Ode to Shakespeare
2004-05-10, 9:34 p.m.

Ok, it's been awhile since I've updated. So let me think. Well, when we left off we had lost two grandmas permanently, temporarily lost one daughter (well, two, just one of mine though), and had one dad getting released from experimental cancer treatment. This was all by last Sunday. So what happened Monday? We come home from school, I'm downstairs and Amanda goes up to her room. I hear screaming!! Hysterical screaming. I run up the stairs like a maniac and guess what? One of the hamsters was dead! I couldn't freakin' believe it! I said to .. I don't know, whoever..."You've GOT to be kidding me!!" The poor thing died on it's exercise wheel. I'm not sure what killed him, but it wasn't pretty. It looked like one side of his head exploded. So, that pretty much proves what I've always suspected about exercising. I can't say for sure exercising had anything to do with it, but hey, why take the chance? At least he went doing what he loved the best. We buried him Saturday. Guess where he spent the 5 days in between death & burial?? My freezer. Wuhhuhhuh. I'd open the freezer door and his little Saran Wrapped, double freezer bagged body would flop out 3 times out of 4. Amanda gave a nice eulogy. She asked me to say a few words. I said he was a good hamster. He didn't eat much and he never bit me. These are good things in a hamster. We'll miss you, Shakespeare.

Ok, so now it's Monday and nothing else has died, thank God. I was really getting paranoid for awhile. Although....my dad was released from the hospital on Sunday. He wasn't up to riding home from the hospital (it's a long trip, Pittsburgh to Richmond), so they stayed another night and drove home on Monday. The hospital called their house on Monday, while they were driving home. My youngest sister lives with them, she took the call. They just wanted to check on Dad. Nice. She said he was feeling ok, but he wasn't home yet. The doc said, "Oh, so you've talked to him today." Well, yeah. "Because, his chart has him listed as deceased." :O My step-mother said she was going to call them back & say, "Well, I THOUGHT he was awfully quiet on the ride home!" My sister told me this. So I called my dad the next day & he said, "I don't think you've heard the news." I said, "Sure I have. I'm calling about my inheritence!"

Amanda gave me a book she wrote for Mother's Day. It's great. It's the most wonderful gift I have ever received in my entrie life. She's such a gifted writer, and so observant, too. My favorite excerpt? "My mom is very, very tall. And she's also thin." See? That's sheer brilliance. She also says, "My mom listens to weird rock music. But I like it. She sings weird and dances weird to the weird music." Ya gotta love it!

So I guess that's it for now. It's 10:00 and I haven't had dinner yet. Much more pressing matters to attend to. I had an emergency hair coloring tonight. I hadn't realized how bad it was until I drove my mom's convertible today, with the top down, of course. That bright sun really brought out the gray in my hair. It was horrifying! I'm too young to have that much gray! So I called my mom and told her I was coming over immediately. So I'm all better now, the color looks great, and it's time to munch! Until next time.

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