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My phone rang yesterday and it was my father's wife. She said, "Your father and I are going to be at your place in fifteen minutes. We thought we'd take you to see a movie." (I refer to her as "my father's wife" because, while she may technically be my step-mother, she and my father did not marry until I was well into my twenties and thus I cannot think of her as anything other than "my father's wife.")
The last I'd heard from them was about a month ago, just before my birthday, when I talked to my dad and he said he may come up for a visit that coming weekend, the weekend of my and Ethan's birthdays. He never called nor showed up, so it was quite surprising that they were randomly stopping by. They never just "stop by." I got the distinct impression they were out-and-about Madison and suddenly remembered, and scrambled to do something.
They came, we chatted, caught up on a little family gossip, got some drive-thru fast food, and went to see a movie. They brought Ethan and I each a $30 gift card for Half-Price Books, which I must say, is a step up from the candles they've been getting me for a few years now. Change is definitely good. Is it wrong to wish that it didn't feel like they threw it all together on a whim as they drove over? I suppose it's fair since I didn't call him on Father's Day because I was working and forgot it was Father's Day.
About the only real disadvantage to not having a car (about ten months now) is that I don't go visit my dad at all and must rely on he and his wife to come up here to visit. (They live in Janesville, about fourty-ish miles south of here.) I haven't been there for holidays since the Thanksgiving before last. It's not a total tragedy since the rest of my family I can do without. (My siblings and step-siblings didn't even speak to Jacquelyn, but occasionally stared at her "like she was a mildly interesting television show.") I just miss talking to my dad, not that we have much in common, but hey, it's still nice to talk to him. I also miss seeing my nieces and nephews. Usually their parents are ignoring them, so I spend most family get-togethers playing and organizing games with the little kids. I want to see them young, before their parents fuck them up.
On a totally mundane note, I stopped at Half-Price instead of taking a lunch while I was working today and I bought 1) Philip K. Dick's The Man in the High Castle, which is set in 1962 America, but an America which is jointly occupied by Germany and Japan because the Nazi's won WWII; 2) Thomas Pynchon's V., which I know nothing about but since I own two other Pynchon novels and he's supposed to be brilliant, I keep buying him, subconsciously sure I will love him once I sit down to read it, but never get the guts to do so; 3) Mark Z. Danielewski's Only Revolutions, which I didn't realize was an advance reader edition, which I bought because his House of Leaves was fucking brilliant; and 4) Umberto Eco's The Mysterious Flame of Queen Loana, which I bought because Eco rocks my socks and he bent my brain with Foucault's Pendulum, and - I hate to admit it - because I liked the dust jacket design.
I think I'll spend the rest of the night editing Complex Psyche. I've fallen behind on that in the wake of summer and flyers. I'm probably just being lazy, though i find it hard to work on things with there's other people around. I will have to overcome this before I start school in the fall.
That is all for now, dear reader. Good night.
The last I'd heard from them was about a month ago, just before my birthday, when I talked to my dad and he said he may come up for a visit that coming weekend, the weekend of my and Ethan's birthdays. He never called nor showed up, so it was quite surprising that they were randomly stopping by. They never just "stop by." I got the distinct impression they were out-and-about Madison and suddenly remembered, and scrambled to do something.
They came, we chatted, caught up on a little family gossip, got some drive-thru fast food, and went to see a movie. They brought Ethan and I each a $30 gift card for Half-Price Books, which I must say, is a step up from the candles they've been getting me for a few years now. Change is definitely good. Is it wrong to wish that it didn't feel like they threw it all together on a whim as they drove over? I suppose it's fair since I didn't call him on Father's Day because I was working and forgot it was Father's Day.
About the only real disadvantage to not having a car (about ten months now) is that I don't go visit my dad at all and must rely on he and his wife to come up here to visit. (They live in Janesville, about fourty-ish miles south of here.) I haven't been there for holidays since the Thanksgiving before last. It's not a total tragedy since the rest of my family I can do without. (My siblings and step-siblings didn't even speak to Jacquelyn, but occasionally stared at her "like she was a mildly interesting television show.") I just miss talking to my dad, not that we have much in common, but hey, it's still nice to talk to him. I also miss seeing my nieces and nephews. Usually their parents are ignoring them, so I spend most family get-togethers playing and organizing games with the little kids. I want to see them young, before their parents fuck them up.
On a totally mundane note, I stopped at Half-Price instead of taking a lunch while I was working today and I bought 1) Philip K. Dick's The Man in the High Castle, which is set in 1962 America, but an America which is jointly occupied by Germany and Japan because the Nazi's won WWII; 2) Thomas Pynchon's V., which I know nothing about but since I own two other Pynchon novels and he's supposed to be brilliant, I keep buying him, subconsciously sure I will love him once I sit down to read it, but never get the guts to do so; 3) Mark Z. Danielewski's Only Revolutions, which I didn't realize was an advance reader edition, which I bought because his House of Leaves was fucking brilliant; and 4) Umberto Eco's The Mysterious Flame of Queen Loana, which I bought because Eco rocks my socks and he bent my brain with Foucault's Pendulum, and - I hate to admit it - because I liked the dust jacket design.
I think I'll spend the rest of the night editing Complex Psyche. I've fallen behind on that in the wake of summer and flyers. I'm probably just being lazy, though i find it hard to work on things with there's other people around. I will have to overcome this before I start school in the fall.
That is all for now, dear reader. Good night.
