RE: Quix's Writing Samples And Random Bullshit Thread (Comments Welcome)
It's good to be home, it was only for a couple of days, and this was one of the more relaxing and enjoyable weekends with them, but regardless I always find spending time with my family to be so mentally draining.
Not helped by having to listen to my brother's long string of bad jokes in the car:
"A farmer asked his sheepdog to check the barn, and count the number of sheep"
After a couple the minutes the dog came back out, and said 'there's forty"
The farmer gave the dog a confused look, and responded with "How can there be forty, when I only bought thirty-eight."
The dog shrugged, "I rounded them up".
Believe me, that was one of the best; then losing to him three times in a row at Scrabble. None of us enjoy losing, at anything, but we do enjoy reminding the other when we win.
At least I got the opportunity to remind him that the only reason we needed to travel together was that, due to his inability to locate the dipstick, and check the oil, he'd been told that his car could last another ten years; or blow up tomorrow. The trip to my parents is about two hours, through mountains (well, what we call mountains here in Australia; it's a leisurely thirty minute stroll to the summit of our highest!), with no phone coverage, so not a good place to break down. To say that our family isn't the most mechanically or technically gifted would be a slight understatement, but at least I can find the dipstick!
Every time I do visit, it strikes me that my Mother deserves a Sainthood. How she managed to work-full time, raise three boys, each two years apart, and handle my Dad's antics; who was more of a rabble-rouser, and likely to get into trouble than us three kids combined (on my 18th birthday, it was he who was thrown out of the pub; and don't even mention their 25th Wedding Anniversary!), and maintain her sanity, I'll never know.
Anyhow, the upshot is that I'm dead-tired, so hope to catch up on PM's and OoC tomorrow, with story responses likely a couple of days away.