Oh, what the HELL. I missed a doctor's appointment AGAIN. This is the second time I've missed an appointment at this facility. They're gonna fire me as a patient. What is wrong with me lately?

I guess I need to find a different way to keep track of things. The old paper-calender-on-the-wall isn't working anymore. I can forget about it too easily.

The old paper-calender-on-the-wall isn't working anymore.

Tim writes things on the calendar and then doesn't look at it, even when it hangs right where he makes his lunch/eats snacks/occasionally makes dinner. *I* am his reminder system. On occasion I send cards and e-mails on his behalf. Basically, I am his Miss Moneypenny.

Summer school is a trip. CJ is retaking his second semester of Geometry. The way it is set up is that he takes an assessment test for each section, depending on how he does on that dictates which parts of the section he needs to review and work through problems. So if he does real well on the assessment test, he can jump to the next section. He has finished his Geometry class in two five hour days and got a B.

Next up is retaking his second semester of Biology. I'm assuming that class will be set up in a similar way. When he finishes that class, he is DONE with summer school, even if he finishes before the 4 weeks are over.

Shit, is it too late to sign up for additional classes to get ahead for next year? Do you think he's learning anything?

Basically, I am his Miss Moneypenny.

There, I need a Miss Moneypenny.

I'm so ashamed of myself, I can't even call the hospital to reschedule.

It's good to see you, Consuela. I've been thinking about you.

By the time my father died, the only grief we had left was for the man he could have been. His quality of life sucked for the last few years, and before that, he had spent years making us miserable.

My four year old gives me no inspiration when it comes to cooking dinner. It's all her fault I'm a bad mother!

This reminds me of Gov. Lester Maddox's saying that what was needed to improve Georgia prisons was a better class of prisoner.

In That Word Doesn't Mean What You Think It Means news, I just heard a quote from a county official about an agreement with the county's law firm to reduce the cost of a lawsuit. He said, "This agreement eviscerates $30 million."

I just might ask if there is any way he can get a jump on Algebra 2.

He knows the material, he just really bites at homework and even when he does the homework he forgets to turn it in. Add in the fact that this was his Geometry teacher's final year of teaching and he got a D.

Suzi, is this an online course or something?

My people may be a little callous and strange, but the more acceptable and thus much less us way of saying would've been that the people who love and support us have a way of coming together when it's most important. And that's something great to hang on to when you need it.

It's also where it comes in handy to reframe "funeral" as "celebration of ___'s life". You come together, the people who loved and valued that person, you celebrate life - his, hers, theirs, ours. As a member of the set of people who cared about that person, simply hanging out together qualifies as celebrating that person's life.

I think.

His quality of life sucked for the last few years, and before that, he had spent years making us miserable.

Oy. We weren't quite there, but it was a hard several years, especially for my dad.

I did just get a call from one of my cousins, on my dad's side, who is traveling and is going to try to get here for the funeral, which would be really nice.

I'm thinking of buying a bunch of cheap flashdrives and copying pictures onto them, to give away to visiting family. My dad scanned a ton of old family photos and it would be great to share at least some of them.