Chaos Attraction

Three More Days Till Hell Starts

2004-06-08, 5:09 p.m.

So, y'all haven't heard the family drama in awhile. Given that there is going to be MUCH of this going on in my near future *sob*, I should probably update it.

The good: My cousin Matt, a good egg and the family member the most like me, finally proposed to his roommate/girlfriend of many years. I kinda figured they'd go that way someday, at least if he ever did have to move out of the country to find an animation job, so it's not a major surprise. Mom forwarded me a kinda-bitchy e-mail from his mother about it, saying, "Well, he gave her an engagement ring, now if he could only get a full-time job..." I daresay it wasn't Proper of him to propose without full-on employment. Though I'm sure he had to have coughed up enough for a diamond or the rest of the family would kill him. *Ahem* not that I would know or anything.

The ugly: I am annoyed at Ron and Laurie. Ron's a cop, and he screwed up his knee somehow and is going to have to be off work for six months. For some idiotic reason, Laurie chooses him being out of work for six months to insist on quitting her job RIGHT NOW. She's been whining to quit her job from oh, the wedding or so, because she wants to be a Lady Who Lunches like the rest of her friends, but Ron wouldn't let her. (She sometimes claims it's to be with her children, but uh, when they're in school...) Anyway, she claims this time it's because both of the kids are being pains- Connor as usual is hyper and Amanda's thirteen and thus dressing like Britney or something- I don't know why anyone's surprised at that, though. So someone desperately needs to be at home to nurture them.

Uh, last I checked, isn't the man of the house going to be home for six months? So he could do that? I know he wouldn't LIKE to do that, but shouldn't one of you at least still have a damn paycheck coming in? Or at least wait until his knee is up and running again? And given how fight-y their relationship is anyway, adding several years of "I stayed at home with the children" to her resume isn't exactly something I think is safe for her to do. Guh.

Ron insisted on throwing some huge party for her quitting, and I quote my mom on this, "to embarrass her so much that she'll never want to go back to work again after the stink she's made." Someone thought it was a good idea to give Laurie one of those Perfect Man dolls- i.e. "I'll do the dishes tonight, honey," and Ron was Not Happy. I think he pulled a disappearing act with the toy the way he did with the garter at Tammy's wedding.

My impression of this family is that they are always at each other's throats under normal circumstances, but being home together all day every day? Aiee.

The bad: Grandpa is in the hospital for some heart thing. Nobody seems to know why or what's going on, especially Grandma, who doesn't sound like she has the mental facilities at all to deal with it. It now seems very urgent that we get up there, and Mom warned me that we very well might not get home on time from vacation, and can I take MORE days off? Argh.

I hate that it's obvious that she's gotten Alzheimer's. She is in her 80's and she never really used her brain much to begin with, so how could she not get it, right?

Is it awful of me not to want to see her when she's like that? I've already been through it once.

Mom was all, "Perhaps we should move them down here," but how? And I know that just means that Mom gets to take care of them on top of taking care of Dad, because god knows the PITA aunt and uncle won't do much unless you're a cute wittle grandchild.

I am sick at the idea of going on this vacation. I can't talk to anyone at all- I had to explain to both Denise and Heather that I am pretty much not allowed to make phone calls to friends when I am with family and they were horrified. Well, not outright forbidden, but I am definitely not allowed to make a phone call alone and in private unless the parents are in the can, and if I make a call around my parents they WILL make comments and bitch and say I'm insulting them, and I'm never left alone except for when Dad takes a dump anyway. And it's rude to want to speak to anyone else when they see me more than my poor parents do anyway. The only alone time I ever get is if I wake up before the relatives do in Montana (at least there I have my own room), which doesn't happen because they bang on the door by 9 and yell at me to come out and be social. I am very glad I don't have a boyfriend any more when going on this trip. And not only will this be 10 days long, it might be even longer because of the hospital issue.

I am going to be in hell. No wonder I keep bribing myself with presents constantly to entertain myself with on this trip. Seriously, I have bought myself a metric assload of books in the last month, not to mention a few magazines to boot, plus a gerbil, and then today I took the afternoon off work to (a) go see Taming of the Shrew on the quad, since I won't be here to see the weekend shows (the verdict: not quite as good as usual, not sure why, Petruchio reminded me of Stanley Kowalski), (b) go get yet another inhaler before I leave the state, and (c) go bead shopping with Jess. The last thing didn't happen because she's sick and the necklace recipient is being wishy-washy, so we agreed to postpone the whole thing. So instead uh... I ended up going to the Gap. Which I normally hate because (a) the clothes are boring (b) in dull colors and (c) they cost a fuckload. Except today I found the Gap Miracle Trifecta: (a) clothes with style, (b) in a lovely pinky-purple shade that matches a scarf and sarong I have, and (c) the clothes were on sale. Major sale. A tank top for $10! A skirt for $20! A strapless dress for $30! Holy fuck!

Anyway...you get the drift. I feel trapped and miserable at the mere thought of all of this and thus keep buying myself escapism to make me happy.

Of course, it won't work. Nothing much will short of (a) reading, or (b) going back to my home alone.


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