disappearing stuff

So much of me and my family's stuff is going missing these days. First it was my sandals. Then my Taylor Swift CD. Then my Dad's 3G mobile wireless card. And now one of his map books. Where is all our stuff going? The only thing I can think of is that Mum's hiding it all, or she's just moved it and conveniently forgotten ever doing it. There's simply no other explanation for where it's all gone. It's not like she hasn't done it in the past.

Tuesdays

I've found that I've come to hate Tuesday nights. No one is ever on to talk. Apart from NCIS, they're just plain boring. Can't I just have a fast-forward button?

A slow day's travel

9:57pm 06/10/2008

I got through my Physics homework in less then an hour, which surprised me a lot considering I had 2 chapters worth of questions to answer. I went to bed shortly after, knowing that we were leaving the next day.

This morning was crap. I had to endure more yelling as we packed. To put it simply, Mum and Dad are getting more and more serious with their threats of chucking me out of the house. I really just want to know where I've gone wrong, and what I did to deserve this. All I've ever done is be myself and tried to have my own ways and my own opinions, and I'm being downtrodden and shunned because I'm not the "normal" my parents want me to be :(.

About 45 minutes after we headed off from Tuncurry, we hit some very heavy traffic that slowed us to a crawl. This happened 3 times before we got to Sydney, and it turns out it was caused by an overload of holiday traffic coming home after the Labor Day long weekend here in NSW. NSW drivers have no idea how to merge from 2 lanes into 1.

Once we got past Sydney (which happened about 4 hours late at about 5pm I think), we didn't have a problem with traffic. We made it to Gundagai just before 9pm and checked into the same hotel that we stayed in on the way up. This means we'll probably be home by about 3pm tomorrow. God I can't wait to get home. Right now I just need to talk to someone other then family to help keep me sane.

One more thing: I think I found a way of measuring my happiness while on holiday - look at the amount of photos I take in a time period. Wanna know why? I didn't take a single photo today. And when I got cut off from the person I was talking to on Saturday by my brother (he pulled out the mobile phone wireless card before I could say goodbye), I didn't take many photos for the rest of that day either.

Visiting Godfrey

7:06 pm 05/10/2008

I wrote that timestamp 48 minutes ago before I was subsequently engaged in arguments and yelling matches for the next 45 minutes or so. But I'll get to that bit later.

I've been having to guard the book that I'm writing in like a Nazi these past few days. Like I wrote this morning, my parents are getting suspicious of the fact that I'm suddenly writing so much. Shortly before we left, my Dad got me to take out the rubbish, and emphasised the fact that I'd need to put down everything I was holding (which included my book) so I could hold the rubbish. I shoved it into my pockets instead. I obviously can't be sure, but I'm betting Dad just wanted to get his hands on the book.

I also had another fight with Mum about what clothes I was going to wear. I was dressed and ready to go, and she wanted me to wear something different, and of course I refused. It was kinda funny, as she was saying that, Pork and Beans by Weezer was playing, so I re-wound it to the line in the chorus “I ain't gonna wear the clothes that you like”. She just stomped out of the room after that.

We finally left at about 10:30 am after the massively long delay (we planned to leave at 9:45 am). After another delay at the supermarket, we finally got to Godfrey's house at about 11:30. After he showed us around his house and we fed his horses, we hopped in the 4 wheel drives and headed up the mountain. Dad and Mum drove in our car, and me and Andrew rode with Godfrey and his dog Mins (short for Mini).

When we got to the top of the mountain (Mount Krambach), we had the most amazing view of the entire valley. It's easily one of the best bits of scenery I've ever seen, something that no photo will ever truly capture.

We had lunch there on a picnic table, and then talked and admired the view for a couple of hours. When we'd had enough, we drove back down the mountain, and then stayed to look at some photos on Godfrey's computer of all these different kite-flying events (Godfrey is an avid kite-flyer).

Unfortunately, as it got time to go, we got onto the topic of Poppa's gravestone (in case you don't remember, my grandfather Poppa died about 6 weeks ago). Mum started to get into a flutter because she was afraid that, like on the obituary, her name would be placed under daughters-in-law, along with Dad's and Godfrey's ex-wives (and even more the issue, after their names instead of before). This has been my 2nd issue with Mum concerning the after-effects of Poppa's death.

When the will was found, my Dad discovered that, based on their age, each grandchild would receive a different inheritance, with Godfrey's children and Dad's children from his first marriage receiving more then me and Andrew. So what does Mum do? She starts complaining about how we should get more. For me, I'm just grateful for any inheritance and all, and I would never even entertain the thought of asking for more, or complaining about it. For me, that's greed, and I am not a greedy person. I never knew, but obviously Mum is.

Anyways, it just struck me today how sad and petty it was that Mum was competing for space on a dead man's gravestone. So I spoke up about it, unluckily for me in front of Godfrey. I just made the point that Mum didn't have to prove herself to anyone, and that we all knew that, and that that was all that mattered, rendering the discussion pointless.

In the car on the way back the yelling started again. First it was how Godfrey probably thinks I'm a miscreant and I shouldn't speak up like that and that I'm the child and I have far too much to say (a direct hypocrisy on her hate for Dad's similar view about how children don't need to be told everything, and that they are to be heard and not seen).

Then it turned to me myself again, about how I'm a disappointment and I look disgusting and all that crap. And then it turned to acceptance of other people's ways and cultures. Samie got dragged into it again; Mum denied ever calling her a chimp, and she wanted to know what was wrong with Australian girls and why I would want to travel and find a “yellow-skinned” girl to marry.

It continued when I got home as well. I'd just sat down to write all this, but didn't get past the timestamp before I was forced into more arguments, pretty much all centred around the same things. There was one other thing though: Mum said earlier this week to Andrew in another argument that she hates two-faced people. She then says tonight that even if I disagree slightly with something my parents were saying to someone, I should be loyal and stick by them, and then raise it with them later. How about no? Maybe if you'd been better parents, then sure. But not after random whacks in the head and being throttled and hit with a guitar and being downtrodden. No way. If I disagree with something, I'm gonna say something, no matter what. I am not a sheep, I do not roll over for anyone, and I am certainly not loyal to people who show me no respect.

I also got the now usual repartee about how I need to stop listening to “that American stuff”, and how it's instilling radical ideas in my head and causing me to be rebellious. Oh yeah, Mum's furious at Andrew for getting me Bullet in a Bible for my birthday.

It's now 2 hours since I wrote the timestamp. I've had interruptions from arguments and dinner, and I've now got no Physics homework done, which is a big problem. I'd better make a start, I'll see ya'll soon.

Habits and Addiction

8:12am 05/10/2008

We had to put our clocks forward an hour last night for the commencement of daylight savings. Sure, its all well and good that we get more daylight, but now I have no idea what time it is in other countries around the world.

It seems I can't do anything more then a couple of times without my family getting uptight about it. Last year for example, I really got back into the Artemis Fowl series. Suddenly they're full of “why are you doing this?”, “what started this?”. Typical Mum to always need a reason for everything. Anyway, now that I've started writing a lot while we've been away, they've suddenly got their backs up about that too. I can't seem to like anything at all without claims of addiction.

Mum even wonders why I still like and read Harry Potter, because she has this warped idea in her head that it's a kiddies book, and that I'm too old for them now. She's never even read anything from the series. There she goes with the assumptions again. And that reminds me, I never got to talk about Mum's damn mood swings. I'll have to do that tomorrow when we're on the road again. Oh, one more thing: single-ply toilet paper should be illegal.

A rather random day

9:28pm 04/10/2008

It's been a rather uneventful 24 hours. We slept in and then waited and waited for Mum and Dad to finally leave to go shopping, because they wanted to do some before going out to an amusement park. They finally left at about 10am, and me and Andrew watched Rush Hour 3 on DVD while they were gone.

After lunch we finally headed off to an amusement park about 10 minutes out of Tuncurry. However, when we got there, we watch the go-karts from the parking lot. Turns out there's no “go” in them at all; they're pulled to the top of a hill and then sent down one of three paths to let gravity do all the work. We gave the place a miss and tried another one in the area, but the only good thing there for people my age was the go-karts, and they were too slow to be any fun, so we gave that place a miss as well.

After a short detour by Mum's request to watch some water skiing (she used to water ski when she was younger and she's still obsessed with it), we went and visited Godfrey at his work to make plans for tomorrow. We then headed off to a beach nearby that was protected from sea creatures by an underwater net. Me and Andrew both had a swim there. It was alright, not too cold, but the waves were non-existent because it was so shallow.

We then went for a drive along the surf beach in Tuncurry. After being reassured that we'd be alright without a permit, we dropped the pressure in our tyres and started driving. We must of driven about ten kilometres overall. Once we were done, Dad dropped us off where we were staying and then drove off to get something from the shops.

Because he didn't have the keys, Dad had to get our attention to get one of us to open the garage and up into the apartment. He tried calling Mum's and Andrew's mobile phones, but neither of them heard them ring. He then resorted to honking the horn, and I finally heard him and rushed downstairs to let him in.

When he got upstairs, he was no doubt in a bad mood. Guess who he has to take it out on? He sees me on the laptop and comes straight over and yells at me to get off it. I decide “ok, I can finish up easily, I'll get off”. Less then 5 seconds later, he comes back over and tries to shut the screen, slamming my fingers in it. I naturally react with an “OI!”, and lift the screen back up. Next thing I know, I get a slap across the face. Reason why? “You're spending too much time on the laptop.” Real reason why? Dad was angry and I'm an easy target. I am so sick of taking his bullshit.

I spent most of the evening doing the maths homework I had to bring with me, and I've got a bunch of Physics homework to do tomorrow. I would've done it sooner but I didn't have the time or room in the place in Sydney. And don't get me started about the revision and homework I have to do when I get back.

It's 10pm now and I'm being yelled at to get in the shower, so I guess I'll write more later. So much for being an uneventful day.

Our first afternoon in Tuncurry

10:28pm 03/10/2008

Tuncurry is a very nice, albeit small, town. I gotta say, it's just refreshing to know that not all drivers are like the ones in Sydney. We found our place alright, and it's a much nicer place then the apartment we stayed in in Sydney. The loungeroom and kitchen here are almost as big as the entire apartment back in Sydney. There's also room to unpack our bags this time! :P Unfortunately, the only way to get to the room this time is by walking up two flights of stairs.

After we'd checked in Mum and Andrew went shopping while me and Dad went to the local hardware store that his brother (who's named Godfrey) owns to meet up with him and organise what we were doing for dinner tonight. The whole reason for coming north for a couple of days was purely to see Godfrey and where he lived again, as we haven't been here for about 5 years now.

Once we got back to the unit I watched the rest of The Matrix Reloaded, before we headed out to dinner with Godfrey to the sister town on the other side of the river, Forster (although everyone here pronounces it Foster :S). We went to an American restaurant called the Hog's Breath Cafe. It was a really nice place with some decent food.

It was also really nice to catch up with Godfrey, talking about a whole range of things. At one point my Mum started talking about my hair (I just rolled my eyes). She then proceeded to talk about Godfrey's hair, and tried to convince him that he should have a haircut. Godfrey replied with “I've already had a haircut this year”. Mum couldn't understand, so she said something like “Why don't you get another one?” Godfrey's simple response: “I just can't be bothered!” I instantly gave him a high five. It was great to finally see someone else who shared my view about hair :P.

All in all, it's been a pretty enjoyable afternoon and evening. I think we're gonna have a great time over the next couple of days.