Adventures in Gastronomy

I notice this more and more whenever I visit my parents. Randy and I went to the Cape this weekend for some family bonding. All in all, it went well. I had a good time (and I think Randy did, too). But two things inevitably happen every time we go down there now:

1 – my parents request our assistance in fixing something on their computer
2 – my father drives everybody crazy.

We love him – don’t get me wrong. He’s not a bad person. He just has these traits that are prone to annoy people. for example:

1 – he hums non-stop
2 – he rambles
3 – he follows you around the house
4 – he says words incorrectly (when playing Uno, he pronounces it “You-Know”…when talking about Yahoo! on the computer he calls it “Yoo-Hoo”). Unfortunately, he’s not trying to be cute. It’s just that after 30 years of playing Uno, he still can’t say “Uno” when he has one card left.

I suppose those traits in themselves are annoying enough. But when you realize that you possess each and every one of those traits yourself? That’s when you realize you’re in trouble.

It’s also when you realize that your boyfriend has the patience of a saint.

Fortunately, I’m not as bad as my father…yet. It’s like I’m “pre-annoying” to my father’s “post-annoying.” But I’m going to fight tooth and nail to not end up continuing in that direction. I really believe this all came about once my father retired. When he was working and being social, he was being kept in line by society since he had to follow society’s rules. Now he doesn’t work. He doesn’t leave the house unless going somewhere with my mother. When he walks the dog he gets cranky if people stop to chat. It wasn’t always this way. The more home-bound he became, the worse he became.

And I think living alone for three years after breaking up with Matt (the first time in my life I ever lived alone) has started the process with me. Perhaps is selfishness. Maybe it’s a slight loss of sanity/reality from not having to interact with others intimately.

It’s like Michael Jackson syndrome. Yeah, he’s not alone since he’s got servants and hired help around him 24/7. But I wouldn’t call those folks his friends and I’m sure he only keeps the ones around who are willing to go along with everything he says. Consequently, he was in a status all his own in the 80’s and became more and more eccentric since there wasn’t anybody there to say “Dude, you’re getting a bit quirky. Lay of the bleach.”

Anyway, hopefully moving in with Randy and having somebody there to let me know when I’m being eccentric (a much nicer word than annoying, don’t you think?) will reverse my trend. If not, I’m in trouble.

February 4th, 2008
Categories: Uncategorized . Author: snarl

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