Childhood memories of mom and dad Part 1

I'm actually quite proud of myself because I haven't blogged in two whole days. I find it pretty funny at the same time because I refer to blogging as a bad habit or addiction.

I'll just explain what's been going on lately before I get into my main blog.

I'm basically really contemplating if I should go with the College Pro job or not. The fact that blockbuster will actually be able to supply me with full-time hours over the summer has just been revealed to me, and has changed my perspective around. I think ultimately though, I'm gonna check the new job out before tossing it out the window.

And also we went out for dinner and glow bowling for my brother's birthday on monday. He turned 23, and I think he had some good fun, hopefully. But atleast I found that it was a blast. Oh and it was also my oldest brother's birthday on tuesday (the day after). It's kinda strange how it works cause my bday is on May 4th, in case anyone forgot. Tom's is April 5th. And Vic's is April 6th. So when you look at it, you can just think, from youngest to oldest, the numbers go 4-5-6. Of course there's the different month issue, but whatever. Vic turned 26.

Anyway, Kev's latest blog got me thinking about my old childhood days. I'm sure everyone has tons of memories of their own and a majority of ppl know about my childhood thanks to two older brothers that talk too much. But I think I'm gonna take this time to summarize the highlights of the Dev timeline (This should be fun).

One of the biggest things that I'll always have engrained in my head was the only natural asswhooping everyone got as kids. Now I'm not sure if it's completely normal for a mother to be chasing around her kids with a metal coat hanger, but that was reality back then. I know for some of you, you're probably feeling that it's a pretty harsh punishment, but in retrospect I'm glad it happened. As a sibling, I think all of us need to know the extent of our power or influence in the house before it gets to our head. That just happened to be one of the many ways that we got our reality checks, and I think all three of us brothers are better off with it.

Of course that wasn't the only way that a parents could get you in line. I will always remember the cold stares that my dad always had. As a kid he wasn't as home nearly as much as my mom was, which is understandable with the nature of his job. But when he was in the room, and you did something wrong, you better watch your ass. He'll shoot you the biggest, meanest, coldest, "I'm disappointed and appalled" looks that you've ever received in your lifetime. I swear it seems that sometimes I wanted to die in those moments. And I remember that it was always at the most trivial of things.

Things that pissed my dad off:
1) Coats that aren't hung up on a closet.
2) Using too much hot water in the shower.
3) Having dirty rooms that were neglected.
4) Having the channel changed, thus messing up his timed recording of his all important "China vision News."
5) Not displaying the best manners when you're going out to eat.
6) Eating all/most of the items of one dish without being considerate.
7) The fact that I suck when it comes to eating vegetables.

Those are just some of the highlights of his list. I guess I found that most of it had to do with our family's outside image to his friends. He was always big on being the family that seemed to be most functional. Which is strange because when it came to crappy report cards and that kind of stuff, he was just glad if we did our best rather than do really really good and make our family look smart.

As for my mom, it became a totally different case. She was/is the kind of type who is quick to make a camel drink water. She doesn't emphasize on as much the amount of effort you put into something, you had better just fricken do good, or your ass is gone. For anyone who has gone to elementary with me, you now know my secret to my fast multiplication tables. I remember that me and her would just sit at a table for hours on end where she would force me to learn the multiplication tables. And here I would be crying my eyes out because I didn't want to be there AT ALL, when suddenly the metal hanger would whip out and I'd shut up in an instant.

Now it was pretty harsh treatment I'll admit, but again I'm really glad in the end that she did it. It really paid off in the long run considering I'm one of the only ppl who can multiply in their heads still. Though it worked well in such a case, I don't think it would go too well nowadays with the material I'm learning...

But one huge thing that both my brothers and I would agree on is about my mother's 5 minute stare. I think Tony may even be familiar with this one.

So the procedure would go something like this:
1) I do something idiotic/get a crappy report card/ask her if i can sleep over at a friend's house. This spawns 2 different reactions.
2a) She sits there and becomes remains completely oblivious to your existence for ATLEAST 30-40 seconds (the awkward period) or until the point where you give-up.
OR
2b) She begins to yell at you non-stop about how disappointed she is and how catastrophically bad you've made the world with your action, and commences the "Eternal stare", in which she'll stare at you for an upwards of about 2-3 minutes with her arms crossed and eyes looking into your eyes. At this point, you know you're screwed, and go with one of two options:
A) Be a man and stare right back into her eyes until she gets completely frustrated and yells your ass out about staring at HER like an idiot.
B) Either pretend you're preoccupied with thinking about what you've done, or concentrating on another task at hand until she begins to budge. Or of course you could also just pretend to be thinking about what you've done for a little while, and slowly drift away.

What ever way the cookie crumbles, it just plain comes to: YOU'RE FUCKED.... You have no idea how many times I've been fortunately saved by a phone call and how utterly grately I was! It's a scary thing I tell ya....

More on childhood next time..