I called my aunt back yesterday because she did actually leave me a message. I hate her messages, too. "Call me back when you have time." Well, lady...I don't really have any to spare!

I was dreading the call because like I posted earlier, I don't like having conversations with her. And this one was no different. She called to talk about my dad. It's his 60th birthday next month, and she wanted to have a family dinner. Fair enough.

But then she was talking about a conversation that she had with my dad. He still sounds ultra depressed (nothing new), but she is trying to get him to return (?) to Christianity. He talks about being "still alive", etc. etc., and she tells him with no faith, he'll end up in hell or something like that. I think she think her encouragement will eventually wear him down and he'll go to church or something.

And then...the part which pisses me off to NO END...FFS, she thinks there is nothing more to life than being married. It doesn't matter with whom or anything ...but being a woman is about marrying a rich guy to have him take care of her. But if he's not rich...being married is still important.

It takes a lot for me to not yell at her when she talks to me about this stuff because it's really none of her business, and what's it to her whether I'm married or not? At least she knows better than to tell me I should marry a rich, Chinese guy.

Anyway, she asked me how things were with Mr. Nick. And then she asked me when we were going to get married. (Never mind we've not even been together for a year.) I met her with silence -- angry silence. I tried to keep it light and just said we hadn't talked about it. "Why not? It's time you got married, you know." FuckDamnShitMotherFucker! ! (the only time I curse is if I'm alone in the car...or if I am frustrated...but I still try to curse only to myself).

So I met her with more silence and since I didn't say anything, she kept prompting me..."well? well?" What the fuck did she want me to say? If I was a bit more charming, I could have just told her she'd be the first to know if it ever happened. But instead, I said "NEVER! I am never getting married! So let's just not talk about this again!!" Who the fuck does she think she is? Marriage is not one of those things on the forefront of mind my mind.

Anyway, she was shocked. Every time we talk about this and I seem anti-marriage (I'm not really...I just want to get her off my back), she just doesn't understand why I wouldn't want to be married. Last time I used reason with her old school ways..."why do I need to be married when I have a steady job, my own car, and my own home?" That shut her up for a bit, but then she said I should have a companion. Fuck.

So this time, she laughed as if she sort of believed me but couldn't understand why I wouldn't want to be married. And again, she reiterated I shouldn't be afraid of marriage because of how my parents' marriage turned out.

Ugh. And she told me my dad told her that I hadn't been calling him. #@%! I call him a few times a week now. And he told her that I seem annoyed when he asks questions about my mom and her family. My dad is a loser when it comes to breakups. During our last conversation, he wanted to know if my relatives were still in town, and if my grandmother was here, and where my mom was staying, and if their phone number was the same. Hello, stalker. My mom wants me to relay absolutely NO information about her or her family to him. So it's understandable that I respect my mom's wishes. But I guess my dad could tell I didn't want to say much, so he's taking it personally.  The next time he asks me anything about my mom, I'm just going to be straight up and tell him that she doesn't want me to tell him anything. I hate that my dad is sick. And yes, I still want to turn my back on him, but I can't.

His mom suffered from Alzheimers for a very long time, and she lived in a home. Towards the last few years of her life, he hardly ever saw her because it was too painful for him. So he let my aunt do all the caretaking. "Well, it's her turn now. [When Grandma was still well and lived close by,]  I did all the work." So would it be a horrible thing if I treated him like he did his mom?

I put my shelf together last night. It took about 3 hours and I could not figure out my fricken' drill! But it's done! Just about. I need to mount it to the wall. I don't know if it's possible. I can't have the shelf flush against the wall because of the moulding.

And then after that, I spent about 2 hours baking 6 batches of cookies. I went to bed at 3:30 am?!