kind of awkward isn't it?

So this is how things went down. I've been house sitting. I was here a few days before the family left. And when I got here the toilet was clogged. I found out I had to watch a dog and that didn't bother me. What did bother me was when my aunt started argueing with her husband. That was awkward. Especially since they have two kids a ten year old girl and a thirteen year old boy. That's about around the age I was when my parents devorced. So all this brought back memories. Good times, good times... wait, no it wasn't.
So it's the night before they leave. Parents are arguing. The mother calls the plumbers about getting the downstairs toilet and sink unclogged. But the father unclogs the toilet. They had been arguing before. And I was just awkwardly sitting in the living room, until the daughter walks in and starts playing video games... and she sort of sighs and says, "Sometimes I hate myself." She's ten years old and saying something like that. So I'm like, 'whoa' and I get up and walk around into the kitchen when the father comes out of the bathroom waving around a wet tampon on the end of a stick, WAIT what? No joke, the reason the toilet was clogged. And the mother is like, "EW GROSS!!!" and she starts yelling and shouting. And so I go outside on the porch and hide there for a little while.

The next day they leave for their vacation, I'm watching the house and the dog. The dog trolled me practically all week. But I gave it food and water and let it outside. Except it kept raining. And than the weather cleared and you know what happened. The grandmother stops by. And she asks me to help her clean the place. And I couldn't object. but than she said, "You can't tell your aunt." and I was like, whoa, now wait a second... what have I gotten myself into. So I helped clean the rooms a bit. And move down all this furniture, lamps and things. And I was thinking, "there is no way the aunt wouldn't know that her mother in law was here." And the mother in law kept hinting that my aunt was a terrible mother. But she kept saying, "you're a smart boy." And I'd bet that she's the type of person that acts nice to you to your face, but wouldn't hesitate to say cruel things about you behind your back.
But some of the things she said about my aunt weren't exactly untrue. My aunt doesn't seem to be very organized. But she says so herself, so at least she'll admit to that. And I think my aunt also might over react just a little about her mother in law. They really hate each other.

And that was the problem, after working away for a few days... it was time for the family to come back home. And my aunt noticed. And she freaked out about it. And than the two parents fought ever since they've returned. It just got uglier and uglier. And I could tell that the gets were depressed and frightened by the whole thing. I did my best to stay clear away from the whole thing. My aunt literally threatened to kick my uncle out of the house. The kids where right in the other room and could hear the whole thing and my uncle is saying that she's crazy, and talking about all the crazy things she's done.

And tomorrow I am finally going to head out of this place. And I honestly can't wait. I feel bad that I helped the grand mother because it caused so much turmoil. And that's what I meant about this being such an awkward week.

...

okay so this actually happened on Monday. I took the redline to Cambridge. The train, subway thing... well it's not really underground until it get's to the Boston/Cambridge aria. But anyway I got on the train in Braintree, real town by the way. Look it up. But anyway I get on the train and take it to Cambridge Massachusetts. And there I was going to be at an open mic thing. When I got there these are the things I remember. Firstly, a girl walked up to me and said, "I like your shirt." It was my grave rubbing shirt, the one with the skulls and shit. It says Momento mori on the front which is Latin for "Remember the dead." She wasn't ugly or anything... but I didn't know what to say. So all I said was, "yeah."

Another thing that happened was a man walked up to me trying to sell me a book on Buddhist meditation. So I ran away, through the crowded streets. With all my luggage. I had my acoustic guitar\r and a duffel bag full of clothing. I went to a Vietnamese restaurant, everything had garlic in it. I hate garlic. I spent some time wand3ering around, listening to an amazing street musician... all this was around Central Square in Cambridge. A man seemed to walk up to me, while I was leaning up agianst a wall listening to the street musician. He was sort of smiling, but than the look on his face changed to less of a smile, he appaered to have noticed something behind me. I was leaning agianst a short little wall that encircled a cafe aria. The man looked down and hurried on his way. I looked over my shoulder and saw there was a police car there. The place was filled with people... so I can only assume the man thought I was a dealer. He may have asked me if I was selling any good product, but than he noticed the po-po so he turned and left. I don't know.

I went to the open mic, turned out it was mostly poetry reading but I signed up anyway. So many great poets and one really good musician. But I wasn't that musician... I was the nervous kid who had never played for a crowd before. I went up there and I found I didn't even have a guitar pick. I reached in my pocket pulled out one of the keys to my old laptop that is now no longer with us. I luaghed an said, "This song will be brought to you by the letter..." I realized the key didn't have a letter on it, "The number two!" And than I tried to play a song. but my hands shock, and I couldn't keep the tempo consistent, and I couldn't hit half the right notes. And there was a camera video taping me for the local television network. And all these peoples starting at me completely dumbfounded at my stage fright. I was trying to play parts of my Intake song, but I couldn't get it together. I gave up and said, "I'm a little nervous. Let's try chords, they're easy." So a strummed a few chords A, E, F, C... what else could I do? What should the next chord I play be? I had no plan, I had no material, I couldn't remember how the song was supposed to go... what was I even playing? "Okay, uh, I don't know where I'm going with that so, moving on to something else." And I tried a variety of different things I've been working on. But it was all a jumbled mess. "Okay... I think that I'll..." I was about to say I was done, but the man that was hosting the show stepped in and interrupted me, saying it first. "Thanks, he said. I think you've played enough." So I got up and sat back down in the audience. He added, "Come back again and play some more for us another time." As he thought to himself, '...but not anytime soon.'