cimorene

i worked four hours for my mom today, counting two trips downtown--one alone except for the company of christina to sing along with in the cd player, and mom's Suckiest Written Directions Ever (tm). not sure how long i lost, but ended up back at her school again without the student artwork* i was supposed to pick up from the board of education building. the other was made in mom's company. i drove and she sat in the passenger's seat, and i saved her perhaps a minute by driving around the block instead of parking**. also i read dorothy sayers's the nine tailors and am jealously guarding a new batch of comments from my k'salamander to read over later this evening. we should finish the new bathroom tonight if all goes well--then the tile will need a week of curing, by which i mean periodic spritzing with water. and then mom will caulk it, but since it's no work for me i am not particularly concerned.

otoh i can't help feeling it's unwise for her to pay me $7/hr to drive her across town. i realize she likes my company and also that she's paying well in order that i can be making money.

why do i need to be making money?, you may ask. well, it's quite simple!#

reason I. to obtain money.

A. i can spend this money next year in finland.
-on trivialities only. my parents are going to pay for everything i actually NEED, of course. not because they have to, but because they insist it is the only honorable thing to do as long as i am obliging them by being enrolled in a school, regardless of the state of their finances##.

B. i can spend it before i go to finland.
-on trivialities only... that, and shampoo, and my passport. my parents are paying for everything else, naturally, because i am living in their house. they also do not charge rent, as long as they approve of my activities. (approved activities include: working and working. why these? see above, the whole entire diagram.)

reason II. work is good for the soul.

A. everyone knows that it makes you happy and healthy.
i. mom and dad say so.
ii. there is probably an aphorism somewhere to that effect.

B. it prevents you from doing things which are bad for the soul.
i. such as talking to important people:
a. your significant other
b. your best friend, who is highly pregnant and experiencing difficulties
c. your rl best friend, who is being badgered by a psycho ex
d. your adoptive little sister, who is adorable and generally fragile and depressed and, like a delicate flower, needs careful tending.

ii. such as committing matricide or patricide

* in the sense of things made in art class, which are under no circumstances to be aesthetically appealing or executed with the least vestige of talent or skill.
** and then i took ten years off her life by pausing to let her in in the traffic lane without putting my blinkers on.
# i lie. it's convoluted.
## example: right now, the state of their finances could concisely be described as 'going deeper into debt at the steady rate of around $100/month.'