I have an Angry Bird lanyard for mt whistle at school.
It's such a simple thing but gets me so many cool points!

Keep going Lola.
Remember they do not have to be perfect.
As long as the kids can recognise them, you are Super-Auntie!

the fact that I spent all day yesterday without internet. I call CenturyLink who says they are not having a problem...it must be my wiring or modem. So, they are supposed to come out today.

I get up this morning and the internet is working. I checked my modem and all the lights are on. So, I call them to update the trouble ticket. I tell them that it is now working, but I want someone to come out because the modem must be having trouble intermittently.

The wife calls me to tell me that they guy was out and it was a problem on THEIR end! You couldn't call to tell us that? And why did you not know when I called yesterday...or when you called back later that evening to see if my internet was still down?

I lost a friend of mine from HS on Friday...apparently, he committed suicide. I believe this is the first friend/relative I've lost to suicide. It's horribly sad...he was always one of the most laid-back and funniest people I knew.

You just never know what lurks beneath the surface.

The professor who taught my major 'special interest' module in my final year of undergrad and supervised my dissertation, was also going to be my supervisor for my Masters, but had to go on an extended leave due to throat cancer. Earlier in the year she appeared to be doing better, but had announced that she was going to retire. There was supposed to be a little party at the faculty a couple of weeks ago for her retirement. Got an email the week before to say Katrina wouldn't be able to come after all as her health had deteriorated significantly.

I just checked my emails and there's one from the head of school to say that she has now moved to a hospice, and that her partner, children and siblings are with her. She is too weak for visitors.

I'm really struggling not to cry. It's so fucking unfair. This woman is so fiercely intelligent, warm, caring, lovely and brilliant. I'm feeling a little guilty that I didn't maintain contact with her after she went on leave. I was just so wrapped up in my work, and (minor) health problems of my own, y'know how these things go. That and the context of our contact had gone largely.

It's not a major feeling of guilt. Just a niggle. Mostly I'm just really saddened.

Fuck cancer.



@ Syc: that's terribly sad. It's such a shock when someone who seems so together commits suicide.

Sorry guys, those are both difficult things to sort out.

wow. Suicide and throat cancer.

Tough to imagine either one.


I think throat cancer would be the very worst - I'm so sorry Dana and Sycamore, for your friends suffering. Ugh. Life is a weird and awful bitch sometimes.

It seems the "most laid-back and funny" people are the ones who are most sensitive and prone to the vagaries of life.

Drowning not waving, as the poem goes.

I'm so sorry for this, Syc. It's so hard for the survivors.

wss ^

Warm thoughts to those suffering. :(

Sorry to hear that Syc. I saw your link on FB. He seemed to be such a great guy.

@Syc - Sorry, man. Prayers for his family and friends.

@Dana - Fuck Cancer. Prayers for her family and friends as well.

Thanks guys.

Sorry to hear that Dana. Didn't you mention something about this before ... or was that a political friend?

I think I mentioned something about it. There've been a few such stories lately unfortunately. Our Stell, Romy - a family friend/non-blood relative of my ex - and Katrina, my former professor.

I think I posted abot Katrina when she first had to go on extended sick leave. It was a little after the start of my MA. She was down as my co-supervisor along with my current supervisor. That was late 2009/early 2010 (can't recall exactly, my timings all off :p).

I think one of the things that's getting to me about Katrina, is that alongside the loss to her family and friends, the world is losing a fabulous mind and a brilliant historian. Someone who was doing genuinely important (in my opinion) work.

Wrapped up an aggravated domestic violence case on a man who beat his pregnant girlfriend and then threatened her with a pistol for trying to call for help. Hipaa prohibits me from stating the status of the fetus, but the suspect has a $2 million bond. Can you read between the lines??

I'm so disgusted!