I'm in Austin right now, so here's the entry that you probably knew was coming. So for the break, I took Splash with me, and now I had to bring her back to Austin. I rang the doorbell, my father answered and splash dashed inside. My father, so thrilled by seeing his dog, that all he said was hi to me before kneeling down to play with her. For nearly five minutes, he didn't even notice my haircut, and continued not to do so until Rene mentioned it. And it's not the kind of thing you can easily overlook. From here the initial conversation began. As usual, I wasn't even involved, be it in the talking or the topic. They just talked about how great it was to have their dog again, how great it must be for her to be home too, and how she was so happy to be back home. Firstly - that is our dog. It's like he says that to make it sound as if I'm taking splash away from them to be mean.
Secondly - They act like this is her home and she doesn't even belong in Sugar Land. Nevermind she lived there for 5 years, and that this is a relatively new place with her.
Thirdly - They have no idea. She was so much happier to be back with my mother and the other dog. Once they were finally done, my father told me that he was coming to visit me at the end of the month. You would think that double-checking with me would be a good idea, to make sure I'm there, right? Or they could just come to San Antonio for Monday and Tuesday, ensuring minimal visitation time. Class all day. I guess basically I just get a couple of nice dinners. So much for spending a day together. So then we went to dinner, and as usual, extremely bizarre discussion topics ensued. I'll give you some samples, partially because I'm bored, and partially because I was pretty irritated. Rene: Curtis will be over "fairly early," or so he said.
Father: What's that mean? 1 or 2?
Rene: Who knows?
Father: 1 or 2, thats early for you, right Alex?
Me: Not really, prolly more li--
Blatantly cutting me off
Rene: Let's try to get to Home Depot before he comes over Rene: Can you make sure there are no onions on the food? If there's anything with raw onions in it, just leave it off entirely.
Waiter: No raw onions, I'll make sure of it.
Rene: Thanks
Time passes and he brings the food
Waiter: I made sure they left the raw onions off, the ones on the salad are sauteed.
Rene: I didn't want any onions, can you take it back? Stemming from a conversation about his music, and my politely declining his offer to go see his favorite musicans:
Father: You like Patrice Pike?
Me: Not really.
Father: Have you ever seen her live?
Me: I'm pretty sure I have. It didn't really change anything. I still don't really like her.
Father: You'd like her if you saw her live.
Then, on the way home he put her on the stereo without telling me what it was, and asked me if I liked it, as though trying to trick me into saying that I like her. Father: You still trying to get that video game you wanted? What was it?
Me: A ps3? Actually, between working for mom and gift money, I've got one already. I still need more games and accessories though.
Father: Cool. Have you seen one?
Me: What? I have one.
Father: Really? How and when did you get that? Father: Rene, your meal was really good.
Rene (puzzled): You never even tried it. I forgot to offer, and you never asked. It really wasn't that good.
Father: Oh. Anyways, you get the idea. It's these sort of things that actually make me worry about my father. Either he just plain doesn't listen to me, which is extremely insulting, or he forgets things that quickly, which I would say is actually reason to worry. They're in bed now, so at least I have my peace, but at the same time, I also have insomnia when I am here. It's one of the most uncomfortable beds I've ever slept in, and the pillows are bad enough that I usually wind up using a very hard, star-shaped decorative pillow that is just meant to bring out the theme, by accompanying the texas flag that is my comforter. At least I get to be off tomorrow. To another stressful situation. Oh well, then it's Camille time, so at leave I've got that going for me. | 
