mom worked today and my bro and sis were at camp. i spent most of the day alone doing whatever.
i worked on my moms pc a little more and removed a bunch of junk and porn links. but there is an annoying "blank" page that keeps resetting itself as the home page on ie5 and it just has a bunch of links to porn. i searched and searched through all kinds of files and cant find the little fckr. its making me crazy. i know its some sort of virus that put it there. the only way to get rid of it is to wipe the hard drive. so, thats a possibility.
i also went over to visit my aunt pam but she was, uh... napping. it was acutally a bit creepy and comical. i walked in the door and sat on the couch. here's the conversation:
Aunty: eyes opening slightly in a roll.
Me: "you napping?"
Aunty: "no," takes a bite of the hamburger on her plate. eyes roll shut. a few minutes later they roll partially open.
Me: "why dont you nap in bed?"
Aunty: "we gotta go."
Me: "we do?"
Aunty: still half asleep, "yeah, ain't we going somewheres?"
Me: "i don't know."
Aunty: "where 're yer kids?"
Me: "well, i don't have any kids, but my sister and brother are at camp?"
Aunty: (refering to her own kids now) "did Ashley take the kids with her?"
Me: "i don't know, i just got here... are you dreaming conversations with me?"
Aunty: eyes roll back into her head and close.
basically, she was dreaming some kind of conversation between us and only some of it was making it out - clearly the part that made no sense.
i decided the likelihood of her waking up was on par with saddam actually having weapons of mass destruction. so, i left.
outside, my uncle and their kids were coming out of their RV. here's the convo btwn me and TI, the seven year old girl.
TI: looks at me, "who are you?"
Me: perplexed since she usually remembers me. "I'm Amy. Remember me?"
TI: "did your mom pick you up?"
Me: is she having the same dream as my aunt? "well, i guess... she picked me up at the bus stop" (where my shuttle came in).
TI: remembering that i used to stay with them when i worked two jobs 60 miles apart and would nap between them, "are you staying the night with us?"
Me: "no, im staying at my mom's."
TI: "dad," she comes over and takes my hand, "can i go with her?"
Me: am i going somewhere? "im not doing anything interesting."
TI: leading me home, "my dad likes me best because i sing real good."
Me: "really? i think he likes both of you."
TI: "but what he likes most about me is i sing. i make up my own songs, too."
Me: "you do?"
TI: "yeah, want to hear me sing?"
Me: eternally perplexed at how I ended up in a trailer with two small children that weren't mine (KI - 5 years old had followed). "sure."
TI: begins improvising a song... something about the 2 million people in the universe, going up to heaven which is beautiful, going up and down, someone is happy because they have 20 friends and some people dont even have one, more up and down, and then ending on a high note about god. when she finishes she looks at me.
Me: wondering what im supposed to say, i come up with "wow, that was really good."
TI: "i made it up just now. i have a good voice."
Me: again, what the hell am i supposed to say? "wow, you do, that was nice."
TI: "britney read a story and then made it into a song. thats how she made hers."
Me: knowing there were only two britneys she could be refering to (a friend i didnt know, or the pop singer) and hoping it was the first, "it is? is britney your friend from school?"
TI: "no, britney spears. she is my friends sister."
Me: scanning my memory for the last place i heard the spears family lived... hmmm... nope, not marysville washington. "she is?"
TI: "yeah, she said christina aguilera is her sister, too."
Me: realizing now what this was and that it was none of my business to interfere, "oh."
TI: "what is britney spears last name?"
Me: "spears."
TI: "it is?" silence. "my friend's last name is spears. wait, she can't be sisters with christina aguilera. she lied."
Me: awareness needs no help. "hmmm."
TI: "do you think britney is really her sister? they have the same last name. if you have the same last name does that mean you are related?"
Me: "lots of people have the same last name and they aren't related. there are a lot of people all over the country whose last name is Smith. not all of them are related."
TI: a lightbulb goes off, "there was a girl in my class whose last name was smith. [xyz] smith. and..." she gives the full names of several different classmates - none of which are smiths.
we transition between a variety of topics. i am a prisoner of TI and her quick moving thoughts. fortunately, i find it rather interesting and im willing to go along. she told me the process of pin/button-making, how she tries to be a role model for her little brother by behaving appropriately, that she will be going to S&D house for the weekend, how my brother is mean, the rules about knocking before coming into my moms house, whether i was here when TIs parents were setting up the pool (do they have a pool?), the special store they go to for toys (aka the Goodwill), where they burried Boz (the dog my aunt had for 15+ years), and her favorite rainforest animal - the sloth (her favorite because it climbs trees as slow as a snail).
just after 4pm my mom arrives and sends the children home. she made it seem so easy. shortly after, my brother and sister arrive from day camp. by brother stays but my sister leaves with her dad, hoping her church still has room for her tomorrow on the camping trip.
we water the garden, munch on the fresh green beans and pea pods that are ready to pick, and then my mom hops in the shower.
i walk out onto the porch and see my uncle meandering over with his kids. he shows me two apples, "i come bearing gifts." he picked them from his fruit trees. he has a seat on the porch and we chat about fruit trees and watch the kids play and argue and ask silly questions. his older son (age 34) rides up on a bicycle, looking like a shabby bike messenger. we exchange greetings and pleasantries. here we all are. sitting on the porch bs-ing. its nice. i miss this.
everyone leaves and my mom emerges. its 7pm and my brother wants to go to the skate park. mom has had a couple drinks, so i drive. we drop him off, go home to eat a little dinner, and talk politics on the porch.
i told my mom everything i knew about the election, 9/11, the war, and michael moore's evidence about GWs financial relationships and motivations for everything. her question was "why didnt the media tell us these things?" exactly. we talked about the media being owned by the same people who profit from GWs decisions, so they wont allow certain information to be aired, and how people dont listen to independent news sources because they are labeled "liberally biased" even though they arent. she was appropriately disgusted. but she had already been disgusted by all of it before i said anything. now, she just knew more about what was going on.
the rest of the night: picked up my brother at the sk8 park, snacked and went to bed.
previously:
weather or not - 2006-03-07
My Flight - 2006-03-02
poetree in motion - 2006-02-28
ultimate personality test - 2006-02-25
limerick e-trip - 2006-02-22