The ice is slowly melting in my soul and in my skin...
Hey all,
Looks like these days, I only ever update about once a month... if that.
Truth is that I've been sucked into the siren world of FaceBook. Yeah, I don't really like it either, to tell you the truth... at least it's not Twitter. It is there that I stand my ground.
Thanksgiving, my favorite holiday, has come and gone, and with each passing year I fear it loses some of it's luster. It becomes a harsher and harsher reminder of how much I don't belong in my family. Their political behavior and religious fervor scares and angers me more and more each with each year. But the food is always wonderful, the games are always plentiful and turkey-coma naps while watching football still involve backscratches from my dad the way they always have since I was a little kid.
Exams too have passed for the year, and I think I did well all told. Maybe not as stunning a performance this semester as in the spring, but it wasn't a complete botch either. I'm just a little disappointed is all... especially in how I did in music history. I would have liked to have done better but I just don't have the brains for it. I think the only solid A in the class was Curtis and he's one of those obscenely intelligent people that you just want to club with a vacuum cleaner.
I was sort of fearing the end of the semester. I've made some really fantastic friends in the music department... for the first time ever, I'm hanging out with the 'popular kids' and it's taken some getting used to. Bess, Curtis, Marylin, LeAnna, Emily, Justin, Ryan, Michael, Chad and Toby... they're all new names relatively speaking and they've gotten me through this semester, though I doubt they realize it. I never had time to worry or wring my hands or feel depressed because we were too busy having fun.
But fortunately, we won't have to do without each other this month... Italy looms and so we carol to raise money. Plus the opera is coming up, Dido and Aeneas, and I'm helping with that. So we'll see each other, is the long and the short of it, and that's comforting.
I also have a new distraction in the form of DragonAge. I loves me some DragonAge. I will be writing a review of it as soon as I finish the game. Suffice it to say that I'm about 2/3 of the way through, and it's everything that I wanted it to be.
Life isn't shaping up to get any lighter over the next few months. School begins anew... Italy fundraising continues...
And I guess what is the biggest piece of news of late...
The decision has finally been made to put my grandfather in an assisted living place.
Longtime frequenters of my journal will remember that I've thought for years that he should be someplace like that, not so much for health reasons, but for social ones... so he isn't lonely. And he is so dreadfully lonely. He's lived alone for almost 13 years, since my grandmother died.
The decision was made after he fell and broke his maxillary bone, split his lip open and had a bruise on his brain. He was in therapy to do work to prevent falling, and he improved dramatically but he has since slid back. It's sad and it won't be an easy change for him. The family has been putting this off until pretty much his family doctor intervened and said it needed to be done now. But my grandfather is acting like nothing happened... it won't be an easy transition.
I have a hard time feeling super sad over it. I know he'll miss his house and his independence, but I think he'll be happier in a place where there are people around all the time. My mom and I have already done some preliminary looking and I just think he'll be so much better off once he gets adjusted. The care will be better and the atmosphere will be what he needs.
It's a bit of a blessing for Charlie and I. My grandfather doesn't want to sell the house... so it may be that Charlie and I might move in and set up a rent to own sort of deal, where we pay rent price but it's really towards buying the house. We'll be able to work on updating the house (it desperately needs new decor, particularly in the bathrooms) to improve its value while we're there.
I'm excited for this... I just hate why it's happening in a lot of ways.
But that's what's been up with me.
This month is going to be full of baking and caroling... I'm glad to be kept busy and social.
I'm off... I just gave up on sleep completely tonight and instead of rousing Charlie by going to bed, I'm just going to stay up and make him breakfast.
Love and Cookies,
Birdie
Looks like these days, I only ever update about once a month... if that.
Truth is that I've been sucked into the siren world of FaceBook. Yeah, I don't really like it either, to tell you the truth... at least it's not Twitter. It is there that I stand my ground.
Thanksgiving, my favorite holiday, has come and gone, and with each passing year I fear it loses some of it's luster. It becomes a harsher and harsher reminder of how much I don't belong in my family. Their political behavior and religious fervor scares and angers me more and more each with each year. But the food is always wonderful, the games are always plentiful and turkey-coma naps while watching football still involve backscratches from my dad the way they always have since I was a little kid.
Exams too have passed for the year, and I think I did well all told. Maybe not as stunning a performance this semester as in the spring, but it wasn't a complete botch either. I'm just a little disappointed is all... especially in how I did in music history. I would have liked to have done better but I just don't have the brains for it. I think the only solid A in the class was Curtis and he's one of those obscenely intelligent people that you just want to club with a vacuum cleaner.
I was sort of fearing the end of the semester. I've made some really fantastic friends in the music department... for the first time ever, I'm hanging out with the 'popular kids' and it's taken some getting used to. Bess, Curtis, Marylin, LeAnna, Emily, Justin, Ryan, Michael, Chad and Toby... they're all new names relatively speaking and they've gotten me through this semester, though I doubt they realize it. I never had time to worry or wring my hands or feel depressed because we were too busy having fun.
But fortunately, we won't have to do without each other this month... Italy looms and so we carol to raise money. Plus the opera is coming up, Dido and Aeneas, and I'm helping with that. So we'll see each other, is the long and the short of it, and that's comforting.
I also have a new distraction in the form of DragonAge. I loves me some DragonAge. I will be writing a review of it as soon as I finish the game. Suffice it to say that I'm about 2/3 of the way through, and it's everything that I wanted it to be.
Life isn't shaping up to get any lighter over the next few months. School begins anew... Italy fundraising continues...
And I guess what is the biggest piece of news of late...
The decision has finally been made to put my grandfather in an assisted living place.
Longtime frequenters of my journal will remember that I've thought for years that he should be someplace like that, not so much for health reasons, but for social ones... so he isn't lonely. And he is so dreadfully lonely. He's lived alone for almost 13 years, since my grandmother died.
The decision was made after he fell and broke his maxillary bone, split his lip open and had a bruise on his brain. He was in therapy to do work to prevent falling, and he improved dramatically but he has since slid back. It's sad and it won't be an easy change for him. The family has been putting this off until pretty much his family doctor intervened and said it needed to be done now. But my grandfather is acting like nothing happened... it won't be an easy transition.
I have a hard time feeling super sad over it. I know he'll miss his house and his independence, but I think he'll be happier in a place where there are people around all the time. My mom and I have already done some preliminary looking and I just think he'll be so much better off once he gets adjusted. The care will be better and the atmosphere will be what he needs.
It's a bit of a blessing for Charlie and I. My grandfather doesn't want to sell the house... so it may be that Charlie and I might move in and set up a rent to own sort of deal, where we pay rent price but it's really towards buying the house. We'll be able to work on updating the house (it desperately needs new decor, particularly in the bathrooms) to improve its value while we're there.
I'm excited for this... I just hate why it's happening in a lot of ways.
But that's what's been up with me.
This month is going to be full of baking and caroling... I'm glad to be kept busy and social.
I'm off... I just gave up on sleep completely tonight and instead of rousing Charlie by going to bed, I'm just going to stay up and make him breakfast.
Love and Cookies,
Birdie