Habitualchaos

Boring day today out on the west coast. Woke up to rain, so no exploring for this traveler today. Actually the rest of the week until Friday should be relatively inactive... as John and Kel do have their respective jobs to go to.

Im still planning on doing my own exploring while theyre working... and even accompanying John to a lecture, just to see what he really does. This is more or less like my families usual vacations to Lake Erie... cept the families not here and I have internet access.

Well kids, the fairy tales over... time to pack up your shit and go home. And such it is for me too... Im sitting here right now just getting back from our trip to San Fran 15 minutes ago (it being midnight here). In 4 hours I'll be getting up to be at the Sacramento airport by 5, to be on my plane that leaves at 6:35... getting home to Cleveland at just before 4:30pm.

Thats after changing my flight earlier in the week from leaving Cali at 12:10pm and getting into Cleveland at 10pm... a very unapealling thought since, with the 1.5 hour drive home to Youngstown, Id get home just in time to go to bed to be at work at 8:30 the next morning.

Fair trade though... leaving early so I actually have some unwinding time before going back to my normal routine Monday.

Something I forgot to mention when I was in California last week, was an email I got. This email was from a young lady I graduated with (from high school), one of the people involved with informing all us graduates about reunion happenings. The email had a subject of "Very sad news" but I wasnt quite prepared for what it said.

The email was informing us that a classmate had passed away. There were no specifics, there still arent... but it was weird reading this email. Ive heard of people having young friends that died, but it was never someone I actually knew till now. We werent the best of friends, but we were civil to each other through all our years in high school... this was someone I interacted with though, someone I knew, someone I saw on a regular basis from elementary school all the way to graduation.

As bad as I feel for his family, and I do... at the point I read it, I couldnt get past that feeling of my own mortality. That feeling that he was exactly as old as I am now. It just reaffirmed that fear we all know sometime... that none of us know when its going to happen to us. Disease, accidents... whatever. I just sat there in a kind of disbelief.

Even as I sit here writing about it... its still unbelievable in a way.

The current image does not correspond with this post anymore, I had to share a "J-like" Valentines card I found, forgot about, then remembered today... so please disregard

I dont think I can get awy with not explaining it... when I put up an image like that. Its a very simple explanation, really.

St. Pattys Day. Everything green. On this day I went out with some of my buds from work to an Irish Pub for some drinks and eats. Even me being the non-beer drinker I am, and also the Pub not having any cider drinks... I opted to actually get a Miller Lite with my pals. I didnt finish it, of course (cause Im a self-admitted lightweight)... but a good time was had.

Now to the picture explanation. My bud Khaled was enjoying a brew with everyone else and someone pointed out his hair was a little frizzy, and making him look like he was intoxicated already. Khaled being the showman he is, went along with the observation and "posed" for this drunken shot.

It brought about a good laugh at the table... and you should be laughing by now too.

In recent months Ive had two people, in one form or another, say they envy the way I act. More specifically, the way I just speak my mind. My abbrasiveness. My personality I guess. It was weird to hear... simply because I dont normally see what people make reference to. Im just being me. Im just being J.

Now of course being me isnt always a cake walk... as Im sure a couple of my friends would tell you. Im an acquired taste... I dont always give off a good first impression... I take some getting used to. Im assuming the only thing these two friends were referring to is how (mentioned above) how I just speak my mind.

I dont do it intentionally in the sense of trying to be shocking or trying to be rude. I decided not long ago that Id rather speak my mind and occasionally piss people off or make them uncomfortable... than sit on my hands and piss people off by being withdrawn. Most often, its just my dry sense of humor poking its way out for some fresh air... but I have my moments of actually being a jackass (something Im sure some people will agree with). And its the same there too, Id rather be a jackass to your face than only doing it when youre not around.

It was flattering hearing that from my two friends though... I never figured actually speaking my mind all the time, even when I prolly shouldnt, would be something people (I dont think this is the right word) admired, even in the small amounts they might.

Didnt expect to hear it is all... cause even I dont wanna be me sometimes.

I am a person who, when people ask me what music I like, says I like just about everything with the exceptions of country and gangsta rap. That part is true, I like a lot of different types of music... but I dont always listen to them all equally.

What I listen to most is hard rock stuff. Theres just somthing that draws me to heavy guitar and bass riffs... although I like more a mix of yelling and melodic hard rock. No death metal for me, please... bands like Godsmack and Soil are what I like.

There are times though, when Im listening to a CD and really getting into a song, I wish I had a button in my car that, when switched, made it so the whole world could hear it. Not that I think everyone would like it, or care if they would... when Im in a mood that a particular song, whether Ive heard it before or not, really gets to me, I sometimes wish that.

Since this past Sunday, my newborn nephew Owen has been in the hospital with an RSV infection. For those who dont know (including me), an RSV infection is (according to WebMB) "The respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) causes an illness that usually resembles a moderate to severe cold and is very contagious."

He got a little bad after being admitted, and has been in the Intensive Care Unit since Sunday as well. Hes slowly been getting better, but it hasnt slowed down the worry in my sister, his mother. Its been quite a scare for her, as you can imagine.

Now, whats been happening to him would have happened anyway, the infection I mean... but we found out, from one of the nurses, that something that complicated this (or added slightly to it) is my bro-in-laws, his fathers, smoking.

For a good while, months before Owen was even concieved, he began smoking outside so it wouldnt bug the kids and my sister. But as is the case with him a lot unfortunately he took, what he thought was, an easy way out and got some air purifiers for the house... thinking that would allow him to smoke in the house. It didnt seem to really effect everyone in the house, until we found all this new information about Owens situation.

Its irritated the crap outta me since we found out, just because he had these good intentions smoking outside early... but took the easy road just assuming that air purifier would solve everything. Youd have to know him to understand... but compromises to accomodate himself are a little too common. Hes by no means a bad father, not in the slightest... but its still irritating.

Since this has happened, we think this has (finally) sunk in that he has to stop... the baby is more vulnerable now; even if he smoked outside again the baby could catch some second-hand smoke from his clothes.

Throughout all the time, my sister has (of course) spent all her time in the ICU with her son. As such, parents (more my father, since mom goes to the hospital to be with my sister) has been watching my niece and other nephew. Such was the case today, as the kids were here at house when I got home. Their Dad left work (managing a tattoo shop) early to pick up the kids and take them home. As he was leaving, he mentioned Owen and how this RSV thing wouldnt happen again (making reference to his smoking contributing).

I stopped myself, as soon as he said it... but I was inches from blurting out "it fucking better not, jackass." Just my irritation with his little compromise months and months ago... but I restrained myself.