today's the day

this is it. the day i've been waiting for since the last release into theaters. today is the day i get to see Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince in theaters at midnight.
the day has been going pretty rocky so far, what with my lovely parents and all their glory, who i'm positive seek out days like these just to be complete and total assholes. they seem to have a pattern of taking days which are meant to be some of my happiest and turn them in to days that make me want to crawl into my room and sleep away, hoping it never happened.
a perfect example of this is the day i got my braces off a week before the start of 8th grade. i'd had my brace since the beginning of 4th grade and it was finally time for them to come off. after the whole procedure was said and done, i stepped in front of that mirror and smiled to see my mouth metal-free for the first time since i was about 5. it was perhaps one of the happiest moments of my life. but what do dear mum and dad do? they take the time to discuss how the braces probably permanentley tarnished the color of my teeth, but it's okay because "the kids at school probably won't notice...or if they do, they won't bug you about it for long." thanks daddy! thanks mommy! you've officially turned this experiance from a joyful one to one i spent crying in the bathroom, scrubbing mercilessly at my new teeth because i thought i was going to get ruthlessly made fun of! how fabulous.
so i think you've got the general idea of what kind of parents i have, right? the kind that can never be happy for you, because there was always something MORE that you could have done that you didn't do. but i woke up this morning determined, they are NOT going to ruin this day for me. it has certainly been a tough goal to accomplish. i don't know if they realize how happy today has made me, but they are really bringing out the big guns: college and the future. mainly about how i probably won't end going to it and how i'm not going to have much of one. why this random outburst you ask? because i wouldn't go with my mother to an old people's home. now i know what you're thinking, "charlotte, you must be joking, there must have been SOMETHING else you did." oh no, dear readers, i am being more honest with you then i have been with anyone else.
perhaps i should explain?
well this morning i woke up with a smile on my face because of what is going to happen tonight. no more then 2 seconds of being in my mother's sight and she says "get dressed charlotte, we're going to mae volen (the old people place)." "i really don't want to," i replied. "i just woke up." she pretends she didn't hear that (she likes to do that) and continues on with her business. so i'm laying on the couch reading a book, and about 20 minutes later she's standing in front of me impatiently. "come on get dressed." "no, i told you i don't want to go." before i knew what was even happening, the book gets snatched out of my hand and i hear a variety of sentences using the words disgusting, lazy, and shocking all very frequently. so, as you'd imagine, my initial reaction was somewhere along the lines of: WTF? then my dad gets home, which is never good, no matter what's going on. me and my father don't really have the most civil of relationships. but i'm pretty used to his yelling rants, and he's pretty much 95% of the time always mad at me, so at this point i'm pretty indifferent to the situation. but here's where it gets out of control: my mom starts to explain to him what happened, and she starts CRYING. because apparently, the fact that i don't want to accompany her to mae volen is worth hysterically CRYING over. so now i'm thinking either A) my mother is bipolar or B) she is seriously out to get me and is a verrrry good actress. from previous experiance with my mom, i'm gonna go with B. although there is always the possibility of A now and again.
so i start getting lectured about how horrible of a person i am, blah blah blah, i can't count how many times i've gotten that one from him. but then he goes into the forbidden territory: he says "you'll amount to nothing." now, when you're as passionate about school and your education as much as i am, that REALLY pisses you off. i know damn well i'll amount to more then him, so who is he telling me what i will and will not do in the future? this sort of thing from my dad usually ruins my entire day, but then before i open my mouth to quite rudely retort to him, i had an epiphany; this is what he wants. he is trying to ruin this day for me, he wants me to get myself riled up and upset for the rest of the day. well no sir, that is not going to happen!
so to my ignorant father's shock, i just get up calmly and leave. i waited in my room until he left for work, and now everything is okay. tonight i am going to see a brand new movie based on my favorite book ever. how can i be upset today? the answer is i can't, and no amount of my dimwitted parents rambling about me and my life is going to change that.