Colds, Weekend Plans & Peeps in my Life
Excuse the MIA. Got really sick this weekend so pretty much spent the last four-five days in bed hacking up crap, feeling achy and just … all kinds of gross. I have been tempted to murder the coworker who was coughing all week and decided on FRIDAY to finally go to the doctor. But, I like my freedom.
I am still not 100% BUT feel well enough to venture back to work (was glad Monday was a holiday). I have actually had quite a busy morning, so that has been good… I like when the day flies.
This coming weekend we’re heading up to Erica’s parent’s Vermont home. We’re leaving Friday around 6:30PM and coming back Sunday night. There’s like 20 of us going so it should be a lot of laughs/fun. I am pretty excited. Most will be skiing, but I am too accident prone to even try that, so I think I’ll be hanging out with a few of the folks NOT skiing and going to some small village of shops they have at the resort OR staying in the lodge reading and drinking hot chocolate while they do their skiing thing LOL.
I might bring my Nikon (depends if I feel like lugging the weight around) or my smaller point-and-shoot one. Dunno yet. By the time we get there on Friday it will be too dark for any good scenic photos, but might get some good ones on Saturday at the Ski resort, so I might just lug it LOL
Otherwise, I did nothing except binge watch on: X-Files (back to season 6 for my third time), Haven (Finally watching the final season and it makes me sad it's the last one! So I am watching it very slowly), Dexter (somewhere in season 3, never saw it so this is my first time).
I really should have used the downtime to write or read, but my brain was way too foggy for either... so tv it was.
Below the cut is a quick “players in my life” of those I tend to talk about the most for all the new folks :P
People in my life
Dad <3 - My dad was diagnosed with stage 4 rectal cancer in January 2013. In that first year, he did very well with the treatments and his tumors shrank a significant amount, but like many things, the body began to become immune to the treatments and the tumors began to grow again. For the next year and a half, many things were tried, but his tumors remained at the same size (which would have been okay…). In November of 2015 he was feeling pretty good, so we actually went on our vacation (Caribbean cruise). I am still SO thankful that we went on the cruise. It would be the last vacation we would ever take as a family. This got a little longer and a tad depressing">When we returned, he began to suffer from random losing strength in his leg and he’d fall or stumble. He had a bunch of tests done and a tumor was found in his brain. The neurosurgeon wanted to operate right away and so he went into a 5 hour operation to have it removed (while we all went a little insane waiting to hear the results). Everything pretty much went downhill from November 19th (day of the operation) until he passed away June 9th, 2016 at 3:53PM. He kept getting infections, which had him in the hospital for 9-10 days at a time, every month until March. When we finally thought he was getting back on his feet, the his oncologist told us to ‘prepare ourselves’ but we still had faith, we still had hope. We clung to it so hard. For the next three months we tried every over the counter thing we could think of to boost his immune system, boost his liver function without increasing the tumor … we tried SO hard to keep him going, but it just wasn’t enough. I still can’t believe he is gone. There are days that feel too normal to be true, and I hate those days (though I know it’s our mind’s way of coping). Then there are days where I can’t breathe, move or even think the loss is so heavy on my chest, heart and mind. I hate those days too. So, even though he is not physically here in my life, he is forever on my mind and I’ll write about him, I am pretty sure. A lot of my personality traits come from my dad: Introverted, content just hanging out at home/with small group of people, easily annoyed over stupidity…and so much more.
Mom - She is so tiny (but not a midget <3). She has been a powerhouse these last few years, something I really didn’t think was possible (she has always suffered from anxiety/depression so I thought my brothers and I would have had to take care of both, but she was/continues to be amazing). She and dad came to America when I was two with very little to their names, and they worked rotating shifts (so one was always home with us), at crap jobs to get us everything we ever needed. I am so blessed and thankful to have had these two human beings as my parents and while she can get on my very last nerve sometimes (it’s a mom thing, I am sure of it), I love her to death and try to keep her busy these days, so I’m sure she’ll be popping up.
Danny - He is the middle child <3 Growing up he had SERIOUS middle-child-syndrome, but he has thankfully grown out of that. We’re all very close, which I’m sure people will note soon enough. We try to get together every weekend and spend time together, so he’ll be in posts. He is also a manager at a local Kia and he’s the one that recently sold me my Sorento that I bought a couple of months ago lol. Danny is a mix of my dad and mom introvert/extrovert and his moods bounce with it lol.
Nelson - Baby brother <3 He will probably be in my posts a bit more than mom/Danny because he is FINALLY getting married to his ‘middle-school-sweetheart’ (yes, they’ve been dating since middle school). He just turned 30 (she is 28). He is 100% extroverted like my mother. He loves talking to strangers, striking up conversations in lines, big/crazy parties, and it all hypes him up and energizes him. He is the most amazing helpful person you will ever meet (which is rare to find in the IT field, which is what he does-so everyone at work is always calling him). He is fun-loving, kind, outgoing, generous, heart-on-his-sleeve kid-at-heart type of guy.
Trisha - Said fiancé to my brother Nelson <3. So I have literally known her for 17-18 years or so. She is a Virgo like me and we are a LOT alike. We’re both quite introverted personality wise. She has an unhealthy obsession with Pinterest :P (Where she gets her cooking/DIY stuff). She is generous, but she is also very prudent and is actually really good at budgeting (I have taken many pointers from her cuz I suck). She can be kind, but she also has enough of a backbone to tell people how it is if she feels something is unfair, etc (another thing I’m learning from her). Trisha, Diane and I try to do weekly coffee dates, so I am sure she will come into my posts often.
Diane - Has lived next door to me all my life until recently when she got married/moved away. I was actually her Maid of Honor at her wedding this past October, so we’re really close (and what a trip that was in-and-of-itself). Our families have done vacations together, we’ve been through hell and back together, and if there is anyone that will drop all that they are doing to help out? It is Diane. She is way too nice and is often walked all over (something all of us, including new hubby) is trying to encourage her not to do.
Erica - She actually started out as Trisha’s best friend since elementary school (and is her maid of honor for Trisha’s wedding). So she came with Trisha, but she is awesome. I’ve known her as long as I’ve known Trisha. While we don’t get together as often with Erica (she lives further way, being the biggest reason), she has become a very good and close friend. As a nurse she also has crazy hours/random weekend shifts and has to ask for time off WAY in advance due to this ... so yeah.
Mike - Is my two brother’s best friend ever and so he’s often around when we all get together. He’s the tall-dark-broody type and really doesn’t speak unless spoken too, but he can be really funny with a few shots in him (and he loosens up a bit). I’m not super close to him since the only time I really see him is when we all get together for an event of some sort with everyone, but he comes up more often than most people in my life and he is in the wedding party, so I’m sure he’ll be mentioned.
Lorraine - She is my coworker and sister from another mister. She is one of the FEW coworkers I can stand. Her and I are a lot alike as far as being introverts (and how we grow up is almost identical) and we’ve weathered a lot of crap here at work together, which makes her a friend for life. I occasionally hang out with her, and three other coworkers, but she is the one I will talk about the most. The other three are Shanell, Andrea and Sheryl (we actually just had a ‘lunch’ date during the holiday break from work which was a total blast).
DL- She is my direct supervisor. I am pretty sure I will rant about her often. She is one of those ‘latchy’ type of people. She will be in her office, but if she hears ANYONE talking to me, she jumps up (not exaggerating) and runs out pretending to ‘throw something away’, to find a way into the conversation. So on average I have about 15 conversations a day with other coworkers, students, etc … so imagine having someone interrupt and inserting themselves into 15 conversations (that has nothing to do with them), every.single.day. Yeah. There are days I have no idea how I haven’t pushed her down the stairs. She has other very annoying quirks, but if I went through them all you would all unfriend me from the length.
TD - Not really a supervisor but she thinks she is because I am ‘loaned’ to her department. She can drive me up a wall, so I am pretty sure she’ll be featured. Instead of talking to me about what she needs, she constantly goes behind my back to my supervisor and tells her I don’t run her reports. Well, how the HELL am I supposed to know what report you want today? Or in two weeks? I am not a mind reader. WHICH (the one thing I do like about my boss), my boss has basically said to her face. TD is not big on communication and loves to stir up drama, so she’ll be here.
B - He is my ‘something complicated’. At the moment we are just friends, but we were hot and heavy about 10 years ago. Until I said the L word (three years in) and he freaked and I basically didn’t want to waste my life with someone who couldn’t commit, so we tried the friends thing and have been ‘friends’ for roughly 6ish years. Well now he’s all “Im dumb, I need another chance, blah blah….” But I do not feel the same way about him as I did 7 years ago, so sorry buddy. Now we’re in this weird friendship thing and he often annoys me with his pushing, but otherwise, he’s my best friend (which kind of sucks he’s making it all awkward). He knows every little thing about me… I tell him every little thing…. We talk daily, for hours sometimes. He’s just my best friend and I wish he’d just be okay with that. It’s a good thing. Guess I will see how things unfold this year.
Mini-players
Ava - Trisha’s sister-in-law. We hang out from time to time but I wouldn’t call her a ‘good’ friend, but I’d call her a friend. She’s in the wedding party too.
Bianca - Hairdresser + friend. She married recently and is trying to start a family, so we haven’t had much time to hang out, but she’s cool peeps (good friends with my core group of friends).
Alexa - She is a very old friend, but due to diverging life paths, we don’t hang out with her as much as we’d like. When we do ‘girls nights/days’ she sometimes comes, so she’ll be mentioned sometimes.
Vince - Erica’s husband. He’s actually really cool but we never seem to hang out with him ‘a lot’. Lol.
Flo (his full name is a little embarrassing so we’ve all promised never to share it unless absolutely necessary)- Diane’s husband.