jim therkalsen, re: mother's day

I've been friends with Jim Therkalsen for about 6 months now, and in the interest of professional decorum will describe him thusly: Jim looks like a normal guy but distinguishes himself from Joe Everyman by being notably blunt and funny. He is quite good at soccer and works in advertising. The following interview took place on GChat, with me knowing full well that I intended to post the interview, and him periodically wondering why I was asking him so many questions about Mother's Day. hey jim, how old are you? 28. 29 in June what's your earliest memory of Mother's Day? um, I don't know if I have any memories of it. it's just another day that I sometimes remember to buy flowers on. when you were a kid did your family get together and do something special? Or do you have no memories of it at all? i would say none at all. we maybe would go to red lobster or something but I don't have a specific memory of anything. i also don't have very many specific memories of anything do you remember mothers day things? is your mom particularly unsentimental or are you and your father particularly uncaring? more of the uncaring variety. not so much uncaring as oblivious. what about Father's Day? same thing? ummmm, no. we play golf with my dad on fathers day a lot and with my grandpa you and your brothers? do you have any sisters? one younger brother and one younger sister so did your sister hang out with your mom on Mother's Day? I'm always worried I'm going to use the wrong word talking to you and feel like an idiot. like oblivious. I know what it means, but after I wrote it I looked it up on dictionary.com well the only words you've been using so far have been brother sister and mother my sister used to be a homebody, so she was always hanging out with my mom. i was just watching a documentary with subtitles and someone said "remunerate" and i wasn't too sure it was a word. sure enough, it is. to settle a financial matter mothers day usually = family dinner renumerate sounds right. remunerate sounds wrong. yeah, dif words. who knew I'll be damned. what about your parents' birthdays? my dad's is right near father's day and my mom's is right before christmas, so they get combined celebrations do you know if your dad usually did anything for your mom on mother's day? he usually gets her flowers or presents (clothes) I think. my dad is a very guarded person and never shows emotion or appreciation unless it's through sarcasm was there ever a time when he underdid it or completely forgot Mother's Day, and your mom got angry? I don't think so. My mom is also not really the angry type. she would just get sad. hypothetically, or one time she got sad? hypothetically. what's with the questions? have you ever forgotten mother's day? I'm positive I have forgotten it. i forget everything with any repercussions? not that I remember did she bring it up afterwards? or you just remembered a few days late and said sorry no, she didn't bring it up. she never would. she didn't even bring up that I forgot their anniversary, I was talking to her and looking at my calendar and realized it was two days earlier. she didn't even say anything i usually remember late and send a card or something. are you working for mothersday.com? is your parents' anniversary a bigger deal to them/your family than their respective days'? are you doing an article on bad sons? I would say anniversary is to them, but we don't do anything as a family for it. mothers/fathers day involves family activity what do you think of mother's day? corporate behemoth capitalist hallmark god damn hell in a handbasket just be nice to her everyday instead? I think it's a Hallmark holiday, but I think it's good for people who aren't overly thoughtful. It reminds you, hey, mom is great I should do something. And if you're like my dad and don't typically show emotion, you can do something nice and not feel--whatever it is he feels that makes him what he is why is your mom great? she's just a generally warm, giving, genuine person. very understanding and thoughtful, good sense of humor, just sort of takes things in stride. she's also not jesus crazy or cat crazy or addicted to prescription drugs or botoxed or any of the "bad mom" stereotypes. given my mom's current state, this conversation has just become very awkward is she crazy? no no, just a joke alright. you could have gone on with that. and I would have pretended to feel bad, but then talked shit about your mom to all our friends. well i didn't say "no no, just a hilarious joke" what are you going to do for mother’s day this year? this year I sent my mom some tulips from proflowers.com. the least thoughtful thing I could do. how'd you choose proflowers.com? i thought 1800flowers.com was the standard they send me an e-mail that said "don't forget flowers" it was just their luck that I had been thinking about mothersday. well jim, i have a feeling that when your mom gets her pro flowers, she will smile. but when she gets an e-mail saying, "head on over to ilovepostage.blogspot.com and check out the newest interview" and reads what you really think of her, she will smile even more and when my dad reads it, he will show no emotion. i think the only stumbling block is do you know if your dad usually did anything for your mom on mother's day? he usually gets her flowers or presents (clothes) I think. my dad is a very guarded person and never shows emotion or appreciation unless it's through sarcasm it doesn't matter, he knows he's like that. we make jokes about how we're all (the men in our family) sort of like that. i could change your answer to say "he usually gets her flowers or clothes. he's more of a sarcasm kind of guy and less of a buy things for you kind of guy" nah, leave it. anything you've been meaning to tell your folks but can't do face to face? does it smell like mothballs in the closet? give them my love and tell them not to worry about me; i'm modern man. alright. i have to go take a #2, then go to bryant park and take a nap. see ya. Jim Therkalsen's personal website is www.jimtherkalsen.com. He also maintains a blog, I'm an Idea Man.