fire alarms, parents, family gatherings and lesson plans

My head began to throb with the drone of loud music playing from the Recretaion room. A group of teenagers were hosting a party and the bass rang through the apartment building annoying every tenant that could hear that grating sound of rap and hip hop - music that immature brats find intriguing - when suddenly an even more irritating sound blasted through the hallways and apartment rooms. Some punk had pulled the fire alarm and now we were being evacuated out of the building at 4am.

We saw people shuffle their feet onto the sidewalk outside our building and rubbing the hazy sleep away from their eyes when Adrian made a joke about how this would be a interesting way to meet the other tenants in the building. A couple standing nearby agreed and we introduced ourselves to Steve and Simone who live in on the third floor. There was another woman too who works as a dental hygienist during the day and a comedian at Yuk Yuk's every friday. We all spoke about the potential cause of the alarm and how Steve and Simone had only moved in three months ago while the lady came here a year ago.

I made a joke about how I am a teacher so the fire alarms almost seem secondary to me and I feel like telling others how to safely leave the building and everyone laughed. For the first time in a very very long time, others actually had respect for secondary school teachers. The lady, Steve and Simone, talked to me as if I was a minor hero one step below the firefighters in New York for actually putting up with teenagers and trying to get them motivated to learn.

Thankfully the night was warm with a cold breeze and the firefighters came to check the alarm ratherly quickly. The music droned on for one more song and then I assume the teenagers grew a brain and actually stopped the party.

I awoke a few hours later and found an email from my mother telling me that my parents (especially my father) was hurt that they recieved news about my engagement through a e-card. This does sound reasonable to an extent and then my mother invited ME ONLY to the house to cook her dinner while she gets out of the hospital. This is when I had to explain that I still love my parents and care for them deeply and I will always make an effort to be there for them in times of need, but their choice to hang onto all the paranoia, angst, bitterness and resentment against my fiance has placed them on a need to know basis only. I told them that I have to move on with my new life with someone else and that I must concentrate on my new job. I also mentioned I will call them on the weekend when I can handle the stress of their paranoia and insanity a little more.

I did feel a bit guilty for informing them they are not invited to the wedding and how I think it is best for everyone. Despite Adrian's encouragement for me to call them personally to tell them of the engagement and to invite them to our wedding, I decided that I only want people there who are happy for us. Although my mom would never intentionally say something negative, she also has a problem for censoring her thoughts before she speaks..especially after she has been drinking. I do not want any potential embarrasing slips from my mother's mouth on my very happy, precious and expensive day. As for my father, I know he wouldn't say anything but he would have a frown and scowl on his face the entire time. People are bound to ask why the father of the bride looks so upset and when he implies its because he doesn't agree with the marriage then things become awkard again too. In order to prevent all negative aspects on the wedding day, they simply are not allowed to attend until they can geninuely be happy for me and my new life.

The very fact that my father refuses to even step on the sidewalk of my apartment and that my mother has only referred to Adrian by his name twice since we began dating two years ago indicates that neither parent is capable of actually enjoying the ceremony or reception. They think that being civil is enough, but I have also indicated that being civil and nagging at me constantly like nails on a chalkboard means that a simple notice of what is going on my life should suffice.

I had previously warned them of being cut out of my life due to their behaviour and I think it is only settling in now that it is quite possible they may loose regular contact with their only child because they cannot let go of this theory that Adrian is using me for money and that he only wants to marry me so that I can take on his debts. Despite Adrian paying for his vacations, buying me the digital camera, paying for dinners and such they cannot let it go. They also cannot accept the fact that Adrian does not have any debts unless you want to count how he has to pay back his OSAP once he graduates.

The only debt that I have incurred is simple moving out expenses that anyone would go through when they need to get their starter place. My father has a tendency to go through my banking information and so he probably assumes that the debt is Adrian's fault when in reality it is simple reality. Now granted most parents try to help out their children when they move out so they don't need to pay for every single little detail in the new place and therefore cutting down the cost of moving out, but my parents were so against the idea I had to start from scratch.

and this is when I realized every family seems to have a story as I accompanied Andrea to her family gathering. It was a lot of fun and they played these interesting games to test how well the familiy really knew the two birthday people - andrea's mom and uncle - and there were a lot of friendly people there too. I was so proud of Andrea! It was a true obstacle just for her to get to the party with an hour long drive with the GO bus to tracking down a taxi and even just getting around. hahaahah.

Now I am actually trying to do lesson plans for my Romeo and Juliet uniti and for some reason I cannot find information on The Wheel of Fortune and other concepts I want to discuss in class so I will probably go through my textbooks from uni and try to make something up for them.
Got to go now.