to be, or not to be...

It's been a long time since I posted anything here, and nobody is probably reading my blog anymore. That is, except for Ray because she made me post on my blog, so she's gonna have to read this. Not a whole lot has been happening lately. My grandma went in for surgery during the 1st week of July, in order to have an aneurysm removed from her intestines. Ever since then, she's been in and out of the hospital for over 2 months now. My grandpa has basically fallen apart from all of this. It's been really hard on him, and frustrating for the rest of us because it's hard to see them struggle like this. Hopefully she will finally pull through, but I'm starting to have my doubts. I will just have to be optimistic and roll with the punches.

Another bit of news, and I know Ray's gonna be happy with this one. I just got fitted for some hearing aid molds yesterday, and I should be getting some hearing aids about a month from now. I just need to wait for approval from VR, but it shouldn't be a problem. Happy now, Ray? I'm kinda looking forward to it, but at the same time, I'm not so sure I want to deal with the stigma that may come with it. On one hand, deafies may see me as just another "hearie wannabe", which is not the case. On the other hand, hearies might see the hearing aids and think "Oh yes, he just made life easier for me", and then get mad when they find out I still can't hear as good as them. I shouldn't care what people think, it's just not something I want to deal with. I'll just have to play it by ear (pun intended).

Gary Brolsma is my hero

I saw this on a website somewhere. The guy in the video is Gary Brolsma. He is singing some sort of song made by a Romanian band. Apparently he showed the video to a friend, and that friend broadcast it everywhere. It has been seen everywhere: daytime/nighttime news, news shows such as 20/20, late night talk shows, etc. There have even been several versions of it made. I watch this video and I can't stop watching it, and the song gets stuck in my head. This song is addictive! You have been warned. Gary Brolsma is my hero.

See the original video:
http://www.albinoblacksheep.com/flash/numa.php

The original video...closed-captioned:
http://conversationswithmyself.com/content/garyb/garybrolsma.htm

American Idle version:
http://members.cox.net/donchin/idle.swf

The rest of them:
GaryBrolsma.net

Have I mentioned Gary Brolsma is my hero?

a few months late and a post short

I know...I know.

I'm late.

Way late.

Those of you who know me and live near me, you know how I'm doing these days. Those of you who don't take a deep, personal fascination with my life, I shall indulge thee. Things have been going pretty good. Still working for Mr. Elway, still taking shit from car salesmen. However, nobody takes shit at work better than a certain somebody does. ;) Went on that Caribbean cruise last month and had a ball. I'm looking forward to the onset of spring as well as herping season which starts in May. Man, I'm such a nerd.

Anyway, it is 12:35 and I need to hit the sack to be up at 6 am for work tomorrow. I shall return, whether it be tomorrow, next week, or 6 months from now.

Caribbean, here I come!

Tonight, I was talking to my mother. And she asked me if I might be interested in going on a trip with her and my stepdad. I said, "Sure, where to?" She started beating around the bush, talking about me being able to take vacation time from work for a week in February, etc.Then finally she said, "Well, I don't know if you'd be interested in a cruise to the Caribbean." FUCKING A I would!

I asked my mother if there would be time for me to go off and do a little herping on the islands. She replied, "Well, I don't know if you can take snakes back on the boat." I said, "I don't think I could either, even if I wanted to." I clarified that this would be a "Hello, make friends, take pictures, good-bye" kind of herping. :-) My mom pointed out that part of the cruise will include a tour through the rainforest. Somehow she knew I would like that. Now, off to researching the native herpetofauna of the Caribbean islands. Caribbean here I come! I'm so excited I could just shit!

Um, too late...

Today, I went to my cousin's wedding. My grandparents have 4 grandchildren. The first 3 are now married. Guess who the 4th one is? With that in mind, I was prepared to hear all the "you're next" comments. Sure enough, I was far from wrong, as I was getting them all night. I was hoping to get that line from one of the old ladies so I could turn to them at the next funeral and say "you're next". I got that line from one of my more-distant cousins. She asked me if I had a girlfriend, I said "No." She asked me if I still had my snakes, I said "Yes." Then she tells me to get rid of them because "girls do not like snakes". To which I retored "Some do." She laughed and asked me, "Like who?" I pointed out the bride and one of my cousins, both of whom like (and own) snakes.

It just gets old hearing all of the cracks and negative bullshit people just seem obliged to say about snakes every single time. I am well-aware of the fact that snakes are not liked by many. Do I need to be reminded of this every time snakes are brought up in conversation? I try hard to educate people about snakes. Then some fool who acts like they know it all comes into the picture and debunks every myth I seem to be spurting from my arsehole. To top it off, the others go along with the know-it-alls, because their bullshit just seems so much more in tune with what they already know about snakes. Don't get me wrong, I love my snakes. But, I sometimes feel like it's an entirely pointless and neverending losing battle to try and educate people. Sometimes I feel like just getting rid of all the snakes so I don't have to hear the bullshit anymore. But then I'd be giving up something I love. And that wouldn't be fair to me, would it?

gravy bowls and grandparents

Tonight, I was at my grandparents' for dinner. My grandparents were telling me some stories from their time. I don't know about you, but it's always entertaining to hear their stories. There was one story I liked in particular. My grandma was telling me about one particular night just a few months after they got married. She said, "One night, we were having dinner. your grandpa made me so angry, I picked up the gravy bowl and flung it at him. I didn't get a single drop of gravy on him. Instead, I got gravy all over everything else." She got up and walked over to the kitchen, and pulled out that very same blue bowl she threw at him 55 years ago. "We got a set of bowls for our wedding gift, I had a green one, an orange one, a yellow one, and this one. Every single one of them broke. This is the only one I ever threw, and this is the only one that didn't break. Now I'm glad I didn't hit him, because if I had, I would've killed him." I asked her, "What did he say that made you so mad?" To which my grandpa retorted, "Her gravy was lumpy." She raised up the bowl as if she were about to throw it and said, "Don't you start!"

I got to thinking how they had been married happily all these years, and how back in their first few years, they were just starting out and probably never imagined that they'd have made it this far. They have no idea how lucky they are to have remained together happily for so long. It seems to have become something of a rarity in today's world. I would like to be able to go back in time to 1949 as a fly on the wall and take notes on everything they did right from that time until now, and apply that to my life.

To quote a friend of mine, "I want the stuff made of gravy bowls."

*grumble grumble*

This is just not what I needed. I went out to the bank today to get money together, because today is the ever-glorious rent day. As I was counting the money to be sure I got it all, I forgot about the damn ATM card. So, as luck would have it, the machine ate the card. I went in the bank and asked to see if they could get someone to retrieve my card from the ATM. No such luck. I have to call my bank and get a whole new one. I had just gotten this card just a few months ago. *sigh* To top it off, tomorrow is the weekend, the banks are closed, and I have $2 on me. Here's to a never-ending wait for a new card.

And now, for an ironic moment. I was at the grocery store getting money orders to pay the rent. I happened to notice that Passion of the Christ is out on DVD, so I picked up a copy. After getting the money orders, I gathered the DVD and proceeded to walk out of the store. Just as I got to the doors, I realized I hadn't paid for the movie, so I went back and paid for it. Isn't that just ironic? Stealing a movie about Jesus Christ, of all things.