my day filled with WTFery and other hellishness
So. I am REALLY glad that I got the USB modem for my laptop so I could connect to LJ FROM MY MOTHER'S BASEMENT! That is pretty much the ONLY thing that has gone right today. (and by today I mean Thursday March 31, it won't be Friday until I sleep and wake up again)
So dad has been in hospital, yeah, and I didn't hear from Mom on Wednesday but I wasn't worried and I planned to drive home on Friday after work and after I GOT PAID. So in the morning I was trying to get her cell number out of my phone to call her on a land line with better connection than my cell gets inside the building at work and hit the wrong button and called her by accident. And good thing I did, she was just pulling in to the hospital parking lot because the doctor had called everyone up to the hospital. Shit. SO I flipped out, had a panic attack and started trying to figure out what absofuckinglutely needed done at work so I could get the fuck out of town a day early. In the middle of my panic my co-workers took over for me, took a collection up to get me gas money, promised to deposit my paycheck for me on Friday and basically reminded me why it is so awesome to work with total GODDESSES. So I bailed. I threw my laundry (in the basket that I was going to wash Thursday night in preparation to travel) in the car, grabbed my laptop, whatever was in the little suitcase still from vacation (mostly the few gifties I brought for my folks and niece) and split town after filling the car with gas and having the air in the tires checked and fluids topped off at the garage. So far so good, right?
Have I mentioned that (I really want a fucking teleporter for my birthday) there is a fucking black hole in Cheyenne Wyoming and I get sucked into its gravity well EVERY FUCKING TIME I DRIVE THROUGH???? There is.
I got ten miles or so North of Cheyenne and the truck started making this hellish noise, like scraping metal and whining ugly engine something. HOLYUCKINGCHRISTONNABIKE I just want to go HOME!!!!!
I pulled o the next exit I saw. I called home. My brother cannot diagnose over the phone but thinks I should go back to Cheyenne. Yeah, ok. Fuck. While I am on the fucking phone with mom, stopped on the side of a little dirt road plenty far enough from the highway that I can't be seen a state trooper pulls up. He was sweet. He asked I was ok, to which the answer was 'profoundly not' and I explained. Dad dying, mom on phone, still another 170 miles to go to get to Casper AND my car is trying to explode or something. He explained that I could keep on going down the gravel road I was on, turn right onto the paved road that was up ahead and be back in Cheyenne in 8 miles, there was a garage on the right after the McDonalds. So I thanked him, he waved and went on his way and of I went back to fucking Cheyenne.*loves*
((interlude of coolness))While I was on the phone with mom AND talking to NiceTrooperMan, My Sweet Queen called, I could see on caller ID, though I couldn't really switch over to her call right at that moment. How awesome is that coincidence? But since I don't believe in coincidence, I prefer to believe that she knew I was greatly distressed and needed a loving thought right then. I was warmed by that thought, no matter the reasoning behind it. *loves* ((/coolness))
There was no mechanic at the garage. They sent me somewhere else. 'Oh, we don't do stuff like that, try over there' those guys told me. Finally the third place took the keys and off they went to test drive my failing truck and I went in their very nice and clean bathroom and had a little panic attack. FUCK THIS SHIT.
Rear Differential has shredded itself. Truck is unsafe to drive and really, I was damn lucky that it hadn't locked up while I was fighting the 50 MPH wind gusts and going 70 MPH down the highway. More crying. By this time all the mechanics are aware that I just want to get the fuck home before my dad dies, dammit.
So they agree to let me leave the piece of shit in their parking lot and we go in search of a phone number for a car rental, oh but wait, car rental won't take credit card numbers over the phone so mom can't rent a car (remember, I am not paid until Friday) and FUCK I am ready to step in front of the next bus, oh but wait THERE ISN'T EVEN A BUS DEPOT IN TOWN. Yeah, you want to get across state, you better have a car that runs, know what I'm sayin'.
((another moment of coolness)) All four of the mechanics were sweet and lovely. Not a one of them laughed or made snide ugly remarks when I was upset, every one of them offered good wishes and a safe journey, they stayed well past closing time until I had some arrangements made and really, they were just a balm to my very weary self. And I don't know any of their names. If you need car stuff in Cheyenne, go to the brakes plus on DelRange, those mechanics really are good guys. ((/coolness #2))
So in total desperation, I call my Aunt in Wheatland (about an hour on up the road) who agrees to come get my sorry ass, my suitcase, laundry and all. We leave the truck in the parking lot. Fuck it anyway. Mom meets us back in Wheatland and takes me home (we finally get home about 11pm) where we play puzzles until 3am.
It will cost 1200 dollars for even a used part, not including labour, whatever and other fucked up shit. The truck barely cost more than that in the first place. GODSDAMMIT. My cousin might could go get it on his flatbed, my nephew might could fix it, I might could spend the rest of the night crying and being pissed off about the whole mess, since anger is so much easier to deal with than despair. (SRSLY, I barely make enough to cover rent and bills, I only go on vacation because I have generous friends who want to give me plane tickets and I don't get paid vacation so I will not get to be doing any of that any time soon again, nope gonna be working off the last one for a while. So I don't have the budget for 1200+ on the truck, let alone a different car altogether. AND I LIKE MY TRUCK!!! *cry*)
And really, I can't get too excited about the whole thing, mostly I am worried about dad, mom, various family, etc. and whatnot.
Dad rallied a bit this aternoon and so that is good. The pneumonia turns out to be MRSA infection. HOLY FUCKING SHIT. IN HIS LUNGS. YUCK! Also, what they have been treating him with has pretty much fed the infection instead of killing it. NeatoKeen. NOT. They have fixed that now.
The good news is that he recognized everyone when he was awake this afternoon, but they put him back in the sedation induced coma to keep him comfortable and to keep him from pulling out the tubes and things, he's intubated because he can't breathe on his own currently. He is very afraid of ending up damaged if they try to bring him back if his heart stops so they will only do that once if the bad turns to worse. I understand, he is miserable and tired and worn out and I can't blame him, no matter how much I don't really want to lose him.
I am having DNR tattooed over my heart as soon as possible.
((even more cool)) Thank you, everyone for the good thoughts, prayers, encouragement, gas money, calls, understanding, listening to me cry on the phone, reading my ongoing crazy and generally being the wonderful and supportive network you are. I am grateul for each and everyone of you every day that is. ((no end to y'alls coolness))
So dad has been in hospital, yeah, and I didn't hear from Mom on Wednesday but I wasn't worried and I planned to drive home on Friday after work and after I GOT PAID. So in the morning I was trying to get her cell number out of my phone to call her on a land line with better connection than my cell gets inside the building at work and hit the wrong button and called her by accident. And good thing I did, she was just pulling in to the hospital parking lot because the doctor had called everyone up to the hospital. Shit. SO I flipped out, had a panic attack and started trying to figure out what absofuckinglutely needed done at work so I could get the fuck out of town a day early. In the middle of my panic my co-workers took over for me, took a collection up to get me gas money, promised to deposit my paycheck for me on Friday and basically reminded me why it is so awesome to work with total GODDESSES. So I bailed. I threw my laundry (in the basket that I was going to wash Thursday night in preparation to travel) in the car, grabbed my laptop, whatever was in the little suitcase still from vacation (mostly the few gifties I brought for my folks and niece) and split town after filling the car with gas and having the air in the tires checked and fluids topped off at the garage. So far so good, right?
Have I mentioned that (I really want a fucking teleporter for my birthday) there is a fucking black hole in Cheyenne Wyoming and I get sucked into its gravity well EVERY FUCKING TIME I DRIVE THROUGH???? There is.
I got ten miles or so North of Cheyenne and the truck started making this hellish noise, like scraping metal and whining ugly engine something. HOLYUCKINGCHRISTONNABIKE I just want to go HOME!!!!!
I pulled o the next exit I saw. I called home. My brother cannot diagnose over the phone but thinks I should go back to Cheyenne. Yeah, ok. Fuck. While I am on the fucking phone with mom, stopped on the side of a little dirt road plenty far enough from the highway that I can't be seen a state trooper pulls up. He was sweet. He asked I was ok, to which the answer was 'profoundly not' and I explained. Dad dying, mom on phone, still another 170 miles to go to get to Casper AND my car is trying to explode or something. He explained that I could keep on going down the gravel road I was on, turn right onto the paved road that was up ahead and be back in Cheyenne in 8 miles, there was a garage on the right after the McDonalds. So I thanked him, he waved and went on his way and of I went back to fucking Cheyenne.*loves*
((interlude of coolness))While I was on the phone with mom AND talking to NiceTrooperMan, My Sweet Queen called, I could see on caller ID, though I couldn't really switch over to her call right at that moment. How awesome is that coincidence? But since I don't believe in coincidence, I prefer to believe that she knew I was greatly distressed and needed a loving thought right then. I was warmed by that thought, no matter the reasoning behind it. *loves* ((/coolness))
There was no mechanic at the garage. They sent me somewhere else. 'Oh, we don't do stuff like that, try over there' those guys told me. Finally the third place took the keys and off they went to test drive my failing truck and I went in their very nice and clean bathroom and had a little panic attack. FUCK THIS SHIT.
Rear Differential has shredded itself. Truck is unsafe to drive and really, I was damn lucky that it hadn't locked up while I was fighting the 50 MPH wind gusts and going 70 MPH down the highway. More crying. By this time all the mechanics are aware that I just want to get the fuck home before my dad dies, dammit.
So they agree to let me leave the piece of shit in their parking lot and we go in search of a phone number for a car rental, oh but wait, car rental won't take credit card numbers over the phone so mom can't rent a car (remember, I am not paid until Friday) and FUCK I am ready to step in front of the next bus, oh but wait THERE ISN'T EVEN A BUS DEPOT IN TOWN. Yeah, you want to get across state, you better have a car that runs, know what I'm sayin'.
((another moment of coolness)) All four of the mechanics were sweet and lovely. Not a one of them laughed or made snide ugly remarks when I was upset, every one of them offered good wishes and a safe journey, they stayed well past closing time until I had some arrangements made and really, they were just a balm to my very weary self. And I don't know any of their names. If you need car stuff in Cheyenne, go to the brakes plus on DelRange, those mechanics really are good guys. ((/coolness #2))
So in total desperation, I call my Aunt in Wheatland (about an hour on up the road) who agrees to come get my sorry ass, my suitcase, laundry and all. We leave the truck in the parking lot. Fuck it anyway. Mom meets us back in Wheatland and takes me home (we finally get home about 11pm) where we play puzzles until 3am.
It will cost 1200 dollars for even a used part, not including labour, whatever and other fucked up shit. The truck barely cost more than that in the first place. GODSDAMMIT. My cousin might could go get it on his flatbed, my nephew might could fix it, I might could spend the rest of the night crying and being pissed off about the whole mess, since anger is so much easier to deal with than despair. (SRSLY, I barely make enough to cover rent and bills, I only go on vacation because I have generous friends who want to give me plane tickets and I don't get paid vacation so I will not get to be doing any of that any time soon again, nope gonna be working off the last one for a while. So I don't have the budget for 1200+ on the truck, let alone a different car altogether. AND I LIKE MY TRUCK!!! *cry*)
And really, I can't get too excited about the whole thing, mostly I am worried about dad, mom, various family, etc. and whatnot.
Dad rallied a bit this aternoon and so that is good. The pneumonia turns out to be MRSA infection. HOLY FUCKING SHIT. IN HIS LUNGS. YUCK! Also, what they have been treating him with has pretty much fed the infection instead of killing it. NeatoKeen. NOT. They have fixed that now.
The good news is that he recognized everyone when he was awake this afternoon, but they put him back in the sedation induced coma to keep him comfortable and to keep him from pulling out the tubes and things, he's intubated because he can't breathe on his own currently. He is very afraid of ending up damaged if they try to bring him back if his heart stops so they will only do that once if the bad turns to worse. I understand, he is miserable and tired and worn out and I can't blame him, no matter how much I don't really want to lose him.
I am having DNR tattooed over my heart as soon as possible.
((even more cool)) Thank you, everyone for the good thoughts, prayers, encouragement, gas money, calls, understanding, listening to me cry on the phone, reading my ongoing crazy and generally being the wonderful and supportive network you are. I am grateul for each and everyone of you every day that is. ((no end to y'alls coolness))