Ahh yes….

Australia Day is almost over. What a wonderful day (actually the only reason I like it is today was a short day at work.)

So, let’s see, what’s new – I’ve been to Hobart on the weekend – I got very drunk at a mates place – but hey, it was fun.

Zimbabwe got caned in the cricket today – absolutely nothing unusual. Oh, my father decided to grace me with a phone call this evening, which was about as much fun as having my wisdom teeth removed.

Fair dinkum, I reckon parents are genetically inclined to annoy us – or us kids(!) are genetically inclined to be annoyed by them. I’m 27 years old and whenever I speak to him I just want to start cutting myself with sharp implements.

It’s not like I don’t care about the guy, honestly – he just drives me (more?) insane. I’m totally sick of playing the “see how long he’ll talk for without interruption” game – it’s pointless. I can place the phone down, go and cook some two minute noodles, bring them back and start eating them – he’d never notice, and his rantings would continue. Unfortunately I just tune out these days, maybe that’s why it’s so irritating to speak to him because I know that I’m gaining absolutely zero important information from the conversation.

Well, that’s not very nice I guess. He needs someone to talk to about his life, etc – don’t we all. It’s just that I don’t really care for a 25 minute spiel about the pond he’s building in his backyard. I’m sure it’ll look nice and all, but geeze! And I appreciate that he’s my father and he needs to hear that I’m doing OK.

The most infuriating thing about it is that I have a tendency to ramble on in conversation myself – and every time I do it my brain is screaming at me “you’re him, you’re him” and another, less tolerant part of my brain is telling me to shut the fuck up.

When this happens, it’s no wonder I can be a little shy and slow to open up with people. I don’t know whether to be a talkative annoying little prick, or a silent, creepy little prick. I’m still not sure..

OK, the above is perhaps a bit of an exaggeration. A little, at least……