i have the flu again (or a cold) again. a consequence of a lot of stress accumulated over the past few weeks and the fact that fred had it. but, hey, i can't complain at least he went to jean coutu to get a few things for me.

on a lighter note, y. came by yesterday and brought me a balloon that says 'get well soon'. the kind you get in hospitals because, well, she got it from the hospital. she also brought noodle soup, miso and dumpings probably because she think i won't eat unless i have something really good in the fridge. nounou was being paranoid of catching my flu, he hid besides the bed and under the blanket until she came around. she then had to check his pulse and press on different parts of his chest to make sure he did not experience pain. i think he's feeling relieved because he is no longer hiding today.

the wake is tonight. i'm sick as a dog (no offence, schweppes) but i'll try to take pills with pseudo-ephedrine, they kick my ass but at least i'll be able to show up for a couple of hours. my mother told me i didn't have to, but, well i know i have to.

i had to move her car earlier on and hit the curb 3 times. i actually broke a sweat while doing it. oh boy. needless to say, i'm not looking forward to driving all the way to the east end tonight.

i went to see my grandfather at the hospital tonight. i had been about a week ago, when he was in a shared room and seemed fine. he was sitting up, then, sleppy but mentally-awake enough to boss me around a bit! (he pointed to his dentures and asked me to wash them. oh boy!)

since then, though, his state has deterioated a bit. he still has his pneumonia, possibly suffered a heart-attack and was recently diagnosed with tuberculosis. oh, and he has water on his lungs.

my mother has come to our apartment everyday since she's learned about the TB diagnosis. it's clear that this additional disease is probably not helping him, since he has to be kept in isolation. random visitors pop in and out of his room wearing masks, and going thorough procedure of hand-washing.

we went in his room tonight, all three of us. my mother panicked because grandpa sat up and seemed to reach out. she left. fred and i couldn't make up what he was saying, so we fetched the nurse who told us he was requesting a pepsi. apparently, he asks for it on a regular basis.

so down i go to the cafeteria, wash hands, open door, wash hands, put mask on, open other door and see grandpa asking yet another nurse for a pepsi. i show up, like a prodigious grandchild with a cold can of coke. i poured it in his cup, he reached out, took a sip and sigh. "oh wow! that feels good..."

i swear, i want to remember this moment for a long time.


edit: he passed away mere minutes after we left the hospital. i feel thankful that i had a chance to have that moment with him.

c.r.a.z.y.

hmm. interesting.

a while ago, i went to see the divercite drag queen show during pride. i was with nat and y. eventually came to meet us. before y met up with us, i actually ran into a client of mine - as in a woman who works for the workmen's compensation program. she was with her beau and seemed quite a bit surprised (not to say embarassed!) to run into me there. i joked around about how it seemed like a good way to start off her vacations. i mean, seriously montreal drag queens are really quite something!

a few weeks go by, she comes back from vacations and i ask her a couple of questions about what she did. camping? cool! so i get a few tips about good spots, you know, and get the general P.R. with customers done.

today, she phones me up around 5 pm. i joke around about losing papers (cause i do, and important ones at that!) and mention that i'll be trying out her camping spot, possibly next weekend if not the weekend after. she then tells me the workmen's comp is organising this cyclo-touring weekend a couple of weeks from now and invites me to come along with them.

of course, i say this to my boss and he loves the idea immediately. good chance of P.R. and, well, i'd probably make a better impression cycling than mostly everyone on our team. so, apparently, i might be getting a weekend get-away, paid for by the company. there are, however, quite a lot of strings attached.

hmm.

yay!

after seeing close to half of my social circle leaving in the past year, i'm please to report that alice martin is back in the house (it's actually not a play on words... not for the next couple of days anyways!)

bienvenue alice, tires-toé don' une bûche!

i'm having a very butch weekend. not that that's a bad thing per se, but apparently i kept wanting to fix up stuff and dream up of home renovation projects.

i think i've been so caught up in my everyday intellectual world that my mind is requiring a break. i started working, yesterday, on removing the paint and refinishing the door in the corridor by my room. there is still quite a bit of work to be done, because there must be 5 or 6 layers of paint on it! i'm also thinking of going to home depot to get stick-on tiles for the kitchen. the guys who did it a few years ago botched the job, so i'm thinking i can't do as badly as they did! so, project this morning is to actually map out the floor and calculate the number of square feet needed.

how butchy, yes i know.