[Scene: I come downstairs to see an overturned cereal bowl on the floor, with Kix scattered all around it.]

Me: Did you make this mess?
My niece: Umm.....yeah.
Me: Well, that's not good!
Niece: Izit derewuz umma umma bowl! Den izit umma umma cereal! *Den*, izit derewuz umma umma BOWL ( Read more... )

Oh yeah, and my birthday was yesterday. Here's to hoping that my 31st year of life won't be as much of an emotional rollercoaster as my 30th year was.

My stepfather, Patrick King, passed away at about 9:50 this morning. He was 58 years old. In the 8 years that I knew him, he was always a very kind and generous man. He helped my sister finish college and my brother get his GED, and he took very good care of my mother and made her so happy. He will be greatly missed by everyone in our family.

I didn't sleep very well last night. Kept having vivid dreams that were waking me up. I don't remember any of them, except for one in which my stepdad appeared to me and said, "I have to leave now. I'm sorry." Then I woke up.

My mom must be beside herself with grief.

He's brain dead.

I had this new post planned out where I would tell all of you about my new job and what it's like to come back to Syracuse after being away for almost 15 years. But none of that fucking matters anymore, because I just found out this morning that my stepdad suffered a cerebral hemorrhage and now he's dying in a hospital somewhere in New Jersey. He ( Read more... )

I just got a call from my sister...my grandpa passed away this morning. Not entirely unexpected, given that he's been really sick ever since grandma got sick two months ago, but still, a little more time with him would have been nice. The last few times I saw him, he asked me every time if I had my doctorate yet. I'm about a month away from ( Read more... )

I found out last Saturday from my mom that my grandma had passed away the day before (she couldn't reach me on Friday). Grandma had been sick for quite a while, so it wasn't unexpected, but still, a lot of people in my family are taking it pretty hard. Especially my grandpa, who had been married to her for 64 years. I came about a week and a ( Read more... )

Tomorrow begins the deluge of final papers from my students. Fortunately I got the rest of the grading done for my class last week. Planning on finishing all of that up on Thursday, and then I've got a thesis chapter to revise, and then I'll be done for the semester (and will most likely collapse in a twitching, exhausted heap under my desk ( Read more... )

I'm back in Syracuse visiting my parents again this weekend. A little while ago my nephew, who is about to turn 3, was watching me do some work on my laptop ( Read more... )