tjaden

reasons why certain members of my family will invariably end up as characters in a story or in my memoirs:

1. obsessive rules of behavior for when one spends more than five minutes in their house. these rules include: using a system of hand towels to dry one's hands, dry the sink basin, and dry the used towels; regimented "packing-around" time allotments for each cat; specific number of pieces of canned cat food to be dispearsed into each individual cat dish; and superstitious rituals of opening a door, among others...

2. the creation of a kitty opium den using high-tech glade plug-ins...

3. the belief in and practice of talking with the dead...

4. the involvement of the cats (numbering three) in human behavior (e.g. watching television, arguments, and meditation)...

5. the polar opposite religious beliefs within one marriage (one exhuberant new age subscriber (including the crystals, candles, robes, etc.), and one staunch russian orthodox who was once a presbyterian minister)...

6. the family reunions where i have to explain, each year to the same person that, no, i am not of an arabic origin, and that, yes, i am actually a part of the family...

7. the inexplicable ability to confuse animals (doves for eagles, cats for otters/sea lions, rabbits for racoons).

granted, to be fair, i love them and they are family (and this is what family means... right?)... however, they will never cease to amuse me and serve as fodder for stories.

in recent news: i'm still unemployed.