Weekend from hell
Okay, so this is one of those "I need to rant" posts. I'm sorry.
So, it was my grandfather's 80th birthday on Saturday. All of his children and their families came down for the weekend to celebrate. (You can see where this is going. ) See, it's funny, because I'm usually amazing with kids. I don't have a problem with them like some people do-I don't want my own any time soon, but being the oldest in my generation, I would've gone insane by now if I hadn't known how to take care of them and deal with them. And I don't even know why I'm going into this, because they weren't really the problem. Back on track: right. So, the previous week started off bad because my mom's sister from Virginia wanted everyone to go see Pirates together opening night and put my mom in charge of getting tickets for some reason. Because, y'know, having been divorced for four years, ex-husband not having had a steady job for 10 years or so, she was clearly the best candidate to put down the money. My mom, and it is a running joke in the family, is awful at organizing events. She can organize a house like nobody's business, but put her in charge of a party and she falls apart. So, of course, my mom panicks and starts calling people trying to figure out what time they want to go and where they're going to be so she can figure out what movie theater we should go to. Meanwhile, I'm at work and without a cellphone (because it's been broken for awhile now) and she's gotta go through all the work lines to get a hold of me. Of course, I can't really help her while I'm at work anyway. So, she calls back her sister, and gets her brother-in-law, who ALREADY HAS THE MOVIE INFORMATION FOR OUR AREA UP ON THE COMPUTER, and tries to talk her through it even though she still hasn't been able to get a hold of everyone to figure out a time or place. Why he didn't just do it, I do not know.
In any event, there is stress and more stress, and finally on Friday we get all the information we need and I'm in charge of getting fourteen tickets to the movie. And, get this, my grandfather is coming. And he's bringing his new friend Marilyn, who apparently loves Johnny Depp. And he's a control-freak, so he wants to go early to make sure we all get seats together. Who's in charge of going with him? Me, of course. Least fun car ride of my life, even beating out former top spot: 10 hours from VA home to CT when the AC wasn't working (middle of June) with two younger brothers fighting in the backseat.
The fun didn't stop with the movie, of course. Somehow, being the eldest requires that every single cousin fight over who gets to sit next to me. I insisted on sitting next to my 17 year old brother, and my 12 year old cousin Amelia got the other side. She did not stop asking questions the entire movie. She was freaking out, on the verge of tears from fright almost the entire time. Pirates could have been a great movie. I do not know.
The next day, the day of the actual birthday, I was awoken early to do "fun family things" which turned into most people going to swim or play tennis and me making desserts for the evening. At least things were semi-quiet. When we were about to leave for the actual party (at my uncle's, who owns a house on the water), however, we were informed that the family picture was going to be taken and why weren't we wearing our pastels? Yeah, somehow, in the middle of summer, neither me, my mother, or my brothers were wearing any pastels. We're a freaky family like that. So we went and changed, and then my mom was freaking out because we were going to be "late", and I wouldn't let her make the 30 min drive to the shore. So I drove. Beach weekend traffic=not fun.
And then, of course, my grandmother's sisters decided to show up, even though they were technically kinda-sorta uninvited because everyone knew they'd be upset about Marilyn (my grandmother has alzheimers and is in a home right now). Even though Marilyn and my grandfather are just friends. The entire evening was tense and everyone was constantly trying to keep them separated. It was like junior high school ALL OVER AGAIN. And although I didn't find out until the next day, I apparently hurt two of my cousins' feelings because I wasn't spending enough time with them because of it.
Thank god for Wimbledon/the World Cup on Sunday, because it was acceptable if I stayed inside glued to the TV. (And yes, I'm glad Italy won. Sheesh, one good thing this weekend.)
And even though the weekend's over, today, I had to go try and get a new phone. But the phone wasn't under warranty anymore, of course, because it was my mom's old one that I had to take after my previous one broke (within warranty, but a break that Samsung deemed my fault-FYI, it was on the hinge of the flip thing... so opening and closing it was my fault?). So, I was looking at spending $150 on a new phone. Well, I can't afford it right now, and my mom can't help me out- and seriously, I'm not tired of not getting the things I want: I'm tired of not being able to get things when I need them- so we dug around and found another old phone that we had already traded in because it wasn't working well and changed my number to it. It did not help that my brother chose that moment to ask why I really needed to bother because none of my friends were around anyway.
Okay, I'll stop now, because I completely sound like a spoiled, 13 year old brat.
To quote a great disney character: "Life's not fair, is it?" (Name the character/movie and YOU WIN! Bonus points if you identify what he's doing at the time and what other character interrupts him from it.)
In any case, now that this weekend is over there will be vidding and ficcing.
And now, to bed, because I have to be up for work in less than 8 hours. *tear*
So, it was my grandfather's 80th birthday on Saturday. All of his children and their families came down for the weekend to celebrate. (You can see where this is going. ) See, it's funny, because I'm usually amazing with kids. I don't have a problem with them like some people do-I don't want my own any time soon, but being the oldest in my generation, I would've gone insane by now if I hadn't known how to take care of them and deal with them. And I don't even know why I'm going into this, because they weren't really the problem. Back on track: right. So, the previous week started off bad because my mom's sister from Virginia wanted everyone to go see Pirates together opening night and put my mom in charge of getting tickets for some reason. Because, y'know, having been divorced for four years, ex-husband not having had a steady job for 10 years or so, she was clearly the best candidate to put down the money. My mom, and it is a running joke in the family, is awful at organizing events. She can organize a house like nobody's business, but put her in charge of a party and she falls apart. So, of course, my mom panicks and starts calling people trying to figure out what time they want to go and where they're going to be so she can figure out what movie theater we should go to. Meanwhile, I'm at work and without a cellphone (because it's been broken for awhile now) and she's gotta go through all the work lines to get a hold of me. Of course, I can't really help her while I'm at work anyway. So, she calls back her sister, and gets her brother-in-law, who ALREADY HAS THE MOVIE INFORMATION FOR OUR AREA UP ON THE COMPUTER, and tries to talk her through it even though she still hasn't been able to get a hold of everyone to figure out a time or place. Why he didn't just do it, I do not know.
In any event, there is stress and more stress, and finally on Friday we get all the information we need and I'm in charge of getting fourteen tickets to the movie. And, get this, my grandfather is coming. And he's bringing his new friend Marilyn, who apparently loves Johnny Depp. And he's a control-freak, so he wants to go early to make sure we all get seats together. Who's in charge of going with him? Me, of course. Least fun car ride of my life, even beating out former top spot: 10 hours from VA home to CT when the AC wasn't working (middle of June) with two younger brothers fighting in the backseat.
The fun didn't stop with the movie, of course. Somehow, being the eldest requires that every single cousin fight over who gets to sit next to me. I insisted on sitting next to my 17 year old brother, and my 12 year old cousin Amelia got the other side. She did not stop asking questions the entire movie. She was freaking out, on the verge of tears from fright almost the entire time. Pirates could have been a great movie. I do not know.
The next day, the day of the actual birthday, I was awoken early to do "fun family things" which turned into most people going to swim or play tennis and me making desserts for the evening. At least things were semi-quiet. When we were about to leave for the actual party (at my uncle's, who owns a house on the water), however, we were informed that the family picture was going to be taken and why weren't we wearing our pastels? Yeah, somehow, in the middle of summer, neither me, my mother, or my brothers were wearing any pastels. We're a freaky family like that. So we went and changed, and then my mom was freaking out because we were going to be "late", and I wouldn't let her make the 30 min drive to the shore. So I drove. Beach weekend traffic=not fun.
And then, of course, my grandmother's sisters decided to show up, even though they were technically kinda-sorta uninvited because everyone knew they'd be upset about Marilyn (my grandmother has alzheimers and is in a home right now). Even though Marilyn and my grandfather are just friends. The entire evening was tense and everyone was constantly trying to keep them separated. It was like junior high school ALL OVER AGAIN. And although I didn't find out until the next day, I apparently hurt two of my cousins' feelings because I wasn't spending enough time with them because of it.
Thank god for Wimbledon/the World Cup on Sunday, because it was acceptable if I stayed inside glued to the TV. (And yes, I'm glad Italy won. Sheesh, one good thing this weekend.)
And even though the weekend's over, today, I had to go try and get a new phone. But the phone wasn't under warranty anymore, of course, because it was my mom's old one that I had to take after my previous one broke (within warranty, but a break that Samsung deemed my fault-FYI, it was on the hinge of the flip thing... so opening and closing it was my fault?). So, I was looking at spending $150 on a new phone. Well, I can't afford it right now, and my mom can't help me out- and seriously, I'm not tired of not getting the things I want: I'm tired of not being able to get things when I need them- so we dug around and found another old phone that we had already traded in because it wasn't working well and changed my number to it. It did not help that my brother chose that moment to ask why I really needed to bother because none of my friends were around anyway.
Okay, I'll stop now, because I completely sound like a spoiled, 13 year old brat.
To quote a great disney character: "Life's not fair, is it?" (Name the character/movie and YOU WIN! Bonus points if you identify what he's doing at the time and what other character interrupts him from it.)
In any case, now that this weekend is over there will be vidding and ficcing.
And now, to bed, because I have to be up for work in less than 8 hours. *tear*