My parents are weird.
2002-10-09 7:09 p.m.
It took me three days, but I finally finished writing to my dad. That makes it sound as if I was writing some huge epic thing, perhaps in iambic pentameter. Really, it's just I write a sentence, then I think of something I'd rather be doing, or D. walks within 100 feet of the computer and I ask him if he doesn't need it right now, no really, please, go ahead. I hate writing letters.This letter was particularly tricky, because I was trying to think of some way to describe the LARP that didn't make me sound like a crazy person. ("30-40 people playing Rock Paper Scissors in the dark, because we are naughty vampire gods. No, I'm not making this up.") See, he invited us to wander around High Cliff after dark on the 26th and look at pumpkins. There's this nature trail that they set up, lit only by scattered torches and jack-o-lanterns. Fairly nifty, if you're into that sort of thing. I explained that there was just no possible way I could miss this wacky LARP thing, and then I had to explain why. (On Day 2 of Writing to Dad, I found out that LARP is actually the following weekend, but rewriting what I had so far seemed far more trouble than it was worth. Much simpler to write to him AGAIN, later this week. I'm really a moron sometimes) I think I have to do the pumpkin thing, though, because Halloween is a pretty major holiday for my parents. Long, fairly nauseatingly cute story to follow. You have been warned: When my dad was in the airforce, stationed overseas 30 years ago, he wrote letters to his girlfriend. In the margins of said letters, he doodled adventures of a little smiley face guy with wings. Every time Dad got promoted, the wings on the smiley got a little bigger. Air Force. Wings. Yeah. The smiley as Dad drew it, with wings and feet, is called a "Kiff." Don't even ask. Dad finished his service, and came back to the States. It was 1970, and you couldn't throw a brick without hitting a yellow smiley face. Dad reasoned that obviously, he was singlehandedly responsible for this cultural phenomenon. Even now, he's obsessed with anything round and yellow and smiling. (My dad is named John. And yes. I was a little freaked out when D's LARP character, also named John, adopted the smiley as his personal totem. Dude. You're RPing my dad?? Stop it. Just...stop.) Somewhere in the years that followed, Dad decided jack'o'lanterns looked a lot like orange kiffes. Halloween was always called "International Kiffes' Day" in my house growing up. And you wondered why I turned out so strange. The point is, Halloween is like my dad's birthday and Christmas all rolled into one, and if I don't have a really good reason, I'd best at least put in an appearance. Don't even get me started on why Easter is Rabbik's Day. My parents are weird.
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