I Need Tea

My uncle died in the hospital last night. He had gotten to a point where he didn't recognise anyone, he was incontinent, his legs failed him, he was delusional, he was conducting imaginary business deals with invisible people on invisible phones all day long and all night and not sleeping. He was unable to pass either bowel or bladder movements; they catheterised him in hospital and removed a quart of urine. He was in a lot of pain too. So I'm glad he finally found release. My mom's standing strong. She knew he was on his way out. Mom's on her way home now, her plane gets into Manchester, NH around 4pm today. My dad's on his way to pick her up. No one has told my grandmother yet... I'm not sure she'll be able to handle it. He's her firstborn, and she was pretty shook up just knowing he was so sick.

I have got to get my driver's license. One whole week my mom's been gone, and no one would take me to the grocery store or the bank. The milk has gone sour. We were out of bread, and I finally convinced my brother to pick up a loaf on the way home from work, because it was going to be part of the sandwiches in his lunch the next day. I have been asking and asking for a ride to town, and I have gotten nowhere. I did get out of the house, but I was helping Patsy with her wedding stuff. I really need to get my license. I just am afraid of Jacob getting even more anal and complaining about me getting to drive for my license when he had a hard time getting people to help him. I know him. He is always seeing unfairness and bias against him in life, from everyone and everywhere, and he makes everyone suffer because of his imagined slights.

I'm going to go have some more tea and try to muster the motivation to clean up the house before my Mom gets home. Tea soothes the soul.

Patsy's Wedding

The ceremony was beautiful, it went off without a hitch, er, except the actual "getting hitched" part I mean. Patsy wore a sleeveless dress, and it's the first time I can ever remember seeing her shoulders. She hates to wear anything that shows her shoulders, she doesn't like them. But I think she was beautiful. The reception hall was perfectly decorated. Just one little problem. You see, instead of having one large wedding cake, Patsy ordered lots of small, individual cakes, each decorated to look like Christmas gifts. They were delivered to the reception hall, but someone stole 220 cakes! They had to call in the police and everything, and there weren't enough cakes for the guests to have some. I'm sure we'll all laugh at this soon. I'm going to clip the police report out of the paper. :)

I think my table had the most fun of anyone at the reception. We were joking and laughing, and I laughed so hard I actually had to use my inhaler! We kept joking with the head of the caterers that we wanted a huge glass of champagne and a bunch of crazy straws, so he went into the kitchen and came out with a huge glass of Sprite with six straws and set it on our table. (Guests could only have one free glass of champagne, so he had to do Sprite). We passed it around the table with glee. I kept my straw too! There was a chocolate fountain, and I just happened to be sitting with the two ladies who operated the fountain, so they brought over chocolate covered treats for us so we wouldn't have to wait in line. Yummy!

On Christmas Eve I went over to Patsy's parents house. Every year on Christmas Eve they hold a Chinese auction with friends and family. Everyone brings little gifts to set under the tree; people go up one at a time and get a gift to unwrap. Once you unwrap your gift, you can trade it for any gift that was unwrapped before you. They were mostly silly gifts, almost all clearance specials. Some of them were:
20 pounds of rice
50 travel-size sunblocks
Camouflage neckwarmer
flashlight
scissors with bottle opener
assortment of Reese's candies
Giant family sized can of Baked Beans
summer sausage
hand lotion
Christmas ornaments
a picture frame shaped like a cowboy boot (recycled from last year's Chinese auction)
mini cookbooks
boxes full of puzzles
a Rainbow Brite doll
Princess bandaids and Neosporin
I ended up with a toothbrush and toothpaste, 30 Hershey's Take 5 Candy bars, a fake adhesive mustache, two boxes of tea, a big bag of Fruity Dynobites cereal, a box of iced cinnamon cookies, and, my favourite, the Jones Soda 2005 Holiday pack. It includes Turkey and Gravy Soda, Herb Stuffing Soda, Brussels Sprout Soda, Cranberry Soda, and Pumpkin Pie Soda, all without sweetening. It also has a list of suitable wines to accompany your "meal", and a spork and wetnap. Oh, and in keeping with the theme, we ordered a big meal of Chinese food. But when they got to the Chinese restaurant to pick up the order, the person who had taken the order had only put people's first names down, so they had two different orders for "Steve" (Patsy's dad). They took a while to sort it out.

Patsy's sister brought her husband and four kids, and their four-year-old, Lacey, latched onto me right away. She would make multiple trips to the refreshment table to make sure I had a chance to try each and every piece of candy or cookie that was offered, and whenever she saw my drink was low she would run to refill it (no, I didn't ask her to, she did it on her own, despite my pointing to my ever-expanding gut). She wanted me to play every game with her and to read a book to her ("You can read these words to me if you want to"), and she even offered to help unwrap my presents. I would ask her what her favourite colour/animal/number/etc was, and she would first find out what mine was, and then, what a coincidence, hers was the same! What a cutie! I was so busy talking to her that I kept missing when my number was up to go get a present!

Christmas day I went to my grandparents house. We had biscuits with sausage gravy, and my cousin made tostadas. What a combination. I only stayed a little while, it was just a lot of commotion in a very small apartment. My brother-in-law, who drew my name for the gift swap, got me a beautiful purple chenille blanket and a matching velvety pillow. Anything purple is perfect! The blanket is very warm too.

Merry Christmas, Happy Solstice, Happy Chanukah, and Happy Boxing Day!

Pre-Wedding

Oh my goodness gracious, I had no idea how much work went into a wedding! Patsy handmade all her invitations, placecards, programs and table cards out of two different cardstocks, printed on her printer, and hand-affixed silver picture corners. She picked me up at 10am and I headed to the reception hall to help out. I helped her with the placecards and table cards, it was a lot of work! We placed programs and little boxes of jelly beans at each guest's place in the reception hall; her mother bought the jelly beans and assembled and filled the boxes herself. We set up centerpieces at each table (21 tables not including the head table), plus a centerpiece at the head table. She's having a Christmas-themed wedding, so we lit about a dozen Christmas trees, put up over 9,000 Christmas lights around the room, and set up about two dozen nativity scenes around the room, plus candles placed around on tables. I was only there for yesterday's work, but it took two full days in total to decorate the reception hall. Patsy was really stressed out. Lots of little family politics things, plus just wedding stress. There was the rehearsal at the church, then we went to Patsy's parents' home for an informal pizza-and-chips reception dinner. We got there about 8pm. In addition to the pizza and chips there were lots of cookies and sweets, and I was so hungry by then that I think I overdid it. I'll chalk it up to special-occasion binging. Back to being good after Christmas :).

I managed to make tuna salad and sloppy joes and do the dishes this morning, all in my ivory pantsuit for the wedding, without getting a single spot on the suit. I was so proud of myself, then I sat down and had a cup of tea and dripped it on my top. Thank God for OxyClean. I'm wearing a tshirt and jeans until it's time to go to the wedding. It's at 5pm. I was going to go early to help Patsy with stuff, but she called and said everything's all set, so I'm going around 4pm. I have to go to Fashion Bug first: the idiots left the security tag on my blazer. It's one of those that will explode indelible ink if you mess with it.

In addition to this being Patsy's wedding day, and two days before Christmas, it's also her birthday. Like she told me, if her hubby manages to forget their anniversary, her birthday or Christmas, he's in deep doodoo. I wish I had money to get her something. Maybe I'll get her something after the first of the year, a belated Christmas/wedding gift. I'm sure she'll understand. As it is, I'm going to her parents' house to spend Christmas Eve with her and her family; I think I'll dig out one of my fancy bottles of maple syrup, and maybe make some cookies. I may be broke, but I hate showing up empty-handed.

No Theme

My mom is currently on a plane, headed for Seattle. Unfortunately, she has a two hour layover in Chicago-OHare. I hate that place. I've only been to OHare once, and I'd love it if I never had to go again. One of her sisters backed out of travel arrangements because she has pleurisy (inflamation of the membrane around the lungs, very painful, as painful as pneumonia). So it'll just be my mom and my aunt Linda.

I have a rough draft of my second essay.... I had been really freaking out about it. The subjects for the two essays are 1. Personal Statement and 2. Please discuss the most important issue affecting the future of health care delivery in the country in which you intend to practice medicine. What had really been hanging me up about that second essay was the fact that I don't really know where I want to practice medicine. Then I talked to some SGU students and they helped me realize that this essay isn't about setting my plans in stone, but about showing the committee that I have writing and critical thinking skills, and that I have some kind of clue about the world of medicine. Then I realized that the word limit is "approximately 250 words", not the 1500 that I thought it was. What a piece of cake! So I wrote about public education in health matters in the U.S. It still needs a bit of tweaking, but I'm just so glad I finally got it typed! Now I just need to get those two letters of recommendation, get the College Board to send my SAT scores (will need about $50 for that, though), fill out the application basics and come up with the $75 application fee.

I finally got an outfit for Patsy's wedding (it's this Friday). My sister's husband just lost his best friend, so she had to back out of taking me to Boston today for the Dr's appointment and to shop for a dress. So I went to Fashion Bug (Not my first choice by any means) and found an ivory coloured pantsuit. I had really hoped to find a dress, but it'll have to do. It's pretty nice, very classy, just not as feminine and wedding-ish as I'd hoped. I hope Patsy thinks it's okay, since I'm actually going to be taking a small part in the ceremony. The rehearsal is on Thursday, and I'll be helping Patsy and her mom decorate for the reception, then go to the rehearsal and then the (very casual) rehearsal dinner. I can't believe it's happening so fast!

I am finally cleaning my room. If you've ever seen cartoon pictures of teenager's messy rooms, with clothes and crap piled high and a narrow path from the door to the bed, that's pretty much what my bedroom looked like. I am a clean freak everywhere else in the house, but my room has always been a place of chaos. I've been cleaning for days now and it's just starting to look halfway decent. The cats aren't sure what to think of it. This is also another sign of the Prozac working: I am motivated to make postitive changes in my life. Before, I couldn't muster the energy to pick up anything, and I just didn't care. Oh, and I'm watching much less television now.

I Used To Believe...

So I'm not going out to Seattle like I thought. My uncle has always been a little eccentric; he won't allow anyone to see him except his three sisters and his son. Even his ex-wife and his brother-in-law are only allowed into the kitchen, and that's only been in the last few weeks. So he won't let me go. I know it's not personal, he's just embarrassed and wants to hang onto his dignity. It's alright. At least now I'll be able to take care of the house while my mom's away in Seattle. My brother and my dad wouldn't know how to take care of the house, the pets or even themselves.
I want to point you all to an awesome website I discovered a few months ago called I Used To Believe. It's not as esoteric as it may sound; it is a treasure trove of all the funny misconceptions we all had as kids. For example, users write:
"I used to think that a one-way ticket meant you could never ever come back. Couldn't understand why anybody would ever buy one..."
"Because all my mother's childhood pictures are in black and white-- I actually used to believe that colour was a modern day thing and everything in the world was black and white before colour was "invented"."
"Every morning before my dad would leave for work he would tell me that he was off to make some money. I really thought that he spent his days at a machine creating pennies, nickles, dimes and quarters."
Well, here are some of my own:
My dad used to tell us about bugs called "Dirty Red Knuckle Biters", and we always thought they were the culprits whenever we got mosquito bites on our knuckles.
I used to think (when I was 4 or 5) that under my bed lived a turtle, a raccoon and an alligator, and they would watch me in my sleep and dive under my bed when I'd try to see them.
I used to think that maxi pads were special toilet paper that only mommies could use.
Anyone else have some interesting former misconceptions?

Stupid Crook Stories

Here are two real-life stupid crook stories that took place in my area.

First, last month in Farmington, Maine, a man walked into Howard's Rexall and demanded that the pharmacist give him oxycodone or else he was going to "blow the place up". The pharmacist simply looked at him and said, "I don't care what you say, I'm not giving you any pills. Now get out of here." And he did. He went to the Wal-Mart Pharmacy and they gave him an undisclosed number of harmless pills (vitamins, etc). I know from working there that all Wal-Mart employees are told to just go along with whatever someone like that says. Well, about a week later, the guy turned himself in, saying "I have a problem and I need help." Ya think? Hats off to that pharmacist at Howard's.

Then, last week in Jay, Maine (2 towns away), a woman was at her mother's house, helping out around the house. She heard a tapping on the door but was in the middle of doing something, so she didn't get to the door right away. When she did, she saw that someone was trying to force the door open. She quickly opened the door all the way, startling the would-be burglar. She told him, sternly, "Shame on you! Now, you get in here, you sit on this chair, sit on your hands and you wait while I call the police!" He did as he was told! He was 30 years old. He told the police, "I just break into places sometimes when I get bored." Ever hear of Solitaire? Hats off to the authoritative lady.

Bad News and Good News

Okay, the bad news first. My uncle Charles in Seattle has been diagnosed with terminal cancer. He has been given two months to live. My mom and I are trying to come up with funds to fly out there to help with his care for 3 weeks. I have never met him, but I know that he is a very intelligent, very accomplished man. He graduated from MIT, I think, and I know he has owned several successful businesses. It must be very hard for a man of his genius to have to depend on others for his care. He can't even lift a spoon to his mouth. I'm not really sure how I feel about all this just yet.

Well, let's move on to the good news. First of all, I am fairly certain that I've hit on the right pill to regulate this depression. I have been more interested in things, more active, less tired, and much more hopeful. I have gone back to obsessively writing lists about everything; this may sound more like a nutty thing to do, but it's actually just how my mind works. I like lists. And when I write them, it's an indicator that I'm hopeful and planning for the future, even if that only means for the day ahead. I'm getting back to my own version of normal, and I'm very relieved.

I forgot to mention that my little brother crashed the Jeep (that would go under bad news); but we're getting it fixed. Jacob will be taking that one back and forth to work at Sugarloaf, and my mom got a 2000 Jeep Cherokee Laredo. I love it! It's silver with a black leather interior, heated seats, lumbar support, moon roof, CD player and tape player, great sound system, and lots of "bells and whistles". It's got a lot of miles on it, but it's working beautifully, except for a few very small things which will be fixed by Tuesday. Plus, the payments are only $100/month, less than a third of what the other Jeep cost.

I know it's been a while since I posted about the radio station situation, but I wanted to be sure I had the story straight. They did have a meeting, and they assured everyone that they would make an effort to keep everyone in the loop, and apologized for the way they were acting. They told the secretary that she needs to learn how to do the bookkeeping on the computer; but she hates computers, so we'll see. The DJ's are all going to keep their jobs. My mom has even been offered some extra hours as a fill-in DJ at one of their other radio stations. They have lots of grand plans, and I don't think all of them are good ideas, but it's their business and they'll figure it out eventually. They're starting to really listen to everyone's ideas.

Monroe the Philosopher

So I guess I didn't post again yesterday like I said I would. Sorry! Making up for it today.
I would like to dedicate today's post to my pet spotted salamander, Monroe. Back in March, when I was still working at Wal-Mart, Andrea, my friend and coworker at the Customer Service desk, told me about an encounter she had in her cellar. She was doing laundry when she noticed something glossy and black with yellow spots on the floor next to her washing machine. She thought it was some kind of plastic or rubber toy, but when she picked it up, it moved. It was a spotted salamander, and she had no idea how to keep it alive, so she asked me if I wanted it. Of course I did! I took him home, researched his species on the internet, and discovered lots of nifty things about my new pet, Monroe. Spotted salamanders are the only kind of salamander native to Maine. They eat insects and worms (I feed him bait worms that I keep in the fridge). They can live to be 20 years old (yes, twenty!). They grow to between 5 and 9 inches at maturity, depending on their diet (Monroe is currently 7 and 1/2 inches long, he's grown about an inch since I got him). I keep him in a 10-gallon aquarium with moist soil, a couple of containers for him to hide in, and a Tupperware container with about two inches of water and a rock to make a little pond. He is still most of the day, but he is lightning fast when catching prey, and likes to swing it about like a dog with a chew toy. Although he doesn't really have teeth, his nip can be sharp, so I try to keep my fingers away from his line of vision. I like to think he's a philosopher, contemplating life's eternal questions, taking a dip in his pond between musings. Some people may think he's boring, but I think he's a really cool pet! For more information about spotted salamanders, visit here.

Seratonin

In recent months I have been switching medicines for depression, changing doses and all that. Changes in seratonin levels can have some strange and sometimes deleterious effects, such as insomnia, severe mood swings, homicidal/suicidal thoughts, irrational behaviour, headaches, anxiety attacks, nightmares, even sexual changes. I have experienced all those at one time or another during the course of my quest for the right "happy pill". But the strangest side effect yet happened yesterday, after my first dose of Prozac. Within a few hours, I noticed everything appeared out of proportion: my hands looked huge, the kitchen table looked tiny, the fireplace seemed to be really far away. These proportions kept changing as I looked at things, so one moment the rocking chair looked miniscule and out of reach, and without my moving an inch, it suddenly loomed large and close (from my weird perspective). I felt like I had gone "through the looking glass", and while it was a little scary, it was also a wee bit humourous. I told my mom what I was experiencing and she was quite distraught and wanted me to immediately call the pharmacist, but I told her I wanted to wait and see if it went away on its own, since it wasn't really harmful. Sure enough, this morning everything appeared to be its proper size and distance. Although it was kind-of fun staring at the morphing furniture, I'm rather relieved.

Occasionally I get to do little things to help out at the radio station: organize/catalogue the CDs, research and print out the news stories, research new songs, and pick out the themes and questions for the weekday trivia contest. I've done all sorts of catagories, like state birds, Peanuts cartoons, coin trivia, vegetables, famous TV dads, anatomy, US presidents, and many more. I've been doing this for so long, I'm seriously running out of ideas for trivia questions. Traditionally they have to be fairly easy and all along the same theme. If anyone has any suggestions for themes and/or questions, please let me know! I appreciate any ideas you can toss my way.

As has been my custom, I will most likely post again later today. Two posts every few days is easier for me than one post every day.

Happy Chester Greenwood Day!

I invite one and all to don their favourite pair of earmuffs in tribute to the father of muffs himself, Chester Greenwood. On the first Saturday of December, Farmington, Maine, the Earmuff Capital of the World, holds a parade with firetrucks, police cars, and countless imaginitive floats, all decorated with giant earmuffs. Hundreds of people turn up, wearing either their usual earmuffs or special-edition "original earmuffs", based on Chester Greenwood's original design (much thinner than we're used to). Chester Greenwood invented the earmuffs at the tender age of 15 in the year 1873, and his original factory still stands just outside Farmington. He made quite a fortune, and his former home, really a mansion in rural Maine terms, sits high on a hill overlooking downtown Farmington. In addition to the parade, the Polar Bear Club takes its annual dip in Clearwater Lake; there's a "Festival of Trees", where local businesses and individuals decorate trees and donate them to be auctioned off for charity; there's a chili cookoff; local businesses have special sales; and there is the ceremonial raising of the Chester Greenwood Flag at the courthouse. Many more activities abound, I just can't remember them all. It's definitely a unique thing to see an entire town decked in earmuffs, from light poles to school buses, and of course all the people. One of these days I'll see if I can upload some pictures for all of you that may find this spectacle interesting.

While you're reading about other people's lives, check out these blogs: Rebecca and Jack

Yenta

When my mother wants something done, she doesn't do it halfway. She has no problems making her voice heard. So I knew when she started telling me about all the crap going on at the station, she would get something done. She had a lengthy talk with the owners and apparently they are going to have an informational meeting with all the staff to quell rumors, establish communication and (hopefully) listen to suggestions. It's slated to happen on Monday, and I certainly hope all goes well.

In just a few weeks, on Dec. 23rd, one of my best friends from high school is getting married. Patsy-Jo and I have known each other since we were in junior high orchestra together. We went to string orchestra camp together and had some classes together in high school. Patsy-Jo has always been a romantic, seeing potential couples everywhere she went, and we often chided her about it. I even wrote a poem about her in our algebra class:

Ode to Yenta

Here lies Patsy,
The Yenta of Maine
Who followed our love lives
In sunshine and rain.
"The dirt on your prom night!"
She pleaded all day;
"Your last date? Your next date?
Was that you with Jay?
I'll match you, I'll break you,
I'll get you engaged!"
When secrets were kept,
Curiosity raged.
"C'mon, did he ditch you?", or,
"Did your mom see?", or,
"If you don't want him,
Then send him to me!"
Oh, yes, here lies Patsy,
The matchmaker quite.
May she be buried with
Her Mr. Right.

Pretty good, I think, considering I wrote it in seven minutes in sophomore algebra class. In case you're not a fan of Fiddler on the Roof, Yenta is the name of the meddling matchmaker in the musical. She still blushes when I mention it. I can hardly believe she's getting married! Back in high school, I was the one who usually had a boyfriend and she was always single. Now I've been single for years and she's getting hitched. I'm very happy for her though, her fiancee is a great guy and makes her happy. I'll be doing a scripture reading in her ceremony; I'll read it in English and her fiancee's sister will read it in French.

I'm so pleased to see all the comments on this blog! It's definitely incentive to post more.

WKTJ, Where The Good Songs Have Gone

As mentioned in my bio, my mother is a DJ at the local radio station, WKTJ FM 99.3 . It's a very small station, very community-based. There are currently three full-time DJs and two or three fill-in DJs. It plays adult contemporary, but on some nights my mom decides to go into heavy classic rock for a few hours. It was the last station in Maine, and one of the last in the country, to adopt computer automation, and still they only automate a few hours a day. That means live DJs most of the day, something most radio stations can't say. They routinely cover local events like high school football and basketball, the Chester Greenwood Day Parade, and local business events; they also broadcast every Red Sox game to an eager fandom. WKTJ has been the #1 radio station in Maine for 3 years, and my mom has been the #1 most popular DJ for the same amount of time.

However, a few days ago the station was sold. The new owners want to automate much more; they're bringing in a whole bunch of new technologies. They want to broadcast the John Tesh Show instead of covering the Chester Greenwood Day Parade. They are firing the secretary, who has been there for decades, in favor of the wife of one of the owners. They are trying to change the whole dynamic of the station without bothering to find out what the community or their sponsors have to say. I really hope they wise up soon. They've taken over the sales accounts of our primary salesman, and they're even threatening to get rid of all of the staff and replace them with their own cronies. This is an historic station, very loved in the community, and they're slitting their own throats.