dad's obit

NORMAN, Jr., William G.
Col., USAF (Ret.)
Col. Norman, age 65, passed away December 9, 2009, after battling Melanoma. Bill will be remembered for his contributions to his family, friends and country. He served as an Air Force Officer for 26 years. While serving he flew the C-130 in Vietnam, T-33 Instructor Pilot, F-111 and A-10 Fighter Pilot, Army Liaison Master jumper with the 82nd Air Borne Div., AF Defense Air Attache' to El Salvador, Director of Intelligence Panama, Diplomat IADB in Washington D.C. After his retirement, he taught High School JROTC for 15 years. He leaves behind Jo (wife), Nick/Hope, Amy, Kelley/Devon, grandchildren Shane and Jessie, family, friends and his JROTC Cadets. He will be truly missed. Visitation on Friday from 6:00 - 8:00 p.m., with Rosary at 7:00 p.m. at Our Lady of Assumption Catholic Church (5057 Cottage Way, Carmichael). Mass with full Military Honors Saturday 11:30 a.m. at St. Mary's Cemetery (6700 21st Ave, Sacramento). PRICE FUNERAL CHAPEL will accept flowers (6335 Sunrise Blvd., 725-2109).

They failed to include my brother in the obit. I'll give the step-mom the benefit of the doubt, she's going through chemo right now and more than likely has a case of chemo-brain. I've sent a note to the newspaper to find out if we can change it. I just can't wait until this weekend is over and I can get back to my life.

well, hell

guess it's time to keep track.

Dad sent me an e-mail yesterday, asking me to call him at home when I had time to talk. I planned on calling him tonight, but my step-sister called me first. Basically, he's dying.

He's had melanoma for the past 8 years or so. Had several spots removed, some pretty big surgery on his face. Seems it came back with a passion. He has a couple of skin lesions on his head that I guess he didn't realize was melanoma and so it's turned into multiple malignant melanoma. He's got it all over.

both lungs
both kidneys
somewhere on his spine, hip and shoulder
Liver
gall bladder

He actually doesn't have it in his brain, which is good, I guess. He's in a lot of pain (lungs, kidneys, liver) and the codeine wasn't doing anything for him, so they switched him to morphine last night. When I talked to him tonight, he said he's been asleep for the past 18 hours or so. He said he hasn't slept much in the past week from the pain. He's out of it, his brain isn't working all that well, he has a hard time with his sentences and he sounds exhausted, which makes sense.

He says he's planning on starting chemo as soon as the insurance comes through. They plan on doing 15 minutes a day 4 days a week. I'm not sure how long they plan on doing that for. They say the chances of the chemo working are about 15%.

He turned 65 in September. It's a lot farther than he expected to make it. Says he's not afraid of dying but is having a hard time with his emotions. Don't know what to think of that.

Turns out my step-mother is undergoing chemo for breast cancer right now. She will have her 5th of 6 treatments this week, they are 3 weeks apart. I think all of hers is precautionary as she had a lumpectomy and I guess they got all of it.

Guess I had better tell the rest of the few relatives we have. I'll update when I know more, which probably won't be that often, knowing they way our relationship has gone.

Lovely Babies

I just saw my "babies" flying around, literally. I'm on the top floor of an office building and my monitor backs up to a wall of windows, so I'm basically staring outside all day long (basically, I said. I do actually get some work done, on occassion). There's a green space right next to the building, so it's not unusual (to be loved by anyone) to have buzzards/vultures flying around. Ugly suckers, but fun to see. I've been watching the birds here too much. I can tell when it's a buzzard by the way it flies (they aren't too steady). But recently, we've had a pair of ravens. So beautiful, all shiny black, soaring around the hotel next door, sometimes alighting on the peaks of the building. They are SO fun to watch! It's always a pair, and they like to play, soaring, diving, flipping, it's just fun to watch. They make me happy.

I think ravens are rather new this far south. I'm glad to see them. Maybe some actually hang around in graveyards. I've got to go get some more pictures soon!

Snicker

At work we are dealing with a law firm which can be found at www.mofo.com.

I shouldn't find that so funny, but I do.

Comedy of Errors

Yesterday was a comedy of errors for me:

1) Open one eye, realize it's light outside, look at clock which says 7:55. OH SHIT. R0ll over and look at Pixie, who usually is waking me up at 6:30 ON THE WEEKENDS. She just eyes me back. Damn cat.

2) Take my shower, start getting ready for work. Put deodorant on my right pit, turn the dial on deodorant, realize there isn't any left. Okay, I'll grab my extra one I always have on hand. Um, yeah, no extra one, even after pulling out the step-stool and looking in the BACK of the closet. No deodorant. So, my right pit is fine, my left pit gets an extra shot of perfume.

3) Get dressed, look in mirror and realize the cute new skirt is WAY too dressy for the shirt I've already ironed and have on. Great, ditch lace skirt and dig in dirty clothes for long skirt.

4) Get to work. The boss is back today. That's when the day went from a comedy to a tragedy. He drives me nuts, and not in a good way. I also figured out that the boss from the part-time job is just about the same. I don't think I can handle that type of personality for more than 40 hours a week. . .

5) Old boss calls at noon looking for current boss. Current boss has been off for 2 1/2 weeks and then the first day back HAS TO RUN ERRANDS for several HOURS. So, old boss tells me that the reason he left the outside firm he was working at since he retired is because he has cancer, and it's been there for years. Damn, that just really ruined the day.

I've been needing to go to the grocery store for a while now, and I was going to try to skip it again last night, but then I realized I HAD to go, or else nobody would come near me or my stinky pits. I spend 2 hours there, just kind of wandering around. I hope all the stuff I got lasts a while.

My Boyfriend

At least HE thinks he is.

Sad :(

I took down my christmas tree at the office today. I had to take down all of my lovely black ornaments, my Evil Queen ornament, and the one that has "naughty" on one side and "nice" on the other. I kept it on the naughty side. Boss comes back tomorrow, I pretty much haven't gotten anything done there in a while.

So, I haven't posted in gawd only knows how long, so I'll show you my halloween costume:

I was Wednesday Addams. One of the women I work with was going to be Morticia, but she never got around to it. I spend quite a bit of time with that little bunny. Very cute, very soft, and about 10 minutes after this picture was taken, he peed alllllllll over my left boob. Needless to say, I went home, quickly.

The book is: I Hate Myself and Want to Die; The 52 Most Depressing Songs You've Ever Heard. It's freaking hilarious. And I just didn't have time to find a doll to decapitate. I wasn't going to do that to any of the few I have, wait, do I have any . . .?

Oh yeah, HI! Justme! You may be the only one here!