And then it was next year.
Happy New Year, everyone. All the best to you and yours. It's been a rough week, a wonderful Christmas and Boxing Day, followed by some very painful shit. I thought I'd do a brief entry to sum up what has been happening this last week, chronologically.
Christmas was fun, although a little stressful as Dad was running around with a digital camera. One shouldn't have to put on makeup to open presents. It violates laws somewhere, I'm sure. I received two copies of America (The Book), which amused me almost as much as the tome itself. Also received lots of socks, as a joke. My birthday presents from Al arrived two days before Christmas, so I postponed opening them briefly. I received a Nintendo DS from him, which is beautiful, confusing, and a bit scary. But back lit! I can forgive a little scariness for being able to play video games in the dark.
Anyway, Christmas was good. Nice family stuff, with Al being missed greatly. He did email us a little after Christmas to tell us that he was okay, and had been transferring to his new place when FOB Marez (which is also in Mosul) was attacked. He opened his presents a few days before Christmas, as everyone going to the new FOB had decided to bring all their shit along (including TVs). It was good to hear from him, and I hope we get a telephone call soon.
Boxing Day...well, dealings with my fellow relatives were tempered by my overwhelming exhaustion and blankness, culminating in exchanges like this:
AUNT: How are you? How's school?
ME: *mind whirs frantically* ...Fine.
AUNT: What have you been doing lately?
MY BRAIN: Ooh, here's the perfect opportunity to casually mention the two hours of dusting you did on this very room! I know, why don't I just give you a picture of kangaroos, and you can figure this out on your own.
ME: You are absolutely no help.
AUNT: What?
ME: Um, you know. Stuff. Christmas...stuff.
So, yes, as you can see, I brought the wit to our little gathering. At least I didn't disgrace my pinguid self with political rants. Two families brought their dogs, which upset Annabelle, our cat, a little. (She really didn't like Charlie.) The dogs themselves didn't really get along, for that matter.
WARNING: here's where things go downhill. If you don't want to hear about more depressing things right now, you might want to stop reading.
After Boxing Day, I heard about the tsunami. It's unbelievable how many have died, and how many are in danger. I'm not a religious person, but I did pray when I heard about the tsunami initially. The whole thing is beyond sad. The number of people that could have been saved if only they had been warned is heartbreaking.
On the 27th, the sister of a friend was hospitalized with a morphine drip after her bronchitis aggravated a herniated disk. A day later, the mother of another of my friends went into sudden cardiac arrest. They just pulled her life support yesterday, as her neurologist has said that there was virtually no chance that she would ever wake up. A few of us went out shopping with him yesterday to get his mind away from all this, and we also went to The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou, which we all enjoyed. He seemed to be having a good time, and was dealing with his mother's death in a much more calm manner than I would have thought. It's just so fucked up that this could happen to him, and I hardly know what to say. His mother was young, mostly healthy, vigorous. It's scary and bizarre; it was so random. I'm just trying to be there for him; he and his mother had been having some problems recently, and I'm sure many of his thoughts are about what he wasn't able to say to her before she had the attack. But even long, drawn-out death is a kind of hell, and when you say "I love you" to a person who doesn't even recognize you anymore...well. Death is never kind: I can at least say that if he ever wants to talk about it.
I make no resolutions for the New Year. All I can offer are a few wishes: I wish for good things to happen, I hope my insomnia goes away, and I don't even dare to think of Al not returning home safe. 2005 is a year of promise at the moment: Al's return to the States, my graduation, the hope that I might actually be able to apply to the State Department this year and have gainful employment right away, and so on. I'm going to cling to that hope for a while, because life is currently depressing the hell out of me.
Christmas was fun, although a little stressful as Dad was running around with a digital camera. One shouldn't have to put on makeup to open presents. It violates laws somewhere, I'm sure. I received two copies of America (The Book), which amused me almost as much as the tome itself. Also received lots of socks, as a joke. My birthday presents from Al arrived two days before Christmas, so I postponed opening them briefly. I received a Nintendo DS from him, which is beautiful, confusing, and a bit scary. But back lit! I can forgive a little scariness for being able to play video games in the dark.
Anyway, Christmas was good. Nice family stuff, with Al being missed greatly. He did email us a little after Christmas to tell us that he was okay, and had been transferring to his new place when FOB Marez (which is also in Mosul) was attacked. He opened his presents a few days before Christmas, as everyone going to the new FOB had decided to bring all their shit along (including TVs). It was good to hear from him, and I hope we get a telephone call soon.
Boxing Day...well, dealings with my fellow relatives were tempered by my overwhelming exhaustion and blankness, culminating in exchanges like this:
AUNT: How are you? How's school?
ME: *mind whirs frantically* ...Fine.
AUNT: What have you been doing lately?
MY BRAIN: Ooh, here's the perfect opportunity to casually mention the two hours of dusting you did on this very room! I know, why don't I just give you a picture of kangaroos, and you can figure this out on your own.
ME: You are absolutely no help.
AUNT: What?
ME: Um, you know. Stuff. Christmas...stuff.
So, yes, as you can see, I brought the wit to our little gathering. At least I didn't disgrace my pinguid self with political rants. Two families brought their dogs, which upset Annabelle, our cat, a little. (She really didn't like Charlie.) The dogs themselves didn't really get along, for that matter.
WARNING: here's where things go downhill. If you don't want to hear about more depressing things right now, you might want to stop reading.
After Boxing Day, I heard about the tsunami. It's unbelievable how many have died, and how many are in danger. I'm not a religious person, but I did pray when I heard about the tsunami initially. The whole thing is beyond sad. The number of people that could have been saved if only they had been warned is heartbreaking.
On the 27th, the sister of a friend was hospitalized with a morphine drip after her bronchitis aggravated a herniated disk. A day later, the mother of another of my friends went into sudden cardiac arrest. They just pulled her life support yesterday, as her neurologist has said that there was virtually no chance that she would ever wake up. A few of us went out shopping with him yesterday to get his mind away from all this, and we also went to The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou, which we all enjoyed. He seemed to be having a good time, and was dealing with his mother's death in a much more calm manner than I would have thought. It's just so fucked up that this could happen to him, and I hardly know what to say. His mother was young, mostly healthy, vigorous. It's scary and bizarre; it was so random. I'm just trying to be there for him; he and his mother had been having some problems recently, and I'm sure many of his thoughts are about what he wasn't able to say to her before she had the attack. But even long, drawn-out death is a kind of hell, and when you say "I love you" to a person who doesn't even recognize you anymore...well. Death is never kind: I can at least say that if he ever wants to talk about it.
I make no resolutions for the New Year. All I can offer are a few wishes: I wish for good things to happen, I hope my insomnia goes away, and I don't even dare to think of Al not returning home safe. 2005 is a year of promise at the moment: Al's return to the States, my graduation, the hope that I might actually be able to apply to the State Department this year and have gainful employment right away, and so on. I'm going to cling to that hope for a while, because life is currently depressing the hell out of me.