Interesting how my relationship with my mother has evolved. Now we have a rather European dynamic between us, where she is (although still a wielder of the big stick) more of a close confidante and cohort. Called her up to tell her I had news and she morphs into Shazzer when the f-bomb drops repeatedly. "Fuck them," she says. "Fuck them for not hiring you, they don't know what they're doing. And why should you care? You have a car and you're hot, you've got other things to do."

"By the way," she tells me. "I'm a little tipsy."

At 7:30 in the evening?

"What's wrong with having wine with my steak? Oh, and we're drinking out of real crystal goblets."

She must've taken a good look at our plastic cups/barware.

"And if you go out tonight, don't go into a house. Because someone might burn it down, like those stupid people at OSU."

I love you, mom.