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Wednesday, December 16th, 2009
mizunoaoi
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10:45p
Financial hemorrhage.
Well, I've had my Father back from the hospital for a couple of days now. He seems to be doing alright, all things considered, like a needle inserted directly into his bladder and draining into a catheter. All the time he spent in the hospital and they couldn't tell us what was wrong. An hour at a specialist's office and we know what's wrong. I'm a bit miffed at the hospital for that.
On the plus side it's not padd or cancer. It's just scar tissue from when my Father got radiation therapy. On January 6th he goes in for surgery.
I just got done running around to five different pharmacys trying to get supplies my Father needs only to find out that no one carries what he was told he should be able to get at a pharmacy. Whee.
Dropped the usual $50 on Christmas cards. $20 in stamps. It pretty much the only thing I can do for others this year. Two trips to hospitals, buying antibiotics, pain killers, medical supplies, eating out because of hospital visits, and fuel have put a dent in my funds. No new phones or plan this year.
No matter, I can't get emails back from various companies anyway. I'm going to have to resort to physically calling Google to get answers. Motorola, the people who made the phone, don't know squat. Verizon, the people selling the phone, don't know squat. I needed information form the makers of the Android OS, but their customer service is the worst.
Actually, I'm going to do the least I can do for my girlfriend for Christmas. I'm going to foot the bill for her to visit her friends and family in Washington. I'm doing this because her family won't even though they miss her and want to see her. It's going to pretty much be the only thing I can do this year.
current mood:  meh
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(3 comments | comment on this) Monday, December 14th, 2009
mizunoaoi
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11:06a
I hate hospitals.
Well, my Father was released this morning. Just got him back home. No, they did not fix the problem we went in for. I'm a bit upset about that. It's like you take your car to a mechanic and he he just puts it in the parking lot and then calls you up a week later telling you to come get it without doing anything! And charging you for it!
Turns out I wasted $100 on the antibiotics from last time. They gave him a liquid version through his IV while he was there. That rubs me the wrong way, too.
Now he gets to be uncomfortable at home with worse room service.
Oh wow. I've been in many not so good moods since the end of November. No wonder my health seems to be taking a dive.
current mood: crappy
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(5 comments | comment on this) Sunday, December 13th, 2009
(2 comments | comment on this) Saturday, December 12th, 2009
ruakh
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4:21p
Happy Hanukkah!
ܗܚܠܛܬܝ ܫܐܢܝ ܠܐ ܡܚܒܒ ܟܬܒ ܪܗܘܛ ܥܒܪܝ, ܗܝܘܬ ܫܩܝܝܡܗ ܟܒܪ ܟܬܒ ܝܕ ܩܫܘܪ ܠܟܬܒ ܗܥܒܪܝ: ܗܟܬܒ ܗܣܘܪܝ. ܠܟܢ, ܗܚܠܛܬܝ ܠܢܣܘܬ ܠܠܡܘܕ ܠܟܬܘܒ ܒܟܬܒ ܗܣܘܪܝ.
(Translation: I've decided that I don't like Hebrew cursive, seeing as there already existed a script related to the Hebrew alphabet: the Syriac script. Therefore, I've decided to try to learn to write in the Syriac script.)
In other news, my sister says that my journal is hilarious, but only once you realize that it's hilarious? I'm not completely sure what to make of that statement. I mean, I've been told that my sense of humor is "subtle", and I've been told that it's "dry" — both of which surprised me, because I usually think of myself as very straightforward — but this is the first time I've been told that it's actually invisible until you know it's there. *shrug* So anyway, if any of you is looking for some hilarity in your life, um, just "know" that my journal provides it, and suddently it will. How's that for a parlor trick?
I was planning on writing about some other things, but I haven't really eaten or drunk yet today, and I gave blood (I've now given three gallons in Ohio! — but man, am I starting to hate the Red Cross), so I should really take some steps towards making my stomach not collapse in on itself.
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(11 comments | comment on this) Friday, December 11th, 2009
mizunoaoi
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3:00p
Keeping people in the know
My Father is in the hospital again. Took him in yesterday and this time they kept him. He was doing so well, too. Eating more, getting up on his own, and generally feeling better. In fact he had said that in regards to pain a 2 out of 10, when only days ago he was saying 9 out of 10. And that 2 out of 10 was on a half dosage of pain killer even!
But this'll teach me to get my hopes up. Yesterday he ate more for breakfast than he's had the past three because he finally got an appetite back. And then he found that he couldn't urinate. We didn't wait this time and I took him right to the ER. We got lucky and got an old classmate of Father's for a doctor. That made things go a bit better. A bit. They tried to put a catheter in but they could not reach the bladder. Most likely due to the prostrate. After a few attempts they stuck a needle directly into the bladder to drain it. They had to call in a specialist. But this guy was stuck in near white out conditions about 50 miles away.
So they move Father to a hospital room. At this point I'm running on a banana for breakfast and little else at 5:30pm. Father tells me to go home and get something to eat. I grudgingly obey. Specialist was supposed to be there at 7. He didn't get there until 9. It was late so he only did a partial exam and said he'd do more the following day. Well that'd be today and as of 1pm the specialist still hasn't shown up. There has been some talk of surgery. I don't know when they'll let me have my Father back.
I asked if he wanted me to come and bring anything but he said he was fine. He said he'd call me when he had more information on the situation. I dislike not knowing anything or being able to do anything.
current mood: crappy
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(1 comment | comment on this) Tuesday, December 8th, 2009
ruakh
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8:16p
Dreams.
One of my LJ-friends, ![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif) bayfm, mentioned dreams in a recent entry; and that night I had a dream. I mean, technically speaking I suppose I probably have a dream every night, in fact many dreams, because everyone does, but I don't usually remember my dreams, and that night I had one that I later remembered. All of which is to say, the theme of this entry is: dreams. Which isn't really a necessary preface, since the title of this entry is "dreams", so most of you probably knew this entry would be about dreams, but I think it's nice sometimes to introduce an entry. And I really don't have many opportunities to refer to my sister as "one of my LJ-friends", because we're also friends in real life. So yeah.
One thing I really hate is when I have a dream that's set in the world of a TV show I've been watching. I'm not sure why I hate it so much, but I think a big part of it is that it feels lame. Firstly, it makes me think I've watched too much of the show too quickly, even by my standards; and secondly, dreams are like, the ultimate canvas for a fictional universe. Screw "show, don't tell"; in dreams, you just magically know, even feel whatever it is your subconscious wants you to. Even more than in real life, really; in real life everything is mediated by your senses, but in a dream, you often know things that are directly contrary to what you're perceiving. Crazy times. So all that medium to work with, and the best thing my subconscious can come up with is fan-fic? Nothing against fan-fic, of course, but just like how the movie adaptation of a wonderful book is very rarely as wonderful, well, the same thing applies to the dream adaptation of a good TV show.
Even worse is when I have a dream that's me playing sudoku or FreeCell or that one game we played in college with the undulating background where different colors try to swallow each other.
Another thing I really hate is when a TV show, or other bit of serial fiction, decides that since it's fiction anyway, it's O.K. if it goes even more fictional. For example, growing up I used to read a monthly kids' magazine called 3-2-1 Contact (since renamed Contact Kids), which for quite a while had a bit of serial fiction called The Time Time, about two kids named Sean and Jenny. (BTW, "Sean" is pronounced like "scene" or "seen". I mean, I'm sure the writers meant it to be pronounced "shawn", but it being a magazine, the pronunciation was up to the readers, and this reader didn't know how "Sean" was supposed to be pronounced.) There was one two-parter that I never found the first part of, but they had traveled into the future, and ended up on a very-high-gravity planet that they'd never be able to escape from. The "resolution" at the end was when they discovered that the natives of the planet, who spent almost all their time in a dream-state, could help Sean and Jenny to create their own dream-state wherein they were basically back in their normal lives. The implication, presumably, being that all later issues were them in their dream-state rather than reality. I could not accept this. Permanent dream-state is not a magic reset button! Even though I knew logically that all the historical fiction was still going to be historically accurate — it's not like the writers were going to use the dream-state as an excuse for historical inaccuracy — it totally just ruined the series for me. Suspension of disbelief is great, but it still requires there to be a specific "reality" that you're suspending disbelief of.
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(4 comments | comment on this) Monday, December 7th, 2009
ruakh
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8:00p
Questions from ginamariewade.
1. When I was in college, fraternities were not very friendly towards gay men. Yet you were an AEPi. How was this experience for you? Was this before you were out, or have frat boys evolved at lightspeed in the 20 years since I was a student?
( … )
2. Favorite breakfast.
( … )
3. Provided everything was fit to eat, what would be the worst meal you could imagine? (i.e., foods you don't like.)
( … )
4. What was your second choice for career?
( … )
5. Have you ever had a haircut so bad that you wore a hat to cover it up for a while?
( … )
If you'd like me to ask you five questions, reply to this entry with some variation on the theme "Early to bed and early to rise, makes a man healthy and wealthy and wise." Cleverest variation gets a bonus question.
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(4 comments | comment on this)
mizunoaoi
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1:21a
Of Birthdays
Yesterday, the 6th, was my birthday.
My Mother's gift to me was time off from taking care of my Father. So I went shopping in search of foods my Father could eat while on an upset stomach. Yeah, I couldn't really escape thinking about him.
It's certainly Christmas time. People are full of the Christmas spirit I talked about a few posts back. I don't know why it brings out the rudeness in people more. Oh, and I saw a child, nary 12 years old, texting while pushing a shopping cart. He ran into his mother at least once that I know of. I got a cashier who was incompetent and I had to personally rearrange the stuff in the bags.
Stopped by Starbucks afterward. tsubomi ended up informing the worker there that it was my birthday. "Happy birthday!" Followed by Tsubomi informing him why it's not so happy a birthday. "Oh, I'm sorry." Ordered a grande (medium), got a venti (large), paid for a tall (small). That was really nice.
Came home and made Father some chicken soup and dry white toast. My Mother ushered us off as he began to eat. I was happy that he was trying to eat more. We left to try to figure out where to go for my birthday dinner. We settled on Olive Garden. It wasn't bad, although I could of done without the Christmas music. The World of Warcraft discussion two tables away was amusing, though. And thank you prinser for your gift (though you're not supposed to do that. Not through the mail). I had a nice dinner because of you. And I'll do something else nice for myself as well, as you requested.
Came home and talked with my Father some. Turns out he didn't really eat much of anything. Four spoonfuls of soup and three little bites of toast. The talk also upset me some (read: quite a bit) so I decided it's a good time to break into my birthday cake my Mother brought. A rich and decadent chocolate cake. Not that good an idea. And Tsubomi found out the hard way I wasn't doing too well.
So, my birthday came to an end. In total I received 18 birthday wishes. 9 via email (including one from livejournal's messaging service), 5 from TinierMe, 4 irl, and 2 cards/letters. No livejournal entries. Not even a gift such as the free snowflake. Nothing on Gaia. And my birthday was ignored for the second year in a row on The Northern Lights.
Speaking of TNL I posted about what is going on regarding my Father the 5th. It is now the 7th, 16 views, no replies. At least jenova_silver gave me some consolation on my live journal post about it (thank you).
tsubomi has also been wonderful during these difficult times. Thank you.
current mood: crappy
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(4 comments | comment on this)
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