When she first came to Australia, Wallybee stayed for a while with an elderly couple whom she met when they did volunteer work helping overseas students with their English. She became very close, and regarded them almost as a second set of parents. Her parents trusted them to check me out and determine I was on the up when we started dating. The guy, Matt, died last year; his wife (we call her Ryan's Japanese grandmother) called today to let us know, Matt's niece just committed suicide today. She left behind a little boy about Ryan's age.
Wallybee's pretty devastated. She's been looking for a way to try to help. If you could spare some good thoughts for the family, I'm sure she'd appreciate it.
Oh God, bt. Such horrible news. Peace and comfort~ma to all of the families involved.
So sorry, billytea. My thoughts are with you all.
My low productivity streak continues today. I'm struggling to get out one massive email. If I can do that, the rest of the day will be no big deal. JUST THIS ONE MASSIVE EMAIL, with attached spreadsheet. And instructions that go with it. And all the details I have to fill in.
Um. And the phone calls I need to make to fill in the gaps.
On a normal day, this is a piece of cake.
bt, that is just terrible. My heart goes out to WB and the family.
amyth, I mean this in the most sympathetic, empathic, non-sarcastic, supportive, let-me-know-what-I-can-do way: Welcome to my brain.
(on the not-a-mosque: part of me is completely tickled that many NYers are responding "It's none of your effing business." B/c they're right, and b/c it's the archetypal NY response.)
Ha, smonster, funny we should meet HERE to talk about THIS.
Anyway, there's nothing you can do. I'm slogging through it. Coffee and fear are my gods, as usual, as long as I don't spill either one on my lap. But thanks.
That's just horrible. I'm so sorry for your loss and as Shir said, peace and comfort to you all.
Ha, smonster, funny we should meet HERE to talk about THIS.
Poetic, in a way. Too bad coffee makes me jittery and fear paralyzes me. My gods are... mindfulness and water. Or something.
I'm convinced that part of the issue with the community center in NYC is people that have never been to NYC trying to asses how the city works. Manhattan isn't geographically large. A few blocks away in Manhattan might as well be a different world. It could certainly be a different neighborhood. In LA it would be like someone being offended about something in Pasadena being right next to Watts.
ND, I think that also plays into the "why don't you have it somewhere else?" thing. NY is a city of neighborhoods, right? Where people walk and take the subway everywhere. Move it across town and they could lose their congregation.
