Tempered Fragility

I’ve never understood defiance.

To be fair, I shy away from confrontation more often than not. If people are angry, I’ll let them yell at me until they’ve calmed down, and then I’ll talk to them. Particularly when it comes to my mother; I rarely backchat her or even defend myself until I’ve heard her out.

More often than not, I’ll realise that she has a point, somewhere along the line. Sometimes she blows things out of proportion; sometimes I do. Once we’ve talked about it though, we both calm down, and we reach an agreement of sorts. It works out well for both of us.

My siblings, it seems, have never been able to help themselves.

They have to argue, every single time. It’s insane. Mum’s standing there, trying to make them understand that it’s their behaviour that gets them into trouble, and they’re fighting her the whole time. They always need to have the last word, and they can never just say, “Yes, Mum.”

I just don’t understand what they’re trying to achieve by such blatant defiance. It doesn’t get them anywhere. They’re not better off, and it certainly doesn’t help their relationship with Mum. It worries me, too; are they applying the same attitude to their interactions with their teachers?

I’m not losing sleep over it, but surely it can’t serve them well in the future?

(Before I launch straight back into my usual whining, I’d like to say THANK YOU, to everyone who commented/messaged/called/e-mailed me to wish my mother well.)

Mum is home. She is home, and in a lot of pain – even though it will have been a week tomorrow since her surgery – and I am doing my very best to make things easy for her. I mean, I’m cooking, guys. Seriously, I’m frying stuff and stirring things and pouring liquids and everything. It’s horrible, but I’ll manage somehow.

Stephen is also home. He’s basically spent a lot of time playing computer and watching movies, and every time I eye him, all, ‘You could go to school today.’ he whines about how sore his leg is. I had to help him in and out of the bath, which was pretty much as awkward as it sounds. Fifteen years olds are hilariously modest.

My nana hurt herself today; she fell over at the supermarket and cut her hand up pretty badly. It’s all stuck together with what basically amounts to doctor’s duct tape, and she has a pretty nasty bruise. I bet you’re all wishing you were part of my family right now, huh? Yeah, we get all the fun. Where FUN equals DOOM.

School is.. well. With the exception of Editing, I’m pretty much caught up with everything. Desktop Publishing and Editing will take a bit of hard work, but my teachers – especially my Editing teacher - are awesome. They actually remember having lives, and they know shit stuff happens. I should be caught up soon.

I’ve been having major issues lately with companies taking money without warning. 3 took the money for my phone bill even though it had already been paid, and before that? Foxtel charged me almost double the amount they were supposed to, and then refused to give the money back except as a credit on my account.

Never mind the fact that I didn’t even want the platinum package, and that they don’t even broadcast Channel Seven or even that they took the money out on the WRONG DAY without issuing me a bill! I mean, c’mon! It’s Foxtel! They don’t need any of that fancy-schmancy customer service crap stuff. Losers.

Anyway, every time one of those fuckers idiot companies take money when they’re not supposed to, my account is empty (or close to it, because really? I’m a student, what do you expect?) and so they overdraw it. Then my bank is all, ‘Yo man, we spotted you that money yesterday, so we’re taking thirty bucks extra.’

You know, for effort. Or something, I don’t know. It’s one of the ways they make money, I suppose. Although, truly? I shouldn’t really bitch complain about my bank, because they have been awesome. They reversed two of the three charges (That’s right, people. Three times!) with no fuss, and didn’t make me wait hours on hold.

Unlike some companies, who could really use some of those customer service skills.

Today my youngest brother turned fifteen. I can’t believe it, to be honest. He doesn’t act, look or think like a fifteen year old yet, but there you go. We had a fairly low-key celebration with mostly family, and Stephen got to see his Dad, as well. I had already given him my gift - on Friday, which will make sense in a second - so no one else got to see what I gave him, or his reaction.

Mind you, that’s probably a good thing, given that he screamed like a five year old girl when I handed him his copy of Nightfall; I doubt that his girlfriend would have found it very attractive. I gave it to him on Friday, in case you haven’t figured it out already, so that he could play it over the weekend. Otherwise he would have been facing a whole week of having the game but not having the time to play it.

It really was bad luck that Stephen’s birthday and my own are so close together. If Mum hadn’t had to put on my twenty-first a few weeks ago, she would have been able to give him a real party; had friends over, or gone to the movies, or something like that. I know that Stephen understood, and I’m sure he has big plans for his sixteenth next year, but it would have been nice for him to do that this year.

Despite his oddities, and the fact that he drives me completely up the wall most days, I do love him. I hope that this birthday - although small - was a good one, and I wish him many, many more. I have high hopes of him reaching adulthood and maturing into a man that I respect and like. If he can manage to curb THAT. BLOODY. SINGING. I’m sure he’ll make it to his next birthday without being throttled.

I actually managed to get some homework done today, and I did some work on SQ’s manual! I’ve been focusing on Computer Skills work, because it is all due in first, and because I was more motivated (probably because it’s the sort of thing I could do with my eyes closed) to finish it today. I’m finishing off the Word module right now, and will begin the Dreamweaver stuff soon after. I still can’t believe I have to use Dreamweaver.

My short story.. well. I do have part of it written, but I’m not quite sure how to end it yet, and I don’t know whether I like the beginning or not. I suppose for now, the Computer Skills homework is a little easier to tackle than Editing. Bleh, the editing work is awful; verbs are kind of beginning to make sense, but there are a lot of words that can be used in different ways. Confusing.

Katie and Tiffany were only marginally better behaved today, and I still think I could get away with tying them up and throwing them in the shed. Katie talks back constantly - about everything - and no matter what you say (or threaten, for that matter), she just won’t quit. Tiffany was back to her whiny self today, and although she was antagonising Katie (as usual) she wasn’t being nasty like yesterday.

Stephen went to a friend’s house tonight, and left his computer on, so I’m going to tape a sign to the screen informing him that the computer has gone on strike, and won’t be functioning for the next 48 hours. I’m also going to remove the power plug. He expected it to stay on the whole time he was gone, and I’m sick of him claiming that he doesn’t leave it turned on. Maybe the computer taking a ‘vacation’ will help.

Before I go, random tidbit:

Tiffany: “Lisa, What do butchie boys eat?”
Lisa: “Um, I don’t know?”
Tiffany: “Can you look it up on the computer, on Google?”
Lisa: *wishes Tiffany had never been shown Google* “Sure.”
Tiffany: “Well?”
Lisa: “They eat decayed vegetable matter and fungi.”
Tiffany: *tilts head to the side* “Do we have any of that?”

Only under your brother’s bed, sweetheart. Although, given the smell emanating from his room, I’m guessing it’s long past the decayed stage.

I don’t even have the energy right now to really write about my night.

Katie and Tiffany have been completely, and utterly terrible. Stephen hasn’t been any trouble, thankfully, but the girls made up for it, believe me. I’m still having trouble now getting them settled; it’s ridiculous.

Why can’t they be normal children? =P

The babysitting stint was easier than I thought it would be, and was actually amusing at times. I don’t know if Gentil found it as easy as I did, but he seemed to cope well on the whole, and even managed to sleep through an early morning tantrum.

My sisters have never been angelic children, except for maybe that one time when they were asleep at the same time at about five months old, and Mum and I thought they were the cutest things on earth, right before passing out on the floor next to their cots.

Other than that one time, it has been an uphill battle all the way. They can’t do anything without arguing either with one another or the person in charge. Every thing turns into a competition. And, of course, you have to multiply everything by two.

Katie got out of the gate early and threw her tantrum on Friday night. I let them eat dinner in the lounge room, because I’m nice like that. The only stipulation was that they use an old towel underneath them in case they spilt anything.

Of course, this was too much for Katie. TOO MUCH. She didn’t WANT a towel, she didn’t WANT to get it, and she didn’t WANT to have a ‘bib’ like a baby. So, I took her food off her and said, “Well, that’s the way it is. You get a towel, and you get to eat in here.”

Needless to say, she didn’t like that ONE BIT. So she yelled, and cried, and ran to her room and screamed. Then she started sending notes out, and I figured it might be time to talk to her. Not long after, she went and got a towel, and ate dinner.

This morning, of course, Tiffany had to have a tantrum about something. So, she comes into the bedroom and wakes me up, asking for breakfast. I hear Stephen humming and groggily ask her to ask Stephen. Minutes later, an awful wailing begins.

Sighing, I call Tiffany into the room and ask what’s wrong. She informs me that Stephen won’t make her breakfast. I sigh again and call Stephen. He confirms that he won’t, in fact, make Tiffany breakfast. More specifically, he won’t make her EasyMac for breakfast.

I was a little torn when I heard this. I often had EasyMac for breakfast, and it never hurt me. Still, I figured that this was one of those, ‘Do as I say, not as I do’ times, and I told her she couldn’t have chicken flavoured macaroni for breakfast. Well.

Katie is very good at throwing tantrums, but Tiffany is like a world class champion. You know that awful whine that children have, that keening noise that drives you insane but is just above a whimper. She has it down. All the way down.

Over and over, she made that noise. Occasionally she would stamp her feet or kick the furniture, or scream at the top of her lungs, but mostly she made that noise. After she kicked the bed so hard it actually shook I took action and smacked her bum.

The noise increased, but the kicking stopped, and so I stayed strong. I think it must have gone on for twenty minutes, but it was the longest twenty minutes of my life. Seriously, it was SO HARD to stay in that bed and not give in. But I resisted, yes I did.

Ghandi would have been proud.

Today Mum, Az, Gentil, Dwain, Stephen, Katie, Tiffany, Tori and I all went to the Melbourne Zoo. Mum planned the trip for Tuesday because it was supposed to be mild weather, not too hot. It ended up being around the 30 degree mark, and with five kids to keep track of around a Zoo, I’m sure I don’t have to mention how unpleasant it was at times. Fortunately we managed to see the entire thing, and all of the animals (I took 108 photos.), and no one got thrown in with the lions.

Incidentally, I forgot to take a picture of the lions, because I was kind of trying to keep track of the eight people I had with me so I didn’t get lost, or lose anyone. Also, I thought at that stage that Mum might attempt to make Dwain ‘jump’ in there and ‘play’ with them, so you know, I had to supervise her.

We saw Bong Su the elephant having a bath, and the rest of the elephants getting as dirty as possible while they were being called in. They kept picking up trunkfuls (Is that a word?) of sand and flinging it over themselves. My dog does the same thing right after I give her a bath, only without the trunk.

One of the gibbons swung right up to the window, showing off for us and really being an acrobat. After he got bored, the other one in the enclosure came right up to the corner and started showing off as well. He was pressed right up against the glass, and was eating some sort of leafy green vegetable, tearing small chunks off and feeding himself.

In the orangutan’s enclosure, one of them was sitting on a platform, level with the viewing area in the house, and he had chewing gum! He would chew on it for a little bit, and then spit it into the bucket. At one stage he stuck the gum onto the side of the bucket with his lips and then plucked it off. He was wearing the bucket, too. As a hat.

So, despite the stress, the sunburn and the sobriety (just kidding on that one), we had a great day. I’m hoping to put pictures up soon, too. I took enough of them, after all. Right now though, I just want to crawl into bed and sleep. I have to work both jobs tomorrow.. it’s going to be a long day.