A parent’s mid-life crisis, or: my dad’s dating a stripper.

So, I talked to my dad a few weeks ago and he told me he was dating someone new whose name is Jessica. I said great and asked where he met her. He stalled, stuttered, and said “on the East side” which in St. Louis basically means “at a strip club”. Slightly shocked (understatement), I paused for a moment before asking how old she is. “21.” …fuck. My dad is 54! I, myself, am 27 and feel slightly weird about dating someone who’s 3 years younger than me. They’d only been dating a week at that point and already he had bought her a diamond necklace.

Now, I know what you’re thinking, because I thought the same thing. Sure. He’s “dating” her, buying her expensive things. But from the way it sounds, he actually IS dating her. He met her mother (who approves of this relationship…how fucked is that?) He stays the night at her place, and I just talked to him last night and HE IS MOVING IN WITH HER.

This is insane. My dad is not rich, by any means. He rather looks like the Unabomber, circa living in the shack time.

Gah. I don’t know how to process this. On one hand, I’m happy that he’s happy. But on the other hand … this is just WEIRD. What if they get married? I will have a step-mother (stage name: Phoenix) who is 6 years younger than me. One of my brothers severely disapproves of this relationship (but he’s a right-wing Christian), and my other two brothers don’t know about it. I kind of want to tell my mom (they’ve been divorced 15 years) just because I think she would find it hilarious/sad that my dad is doing this, but I’m not sure that I even wanted to know, so why would she?

Oh, and my dad is also dating a 28-year old at the same time. She has a 6-year old. Not sure if the two girls know about each other, though.

AWESOME.  Le sigh.

I’m si-i-i-i-ick. Emphasis on ick.

Argh.  My throat feels like I just swallowed about a dozen straight-edge razor blades and followed up with a nice saltwater gargle.  In other words, it hurts.  The pain is starting to go into my ears (never a good sign), and I am generally ache-y all over.

I hate being sick.    I need some TLC and some hot tea, maybe.

(And because of my not feeling well status, I am foregoing today's Thursday Thirteen.)

Jeebus.

Is there something in the air today making people cranky?  Seriously.  Get over whatever it is.

Snow angels, anyone?

There’s a layer of snow on the ground.  The snow comes after a mixture of rain and sleet, which fell earlier in the evening.

Oy. This is going to make the drive home nasty.

Spring, Health Care, New Orleans, Rent…

Spring officially arrived today, although you wouldn’t know it by listening to the weather forecasters. We’re supposed to get 2-4 inches of snow tonight that will continue through mid-morning Tuesday. What happened to that global warming we were all becoming accustomed to and rather fond of?

As I left for work this afternoon (in a sweater and with my coat and gloves in hand), I found two pieces of mail addressed to me.

The first: a letter from my health care provider. You see, I went to the hospital at the beginning of February for Bell’s Palsy. Simply put, it’s a temporary condition that causes one-half of my face to become paralyzed. (On the bright side, I was given an eye patch to wear. I so could have been a kick-ass pirate for those few days.) When I went in to the ER, I was examined by a physician to make sure it wasn’t something else (a tumah [tumor] or a stroke), and they decided to put me through a CAT scan just for good measure. All in all, I was at the hospital for ~5 hours (with no wait time to get in), only 1.5 hours of which I was actually being attended to. The total cost of my visit? $1,818.90 – but I only have to pay $100. I am officially glad to have health insurance.

The second: a visitor’s guide and various maps to New Orleans. It looks like a beautiful city from the brochures, although this is a pre-Katrina guide. I had requested these items about two months ago, when I was planning a trip to the Big Easy in April or July. It’s sad and somewhat ironic that I only just now received the materials, because as of a week ago “non-existent” is the word best used to describe the friendship with the person I was planning on seeing while down there. (As a side note, I am still immensely saddened by the demise of this friendship. I miss talking to him and laughing so hard that I could hardly catch my breath.)

I missed Rent at the Fox this past weekend. I’ve seen Rent every time it’s been in St. Louis since 2000, but I’m surprisingly alright with the fact that I missed out on it this time around. I guess seeing a show 25+ times makes missing once or twice seem like not such a big deal. Reviews have been mixed about this cast. I miss the touring cast of ‘00-’01.

Upcoming Concerts

So, there are about a gazillion (slight overstatement) upcoming readings/concerts that I want to go to in the next few months. The problem? I work evenings. In order for me to attend, I would have to call off work, meaning I would run out of vacation time by, oh, about June ‘06. My vacation time isn’t replenished until March ‘07.

• Anthony Rapp – Thursday, March 30 – can’t go.
• Death Cab for Cutie – Tuesday, April 4 – can’t go.
• The Strokes – Saturday, April 8 – could go, but already made plans before the concert was announced.
• David Sedaris – Thursday, April 13 – can’t go.
• Yeah Yeah Yeahs – Wednesday, April 19 – can’t go.
• They Might Be Giants – Saturday, May 6 – WILL GO TO THIS NO MATTER WHAT. I WILL GIVE UP MY LEFT FOOT IF NECESSARY.
• James Blunt – Tuesday, May 16 – will likely go to this.  Damnit.  This sold out before I could get tickets.

I’m sure there are plenty more concerts that I’m not aware of, but frankly it’s a little depressing for me to even look. This is unacceptable. I’m seriously reconsidering working evenings.