get your shit together, 2015
Hello, internet.
I'm in Jersey for the weekend. After all the mess at Christmas, I thought it would be nice to have a non-fraught visit and also see quatredeathlady and Christine. Saturday, my family threw a surprise birthday party for Nicole's mom, and my company now has MLK Jr Day off, so I took Friday off and came down for the party.
So, good things first:
The party was AWESOME. My aunt won a catered, 12 person dinner party at a tricky tray and that's what we used for food and it was AMAZING. Holy crap. Everything was so good and I never want to eat again. We did a Wizard of Oz theme for the decorations and it was adorable. My aunt made chocolate broomsticks and ruby slippers and chocolate covered oreos with diplomas (ala the Scarecrow's gift from the Wizard) as favors, and we had ruby red and blue & white gingham table cloths and all sorts of stuff. It was super cute.
It was nice to see everyone, too, and to hang out with Nicole and Christine. My dad's birthday was Thursday, so I brought him his card and present too.
Unfortunately, on Friday morning as I was leaving MA, I learned that someone I vaguely knew in fandom had passed away. I wasn't particularly close to her--she was mainly on Tumblr and I have zero idea how to talk to/make friends with/interact with people on that platform--but one of my friends was and anytime something like this happens it's sad in general. So that's awful and has been on my mind.
My grandfather is in the hospital with what we originally thought was liver cancer but appears to be something less severe, now. Still, it's not the best news for an 80 year old dude, plus it's putting a HUGE amount of strain on my parents, particularly, I'm sure, my dad.
And then this morning, on her way to breakfast, my aunt hit a patch of black ice and totaled my mom's car (which she was driving). She's fine, she thinks--she's at the hospital now waiting for a CAT Scan and my mom is on her way over there to wait with her. The roads are terrible, so apparently the ED is hopping and it's going to be a while until they get to her.
It just really sucks for a lot of reasons--most shallowly, she and my mom and my other aunt and my grandmother and a couple of my cousins were supposed to go down to AC this afternoon for a concert, and I'm sure that my grandmother is going to be cranky about having to put that off and my other aunt is going to be neurotic about it. But also, Beth is basically the most giving person I know and she's been through a lot and I wish the world would stop shitting on her. She was driving my mom's car because her own died a couple months ago and she hasn't been able to afford a new one that meets her specifications, so she's been borrowing cars and bumming rides for way too long. This is just one more terrible thing to happen to her/stress her out and it just feels unfair.
I'm counting my blessings and all--she's okay and alive and mostly unharmed--but it still sucks.
***
Otherwise, I'm still ticking along. I'm not great, brain-wise, but I'm limping along. Mostly I'm just listless and numb most of the time, which I guess is better than many alternatives. I wish anywhere would at least call me back about a new job, but...here we are.
***
I feel like I should be writing something, but I just totally lack the energy right now.
I'm in Jersey for the weekend. After all the mess at Christmas, I thought it would be nice to have a non-fraught visit and also see quatredeathlady and Christine. Saturday, my family threw a surprise birthday party for Nicole's mom, and my company now has MLK Jr Day off, so I took Friday off and came down for the party.
So, good things first:
The party was AWESOME. My aunt won a catered, 12 person dinner party at a tricky tray and that's what we used for food and it was AMAZING. Holy crap. Everything was so good and I never want to eat again. We did a Wizard of Oz theme for the decorations and it was adorable. My aunt made chocolate broomsticks and ruby slippers and chocolate covered oreos with diplomas (ala the Scarecrow's gift from the Wizard) as favors, and we had ruby red and blue & white gingham table cloths and all sorts of stuff. It was super cute.
It was nice to see everyone, too, and to hang out with Nicole and Christine. My dad's birthday was Thursday, so I brought him his card and present too.
Unfortunately, on Friday morning as I was leaving MA, I learned that someone I vaguely knew in fandom had passed away. I wasn't particularly close to her--she was mainly on Tumblr and I have zero idea how to talk to/make friends with/interact with people on that platform--but one of my friends was and anytime something like this happens it's sad in general. So that's awful and has been on my mind.
My grandfather is in the hospital with what we originally thought was liver cancer but appears to be something less severe, now. Still, it's not the best news for an 80 year old dude, plus it's putting a HUGE amount of strain on my parents, particularly, I'm sure, my dad.
And then this morning, on her way to breakfast, my aunt hit a patch of black ice and totaled my mom's car (which she was driving). She's fine, she thinks--she's at the hospital now waiting for a CAT Scan and my mom is on her way over there to wait with her. The roads are terrible, so apparently the ED is hopping and it's going to be a while until they get to her.
It just really sucks for a lot of reasons--most shallowly, she and my mom and my other aunt and my grandmother and a couple of my cousins were supposed to go down to AC this afternoon for a concert, and I'm sure that my grandmother is going to be cranky about having to put that off and my other aunt is going to be neurotic about it. But also, Beth is basically the most giving person I know and she's been through a lot and I wish the world would stop shitting on her. She was driving my mom's car because her own died a couple months ago and she hasn't been able to afford a new one that meets her specifications, so she's been borrowing cars and bumming rides for way too long. This is just one more terrible thing to happen to her/stress her out and it just feels unfair.
I'm counting my blessings and all--she's okay and alive and mostly unharmed--but it still sucks.
***
Otherwise, I'm still ticking along. I'm not great, brain-wise, but I'm limping along. Mostly I'm just listless and numb most of the time, which I guess is better than many alternatives. I wish anywhere would at least call me back about a new job, but...here we are.
***
I feel like I should be writing something, but I just totally lack the energy right now.