Inconvenient Death...

A relative whom I haven't seen in 10 years died on Friday.

It didn't throw the family into a panic, nor did anyone really care. She was, after all, in her 90's, had lived a good life, and wasn't exactly everyone's favorite person. I'd harken her to the Aunt from an episode of Frasier, who died the same way, everyone was terrified of her, she criticized everything anyone did and was generally unplesant.

Now, I'm not being disrespectful in the least. Having never really known her I can't put my opinion forward. It's one of those very-far-removed relatives, and as one person put it, "The best type of funeral to go to!"

Yesterday, Mom and I went to the closest mall for her to return something she'd bought. I also wanted to look at suits...after all, it's been a while since I was in my formal-wear and after trying on the jacket I have now (which incedentally fits me like a cardboard box, and looks about as good), I decided it was time to shop for something more fashionable.

We hit up a few stores, but the staff knew little about suits. Hell, I knew more from 5 minutes of reading online than they did. One saleswoman put me in a suit so big I swear someone could have gotten in the jacket with me (not an entirely unplesant image, if I get to choose who that someone is...).

Finally I found a beautiful Calvin Klein suit, grey pinstripe, that fit me amazingly well and looked pretty hot too. I was satisfied, the salesman marked it up for alteration, but dear mother was giving me the "hrmmm" eyes. You all know what I'm talking about. So we stepped outside and did the 'talk about it over coffee' routine. She basically said that it was a frivilous expense, and that I don't ever wear suits or really need one for a 5-minute funeral. I was kind of let down, because why bother going through all the trying on and 3 stores before she tells me this?

Not to mention the fact that she spent $200 on some Nike athletic clothes...she has two weaknesses: clothes and dishes. The dishes are sporratic; she'll start some new set ("Why do we need another set of dishes we don't eat off of?") and go for months with buying only one or two small additions. The clothes are continuous, not that continuous in small-town-bum-fuck-nowhere means she shops on a daily basis...but she's no slouch. She pissed me off a little after saying that since I'd already spent $600 on clothes over the past few months, I really didn't have any budget left for a suit, unless of course I had my own savings for such an item. Right *eye roll*.

The evening was slow. Our weather is finally picking up, and I got to spend about an hour walking around the back yard breathing in the beautiful warm air and enjoying the sunset. I talked with Ashley for 2 hours, doing the counsiling thing for her (with summer fast approaching, she's freaking out about needing to define her and her boyfriend's relationship). It was a great chat, and naturally afterwards she asked me about my love life. I was so tempted to say what had gone on recently, but I don't want to do it over the phone...

Then it was off to online-land, where I bumped into Brian. This would be our first actual messaging conversation. I had planned on seeing him this week, but of course needed to tell him that part, so we started chatting.

He's very aloof online, and it was hard to get a conversation going. When I asked him to dinner Thursday, he seemed interested, but then our talking fell back to near silence, with me practically prying details about his new job and stuff from him. By the end I wondered if he really want's to do this friendship thing, or if he was just saying that to be polite. But he seemed interested before! Ugh...I'll know more on Thursday.

The other thing, he left himself a very, very big out. His answer was something to the effect of "Yeah, that should work fine, call my cell Thursday night and we'll see." So I'm not only unsure if he's going to say yes, but well aware of the fact I'm now second-fiddle to whatever other things he may be invited to that night. Hurray.

Well, I should probably get some sleep before it gets too late. I can't believe I have to go to a funeral, see a bunch of family members I haven't seen forever, and hang out with them looking like I'm wearing a cardboard box. I'm hoping they're not the type to watch what they wear (yes, it's been that long since I've seen them), so maybe I won't stick out like a hobo at the chapel.