the story so far

just a little update/rant to fill the time.

1. I still have no XBox 360, probably won't have one until after the holidays.

2. There is now a DS under the Christmas tree with my name on it...along with the games Mario Kart, Animal Crossing, and Space Invaders!!!!

3. Sears sucks. I ordered my dad's Christmas gift on Dec. 2nd, and it should have been available for pickup on Dec 16th. However, it has not arrived at the local store and no one seems to know why. I have been told to check with them on Friday, since that is when the next delivery is scheduled. The thing that irritates me the most is that I have the make the 25 min drive everytime I want to check on the status, since the phone number I have for the store DOES NOT WORK. And none of the customer support people I've spoken to by calling the 800 number, don't know or won't give me a different number for the store.

But I digress, the drive wouldn't even be that bad if the store wasn't at the Auburn mall. Malls are evil. Malls during the Christmas season are HELL ON EARTH. All the people who normally can't be bothered to move from the sagging couch in their rusted out trailer descend on the mall en masse in order to buy each other the ugliest, most useless gifts seen in written history.

4. Just to end of a positive note - thank (insert deity of choice) I'm not on-call this week.

The Happy Couple + Carla

The New Family
Originally uploaded by threels.

My sister, her husband, and his daughter. Although we have explained to them that if they should ever divorce, we're keeping the kid. They're on their own!

this month's DP poem

because she says it so well...

Inventory

Four be the things I am wiser to know:
Idleness, sorrow, a friend, and a foe.

Four be the things I'd been better without:
Love, curiosity, freckles, and doubt.

Three be the things I shall never attain:
Envy, content, and sufficient champagne.

Three be the things I shall have till I die:
Laughter and hope and a sock in the eye.

- Dorothy Parker

Online gaming

Now, for those of you who know me, you know I'm not the greatest gamer, but I enjoy playing. I play because I enjoy the interaction with other people who have some of the same interests and experiences.

I usually play with people I have met in person or with other gamers from gamertag.com. Playing with these groups is always a good time (even with lag). But last night a non-gt individual joined a game and it reminded me of why I don't like playing with the general public.

This kid (at least I hope he was a kid-that would be the quasi-reasonable excuse for his behavior) was rude and offensive from the moment he enter the room. First he wanted to know if a girl was playing, or was that a "little guy" talking. I responded that I was a woman. He then proceeds to give his opinion of the "hotness" of female gamers, especially those that play farcry. This young man had meet 1 female gamer that did not meet his standards apparently (she is not missing out of anything). From that meeting he concluded that all female gamers at "not hot." I am please to note that everyone else in the room, even the other non-gt people, jumped his case about these statements.

His behavior continued through at least one more game after which he accused me of really being an eight year old with a high pitched voice. Um, no. Definitely not an eight year old or a "little guy." anyway, the discussions disintegrated rapidly and most of the gt group left to open another idiot free room. I stayed to finish downloading the map, then the game started. Wouldn't you know, I was on the idiot's team. And what does he ask me? "threels, how old are you?". My response ("too old for you") was not to his liking. When I told him it wasn't any of his business, he decided it was ok to call me a bitch. Then when I called him on it, he tried to deny it. Idiot. Of course, I told him he was being a jackass, and needed to learn some manners, that only people who knew me well could call me a bitch to my face. His pithy response was "I have manners, I just don't use them." kid, you are going to go far in life acting like that.

I shortly thereafter left the game he was in and joined the new gt room. The world was then restored to it's rightful order.

it's not just the idiots trying to pickup girls/women, there are other behavior that irritate. Like the guy a couple of week ago in farcry who was tk'ing and ranting about how no game was as good as halo 2. Well, guy, go play halo and leave those of us in farcry alone.

it is because of people like those two that I rarely speak when playing with the general public. It is because of people like them that gaming has such a negative image in the eyes of so many. Why is it acceptable to behave like that?

I refuse to let those two and others like them spoil the fun I have online. Except for the idiot, I had a blast playing farcry last night. But it does re-enforce my dislike of playing with the general public. Don't think I'll do that again anytime soon.

current status

It's been a while since I last posted, it's been fairly stressful for the last couple of weeks.

my grandmother has gone back into a nursing home. Her health continues to be bad, but the family has decided to just keep her comfortable, but that's not really where the stress has come from.

My mother has basically been demoted at work. It was an unexpected event. She went to a weekly meeting with her boss (a requirement for all the managers in that area) and was told that she wasn't doing the job the way her boss wanted it done; that in two weeks she would be moved into a different position, one that was not in management. Now, on the plus side this will give my mom more time to do the things she likes outside of work. No more middle of the night staffing calls, etc. I know that my mom does not have the strongest management skills around. She tends to treat her employees like they are her kids. Most of the time, this does not cause problems, but some people have taken advantage of her because of this habit. In her favor, she is probably one of the fairest managers in her area, but I guess fair doesn't count. There are 2 of the managers in that area who elect to divert attention from their own failings by undermining others and rather than bring issues to the attention of their contemporaries, they run to their boss.

I know there is nothing I can do about this, but I hate it that I can't fix this for my mother. I don't think the matter was handled well, or fairly. I guess we are lucky the boss at least waited until after my sister's wedding. My mom got the news on her 3rd day back at work after the wedding. and as angry as it makes me, I can't say anything to these people because I have to continue to deal with them in a support capacity.

Ahh well, at least I have Farcry to help relieve the stress. There is nothing like killing and being killed by friends, and then being able to laugh about it after.

my sister is now married...

finally, after many months of planning and stress, my sister is married. the ceremony was nice (and blessedly short) and the reception had good food and good friends.

and all for about $6000 dollars (except we told my dad it was only about $3000 - i really did not want to listen to him about how much was spent...)

for your enjoyment

my favorite dorothy parker poem...

Frustation

If I had a shiny gun,
I could have a world of fun
Speeding bullets through the brains
Of the folk who give me pains;

Or had I some poison gas,
I could make the moments pass
Bumping off a number of
People whom I do not love.

But I have no lethal weapon-
Thus does Fate our pleasure step on!
So they still are quick and well
Who should be, by rights, in hell.

no end in sight...

wedding plans are progressing, slowly...but progressing. everyone has a dress or tux except the parents of the bride (that is this weeks project). the photographer has been paid. the florist has been confirmed and a deposit paid. invitations will go out this week. just 3 more weeks and it will all be over. right now, the groom has poison ivy. hopefully, he will be fully recovered by the wedding, or it will be a lonely wedding night for him.

i do have plans for after the wedding i'm excited about. my niece and i are going to watch the Corpse Bride. that should be fun...

my grandmother is back in the hospital. this time the site from her hip surgery is infected. additionally, her doctor thinks she may have a clot in her calf and is bleeding somewhere else. she needs a blood transfusion. my mom is upset, which i understand, but keeps asking why do these things keep happening to my grandmother. my mother and several of my cousins have a different view of my grandmother than i do. she was very supportive of my cousins, always available to them. my sister and i did not have that same type of relationship with her. my mother remembers all the things my grandmother went through during her (my mother's) childhood (my grandfather was an alcoholic, and drank until my mother was 12). i remember the ways my grandmother would try to manipulate and guilt my mother into things.

i'm not saying that my grandmother deserves what has happened to her...just that the end of her life is no less complicated than the rest of her life...

I hate weddings...

remind me never to have one. my sister is getting married. yippee for her. unfortunately, she lives in Tuscaloosa and the wedding is here in our home town (a mere 3 hours away), leaving me and my mom to do most of the planning. however my mom has been busy lately with working and my grandmother (who is back in the hospital...more on that later). So, i've been printing the invitations and she calls me today to tell me i need to change the spelling of her husband-to-be's father's name. i had not printed that many, but still. the wedding is in 4 1/2 weeks. I HATE WEDDINGS!!!

my grandmother fell today (again) at her nursing home. last time, she had a subdural hematoma. this time, she has a broken hip. i think my great aunt is trying to make my mom feel guilty about putting her in a nursing home. i know my mom does not like seeing my grandmother in the condition she is in (no one would), but every time i spoke to her today, my mom sounded weepy. i can only hope she is not feeling guilty about my grandmother. my grandmother had reached the point where she needed around the clock care, and no one in my family was emotionally, financially, or physically able to provide that. the nursing home was the best place for her. and there is nothing anyone can do to change that.

on to lighter subjects, Transporter 2 opens in theaters next weekend. this is, of course, the sequel to The Transporter. Both movies feature Jason Statham (who is on my list of personal favorites with Vin and Josey). downside is that i am on call for the next two weeks, so probably won't get to see it until after. i am really looking forward to this movie. if it follows the pattern set by the first, there should be some excellent fighting sequences, as well as some amazing driving scenes.

well, things have improved slightly, i suppose. my grandmother has gone back to the nursing home, the relative i hate to love has gone home, and the relative i love to hate only calls 4-5 times a day instead of 10. the doctors think her bleed is resolving itself, but one of the xray reports of her hip mentioned something about a malignancy. Regardless of the final diagnosis/findings the plan is the same. we will do nothing, for the previously stated reasons.

my parents brought the kids of a guy my mom's trying to help out home with them from church. the father has an surgical site infection and needed to go to the emergency room. he has custody because the mother was caught smoking marijuana while pregnant with the 4 month old, and giving beer to the 15 month old. both kids have sweet dispositions, and are well behaved but are underdeveloped. the 4 month old is still small for 0-3 month clothes, and the 15 month old only says 2-3 words. i don't know if i trust the father and everything he says, but i feel so sorry for the kids. the mother, who has visitation (this is another tangent), brought the kids back today at 6pm and they are both sunburned. the little boy is wearing clothes that are too small for him. the diaper bag reeks of cigarette smoke and there are no diapers for the little boy.

all that leads me to this, people should have to get permits before they have children. these two people should never have been parents

perhaps the only real positive for me today is the fact that my internet connection is working again. it was been up and down all weekend (mostly down).

and one more thing before i go...i just watched tonight's episode of Wanted. i watch this show for 1 reason and 1 reason only...Josey Scott. unfortunately, it is not as rewarding an exercise as it could be. the show needs more josey, less everyone else...

I am sitting in the dark of my grandmother's hospital room. Sleep for me has been minimal, but I think this is the best night of sleep she has had in a long time. My grandmother is 76 years old and was diagnosed with Alzheimer's Disease about 5 years ago. My mother has custody of her, and has had since shortly after the diagnosis. She is in a nursing home, and yesterday morning she fell. Now she looks like she has been in a brawl. Her right eye is black and there is a laceration above it. Initially, we thought the worst injury would be a broken hip, but we were wrong. As it turns out, she didn't break any bones in her fall, but she does have a subdermal hematoma. There is a bleed in her brain. And all we can do is wait...

If the bleed resolves itself, she should be fine. The damage to her brain from the alzheimer's allows for more swelling than usual. If the bleed does not resolve itself, then the pressure on her brain will increase to the point where all bodily function will cease. This has caused no small degree of distress for some of my relatives.

I just can't get that upset about it, though. My person in that hospital bed is not the grandmother I remember. My grandmother no longer exists in that body. She has no quality of life, does not know who anyone is anymore. She has called me by a variety of names, none of which is my own. To do anything to prolong her life would only be selfish.

On to less weighty issues, but important none the less. Several months ago, I moved back in with my parents in order to save money for the down payment on a house (I have rented for several years, and have found renting is not conducive to saving money). I dread the thought of having to look for a house.

My mother has made a suggestion that my parents put my name on the deed of their home, then I get home improvement loan to update several areas of the house as well as add space to the back of the house where my room is to create a suite of rooms for me, a mother-in-law suite if you will without the mother-in-law.

Now I just have to decide if that is what I want to do...

I remember when I was a kid and it seemed like the days would last forever. I had time to do everything I wanted to, and still had time left to sit around and complain about being bored. What happened? I know...I grew up, I'm an adult, blah, blah, blah. That is not a reasonable explanation. Sure, I work more hours than I was in school, but now I don't have homework. Being single, I don't even pretend to cook for myself. Where is the time going??? All I really want is a couple of extra hours a day to kill and be killed by my friends while playing video games...

This feeling of not enough time is currently compounded by the stress of my sister's wedding. It is not my wedding, however, I think I am stressing over this more than my mom or my sister. The wedding is in less than 2 months, and we still don't have a complete plan for anything, and I do mean anything, associated with this wedding.

My mom thinks I need to be medicated because of my growing impatience with people. I think I just need people to be less stupid in my presence. The number of stupid people seems to be growing at a ridiculous rate. I know I am in the south, and even worse [gasp] Alabama, but there can not be that much inbreeding going on. Perhaps it's the water (my personal excuse for not drinking the water).