GC, that cut is awesome! You look tres sexy and chic.

Car~ma, sj. That's sounds like a lot of work!

That's sounds like a lot of work!

It's been a complete pain in the ass, to be completely honest, but I keep trying to remind myself that a 2006 Camry with incredibly low mileage is worth the trouble. I feel bad for the man I am buying the car from. He's a small time dealer and has been waiting a while for his money.

Fashion question: Should I get the trixie2 dress in red or black? link I'm not sure that shade of red would be flattering for me.

Thanks for the compliments. I'm still getting used to having no hair in back.

If it were me, sj, I'd get black. I'm also picky about my colors (like to see them in person).

GC, I actually said "oh, that's really cute!" out loud when I saw the pic.

If it were me, sj, I'd get black. I'm also picky about my colors (like to see them in person).

I'm leaning toward the black, but I keep saying I'm going to add more color to my wardrobe. What I really want is a silk slip and the short robe for myself as a honeymoon gift, but they're way to pricey.

sj- car~ma.

GC, fab new do.

Yay, I found a car conversion place much closer to home.

I'm sorry this whole process is such a pain in the hinder parts, sj.

The black for the dress. Accessories can add color - shoes, purse, jewelry, etc.

GC, that haircut is great on you. I hope you come to enjoy it as much as we all seem to.

Fashion: heels with elegant-socks-up-to-the-knees, yay or nay?

I saw someone wearing this at the wedding last weekend and it was totally sugar.

This perplexes me, and I would have to see a picture to ameliorate the horror I feel when trying to imagine it.

Lewis went to Case for grad school,

One of my college roommates went to Case for law school and lived in Little Italy, which I loved. Whenever I visted, we always ate at Mama Santos.

He's also the only other person in here when the Pledge comes on. Which makes it a little weird that today's T-shirt says, "ONE COUNTRY UNDER GOD." Especially since that's the part I stay -- respectfully! -- silent for.

The part of the Pledge that I have a problem with (besides the fact that it's a, you know, PLEDGE of ALLEGIANCE, Heil Amerika) is the "with liberty and justice for ALL" part. Because it's been my experience that not everyone is lucky enough to receive the same level of liberty and/or justice.

And the rest of the state - well, along the Ohio River, it sure acts like an Appalachian area

True dat. Hillbillies R Us.

And now, if I can just be memememe for a minute --

My dad's in the hospital AGAIN. He called me last night at 10:30, and because he called me from his cell phone, it kept cutting out and I only heard every other word, so I heard "Steph...[static]...hospital...[static]...pain...[static]" etc. Which freaked me out, understandably. I kept asking him which hospital, but since the cell phone kept cutting out, every time he told me, all I heard was "[static]...hospital."

I finally figured out that he was at Christ Hospital (~10 minutes from my house, though I think I made it in 7), so I went over there, all freaked out. It turns out that he was having severe stomach pains, and had been having problems with his stomach for 3 weeks. THREE WEEKS. But he kept putting off calling the doctor because he "thought it would go away."

The man NEVER learns.

He thought that the stomach pain was related to his heart, so he told them that at the hospital, and they ran all kinds of cardiac tests, but they said that the test results did not indicate a heart attack (although that DOESN'T mean that he doesn't have a blockage; just that he didn't have a heart attack last night). They took X-rays of his stomach too, because they thought maybe there was a blockage or something.

He called me earlier this morning, and the doctor said that on the X-ray, it looks like there is nasty stuff in his intestines, and because he has diverticulosis, the nasty stuff is stuck in the little diverticula pouches.

I said, "You have diverticulosis? Since when?"

He said, "I don't know, maybe 8 years."

WHAT.

This was the first I'd heard of it. Maybe I'm a bad daughter and I don't listen when he talks about his health, but I think I would remember diverticulosis! Because if I had known that, then when he started having stomach problems THREE WEEKS AGO, I would have nagged him to see his doctor right away. Because when you have diverticulosis and stuff gets stuck in there, that can cause MAJOR problems.

Anyway, he still thinks that there's a cardiac problem, too, so he was scheduled for an angiogram at 11:00, to see if there's any blockage. The doctor said that his stomach problem does need to be treated, but since it isn't imminently fatal, they wanted to look at his heart first (because a problem there *could* be imminently fatal).

So after they know what's the what with his heart, and deal with any blockage if there is some, THEN they'll deal with the intestinal badness.

I could just shake him for having stomach pain for THREE WEEKS and not even calling his doctor about it. *Especially* since he apparently has diverticulosis. I don't know if he understands how serious diverticulosis can be if stuff gets in there and gets infected.

Arrrgh.

He's doing what he always does, which is to tell me (repeatedly) that I'm "all he has." Which -- way to burden the HELL out of me, Dad! I don't want that responsibility.

Which you've all heard me (continued...)

( continues...) whine about a million times before, so I apologize for whining about it yet again.

Plus, it's NOT FUCKING TRUE that I'm all he has. I'm just the only person he's willing to call. And I resent the SHIT out of that. I've told him before when he's been (relatively) healthy that *of course* I'm going to be there for him, but the burden is too much for *just* me, and he needs to call his brothers and sisters, but he says he doesn't want to bother them and they wouldn't come anyway (which is totally untrue).

And it makes me so goddamn angry, because he isn't being fair to me. And he knows it.

So instead of calling his brothers and sisters, he just opts to call no one -- including me -- and then he plays the martyr card of "Well, YOU SAID it was a burden on you, so I didn't call you." I can't force him to call his brothers and sisters, so then either he sits in the hospital all alone, or it falls on me. And I resent the shit out of that.

I know that being all resentful makes me a lousy, shitty-ass daughter, but I'm not goddamn Mother Theresa. I can't handle this all by myself, so I came up with a solution so that I *don't* have to handle it all by myself. Problem solved! But wait! Dad's going to shoot down my solution out of sheer stubbornness!

Do I try guilt? Do I go the route of "Dad, I've told you repeatedly that the burden is too much for just me to handle. If you care about me, you don't want to see me burdened to the point of losing my shit in the ER waiting room*, right? If that's true, you can do one simple thing to help ME out -- call the rest of your goddamn family before I have a psychotic break."

I don't know if guilt will work with him, because I think all he'll do is just decide to not call anyone at all, including me, like I said above.

*(Which I did last night. Total, full-on, weeping hysterically, couldn't even form words, lost my shit. Yay fun.)