Growing up, the extended family on my dad's side was as close to us, in many instances, as some people's nuclear family.  We've had family reunions every summer since before I was born, I think, and definitely for as long as I can remember.  When I was young, before all of my cousins had married and started families of their own, we used to also do an annual Christmas party...everyone that lived within an hour to hour and a half drive would meet at one home, we'd do a dinner, have a white elephant gift exchange, sing Christmas carols, re-enact the Nativity story...  We'd go camping with some of my cousins once or twice a summer and spend a long weekend up in the mountains somewhere.

Losing my aunt and two of those cousins in the same year has made this one of those 'years to remember bitterly'...I've got a couple of those, now, and this is nowhere close to unseating the 'top' of that list (1997...my roommate died in a motorcycle accident the night before my birthday, my dad died two days before Fathers' Day, two of my best friends got divorced, and one of the guys in the theater department that I was becoming friends with died in a car accident a couple of weeks before Christmas).  But it's also a painful reminder that it's not going to be that long before one of these funerals is for my mom...she's in her late 80s now, and while she's still pretty spry, these things can come on us abruptly.  I think I find that more upsetting than the thought that my own days are growing increasingly limited.

And I hope Amber (the woman I worked with) pulls through...as much for her family's sake as hers.  They've been a really tight-knit group the entire time I've known them...I don't know that I'd categorize us as friends (as evidenced by the way I describe her)...but we were definitely friendly coworkers, and I got to know her family more than anyone else I've worked with at the park.  My heart aches for them, going through this, far more than for myself.

ETA:  Just found out that, in light of the severe brain damage that MRIs have revealed, she has next to no chance of recovery.  Her family has already committed to a DNR order if her heart stops again, and sometime in the next few days, they're pulling the plug on her life support and letting Nature take its course.  That's going to cast a pall on the holiday season, for all of us that knew her.
This message was last edited by the player at 05:22, Sun 05 Dec 2021.

the DNR is a bad thing for family to deal with...my late wife's  dad was kept alibe only by nachine, he hand nest to no lungs left from working in the mine.

The Doctor came to me, because i coached two of his kids..told me to talk  the family into pullign the plug...not a fun thing to do..i thing a couple of them still resent me for that...but... they did it...

 The Doc said,  2 things to think about..1....can they ever  come back  and  be 'part of the family' again....2,..would you want to  lay there with a machine  making you look like you are alive.

 Nikki will follow  Lizzy in.

 Billie? you'er knicked up a little, you can land , or I'll land you when i make  NPC posts

Rumor is you carry around a pretty big walking stick....  ;o

In reply to Roo Taliapapa (msg # 942):

only one way to know if the rumors are true :)

In reply to Roo Taliapapa (msg # 942):

I'm pretty sure he doesn't use it for walking.  I mean, Demons have a different gait from Humans...but it's not THAT different...

It's like a kickstand so you don't fall over while sleeping on guard duty... not really LOL.

However did they manage during their sword and buckler period?

checking in. going off to play football..its cold  , but not too cold...I'll catch up around 12:00 or  so.

Post as you will

  so..here is a tale  right out of  a twilight zone sorta  thing.

  yesterday we had  a great game  19  guys showed up..one had to leave so we had 9 on  9, played almost the whole  field wide.. i was havign a good day throwing, felt  pretty good, one of  my friends showed up a bit late, he  was on my side, he has a way better  arm, so i told him to thrwo,,i was feeling good... I caught two passed, one set up a TD..but.. near the end of the game, my damn hamstring  pulled again, and I  just took my self out of the game, figuring , we weren't going to play much longer anyway.

 The  'old guys'  won, we tlaked  for a Bit  as i packed up comes and flags, My grandson carried the bag   to the car...normally. But My  friend   he played in the arena  league and plays for the semipro team, decided he'd  take the bag to the car...so?, me him and My grandson,  talked at the car for a good 10 minutes longer then normal... we  finaly left the Lot...

 Iam driving down the hiil, waiting at the red Light.. the light turns green, the car ahead of me goes..and  a Cop car  comes flying by , like  90 miles an hour?.. I pull out  and   suddenly hear this  Very Loud  Horn and  Blasting  sound.. and  a Fire truch is like, 5 o yards  away, , i  put my car  in reverse, lookign at my  rearveiw  mirror to make sure a car wasn't behind me.. and the  Firetruck zipped by, about  10 yards in front of me.. My grandson who was following me said.." Yeah Pap?  You would have lost that one"..

  Down the road, a car sat, the who front of it  torn off and  a  pick up  truck with a dent in it... as we waited for the cops to let us through, i asked..'when did that happen'.. the cop said.." 10 minutes ago, give or take.."

 so? had we not stayed and talked?.. that car, might have hit me! ( still thinkign about the firetruck though, i could have been a greasespot on the highway!)

Dice roller was in your favor that day boss, but glad you are alright that is spooky for sure.

Bizarre or fortuitous

Holy handgrenades! Glad to hear you didn't get clipped!

 ::chuckles:: Big  Ladder track movign  aroound 80?, broadsidign a Mazda 2? there would be no 'clip'!

 Just a little green grill ornament!

As I hop on and off today, I have to see what pilots  are miising, and  which are dead...and  figure out  Kills

 I want to have that done  before After  Party... you guys have anything to post, go ahead.

Saves count too, right?  lol

We've never tallied saves in the past...probably largely due to the fact that the game went for years and years without any PCs that were medical, who had any longevity to speak of.  I thin Melia and Cat were the first medics to last more than a couple of weeks...

In reply to Admiral Hack (msg # 952):

Chuckle never thought the Hulk would be referred to as little.

"The door didn't care." I about died.

 Yes Don that was a good one

FINALLY got a chance to dig out my Krampus costume again and have a little fun with it!  There's a small theater that's...well, a little outside the area, depending on how you define it--65 miles away from home, a little over an hour's drive one way if traffic is cooperating and you don't have to stop for gas...but they produce original works (if you have good writers, it's a good way to make money as a small theater company, because you don't have to pay anything for production rights or royalties, so your box office stays with the company instead of having to cover production rights before you can start paying off anything else).

Their Christmas show this year (and, from the sound of things, likely for several years to come) is called 'A Krampus Karol'...a story about seven kids (each one representing one of the seven cardinal sins--Lust, Sloth, Wrath, etc) plus one good kid, who are left with a caretaker in Austria while their parents (who apparently all work for a multinational corporation) are away on a team-building ski trip, right before Christmas.  Krampus comes back from oblivion to be the 'Bringer of Christmas Justice' and teach the kids the error of their ways...

It's a cute show...it was VERY 'community theater' in its production...minimal set, low-end lighting, and the talent was very hit-or-miss, especially on the singing end of things, but it was still enjoyable.  Shows like that have a charm all their own because you know that the people doing them are there out of love...places like that never pay enough to make it a question of someone being there to get a paycheck, and the theater is so low-profile that nobody's there to gratify their ego.

Anyway, with Krampus being the central plot device, and there being a Krampus troupe developing in northern Utah, they invited us to come down and troupe around outside the theater before the show.  It was fun to interact with people, and have people ask to take pictures with us.  I think we kinda upstaged their Krampus a little bit, but we didn't have to talk and sing in our masks and she did, and I think they did a pretty effective job of putting together a Krampus look that still worked on stage, especially since Krampus was playing another character before its appearance so there was a pretty quick change into the outfit.

We get to do it again Saturday night...one of the haunted houses in the area is hosting a Krampus night, as a fundraiser for the Make-A-Wish Foundation (I saw a billboard for another haunted house that was doing a Krampus Night this weekend, but they didn't ask us to come participate, so I'm not sure just how Krampus-y their weekend is going to be...)  It's funny...I noticed tonight that when I get that outfit on and start walking around, my whole posture changes, and I walk like I've got another hundred pounds on my frame.  I've also got so many assorted bells attached to the outfit that it's literally impossible for me to move quietly...both boots are loaded up with seven or eight different bells, plus I have a bunch of bells attached to my belt that are dangling from loose ties, so any motion at all starts them swaying and clanging.  And since I've got, like, five different sizes of sleigh bells, and about five or six different sizes/types of cowbells, plus a few other small bells attached, it's all very discordant.  But LOTS of fun!

That's neat!, My Buddy from Pittsburgh had  Mentioned somehting about Krampus, and I told  him about the  costome you made/

 He  played  a zombine at  a few haunted houses and an a 'straight to DVD movie' he likes stuff like that

In reply to Roy Spencer (msg # 959):

I love those things! Use to sing in our University A Capella choir, that's one of the highlights of those years, by far. Had a bunch of theatre friends because of the close association between the two settings. Always got in for free to watch them.

Best one ever was their 'Little Shop of Horrors'

"TO BE A DEEEEEENIST! YOU HAVE A TALENT FOR CAUSING THINGS PAIN!"

Awesome!

:D

That's quite an odd flick.

Feed me Seymore!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!