Discover me discovering you...
I will never understand why my parents feel the need to freeze themselves. The one thing I absolutely despise about going on family vacations is the fact that it's always freezing in our hotels rooms.
Come January we're frozen inside / Making new resolution a hundred times
Other than the sub-zero temperatures this has been a great family vacation. DC was lots of fun, but it would be anyway since I'm a HUGE history nut. We did the typical touristy things. I don't mind them so much anymore. We--of course--took a trolly tour of the city. It's our family's quirky vacation thing. We also visited the monuments and memorials. I love all of those things. They're crazy testaments to the achievements and failures of humans. It's this weird zen factor in history that shows that everyone--including the most mythical figures are simply human. I know this sounds corny. Something your history teacher would preach to you, but history is a type of religion for me. I've never had a strong connection with God, but I have always had a strong human connection. My relationships with and studies of people keep reminding me that God is there somewhere. Those monuments and memorials are a testimony to people.
In Washington we also went to the Smithsonian. We all went to the American history museum, which was amazing. They had this awesome exhibit on the Presidents, and the exhibit on the first ladies was magnificient. It presented them as more than arm-candy. Mad cool. Also, they had an Ella Fitzgerald exhibit!!!! That rocked lobster! Plus, the musical instruments were amazing. FOUR Stradivarius violins! And Steinway pianos! ::swoons:: After the American history museum my mother and I went to the National Art Museum while my brother and dad went to ESPN Zone. (haha, definite clash of interests, no?) Some of the art was amazing, some was mediocre. I was surprised how much art history I have picked up in my few years of high school.
"Your Body is a Wonderland" by John Mayer is the ultimate Goddess-worship song. I mean, if you want to make a girl feel special tell her you think that John Mayer was speaking for you through that song. It is the ultimate sexy/romantic/lusty song.
We visited Georgetown University the first day we wer in DC. My mom and I did the whole tour thing. I loved it! The community surrounding the school is amazing. I loved how the school is run. It is very open minded and all inclusive. Plus, the University is strongly based in the liberal arts. Yay! Finally, the campus was CERTAINLY livable. Woo-hoo.
Currently I'm in Philedelphia. Today we did another trolly tour. (I told you it was my family's quirky vacation thing.) Then we went to dinner at PF Chang's, which was extraordinary! I loved it. Plus, I ate my entire dinner (rice included) with chop sticks! Tomorrow we're visiting University of Pennsylvania and going home.
I'm excited to be going home because I'm not sure if this whole happy family thing will hold up much longer. So far we've done a great job and have't killed each other, but there were severe cracks in the happiness today. Parts of dinner were extremely tense. My dad is pissy and expects everyone to treat him like king of the world, and a young baby at a table near us set his holier-than-thou attitude off. This caused my brother to react and be obnoxious. I tried to smooth over the whole thing, but my brother took it as me being a jerk so he reacted even worse to that. No one spoke for five oh-so-literal minutes.
It didn't help that my mom is really preocupied with my dad's weight. Unfortunately, she is rightly worried. he is heinously overweight. It's really quite sad. It worries me. Not usually, but sometimes. Like for instance when we walked up two flights of stairs to our third floor room my dad was insanely over-exerted. Plus his knees are really bad. And he's in danger of a heart attack. It's crazy. It's really scary.
These days I wish I were six again / Oh make me a red cape / I want to be superman
My mom said she was sometimes embarassed of my dad's weight. That was a really scary thought. To be embarassed by the person you love. It makes me wonder if my weight bothers her. Granted, I'm not as big as my dad, but she's still preoccupied with my weight so much as she is with my dad's. Thank God. She made it clear that today she really isn't freaked over my weight, but she just acknowledges the fact that I could "stand to lose a few pounds."
My dad ignores me a lot. Well, not so much as ignores me, but he glosses over me. He'll interupt me in the middle of a sentence and completely change the subject. He won't answer me when I start talking and the TV is on. I feel kind of like a second-class child. He ALWAYS pays attention to my brother. But then again my brother has a very in-your-face attitude. Thinking about this always makes me wonder if acting like JJ would work for me. I doubt it. I'm the "cultured," "good" child. I can do no wrong. It's not IMPOSSIBLE for me to do wrong, it's just not PERMISSABLE. I cannot screw up. I hate this double standard set in my family. I know it's mainly a result of birth order--the younger child always has more privelages--but part of me thinks it is a result of my dad's antiquated views of gender roles.
Well, I've exhausted myself. I haven't written this much in a while. But the hotel internet connection is QUITE nice. Good night.
Come January we're frozen inside / Making new resolution a hundred times
Other than the sub-zero temperatures this has been a great family vacation. DC was lots of fun, but it would be anyway since I'm a HUGE history nut. We did the typical touristy things. I don't mind them so much anymore. We--of course--took a trolly tour of the city. It's our family's quirky vacation thing. We also visited the monuments and memorials. I love all of those things. They're crazy testaments to the achievements and failures of humans. It's this weird zen factor in history that shows that everyone--including the most mythical figures are simply human. I know this sounds corny. Something your history teacher would preach to you, but history is a type of religion for me. I've never had a strong connection with God, but I have always had a strong human connection. My relationships with and studies of people keep reminding me that God is there somewhere. Those monuments and memorials are a testimony to people.
In Washington we also went to the Smithsonian. We all went to the American history museum, which was amazing. They had this awesome exhibit on the Presidents, and the exhibit on the first ladies was magnificient. It presented them as more than arm-candy. Mad cool. Also, they had an Ella Fitzgerald exhibit!!!! That rocked lobster! Plus, the musical instruments were amazing. FOUR Stradivarius violins! And Steinway pianos! ::swoons:: After the American history museum my mother and I went to the National Art Museum while my brother and dad went to ESPN Zone. (haha, definite clash of interests, no?) Some of the art was amazing, some was mediocre. I was surprised how much art history I have picked up in my few years of high school.
"Your Body is a Wonderland" by John Mayer is the ultimate Goddess-worship song. I mean, if you want to make a girl feel special tell her you think that John Mayer was speaking for you through that song. It is the ultimate sexy/romantic/lusty song.
We visited Georgetown University the first day we wer in DC. My mom and I did the whole tour thing. I loved it! The community surrounding the school is amazing. I loved how the school is run. It is very open minded and all inclusive. Plus, the University is strongly based in the liberal arts. Yay! Finally, the campus was CERTAINLY livable. Woo-hoo.
Currently I'm in Philedelphia. Today we did another trolly tour. (I told you it was my family's quirky vacation thing.) Then we went to dinner at PF Chang's, which was extraordinary! I loved it. Plus, I ate my entire dinner (rice included) with chop sticks! Tomorrow we're visiting University of Pennsylvania and going home.
I'm excited to be going home because I'm not sure if this whole happy family thing will hold up much longer. So far we've done a great job and have't killed each other, but there were severe cracks in the happiness today. Parts of dinner were extremely tense. My dad is pissy and expects everyone to treat him like king of the world, and a young baby at a table near us set his holier-than-thou attitude off. This caused my brother to react and be obnoxious. I tried to smooth over the whole thing, but my brother took it as me being a jerk so he reacted even worse to that. No one spoke for five oh-so-literal minutes.
It didn't help that my mom is really preocupied with my dad's weight. Unfortunately, she is rightly worried. he is heinously overweight. It's really quite sad. It worries me. Not usually, but sometimes. Like for instance when we walked up two flights of stairs to our third floor room my dad was insanely over-exerted. Plus his knees are really bad. And he's in danger of a heart attack. It's crazy. It's really scary.
These days I wish I were six again / Oh make me a red cape / I want to be superman
My mom said she was sometimes embarassed of my dad's weight. That was a really scary thought. To be embarassed by the person you love. It makes me wonder if my weight bothers her. Granted, I'm not as big as my dad, but she's still preoccupied with my weight so much as she is with my dad's. Thank God. She made it clear that today she really isn't freaked over my weight, but she just acknowledges the fact that I could "stand to lose a few pounds."
My dad ignores me a lot. Well, not so much as ignores me, but he glosses over me. He'll interupt me in the middle of a sentence and completely change the subject. He won't answer me when I start talking and the TV is on. I feel kind of like a second-class child. He ALWAYS pays attention to my brother. But then again my brother has a very in-your-face attitude. Thinking about this always makes me wonder if acting like JJ would work for me. I doubt it. I'm the "cultured," "good" child. I can do no wrong. It's not IMPOSSIBLE for me to do wrong, it's just not PERMISSABLE. I cannot screw up. I hate this double standard set in my family. I know it's mainly a result of birth order--the younger child always has more privelages--but part of me thinks it is a result of my dad's antiquated views of gender roles.
Well, I've exhausted myself. I haven't written this much in a while. But the hotel internet connection is QUITE nice. Good night.