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Good for you. [24 Jun 2009|08:05pm]
[ mood | sad ]

[info]mra and I went over to our neighbors' house tonight, to see if they were there, to offer comfort and anything else we could provide... to offer that in the future we help them clean up the blood and the glass, etc.

They weren't there. When they eventually left the crime scene, they left with a friend. Hopefully they are with her, or with relatives, or in a hotel.

Good for them. Not a good idea to stay at their home tonight.

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I've been quiet for a while. Today changes things. [24 Jun 2009|01:59pm]
[ mood | sick ]

Last night I tried my first night of Ambien. Unsuccessful, which is not to say it won't eventually work. The normal switcharoo my body likes to play (apparently the name for it is paradoxical reaction) wasn't present, which means there is hope for it yet.

I got ready for work early, but sat around for an hour, piddling about to wait for a time that would be acceptable to drive into work. 7 a.m., btw, is what my boss considers acceptable.

I heard a loud noise, and thinking it was something similar to the craziness of the kids last night, looked out to the pool... then looked out into the side areas of our place. Nothing. So, I went to sit on the couch and have breakfast.

About seven minutes later I heard a weird tinkling, and the blinds moving in a room down the hall. I checked the first room and there was nothing. I checked the second room, and there was glass all over the floor, and the window was looking ready to give out. Tempered glass and all. No ball. No rocks. Nothing inside. Maybe it was a bird?

Outside I went, but saw no bird. Inside I went, to wake Joe up, get clothes on, and get outside again. That's when I saw the bullet lodged casing lodged into the metal frame of our window. That's also when I saw the woman crying, begging for someone to help her, to call 9-1-1, to help her son who shot himself.

Resuscitation didn't work. I think he was dead the moment I got there and touched him and shouted at him to see if he was ok, even if his arms moved. Now that I look back, his arms moved likely because his wife was holding his body, rocking against him from behind, begging him to be ok.

It's amazing how quick and how slow police, E.M.Ts, detectives, and Crime Scene Investigators work. Quick, because time passes and you don't realize it's four hours later, and when it is, all you want to do is shower and drink and pass the fuck out. Slow, because of all the things that race through your brain. When do you comfort them, and how? Do you keep your mouth shut about suicide? About your experiences with it, and about how you just never know and it's not your fault, because what they really need to do is just grieve and lectures are not ideal? What about later? When do you visit them? How? Do you bring food or do you offer to clean up the blood? Here's my phone, call anyone, here let me help. Do you rub their back? No? Yes? Thanks, Joe, for thinking about the water, to keep them hydrated through the shock and grieving and Arizona sun.

And then Nathan and Michael. Realizing that they are not unique, but in the weird way that is just solidification of the knowing, the heart-deep knowing rather than the brain knowing.

How and when can we fix our window? Is that callous of me? Can I stay home? Will my boss be ok if I stay home? Why am experiencing shock and sadness? Shouldn't that be for the wife and mother? Why am I making small talk with the cops? Am I doing it right? Who cares if right is in the equation am I helping? Who cares if....

Hrm. [17 Apr 2009|10:56pm]
[ mood | beligerent ]

Which is to say, I am entirely unimpressed with too many people.

And, in a completely different context,

I am entirely too impressed with too few people.






This makes me very angry.

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My tattoo so far... Still another 5 hours or more to go. [21 Mar 2009|01:06pm]
4 comments|post comment

And, another 'new hair' shot. [20 Mar 2009|08:14pm]
1 comment|post comment

A Photo. [20 Mar 2009|06:16am]
[ mood | awake ]

Ok. I don't know if I can bring myself to post my before picture. I haven't seen it since the day I made Joe take it, and I can't even begin to explain the shame I feel.

And please, I'm not looking for sympathy. I don't need sympathy now (or ever, really). I just... never realized just how big I got. Not even when Joe was taking the picture and I was standing there embarrassed did I realize the difference.

Anyhow. Here's a pic of me now. And I'm happy about it. =)

15 comments|post comment

I'm done with my diet. [19 Mar 2009|05:41am]
I'll be posting before and after pictures.... as long as you people don't judge me for the badness of 'Before'. =)

The icon, btw, is just for [info]khayman. I'm here to help you. =)
5 comments|post comment

25 (Uninteresting) Things About Me [18 Mar 2009|04:51pm]
I swore I would do this (to a few people, in fact)... and it isn't that I haven't been thinking about it (mostly). It just.. yeah.

So here you go. I invite people to post their own here, too. I like reading them FAR more than I like writing them. =)

1. I value truth above everything else, including my own happiness.

2. Until I was 17 I thought I was a staunch Christian Republican. I am obviously not.

3. I've been an insomniac pretty much all of my life. My worst bout of insomnia was, without break, from age 14-23, where I would sleep (if I was lucky) 2-3 hours a night and on particularly unlucky stints I would go 3-4 days without sleeping, to the point of hallucinations.

4. The worst sound in the world isn't someone sobbing in unleashed agony, country music, nails on a chalkboard or even GWBush making a speech, but is instead the sound made when someone eats a banana. Unless the banana is slightly green and care is taken not to moosh it around in your mouth. It is bad enough that in the past I have envisioned taking someone's head and smacking it onto a nearby surface to render them unconscious and therefore unable to continue eating said banana.

5. Until I turned 31 I was convinced I would die before I turned 30. When I say 'convinced', I mean that I didn't bother dreaming about or setting goals around getting married, having kids, buying a house, growing old, etc. Really, what was the point? It wasn't something I obsessed over, it just something that firmly 'was'.

6. My blood is a big pain in the ass. It inflames/coagulates in my veins at the slightest thing: stress, working out, food intollerances, etc. (Yay rouleux.) It makes for some Very Annoying Badness.

7. I've had a dream every night since her passing with my grandmother in it, peripherally or actively involved.

8. I believe that everything happens for a reason, but I don't believe that some deity or force is working behind the scenes, and I don't believe in fate.

9. I am very shy - sometimes mildly and sometimes extremely - and always have been. Which sucks because I'm a definite extrovert. I work at it on a daily basis.

10. I take life way too seriously. Therefore, this year I am deliberately working to have fun and bring 'fun' into my environment. Case in point: both of my bosses will return from a crazy work trip to find their offices decorated ala Skipper & Gilligan theme. We'll see if they blame me and my cohort in crime or the man who started it all.

11. The worst and most traumatic experiences in my life have also been the best.

12. I decided a few years ago to go against my grain of choosing safe, reliable foods and try every new food I come across at least once. Since then I have eaten less strange foods than my childhood, wherein I tried caviar, fish eyeballs and sperm, whale blubber, pickled tongue and pigs feet, lutefisk, and old school blood pudding. Even so, I'm not convinced yet that I can bring myself to eat live bugs. Or live anything. Jury's still out on those.

13. One of my dream vacations is hiking the 440 km trail Kungsleden in Sweden. I have several things to accomplish in order to bring this dream to fruition. I am currently working on the 3 day, 60 mile hike training for Susan G Komen and will soon pick another adventure in physical preparation. I will need to find a partner who's stupid enough to do this with me. (I don't know if Joe'll actually be up for it.) I have to get out of debt and or find a method to save for the trip. It looks, currently, like it might be 2-3 years out. WOOO!!!!

14. Crazily enough, I think taking Sid and His Wumun and Joe on that hike would be awesome. Even if I haven't met His Wumun yet. Whaddya say, Sid?

15. Every day (yes, every day) since January - when we originally made the plans - I've squirmed in anticipation for my May trip to DC & NY. It'll be the first time visiting the east coast. I don't care about the Statue of Liberty (please don't shoot me) as much as the fact that I'll be able to walk the halls of the Smithsonian like I've wanted to do since I was a kid, when my grandma shared her experience there. And I boggle over the weirdness of my excitement. I'm pretty certain I shouldn't be this excited.

16. I'm writing a musical about zombies.

17. I fidget, which isn't anything extraordinary, mind you. I love to indulge in kinesthetic things while my mind is working, including squishing squeeze toys, playing with a slinky, clinking things for the vibrations, clicking pens, bouncing my knee, etc. What I don't get is why people say (and actually strongly believe) this is nervous energy. I don't do it because I'm nervous. And you can make the argument that it stimulates the nerves, but that's not what the majority of people are thinking when they chastise me. Dood, it helps my brain process shit. Just because it makes YOU nervous, doesn't mean it's stemming from nervousness with ME.

18. I will never live in Texas. You can't make me.

19. I am fascinated by native English speakers who have solidly learned, inside and out, the Japanese and or Chinese languages. (Yes Tyler, this includes you.) The language is so completely, fundamentally foreign in the way it was constructed, and constructed around a brain pattern (biological, chemical, historical, etc.) not at all similar to that of English-speakers, that anyone who can force-adapt their brains so thoroughly is worthy of a raised brow and handshake at the very least.

20. One of my 'dreams' is to become a neuroscientist with a focus in musicology. I say 'dream' because while I'm capable of accomplishing this, I'm not certain I want to put my other goals/dreams on hold in order to pursue this passion of mine. Now, if scientists would just hurry up and perfect the reversal of cell degeneration and dna manipulation....

21. I love finding out the 'why' about people. LOVE. What did you experience and what did you take from it and why did you take -that- from it and how do you approach things and how does your brain work and is it chemically different from the getgo (at birth) or did it form that way over time because of the neural firing based on the environmental factors (nutrients, experience stimulation, etc.) which made your networking differently or is it because...

22. I have actually watched something play out between people that brought an unexpected vivid image to my mind of monkeys throwing poo and violently grabbing their genitals.

23. I apologize to those I offend, but I don't understand why so many people can't differentiate between 'their', 'there', and 'they're'. It seriously confuses me. I refuse to believe that they (most of 'em) aren't capable of learning, which leaves (in my mind) only one logical argument: laziness. Which then confuses me further. This whole emotional process is usually summed up with a fist that shakes in the air, accompanied by 'WHY?!' when I receive emails. (Along the same lines, I remember my elementary teacher teaching us to spell 'their' as 'thier', and it fucked me up for four years.)

24. I really, -really- wish dogs didn't have nightmares. It makes me genuinely sad. They're generally such happy, loving, loyal, fun creatures. They don't deserve nightmares. (Yes, I realize how silly that sounds.)

25. I took almost a month to complete this meme, mainly because I find it difficult to imagine there's anything that someone would A) not know about me and B) find interesting. I know. Silly, too.
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I want to bathe... [31 Jan 2009|08:03pm]
[ mood | exhausted ]

... in the lamby goodness of the Greecian feast [info]dgenerator and [info]cokeandsympathy brought me to last night.

As it is, instead it will be in Johnson's and Johnson's Bedtime Bath.

I can live with that.

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My many hats. [28 Jan 2009|09:36pm]
For this past week and few days I have worn many hats: some new, some old.

  • Worker Bee Hat: The 'I werk Gude Keep Me' hat. I'll work early mornings, late nights, and throughout the day as much as I can as long as I can be by my dad's side.

  • Surpriser Hat: Surprise! I came to see you before surgery and help out! Oh, and here's Nurse Betty to help too!

  • Cheerleader Hat: You'll be good, Dad. You're doing great, Mom. You'll make it through, I know it. You're amazing, working with Dad for so long. You are just as much a man as you were before the amputation. You're helping Dad through a lot of thick, and it's gotta be wearing so go take a break. You're making great progress. (Ad lib recognition and encouragement, with wholehearted belief and cheer.)

  • Wound Care Nurse: My dad is rather shy about his wounds (ok, that's an understatement.) They have healed considerably, what hasn't been amputated, but clinically it still shocks the hell of the nurses when they first see what's still there. I find it interesting on a heck of a lot of levels. That might be a separate and more private post, however. But I am thankful my dad is letting me help the nurses out, to dress his wounds, to lotion his healing skin. More than I can explain just yet.

  • Physical Therapist: Helping my dad move his legs. Massaging out the adema. Helping dad stand and walk. Massaging his hands. His arms. His back. It's amazing what gets sore when you aren't moving much.

  • Bedside Nurse: Bathing and cleaning and fetching.

  • Daughter: This includes private talks, inspiration between us both, cribbage games, teasing, hugging and kissing, sitting in silence holding hands... and everything above... and more.


This has been thus far a very exhausting and very rewarding and very changing experience for me. Everything happens for a reason I know. One of the reasons had to have been for me.
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Dad's good. [28 Jan 2009|09:07am]
[ mood | relieved ]

He came through the operation like a champ, and while it took a bit long for recovery and wheeling him up into ICU (mom and I didn't get back to our place until 10 p.m., and there is really nothing quite like a 20 hour day with most spent in the hospital), he pulled through and the surgery was a success.

Thank you everyone for sending the good mojo and thoughts. It worked! And I feel much better now.

*smooches*

Now back to getting my dad up and walking. Only a few days left for me here. =( But I am encouraged.

2 comments|post comment

Update on Dad - Meh. [26 Jan 2009|08:43pm]
So.

The Doc's arterial bypass thing? Yeah, he connected dad's main artery to his vein.

If you don't understand what that means, look up the definition and functions of both and compare.

Dad's going in for surgery again tomorrow. He's on the waiting list, and will go in sometime after 2 p.m. His risks remain the same: 1 in 33 chance of dying. They'll unconnect the artery from the vein and connect the artery to another artery they've pinpointed with the hope that he can recover.

I need good mojo sent my dad's way.
9 comments|post comment

Just a quick update... [25 Jan 2009|07:38pm]
[ mood | grateful ]

I'm in Seattle. My dad is recuperating from major surgery that took much longer than it should of. The results were originally marginal, but the internal progress is steadily declining which might mean the main artery is failing, which is a Bad Thing. The tests tonight showed that there is what looks to be blockage in that artery, so we'll know more tomorrow.

Regardless, dad walked for a second day in a row, and made three times as much progress. He's not bleeding as much when he moves, either, so at least his externals are ok. And his spirits are on the up. Which is way, way important. Especially with my dad.

And you know... maybe it's because he had a visit from Nurse Betty today. I'll have to post those pictures when I can. Nurse Betty got a little fresh with dad so tonight Mom and I put her in time-out.

I'll be staying here this next week helping with PT and OT and all of that stuff... and praying to the squiggly armed noodly man that the vein doesn't fail and we can change the whole blockage situation with only minor surgery, and not another major bypass.

Before I stop babbling, I wanted to extend my deep thanks to [info]dgenerator and [info]cokeandsympathy for taking me and mom out of the hospital. Today we braved the SNOW here in Seattle to get some good tea and food at Pike's Waterfront. It isn't like we deserved it per se, and it isn't like bathing and caring for dad is a chore, but it lifted our spirits quite a bit to just be out of the hospital with good people.

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Looking for a second job... [17 Jan 2009|08:51am]
[ mood | Meh ]

So here's how it is.


  • The hobbies I want to return to I can't right now because it costs money.

  • I am in massive debt and want to be out of it sooner rather than later.

  • My office is moving, and more likely than not to another office location 25 miles away.

  • My car needs $1200 in work right now, and with the transition from 25 miles a week to 400 miles a week, will force me to fix the other problem, which is another $1000.

  • I don't have that money.



So. I'm looking for a second job. But I am also running into issues with looking for a second job.

  • I can only work weeknights and weekends, and don't want to go overboard because my energy has been low while I've been on this diet and I don't want to get crazy stressed again.

  • I have over-qualified for the jobs that would be customer-facing, i.e. bagging or cashier or stuff like that.

  • The job market isn't worth KahKah.


  • Annoying big time.

    Will be spending today going door to door trying to convince them that hiring a project manager for a bagger on weeknights and or weekends is really the way to go.
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My 2008 Completed Reading... [14 Jan 2009|05:01pm]
...And some side notes for 'em all. )
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