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I have a friend and coworker "M," who grew up in Albania, which at the time was under communist rule. She's extremely intelligent and wanted to become a doctor, but because her family didn't have strong connections to the communist party, the highest position she could hope for was a high school science teacher.
During the last few years before the iron curtain fell, supplies/rations were greatly reduced. Maybe you had some ration vouchers, but the stores were empty, save for something random like a jar of pickles or something even less useful. Because the borders were closed, you couldn't go to a neighboring country to buy food. So, they just made do. When the borders opened to outsiders, they would come in and they couldn't believe the state the country was in. To the resident Albanians, that's just how life was, and they wondered why the foreigners were complaining about the most random inconsequential things.
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Hmmm
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Aug. 19th, 2012 @ 09:08 pm
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Well, I'm back in my apartment after a week with my family. The visitation/memorial/not a funeral was easier than I expected. Lots of people came by, saying nice things - as one would expect. Of course, the gambling addict/manager of the family store was acting like he was part of the family (um, no). He brought his wife and daughter, who had a look on her face like she was either a disaffected teenager or constipated. You take your pick.
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Rattle
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Aug. 13th, 2012 @ 09:39 pm
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Well, I posted the bare facts on facebook, but I'll go ahead and use this as a place to go into a bit more detail into my family's issue.
As stated in my last post, my dad wasn't doing very well when my sister and I visited a week ago. He was unable to eat and so he was loosing weight and strength. My mom quietly wondered if he would make it to his appointment on Wednesday. He did and he briefly seemed to be coping a bit better than expected, but was still deteriorating
( DetailsCollapse )
Anyway, it was soon after the work trip that everyone started arriving, and though it was interesting to see everyone, I had to leave to get back to St. Louis. When I made it back to my apartment, I didn't do much past going to bed. It was a long two days. |
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Aug. 12th, 2012 @ 10:46 pm
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Thanks  lady_of_entropy and velcrobandit for the kind words after my last post. I'm not really sharing what's going on with all of my facebook, hockey, and school friends yet, and I probably won't until closer to the end, but I thought I'd go ahead and provide an update in my most anonymous bit of social media.
( Depressing TMI story aheadCollapse )
I know that was a rather dour account, and probably nonsensical, as the typos I caught were bizarre, but I just needed to get my account down somewhere. If you avoided reading it, you're probably the happier person for it. |
| » Unfornate news... |
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I just received some unfortunate news, but let me preface it with a bit of history, because I can't remember what I've shared here. About 3 1/2 years ago, my dad was diagnosed with a terminal form of cancer called multiple myeloma. It's considered terminal because there is no cure for it, but the life expectancy varies greatly based on each individual. I believe that the average is two years, so he has surpassed expectations, particularly as he is 70. Of course, with cancer, it doesn't just stay in one place, so even as one treats one type, another pops up which requires another type of treatment.
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Jul. 30th, 2012 @ 08:35 pm
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| » Summer Fun (Books & Movies) |
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Well, I'm not using this for much of anything else, so I guess I'll start posting all the crap I read and watch here.
Books:
- Robert Downey Jr. - The Rise and Fall of the Comeback Kid
- Iron Man 2
- I'm Still Standing - Kelly Standing
Movies (Theatre)- The Avengers (x3)
- Dark Shadows
- The Dictator
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Jun. 11th, 2012 @ 10:18 pm
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| » Fanfic writers |
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I'm not exactly the most critical of fanfic readers - I'm really not. Yeah, if the grammar or spelling is especially atrocious, I'll stop reading, but for the most part, I'm pretty forgiving. However, if you have your main character crush his pelvis and fracture both legs (and even say that it's going to be a long recovery) and then have him walking around with a cane a few weeks later, I feel like I've wasted my time reading all the previous chapters of the story. I should've known to stop earlier with the inconsistencies on technology, medicine, and prices in a period piece. Seriously, if you're not going to do a simple google search, avoid making such references. I mean, it's not 1990 - it's not like you even need to go to a library to be more accurate.
Feb. 20th, 2012 @ 12:50 am
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| » Napping |
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Don't you hate it when napping screws up your sleep schedule for the night? I've got a game tomorrow morning and because I took that nap I'm not tired, even though it's 2:30am. Instead of sleeping, I'm thinking about what I should do differently in the next game and wondering if I'm paired up on D with Lil just so the coach could write "Lil Kim" on the line-ups. Yeah, I'm at that point in the sleeplessness.
Feb. 19th, 2012 @ 02:39 am
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| » (No Subject) |
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I really need a snow day to happen tomorrow.
Feb. 13th, 2012 @ 11:00 pm
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