Fri morn I was up at sparrows fart (5.10am) and off to the Gowrie house to collect
middle bro and
youngest bro for the long haul to Sydney to celebrate
Dadsy's graduation.
We arrived
here at about 10.10 (Yes, we got lost, and yes we may have inadvertantly broken traffic law a few times) and headed off to the uni almost straight away to look totally outta place in our grad-ceremony-watching outfits amongst the cas students for 3.5 hours. The cab drive to the uni was 'eventful' in that 5 grownups + 1 cabbie meant
Mumsy and I were in the front, with me squooshed in the middle of the front seat. Have you ever been hit right in the eye by a cabbies hands-free earphone flinging around and then not got an apology? It's nothing to write home about (but fine to blog about, it seems).
The ceremony itself wasn't so bad (I've only ever been to
The Hun's and that was loooooooooong and boooooooooooring) - highlights included a total WTF moment as
Mumsy was overheard introducing herself to one of
Dadsy's classmates with "
I was going to say nice to meet you c*nty, but I won't" (it was a preplanned injoke apparantly) and
Dadsy posing for photos postgrad Darth Maul style with his grad hood over his head, hiding behind his cape and bearing his certificate like a light sabre...
We headed into
Isabella's for dinner (highly recommended if you're in the area, but be warned that there is only one tooty for everyone and it's out the back down an alley!) where
Dadsy managed to break a chair jus by sitting on it (some lawyer types in his their grad group ensured they go photographic evidence of the way the welding broke) and then up the road to a pub called Alison's (I think?!) before cabbing it over to
cushion.
THAT's where the night started to get more interesting.
It was good in that all four kids (plus
Eldest bro's gf) were drinking and comfy and starting the D&M thang that quite often occurs...
-
Eldest bro started with '
You know how I was being an ass about your veganism the other day?' and then launched into some bizarre critique-slash-support-slash-talk-over-the-top thang... his point, as far as I could tell, was that he conceded that not consuming anmal products has an effect, but then didn't concede that it did as the only way to make a difference is to change everybody's perception of meat and animals so that they aren't used for meat and the whole proceess is changed... It kind of went around and around in circles with him agreeing and disagreeing straight away and repeating his point over and over and louder and louder... I've put it down to alchohol plus overload on management study (he had his first two exams within a 2 day period and drove up to Sydney straight after his exam) plus some of that defensive guilt that I've read about that causes ppl who feel threatened/offended/guilty about what they're eating to launch into active attack mode...?!
- He then moved onto a discourse on marriage. It seems he believes that marriage is only for creating children and that happiness only comes from having kids to carry on your name or whatever and that the wife thing is only secondary - that's the meaning of life. This was in contrast to my belief that happiness should be within yourself, then added to with a partner and then added to with kids - you can have a life without kids and still be happy.
{Deleted by the Author - sorry dudes!}
-
Youngest bro outlined that he has a *confidential* life plan to get himself on track that, as much as
eldest bro's gf asked, he would not share. It's good to see that he's finally at the point that all us kids in the family have got to where you decide to get off ur ass and jus do something about it.
- Plus other D&M talk on everyone's jobs, love, plans etc.
Nayways, I started getting a lil tired at about 1am and noticed
eldest bro's gf was the same, so we headed off with
eldest bro and
youngest bro in tow (
middle bro hung back for more drinx), where
eldest bro's gf lemme know that she was't having fun - she didn't understand his vegan argument except that it seemed to include repeating the same thing over and over but louder and louder each time without listening to other viewpoints. She was also (understandably!) unimpressed with his marrige'n'kids speech (it was the first time she'd heard any of that and the whole 'when I know someone is suitable then I'd do it straight away' would make ANY ladee mad) and his argument on divorce was not on - her parents divorced years ago so he doens't really know what he's talking about.
I was also 'gifted' enough to be sharing a room with
youngest bro and
middle bro, so was 'gifted' enough to be greeted by
middle bro's 'gifted' entrance at 2am - turning on all the lights and tv, opening the door the courtyard, coming in and out of the room and calls of '
WHO WANTS TO PARTAY BIATCHES'. He then spent the night on his creaky Creaky CREAKY bed rolling himself up in some sort of sheet coccoon. Unimpressed.
~Overview~Cross: It rained the whole time;
Tick: It still looked like a really lovely beach.
Cross: Arguing with the brothers
Tick: Getting to know about what they think/feel/plan
Cross: Sharing room with two boys
Tick: None. Never again. P.E.R.I.O.D.
Cross: The Hun wasn't there.
Tick: Got to hear what the fam thinks about him (hint: v good)
Cross: The long drive there and back with two boys
Tick: Not really as bad as it coulda been
Cross: Middle bro's attitude the majority of the time
Tick: Glimpses of the real him while he was half asleep and mumbling, while he was drinking, an while
youngest bro was at the servo and he earnestly asked what he should do about a job. IF ONLY he dropped the act and were like that ALL the time.
And tonight:Tick: Hommous and turkish bread.
Cross: Toot!
Tick: Naps on the couch
Cross: Pillow face!
Tick: Lounging around the house
Cross: Meant to be studying
Tick: "Bring it on"
Tick: Eliza Dushku
Tick: The actor that plays the gay guy
Cross: Nil!