Funny story -- when I was about 10, I was snooping around random stuff and found my dad's will. I thought that having a will meant that you were going to die. So, for several days, I was really freaked out and weird. My dad finally pushed to find out what was wrong, and I burst into tears and wailed "I don't want you to die!" He was very confused. When he finally got the story, amidst my heaving sobs, he was very amused. And told me that it was my own damn fault for snooping :)

I've avoided the question of wills with my parents since my niece was born. My parents are so pissed about the name change thing that they were talking about cutting my brother out of their wills. At one point a few weeks after the bomb was dropped, my mother said "I want to leave you everything, and you give it to [my niece] according to my wishes" I told her that what she wanted was a trust, and she could make me trustee if she wanted, but to think about it because she was still really upset.

I was talking to them a few weeks ago, and they're still upset. Not being a part of it at all.

I talked to my folks this weekend about their estate plans, and got my dad to agree to see an elder law specialist to update all their documents, which are currently about ten years old. They seem in good financial shape but I worry about medical care draining them dry...

Sigh.

ita, I have no words for the folks at the ER, just shaking fists of rage on your behalf. Argh.

Damn, I have to go back to work tomorrow! How crappy is that?

Vortex, did your brother change his last name or something? I must have missed that.

Vortex, did your brother change his last name or something? I must have missed that.

yes, after my niece was born. My bro and SIL had issues about the baby's last name. My bro wanted his last name, my SIL wanted her last name and neither would budge. Instead of just hyphenating like normal people, they decided to change their last name altogether. I've never seen my father so hurt and upset. My mother is still pissed at my SIL. (which she blames for the whole thing)

Oh, yes, now that does ring a bell. Does their new last name reflect at all a combination of their previous names?

Does their new last name reflect at all a combination of their previous names?

sort of. my brother' middle name (which he goes by, being a junior) and SIL's last name have the same first three letters, so that's their new name.

Huh. That's a new one to me. I'm sorry it's causing so much friction in your family.

Chris Rock on the Bush presidency: "He has fucked up so bad that it's hard for a white man to run for president."

It's funny because it's shaping up to be true...

(From this article: [link]

Brothers mauled by tiger refuse the police access to their cellphones.

One of those things that doesn't mean anything, but gets a brain to wondering.

I seriously believe that those fuckwads were dangling Carlos Souza over the tiger's moat. And probably photographing it with their cell phones.

ETA: It goes along with the eyewitness who said she saw Souza and he looked ashamed of the way his friends were heckling the tiger. If his "friends" thought he was dissing them with his uninvolvement, they might have thought it fun to dangle the poor kid over the moat.