I love my parents, I really do. But shit, having my dad and step mother spend the last 4 days up here with me has really worn me out. I never realized how annoying my dad is to me until now. He's a great father, I respect him, I think that he is a great man, etc. but shit, he got on my nerves the entire time that he was here. First of all, he chews gum non-stop with his mouth open and makes these horrible smacking sounds which I cannot stand! I don't remember him chewing gum this much when I was a kid. He would literally pull out a pack of gum from his pocket every hour or so and say, "does anyone want a piece of gum?" When in the hell did he start this annoying gum-chewing habit? Also, everyday that he was up here, he dressed clad in LSU gear from head to toe letting everyone know that he was an LSU fan. I never knew that there were so many random people from Baton Rouge just hanging out in Chicago. Every few minutes someone would say "Go Tigers!" to my dad, or ask him where he was from and then there was the, "hey! I'm from Baton Rouge too! conversation" with half of the people on the street. He also talks with a really slow and drawn out accent which made people's head's turn when they heard him speak. He says' "Chicawgo" instead of "Chicago" (he's from New Orleans). My dad speaks really loud when he's trying to whisper to talk about someone else in the room, often saying embarrassing things in a quiet restaurant such as, "John I notice that there aren't many black people in your neighborhood....." or, "there sure are a lot of fat women in Chicawgo John....." At one place that we ate at, we had a black waiter who spoke with slight ebonics, and my dad went on to proclaim rather loudly, and I'm very sure that the waiter and everyone else in the restaurant heard, "I just don't understand why they have to talk like that with inncorrect english....." I was so fucking embarrassed. Also, we had a very unseasonably warm week in Chicago last week while my parents were up here. So, we're walking around in 60 degree temps, I'm in short sleeves, and my dad and stepmom are all bundled up with gloves, scarf, ear muffs, etc. and they spent a good 30 minutes everyday arguing with eachother before leaving the hotel over whether or not they should wear all of the winter shit because it may or may not get cold while we're out. So I'd be trying to talk to my dad, and he'd yell "what?" to me because he was wearing fucking ear muffs in 60 degree weather. At one point I kind of lost my cool a bit and smarted off to them about wearing all of that shit in the warm weather and they were like, "well it's cold to us John, it's been in the 80s down in Louisiana...." It wouldn't have bothered me so much that they were wearing all of the winter gear but they were wasting way too much time putting it on and taking it off everytime we went in and out of a building. Overall I really enjoyed spending time with my parents and showing them around the city but I'm very relieved that they are gone and I can resume my normal life now. I love my dad.
