:shakes head:
Well. I have another funeral to go to on Monday. This time it's one of my mom's cousins (my first cousin once removed), completely expected, and while I didn't know him too well, I know most of his siblings better than the rest of the mob*. Still, for those of you keeping count, this is the 2nd funeral and 3rd dead relative of the year. One more and we'll be tied with 2003, which holds the record so far. The total, counting this one, is ten, plus four other people whose funerals I would have gone to if circumstances had been different (in one case, if someone had bothered to mention that he was dead). Because I have a totally inappropriate sense of humor, "Another One Bites the Dust" has been stuck in my head for hours now.
Oh, and the best part? My mom thinks there's probably going to be fighting at the funeral. Two of the deceased's brothers got into a fist-fight on the lawn a few months back for reasons unknown. Also, the deceased has a set of biological children, and a set of step children. The two sets seem to be getting huffy at each other over who loved their dad more, and who has more right to be upset. Yeaaah. I'm not clear on the details, probably because the source of this information is my mom's co-worker who was engaged to one of the deceased's step-sons and had his kid, although I think they've broken off the engagement. But, as she's still apparently close to the family I could be wrong. My mom discovered the relation a couple of months ago when the girl was complaining about her future mother-in-law, showed my mom a picture, and my mom recognized the woman as the deceased's wife.
*Except for the one who's a genius millionaire inventor recluse. He invented some sort of plastic that conducts electricity, and apparently hates everyone; none of my family's seen him for years.
Dear lord, I don't even know where to begin with this week. Work was special. Every single visitor encounter I had that went beyond the standard five questions that everyone asks was weird, mostly because they kept wanting to give me context. Seriously people, I really don't need to know why you feel compelled to ask whatever you're asking. Really. I can just answer the question and move on, no hard feelings. But no, I seemed to have a sign on my forehead telling people to tell me their stories. One of the milder ones that was very short and to the point went as follows:
Random Guy: (points at specimen) Is this the femoral artery?
Me: Yep!
Random Guy: Yeah, I asked because my buddy was in a scuffle a few years ago, and his femoral artery got cut. He bled to death in like two minutes, there was nothing we could do. Oh, and he was going to get married the next day.
Me: Oh. That's too bad.
There were also a couple of people who were massively TMI about personal medical problems(let's face it, as soon as the words like 'prolapse' or 'colostomy' enter the conversation, you know it's going nowhere good), and the rest were just crazy. Like dude, she has a uterus, how much more feminine do you want? No, the skeleton's name is not Anabelle. Prettier how, should we put lipstick on them? Our technology isn't exactly there yet. Oh God, please don't start crying. I have no idea what it would taste like. Not being able to drink your Coke in the exhibit isn't the end of the world. You talked to Jack, didn't you. If only it really was a wormhole.
On the plus side, religious experiences seemed to be down this week, and I didn't have any EMTs tell me about the last time THEY saw a brain.
I can't decide if it's a good thing or not that I react to pretty much anything anyone tells me that's surprising with some variation of "Oh, that's interesting/nice/unfortunate". On one hand, it means that I rarely freak out, and even then it's usually far after the fact. On the other, well, certain things deserve a bit more reaction.
Oh, and the best part? My mom thinks there's probably going to be fighting at the funeral. Two of the deceased's brothers got into a fist-fight on the lawn a few months back for reasons unknown. Also, the deceased has a set of biological children, and a set of step children. The two sets seem to be getting huffy at each other over who loved their dad more, and who has more right to be upset. Yeaaah. I'm not clear on the details, probably because the source of this information is my mom's co-worker who was engaged to one of the deceased's step-sons and had his kid, although I think they've broken off the engagement. But, as she's still apparently close to the family I could be wrong. My mom discovered the relation a couple of months ago when the girl was complaining about her future mother-in-law, showed my mom a picture, and my mom recognized the woman as the deceased's wife.
*Except for the one who's a genius millionaire inventor recluse. He invented some sort of plastic that conducts electricity, and apparently hates everyone; none of my family's seen him for years.
Dear lord, I don't even know where to begin with this week. Work was special. Every single visitor encounter I had that went beyond the standard five questions that everyone asks was weird, mostly because they kept wanting to give me context. Seriously people, I really don't need to know why you feel compelled to ask whatever you're asking. Really. I can just answer the question and move on, no hard feelings. But no, I seemed to have a sign on my forehead telling people to tell me their stories. One of the milder ones that was very short and to the point went as follows:
Random Guy: (points at specimen) Is this the femoral artery?
Me: Yep!
Random Guy: Yeah, I asked because my buddy was in a scuffle a few years ago, and his femoral artery got cut. He bled to death in like two minutes, there was nothing we could do. Oh, and he was going to get married the next day.
Me: Oh. That's too bad.
There were also a couple of people who were massively TMI about personal medical problems(let's face it, as soon as the words like 'prolapse' or 'colostomy' enter the conversation, you know it's going nowhere good), and the rest were just crazy. Like dude, she has a uterus, how much more feminine do you want? No, the skeleton's name is not Anabelle. Prettier how, should we put lipstick on them? Our technology isn't exactly there yet. Oh God, please don't start crying. I have no idea what it would taste like. Not being able to drink your Coke in the exhibit isn't the end of the world. You talked to Jack, didn't you. If only it really was a wormhole.
On the plus side, religious experiences seemed to be down this week, and I didn't have any EMTs tell me about the last time THEY saw a brain.
I can't decide if it's a good thing or not that I react to pretty much anything anyone tells me that's surprising with some variation of "Oh, that's interesting/nice/unfortunate". On one hand, it means that I rarely freak out, and even then it's usually far after the fact. On the other, well, certain things deserve a bit more reaction.