...that's what my dad said over the phone to me on Sunday. Furthermore, he followed that with "versus intelligent upper-class people." What a ****ing unmitigated snob. I don't understand why he is like that -- I mean, I get that he's extremely well-known in his field and that his work has earned him positions on very well-respected ang prestigious organizations. But **** man, he is so unbelievably insular and narrow-minded it is ridiculous. He cannot for a second appreciate that not only might someone want a life that is different from his, but that one can choose a different life for themselves while still validating other people's choices as well. Every time I tell him that I don't want to live the way he does, he says, "What's wrong with the way I live?" in a very defensive tone. For ****'s sake, NOTHING is wrong with it. But it's not for me. Yuppie suburbia in a fancy-schmancy neighborhood with no room to breathe. Apparently, that makes me a simpleton in his eyes. No joke. The truth is, he really knows very, very little outside of his field. I know he resents that I never got a doctorate like he and my sis did (or even a Master's like my mom), but honestly, a Ph.D. would be useless for my purposes. The only field in which I would want to get a doctorate is a field to which I can never return, and he himself has admitted that unless you are really, really passionate about the subject matter, you shouldn't waste time and money on a doctorate. The most infuriating thing is that I have explained all this to him... many, MANY times. He shouldn't need me to explain it to him again. *******it. It's just so infuriating. My sis is very academic too, but at least she's humble and appreciates what I do. My mom tries to understand, but even she doesn't really get me. I'm way more autodidactic than they are (I taught myself logarithms and matrices for my Chem classes because my math classes didn't teach ****). I'm way more kinesthetic. I don't like being shoved into one category. I'm a sarcastic, stubborn, foul-mouthed, unruly, dark soul who loves nights, animals, and dancing outside on my balcony in thunderstorms. Sorry, not sure why I added that last part LMAO. Truth though. And that does not describe any of them. I don't know... my mom swears she recalls giving birth to me, and I look like both of my parents LOL. But still...