We had a potluck today for Cinco de Mayo and it was actually really fun to hang out with the coworkers who were in the office today and just eat and chat. We haven't done that for so long. And I ate too much sampling everything and now I want a nap.

I needed this today. Sound is NSFW. [link]

Man, I thought Madison Cawthorn was just being a prudish drama queen and exaggerating about being invited to coke-fueled orgies, but the way things are going with his waterfall of scandals just in time for Primaries maybe Republican Congresspeople really do have them as team-building exercises!

It looks like the GOP are just using Cawthorn as a way to prove they have some kind of line? Apparently he isn't well liked so an easy one to use for that purpose. Why oh why didn't they pick Marjorie whatever?

In other newsy news, I am so delighted with the pick of Karine Jean-Pierre for press secretary for purely frivolous reasons. I just think she is gorgeous to look at. Yeah, yeah, smart and capable and all that, but super pretty too!

Apparently he isn't well liked so an easy one to use for that purpose.

If that's their criteria, I have a list...

Timelies all!

Tired. Well, at least Mr. S waited until our alarm went off before coming in our room and causing chaos.(Yesterday he came in at 5:30.)

Progress, perhaps? Has he learned to listen for the alarm?

Once he is old enough to learn to read a clock, maybe that will give you some respite.

That's pretty good, Cash!

Tim and I went to the hospital to see my dad, and it was rough. His mental state is really bad. Much, much worse than yesterday. He knew who we were, but he was extremely agitated and angry and exerting a lot of energy to try to get out of the restraints. He spent most of the time talking about and/or *to* the hallucination people, and that is not a thing I was prepared to see. (Well, I also wasn't prepared to see my Dad in hospital restraints because he's out of his mind. There was just A LOT.)

It's like he had a psychotic break, but the psychiatrist who's seen him twice says he doesn't think it's psychosis. I'm really just at a loss. Actually, the way he's acting is very very much like an alcoholic who's forced to go cold turkey. But when he went to the ER, they tested him for alcohol and the full panel of illegal drugs, and nothing was in his system, so I don't think it's possible he was secretly drinking and forced to go cold turkey.

The charge nurse said the next step is to do a lumbar puncture so they can get some cerebrospinal fluid for a culture, because they're starting to suspect there might be a systemic infection in his central nervous system. Which -- YIKES.

Unsurprisingly, Tim was so, so good interacting with Dad in his agitated state. He was really calm and friendly and just redirected whenever Dad got weird or angry. Although Dad didn't really get angry *at* Tim; he was pretty calm responding to Tim's questions and conversational tidbits. Tim's the goddamn Dad Whisperer.

OTOH, Dad was mean and nasty to me. And I get that he's ill in some way, whether it's mental illness or a physical illness affecting his brain. I get that he is quite literally not himself. But he is never, ever mean to me. That was hard to deal with.

{{{Teppy}}} What an utterly emotionally draining thing to go through. I am just so glad you have Tim for support. Fingers crossed that the CSF culture is able to pinpoint a cause and they can start treating it, so neither you nor your dad have to go through this any longer.