Seasonal Stuff

[tiggymalvern]

The new toy the cats got yesterday was a hit. As usual, old man Kuro was the first one in there!

https://youtu.be/3rCoAVETAzA

At least it was a hit until we started opening more things, and then the piles of boxes and wrapping paper became FAR more distracting.

We didn't get a white Xmas here (I don't count about five flakes of snow that fell for a minute and then stopped), but we did get our promised white Boxing Day.



Happy December doings to everyone!

Comments

[bymyverytoes]

So lovely - cats and the snow :)

We spent Xmas day at the family of an elderly friend. Said family were as generous and kind and entertaining as you could humanly wish any group of people to be, and yet after five hours in their unbroken company, I was starting to fray very, very badly. I just can't do this any more. 2 hours socialising a month should be enough for *anyone* :( I've had far too much of it this December.

[tiggymalvern]

I go to work one or two days a week and that's plenty of being sociable for me - definitely don't need more! There are a few friends that make me want more, since work people are definitely colleagues, not actual friends, but still I have limits.

I'm glad you had Christmas Day with some good people, even if it did get to be a bit too much. It's one thing to be with your friend, another for sure to have to deal with all his family.

[bymyverytoes]

"It's one thing to be with your friend, another for sure to have to deal with all his family."

Actually, the family are much nicer and more bearable than he is. He has a heart of gold, but he's also a stupid, argumentative 84-year-old noncompliant diabetic with heart and kidney failure. He drives his only daughter and only attentive son to tears of frustration because he won't bloody listen to them or his doctors. At least not consistently.

But since I figure he's not likely to be around next Xmas, based on how he's going, I thought we ought to make the effort this time (we usually gracefully decline.) But that's his lot :)

[tiggymalvern]

Honestly, I think if I was over 80 and had both heart and kidney failure, I'd say fuck it, quality of life is more important than quantity too, so I have some sympathy for him there.

[bymyverytoes]

I'd have more sympathy if he actually took that attitude and welcomed the release of death that would result, but he's afraid of dying, so expects all the assistance his long-suffering children and the medical system can provide, while at the same time fighting them tooth and nail over every single instruction or bit of advice. He won't comply with dietary restrictions, fine, but is also incontinent and suffers periodic life-threatening gall bladder infections as a result (putting his son in the position of having to decide whether treatment should continue), and whines about the neuropathy and memory loss and all the other effects his high blood sugar causes.

He has much worse quality of life than he would if he made the smallest effort to keep his blood sugar and sodium under control, and he's hurting the two kids he has who give a damn about him. So "eat, drink, and be merry, for tomorrow we die" is fine if you hurry up and drop dead. Diabetes is an appalling way to die, really.

[tiggymalvern]

Umm, yeah. Definitely pick one. Either fight against the dying or just roll with it, half way isn't much use.

I have concluded after 25 years of watching terminal illness that there are many appalling ways to die and very few good ones. Believe me, unless I'm hit by a bus or some such unforseeable, I don't plan to die of natural causes.