Did I Give The Wrong Impression?

1) Called Mother in Laughlin.  Told me to do so if a letter from the state that she expected came while she was on vacation.

Won't divulge details, but it has something to do with Mother's efforts to collect unemployment.  After I helped her logon to her account, she asked me, "So, we should wait, right?"

Now, she doesn't know that I'm on the dole.  She'd lose her shit if she did.  But for some fucking reason she thought I was an expert because she asking me what she should do.  This is so unlike her, deferential to the point of being needy.  To me she has always been in control -- even if she didn't have the wisdom to be in control -- so begging for advice and following my lead is something that she doesn't do often.

However, she has done it, and her passive-aggressive way of blaming me when something I helped her with goes wrong -- "You say that ..." is often the first thing that comes out her mouth when she's yelling at me for something like this -- despite my limited information and need to please her has gotten me burned many times.  That's why I instinctively reacted to her pleas by saying, "I don't know!"

And so began the most pathetic mother-son call-and-response ever, with her repeatedly asking me to tell her what to do and me not taking any responsibility for any of it.  She used the "Well, you're looking at the screen now!  Tell me what it says!" card, and so I just got tired of her bullshit, put my cellphone on speaker, put it down, and started reading the whole goddamn thing from the start in a loud voice to her.

After I got halfway through the warnings and messages, I thought I heard a dead line.  But after a few seconds of not saying anything, I heard her go, "Yeah?"  Maybe she was listening, or thinking, or (which is very weird) interrupting what I was saying to her in order to talk to My Father about what she should do.  Seriously, asking Father what to do when it comes to unemployment is worse than asking me, because I'm pretty certain he has no fucking idea what's going on.

So just as I was about to resume reading the rest of the screen, Mother stopped begging me to tell her whether to proceed or stop and she just made the decision to not do anything until she gets home.  And I breathed a sigh of relief that she now can't hang any mistake to this situation on me.

Of course, she could remember the argument we had an say that's a violation of The Fucking Contract and get me thrown out.

2) Went to the Walker (about 90 minutes after I wanted to, got busy) to see an exhibition about '80's art.  Had about 75 minutes to go through it.  Seeing as I needed more than three hours for the Rembrandt exhibit closing at the Minneapolis Institute of Arts Sunday (go see this; one of the most important painters of all time, and you probably won't get to see many of his best art works ever again), there was no way I was going to get through to the end.

At about 8:58, one of the guys/docents (?) walks up to me and says, in a very, very nice way, "Sorry, but we're going to have to close."  To which I remember reacting by shrugging and leaving.

Now, I was only trying to say, "Well, I wish I could have stayed, but I understand."  But what in the hell is a shrug?  I think he probably took it as me being a dick, me going, "Well, fine, thanks for not letting me finish looking at the art, asshole."  I should have just said thanks, or even given a simple nod.  But a shrug denotes displeasure, and all this guy was doing was his job.  If I wanted to get through the whole thing, I should have gotten to the Walker earlier.  But I really think I gave off the impression that I was angry at him.  And I regret that.

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By the way, one of the reasons I ran late to the Walker was because I actually got the car back today, one day earlier than I thought.  I think I remember the mechanic say that there are still leaks, especially in the transmission, but because the engine apparently is all sealed up and they tried their best with the tranny leaks, I now think my car is brand new, which is 180 degrees away from how I dreaded getting into it before I brought it in.  Moreover, even though I just dropped a grand on it (through my credit card, of course), I literally feel like a million bucks, so much so that I decided I could afford going to My Favorite Stripclub (Non-Cover Division), even though I balked at getting a dance.  Putting things behind you really is a great way of brightening your outlook ... even though it doesn't change your reality a single bit.