Don't ask the question if you're not sure you want the answer

So, remember the post a few days ago (ok last week I admit it) where I mentioned my sister and the cancer and all that? I asked my mom which type of Leukemia she had had. She had CML (Chronic Myelogenous Leukemia). If you read the wikipedia entry you see that had she gotten the disease four years later, she most likely would have lived. Gleevec was approved in 2001. She was diagnosed in February of 1997. (And died in 02).

My older niece is in college now. She started this week I think. I don't know if she got a lot of money from the school or if satan is paying her way, but he promised to pay my nephew's way too this year and apparently that fell through. My pop doesn't know if it is due to satan or due to my nephew. Chris is a bit of a stubborn stubborn boy. He apparently has a weird refusal to fill out a FAFSA to see if he could get other aid. He's an orphan who earns some ridiculous minimum wage working for Target... he should be getting grants up the ass. Silly boy.

Old Age

I'm always fascinated when I hear a certain famous person is some age beyond 70. My dad turned 71 this year and I swear he must be the oldest 71 year old in the history of people. So when I realize that Barbara Bush is in her 80s or John McCain is 70 something I'm kind of amazed about how different their lives are. Besides the obvious, but more how they're getting out there and doing stuff regularly and not really slowed down as much as my dad is. You would think this would encourage me to lead a healthier lifestyle. So far it hasn't. :)

Surreal

So this may not be weird to most people but it was kind of weird to me... I went to a volunteer appreciation event Saturday. It was for the Leukemia and Lymphoma society. They held it at Fred Hutch Cancer Research Center. I've never been to the Fred Hutch Center and actually didn't realize it was where it is. So here's why this was weird to me... my sister received her bone marrow transplant there. And that's all I could really think as I walked the halls... my sister had been here for a time. They almost killed her here (not on accident... on purpose. When you get a transplant they have to basically kill you and then bring you back.) The facility is beautiful. But as I walked down to the location the event was being held, I still couldn't help but think about the fact that it is a cancer hospital. And that was a bit depressing honestly.

They also did a presentation about leukemia and lymphoma and it was a bit sad I suppose in that there have been so many advances in treatment that my sister was maybe 1 - 2 years short of getting the benefit of. I'm pretty sure it wasn't the cancer that killed her, but the graft vs host disease. (although I could be wrong, it wouldn't be the first time since despite our Catholicness we are very WASPy in my family what with the not talking about things and all). So if she could've avoided the transplant, maybe she wouldn't have died you know?

So I'm sitting in this event which I went to because I really feel I need to get out and meet more people. Plus you know the dream... the hottie who volunteers right? :) And I'm sitting by my self because most people came with their spouses or with their friends (before you say anything Stephen I didn't invite you for two reasons... 1 - the invite said immediate family only please and you are not immediate family and 2 - how can I meet hottie who volunteers when I'm sitting with you??) and two of the women who work for Leukemia & Lymphoma Society sat with me. Which was nice because the people on one side of me were talking a lot about their own diagnoses and their treatments and the evil little part of me thought, dude, you people are old, why did you survive it? Well, actually the guy sitting catty corner across from me actually was currently in the throes of chemo so technically he hasn't survived it yet. But I digress. So it was nice that these other two ladies sat with me. But of course they asked about why I volunteered and the one offered the relative truism that most people who volunteer for them do so because they have been touched by it. So I said my sister had had it and they asked how she was and I said she died. And I will admit I'm usually rather blunt about the whole thing. I'm not one to say passed away or whatever. She died. Which of course slightly embarrassed the woman and I forget what all she asked but she probably got way more information about the whole thing than she needed. Oh yes because she asked about having kids etc. So all in all it was a mixed bag of experience. Although I did sit and watch the whole Willy Wonka & The Chocolate Factory movie they showed. I love that movie. Although I'm about 98% certain I dozed off during the part where (ooh actually that just went to 100% as I try to think about this) Violet goes all the way to the Wonka Wash. Hee.

Blanket Officianado

I think I've mentioned that Tess loves the green blanket my mom got me for Christmas. She LOVES it and frequently will sleep curled up by my feet on the blanket. To try to get my blanket back from her, I bought Tess a little pink cat blanket from the pet store. I swear it feels just like the green blanket. She doesn't like it. She still goes for the green... and worse... she's taken to climbing up onto the sofa and sleeping under it so when I go to sit down I sit on her. Poor girl. She's been sat on twice in the last week.

Hee. I started this post yesterday and this morning couldn't figure out where it went. Apparently I fell asleep before posting it. So silly.

Random bits and bobs

I went and saw Fly Me To The Moon last night with Ben, who is 5. It was much better than I thought it was going to be. He was entranced. He may have played it cool when he talked to his dad (Stephen) later, but he spent the whole movie with his eyes glued to the screen. It is in 3-d but doesn't rely too heavily on those stupid 3-d tricks. There are definitely some effects but it is not as much as it could have been. The story was good and I really enjoyed it. There's a Russian substory where the Russians are trying to sabotage the reentry of the Apollo 11 shuttle, which I thought was unnecessary, but I think the creators thought it necessary because otherwise I just paid $9.00 for a kid to watch a movie that was only an hour long. (With the Russian story it was an hour and 25 minutes.) I really enjoyed the animation of the moon and the earth and what it would be like to travel in space. (Although I think with space being a vacuum and all, the flies wouldn't have been able to use their wings to move about the way they could because there'd be no air resistance, although I could be wrong about that.)

I spent yesterday evening wondering about how birds and reptiles procreate. I read this article on Yahoo about a turtle who could now mate because she had been attached to a skateboard after her back end was paralyzed and then I was obsessed with figuring out how birds and reptiles reproduced.... I know I know they lay eggs but how do the eggs get fertalized? I then became curious about chicken pen1ses only to discover that's not what they do at all. They and reptiles reproduce through the cloaca. I had no idea. I feel so much smarter now. :) (Also how did I miss this in biology or science or whatever I took??!!) (Ok rereading the article, some birds do have a pen1s. How weird is that?! Also, clearly I'm a 12 year old boy because now I'm laughing about swan pen1ses.)

Priorities

Michelle & I were going to discuss priorities when I came down, but clearly due to my airline that didn't happen. :(

So I've been thinking about them and here they are:

1 - Obtain a job that will both pay me enough and give me some flexibility so that I can adopt children. I work in kind of a specialized field. AND ultimately I work in a field where I have to find an employer who is large enough to need a benefits manager, but for my own sanity isn't so large I'm lost there. For example, I wouldn't want to work at the evil empire. This also requires me to live in a moderately sized community or larger.

2 - Adopt said children. I originally said I want to do this in 2 years. Honestly 2 years was an arbitrary deadline I set for myself because I know me. I can procrastinate until hell freezes over. I don't want to be 55 and look back and say whoops, I should've when I had the chance and when in the hell did I turn 55? (Because honestly, periodically, I think to myself how in the hell am I 34 already?!) And, when I said 2 years I really meant start the process in 2 years. I know it can take up to a year or more. Plus while adopting said children I have to do the other stuff to get there - bigger place to live, larger support network, etc.

Everything else isn't really a priority just something I want to do. I want to take a real vacation sometime before I adopt children. Once I adopt, if I remain a single parent the money won't be there for me to do it again for a long long time - if ever.

Transformers

I've watched parts of Transformers several times this weekend. I really do enjoy the movie. I LOVE that the chick is a badass. But, the one thing that drives me crazy about this movie, I cannot believe for a minute that the military tacticians would think it is a good idea to bring the Allspark into a town. It drives me nuts. But I totally will see the 2nd movie. :)

Also, I went and saw Pineapple Express this weekend. Fucking hysterical. I laughed so hard through the whole movie. I was a little worried because the reviews were so positive that I would hate it, but no. It was great.

Disappointment

I was supposed to go see Michelle and Kenna and Bryan this weekend. Alas, the flight had other plans for me. I got to the airport at 1:20 and was hanging out waiting for my 2:40 flight. The 2:40 flight became a 3:15 flight. The 3:15 flight became a cancelled flight. It took them HOURS to rebook all of us and I was booked onto the last flight out of Seattle that would get me to LAX at 1:00 AM. In between I had tried calling my sister about 15 million times. I finally got ahold of her at 7:30, about 30 minutes before my flight was due to leave. She did a bunch of checking and discovered that although my flight was only 1 overbooked like the CSR told me... there were 11 people ahead of me on the stand by list. There was no way I was making that flight and leaving this morning would've meant getting there after the party so I'm home this weekend. :(

I will say this, I totally went on TSA's website to figure out the best way to take my liquid cough medicine because it is in a 4 oz bottle. They said to declare it at security and give it to an agent to examine. I tried that. The guy looked at me like I was crazy and made me put it through the x-ray without even looking at it. I feel oh so much safer now TSA.

Back in the boot

Sigh. I went to physical therapy today. She wants me back in a boot for 3 weeks. Until I can be pain free while walking. And then I wean off the boot instead of just stopping. I'm fine wearing the boot. It does help a lot, but it is so damn hot. (Although it does mean I get fun special treatment at the airport. ;) )

Mixed bag

Yesterday I was cracking up in my grocery store because there was this little voice on the other side of the aisle saying "Pease... pease...pease...pease." I know I shouldn't laugh and I know her mom was probably getting peeved but the little girl's pleading for whatever it was the mom had that she wanted totally was funny. She was also a cute little girl. (They were in line behind me while the little girl continued her "Pease...pease...pease... I think she wanted some goldfish but her mom wanted to pay before giving the kid the snack.)

The other day at dinner there was a little boy who was so cute and well behaved I think an ovary exploded. I had to tell the couple that he was adorable and very well mannered. I've become one of THOSE people...

As much as I dislike Paris Hilton, I loved LOVED her ad in response to the John McCain ad. I do appreciate that she seems to have some sense of self-awareness and a sense of humour about herself.

One other celebrity thing that I kind of hate... Morgan Freeman and Shia LeBouf were both in car wrecks while having another person in the car with them. I hate all this weird speculation about why those people were in the car with them. People give rides to coworkers or friends all the time, it doesn't mean someone's cheating.

Also, I should feel ashamed (but I don't) I bought the People Magazine spread with the Jolie-Pitt babies. All things considered, they do have a very attractive brood. I do wonder if the adopted ones will have some of the issues that all my adopted kids books indicate are inevitable. Maybe they've already got the troop of therapists on retainer.

Scared myself

I just looked at the old blog post from when I took Tess & Rig home and there I quoted their ages as being 2.5 years which would make them only 5 now. So then I looked at the ferret shelter site and there they were listed as 3 or 4 (and I remember distinctly on their cage they were listed as 4). I'm not saying I want them to die because I do love having pets, but if they had 3 more years to live that would change some of my plans because I will not even attempt to adopt children while owning ferrets. (Also that would mean another 3 years of Tess's shots which mysteriously keep changing price on me.)

Because I like to whine...

My right eyelid is twitching mercilessly. And it is driving me nuts.

I did sleep like the dead last night thanks to my good friend cough medicine with codeine. That was nice. I didn't wake up until 6:15 this morning. I have the feeling Rigby tried all her usual tricks to get me out of bed because when I woke up I discovered her sleeping curled up by my knees. She only does that after she has walked around my body and stuck her nose to my nose and done all her other things to get me out of bed. She then gives up and just hangs out until I get out of bed. This was the first morning in a long long time that I slept through that entire process. I might love cough medicine with codeine.

PM's current place of employ has a cat opening for what I do. Upon emailing with her she pointed out the illogicallity of attempting to acquire that cat based on the commute with family factor and the if I lived closer to that cat the family far from PM which defeats that purpose. I'm in an interesting conundrum. I kind of have to wait for the ferrets to die (which, given their life spans, should be any time now although they certainly don't act like they are decrepit) if I want to move back to CA. They are illegal there and although I don't have an issue with breaking that stupid ass law, Tess needs a shot every month and although there are vets who treat ferrets there I would rather not have to deal with that monthly.

Sleeeeeeeppppyyyyy

Also, guiafffaasseeen (how do you spell that?) (Cough medicine with codeine) is really really tired making. I took it about 40 minutes ago and suddenly I'm getting very sleepy. My eyes are getting heavier and heavier. Pretty soon I will be asleeeee.........

Why do I even bother?

I went to the doctor today for death cough. (Death cough is the cough I get once the cold has left me and I spend the next week coughing my ass off and having pain in my ribs and back because of it.) And as usual, there's nothing that can be done for me. She gave me some cold medicine with codeine and I went on my merry way. Sigh. Next time I'm not going to bother going. Also apparently I don't have pertussis. Big schocker, my parents actually believe in immunizations so I was immunized against it years and years ago.

Although I did discuss my tonsil stones with her (gross white solidish things that I cough up periodically). She said that they were because I have large tonsils and large tonsil crypts. Ew. Oh and there's nothing much to do. Sigh. I didn't ask if I could get them taken out but the thought crossed my mind. I suspect my insurance will not support that as I read on WebMD that physicians don't typically take tonsils out of adults. Although after reading the wikipedia site about tonsil removal, I don't want to do that anyway. Ew scabs. EW EW. But there was a link about tonsil stones which also ew. ew.

Kill me now...

I'm turning into my mother. My mom believes that if one is good 10 must be better. Yesterday when I stopped into QFC to pick up some bacon salt for Michelle, I wasn't sure what kind to get her. I had called and left a message but my cell was at home so I didn't see her text response. Originally in my message I had said I'll just get original but if you want the other two let me know and I'll pick them up to. While at QFC I thought, well I'm here and I'm currently thinking of it, I'll just get all three types and if she doesn't want the other two I can either use them myself or give them to someone else. That is exactly what my mother would do. I'm so ashamed.