Until I gave it a carful thought, I had always thought I was the model obedient child and not rebellious against my parents at all. I went through school with no trouble, even to the point my parents stopped going to the parent-teacher interviews since the teachers didn't really tell them to do anything different. (Though they did enjoy the compliments.) I kept to my curfews. I had trouble-free friends. Smoking and drinking weren't on the trouble list either. All in all, aside from few moments of broodiness and the resulting unpleasantness, I got through my teenage without drama and moved out to study in university.
I was talking to Mo earlier today, laying out the plans for my afternoon when I started reflecting on this.
A typical conversation between my parents and me go like the following:
Parents: Why don't you do [X]?
[Above statement is usually followed by the generous "We'll pay for it!"]
Me: No.
It's not that the X in this conversation is something so gravely obligatory it puts pressure on me with no merit for myself's enjoyment. It's, in fact, usually something quite frivolous. Some of the items on the list of what that X have been in the past: laser hair removal, ear piercing, giving me money with no obligation to pay them back, putting on makeup (this particular ambition of theirs has endowed me with grooming books and expensive brand name cosmetics, in nice sets even), studying art, learning to drive (with a car to call my own as a bait), trips worldwide, quitting my job (I guess I did follow through this one eventually), see if I can snag a nice boy to marry.... You get the idea. If anything, my parents are incredibly devoted to their endeavours to spoiling me. (The last example, I must note, has earned my father many outbursts from me over the years, and now he carefully tiptoes around the subject if at all possible.)
That is to say, I have the most ridiculous way of rebelling against my parents. I'm still as hairy as ever, have a pile of Lancome and Elizabeth Arden makeup and skincare products wasting away in the cabinets, hold my credit card statements secret to fend off their monetary offers (though since their retirement this has been a nonissue), transferred to a different university to not borrow money from them for tuition, went into math instead of art - twice, and still don't drive. One could almost think my parents are evil geniuses who used reverse psychology to raise a [painfully] stereotypically nerdy, introvert and solo scientist who does not want to depend on them financially. (If it hadn't been for my who-knows-where-it-came-from need for independence, my life could have been much cheaper, easier, and prettier.)
Anyway, I got my ears pierced today, and these were the thoughts that went through my head just prior to caving after the 27 years of stubborn refusal.
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tired
sick
disappointed
relaxed
ecstatic
cheerful