Jeff's Burpday Party

As my regular readers know, it was my brother Jeff's 36th Burpday the other day. Today we did the celebration thing!!! It wasn't all smooth sailing in the early part of the day ... I'll explain more later. In the meantime, here are my family celebrating. [No, I'm not in any of the pictures]. Left to Right: Brother Paul, Sister Angella, Brother Jeff, and Sister in-law (Pau;s wife) Nerali. [Trivia, three out of four people in this photograph were born at the RAAF Hospital in Penang. Can you guess which three?] Paul, Nerali & Family (Adam and Cayley) bought Jeff a whole stack of Deodorant and Shower Gel type stuff, as well as a Men's health Magazine. Unfortunately, Jeff seems more interested in the Spring 2006 Ikea Catalog! Here is Jeff cutting the cake. Left to right, Jeff, Cayley [foreground ], Paul [background], Ethan [foreground], Nerali [bakcground], Joshua and Elijah (behind my sisters hand), and Angella. My mother told Jeff to buy a Torta ... which is a pity, as I was in the mood for a Black Forest cake. But, it ain't my burpday, so Jeff got what he was told to buy! lol The Nephews and Niece. Joshua, Adam [background], Cayley [Midground] and Ethan [Foreground]. They were watching the movie 'Charlie and the Chocolate Factory' (Or is it Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory) with Johnny Depp in it. Here is everyone again, gathered around for a cake slaying. Left to right [and back to front in places]: Jeff, Nerali, Paul, Joshua, Ethan, Elijah, Mother, Angella, Cayley. w00t, got all of them in a picture. :-)

**********

More on this mornings happenings. Got up to find my mother and Jeff weren't home. Started exercising (as I do), and ten minutes into it, they arrive home. My mother already has a list of things for me to do. I do them, then head back into my room to exercise. I come out of my room after an hours exercise, and it's about 9:30 AM, and my mother starts harrassing me about it being midday! [Her usual, 'Good Afternoon David, decided to get up, did we?' and other barbs!] Well, I'm now in trouble as she wants me to mow the lawn ... only, it's been raining, the ground wet and the mower is a bitch to push through wet ground ... like, the land here used to be part of a river bed, so it's a clay soil that is hard to mow when excessively wet. Anywat, Jeff and I are given somethings to go and buy, so off we go. As we're travelling along, Jeff is in a BAD BAD BAD mood, as he doesn't want a party, and felt that the whole thing is my mother manipulating things to fit into her ideal of 'what the family shoul dbe doing' etc. We go and buy a 'Torta Cake' as that's what my mother wants. [And Jeff mentioned the Blackforest cake, but said to me HE HAS to get the Torta, as that's what he's been told to get.] We then go buy some Take Away Chicken. Anyway, the conversation turns to 'Why my mother interupts me when I'm studying or working.' Yes, my mother and brother had a big conversation about me when they were out. Always good to know that people are talking behind my back ... but hey, I'm slagging them off here, so I can't really complain! ;-) Anywat, my mother is complaining, as she has told my brother once again about her constant interruptions (yes, she admits she does it), and the reason she has given, is because SHE CAN'T TELL IF I AM WORKIN OR STUDYING AT ALL! She admits she has no idea what I am doing, and that's why she is interupting me all the time. So, in other words, she constantly STOPS me from working or Studying, in the name of MAKING SURE I am workin or studying, but she has NO CLUE as to whether I am doing it or not. Well, I'M NOT, BECAUSE I AM CONSTANTLY BEING INTERUPTED!!!! Arrrrrgh! The conversation also turned to the 'David is Gay thing', which my brother acknowledged all started from my father when I was a kid. Yes, apparently my parents have always hoped I was 'GAY' so that they'd have a 'reason' for rejecting me!!! Like, why do I even FRIGGIN' bother with my family!!!! It's days like this that I wonder why I bothered returning from Sydney. So, Jeff and I arrive home, and we're both in bad moods. My mother realises we're in bad moods, and SHE BLAMES ME FOR JEFF'S BAD MOOD, CLAIMING I'VE RUINED HIS BURPDAY!!!! Anyway, she was in a bad mood from the moment I spoke to her this morning, and I suspect THAT was why Jeff was in a bad mood when we went to buy the cake! Arrrrrrgh!!!! I was then so p***ed off at my mother blaming me for something out of my control, that I went off to the study and played Caesar III for a few hours (as the party had already been made ready, and we had four hours to burn before anyone got here). Well, the party was going really good, but my mother kept making all sorts of NASTY friggin' comments about me during the night. Mainly accusing me of being LAZY and never doing anything ... it's like a friggin' broken record based on what my family WANT to think about me, rather than what life is really like! I get the feeling she is trying real hard to PUSH me out of the house. Unlike when I was nineteen, when I was thrown out, I think she wants to make it so unbearable for me here that I do pack up and leave. Then she can exhonerate herself and say that this time she didn't throw me out. There were a few other incidents during the night, and even my sister and brothers picked up on it. My mother ordering me around like a friggin' servant. [She's got so used to doing it, that she slipped up majorly tonight.] My sister commented on how my mother doesn't even look at me, she just snaps a command my way, [with her back turned], and just expects it to be done immediately, no questions asked!!! This I guess is part of the irony of the entire situation. My mother treats me like her personal slave, yet she loves to do the 'David is Lazy' thing in order to try to shame me in front of people. If anyone was to believe her, I do NOTHING around the house, yet, as my siblings can testify, she is constantly snapping commands at me, and I am constantly doing LOTS of things for her. I'm just so sick of it all. Anyway, I guess the plan is to save up, get my Certification (now that I've added an MCSE to the 'wish list' of IT certification I want to get), and then head back to Sydney, or the UK. Arrrrgh! Part of me is so wishing I headed to the UK a year ago!!!! Stupid me. After all this living, I'm still making rookie mistakes. I have got a bit of a plan though. I'm going to start heading to the Library and possibly the PCYC in order to start studying in peace. I'll jsut pretend I'm going to go do some work or something, then head to the library. It's a bit sneaky, and I know a lot of my Christian friends will consider it lying, but what can I do ... she won't let me study, and I won't get my certification if I can't get study done!!!!

*****

On another note, I was hoping to enter this years Archibald prize ... only they announced it the other night on TV as already being won ... I am sure they held it in August last year ... maybe my brain is loosing track of time or something. Anyway, that blows this years painting ... I better look for another contest to enter!!!! :-)