Ring, ring, ring ring ring...bananna phone. Sigh.

For any of you that have ever heard William De Jong (Or any other extremely pop culturally savvy person) sing the bananna phone song, which is comprised, of, "Ring, ring, ring, ring, ring, ring, ring....BANANNA PHONE," you probably know that it is not a very deep song. It comes from that genre of songs like, "This is the song that never ends," made famous by the persnicky Lambchop, (who I must say, is still my hero) and the ever classic Little Rascal's song, "I got a dollar." (Which I sing quite often when I have a dollar. Not as common now, since, "I have a euro" is not quite as catchy...apparently.) However, the last two days have been a culmination of the bananna phone song, in which my bananna phone (aka. my cellular/mobile phone) has been ringing non-stop. The problem is, and it is turning into quite the cumbersome problem, is that international calls naturally, perhaps unnaturally, cut off after about fifteen minutes. So, my reception is so-so, my phone cuts out every now and then, and add in a few younger brothers whose enunciation is not exactly expertly practiced, and you get a very awkward phone call home. Perhaps even uber awkward. Perhaps mega uberawkward. There's a lot of, "What?" and "Oh, um, yeah" going on. More so than a regular conversation with my little brothers. Although the art of small talk and actually communicating with something other than fists is a skill that all three of my little brothers are developing at a rather fast rate, there is still room for improvement, I like to think. Take for example, today's conversation with Martin, my now turned 13 year old brother:


Martin: Hey Brennan.
Me: Yeah?
Martin: So when we were hunting, there were ducks on both sides of the road, and me and Clayton went down to shoot some and...no you didn't. No, I said that. Yeah I'm telling him that. No, that's not what happened. Hey, shut up. No, I'm not talking to you. Yes, that's what I said. Yeah, I'm telling Brennan.
Me: So, uh, yeah. Go on.
Martin: Yeah, so (garble from phone static) and then there was a duck coming right for me and then I went (more garble) and so then we went and got a big stick and...

And so on and so forth. I did get more out of the conversation than you think I could have, but I had to pay really close attention to what all my brothers were saying, but that's par for the course with all the tangents that they go on when you talk to them on the phone anyways. (My whole family is pretty ADD when on the phone, it seems.)

The night previous, my Kevin Dad (ie. biological father for those of you who are out of the loop a bit.) phoned me and we chatted for about 2 hours. It was over the internet phone, and finally showed him my place using my webcam once Tyler hooked up the newest version of MSN messenger. Pretty useful, that webcam.

However, there are two major issues with this whole transatlantic phoning, which are currently highly amusing and highly alarming. When talking to my Mom and Kevin Dad, both of them are aware that when they call me in the afternoon around 4pm, it is actually 12am here. What is problematic is that a)After THEM phoning ME, I get in trouble for 'staying up all night' and 'what were you doing up anyways? Go to bed' and b) is that basically any attempt I would like to have made in terms of having a regular sleep schedule is totally shot. My parents, I am sure, will be phoning me often enough that just as I will myself (And I really do have to will myself) into a real sleep pattern of normalcy, I will be waiting for an hour so that my brother can come over to my Grandpa's house and show them how to hook up their computer so that we can talk over the internet phone again. It's probably a good thing that I only have one class a day, because I am sure I am going to turn into a first-rate insomniac who sleeps for three hours a day, in random fifteen minute intervals. (Not that I wouldn't normally do that back home, but whatever. I was trying to break the mold, here.)

Secondly, I am both amused and slightly worried at how much my parents are missing me. I thought for sure, they'd want to get rid of me, have me out of their hair and all that and that it would be a nice change. However, both my Mom and my Kevin Dad talk like they miss having me around, they talk about how proud they are of me and what I am doing, (ACK! PARENTAL EXPECTATIONS! RED ALERT, RED ALERT!!!) and how they can't wait for me to come home. It's really weird because I am certainly not used to this kind of praise and encouragement. I am waiting for more of the you-deserve-a-back-hand-in-your-face-we-love-you because-you-have-a-big-head-and-that-makes-us-laugh sort of method. Where'd that go? Apparently not to Belgium. In fact, if I had had a dime for how many times my mom had said 'I miss you' in the total of the two minutes that we talked, I think I would have had enough money to cash in for a cheap plane ticket to Canada. This certainly gives me the warm fuzzies, because, hey, nothing says love like 'I miss you' (aka. there is someone to validate your existence other than the plants in your room.) but once again, where's the love-hatin' method? Because that's the everyday love, you know? The kind that smacks you upside the head because the people around you can hardly stand you but they sure like you anyways. So, I might cop out and buy a land line, have a real bananna sized phone, and get better reception, which will allow for all the awkward stuff to get out of the way, and get to what really matters. Like Tyler telling me I smell. (An older brother classic, for sure.)

Other than that, I hope everyone has a Happy Thanksgiving. I know I am thankful for a lot of things. I have a lot to be thankful for. Such as you. Thanks to you. So, to all my friends, keep it real, and I'll chat with you later. I should have some cool pictures and some cool things to tell you after this week. Talking with my family really helped put me in a good moment, where I didn't miss my family terribly, but instead got all pumped with the good vibe...I hope you can have the same experience of happiness, and I encourage good family time. It's what it's all about. You only have one family, and I guess that's what you make of it. Feel the love. =)