Another Friday starts and I’m not really into the world right now. The dogs barking woke me up about an hour ago and I lie in bed for a while, trying not to face the cold, and hoping to get out of helping to load up the car because I really didn’t feel like moving.
Climbing up on Solsbury Hill
I could see the city lights
Wind was blowing, time stood still
My folks are going to my sister’s house in Indianapolis until Tuesday. Well, hopefully, anyway. They’re not leaving for a bit and my dad can have on of his famous freak outs and spoil my plans of solitude and a guy’s day for the weekend. I’m watching the clock and looking at the door and hoping that the car is packed because I still don’t want to face the cold.
Eagle flew out of the night
He was something to observe
Came in close; I heard a voice
Tomorrow Evil Jim and Kevin are coming up for a real guy’s day. Hanging out with pizza and video games. Fixing a light fixture that popped off in our kitchen. Downloading whatever they can find of interest with my AOL Sat Dish. Burning them to CD with my 16x (kickass) burner. Probably watching some sort of sports when we’re not doing any of the above accompanied by, of course, the usual sounds and sights of a guys day. As long as we don’t turn into Tim Taylor from the old show “Tool Time,” we should be okay.
Standing, stretching every nerve
I had to listen; had no choice
I did not believe the information
Today I have a haircut at 10 then I have to go out to take my mom’s paycheck to the bank and pay my Sears bill. I know, adventure, excitement, it don’t get better than this. I’m actually looking forward to the solitude today. I made a choice to stick with my folks when they needed someone to care for my dad. Hey the rent is next to nothing and it’s a pretty secure living situation, but they’re on my nerves big time right now. With everything else going on I don’t have a lot of privacy to deal or cope or whatever without having to explain the last three years of my life to them.
Just had to trust imagination
My heart going boom boom boom
Son, he said, grab your things I’ve come to take you home
That of course leads to them explaining the last three years of my life to my aunts, then they pass it on to everyone else, then I’ll walk downstairs to their part of the house and overhear an intimate discussion of my life between my father and some lady from the Internet. Jeez. I mean seriously, this is how it goes with everyone’s parents but damn lol. I’ve learned to keep things from them ever since I was a kid because they tend to react at the extremes. They either don’t care about it or they go over board and gush too much attention on it.
To keep in silence I resigned
My friends would think I was a nut
Turning water into wine
While that would be charming if I were a kid, I’m not, I’m a man and I really don’t need to have my life broadcast to the entire family. Which is ironic since I’m sitting here broadcasting it to anyone with a web browser. Yah, that’s whacked, I know, but hey, the amount of people reading this blog is far less than the amout of relatives alerted to the pimple on my forehead the other week when I made the mistake of not ducking out of a car ride with my mom.
Open doors would soon be shut
So I went from day to day
Though my life was in a rut
I’m all for blocking relatives from e-mail. The last thing I need right now is for one of my crazy aunts to e-mail me wanting to know if I’ve popped that pimple yet. Let alone having them e-mail me about that same subject two years from now. A real definition by a moment with the short term memories there. I mean I still get questions to if the arm I broke when I was 13 ever healed. LOL. “Yah how is little Jimmy, is his arm still in a cast?” Oh dear god.
Till I thought of what I’d say
And which connection I should cut
I was feeling part of the scenery
I blocked my mom from e-mail. I really did. She abused it. She was sending me e-mail at my work account to tell me to take the garbage instead of walking up the stairs to tell me. After the first time I used mail controls and blocked her butt and I’d do it again in an instant. All relatives for that matter right now. If you abuse it (especially at my *work* account), then you’re gone. Well, that’s not true, I will not block my niece and nephew, but other than that — see ya later alligator.
I walked right out of the machinery
My heart going boom boom boom
Son, he said, grab your things I’ve come to take you home
Okay so that’s cold. But you know what? You have to take steps to protect yourself or it’s going to drive you crazy. Parents, when you get older, are here to drive you crazy as payback for all the times that you drove them crazy as a kid. If you believe that, then I’m owed payback for all of the evils done by Bart Simpson, Dennis the Menace and the little kid from the “Home Alone” movies times ten and multiplied by the number of times John Lennon’s song “Imagine” has been sung off key by someone trying to make a statement at public gatherings, high school talent competitions, graduations and the ever popular bachelor party. Hey, it’s happened. Imagine that.
When illusion spin her net
I’m never where I want to be
And liberty she pirouette
As a Lennon fan I think that one day the world’s gonna wake up and realize that John Lennon was just a man like any of us. He and Paul McCartney had some petty battles during the 70’s (and Yoko still continues them to this day). If you can get past “Imagine” and actually listen to the rest of his songs and you’ll hear a lot of stuff that will change your views. Along with “Imagine” he had a lot of vicious little songs dedicated to ripping a situation apart.They sure don’t fit your image of peace, love, happiness, the hippie culture and everything else attributed to John Lennon as memories fade and people want to believe the popular view of things. But then again, there’s more to all of us than what’s attributed to us, for that matter.
When I think that I am free
Watched by empty silhouettes
Who close their eyes but still can see
Door closes. Two of them. Dogs growling and ready to bark. Car starts and … back in the house for coffee … car revs and … back in the house for purse … my dad looks impatiently … back in the house for the bathroom … my dad falls asleep in the passenger seat … back in the house for CDs … car runs out of gas and … back in the house for — you know, if my mom made a list and got her stuff in order before she said goodbye it would make leaving less of the 40 minute ordeal it is now.
No one taught them etiquette
So I will show another me
Today I don’t need a replacement
I think they’re actually gone this time. I’m alone. The house is quiet. There’s no pressure. There’s no headaches (other than the dogs). This could be a good thing. Time to crank the music, go a little crazy, and see where life is heading for the weekend. On that note …
I’ll show them what the smile on my face meant
My heart going boom boom boom
Hey, I said, you can keep my things they’ve come to take me home
k9
(“Solsbury Hill” by Peter Gabriel)