time zones.