Saturday, April 21, 2012

Yesterday, Today, Tomorrow...

I have had a hell of a week; very stressful in fact.  My Uncle Alan has been very sick has been placed in Palliative Care in the QEII Jubilee Hospital.  The section has only been open a month; and it's fantastic; and he's been in there since Tuesday morning.  He has advanced Prostate Cancer and the doctors are now controling his pain and nausea; but it's a testing time for everyone; and very hard on our nerves as well.  During this week, I've tried not to mention it here as it's not really what I'd like to tell anyone.  But it's been keeping me awake - even if I write it down in my personal journal - and so I thought to get it out.  
Yesterday, I went out to find a vacuum cleaner to replace my old one.  On the way out Dad took me to Uncle Alan's house to fix his pool so it was being cleaned.  I cleaned up his kitchen and scrubbed it within an inch of its life.  All the counters are clean, the toaster was wiped down, anything sitting out was either put in the fridge or put back into the pantry and the sinks were scrubbed out with steel wool and Jiff.  
By the time I had finished all of that, Dad and Uncle Alan's friend, Frank, had gotten the pool working well and we were off to Garden City to get my vacuum looked at.  Mum met us there (not Frank though as he went back to work) and we found there was nothing wrong with my vacuum except it needed new bags that were suitable for it and fitted it and a dust filter that would save me on bags in the first place.  So, I bought the dust filter and the guy threw in the bags for nothing.  Gotta say:  Godfrey's at Garden City is a good place to go, they don't try to sell you a cleaner for the sake of selling a cleaner.  The guy saved me from spending money on something I didn't need.  This is a good salesman.
After that, we were off in search of lunch.  Mum had seen a new sushi place called 'Sushi Deli' open up downstairs right down the other end of the place and so we went off walking there after we took my vacuum back to the car.  On the way, I dropped into a bookstore while I waited for my folks to visit the restrooms and found two books by my good friend - and author - Estelle Pinney for $10 each and they were both signed!  So, I purchased them both.  Seeing I already had one of them (which was also signed by Estelle for me), I gave it to Mum and kept the other titled 'Burnt Sunshine' to read.  Mum was thrilled to have her own copy of 'House on the Hill' and even happier to have her very own signed copy!  
'Sushi Deli' was a brilliant place to eat!  It was a proper restaurant where the food was made up and set on a track to travel past you and you made your choices as it slowly moved past.  I found a plate with a patty on it with mayonnaise and seaweed... it looked unusual; but interesting and Mum picked up one that looked similar but hers were four balls instead of a patty.  We began eating and were totally surprised that we were eating something like fish, but it wasn't fish; we didn't know what it was until we asked the staff and were informed we had eaten octopus fritter and octopus meatballs!  How delectable!  How wonderful!  How... beautifully made!  We talked Dad into trying them and we found a patty for him and he scoffed that down, then he ordered a plate of the meatballs and he scoffed into that too!  However, I found the octopus very filling and I thought to get a dessert of Pumpkin tart-like thing.  It was a not-so-sweet dessert which tasted lovely, a little sweet and totally cleaned my mouth out... topping off my meal nicely.  And for $3.80, it was just perfect!  I finished off my Sesame Green Tea and sat back totally happy with my meal.  I was just nicely full, not feeling too pinched or overfull, just contently full.
We left the restaurant after paying just over $40 for our meal and walked around Garden City looking for a key-chain wallet for Dad's keys; without success.  Then it was time to meet up at the hospital to visit Uncle Alan.  Mum had brought her car and parked it near the new car park at David Jones whereas Dad and I had parked in the old Mac & East car park - two totally different ends of the place - and so we agreed to meet up there.  
About twenty minutes later, we did and we found Uncle Alan in good spirits talking and laughing.  We stuck around for about an hour and then thought to leave him at around 3:30pm as we had to go about some errands.  Dad had a few things to do at his house still and Mum was going to take me home and pick up a prescription of meds.  After we did get my meds, Mum stuck around and looked around my newly cleaned-out kitchen and the garden.  She's getting to enjoy my yard as much as I am; and we're both finding more faults with it each time we look at it too.  So much more work needs to go into it and I've got to keep on saving up more and more money until the next phase of it comes around to make it work.  It's just a matter of time before I get it totally right and looking the way I want it to look; and even then, I don't think I'll be happy with it.  Yep, I'm a perfectionist when it comes to my little garden.

Today, I worked at the Logan Art Gallery for the morning shift with a new person on the roster: Malcolm.  He was given a lot of the work to do so he knew what he had to do.  He was answering the phone, taking messages, calling and confirming workshop people and talking to customers as well.  We chatted about all kinds of things from music to art to work and what happened to us for us to become involved with volunteer work.  He was amazed at how I can't find a job; and how many job centres I've worked with who can't find a job for me all because of my problems with numbers and my learning problems.  I said that what I can't do with maths I make up with arts and other things such as painting, gardening and writing.  
Well, it's late.  I watched an episode of 'The Voice' and was blown away by the caliber of the people who could sing but haven't gotten anywhere with their singing or haven't had the opportunity to do this kind of thing because of other things standing in their way (like their confidence, their appearance, age or because they felt their way of life made it that they couldn't reach this goal).  One girl was 19 years old and sang like Janice Joplin!  Amazing voice!  And yet when she spoke, she sounded like an angel.  None of them could believe it; and neither could I.  Anyway, it's been a long two days and I didn't sleep all that great last night; but I will tonight.  Until my next post, take care, keeps safe and warm and remember I'm always here.

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