60% Dad, 40% Mom

As my name suggests, I spend a lot of time analyzing myself and others (not to mention identifying phalli in public spaces). One area of self analysis (interesting…. anal) that I adore is identifying my personality traits and determining from which parent these traits descended.

My father is a mellow patient man who carefully contemplates everything that comes out of his mouth. He isn't easily stirred or shocked, can be surprisingly sensitive. He has an uncanny ability to create carefully laid out processes in a logical and goal oriented manner. He spent several years in IBM's consulting wing, where he quickly made a name for himself after developing several now widely used methodologies. He now is an internal software architect for IBM where he creates business software to be used internally, mainly for process organization and efficiency.

Before he put himself through school, he practiced the family trade; cabinet making, flooring, and countertops, which his other two brothers still practice to this day. My Dad has an excellent eye for quality, and is incredibly precise when working. Like any gifted artist or musician, he can take a new building medium and use it to nearly trade-quality standards without any previous experience with the materiel or the context in which it is to be used.

My Mom is a wacky teacher from a medical/musical family, she's disorganized and temperamental and at times, completely illogical. She adores the arts, has a wonderfully dark sense of humor, and is without a doubt the parent from which my academic interests descend.

Today I spent the afternoon polishing the downstairs bathroom fixtures. Normally I don't mind such menial work, but this is the last week that we are supposed to be living in Peter and Amanda's current house.

Why exactly I spent all of that time cleaning the bathroom is a mystery to me. Honestly, it was infuriating.

**At this point, both sides of my personality unite**

Believe it or not, I'm a process oriented person like my father. I know I can seem lost and disoriented from time to time, but this is usually a cover for awkwardness, other mindedness, or it's just for fun ( I think the confused and befuddled academic is quite amusing, such as Dr. Marcus Brody in Raiders of the Lost Arc who gets lost in his own museum). I'm usually pretty aware of my own situation and if not, I'm focusing on a situation elsewhere.

--Anyway--

The goal of this week is to pack up the house and move the family out especially since this is the last week that Peter will be off work (Peter took off six weeks after the baby's death). So, using this valuable time to polish bathroom fixtures is driving me –uckin' nuts.

I can't clean and move the family at the same time, and cleaning the bath tub to this extent is futile especially since the kids take baths almost everyday. I try to take some pride in my work, (Dad) and get infuriated (Mom) when things are being run illogically (Dad). I prefer not to talk to anyone about it and stew in my own juices (Mom), and I won't speak about it to my employer, (Dad) [to their face anyway (Mom)]. If it were up to me, I'd organize myself (Dad) by making a goal oriented flow chart that maps out the remainder of the week (Dad). Then I'd present it to the family, power point style (Dad). However, since I'm not in charge, and there's nothing I can do about that, I'll just write about it (Mom).