Trivia and Sadness

I haven't been sleeping well of late, but did sleep Sunday night which was a nice change from my usual Sunday nights. I went to bed around 8:00 p.m. which was so necessary. I have so much to do and so little time to do it. I really need to do laundry, I need to figure out what I'm taking with me next week (I leave one week from tomorrow for San Francisco), I need to figure which pair of boots I'm keeping from Zappo's, I need to clean the apt. since I'm going to be gone for two weeks, etc.

Now I leave next Tuesday right after work which means I'll be packing on Monday, especially, since I have a full day of plans for Sunday. I told Grandma I'd come over and see her new place and teach her to knit since the knitting classes haven't been happening. And then my brother scheduled my nephew's birthday party for Sunday as well (since I won't be here for his actual birthday – oops).

There's no way in heck all the knitting I need to get done is going to get done either. I really need to get moving on scarves for people I'm going to be seeing in SF. I wanted to knit this cute lace skirt-overlay for the The Crüxshadows concert in SF, but it's just not going to happen. I haven't even finished translating the lace chart into English (charts give me a headache and make me want to cry). Here's hoping I can get it done in time for them to come to Detroit on November 8.

Friday HRH came down to Windsor, so I went over to hang with her for the night. This was planned a few months back, and then a month or so ago she sent me an e-mail asking if I wanted to see Air Supply that night as Casino Windsor was offering her free tickets. I responded with a "Heck yeah!" She thought I was joking and replied with "Really?" Yup, really. I loved Air Supply when I was young and how could I pass up free tickets, for heaven's sake? It was about as cheesy as you'd expect and the crowd was a lot of older than I had expected. The lady next to HRH had a cane, for heaven's sake, and was easily in her 70s. HRH lasted a whole lot longer than she said she would, mostly because she didn't want to disturb the lady with the cane.

On a whole other note, life can suck really badly sometimes. At work we got moved (not physically – YET), but organizationally to yet another department. Anyway, the Kathleen equivalent in that group sends out the department-wide e-mails re: births, deaths, etc. And lately, her portion has been having the births, while mine has had five deaths within the past month, and the fifth one was this week: a co-worker's 8-month old (or so) daughter. We have absolutely no idea what happened. Until this morning when he sent me the funeral arrangements, we didn't even know which daughter (he also has a 2.5 year old). He got a phone call while at work on Tuesday and left suddenly and in a great panic, from all accounts. I wasn't here as it happened after I leave for the day, but a friend called me at home and I was just stunned by the news. Whenever I would ask him about his daughters, his face would just light up as he'd tell me about them. A co-worker who's in Europe right now called the second he got the e-mail and said that when he was home back in August he had been talking to the co-worker and that the co-worker was all excited about his daughters and even said, "I caught up to you, I now have two children." And then they talked about their kids.

I can't even begin to understand his and his wife's pain and anguish at this, but I feel as if my heart is broken for them, as ridiculous as that sounds. Tears keep welling up in my eyes as I think about it and I used my last bloody tissue yesterday and forgot to bring a box in, and I really need to invest in waterproof mascara.

It seems petty to bitch about packing and boot deciding in the face of tragedy, so I'll end this now.