The American Overclocked Otaku

Yeah. It snowed. It’s still snowing, kinda, and one or two inches are expected for throughout the night. This means potential good and bad- granted, I enjoy waking up to a winter wonderland when I wake up, but on a day off I prefer to have my family go off to work instead of berate me on what chores they think I should be doing, instead. Y’know, like cleaning my room. Or going to the dump, or something other then sleep in on a much-needed sleeping in day. Maybe I shouldn’t be so resentful about any member of my family staying home when I do, but each one tends to give me nothing but stress if we’re in any one place for too long; my dad pokes fun at me (In an annoying way) and embarasses me with the whole perverted comments thing, my mom nitpicks about what I should do on a day off, and my little sister either becomes completely oblivious when I want to be left alone or gets dismissive when I ask if she’d like to do something that doesn’t involve running off and buying things. Bleh.

In other news, my classes are officially in. Four classes (12 credits) make me a full-time student, which covers me under my dad’s insurance and actually took quite a burden off my chest. Considering one class is web-based and the other is a class I’ve taken before, it’s likely that I’ll only need to get two books- and even if I need to get three, I’ll have the money to cover it with tomorrow’s paycheck. It’ll be two ITS classes, an english class and a communications class- and y’know, I’m feeling enthusiastic about this semester. Which, granted, is in itself strange considering how my enthusiasm lapses with my interest in any given subject. But when I do good this semester, I think it’ll really give myself a much-needed kick in the ass with College. I still hate buying the books, but I guess I’ll get over it. =) It’s a long-term investment for my future career, right?

Magic: the Gathering’s doing better; I’m doing what I can to get to know the newer players ever since the change-up (Oddly, none of the ‘professional’ players aside from an awesome Judge, Jeff, has arrived…I don’t think I miss most of them at all. =) Except for Zach and Co. naturally), and I’m really doing my best not to rip them off. No, seriously; most newbies at Magic get ripped off when the first start. They tend to think a card is a bomb when it isn’t, and vice-versa. All kidding aside, I tend to rip off newbies who I either don’t think I’ll be seeing for months on end, or if they don’t ask for my help. o.O One can go on forever about morality and how if anyone knew they’d never trade with me…But let’s be realistic, here: as long as a person’s reasonably consistant in their appearance or I’m helping them out with a deck idea, I’m probably not only going to help them but make sure they get decent trades on the people they -do- trade with. And on the off-chance I ever become a judge, that sort of status would probably stop the ripping altogether.

It’s a pretty piss-poor attempt at morality, but I’m stickin’ to it. =) And I’d like to think that I’m genuinely helpful. Besides, I missed the Planar Chaos pre-release. =( That makes for a sad Tommy.

On another disappointing note, I have no one to root for in the Super Bowl. The team I normally root for (Redskins) has long since been kicked out of the playoffs, and my secondary team (Patriots) were knocked off this evening by the Colts. =( Kinda sucks, to be honest; the Patriots are a lot less conservative in plays then the Redskins, and that’s what I like about ‘em. It’s going to be Bears v. Colts, and I expect the Bears to win just because they smeared the Saints more then the Colts pulled a victory out of its ass (Sorry, Chase. ^^; ). I’m off work that day and I’ll be watching anyways…But not really for the game, although it’ll be a good one. The commercials on the Super Bowl make up for it all. =D

And…I got to go to the bathroom, which means this post is getting cut short. =( Maybe another time..

Yep, it’s that time kiddies. It’s time for a good, old fashioned rant from yours truly. It takes a lot to get me good and talkative, and my mother dearest deserves what I put down here, believe me.

Things irk me about my family; whether it’s my mother, father, sister, grandmother, aunts, uncles, or cousins, there’s always at least one situation that gets each participant frustrated with each other. Furthermore, plug in anyone else in that situation and there’s almost irritation. I’ll give a perfect example: the Internet. I have dial-up, and I hate it with a sheer, unadulterated passion. I hate it worse than mushrooms, or an ice-cold toilet seat. It isn’t because it’s terribly slow or prone to kicking me offline, although that contributes heavily enough; it’s because Dial-up ties up the phone lines. This in itself isn’t problematic- I and my father both have cell phones. The problem is that my mother is paranoid about her mother (i.e. my grandmother); and I say this with all seriousness, because I can understand the love of a son to his mother. And really, just to put it down on the record, I love my family. Durka-jihad. And my mother loves my grandmother. The problem therein lies with this: she thinks that my tying up the phone with my internet exploits prevents anyone from calling in an emergency- when there are two cell phones kept on at all times in the house! In her mind, my Grandmother shouldn’t need to learn these phone numbers; but really, yes she should! Either she should, or my parents should put money into getting faster internet that doesn’t use the phone lines up.

The funny thing is, that isn’t even it, either.

Let’s make a scenario; Person A needs to use the phone, while Tom is online. Here’s what happens when Person A is my dad:

Dad: Hey Tommy? Can I use the phone real quick?
Tom: Sure, Dad; I just need a few minutes, please?
Dad: Oh, all right; let me know when you’re done, okay?
Tom: Okay.
::Tom finishes up::
Tom: Okay, Dad; I’m off.
Dad: Thanks.
::Dad finishes up::
Dad: Okay, Tommy; you can go back on, now.
Tom: Thanks, Dad.

See how pleasant that was? He asked a question, knew that the phone wasn’t going to grow legs and run away at any second and was patient. I was more than happy to get offline because of how he asked me and let me do my thing.

Now, let’s put Mother Dearest as Person A.

Mom: Tommy, get offline!
Tom: Okay, Mom; I just need a few minutes to-
Mom: You have three seconds!
Tom: Mom, I just need to do this real quick, it won’t hurt just to-
Mom: What, so I need to ask your permission to use my phone?
Tom: No, I don’t think I need your permission to use the phone, but it isn’t asking much to-

And then my mom unplugs my telephone line.

Ignorant, asinine, hard-headed and completely rude; just because the phone line is hers doesn’t mean she has to be such a snot about it. What’s worse is that I was playing in a sanctioned draft online that I was winning when my mother unplugged the line. Meaning that my score fell just a l’il bit more.

My point is that some people piss me off on a regular basis. One of those people just happen to be my mom. u.u