I've only had one goal since about third grade: to not live at home. My attempts ranged from wanting to spend all summer at camp to going to an academy three hours away for high school; all futile attempts at achieving such success early before finally being able to head off to college. Now I moved around a lot so it wasn't really ever the town that I wanted to get away from, it was my parents. I can't stand to live with them. I know this doesn't separate me from almost any other teen through young adult but I know I was the only third grader who couldn't wait to get to college to escape his parents. Although I wasn't in the great of a school district (where eventually only about half to 60 percent of the kids graduate) so perhaps the other third graders were just blissfully realistic. Blissful days those were for everyone as now 13 years later I find myself sitting back at home.
Now I'm not a complete loser...yet of course...because I do have a job, a real job, but in my home town. Although I may hate to admit, since I plan on leaving fiscally it makes more sense.
Events that have occurred that only drive me closer to the edge:
1) We got a new cat.
Our old cat died and the new cat is great...almost too great. None the less friendly and I don't think it's plotting my demise. But listening to my mom as she tried to find one she wanted. I never realized the cat was a fashion accessory but we couldn't have one that looked like our old cat (understandable mostly because my sister), nothing to poofy, and nothing orange. "It wouldn't match anything in the house." she said. "The cat has to match?"
2) We finally got digital cable.
On the surface this is great. I love digital cable. We don't have the VOD that I like but it's the final step in join the rest of the city. My parents like to drag their heals on every technology purchase. The house had dial up until I was a junior in college. I had a DVD player before them, and they typically go cheap. On birthday I got a cd burner which was perhaps the first on ever as it was huge only had a drive for the blank disc and had to be connected to a cd player and would record entire cd's as tracks. But I digress. The unfortunate part of the cable is that it's only in the main room. Where they always watch TV. And never the extra channels like HBO, etc. Just the same crime procedurals. These channels are every where else in the house. Watch them elsewhere (we do have cable just not digital other places). Plus they never can figure out how to use it, leaving the tv on but not the box. Never using the scroll to find another channel. Which wouldn't bother me as much if they didn't lecture me on how to use it. "Make sure you press this button." I'm sure the look on my face would have been similar if they had asked me to turn the knob to the UHF, so maybe I bring it on myself, but "Thank's I've got it. I've joined the 21st century already."
3) They can't leave a computer on.
Alright sometimes they'll put it on hibernate or sleep. I've come to terms with that. But normally they just turn it off. Perhaps I've been spoiled by computers everywhere in college or maybe just by common sense, but I hate having to wait freaking 5-10 minutes just to check my email. Then they've installed weather bug on the computer. So it has to ask me to register it. I refuse and it freezes as retribution. Can't un install it since my mom uses regularly but normally I've grown so impatient by then I forget to take it off the startup on my account, instead going to see the rambling of my friends back in a better place.
I'll even put the computer in sleep mode as some sort of compromise as opposed to leaving it on so I can come back but then they just turn it off. Don't ask if I'm done. Just turn it off. Perhaps if I had more of a life this wouldn't bother me, but I don't.
4) I can't use a computer in my own room.
Rather the internet, for those focusing on literal meanings. They said they would bet a connection upstairs for us two years ago when they got it, but decided it was too expensive. Back then I offered to take care of it but no they know better than me. (This is probably my root dislike no matter what it is they always assume they know better than me. Example my dad yelled at me for changing his wires on the back of the television and entertainment system in the basement. It didn't work. Sound wouldn't come out of the DVD player because he hadn't tested it yet. So I fixed it. But only in a temporary way so I could ask him later what port in the surround sound he wants it to come out of. I don't like asking him to fix his mistakes because he gets angry and takes much to long to fix these things but he doesn't like me to fix them because he doesn't trust me to do it right. Making this more infuriate my major is Telecommunications I set things up like this all the time. Once again long rant.) So what they decided to do for the internet upstairs was get wireless internet. Along the same insanity lines the wouldn't let me do it and instead purchased just the transmitter. After a couple of weeks of insisting that wouldn't be enough they bought the cheapest possible receiver. It couldn't receive the signals through walls.
5) I question there methods of motivation.
"I knew you'd forget the pay your bills. That's why I hid them where you couldn't see them or look for them." Okay not an exact quote but the general gist. My mom has stuff out all over the place. I follow in those genes, needing to see stuff in order to attend to it. Refusing to let me leave anything downstairs she put all my mail up on a cupboard at the top of the stairs. Upon arriving back from a two week business trip, didn't see them. Didn't think about them. Need to get better but still I explained that's why I had kept previous bills on a sparse shelf downstairs but that was probably needed for the latest catalogue we won't use.
A lot of people say they never realized how smart their parents were until they got older. I must need time. Not to rant about my parents but wow in retrospective an arts and science grad living at home complaining about his parents. It's not that cliche is it....maybe I'll delete this post later lest people think I'm not cool.
