August 2015 Monthly Entry
Forgot to put this up on my Vancouver Pride entry LOL!
The very dry weather continues and there has been next to no rain. With the water restrictions in place, the dry weather has now caused the leaves on trees to die. It's really strange and I don't think we've ever encountered this in recent memory. It is a sight to experience in the Fall season, but in late summer? Even Pumpkin patches have been ripening too early. Almost two weeks ago, I was supposed to be in Round Rock & Austin, Texas to visit Leatherdaddy Eric for his 52nd birthday but the recent death of his father last month to prostate cancer put those visiting plans on hold. He had to go back to his family home in Ohio and his inherited home in Pennsylvania in recent times. I mailed a condolences card to him and wished him a happy birthday via text. I don't know when I'm going to Texas now to make up this trip. Given what has been happening lately, I have to hold back as finances could take a hit in the future.
I've been very busy catching up on long overdue jobs at work. After my manager's warning last month, the first thing I did was dust the stairwells and hallways since I was noticing dust buildup. I then vacuumed all maintenance rooms and after we had the junk removal guys come a few Fridays ago, vacuumed all storage locker rooms too. Of course, just a day or two after vacuuming the larger locker room in my first building, a couple of chairs are abandoned. Assholes! Two weeks ago, a third one appears and a locker is broken into. Okkkay. Now I come back Monday last week and find even more things dumped including a book shelf and some kind of bed frame. Fuck sakes! Anyways, the next thing to catch up on is damp wiping walls and surfaces. Immediately after I posted last month's entry, my manager tells my co-worker and I that the strata wants us to water the plants by hand (hose and spray gun) because the new water restrictions require the irrigation systems to be shut off. I was not happy about this thinking that the irrigation system would be more water-efficient and do a more thorough job than what we could do. Why not lessen the time on the system, I thought? But nope, the city's bylaws won't let us. At first I grumbled but it's actually not too bad once I found water taps that worked. It has been a long while the last time I used the hoses. I threw two of three of them out though. The first one has a disconnected nozzle that shot out due to water pressure and the last time I used it outside a couple years ago, a car drove on top of the hose and the pressure caused it to shoot off from its base. I decided to finally throw it away. The other I left down in the boiler room of my first building and when I tried it out last week, there were a couple of self-punctures (the rubber is thick) due to constant kinking up that I was getting very little water pressure. I'll be throwing that one out soon, leaving the one hose we have that works okay and I'm currently using for water the plants outside. It takes me over an hour to do the watering for both buildings in the front and the limited reach means I can't do all the sides and not even the back at all. A couple Fridays ago the city left a warning sheet and while it wasn't addressed to me, it was obvious that some dipshit complained about me given it had the building address and the time of the infraction. I looked at the list of possible infractions and none of them I violated. So why bother giving this complaint if the infraction isn't specific? It says if there is another complaint, then it is a $50 fine. I later gave it to my manager as I was kind of paranoid and he said to not worry about it and just continue. I figure he will dispute any other warnings that come our way. Would be nice to find out the dipshit who told on me without doing their damn research!
I've run into Mr. Whiner from last month on Tuesday, the same guy who threatened my job. There was no arguing or anything and I kept my cool. He was wondering if there was any action on the strata's part to get the dog poop bags for the dispenser on our side of the property. I tell him that I relayed it to them but don't know what is going on. He counters that there are bags further away in the dispenser (between my first building and the other strata building) that are being refilled and I reminded him that the strata on the other side pays for those bags and since we don't replace them, our side's strata funds don't have to finance it. He again counters me saying that it was bullshit as strata fees have increased. I wish I could have rebutted him that the reason for the increase was to pay for the painters we had in the spring which cost an arm and a leg. But I simply feigned ignorance and walked away. I knew this guy was going to do nothing more than push the issue so why continue a conversation that won't get anywhere?
Since last month's entry, it has been a emotional downer here lately. Besides Peter's passing, we got some bad news... David highly likely has pancreatic cancer. He noticed something was wrong with the color of his stools and having bouts of diarrhea. He ended up at Eagle Ridge Hospital but they couldn't do much so they sent him to Royal Columbian Hospital. While they deduced it was his pancreas and very likely enlarged and cancerous, they need to collect samples on two separate occasions. Because they will have to medicate him before going through his mouth and all the way down to his pancreas with a camera and snippers, the hospital requires him to have a person he knows drive him home as they won't accept transit or a taxi. The first test, he lies to them and transits home but the second time, a player from his Bridge club drove him home. After those two tests a week apart, we think the third visit is to get the results right? Wrong! David was told that they didn't take enough samples from the second visit and need to schedule again to do another! How the hell did they fuck this up? So David went back for sample collection number THREE and he made damn sure they got what they needed! He was told a couple weeks ago that he cannot be a candidate for surgery nor radiation - just chemo therapy! He hasn't got the results yet of a formal cancer diagnosis but David will be talking and getting help from the BC Cancer Agency. I was angry at Royal Columbian... if they didn't take their sweet time and fucked up, maybe the cancer wouldn't have grown and David would have an extra treatment option. Poor David has been depressed this past month and having problems getting a full night's sleep. He is becoming more absorbed into watching shows on Netflix and just not doing much. Unlike his prostate cancer over 10 years ago, he knows this is one cancer he cannot beat and is worried about suffering and when he will eventually die. The implications of David's eventually death will hit Agustin and myself very big. For Agustin, the most obvious is that he can no longer be sponsored for permanent resident status (honestly, we don't know what happens when the sponsor dies and the options for the sponsoree are in this situation and I cant find the information online) and has to return to eventually to Madrid. He sold his home and quit his job to be with David so going back means he has nothing to go back to and has to start from the bottom. His siblings don't accept his being gay and neither did the insurance firm he worked for many years after coming out of the closet last year. So he has no support network when he arrives back. As for myself, I would have to deal with getting David buried once I know of it (Jews have to be buried within 24 hours), have to inform the landlord and businesses that of David's passing and pass his accounts onto me so we can continue living here for another month, inform David's biological son; friends (the few he has left); and congregation, go through his things, and deal with the stress of moving out and into a radically different life - officially ending the long saga of David (plus Kevin) and I. I'll do what I can to help Agustin get back to Madrid but the whole thing will be financially and emotionally more draining on me. I realize this is the next stage of adulthood foisted upon me and I better shape up and face it head on.
The major thing on my mind is inheritance. I realize that this sounds corrupt but to be honest, I hardly think about inheritance when it comes to my own parents and they are overwhelmingly well better off and have more value than David ever had! The issue to me in all this is not profiting off David's death but what I feel what should be paid back to me and even then, what should be given to me after many years of putting up with what he did to me. For over 10 years, David has accumulated over $10,000 in debt to me - a debt he can never pay back now. While he has contributed to paying it down in the past, over the last three years it has ballooned and he has hardly paid it down. I could go on as to the situations that have made it skyrocket but some of my past monthly entries can shed some light on it. It's not just paying me back that worries me, it is also the expenses that come after David's passing. At least having the over $10,000 would help with my transition and after moving to a new place, the rest can be a nest egg. In terms of possessions, the only major things I want are his leather/toys, his collection of Drummer magazines, and some books of interest. His collection of Jewish books will go to his son and anything Jewish-related and past pictures will also go to him. Agustin cannot take much with him back to Madrid anyways. As for financial inheritance, David says I will get something like over $6000 but to split that in half and give the other half to Agustin. He wants that money to be used for what will transpire after his death like I mentioned above. Fair enough. Last night, he reveals to me that Agustin (because they got married) will be entitled to the federal Death Benefit and Widow's Pension and he guesses that Agustin will get over $500 a month for the rest of his life. Thinking on that revelation, it upset me a little that David and I should have married given the years we were together and of course, that is denied to me. Also, David married Agustin to fulfill his sexual desires and not because he loves him the same way he loved Kevin and even I, years ago. It's one of those, "if we only knew" scenarios because if David and Agustin didn't marry, Agustin would be in a better position still in Madrid - sans no Master - and I wouldn't be in as bad position after David's death because I'd have more money to help in transitioning. The situation is going to be a big mess to say the least. The only silver lining is that Agustin still has an inheritance coming someday from the sale of his mother's home and he'll likely get a sizable amount. David was to get that money (mainly to help with living expenses until Agustin is able to work here) but it is hard to know if he will get it while alive or after his passing. If alive, I can request that David pay off the debt and we will be square. If he dies before getting it, then I will ask that he tell Agustin (and have him swear an oath) to put an amount aside and give it to me when the time comes. I feel this is fair but I'm going to have to accept the worst case scenario: David will never pay me back and he essentially got away with murder. I can live with it and one day forgive him, but it will leave me bitter for quite awhile.
The only couple other things for me to say is that David is likely going to get rid of Peter's car as one of the tires is a flat and I think the coolant system has broken down. We don't have the money for repairs so David will likely ask for the rest of the insurance back (and I hope return it to me!). On the plus side, a couple weeks ago, David actually THANKED ME for all I have done and will do in regards to what he is going through. I replied that it is no different than the love and support of Kevin and I when he had prostate cancer over 10 years ago. Unlike Agustin, I don't obsess over it and give David his space.
Late last month I watched How to Train Your Dragon on Netflix. It was a pretty nice CG animated flick with good art direction and design. It is also pretty well written and probably the best part of the movie: woofy vikings galore! Especially Gobber and Stoick (above)! But yeah, it is kind of been-there-done-that and not terribly original compared to what comes out of Disney/Pixar. The flying scenes were awesome though! I may check out the other media that came out after the first movie before watching the second movie.
To see the Bum Review go here. The uploader won't allow embeding.
To see Doug Walker's Dreamworks-uary review go here or below:
Click to viewA couple weeks ago I saw the original Iron Man again on Netflix. It's always a fun movie and while David was getting into the earlier parts of the movie, he was too tired to watch and he went up to bed. Before he left, I revealed that this was the last movie that Kevin and I watched in a theatre before he died.
Ever since David started to really get into Netflix, Star Trek: DS9 has taken a backseat lately. The final episode of Season 5 is next and so the review should be up soon.
Lightning Returns is taking longer than I anticipated so I plan to eventually take a break from it after completing "Easy Mode" soon and after a few games, finish it off in "Hard Mode" and review it finally. Crisis Core is very early in while I'm making good progress in Knights of the Old Republic II and in fact, I just got my main character's lightsaber finally!
I'm almost done Mere Christianity and I may do a small review of it before continuing with the other Lewis works.
Last Movie: The Avengers: Age of Ultron 3D (Theatrical), Iron Man (Netflix)
Last Book: KJV Holy Bible - Revelation
Last Game: Kirby Mass Attack (DS)
Current Book: The Complete C.S. Lewis Signature Classics - Mere Christianity
Current Games: Lightning Returns: Final Fantasy XIII (PS3) & Crisis Core: Final Fantasy VII (PSP) & Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic II - The Sith Lords (Xbox)