Under The Weather

Sorry that I haven’t been around much lately.

Both Husbandji and I have terrible colds.

We’re both on the mend, but, I’ll probably be offline for at least a few more days.

Everyone stay well, and I’ll talk to you soon…

Must See TV

Hello My Minions!

Well! Bravo has a new show that just premiered last week called Launch My Line. It looks like they’re trying to woo back some of the viewers that they lost when they let Project Runway another show slip through their fingers…

Don’t worry, I’m not going to start reviewing each episode. There are people who are far better at doing that!

No. I just want to comment on one of the contestants: Mr. Patrick McDonald!

Isn’t he faaaaaabulous?!!! If the first episode is any indication, I hope that he doesn’t get eliminated too soon!

But seriously, and not to be catty about this, but, doesn’t he look like the love child of Charles Nelson Reilly:

and Ann Miller?

I mean, seriously?

White Tara Mantra

And, I’m Back

What a week it has been, my minions.

First, I would like to thank everyone for their kind comments, emails and cards. You will never know how much they all meant to me.

Now, back to the story:

Wednesday night we had the wake for my uncle. Surprisingly, very few people came.

I was especially disappointed in how few people from his church showed up, considering that my uncle was one of the pillars of his church (Episcopal) and had even been granted the title of Senior Warden Emeritus prior to his eventual transfer to the Soldier’s Home a few years ago.  I know that my mother was especially disappointed about the low turnout.

Well, at least their core circle of friends did come, and for that I’m grateful.

Of course, I guess that I was hoping for too much to expect Husbandji’s family to give us a fucking break behave appropriately during this trying time.

But, of course, they couldn’t.

I spent the better part of Wednesday morning dealing with their ridiculous bullshit!

In a nutshell: Husbandji’s brother, “M”, was planning on attending my uncle’s wake Wednesday afternoon and was planning on driving Tiamat to it as well.

I had spent half an hour with him on the phone the previous evening giving him detailed instructions on how to get to the funeral home in Easthampton (Because, of course, no one in Husbandji’s family EVER travels out of fucking Springfield!) and everything was all set.

Or so I thought.

Wednesday morning, M calls the house to tell me that he came to the realization overnight that there just wasn’t going to be any way that he would be able to make it to the wake that night because of the time constraints involved.

Apparently, he wouldn’t be getting home from work as a school crossing guard(!) before 5PM because apparently he walks each individual student home to their fucking doors and by the time that he and his idiot wife changed and went to pick up Tiamat and drove to Easthampton, they probably wouldn’t get there on time!

Whatever.

I could tell that he was lieing feeling extremely guilty about this, as he kept repeating this over and over and over, as though he were trying to convince not only me, but, himself as well.

So I told him that he “needed to do whatever worked for him” BUT that he would need to call his other brother “A” that morning to arrange for him to take Tiamat to the wake. I told him this at least four times during the conversation.

Twenty minutes later, Tiamat called.

M had called her and told her that they couldn’t take her and that SHE needed to call A to arrange for a ride!!!!!

So, of course, she was calling Husbandji about it!

She even had THE NERVE to ask me if she could ride up with us!

Or more accurately; “Could I ride with YOUZ???” (I thought that I was talking with Joe Pesci!!!)

To which I replied “No. the FAMILY OF THE DECEASED needs to be there early!!!”

So, Husbandji had to call A and arrange for everything.

And, as it turned out, A and Tiamat were the only two members of Husbandji’s family that showed up.

So, I guess I know where I stand in that family.

At any rate, the service for my uncle on Thursday was very nice. There were tears, but, there was also laughter, celebrating the life of a man who was as dear to me as my own father.

I shall miss them both terribly.

That;’s all for now. Talk to you all soon….

Back for a Little Bit…

Hello Everyone

First of all, I would like to thank everyone for their comments and emails of condolence and support. It felt very good to know that I have so many friends out there in the Interwebs!

The last two weeks have been something else indeed.

Two days after my father died, my uncle (my mother’s brother) passed away after a long battle with Parkinson’s Disease. He too had been at the Soldier’s Home in Holyoke, although he had been in their Hospice Wing for the last several months.

We had known that his time was coming to an end soon, but, we had never expected them to both pass within two days of each other.

Once again, we were very fortunate in that we were able to say our good-byes and be with him at the moment of his passing. He is now free of the prison that his body had become for him…

Witnessing his passing was something that I will never forget.

The phrase “do not go gentle into that good night” springs to mind.

Although he was seemingly unconscious, for the better part of eight hours we watched my uncle fight for every breath, his expression never changing.

Only at the end did he lift his head from his pillow and with a slight grimace, breathe his last…

…

We had a private burial for my father yesterday, followed by a memorial service at my parent’s church (the church that I had grown up in).

My family had thought that there might be a light turnout for the memorial due to it’s being held in the morning on a weekday.

On the contrary, we were quite surprised by the number of people who came. The church was filled to capacity!

It was a lovely service, and while there were tears, there was also laughter, remembering my father’s various antics and celebrating his life.

I saw so many people yesterday whom I haven’t seen for years and years, and each of them had a story to tell about my father. It was very nice.

We will having the wake for my uncle this evening, and will be burying him tomorrow morning.

Please continue to keep us in your thoughts and prayers, and I will be back soon.

My Father

My father passed away in his sleep around 3:00AM this morning.

He went peacefully and my family was very fortunate in that we were able to be with him and say our goodbyes to him prior to his passing.

I will be offline for the next several days and will talk to you all again soon.

Please keep us in your thoughts and prayers.

Akshay Kumar Thursday

Aaaaah…

Oh, This Crazy Internet

(I’ve chosen this image for no reason, other than I LOVE that shirt!)

Anyways…..

Is this thing on?!!!

I guess that I need to start meandering around the Internets again and make my presence known once more!

Then my Minions shall come flocking!

Otherwise, I will not post the latest new Tiamat story!!

TTFN!!!

P.S. Ain’t I a Stinker?!!

J-Pop Tuesday

The group is called MilkyWay, and the song is called “Tan Tan Taan!!!” Enjoy!!

Upen Patel Monday

What a way to start the week!!! Aaaaaah…