40 posts tagged “family”

I almost forgot, it's not always bad news.  On the personal front there is some good.  Thank to my state not being as stupid as the rest of the country a family member who has been with his partner about as long as I've been alive is now legally married. 

Granted all but one other state says that means nothing.  But here in California, it means a lot.  Seeing the picture mom sent me made me wanna cry, they look so happy.  I was raised knowing it was normal if someone is gay.  But I also knew they'd never legally be recognized as couple even if they wanted to be.  I was wrong.  Now they are.  I don't care what you believe.  THEY have always treated people well, done charity work, have probably outlasted most if not all of the relationships of people reading this.  And they deserved the rights they now have because they wanted them too.  Now me, I think marriage is crazy, of course ;) 

And to all who may read this who'd say it's wrong, I am wrong, and who want to change my state's law, go away and worry about your own lives, they've been together 30 some years I think and haven't affected you in the least and their new piece of paper won't change anything for you but will for them.

You know, now that I'm over the initial w00t, political geek aspect of Obama being called as our Dem nominee, I almost wanna cry over how historic this is.

Clearly I'm not black.  I can't pretend to understand the race aspect.  To look at me I'm about as white as they come.  That's not to say race never touched my life personally.  My dad had brown skin, not white.  His last name was Chavez.  My grandpa was basically Archie Bunker.  I'm sure you can imagine how thrilled he was that my mom was dating my dad, let alone that she was going to have his baby.  When my dad died, my mom became a single mommy and during my lifetime she dated, not a lot but she dated.  I never found it weird that she dated a black man...

And then we moved to Coos Bay, Oregon.  I quickly discovered that California norms and morals aren't representative of the rest of the country, not even representative of the west coast.  I mean, Santa Maria is about as conservative as Cali gets and it is, by Cali standards, a relatively small town.  And yet... WOAH Coos Bay opened my eyes some.  I had no idea there were full towns, communities where white was the norm and anything NOT white, not pick up truck driving, not gun toting, not beer drinking, not church going = ridiculed, harassed, threatened.  Somehow I didn't know the KKK still REALLY existed, until more than one resident there told me they had a large population of members locally *blinks*  That was in 1990...  I was 17 years old.

But even now, race conflicts still make the news.  No matter what you think of the Jena 6 case -- a noose hanging on the "white tree" of a high school because black kids sat there is NOT acceptable.  All of these years later, since I was 17 and figuring out that race really was an issue for people -- and those kids younger than I was when I first really saw it, have to deal with that?  I never had to see THAT.  To be afraid of THAT.  To be bullied like that.  I can't even imagine, I thought just discovering hicks at 17 was eye opening.

And well I've seen plenty of WTF?  Democrats in hick'ish states (thank you YouTube) shocking me with their anti-Obama rants claiming to be TRUE die hard Democrats who will vote McCain if Obama is our nominee -- some brave(?) enough to admit that it's because of Obama's RACE... You can't say you're a TRUE die hard Dem and vote against what you believe in if you'll vote against what you believe in due to someone's race...

But yeah, I'm rambling now...

My point is this, despite the fact that race is still an issue, always has been, we now have a black candidate for president... It's history being made before my eyes and it's not only a black candidate, it's one who can win...

I realize Hillary's run was historic as well -- I am, after all, a woman... I don't think it would have been AS historic.  I don't think she's the one to do it for us... But she did open that door for others now.  And the women saying they too will vote against dems even though they're true die hard Dems, offend me... Voting against what you claim to believe in due to who the nominee is -- when THEY most represent what you do claim to believe in?   You shouldn't be allowed to have a voter registration card.

Politics:
Hmm Insomnia posted yet another interesting post, I'll just let you read his post here instead of ranting about it myself as he rants far better than I do ;)   But basically, it seems that voters in predominately black areas of NC received calls explaining they only needed to sign and return their voter packets -- WITHOUT VOTING, to be eligible to vote.  In other words a. they clearly think these people are stupid and b. this woman's organization targeted mostly black voters trying to suppress their votes.  I'm a news junkie and haven't seen it on mainstream national news yet so, errm... wtf?

In other political news, mom once wanted to nearly disown me because I liked the Clintons.   That was before Hillary ran in this election.  Hillary has now convinced me that she's a closeted Republican so I no longer support her and with Edwards gone I support Obama.  My sister has taken up my to be disowned spot by announcing she'll be voting for Hillary in the Oregon Primary, heh.

Dutch:
I have picked up my Dutch books only to, as predicted, read the first few chapters, again!  BUT, I also have Pimsleur beginner Dutch CDs and have listened to lessons 1-6 (of 10 lessons I think) during the last few days.  So far, since it is beginner stuff, it's a lot of hello, how are you types of things.  Which is good, I know to spell those things I'm hearing.  Lesson 6 has moved onto the would you like something to drink types of things.  Eeek.  I always said the Dutch letter g scared me, and it does.  But hearing the word "graag"  eeek.  *hides*  I know it's nowhere near the worst, but it's the first gr word and multiple letters g word I've heard.  Oh man if I tried to say that in front of a Dutchie they'd be laughing for a year.  Guess I have to go back to being an American now.

Health:
So I slept on and off from 4 am until 4pm yesterday.  We've been having record high temps for this time of year.  It's finally supposed to drop down now... to record lows possibly.  Ugh.  My body doesn't like when the weather jumps all over the place.  Especially not when record highs start early in the year.  Brain aliens in full effect.  Pain alien been around.  Exhaustion alien.  MS IS NOT HAPPY.  MOTHER NATURE MAKE UP YOUR MIND ABOUT THE WEATHER!  In fact if I get extra ranty or mess up lots of words, yeah, brain aliens around, sorry.

Dear Artsy types,

My mom made this post on her livejournal.  For those too lazy to go read it, here's the summary:

My uncle was awoken by the dogs early Friday morning.  He tried to figure out why the dogs were playing with David  so early, and realized David couldn't speak or move.  In October they came dangerously close to losing their house in the fires which mom had also posted about and now this.  David is currently in a telemetry unit after suffering a stroke.

Mom wants to cheer him up with some art cards and is getting the address from my uncle.  So if you'd like to help cheer up a very good man (if you use Adobe products he's probably benefited your life in some way) who's quite frustrated that he's stuck in bed, unable to speak, who now has a long recovery ahead of him, let me know.  As soon as I get the address I can get it to you or you can post in my mom's post about it and she can.

I know you guys don't know him, but a little random act of kindness for someone who's gone through a lot the last few months and who deserve something kind to help get him through?  Hell if you're not that artistic or crafty, kid like drawings, something?  He'd appreciate it all, I'm sure.

Art:

Sunflakes

Family / Medical news:
To make a long story short, mom went in for blood work.  Blood work isn't enough.  She's going for an MRI Tuesday.  Her doctor is leaning towards possible MS or maybe she's had a mini stroke in her sleep.  Yeah... Having MS means I wouldn't wish it upon anyone of course, especially my mommy.  But if she's going to be have something wrong and  if those are the only two choices I'm gonna have to hope she's got MS and not that she's having strokes.  So I dunno if you pray, think positive thoughts, whatever, she can use it.  As if my family isn't cursed enough.   Arghhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!

Family drama time.  My aunt died.  She's an aunt by marriage.  My mom feels she lost a brother when he married his wife.  She sympathizes in the sense her brother lost his wife, their kids lost their mother, but beyond that... She didn't really know the woman and hasn't really known her brother since he married her.  So it's not like she lost a friend or family really.  As she said, she knows her garbage man better. 

Now my aunt (my mom's sister) lives in that part of the country.  She feels they should all be at the funeral.  That's a big expense for someone you don't know.  Taking time off of work.  Etc.  My mom told her she won't be able to and even if she could she wouldn't.  She assured my aunt if it were her who had died, yes she'd find a way, she's just not doing it for someone who has never been in her life.  Seems logical eh?  Guess not.  My aunt broke out mom's middle name :P  So she's in trouble.

Last time she was in trouble was over my grandma's memorial service.  Mom and I were with my Grandma the day she died.  Mom had gone so far as to take a second job at the convalescent hospital she died in.  We watched her die for years.  Cared for her.  And both myself and my mom felt we said our goodbyes and I for one was too much of a mess to do a public memorial service, didn't feel it was for me, etc.  Myself and my mom not going = my aunt didn't talk to my mom for years.  I hope this is not a repeat.  I know my mom loves her sister, but eeek.    Hard to believe they're sisters ;)

*cough, sneeze, ugh*  Cold for new years... fun fun I'm gonna go sleep, a lot.  Enjoy the celebrations, but please stay safe.  DO NOT DRINK AND DRIVE!!!

Karina liked the digital painting I did of her. YaY!

Doing one of Maddy now to email to Pat as his Christmas present.  Will post when done.

Got a Christmas Card from hmm what to call him here, his real name probably isn't appropriate.  T Aka my babies daddy!  heh.  Yeah I know I don't really have kids, don't ask.

Spent lots of time talking to Mijn Favoriet though mostly in characters, which is odd since neither of us seem to do the RP thing. It was interesting though.

Brian's got some freelance work for a cable tv show, will know/post details close to when it airs.  First half of next year.

The little I do know is ironic.  I felt tracing my sister's pic and turning it into a painting was "cheating" though Brian has been telling me for ages to start tracing things if I want to get better at drawing.  What he's doing now won't exactly be shown I think as he'll be doing something for someone to paint on top of.  He reminded me he never claimed it is cheating.  I know HE didn't, I did.  But I felt bad doing it now he's getting paid as a pro to do something another pro will paint on top of.

Pharmacy says they have been calling and faxing UCLA with no response. So Brian is going to fax the pharmacy the copaxone rx I have tomorrow from work instead of the pharmacy waiting to get in touch with my doctor to confirm the rx, they said this is an acceptable way to do it.