Sisters, The Art of Driving, and Ironic Signs From The Universe

My sister Claudia called tonight, and as usual when she calls I could hear Mom’s whining voice from the other room. “Claudia I do understand ... What do you think it was like for me?”
Naturally this was quite annoying to me and my brother, as we were both trying to watch BRAVO’s Work of Art: The Next Great Artist. We tried turning up the volume, asking Mom to talk in another room, turning up the volume even louder, then asking Mom to talk in an even further room ... as annoying as it was for me it was even worse for Geoffrey because he has a huge migraine. But regardless, the same ridiculous routine that happens every night was happening yet again:

Claudia was complaining to Mom about how hard it is to live on her own in another city without a car – or a driver’s license, for that matter – and is blaming Mom for her being license-less and car-less.

I should note that Claudia did take the written test and passed twice while living here in good old Windsor, Ontario, but that when it came time to practice in Mom or Dad’s car with one of them in the passenger seat, fights entailed the few times she did practice driving with them for the simple reason that they tried to correct her mistakes – some of them dangerous ones. And since Claudia doesn’t like being told what to do, it came to pass that she never practiced with either of them again, and thus never perfected the art of driving. The point I must stress and the conclusion you must come to, dear reader, is that Claudia’s predicament of and car-less-ness is her own fault and nobody else’s.

On tonight’s occasion, however, there was one small difference in the routine. Yes, Claudia was again whining, bitching, and moaning to Mom about not having a car and why it is Mom’s fault, but tonight the reason for this phone call was this:

Today while Claudia was waiting for the bus for 45 minutes in an unfamiliar area to go somewhere she had never been, she was FLASHED!

Yes, flashing would be a scary thing for a single woman all alone in a strange city to experience, but is it really necessary to blame one’s mother for such an assault?

It gets a little better. When Mom asked Claudia if she had her cell phone handy and dialled 9-1-1 after the (*ahem*) exposure, Mom was told no: Claudia did not have her cell phone. This is rather strange, I thought upon hearing this part of the story, as Claudia would constantly nag and harass me if I failed to bring my cell phone to school or neglected to turn it on. If she called me during the school day and could not reach me, when I arrived home she would then berate me, implying that I have some kind of responsibility to my family to bring my cell phone with me wherever I go now that I have it and that not doing so is irresponsible of me!
I should explain here that a cell phone is something I would not normally buy for myself; the only reason I have one is that Mom and Claudia picked it out for me as a Christmas gift during my first year of University. Frankly, I was perplexed upon receiving it. After all, why would I need a cell phone? Well, after forgetting it at home countless times or forgetting to turn it on – all the while enjoying the peace and quiet from my family – and receiving many lectures from Claudia about my responsibility to bring it with me and turn it on, I now know that it was purchased to be used as a homing device!

CREEPY!

Well, now we know that Claudia also does not bring her cell phone everywhere with her. Furthermore, Claudia has an alarm that Mom wants her to bring with her and keep in her pocket for just this type of situation. Did Claudia at least have that with her? Take a wild guess.

I know, tonight’s rant might sound very blame-the-victim which is something I certainly know better than to do. But Claudia has always been a special case because, well, she frequently blames the victims herself and always has, especially when the victim is me or my brother Geoffrey. She has no empathy or compassion for anyone, and has nothing but contempt for anyone who gets themselves into a situation that demands these emotions empathy or compassion from others.

Final Thoughts

Since indecent exposure to a stranger has psychological implications, and my sister is residing in the city where this took place because she recently became a psychologist, is it possible that this incident, apart from being insanely ironic, was some kind of sign that she is in the wrong field?

Word Of The Day: Schadenfreude - pleasure derived from the misfortunes of others.