Mizblog

My dad has been in the hospital for a week now. He went in for an operation to remove his cancerous colon, but 3 days after that he developed intense pain and it turned out that the intestine didn’t heal and instead it started leaking. They rushed him back to surgery, and when he got out he was insane from the pain meds. He kept insulting everyone, threatening everyone, trying to get out and tearing the tubes and monitors from his body. It was crazy.

In the middle of Friday he seemed to calm down a bit, and he was making jokes. He kept forgetting he was in the hospital, and he’d repeatedly try to get out of bed to get something. Sometimes he’d get angry when he was restrained, and he’d put up a pretty good fight for a guy with a belly wound. He also saw magic ants walking around the hospital room, as well as mysterious brown hair floating in midair.

Sometime on Friday evening he began to vomit up black bile and choke on it. He had removed the suction tube and the nurses never bothered to put it back, so when they did it sucked out over 2 quarts of the stuff!

By Sunday he was unintelligible. You could barely make out some of the words he was trying to say. His tongue looked like a scabby red slug. He was constantly fidgeting, fussing with his tubes and his clothes and covers. His fingers were rubbed raw. It was an awful sight, and we didn’t know if he’d survive or not.

PS. Today (Monday) I hear that he’s lucid and calm again, and getting better. I’m so relieved!

It’s 2am. I’m awake. Got a meeting downtown at 8am and I’m not going to oversleep. I’ve already slept 5 hours tonight. Dreamed that I broke off a tooth, and it had wooden roots.

Been doing PLM development hot and heavy for weeks now, and there’s no break on the horizon.

Went to church at St. Joseph the Worker last Saturday. It was their 50th anniversary as a parish. Lots of Vietnamese and hispanic people there now, which is neat. They sing stuff in Vietnamese. Sounds funny. Anyway, I remember feeling very sorry for all those people. The rituals that bind them together and comfort them also blind them and fetter them. Knowledge is a frightful and terrible thing, but Faith will enslave you. The thing that bothers me the most is all the evil crap that gets tied into all the good parts. I agree that it’s good to be nice to others and that violence sucks, but the Bible has mixed opinions on the subject. Interesting that no modern church focuses on the war and killing in the scriptures, but it’s all in there. You should read it for yourself sometime, and think about what you’re reading!

Last night I found out my dad has colon cancer. I’m not worried though. I’ve always known he’d die of heart disease, and a little colon cancer isn’t going to get in the way of heart disease. Still, you know what they say: “Everyone dies of cancer, unless something else kills them first.”

I’ve been spending most of my free time playing WoW, though I’ve been especially careful to always take care of work first. I’ve started getting back to guitar playing every day. I may even be getting tired of WoW, though I still play it. It’s an addiction.

Tonight is the release of a new experiment we’re making. Testing algebra transformation recognition skills in high school kids, and seeing which of our approaches results in better learning (faster/more accurate/least drudgery). I’m ironing out the last kinks right now, and it’s compiling while I’m writing.

You know, it sucks when your character dies to mobs for whom you receive no xp for killing. It’s embarrassing. :(

So yeah, I played a lot of WoW this weekend. I also saw the latest Harry Potter movie. Quick review: good but poor flow. Oh, and Hermione was whiny and (true to the books) Harry and Ron were jerks. I also thought the parallel between the Death Eaters and the KKK was a bit overdone, and Dumbledore’s violent attack on Harry was also too much. Still, for all that, it wasn’t too bad.

My first week of work in 2006 has gone very well. I’ve accomplished everything I wanted to accomplish, and with less effort than expected.

My mornings and evenings are crammed full of World of Warcraft, though I must admit I’m becoming fatigued. It’s going pretty well, but I’m already looking into ways to include programming in my WoW experience.

The big news is that Sangeeta is about 6 months into her pregnancy. The baby keeps kicking her, and if you put your hand on her tummy, she’ll kick you too!

Sangeeta’s dad arrived back in Kathmandu today, tired because he couldn’t sleep on the plane. I’m glad he made it safe and sound.

Last night was a nice quiet night at home. Happy New Year!

I got World of Warcraft for xmas. I’m addicted. I can no longer work from home.

Sangeeta’s dad has been visiting for almost two weeks now. Half of that time I’ve been sick, and Sangeeta’s been working. So her dad’s been bored and watching TV. :(

Yesterday we went to Hollywood and walked around the Walk of Fame. He was not too impressed. Neither was I.

We went to Chinatown today. Did some shopping, had lunch. Walked. Avoided a crazy situation in an overfull underground parking lot. He liked Chinatown. I was not too impressed.

I’m still coughing but no fever. I mostly feel alright but I still feel I need rest and time to fully recover.

I haven’t played guitar all week. :(

My voice went out on me yesterday. I wouldn’t have known except that my landlord came over to fix the sink. After talking to him, I could no longer speak. Stupid flu.

I took some Nyqil last night. It put me right to sleep, and I stayed there for several hours. Then I woke up in sweat-soaked sheets, surprised to be alive. I thought “if there’s a God, he must like me.” Then I realized that I was cold and sore and choked with mucous but still too groggy to move, so I revised my earlier estimate of God’s sentiments toward me.

I awoke several more times during the night and into the morning, each time being rather pleasantly surprised at first, and soon having that surprise turn into dismay and then once again into sleep. Finally I was just too cold to stay in bed, so I dressed and went for a thermometer, thinking I must really be chilled. Well, my fever was down to 100.0 but the bedroom was really cold.

Now I’m having some tea and aspirin.

Sangeeta’s quote of the day (so far): “I know you’re sick, but you can still clean something!”

My fever peaked yesterday at 104.0 but now has dropped back down to 101.1 again. I managed to get some sleep last night, but I’m running out of medicine and I’m really not looking forward to a trip to the store. Just going to the bathroom is painful enough, don’t make me deal with other people!

Sangeeta’s getting sick too, and she doesn’t have anyone to cover for her at the cart tomorrow. Sad sad xmas.