Jad's 30th Birthday

Jad’s 30th Birthday

This is the Tale of Jad’s 30th Birthday.

Jad’s Birthday was held on the 8th of October. We went to a restarant by the beach and dinner was served. There was starters, mains and then cake for desert. Starters there was choice of bread/butter and meat. Mains, there was steak, fish and vegetarian and for desert it was a chocolate cake. My older Cousin is a vegeratian and my younger cousin is deathly allegic to nuts. Overall this restarant was very accomdating to everyone. And the bill came out to be $1700 for 14 people.

Characters:

Why do I mention the age of the kids, but not the Adults - Well I just think it is important to draw a distinction from kids to adults. (Hopefully not being Ageist).

I originally sat next to Mum, and across from Morgan, Belinda and Jessica. I told mum that I would like to swap with Catherine so that I could talk video games with Jad, Oscar and Charlie. In fact while walking to the restarant with Jad, we briefly talked about video games where he stated he likes “Death standing 2” - I some light heart humour towards him and called that game a “Walking simulator” “The Auspost experience”.

I texted Catherine, saying to her that it is impossible to swap. But to my surprise she came to me and asked to swap seats. She stated that she “Would like to talk to Jessica”. I was a little bit hestiant to swap but after a while I agreed to swap.

I did not realise that I would be swapping to sit next to Caroline, I made some small talk to her but then quickly realised that is not a good idea. In my mind I was like “I really should not talk to her” so then I stayed silent to her.

I never would have imagined how quickly things can turn bad.

Caroline then came around to me and loudly whispered “I never want to talk to you again” and then said “Also you smell like shit”.

She then prompted me to swap seats with Sam. Part of me wanted to say “No I prefer not to move” and stand my ground. But in the interest of diplomacy and not making a scene. I swapped seats with Sam.

Things were really tense between myself and Caroline. We did not talk and she did not make contact. I think she was also a little teary eyed.

Honestly, it pushed me to the point of comptemplating suicide - I wanted Caroline’s last words to me to be “I never want to talk to you again, Also you smell like shit”. I know I am not the first in my family to contemplate suicide - Catherine has had a really hard life, I have a memory of Caroline locking herself in the bathroom and trying to overdose on medicine, Mum told me that at one point in her life she was going to kill herself and well Dad - Dad openly talks about this “End” and that he Won’t be here forever. It was one of his rationisations for smoking. Because smoking would bring him to the grave quicker.

Caroline then left dinner, it was clear that she was distaught. She said goodbye to everyone but me. Later I learnt that she also did not say goodbye to Catherine.

After Caroline left, I also learnt that Caroline saw that Catherine recieved a text message from me to her phone. Caroline asked Catherine “What did Alex send you” to which Catherine said “I don’t know, I have not read it yet”. She then read the message and Caroline asked again, “What did Alex send you” to which Catherine did not want share. It escalated to the point where Caroline was like “Let me read your phone, Let me go through your text messages” and Catherine said “No, it’s my own privacy”.

Aftermath

8th of November - late night right after Dinner

Saturday.

I went into my room to watch some YouTube and essentially chill out after dinner. Caroline then knocked on my door and asked “If we should talk”.

I said No. “I am not ready to talk”.

She seemed somewhat in hestiant, but then the idea of “Sleeping on it” appealed to her and she agreed. This was probably the nicest she was to me.

9th of November

Sunday.

Again I stated to Caroline that I am not ready to Talk. She brought up the point that I have work tomorrow. I repeated myself Not ready to talk.

She then asked “Well then how do you expect i solve this?” I replied, “When I am ready to talk”.

10th of November

Monday.

Just another regular day at work - In fact it was very busy. Professionally I am thinking about changing companies. This has been on my mind for a while as another company is willing to pay higher.

I had lunch at Catherine’s place at 1pm (Nothing out of ordinary). Catherine was a little upset that me and Chhay walked in Quitely into the house. So instead of spending the full hour with us, it was 30 minutes instead. There was a little bit of an argument/discussion of “Well we did not know that you wanted us to let you know we are here” “We thought you were working or in a meeting”. But ultimately it was quite constructive.

I finished work and at around 4:50pm I get a text from Catherine.

“Hey I had a full on rage towards Caroline and mum today. Just letting you know so you’re aware if the vibe is not what you are used to.”

When I finished work, I got cheese cake slices from woolies and then went to Catherine first to console her. I know she would have suffered the most amount of pain from the three of them. So it made sense to me to go to her first.

After some time, I went woolies again and brought strawberries. I washed them and placed them in on my desk.

Caroline was the first to knock on my door. I am still not ready to talk to her. I wanted her to leave my room so then I pretend that she was not there and continued to watch my video. She “named called” me and “From a thrid point of view/perspective - What I am doing is rude”. Part of my wanted to escalate things but I am glad I did not. She then said “When will we talk” to which I replied “When I am ready, I will ask you”. She tried to create doubt “But what if I am not ready?”. I gave her no answer. She then left.

Mum then came to talk to me and we chatted for about 18 minutes

Interestingly - Sam is no where to seem. Perhaps Caroline told him not to come or perhaps he is working late and staying somewhere else. I have no idea and this is just speculation.

Reflections

Ultimately I feel the most sorry for Catherine. She absolutely had no part in the fallout and her only crime was that she received a text message from me. I’m really glad that she did not share the text message with Caroline. The fact that Caroline insisted on reading the text message shows that she has zero trust. It gives me vibes of the crazy girlfriend wanting to go through her boyfriend’s phone.

I think I know what I want to get Catherine. Mum gave me Catherine’s Sunglasses, she told me that Catherine threw it in her rage. I think with these glasses I want to frame it for Catherine, with some words. Either “It’s Okay” or “It will pass” or something else entirely.

I also want to get Catherine to game “Dispatch”. I would very much like her to play it. It’s a game where you make choices that impact the story. I think it would be good to compare the choice of “respecting privacy” versus “telling truths”. There is a moment in the game where you can tell the truth or lie about yourself - and live with the consequences of your choice. It is also a very short game too - Each episode is about 30 minutes so you can take it in episodes.

In regards to Caroline - Quite frankly I don’t want to talk to someone who says to me “You smell” or “You are rude”. To me that is on the bottom of the argument Pyramid and I really have no interest in partipating is such things. In the past she has also called me “Autistic” “Retarded” and other various names. I’m sorry we could not have a better relationship.

Argument Pyramid

Mum - A part of me feels sorry for mum. She had a really hard life coming here to Australia. She wants to keep the family together but it seems like it is falling apart. She said to me that she wants to have Morgan’s family.

All that I want to do is make mum proud. She deserves it.

Dad - Dad has had a really hard life too.

Charlie - I feel really sorry for Charlie. I wish he did not have to witness the family infighting. It’s just so strangle, You are in the toilet taking a poop and then suddenly you hear yelling/screaming fighting where you witness your mum, aunty, grandma and grandpa at odds with each other.

Charlotte - I was told that Carlotte was crying.Yes this is really upsetting but to be honest, she should be fine. She won’t have any memory of this.