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I manage an Adult Family Home for ladies with varying forms of dementia and/or personality disorders. It's one of those jobs that can go from really rewarding to totally depressing in an hour (or less!). Either way, as it stands, it's what pays the bills.

Every morning before I come in, I grab the freshly-delivered newspaper off the driveway and bring it in the house. Today was no different from any other morning. After opening the front door, I was greeted by Mrs. X with her normal barrage of questions.

As most of the ladies have memories that vary from poor to none, I was faced with having to explain to Mrs. X (again!) why she was "put" here.

She's convinced that she's in a prison and every day I have to tell her that it isn't me who has "captured" her, but, in fact, her family actually brought her here as, unfortunately, she's unable to take care of herself. It's a script that we play-out every day (sometimes 3 or 4 times a day). Depending on the mood I'm in, this script can be highly entertaining or downright exhausting. This morning it was leaning towards exhausting.

Invariably, the script gets to a point where she asks why she can't take care of herself. It's at this point where we must talk about doctor's visits, memory checks (date, season, year), and the fact that we just talked about this yesterday/an hour ago, whatever. Oddly enough, she knows she has some sort of brain disorder yet it takes this script for her to remind herself (once again!) that she is the victim of some very unfortunate circumstances. The script always ends with her asking something to the effect of, "Is it because I have Alzheimers?" (Technically, we don't know if it's Alzheimer's Disease-Proper that's causing the problems but it makes for an easy label).

At this point, I usually have to say, "Yes, Mrs. X, that's why you're here".

Well, this morning, post-script, Mrs. X demanded that she be "allowed" to read something. (There are no reading restrictions here). So, I took the newspaper out of it's waterproof bag and laid it out on the counter (upside-down to me) facing her as she was standing on the other side of the counter. She ran her fingers over the top-most print of the front-page and said angrily, "I can't make out what these words say, dammit!"

I turned the paper right-side-up to read the words that she was trying to decipher.

There, above the main headline, above the "Seattle Post Intelligencer" title were these words which I read aloud to her: "Smoke Pot to Fight Alzheimer's? Study Indicates Yes".

We had a good laugh for a minute. She then sat down in her chair confused as to why she's here.

Damn. That's funny for a few minutes and really, really sad for much longer.

I have nothing but respect and downright awe for people who do your sort of job without throwing themselves in front of the next speeding bus.

Ty Webb wrote:I have nothing but respect and downright awe for people who do your sort of job without throwing themselves in front of the next speeding bus.

Ditto. I always think I'm a tough person and then I remember there are people who have jobs like this. Then I feel not so tough, I don't know if I could handle such a thing. Big Salut! to all who work in such a field.

On a completely different note, I saw David Lee Roth live in Milwaukee at the Potawatomi Casino last night. It was AWESOME. He did "Ice Cream Man"! Dave himself played the acoustic guitar part in the beginning.

so ive been ill since last friday.

the aching and fever went away, but my right tonsil stayed swollen and hurt so bad i cringed every time i had to swallow.

finally went to the doc, she gave me antibiotics, snot reducer and narcotic tylenol.

so im the the narcotic tylenol now, and i fell like puking and i don't like it one bit.

in other news, i just might be getting another cat this evening. if she's still at the place. you bet ill be psoting some pictures up here if i get her.

best of luck to all of you in your future endeavors,

michaeltheangryrussian

MTAR!

I hope you feel gooder. Sooner.

A new kitty might help this.

Here is one detail from my day: my super, who is renovating his kitchen, is making some stellar contributions to my "mauvais voisin" project. My French may be incorrect, but I learned it from Charlie Brown.

A very simple exchange on MySpace from within the last five minutes:

My friend posted a bulletin about his indie/etc club tonight with the title 'STRANGEWAYS TONIGHT - WE'LL PLAY BOOMBASTIC!' The message listed the usual stuff he plays, "plus a special surprise from Shaggy!"

I sent him a message saying "Well it's hardly a bloody surprise now, is it?"

And I got back:

"Shit. You have a point."

see, shaggy himself will show up, and reveal that he's actually gay. or a woman. or that he had sex with mark foley. or that he has the cure for cancer.

went to the library today - first time in a while that i've been able to ride my bike (back problems blah blah blah)... found out that i had fines to the tune of one american dollar. checked all my pockets - not a single penny, let alone one hundred of them... but! so nice! the gruff librarian loaned me a dollar! i asked him if he wanted to hold on to my driver's license or some such -- he tells me "i have no doubts about your integrity." fantastic!

so i'm never going back to that library again!



no - ran across the street to the atm & paid up on my loan.

I started paying my credit cards again. Hopefully my credit score will improve in a few months.

Also, I am seeing forum member tallchris' excellent band Racetrack play their final show tonight.

I woke up at 7 this morning, despite having gotten to bed at 3.

I had class all day today.

Now I am sitting and "chillin'" until my pal Scott calls, then we will go for dinner and rock out to the STNNNG.

Then I get to wake up early again tomorrow morning for part two of my class.

It is cold in my apartment.