four posts in one ...

[molly_o]

1) My head has been hurting for more than 24 hours now. It's a weird headache: When it recedes, it feels like there's something stuck in my right nostril, but a lot of blowing (plus the fact that when it expands, it occupies the whole right side of my head) suggest that's not the case. Aside from a required adoption seminar yesterday, I've spent the past 24 hours in bed, but when your dreams involve trying to figure out what's stuck in your right nostril, sleep becomes a lot less appealing.

2) Last Tuesday on my way to work there was a pit bull running loose in the alley behind my house. She wasn't scary at all; she positively exuded friendliness, she seemed almost like a puppy (except for the clear evidence that she had recently nursed a litter of puppies herself). I knocked on a couple doors, trying to figure out where she belonged, and she trailed along happily beside me the whole time -- and then almost got a hit by a car when she tried to follow me to the Metro station. So I went back home and shut her in my yard and called Animal Control, and they came and got her.

She was such a sweet animal, and so ready to attach to me, that I did something stupid and told the folks at animal control to call me if her owner never claimed her. And I'm about to do something even *more* stupid: They won't give updates over the phone, so I plan to visit the pound this afternoon and see how she's doing. My mother is APPALLED, but Mark is being very sweet about it.

3) A relative (not immediate family, but reasonably close) has drunk himself right off the rails. A year ago at this time, none of us even suspected he had a drinking problem; since then he has lost his job and his wife has left. He spent 24 days in rehab and had a drink on the plane home; he's been taken to the hospital in an ambulance several times (the last time, his blood alcohol was 0.4, which is potentially lethal). He goes through detox and gets home and then walks down to the corner store and gets more wine; if he runs out of wine and the corner store is closed he checks himself into a high end hotel so he can get at the mini-bar. (The Westin and the Ritz-Carlton won't let him check in anymore.) An intervention is in the works, and I am not sure what my role in that will be. So far, I have remained on the periphery of this disaster: I take calls from his estranged wife, from my mom, from my dad, from my brother (who has always been pretty close to this relative), and I listen, and I try to offer sensible advice only when advice is sought.



Even if you aren't up for reading the saga of my life, you might want to know that my yahoo account is not receiving e-mail. At first I thought no one loved me {sob}, but when I didn't even get digests from the groups I belong to, I sent a test e-mail from Mark's account that confirmed it's Yahoo's fault.