Oh, right, the ice storms. Actually, I was pretty sick during most of that shit, and I WAS sort of hibernating…I wasn’t able to get out of the house in any weather, so it really didn’t make an impact on me. I mean, I was able to get out of bed, get to the potty, and get to the computer. But I wasn’t what you’d call in my right mind. Sorry. I do remember looking out to see ice covered streets, now that you mention it.
I wish that was my problem! The left side of my neck is still having spasms from the hours I spent last week reviewing a set of D-size isometric prints at an abandoned conference table (rather than at an ergonomically-correct drafting table). OW.
My right eye is my barometer of my stress - when it starts to twitch, I know it’s time for stress-relief.
I am so re-stealing this! Our spring is always like this. (popular joke: Ottawa has four seasons - Almost Winter, Winter, Still Winter, and Road Construction.)
Please don’t feel like a jerk. I just went through this with my father in law, and wanting someone’s suffering to end is not jerkish.
I told him too…
Dude was just here checking out my gas heater, yearly check, legally required and covered by my gas service. At one point he started making a fuss over something which is illegal and so dangerous and blahblah… and which has been illegal for less than six months and it’s actually legal since I do have other stuff in place which compensates for it; that is, I simply happen to have a system which was legal when it was installed and which is actually grandfathered.
Berating people for something “illegal” and “dangerous” which is neither isn’t just bad salesmanship, at least in my case: it leads to a formal complaint at the local chamber of commerce. Wanker… :mad: :mad: :mad:
I’m about 99.99999999% positive that this is the case for me as well. Unfortunately, way things are looking, it’s just going to get more stressful over the next few weeks and there’s nothing I can do about it.
The headline in the Money section of USA Today shouts Could U.S. default on it’s debt?
The story immediately goes on to say “Not likely, but Standard & Poor’s lowers it’s outlook” The opening salvo is not mentioned anywhere in the body.
Both statements are inappropriate. The first is blatant sensationalism; the second is a misstatement of the truth, which they correctly state in the body of the story. At least a “warning” is close to “lowers it’s outlook,” but it isn’t exactly the same as lowering the rating.
An important news article in its own right watered down by shoddy technique.
Jenaroph
You are not a horrible person to want to see someone’s suffering end. I have never understood this bizarre fear of dying.
My last brother is currently in ICU with pneumonia. It is what kills you when you have muscular dystrophy. He probably will make it through this bout and then be shunted off to the nursing home where he resides. 51 years old. Cannot feed, clean himself, go to the bathroom without help. Sleeps 80% of the time ( wouldn’t you in that circumstance?).
My mother thinks it is horrible that he might die.
I think it is horrible that he might live.
Modern medicine keeps people alive far too long for its own purpose of protecting litigation.
Yes, yes, definitely. Jenaroph, one more voice in the chorus assuring you that you’re not a bad person and that your heart is in most definitely the right place. We’re currently going through something very similar with Mr. Horseshoe’s last remaining grandparent - one of her daughters (Shoe’s aunt) is just adamant about stringing the poor old woman along, long, long, long past her time. She’s not there anymore - it’s just her suffering husk, being dragged by machines.
We’ve sworn very seriously to each other not to allow each other to linger for so long in such a state. It’s just not right, dammit, and despite people’s protestations to the contrary, strikes me as deeply immoral.
Now, that’s not true - there are any number of little stress-relieving things you can do while you wait for the stressful circumstances to go away (in your case I’m guessing it’s your class load). Ten minutes of meditation a day would probably reduce your stress - can you fit ten minutes in? 
Regarding letting people die - we’re more humane to our pets than we are to our relatives sometimes, I think. When kitty doesn’t have any quality of life any longer, we do the right thing and euthanize them to end their suffering. Somehow, humans are exempt from being given end of life dignity and an end to useless prolonged suffering?
I kind of horrified myself when my Dad was dying. He had dementia and was hospitalized because it had progressed to the point that he couldn’t swallow properly and was aspirating. We lived many states apart, and when I finally got there (with my sister) my 1st thought when I walked in the room is that I wanted to turn around and call the doctor to administer the Pink Juice (as my horse friends call it). I wondered then if I’d had too many animals in my life…
But truly - the poor man couldn’t swallow anymore, he was 89 years old, it wasn’t going to get any better. The best I could do was make it clear to his doctor that he was to feel NO pain, mental or physical, and that we wanted him snowed under as deeply as they could legally go. She protested, but she did it anyway 
Another vote for “fuck anybody who doesn’t understand that you want the person you love to die peacefully *because *you love them.”
Hope it doesn’t go to months. Peronally, I vote for getting drunk! That’s very relaxing.
Wait, did they fuck the apostrophes up, or did you?
WTF, why would his doctor object?
You’re right - it is mostly because of my class load, which is why I feel kind of like an idiot. It’s mostly self inflicted.
But, there is another factor at work. When I was in high school, I kept failing or barely passing most of my classes. I graduated with a 2.3 GPA and that was only because of things like ROTC, Health, Gym, and A&P. One of my teachers suggested that I might have a learning disability but I told him that I was lazy and had a procrastination problem (I had never heard of ADD at this point and it wasn’t until after I graduated that my mom and one sister were diagnosed with ADD). The issue was dropped on my say so. I never even mentioned it to my mother, who has always suffered from the same issues.
After high school, I worked a series of shitty dead end jobs for bosses with insanely low expectations of their employees. So, my ability to function wasn’t much of an issue. However, I did demonstrate a remarkable inability to stay in the same job for very long, especially if it was boring. I was much more likely to stay in a job that had me doing 20 things at the same time. Even in those jobs though, I had a very hard time sticking to it for more than 2 years.
Now that I’m back in school, the same problems from high school are back with a vengeance. I have to face 3 possible conclusions: Either I’m a lazy procrastinator (procrastinator - absolutely, lazy? I don’t think so), or I’m so stressed that I’m sabotaging my own mental function (doubtful since I was having these problems last semester, with a much lighter course load), or I really do have a learning disability. As you can probably imagine, the options aren’t really helping my stress level.
But, I have a physical on Thursday and I will be discussing my problems with my doctor and hopefully he’ll have a non-medication solution to my problems.
Finding time for meditation isn’t the problem. Shutting myself off in order to meditate is the problem. I have started playing Just Dance with my boyfriend at night though. It’s fun, good exercise, and doesn’t require much in the way of brain power. It’s not meditation but it’s a pretty good way to shut my brain off for a while. We keep meaning to only do 2 or 3 songs. Generally about an hour later, when I can barely bend my knees any more, we finally shut it off and I go back to my homework. I did notice yesterday that when we’re playing, the eye twitching stops.
Last month, my husband and I made an emergency trip to see my parents. My father had had a cardiac event, and we didn’t know if he’d make it into the hospital.
He’s made it out, but he and my mother have to live in a skilled nursing facility. She has Alzheimer’s, fairly advanced. He’s had a foot and part of his leg amputated. Neither can take care of themselves, although my dad is still fairly mentally sharp. They are both unhappy with the living situation, but at least they are able to be in the same room together.
When we got back, I told my husband that if/when I get Alzheimer’s, I was going to go hunting with him. Without any orange safety garments. Either that, or I’m gonna OD on Demerol.
Hmm… My ability to speak in Spanish tends to improve while I’m asleep. Maybe getting drunk would serve the same purpose. 
SLEET. FUCKING SLEET. lN FUCKING MID-APRIL. RRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRAAAAAAAAARGH.
Because I basically said (and my sister agreed) that we wanted to snow him w/ morphine, knowing that it would hasten his death. Since physicians aren’t allowed to euthanize (at least not in CT) she had to say that no, she couldn’t do that. But in effect, she did, I think. He’d been on morphine when I saw him first, but was still trying to talk and was very upset and uncomfortable. After our discussion he was pretty well comatose and he died about 24 hrs later.
There ya go! Whatever works for you.
Sleet, eh, Shot From Guns? Were you out WALKING IN IT like I was last week, huh? (Yes, it IS a contest!)