Weekly Log - 22 through 28

Monday Dec 22

Well, I stayed in, recovering from my sore head and a sore throat which manifested early this morning. My peace and quiet didn't last long. Soon enough I was in blower country: Pops calling from one side, Mum from the other (and never calling each other! It's uncanny! I feel like a UN interpreter trying to make peace between two rival countries!), and uncles and aunts and shit. Every half an hour or so, it was ringing, until I was so fed up I wanted to test the cell's resistance to gravity from my second-story window. Then at the end of the day an ambulance brought in my Grandma, who's gonna be staying with us a while. Let me rephrase: she's gonna be staying for an undetermined period of time. For an undetermined period of time, my Mum was sent out of her bedroom. For an undetermined period of time, we have no couch in the living room. Hardly any gamble to it: she's coming here, period.

Those of you who used to read Bored, Inc. might or might not recall a time, about five years ago, when my Grandma was living with us, and fighting breast cancer. There was a re-incidence, so she's back. We single-handedly took care of her back then, becoming miserable in the process. This time around everyone said they'd be chipping in to help, but I have my doubts as to how long this help will last. I know these people all too well, they're my family, and I've been dealing with their bullshit since I was little. Remember a couple weeks ago when I wrote I foresaw bad times ahead? They're fuckin' here. This woman should be in a hospital, she's debilitated, she's weakened, and she's gonna be staying in a house where most people are usually absent. Oh I foresee bad effin things for this situation, bad effin things.

Pops also got me a new bed, since mine was falling apart. It's nice to be sleeping in a proper bed now.

Tuesday Dec 23

Cleaned up the room, aired old clothes I found in storage, went through the books for keepers and goers, and found a slightly better display for the room. I'm trying to get into this year with a right foot on. Gonna celebrate the going away of effin' 2008 with much glee. Another one that brought nothing good.

Work was kinda dull, and then it was shopping time. An hour and a half in the meat shop. Do not underestimate the power of old ladies in big groups. They missed their number being called, delayed the line even further and got me thinking all manners of weird shit. Like if it'd be politically correct to have frogs' legs on display like they have skinned, dead bunnies. Or how come some people can't tell the difference between lamb and veetle until someone either tell them the price difference or whack them in the head with each.

During the night, I could hardly get a blink's worth of sleep. Grandma kept coughing and wheezing and spitting. Her lungs are full of liquid and that has to come out somehow. But you have no idea, until you get a good earful, what it is to try and take meal or sleep while this is going on.

Wednesday Dec 24

I woke up, my uncle was vacuuming. Got notice that one of my cats has gotta go because there's too much fur in the house and it's bad for Grandma. They've been trying to get rid of them ever since I adopted them, and apparently now they won over Mum, and this is her house, so her word goes and her word is, Magoo goes. They sent me shopping early on the day before Christmas, I was about to lose my mind amongst the old ladies on the supermarket. Nobody comments on how we didn't put up the decorations. Apparently nobody notices we really don't feel like effin' Christmas this year. It's like I had the police at my place, forcing me unto celebration. Fa-la-la-la-fuck-this-shit.

Thursday Dec 25

It is written in stone slabs somewhere in Murphy's fortress that on the 24th I celebrate a holiday I hate, and then on the 25th I go have lunch with people I don't get along so well with. So at eleven, I got out of the house and marched my way to Pops' den.

When I came back, it seemed as though I was walking inside a crazy house. Grandma was coughing and spitting, my aunt was yelling at something, Mum was missing, my uncle and my Granfather were loitering. Went to hide to my bedroom so I wouldn't have to walk back out the door.

Friday Dec 26

I went out to the bar with some friends, we drank shooters, ate burgers and had beer. Good times. I had fun tonight, it'd been a while. Earlier on my cousin showed up as well, and we had the opportunity to play some games. Even with the overall shit, Friday decided to spare me.

That is, until I got back home from the bar and couldn't sleep because Grandma kept groaning and spitting. I'm glad I ate at the bar.

Weekend Dec 27-28

What a weekend... get me outta here. My cousin and a friend dropped by to play games on Sunday and it was the high of my weekend. On Saturday I was left in charge of Grandma all morning. I know she wants attention and I know she wants to talk. But I spent two hours listening to hospital stories. By the time my aunt got there to get in charge, I was ready to set a few medical facilities on fire, take my clothes off and walk about greeting people and telling them I'm King Charles I. My aunt's full of shit: she said she'd take care of everything. She gets there late and leaves early. Well, she's the smart one, actually: she's not cutting off on any of her own matters to do this. That's our effin job, as it seems.

By the end of Sunday I picked up God Hand to pop open a little can o' whoopass the old fashioned way, all the while muttering lines from The Good, the Bad and the Ugly (1966) and Old West one-liners. Crow, I'm going nuts...

The download upgrade for this week went likeso: some stuff from Kate Bush, some stuff from Queen, some stuff from the 80's in general, God Hand's soundtrack, a better media player for Ubuntu (Banshee) plus the Deadlands d20 setting books, keeping with the cowboy theme in general. This is odd: I was never big on westerns, with the possible exception of the aforementioned movie and a thing or two by the Duke that everyone watches at a point or another of their life. I think it was the clip for Muse's Knights of Cydonia my cousin sent me earlier this week that did it...