…while you plan. So not only am I going to in co-charge next week while the supervisor’s out, I found out last night that an uncle who has been on the brink for several months finally passed. Funeral to be set; then I’m probably taking one morning off to take my mother to the doctor for the results of her biopsy, and I may not be able to take off for the funeral too. I’ve got 2-3 articles planned, but at this point, I’m just jotting things down on the fly and hoping I get back to them later.
Got in a lengthy discussion of Crest of the Stars with Steven Den Beste. Now I’ve walked away from arguments with people having IQ’s of over 180 because I felt like they were too stupid to debate, but SDB is one of those people who can make me feel like an idiot in casual conversation. Feeling dumb is a constant with me, because I can’t stand people dumber than I am for very long — so I am usually to be found in the company of people smarter than me. Out of four issues we touched on, I’d have to say I tied on one, and was wrong on three. The tie was that we were both wrong — I’ll conceede that one though because he was closer to right than I was. (It was about the Abh’s extra sense).
You know, I just realized what I’m doing again. No, not the name-dropping. The avoiding a difficult subject I’m having problems dealing with. I’ve alluded to it several times here, but then I always run away from it again. I have had a hard time bringing myself to face or talk about it… many of my friends and co-workers don’t know yet. (Sigh, and am I being long winded to keep from typing the words? Get it over with.)
My mother has inoperable lung cancer.
There. It’s said. And I want to go back and erase it, crawl back in my shell and pretend it isn’t happening. I’ve been burying myself in the blog, the anime, the work, the webcomics; anything to Not. Think. About. It. Wed., we will get word back from the biopsy and there’s an 80% chance (they weren’t able to get everything they wanted) we’ll know what kind it is and if chemo or radiation is even possible.
I have to go. The family’s getting together over at my aunt’s, and I need to put in an appearance. I wasn’t particularly close to that uncle, but family is family.
Dang. I really got SDB on a roll about CotS. He went back and did a bunch more research on the web at some fan sites and came up with a lot of facinating material. The author spent a lot of time polishing the story and developing the background as he searched for a publisher. Frankly, I think the best parallel to this might be David Weber and his Honor Harrington universe. The universes are different, as are the protagonists, but the level of thought and work that has gone into the series is similar.
(Found the moderation tool and combined the two comments I made into one.)
Oops, wasn’t done! Anyway, head over to Chizumatic posts for today to see what I mean. And I overstated things about talking with Mr. DenBeste earlier… I do actually still disagree on one thing: the relative “moral position� of the two combatants. I take a far more benign view of the Abh, but he gives them a heavy negative mark for aggressively seeking to conquer other star nations. Normally, so would I, but in this universe, I see it as far better than the alternatives.
I am saddened to hear about your mother. My father was diagnosed two weeks ago with inoperable cancer that had spread from his bladder.
As a colleague of mine said, “Life can be cruel sometimes.” Best wishes to you in coping with the cruelty of life.
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Indeed it is. I was thinking about it the other day. If it were me in a similar situation, would I bankrupt the family to gain maybe a year or two? Or would I go down quietly, ‘swallowing curses’ as they say?
Well, give me another thirty or fourty years or so to worry about it, and maybe I’ll have it figured out!
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