Avi on Child Labor, Uncomfortable Positions, and Handmade Pottery

Today is Sunday. I woke up at 9:45...tired, awake, warm, wanting to urinate. Usually on sundays, I wake up feeling unproductive and helpless. Lying in bed, maybe staring at a crack on the ceiling or on my side wondering who invented pho wood panneling made from wood. I am incapacitated. Realizing everything I didn't complete last week, wasn't completed, and most likely won't be...maybe ever. I just add it to that list that I don't keep of everything left unfinished. Then I turn on the radio, hoping i'm up in time to catch the third half of Car Talk or Wait Wait Don't Tell Me. My apathy and frustration with myself quickly subsides. I am up. Ready to shower, brush my teath, do anything life might send my way...that is if it includes showering or brushing my teeth. I swallow my blood pressure meds with a quick shake of my head, ready to conquer (if you have the CD Deadly Sting by Scorpions play "Wind of Change" now) small conquerable things like my hunger. Today, luckily my parents are coming to town. They shall take me out to lunch/brunch and we shall feast on lunch/brunch type foods. I tidy up my apartment, flat they call it, pushing clothing and bags and news papers closer to the walls. Picking up books and putting them on my desk or chair. I rinse out one or two dishes in the sink and make sure there isn't more than one ring lining my toilet. OK, now if I die, people will see my apartment and think to themselves...yeah, Avi, he was pretty put together, nothing cluttering the floor, his toilet is clean but for one lone ring...dishes mostly clean. I live always prepared to die, not emotionally but my tangibles are all in place: Lev - all my leather goods, most of my clothing, and IPOD, Parents - car, pictures, Friends - whatever is left over. I won't die today though. I don't think. I cleaned up my apartment for myself. My parents don't usually come up to my flat. Too many stairs, too many icy stairs, nothing to do once they get here. I meet them at their car which is idiling at the sidewalk. "Where do you want to eat Avi," Barbara says. "How about Maxies Supper Club," she says again not even giving me time to think or respond, fine with me. This is quite possibly the fastest restaurant decision our family has ever made. Today is going to be a good day. Maxies serves American food with a slightly southern, New Orleans tint. The meal is good. They don't have my first choice, a fritada minus the bacon. So I order the Cajun omlete. This still includes andouille sausage. Why did I bother switching in the first place? I start the meal with a cup of gumbo, more sausage. As long as i'm going to eat pig I might as well eat pig. My father, quite possibly the most tedious restaurant orderer ever, makes his drink order as confusing and garbled as possible, making sure he won't get what he wants. Hot chocolate, tea, and decafe please...and sparkling water too. Do you have any juice?...wait, does that juice have pulp? Forget the juice. What teas do you have? Do those have bergamot...do you have supermarket tea? Forget the tea. As the waitor pours water for the table, Marvin exclames he doesn't want any water...confusing the waitor into thinking the whole table doesn't want water. I want water though. Meals are satisfactory, people are happy, Marvin finally obtains all of his drinks and all side orders he has requested. Converstation stears to my parents and brothers recent trip to Florida. My parents bought a place to live when retirment comes along. I am shown pictuers of Marvin and Barb standing in front of their plot, no house yet built. Looking happy, presumably. It's an odd picture. My father has an expression as if he just layed claim to a piece of land in the old west. Except he can't ride a horse, I don't know how he got there but he's there, in front of his piece of land. I update them on my recent trip to Egypt. It was fun. Saw the pyramids. Did you know they eat pigeon? Alexandria has great sea food, it being on the sea and all. Good pita. You should go. Check please. We drive from Maxies to Mickenzy Child so my mom can buy a house warming gift for some frineds who just moved. The ride is nice, excpet I have to pee. Finally, we arrive. For those of you who don't know what Mickenzy Child is, picture all the useless stuff in the world piled into one room, or maybe two. They have enough fake plastic food to feed the entire nation of Togo atop rediculous looking place settings and plates that look like they were desiged by the Cat in the Hat. Odd pieces of unusable furniture are sprinkled about, ottomans, hassoks, chaise lounges minus the lounge. My mom got a nice platter. The ride home was uneventfull to keep in tone with the rest of the day. I was dropped off at my flat curbside. I was given a kiss on each cheak as I leaned into the front seat. "Bye." I think I spent the rest of the day deciding what to have for dinner and listening to episodes of This American Life. I opened up my book, "A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius" for four or so pages before falling asleep, only awakened by my vibrating phone and my brother on the other end. "Can't talk long Avi, I'm getting on a train to the warf for a price fixe chinese dinner with Tony Cho." I had Laotion food.

Chilld Labor: mixed
Uncomfortable Positions: against
Handmade Pottery: no preferance