There's nothing to figure out really. It's pancreatitis, which is just a nasty, nasty illness that takes a long time to heal. We are just waiting to see what new fun it has in store for us today. Sigh.

Lots of Buffista -ma would be welcome. Thanks, all.

sending the ma~~~ your way , PixDesigns

fuck panceatitis. health~ma.

Yes! Fuck pancreatitis!

Yes! Fuck pancreatitis!

Dude. Word to the nth power. Lotsa ~ma headed your way.

And in today's moment of WTF-ery, I just found out that my 77 year-old mother is now dating our longtime jeweler who is (wait for it) 48.

Nice, nice guy-- I like him a lot, but...

Forty-eight, never been married, deeply religious, lives with his mother...

Well, it makes for yet another entertaining entry into my family annals.

Barb, I thought she had reconciled with your dad?

{{{Pix & Drew}}} I didn't remember where I read that he was back in pain so I just posted here.

No worries about mentioning it here. I just hadn't gotten around to it yet.

Barb, I thought she had reconciled with your dad?

She did, but he passed away last year in June. Jeweler Guy, being a sweet, respectful, religious sort of guy waited for a year of mourning to pass before approaching Mom.

and because i should not mix ~ma with ranting, i need to vent just a little. A bunch of folks at work are up in arms about a "pay cut" and complaining like crazy on FB, over group messages on the work system, and verbally all around me. Background: there's a hiring and training freeze on because of a looming computer upgrade...like switching the entire system from DOS to Windows...a massive change in how everything is done which will involve retraining everyone on the floor- like 200 people, so no new trainees on top of that melee. There are only a handful of trainees left in the final phases. All the coaches who no longer have trainees are no longer recieving extra pay for Coaching. It's not a pay cut, they are no longer getting a bonus for performing an extra service with extra responsibility and extra paperwork.

I can get past all the kvetching about a "pay cut" which is not, really, a pay cut, rather a restoration to their actual pay rate. It's less than they've been living on, so i see how that's irritating and gripe-worthy (if annoying.)

What's got me in cock-punching mode is that now one of the most vocal gripers launched a rant about how training admins aren't taking a paycut (there are still trainees on the floor, just at nights, not when this person is at work) and how "working class people" at the "bottom of the economy" need that extra money they're being deprived of. Hang on, reality check: griper makes $35/hr as a coach, so she's now being stiffed at a mere $33/hr as a senior tactical dispatcher. That is so NOT the bottom of the economy! Holy crap, that's what, like, 4x minimum wage???? We make decent wages. Hell, i make $12/hr LESS than she does and can afford my own HOUSE and CAR and eating out when i really want to, and that solely on my own income! She has a second income on top of that and still has the gall to claim to be deprived. Sure, we're not landed gentry and no one is retiring early on golden parachutes but HOLY FLYING SPAGETTI MONSTER OF REALITY she is so far from the bottom of the economy i want her and her sergeant-earning husband to just briefly imagine the reality of having ZERO income and then rethink her overly entitled rant. Sheesh. And of course i can't publicly remind her that she's being an irrational, overly entitled twit (substitute vowel of your choice) for then the pack of high-seniority harpies would descend upon me and make my life living hell and i don't want to get forced out of my (relatively) cush and (relatively) high-wage job by irrational idyits.

And so endeth MY entitled rant.