In-laws

My in-laws visited us last night. I was stressed out since lately I don't want to hang out with them as often as we used to do. My father-in-law, who does not give a rat's ass for us, is infamous with his sharp and uncontrolled tongue. Basically, he says whatever he likes to regardless of the mood of and the relationship status with the other end.

They, my mother, father and sister-in-law came together. As soon as My FIL stepped in, he made kinda sarcastic remark on our puppy and grabbed the remote control after planting himself right in front of the TV. Aside from the greetings and a remark on a TV ad of our brand new car, we did not talk at all during their about 4 hour visit.

My MIL on the other hand acts exactly like a MIL. If she is not with her husband, she acts like a mom, but otherwise she acts like the way her husband appreciates; distant with a pinch of sarcasm mixed in.

Needless to say, I cannot bear this. I have been married with their precious daughter almost five years now, but they still are suspicious about me as if I were an ex-axe murderer on medication and therapy. They are very cautious so as to stop me before I lose control and grab my beloved axe to chop my wife.

The funny thing is they now understand that they have a daughter. Before that they had simply ignored her. Now, she is the most precious thing in the world to fight over to get her back. They have a younger daughter, my sister-in-law, to whom they behave like shit as well. When she too gets married then they will do the same shit again.

The main problem with their attitude is, since MIL admitted this fact two years or so ago, that they do not want to face the fact that years have passed and they aged, naturally. Inexplicably though, they blame me for the aging process. My MIL said one time that "I felt very old when you two got married". Since then, they have not overcome that fact yet and still blame us relentlessly.

This kind of bullshit leads to only one thing which is to miss all the fun moments of our lives. They missed their older daughter's years and now is the time for them to recapture those long gone moments - every time we get together they always reminisce the events happened 20 odd years ago. Unfortunately, while they tell the same childhood stories over and over again, I sit there silently and put a fake smile on my dull face. We do not do anything together me included in the conversation decently. We sit at the dinner table together, I take my role as an outcast, and stare blankly at the slide show passing in front of our eyes a millionth time.

I am sure, ten years from now, they will remember these boring days as the fondest years of their life. Poor them, they spend their life concerning constantly on their past and expecting a very bleak future when the moments paves its way right through our hands where it just slips through very quickly as well.

Life sucks...terribly

Last Thursday morning my aunt called to tell me that my uncle had a fatal traffic accident. I hung up, sit down for a minute. I told my wife what happened. She started crying while I was sitting there, paralyzed.

I began to call airlines to book a flight to where my uncle is going to be buried to no avail since they don't have any direct flights, and all the transfers are booked already.

I took the car and drove eight straight hours to down there. I usually get bored when I drive alone but this time I did not even understand how long I drove. It just passed quickly.

I reunited with my extended family members at whom I was angry and distant due to their insignificant attitude toward me and my wife. We all dropped those games and be together, grieved together for our loss.

My one-of-a-kind jerk father, on the other hand, came to the funeral as well with his dimwit mind. He is so dumb, unconsidered and insecure that he ignored me and pretended that he didn't see me when I was standing inches away from him. I am kinda glad to see that I made a very accurate move years ago when I decided not to see him anymore. He has been a very bad influence on me since the beginning. I have been always embarrassed by his inappropriate manner. Now that I stopped seeing him and his wife, I am content and, consequently, more mature than ever.

We all are shaken by my uncle's funeral. He was one of those individuals who, you think, are never going to die regardless of their way of life. He liked to drink, a lot. So we all have been expecting to see him go down because of his ugly addiction to the alcohol and smoke. Well, those two actually are the reason of his departure from this world. He was drunk driving and trying to take a turn with 130 km/80 miles per hour speed. He lost control of the car which first hit a rock sending it up in the air and turning the car upside-down at the same time, then the car hit the ground with its roof down. The roof top smashed my uncle and killed him instantaneously.

There all of our memories are smashed down too. Now, we are moving on without the funniest, craziest, a true free-sprit member of our family. RIP

Interview

The interview went pretty well, sort of.

I am not sure whether I nailed it or failed badly since it took only minutes. Despite the positive air in the room, I left the room unsure how well I presented myself. That was the first interview though, so there is nothing much to expect from it. They said they will call me this week till Friday.

I am sleepy and very lethargic today. I guess I am relaxed after the interview.

Finally

Yes, finally I got an e-mail from the institution I applied to. They invited me to an interview in the next week. I cross my fingers for myself. :))

I just talked to our vet about the pup we returned to the shelter. The news is not good. She is still having seizures and is deaf. Actually, this shows clearly what happens when you pick a pup like a tomato. Next time we should be more careful. We will visit the shelter this Sunday and have a talk on how we can pick a healthier pup.

Today the weather is pretty gloomy and rainy. Although I like weathers like this, I feel depressed a bit. I guess it is because of the scheduled interview I have for next week. I gotta calm down otherwise I am gonna hamper myself and lose the opportunity.

That's all about it so far.

The diner

I don't know whether you know this or not but the diner where one scenes of The Big Lebowski and American History X was filmed is the same diner. I know this info is not going to change the course of your life but there is no harm in sharing it with you, is there?

I watched American History X again last weekend and recognized the diner immediately since I am kinda a big fan of The Dude lately. To recap the importance of the diner in The Big Lebowski, it was the place where Walter, John Goodman, uttered the line " I can get you a toe by three o'clock this afternoon". I loved that movie. I wish the diner had not gone out of business so that I could have been "enjoying my coffee" there too.

I subscribed to The New Yorker magazine, finally. The first issue arrived last week. There is a fabulous article by George Packer titled Betrayed, The Iraqis who trusted America the most. it is available online as well. You should most definitely read it. Along with that, I am also reading Newsweek's Int. issue's letters from the battlefield. That one though is not a easy read. I cannot go more than only one e-mail sent by a now deceased army member to his/her family.

This American Life, TAL, did a great job again with their The Golden Apple podcast. This one is like a dream came true kinda podcast. What a terrific collection of interesting stories from the regular Joes of that diner. It is also available on TAL's web, free of charge. I wish I could go in there and had a cup of coffee. Damn !!!

This week, I have two strong leads for my prospective employment. The only problem is that none of them replied me so far. I followed up once but nothing happened. Maybe it is true that no news is good news, but I am stressed out. Lately, searching a job became a joke. For the positions I applied for, I have the education and the experience they ask but I am still not able to land one. They usually get someone they know, regardless of education or experience. Then, they train that person to fit for that given position. Usually, the newly hired one has some sort of political connections or family ties with that company's key figures. Don't get me wrong, I am not blaming anyone for my frustration. However, this is how it works here, sad but true.

This weekend we are going to the dog shelter once more, hoping to get a healthy puppy this time. My wife is crazy about dogs who was so afraid of them few years ago. Now, she plays with them, hugs them. She is totally crazy for them. On top of that, she does not want a pure breed, contrary to most. She wants to adopt one from shelters. Well, it shows that people can change over the years. :)