1. My dad drinks. A LOT. Maybe I've just gotten used to not being surrounded by alcohol. I mean, I don't drink and since I don't drink, I don't spend a lot of time hanging out in bars. But every day, in every tourist trap place we went to, we would all pick out something to do: me and mom wanted to go to museums or whatever local history place was around and dad? Dad wanted to find the nearest bar and get acquainted. With Johnny. Johnny Walker, that is.
Of course, he likes to experiment. He was a bartender in law school, so he's always up for anything. In Alexandria Bay, he tried something called a 'Bull Bomb' which was a shot of Jagermeister dumped into a glass of Red Bull. Yuck. He also had a 'Slippery Nipple' and giggled from the moment he ordered it until it was gone.
2. My dad is really just a spoiled child. He was an only child until he was almost ten, when my uncle was born, and my grandmother spoiled him rotten. He's still spoiled and prone to acting like a child when he doesn't get his way. I had forgotten this. Or actually, more accurately, it's gotten worse in the seven years since I left home. The older he gets, the whinier he is.
My mom either ignores him or placates him because it's easier than dealing with his fits. We spent a lot of time soothing him and stopping him from embarassing us in public. Little things, minor inconveniences that most people shrug off with semi-good humor, such as waiting in line, forgetting something and having to go back to find it, etc., would send my father off into a snit. A loud, curse-laden embarassing fit. Most annoying.
3. I love my dad. Sure, he's an obnoxious lush, but I love him all the same. He cares about me, he loves me and he takes care of me. Plus, when Big Al and I were toddlers, he wouldn't let my mom feed us Gerber or anything like that. Instead, he made us little baby casseroles from scratch. How cute is that? Honestly.
What I think I've realized as I've grown older is that my father is a deeply flawed man, but despite those flaws, he's also a wonderful man and a good father. And I love him very, very much.
Plus, on the Halloweens when we were very little, he'd take us trick-or-treating at his favorite watering hole and the big scary biker/bartender gave me all the BeerNuts a my three year old self could ever want. And he put my cocktail napkin doodles on the big mirror that hung over the bar. So, BeerNuts and an ego boost. Rock.
4. Oh, and I love my mom, too. Even though the second she stepped into my apartment, she accused me of not vacuuming, even though I HAD and she lectured me for a good fifteen minutes on the benefits of using a crevice tool.
And she cleaned. Not that I minded that, exactly, but now I can't find anything.
5. My parents are cool. Wierd, obnoxious and a wee bit tipsy, but definitely cool and I am lucky to have them. And not just because they bought me two new pairs of shoes this weekend, either. Well...the shoes did help, but only a little.
Currents...
Currently Reading...
A week's backlog of catalogs. Glorious, glorious catalogs.
Currently Hearing...
Glen Gould, 'A State of Wonder', (Bach's Goldberg Variations)
Currently Watching...
Penn & Teller: Bullshit!
Mythbusters
Current Nail Polish Color:
L'Oreal Jet Set Shine: Las Vegas
