I'm sure that the Spelling Bee creators are sometimes meany heads who live to make us suffer. Other times, they feel compassionate and toss in the ing or ed fillers to make us feel accomplished.

Other times, they feel compassionate and toss in the ing or ed fillers to make us feel accomplished.

Man, a Spelling Bee with I, N, and G makes my entire day!

Man, a Spelling Bee with I, N, and G makes my entire day!

I feel this.

The thing I hate about the Bee is when a perfectly cromulent word is not accepted. I still shake my fist at myoma not being in whatever mysterious dictionary they use.

The thing I hate about the Bee is when a perfectly cromulent word is not accepted.

They use some slang, but not other slang — "gimme" and "phat" are accepted words, but "yeet" is not.

I still shake my fist at myoma not being in whatever mysterious dictionary they use.

There are a lot of medical terms they don't accept. It's really annoying.

I've had to learn not to treat Spelling Bee, Connections, etc. as a daily IQ test/proof that I'm not yet senile because that way madness lies.

Edit to add content because I clicked post message rather than read new. Yes, more coffee, please.

I feel much the same about Publishers Clearing House word puzzles. Like, there's a limit to how many words I can find on a good day, but if I get a puzzle with three vowels and 61 consonants there's only so much I can do.

I installed an Amazon Fire Stick on my mom's TV this afternoon to make up for the cable she's cutting as a cost saving measure. Hopefully the combo of shared streaming apps and free services like PlutoTV and Tubi will keep her from feeling she's missing too much.

So, both Extra Hot Great and someone on Buffering the Vampire Slayer are referencing TVTropes this week and my mouth is having a hard time staying silent!

Maybe you shouldn't?

Good morning and Happy Memorial Day!

Matilda and I are flying home today.

Yesterday we got some hard news. I've mentioned before that Lola, the mother of Matilda's beloved childhood friend Isabella, had been struggling with a brutal Stage 4 Pancreatic Cancer diagnosis, which was only discovered after it had spread along her spine. (Isabella is the talented artist I commissioned to paint Matilda's portrait, after her father decided not to pay for her college tuition as he had promised.)

I'd seen Lola periodically when she flew out for treatment and had put her up in the Garden Apartment. Lola was very close with Hannah, one of the women who was in attendance during Jacqueline's hospice.

Anyway, as we were leaving SF, I got a panicked text from Hannah after Lola had a medical crisis after she arrived in SF for her treatment. The cancer had progressed, tumors all through her lungs which were filling with fluid, but Lola was in complete denial about it and telling Isabella (who had traveled with her) that they were going on a European trip in two weeks, or that she'd be released from the hospital over the weekend.

Hannah kept trying to pierce the combination of denial (which Isabella believed) and cognitive decline Lola was experiencing as her oxygen levels crashed.

It was all incredibly stressful for Hannah and I told her I'd present a united front with her on Tuesday after I got back, as it was clear that Lola was not going to be able to leave the hospital at all and was looking at palliative care.

Then Lola died yesterday morning. Isabella is stranded here in SF in a hotel. Lola's three sisters are flying out from the East Coast and will collect Isabella and handle all the details.

Honestly, I'm surprised Lola lasted as long as she did (more than a year after her diagnosis, which I thought was worse than Jacqueline's). But it is a heartbreaking loss and Matilda is feeling so much for Isabella. Hannah has lost another close friend to cancer.