Grandma passed away half an hour ago. May she rest in peace. ...Art

Long time coming

Okay, I guess this blog is going to be something of a quick update on what's been happening lately. In order to do this properly, I'd have to make one stupidly huge entry, with photos and links, and it would take me a day to do. Not to mention that pretty much everyone would give up on reading it about a tenth of the way through.

So, I figure I'll give a shorter overview entry now, and maybe a couple of entries later to fluff out info given here.

Okay, I guess most importantly, on Iza's birthday we got a phone call from Europe saying that my last remaining grandparent is in hospital and not doing well. This is my grandma, on my father's side. Let me tell ya something about grandma; she's nuts. On her last visit to Canada several years ago, we took her out on "The Tube". Those of you not in the know, The Tube's a large rubber donut that gets hauled behind a boat, creating good times through speed, airborne silliness as a result of bouncing off of waves, and water splashing everywhere. Grandma closed her eyes, relaxed, and commented on how the wind on her face and through her hair was like riding a motorcycle. This is a lady who was well into her 70’s.

Her and grandpa used to ride around a lot in earlier years, and the general agreement around here is that if she would have come to visit Canada again it would take all of no time to convince her to slap a helmet on and go for a ride with Christina on her motorcycle.

Anyway, apparently grandma, now 82, was all swollen and the doctors didn’t know what was going on. It just didn’t look good. A mad scramble to find airfare was on, and eventually a few days later, I dropped my parents off at the airport. They’re due back October 4th.

They later decided to go in and take a look around, and discovered that she had intestinal cancer. They went ahead and removed what they could, but grandma was in rough shape. My aunt said that she didn’t really recognize people or respond to thing much, but that she did hold a hand once.

When my parents arrived, my dad leaned in to inform her that her good-for-nothing son came from Canada to see her. She opened her eyes, and went to go say something, but my dad stopped her from talking as she had tubes in her mouth and such. She said they’d talk later. Asked her if the doctor was good, she shrugged. He mentioned having talked to the doctor and that he seemed like a nice guy. She nodded in agreement. He then said that the nurses seemed nice as well, to which she also agreed.

She looked like she wanted to say something again when he said that my mom was also there, but again was told not to speak and to rest up.

Apparently the doctor told my dad that it’s going to be a tough fight, but they’ll give it a shot. I suppose this news is better than being told that there’s little hope for a positive outcome, but let’s face it, she’s into her 80’s. I hope things go well though; I regret not being financially able to visit family members overseas, the last time I went to Europe was half my life ago. Times like these make me wish I’d been able to scrape some cash together and take off for a few months every couple of years.

I’ve spoken to my mom a couple of days ago, and she says things aren’t looking all that great, and she doesn’t expect my grandma to recover.

I hope that’s not the case, but what can you do.

I’ll personally always hold on to one memory in particular from her last visit here. I took her out on the lake for a canoe ride, the weather was beautiful, and it was just my grandma and I, and some really horrible broken Polish between us. She enjoyed herself SO MUCH, was going on about the canoe ride to anyone who’d listen, and probably a bunch of people who stopped listening too. She loved the scenery, and appreciated the effort I put into talking to her. And effort it was; I find struggling through Polish very draining.

So anyway, that’s the explanation of the "good vibes" I was given out to my grandma on the entry from the 15th.

To lighten the mood a bit, I’d like to uhm… well, bitch and rant some more. Come on, what did you honestly expect from me?

I have to share this with you guys ‘cuz this is the reason I put forth an effort in emails, blog entries, and even when instant messaging with you people. Grammar’s good. Spelling things correctly (for the most part) is good. Putting in a bit of effort’s good, god dammit. Otherwise we all skid into a world of illiteracy and slopping revolting laziness.

CASE IN POINT:

On a recent visit to a Sunoco station on Erin Mills Parkway, south of the 403, on the west side, I saw this on the screen display at the pump. Keep in mind, this wasn’t done to save space, as there were five functional lines for text on this display (I know they work, I saw other messages on the pump in those fields), this is a direct result of lazy stupidity brought on by the internet. Also, this isn’t written on a post-it note stuck to someone’s fridge at some college dorm, it’s a business. This station’s representing a world wide company worth bazillions (holy shit, bazillions isn’t being flagged by the spell checker? WHAT’S THIS WORLD COMING TO?!).

4 SFTY PURPOSES PLS
DON'T 4GET 2 SHUT OFF
YOUR ENGINE&CEL PHONE

Cel phone? Sfty? Pls? 4get? 2? No space around the ampersand? WHAT THE FUCK IS THIS SHIT? Would it REALLY have killed them to use proper English? Whoever had the job of putting that message in should be dismissed immediately.

Speaking of job, I hate my new one. And I hate many of my co-workers too.
More about this on my next blog. Also look for a summer summary coming up with pictures and such. It’ll be great. I promise.*

Take care people…

…Art
*Promise not valid anywhere in the known universe or beyond.

Why's there a twenty degree difference between night and day? This morning I went to work with the seat warmer on and heat going... I come home from work with the air conditioning cranked full tilt. I hate fall and spring for this very reason. ...Art

Ah, blog... So much shit going on, so little time to type about it. Hopefully I'll be able to sit down at a PC soon... Until then, warm get well vibes out to my grandma, and congrats to Team Canada for winning the World Cup of Hockey... which is really the ugliest trophy anyone I was watching the with has ever seen. Okay, I need to get my ass in bed. Have yourselves a good day/night. ...Art

Okay... That's the second centerpiece I've won at a wedding in a week. There has to be a career opportunity here somewhere. ...Art

Hey everyone... join me in wishing our very own Izfo a very happy 20th birthday! ...and I'm sorry to say hon, twenteen is NOT A VALID NUMBER! :-) Lots of love... Art

"If poo was meant to float, toilets would flush upwards."

"Heh, truck rhymes with... duck." "No it doesn't! ...oh, wait..." Heh, roadtrip fun. ...Art

Walking around Square One makes me feel really ugly. ...Art

Wow. I'm surrounded by irrational insanity. ...I don't understand how such utterly insignificant things end up being grand ordeals. People just boggle my mind. I wish I held some sort of dictatorship power over everyone around me. You! Don't do that! THIS is how you'll act. THIS is what you'll believe. THIS is how you'll live. Don't agree? INTO THE MASS GRAVES WITH YOU!!! ALL HAIL ALMIGHTY ART!! Yeah. That'd be good. ...Art

...ungh.

Yeah. I don't take personal attacks very well, especially if they're coming from a catastrophe of a human being. No, I'm not talking about Bryon and his organic diet... organic sleep, if you can wrap your mind around that nonsense... and taking of life force from food. While sometimes I'd like to take his life force and uhm... extinguish it, he's not the person I've got in mind. (Hey, Bry! You WERE looking for a mention in the blog, right? There ya go buddy-o! Whuahahahaha! I'm such an ass...)

My dad. I really despise him. We got in an argument last night. Over what, you may ask? Well, the internet went wonky. Bad router. So, I got one of my computers hooked up through this thing called "Landline Telephone Service" in an analogue sort of way to the internet. All very interesting, really, with it's beeping and hissing and such. Anyway, bad router. So I went out and got a new one, brought it home, hooked it up, and briefly interrupted his surfing a couple of times to begin setting it up. You see, the analogue internet connection isn't only slow as all hell, but it's also not unlimited use. Anyway, apparently I time the failure of hardware to coincide with his use of my computer. Couldn't I do this earlier in the day, when he wasn't around? Well, no, fucknut, I couldn't. You see, things WEREN'T BROKEN EARLIER IN THE DAY. Moron. So anyway, he flipped out because he couldn't chat it up with his 'net bitches in a seamless uninterrupted way, and somehow I'm not only to blame, but a worthless sack of shit that ruins his life simply by him looking at me. ...recap folks, *I* WENT TO GET NEW EQUIPMENT WHICH *I* PAID FOR WITH *MY* MONEY so that *HE* could leech off those resources in a thankless ungrateful pathetic way to entertain himself with whatever random smut he seeks out online.

My dad's ill in the head. I hope it's not genetic. So I ask you, my friends, if you notice me developing random bullshit fits of rage for utterly irrational and irrelevant reasons... either get me locked up for help, arrange for an "accident" or "incident" to put us all out of our collective misery, or just leave. Head for the hills. Ignore emails or phone calls. Don't answer the door if I come knocking. ...and buy a stun-gun just in case.

I'm an asshole, sure. But you guys still love me. He's an asshole, but a different kind... full on waste of resources. This'd better not be in the genes somewhere.

Peace out, mofos.

...Art