A scene from Family Guy.  This would be funnier if not so true.

     We weren’t allowed to have Christmas Trees in prison.  They had one briefly in the chapel but someone got a stick up their butt and it was removed.

     This is the first year I had it together enough (3-1/2 years after release) to get one.  Normally I go for a live tree and plant it afterwards but just haven’t been feeling up to a trudge into the woods so went with the dead variety this time.  Sometimes the small things mean a lot.

     And really, if you understand the symbolism it’s not so small.  In Acts, Galatians, and Peter, Jesus is hanged on a tree, not a cross and likely that is the way it really went down as the Roman tradition of using a cross for crucification didn’t really take hold until about 100 years later.

This is how she sits when treats aren’t involved.
She is the bed pisser.

     I’m working on about 5 hours sleep.  I got to bed way late, almost 2AM last night because first I had to do server maintenance, and then our dog pissed on our bed necessitating washing all of our bedding.

     Then at 7am, my 26 year old Son, Raymond, threw up in the hall just outside our bedroom door.  Nausea came on rapidly and he didn’t have enough warning to make it all the way to the bathroom before his stomach emptied it’s contents.

     I was supposed to get a hair cut today, my hair is a shaggy disaster at the moment, but got to the shop and it was closed and the lights were off.  Found out my barber also got sick today.

     Been fighting some kind of infection that Doxycycline didn’t kill, even though it did a good number on my gut bacteria leaving me with intestinal pain and cramping all night for a good month before the doctor suggested probiotics, which were a small miracle.

     But the infection isn’t gone, and so they took a sample and sent it to a lab to determine what it is and do antibiotic sensitivity testing to see what will kill it.  Lab results were in yesterday but I’ve been playing telephone tag with the doctor ever since.

     Coming around towards Christmas and I’m anything but ready.  Hope things are going well for those family members I can not contact or who will not contact me.

     Watched a 16-year old film, Charlie’s Angles.  Totally ridiculous but fun.

     Now the barometer is climbing rapidly and sinuses are back to complaining.

     And mood, I’m still feeling down even though I really can’t nail down a reason for it.  Talked to Carl today. Went to Applebees to watch the game as I have no off-air or cable here.  Seahawks more than won, they slaughtered the Ravens.

     So don’t really know why I’m in this mood.  Family issues aren’t any better but that’s a constant but this mood isn’t.  Maybe my body is just beat down with the infection and all.

     The barometric pressure seems to have bottomed out and my sinuses of have adjusted and the pain has subsided.

     Probiotics have got my digestive system back on track.

     Still haven’t heard back from the lab but the clindomycin seems to be working and the boil is not re-inflating.

     So physically I seem to be doing well, emotionally, kind of down.  I kind of feel like I got left in one of the downer states after watching Across the Universe last night.  Maybe it used up all the neurotransmitters and my system hasn’t been able to rebuild yet although I’ve taken both 5-HTP and L-Tyrosine in an attempt to aid them in doing so.

     No lack of sleep, I’ve slept good the last three nights now that the intestinal discomfort is alleviated.

     Lack of human interaction aside from my wife and she’s gone more than not, including this evening, probably is a contributing factor.  Only call I got yesterday was from a customer whose DSL was broken by CenturyLink.  They escalated the repair in theory but he’s in Vancouver and much of that part of the state is under water.

     Don’t know what to do about it though, two kids won’t forgive me, Father won’t forgive me, Raymond doesn’t speak about anything other than games, and Carl, well he’s been too busy to talk to me for the last week and a half.

     Tried to get a meeting with the head pastor at the church that sponsors the mens accountability group that I’ve been attending for the last 3-1/2 years but nada, I leave voice mail, tells me to leave e-mail, leave e-mail and no reply.

     The barometer is taking another relatively rapid and relatively deep dive (below 29 inches) and my sinuses are telling me about it.  Decongestants help but they raise blood pressure so I don’t like to take them until the pain becomes unbearable.

From IMDB:

Since the beliefs that parents want to instill in their children can vary greatly, we ask that, instead of adding your personal opinions about what is right or wrong in a film, you use this feature to help parents make informed viewing decisions by describing the facts of relevant scenes in the title for each one of the different categories: Sex and Nudity, Violence and Gore, Profanity, Alcohol/Drugs/Smoking, and Frightening/Intense Scenes.

Translation

     If you want your children to be warmongering racist bigoted narcissistic assholes, don’t let them watch this film.

     I am feeling so emotionally overwhelmed after watching that film and my wife had to work tonight so I’m going to have to deal with my overwhelmedness all by myself.  I am sure I’ll survive but not comfortably.