Old Lady Boobies

I have a gripe.

Occasionally an older woman will come into my store and want to try something on. They will stand in the dressing room, but they will not close the curtain. And then they will continue to talk to me, or ask for things so I end up seeing old lady boob. Gross. Sometimes they will be standing in the middle of the store and start taking off their shirts. WTF? Do we, with age, lose our modesty?

And really. Even if YOU (nameless old lady,) are comfortable with your bare (or bra-ed up) torso, I am not. So please, close the curtain. Keep you shirt on in the middle of the store. For my sake.

Dad

My dad has diabetes. He has had diabetes since he was 16. When he was younger the doctors told him he wouldn't live to be 35. He and my mom got married thinking that he would die very young. As it turns out, medical advancements have helped him a great deal and he is still with us. He is still working, he still has all of his limbs, and for the most part, he is very gosh darn healthy. Or so I thought. He called me this morning to tell me that he and my mom are going to help me so I can pay for the medical bills that are beginning to pile up. Which is so super awesome of them, and I really appreciate it. But anyhow, he mentions that he isn't feeling so good. Which is kinda common place really. Aside from the diabetes he inherited what we call the "Freid Stomach" from him mom's side of the family. Which means he has a sensitive stomach that bothers him regardless of what he eats. So he is never feeling 100%. But that isn't what he meant. For a while now his doctors have been trying different things to keep him kidneys from failing. But nothing is working, and he is going to have to go on dialysis. Not tomorrow, but sooner rather than later. Which brings up so many questions. Is he going to be able to keep working? Is he going to be forced into retirement because he won't be able to travel anymore?
He also let me know that his heart isn't doing very good. He is 55. But he has had diabetes since he was 16. Which means the "real age" of his heart is 94 (his real age plus the amount of years he's had diabetes.) 94!! Holy crap. Now here is the thing. As far as I understand it, there isn't anything terribly wrong with his heart. It is just really really old. But what can they do about that? Nothing. He would never qualify for a heart transplant because of his condition.

I know that in reality, I need to be happy that his condition has remained to stable for so long. He has lived twenty years longer than the doctor's had originally thought, and it's not like he got a death sentence. I'm just having a tough time coming to grips with the fact that my dad is not going to live forever. I'm only 27, and I don't want to think about this stuff for a long time.

Whoopsers

On my way to work this morning I passed a pair of men's plaid boxers on the side of the road.
How does one lose one's boxers exactly? Don't you realize they are missing?

Less awesome news today

I just got off the phone with the specialist I've been seeing. I asked for him to call me because I thought the medication he put me on was causing chest pains. But it turns out he doesn't think they are being caused by the medication since I stopped taking it almost a week ago and I'm still having the pains. He said it might be a valve issue. A valve issue? Not cool. What the frick happened to the me who was always so healthy? Now I have mysterious pains that no one an figure out, and I'm being lobbed from one doctor to another. My bank account is crying, and I'm sick of it. Figure out what is wrong with me, and give me medicine and let me feel better! I seriously feel like a crazy person who makes weird ailments to get attention. And oddly, this all leads back to how much I despise Mike's mom, because she does things like that. So I'm almost afraid to tell anyone about whats been going on, lest they think I'm anything like her.

Ech. I don't want to think about this anymore. Today is a wonderful and happy day. I'll think about this shit tomorrow.

So Amazing

Mike is amazing. He is working really hard to make today very very special. At midnight last night he gave me a necklace that matches my engagement ring.

Then a little bit ago, I got a delivery at work. A huge bouquet of roses. A teddy bear. And a bunch of helium balloons: I Love You! - Congratulations! (that one looks like it is meant for a graduation) - Thinking Of You! - Thanks For Everything You Do! - Happy Birthday!
LOL. He told the guy to just put a bunch of random balloons in there. He is so funny. And tonight we are going out for dinner and then hopefully hitting up the late showing of Indiana Jones. So all in all it is a fantastic One Year Anniversary.

Prince is pro-modesty, or anti-whore clothes. Either way he continues to be the coolest guy around.

"See, cursing was cool when nobody was doing it. Or just a couple people. Like, if everybody wears the same clothes, then it's, you know-it ain't cool no more. You're trying to be different. One can't be different by being racy today. It's not interesting anymore. See, sexiness was in the mind. It was in your imagination. When you lose that, then...it's just old skin." -Prince

I couldn't have said it better.

Mike's mom was wrong! We are still married!

Two days from now will be our one year anniversary! Yay! We had a great party last night to celebrate. Yeah, we are those people. The ones who make their family and friends share in their constant happiness all the time. I'm pretty sure we are still doing something just the two of us on Tuesday, but that party was really great. I actually had a conversation with Mike's business partner, which would be the first one we've ever had. Debbie nicely nailed Amber on not actually being a vegan since she eats dairy and wears leather. Leah's future husband showed his general ignorance for life and what makes a decent human being and used the N-word a bunch of times. He also argued that Puerto Ricans are not Americans and that they are taking our jobs (yeah, he really said that.) Unfortunately for him he fails to realize that if "those people" are "stealing" his jobs, then he sucks at life, because he is 30 something and washes dishes, and deserves competition for that job. He later said he can't be a racist because he is marrying a kike. He is a winner. He is also lucky I wasn't in the room when he said all of those things or he would have gotten kicked in the junk and then kicked out of my house. But Leah got to me first and begged me not to do anything. Did I mention they are getting married July 4th? Once again, not many of Mike's friends came. I'm truly confused by them. 90% of them have known him since they were little kids, but they don't make the effort to maintain the friendship. It's dicky. That is not to say that no one came. Josh was out of town, and Steve had some thing today. But Kyle, Dink, Darrin, Q, and nameless city guy with a dog named 'Scout' (AKA Herpes) came. We had a wall pin-up Flamingo that looks like it is giving birth (HOT!) and a ton of other rad-tastic decorations. People who hadn't been over before were amazed by two things. 1)The hugeness of our apartment. 2)The amount of alcohol we have in the house at all times. And I didn't put out any of the wine or champagne. Oh, it was Luau themed which is why we had all the decorations. Joe made a stellar short that was a take on those Most Interesting Man In The World commercials, but it was about me and Mike as the Most Interesting Couple In The World. And he brought the video of New Years 06' where mike is on camera telling the exact way he was planning on proposing. I can't believe a bunch of people heard him and didn't tell me. Not that I am complaining of course. I am just impressed that they kept their mouths shut. After the bulk of the people left a bunch of us sat around drunkenly talking about comic books and watching Top Gear. It was really great.

It is blowing my mind that we've been married a year. So much has happened. All the insanity with his mom that took too much of our time and emotions. I get that she is actually insane. And I get that I will never have the mother-in-law I always assumed I'd have. It is just a shame that on top of her real mental issues, she is mean and spiteful and manipulative and selfish and self serving. She put Mike and his siblings (and the rest of the family) through hell their whole lives. Thank god Mike is done with her and I don't have to kill her for continually hurting him in the future. We've also been dealing with some strange health issues on my end that has been pretty stressful. I'm going to go into the long and annoying details, but the doctor isn't quite sure what is wrong with me, and my insurance sucks. Unsure doctors + bad insurance = lots of painful medical bills. Plus we are constantly dealing with the stress of both of us owning our own companies. Sure it sounds great, but the work is immeasurable, and when you are the owner, you are the last person to get paid. So yeah, our mutual stress level is pretty high. But we are good about not taking it out on each other.

So, not having anything to do with my marriage... I had an article written about me in Oy Chicago Magazine. I thought it was going to be about my store, but no, it was about me. Which is fine. I'm not clamoring for fame, and feel weird about the attention quite honestly. But if it helps the store, then I will give all the interviews magazines want. Unless Jugs comes a-knocking. I might have to turn them down. But yay, this makes two articles in two different publications! Does using the word Publications sound pretentious?

All in all things are good. I'm going to be gross and gooey and say that I love Mike more and more everyday, and he makes me happier than I ever thought possible. I feel amazingly lucky to be married to such a funny, moral, smart, caring, strong person. And everything we've had to deal with has been worth it because it means I get to wake up to him every morning.