For those who recall back when I quit hosting Lab 4 (something that I still loathe happening today), you may recall that I was going through a difficult patch at the time. One of the primary reasons for this is that my dad contracted cancer. It was a bad diagnosis, with a grim outlook. It was very high grade and we were told to prepare for the worst; that this was not something that would go away.
Since then things have gone up and down, culminating in the lowest of the low points last December when right before Christmas my brother passed away unexpectedly in his sleep. It seemed like life was fresh out of good news and lucky breaks, with nothing but tragedy to come. This took me to a dark place admittedly of going through the motions, just waiting away the days with nothing real or solid to much look forward to anymore. It's been the bleakest spell of my life to date.
The rules on that changed today. After taking a course of specialist treatment I'm happy to announce that my dad's cancer has shrunk significantly, and it's looking nothing but positive.
I'm devastated that my brother isn't around to share in the good news, but I'm also relieved that there's some good still to come. Life is a complicated mesh of good and bad. I'm not religious, nor do I believe in fate or luck. Things happen. Sometimes these things are good, sometimes these things are bad.
I felt a huge weight lift off my shoulders today, and I wanted to share for those who expressed their sympathies and concerns at the time. Although I'm not posting this under entirely happy circumstances and the post is mixed with tragedy as well, that's just the way life rolls.
It's worth taking solace in the fact that despite all the shitty things that happen, good things can happen too. It doesn't take a lot really, but there is hope. It won't always be bad.
The reality is things probably won't ever be perfect or stay perfect for long; that's against the nature of life and our expectations of perfection are sometimes just too high. So enjoy the little things and moments that come your way to make you happy. Take comfort in them and make them count.
Celebrate the victories in life despite the losses. I fully intend to.
A lesson without pain is meaningless. That's because no one can gain without sacrificing something. But by enduring that pain and overcoming it, he shall obtain a powerful, unmatched heart. A fullmetal heart.
So I'm stuck out of town at a work conference close enough to Chicago to wish I could hang out there again like I did years ago, but far enough away that it's not feasible to get there.
So instead, I'm doing sock dances in my room and texting them to my kids.
How can you have any pudding if you won't eat your meat?
So one of our local politicians (Republican, of course) made international news because he tried to Tweet a screenshot to show how bad his opponents are, only for everyone to see that he had two porn site tabs open on his computer in the screenshot.
I'm at the dentist, but the good news is that my skin is clearing up from the new facewash I got yesterday.
update: my teeth have been cleaned and the hygenist let me pick my tooth polish flavor. I chose bubblegum and she told me about how that flavor made her think of her childhood because she'd always chew gum. I also have two cavities that need filling (that's scheduled for next week) and the dentist was like "lol get your wisdom teeth out already"
#1 GOAT
