How do you deal with your mother who practically feels like a stranger?

I'm currently a sophomore in high school and at home it's just my mom and me (my dad doesn't live with us and my sister is at college) and day after day it's just us yelling and arguing.



Today I brought up the fact that had received a really good offer of $40 per hour for music lessons and I wanted to get serious. Before bringing it up with my mom I made sure I didn't any reasons for her to say no. The driving would be taken care of by the teacher so I wouldn't need to commute or anything. So all the questions are left answered.



As I bring this up with my mom she keeps talking about who is going to drive me to and from place, but I had already said that the teacher is going to be commuting to our house. Giving me a very annoyed look she picks her book back up and says, ';School is the priority';. and ends the conversation. I feel as if she doesn't listen to me as a young adult. She dismisses my opinion as if I were a silly five-year-old when she doesn't understand how much I can improve with these lessons. I tell her that she's not listening to me, and I admit that I started raising my voice because she just kept ignoring me.



A little while later, I'm still fuming and she's acting all nice. When she sees how angry I am, she says, ';What's there to be angry about?'; completely forgetting our conversation.



I don't know what's worse, the feeling that my opinion isn't being acknowledged by my own mother, or the fact that she doesn't understand/remember why I'm angry.



Either way, I feel like I'm living/dealing with a complete stranger and I have no idea what to do. Help?How do you deal with your mother who practically feels like a stranger?
Was your mother going to be paying the $40 or were YOU going to be payed the $40?



If she was going to pay, it's painfully obvious why she was angry. Money isn't easy to come by. $40 an hour is a very high priced salary, us out here with jobs WISH we made half of that.



I would settle for 1/4 of it.



If you were going to be payed the money (for teaching someone else?), then she's concerned about your grades. My grades weren't bad in Elementary, but I stopped caring by highschool and now I go to a ';community'; college. I won't be able to get a job with even $10 an hour. Good grades=good college=Rich.



And (something you just can't learn until you're older) she gets over everything easier than you because of her experience. This is a change that happens inside people when they get older.