Truth Be Told

A few weeks ago, My Sweetie and I were having a conversation. And in the midst of this conversation, he looked at me calmly and stated, "You know, I believe you are going to go to Hell."

I, of course, ask him, "You're telling me this why?"

He responds with, "You're not a very nice person."

I laughed. "Fourteen and a half years in, and you're just figuring this out? I'm good!"

We both laughed.

Whole Lot of Stuff Goin' On

2014 was Hell. Starting in April, and ending Not Just Yet.

Long story short, my sister was sent by Life Flight with brain trauma. After life-saving surgery, she began having seizures, and was sedated and put on life-support. It took almost 2 weeks to get the seizures under control, and she woke up on Mother's Day last year. She couldn't speak, and couldn't walk...she was released to a nursing home a week before my 96 year old Grandmother died.

Since then, she has progressed to walking, sometimes with a cane, and now comes to my house to play practical jokes. Yay!

My mother is channeling her mother. It wouldn't be so bad, but Grandma wasn't all that nice.

It was also really great that my brother went batshit crazy and decided that the Howler was his arch-nemesis. That culminated at Easter, when he took a for reals tantrum. Since then, he's had it explained (not by me!) to him, and he is now behaving like a sane adult.

2015 is better. Busier, but better.

The Jury Is Still Out

About a week ago, the Gator called me and began telling me about how she received a letter from the courthouse telling her she is on a jury. FOR A MURDER TRIAL. She's getting excused, of course. She can't be bothered with that (channeling her mother much?) "stuff."

In her defense, she is still dealing with a lot of "stuff," (short list: my grandmother-her mother-died in May, shortly after my sister was released to rehab from a hospital in Pittsburgh, PA, after suffering a brain trauma-an ongoing thing; another family member was diagnosed with cancer and is undergoing treatments) along with the fact that she's old enough to be excused on her age alone. All that aside, IT'S A MURDER TRIAL! And she's not going. And I had to hear all the reasons, several times over. For many minutes.

I'm certainly not going to be the one to argue with her. I'm not stupid.

I have to tell you, it's a MURDER TRIAL! And she was just randomly chosen, and notified by letter, without any further process!

This past spring, I was summoned for jury selection, so I do have the teeniest bit of experience with how jury selection occurs, I asked her several times about how she was chosen, about when she was at jury selection, and mostly being answered that it's a MURDER TRIAL! I asked her how many days this trial would take. She tells me "One day. But even so blah blah"

Finally, she got the letter and read it to me. Much like the long-ago days of listening to her reading the daily newspaper to me, it was an enlightening experience:

There was no mention of a MURDER TRIAL at all. It was a summons to JURY SELECTION, not for her to serve on the jury for a MURDER TRIAL. She had to read the letter, sentence by sentence, before she understood that whether or not there is a MURDER TRIAL, she is NOT actually on a jury (yet.)

She's still getting excused, but the jury's still out on several charges:  can she read for context? Does she understand how the process works? To what degree is she batshit crazy?

Context Is Everything

Today, I was lucky enough to hear these random things, and no, you aren't going to get the context.

From the Toad:  "Revenge is a dish best served with potato chips."

From Weird Michelle:  "No matter what else is wrong with my life, at least I'm not watching Glee."

AHA!

So, I had every intention to write each and every day in February. What happened is actually a litany of excuses, most of which are kinda valid.

I got the flu.

It dragged on forever in a fog of exhaustion and bleh.

Then it rolled into a sinus infection.

Then I managed to somehow get the same crud I had in the beginning.

All that exhaustion and bleh an more exhaustion lead to some sort of airborne stupidity that made me forget a lot...and mutter and stutter a lot.

And there was a crap ton of laundry that wasn't getting done, then there was vacuuming and dishes. Ergh.

Ergh, I say!

So, today, in the smack middle of not-even-close to February, I am FINALLY FINALLY able to think again. And what I think is Dayum, I miss writing. I miss ranting.

So, it's not February, and I'm here, making my excuses. With the way things are going work-wise, and Howler-wise, and in general life-wise, I may be out of excuses, and back to ranting.

Wish me luck!

Day #2

With less than 10 minutes to go in Day #2, I'm calling this one a tie. I'm starting the post before the time's up, and that's all that matters. What's the point to setting yourself up a challenge, if you can't change the rules when you get the flu and feel like you'd really rather have had died instead of recovering?

EXACTLY.

What this is about is a challenged an old forum friend to a 30-Days-in-February writing challenge. We will each spend a lil' bit of time each and every day of February, writing something online. On a blog. Not a Facebook status, not a tweet. Whole sentences with grammar and everything.

And so far, I've failed, and haven't heard from her. The good news is that tomorrow is Monday, and we've decided that Mondays are for Memes. We'll each chose an internet meme and somehow make it even better for having met us.

In the days leading up to February 1st, I had several good ideas (at least the fever made 'em seem good) and of course, once the fever left, it took those good ideas with them.

Here's hoping this isn't totally embarrassing!

Day #1

FAIL.

I have a bunch of excuses, but not one is worth even putting here. Let's call it a fail and move on. Shall we?