I just ordered new business cards and I think they turned out OK. This time I incorporated some of my first books cover art.
Keratoconus and I…
So, I had a visit with a specialist about my worsening eyesight, and it turns out I need corneal replacement surgery on my right eye due to Keratoconus. The procedure will be done on January 5th.
I’ve sort of known this day would come for quite a while now, but it was always comfortably somewhere out in the future. Now that it’s happening, I’m not quite sure what to think about it.
It’s not like the procedure is really optional, because the condition will only get worse, not better, but there are risks associated with it. Permanent loss of sight in that eye, rejection of the donor tissue, etcetera.
The left eye isn’t much better, but he seems to think that corneal cross-linking might work. If so, I should be able to avoid surgery.
The worst part of this situation is that it can take up to two years to completely heal. TWO YEARS. And for six months or so my vision will be even worse than it is now.
Don’t get me started on the cost (hopefully insurance covers the bulk of that), but I’ll also need to use several kinds of eye drops for at least a year. Fun times.
I’ll be put under for the surgery, and never once in 58 years has this been necessary. Hopefully no one is looking to upload a funny video to Youtube… I suspect that I am going to be uncomfortable for quite some time after, but there is one up-side…I’ve already started shopping for an eye-patch.
ARRGGHH, matey’s…..
Getting tired of this shit…
Yet another mass shooting in the news, and folks, I’m getting really tired of this shit. When did peoples best option become gunning down as many innocents as possible before committing suicide? Or even worse, killing indiscriminately then allowing yourself to be arrested?
If you expect some long-winded anti-gun rant, then you should just move along. This ain’t it.
If you think this is going to be a frothing at the mouth pry it from my cold dead fingers manifesto, then you should go away, too.
What it IS is me wondering what the ever-living fuck is wrong with people?
Hey, you want to commit suicide? Knock yourself out, bro. As far as I’m concerned that is your right, your call, and no one can tell you otherwise. Where I draw the line is when you decide that taking five, ten, or even fifteen other people with you is the bestest idea EVER. Fuck you.
When did suicide become a participatory event? One where innocent bystanders become part of the game, even unknowingly? Evidently sitting in the basement and blowing your brains out just doesn’t cut it anymore. Oh no, you need a body-count to go along with it. Speaking for myself, and I’m sure all other sane people, no thanks.
Life sucks and you just can’t take it anymore? Please exit this reality quietly…and alone. We’ve all got issues, dude, but we don’t all take them out on random people (or family members). That five year old girl bleeding out next to her mother never did you any harm. The woman loading groceries into her car? The same. The seven folks you slammed your car into? Pretty sure they didn’t even know who the fuck you are.
My point is… Why is this now the norm? I’m 59 years old and I can honestly say that I don’t remember activity such as this when I was in my teens and twenties. Certainly not this frequently, nor so prevalently. Has society changed so much that we barely even blink an eye when these things happen, and keep on happening? It boggles my mind.
To be honest, my wife and I seriously considered Home-schooling our daughter, but it just wasn’t feasible for us. My parents never had to wonder if we would come home alive at the end of the day…but I do. This is so much bullshit, and we all know it, but somehow we have let things get out of control as a society.
Don’t get me wrong, I’m not anti-gun. That doesn’t mean I don’t think that the act of purchasing one shouldn’t have more built-in safeguards. I do. I’m all for making it harder for unstable individuals to get their hands on weapons. Hell, I don’t even hunt (too much an animal lover), my time is spent on the range. I enjoy using firearms, just not in destructive ways.
I served five years in the US Army, fired many different types of weapon, and played with all sorts of other explosive goodies. I owned weapons before I enlisted, and I own one now. And yet I don’t have uncontrollable urges to hurt people.
That being said, not everyone should be allowed to do so, and if at any point you become a danger to others, that right should be stripped from you…post haste. No question about it.
This isn’t a Red state/Blue state issue. Its just common fucking sense. Jesus Christ, not everything has to be a liberty or death scenario. We have the ability to make this better…what we lack is the will. And politicians on both sides will milk it for all its worth, never actually doing anything about it. Don’t get me started on those ass-hats…/rant off
Skunks suck…
You may be asking yourself why skunks suck, and I’ll be happy to illuminate this subject for you.
Last night (very late) my Husky had a close encounter with the family of skunks who make their home around the house next door. I knew immediately when it happened because the stench penetrated the walls of the basement office where I work on my books.
Sure enough, the little bastard had gotten tagged. Not a direct hit, thank god, even though I have warned him off these vermin many, many times. Unfortunately, for those unfamiliar with Husky behavior, they have extremely high and aggressive prey responses. No cat, squirrel, bird, or apparently skunk, is safe from being pursued.
I had a difficult time getting him to come inside because he knew he’d not only screwed up, but he’d gotten caught screwing up. Eventually, I was able to get his ass into the basement and spent the next few hours repeatedly washing his stanky ass in an attempt to at least make him slightly less offensive.
It worked…sort of, but in the process I transferred some of his funk onto myself…sigh. Needless to say we didn’t get much sleep, and I spent hours today steam-cleaning the carpet trying to rid it of the stench. In that I succeeded, but the dog still carries a faint aroma and all of a sudden wants to cuddle and be a lap dog. WTF? Where was that behavior two days ago.
He’s not fooling me. Oh, and this isn’t the first time I’ve had to deal with a skunk-marked Siberian. My last dog, Romulus, also fell victim to these horrid little creatures of no redeeming quality, but in his case he got the full dose.
Anyway, I’m hoping that I can safely return to work tomorrow and not have everyone in the office wrinkling their noses and wondering what that smell is. Wish me luck…
Ain’t that a bitch…
When I left work yesterday I thought I might post about how I got the first of my two Moderna vaccine shots. Or maybe about how I had just sent a couple of my short stories off to Mike Waitz for editing. Unfortunately, that is not to be the case.
I had no sooner walked in the door at home when my wife was interrogating me as to whether I was aware of what had happened, and in fact was still happening in the nations capital. I was not. I turned on the TV and started flipping through channels trying to come to grips with the fiasco that was being reported. Four dead, one from a gunshot. A mob of idiots who were allowed to occupy one of the great edifices of our government…seemingly without consequence. And a President who not only did nothing to prevent this atrocity, but actively encouraged it.
I’ve never actually stated this on the blog, but I have always intended to avoid discussing politics. That subject is impossible to win…more of a Kobayashi Maru scenario like in Star Trek. I don’t like getting bogged down in stupid shit…and that’s what I consider politics to be.
I watched in dismay as my worst fears were being played out before my very eyes…our country coming apart at the seams. Some of you will probably roll your eyes and say “now you’re just being over-dramatic”. Am I? The events looked more like some CIA directed coup attempt in a banana republic somewhere in South America, than what we should expect within the borders of the USA. Continue reading “Ain’t that a bitch…”
Another round of lockdowns…
So, Governor Inslee announced a further round of tightened lockdown rules for Washington state, and anyone who is surprised by this hasn’t been paying attention to what has been happening with Covid-19. Infections, and deaths, have been on the rise for weeks and show no signs of diminishing any time soon.
What this means is that the holiday season is going to be truncated for many of us. I’m totally OK with that to tell the truth, I just wish that they would develop a viable vaccine and get it out into the wild…soon. One of my co-workers is finally back to work today after having contracted it, and spent the last two weeks in quarantine at home. We work at a major hospital in Spokane. I’m so sick of the whole thing.
The reality is that Thanksgiving is going to be a very different experience for a lot of people (at least those who take the threat seriously). Large family gatherings are out. No eating a meal at a restaurant instead of having to cook it yourself. No sitting around, pleasantly bloated watching football with extended family. No Black Friday sales.
Instead, only immediate family will be together on this national holiday. In my case this means the wife, child, and our dog. Granted, I don’t find this to be particularly painful, being that I am a known anti-social A-hole, but that is not the case for my wife. Large family gatherings seem to spring up every time the wind blows when it comes to my in-laws. This was the single hardest thing for me to cope with when I married into that clan.
Any type of gathering on my side of the family was restricted to Thanksgiving, Christmas, and occasionally the 4th of July. And generally, not everyone would make those, either. No big deal, if there was something I needed to know about regarding my siblings my parents made sure I was informed. Since my father is no longer with us most of those events have gone by the wayside, and that’s fine by me.
Trying to accomodate two Thanksgivings, or two Christmases was always a pain in the ass, and always left me feeling grouchy (well, grouchier anyway). For me, these times were meant to be spent with the wife and kid (or alone when I was in the Army), not a bazillion other people all putting up a false front of bonhomie. Someone was always pissed at someone else, or flat-out not a fan of one or more of those gathered for the occasion. Why bother, or even pretend? I’ve never understood that…trust me, if I don’t like you it is readily apparent.
Last year we flew to Phoenix for Thanksgiving, stayed at a 5-star hotel, and partook of the huge holiday feast that their staff prepared. That’s my kind of holiday. And the nice weather didn’t hurt either. No such luck this year. That is the worst part of this whole situation as far as I am concerned…this virus is restricting my ability to just pack up and go somewhere. We like to travel, and generally take a few long weekend trips, and one big trip each year. An international trip is planned for every two to three years.
In fact, we had planned on being in Sicily for three weeks last summer, but well, that didn’t happen for obvious reasons. Nor am I convinced it will be possible in 2021 either. I’m not sure how many more opportunities I will have for such travels in the future (I’m 58) and I begrudge every lost chance. To be honest, if it was just me I would still travel, but it’s not.
Anyway, I would wish everyone the best for the holidays, but…meh. Hopefully we will be able to get past all this horseshit in the relatively near future. I’m crossing my fingers.
R.I.P. Sean Connery
I’m getting kind of tired of writing these obit pieces, so rather than do another for one of my favorite actors I thought I would do something different. The following link isn’t to one of his movies, instead it is a short cut from Trainspotting where the actors incorporate their impersonations into the scene.
Enjoy
At least someone is happy that winter has arrived…
We got hammered yesterday with seven, or so, inches of snow. The sad thing is that it was only like two weeks ago that the temperatures were in the seventies. I hate winter at the best of times, and having it show up early this year doesn’t please me.
That being said, the new husky puppy had a blast. It was all new and exciting for Ronin and I’m sure he will continue to love it…sigh Here are a couple of vid’s of him playing in the white stuff…
Anarchy…
In honor of Seattle and Portland earning the designation of Anarchist cities by the Department of Justice I share the following:
Update on Italian Dual-citizenship
Believe it or not, I have been researching this process for a while now, and what a rabbit-hole it is. There are very few actual concrete instructions available, and the ones that do exist are somewhat contradictory. The one thing that they all agree on is that the process is long and sucks balls (my wording, ahem).
One site that seems helpful is getitaliancitizenship.com, as they have a few good documents that pertain. Now, if my ancestor had come to the United States after WWI or WWII this would be a fairly straightforward process. Unfortunately, in my case, he was born in Palermo in 1815. This is well before the unification of Italy, which complicates matters. There are also a whole host of other considerations.
Additional requirements for Italian citizenship by descent:
- The Italian ancestor was alive at the time of the unification of Italy which took place on March 17, 1861 (see above).
- Your Italian ancestor did not naturalize (i.e. received citizenship) in the U.S. prior to June 14, 1912 (mine naturalized 18 Oct 1864).
- If your Italian ancestor naturalized it must have taken place after the birth of the next person in the ascendancy (it did, my Great-Great Grandfather was born 2 Mar 1844). For example, if your great grandfather emigrated to the U.S. and naturalized after the birth of your paternal grandfather, you would be eligible to apply for Italian citizenship by descent as long as the naturalization took place after June 14, 1912 (and this is where the ambiguity comes in)
- If your Italian ancestor never naturalized you must prove this by providing a certificate of non-existence of naturalization records from USCIS and either a copy of the ancestor’s alien file or a certified census report indicting non-US citizenship status of the.
- If your Italian ancestor was a woman born before January 1, 1948 she can only transfer Italian citizenship to her children born after 1/1/48 and to their descendants. Exceptions to this law can only be obtained through a case presented at the Civil Court at Rome.
- If your Italian ancestor was born in the following regions, Veneto, Friuli-Venezia-Giulia, or Trentino Alto-Adige, in order to apply for the Italian citizenship, you must prove that the ancestor left Italy after July 16th, 1920.
- Minor children who were born in Italy and emigrated to the US with their parents who received “derivative citizenship” upon the U.S. naturalization of a parent lost their Italian citizenship and cannot transmit it to their descendants.
So even if I pursue dual-citizenship for myself and my daughter, we may not qualify due to some of the ambiguities. Quite frankly it’s a bit frustrating, and the only way to find out for sure is to go through the process, pay all the fees, and hire consultants that may, or may not, be able to help. All of which will cost several thousand dollars.
Is it worth it? Maybe. The perks of dual-citizenship are pretty damn good. I’m just not a huge fan of throwing money away with no reward at the end. I need to think about this before I commit either way. I’ll keep you updated when I do.
