Growing up, I was very lucky to have a close relationship with my grandparents. I was their only grandchild (until I was almost 16, when my cousin was born) and they were the only grandparents I ever knew. While other kids only saw theirs for holidays, special occasions and the like, I lived in the same building with mine (on the same floor no less) until I was about 13 yrs old. Even when my parents and I moved, it was only 2 blocks away. All of my childhood memories involve the 5 of us - holidays, birthdays, family trips, graduations, etc.
When my grandmother passed away almost 5 years ago, I was devastated. It was my first real experience with the death of a loved one and I went to the hospital every single day for 2 months to see her as she slowly deteriorated, always hoping some miracle might happen and she would stay with us. She didn't. Afterwards, we worried for my grandfather and how he would survive without her, given that she had always taken care of the house, the bills, and everything. Surprisingly, he managed rather well after some time and was mostly self-sufficient.
A few years went by and then he got pneumonia. To make a very long story short, it was pretty much downhill from there. He got through the pneumonia, but over the last 2 years other complications arose. He had to have a pacemaker and soon after, his ability to take care of himself, as well as his mental capacity, started to dwindle. As a family, we decided it best to place him in a home where he could get the care he needed and be with people his own age.
In the last 2 months, he's had pneumonia twice and since then has been on a respirator, a feeding tube and basically just wasting away. Now it's just a matter of time and he could pass as soon as next week. Talking to my mom last night, we started to make plans to say our good-byes and until that moment it didn't seem real. Today's my favorite holiday and I can't enjoy it; work is a joke I couldn't care less about. I was trying to keep it together until today when a friend called to simply see how I was and I just lost it.
Sorry for this really depressing (and slightly rambling) post but I simply had to get some of this out. All these feelings that I don't know what to do with. To have had someone in my life who truly thought I was this amazing, special, brilliant, beautiful person who could do anything - it's been a truly precious gift that I probably never fully appreciated and can never be replaced.
If being buried alive, overrun by rats, or encountering a sinister clown is your worst fear -- then welcome to your living nightmare.
In the lead-up to Halloween, off-Broadway producer Tim Haskell has set up "Nightmare: Face Your Fear" -- interactive haunted houses in each of New York City's five boroughs -- and is daring people to endure a psychologically terrifying experience.
Haskell polled thousands of New Yorkers to find the 13 obsessions, anxieties and phobias that frightened them the most and then designed room-by-room encounters around those fears -- and threw in a few actors to stalk and terrorize visitors.
Haskell said his survey found that most people were afraid of roughly the same 13 things, such as drowning, clowns, rats or cockroaches, as well as heights and closed-in spaces.
"People like to get scared," he told Reuters, making it quite clear that the aim of his houses is to terrify, not amuse, people.
"'Nightmare' makes visitors the stars of their own horror story, in a house that knows their worst fears and forces them to face it," the production teases in its advertising.
This is the third year that Haskell has set up haunted houses in New York -- and each year the number of visitors wanting to be frightened out of their wits increases.
Last year 22,000 people visited the one haunted house he set up in Manhattan and the popularity of the show prompted him to expand to five houses this year with up to 70,000 visitors expected to attend before the houses close on November 2.
Tickets, which are available through the Web site www.hauntedhousenyc.com, range in price from $15 to $25 or $50 for a VIP pass.
Haskell said the theatrical element of the house added a new dimension to traditional haunted houses and turned it into a unique fright-fest, too extreme for some visitors.
"We have had some fantastic reactions," he said. "Someone peed in their pants in Queens."
The houses have exits for those who need to make a speedy escape but most visitors seemed to know what they are in for.
"We're big fright fans," said Amy Pulchlopek, 25, who works in music publishing and visited the house in Manhattan. "I like live fright ... I think it's the fear of the unexpected."
Carlos Santiago, 29, said his favorite experience in the house was a murder enactment involving splattering liquids in a dark room.
"For me it's the gore, I just like to see the gore," said Santiago, who is planning to become a funeral director.
Half joking, Haskell said the act of being scared may have remedial benefits.
"I heard a group of women come out of the house in Brooklyn saying how therapeutic it was for them to scream so much," he said.
What a great night it would be to go see a scary movie like Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Beginning. Or an even scarier movie like this (although it's not out quite yet). And with today's date and all, I was thinking about the whole concept of omitting the 13th floor from buildings. My office is a renovated warehouse and we do indeed have a 13th floor, however many buildings both residential and commercial, here and abroad do not. Does your apartment and/or office building have one and do you think it's silly to not?
(ok, I know this isn't the most riveting piece of blogging, but give a girl a break.)
A little Thursday fun...see if you can figure out the products from the letter fonts....some are easy - some I have no idea - some may be just for the Canadians. I'm trying to get a hold of an answer key.
I have somehow managed to date many of the men in this town that are allergic to cats and I, of course, have 2. One of the funniest stories, though it wasn't at the time, was when I was dating this guy who said he was slightly allergic. He came over one night and, upon taking his shirt off, we realized that his back and chest were covered in hives and he had to leave. Imagine, a man who runs into burning buildings for a living having to run away from dander! Such a shame *sigh* Anyway, pretty soon the world will be a wonderful place where you can have your cats and a hot guy, too.
Cat Lovers Lining Up for No-Sneeze Kitties A small California biotech company says it is ready to deliver the Holy Grail of the $35 billion pet industry: a hypoallergenic cat. At the start of next year, the first kittens — which the company calls “lifestyle pets” — will go home to eager owners who have been carefully screened and have been on a waiting list for more than two years.
Cats ordered now will take 12 to 15 months for delivery in the United States, 15 to 18 months in Europe. Cost: $4,000. And owners must pass Allerca’s finicky screening tests.
As many of you probably already know, October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month. There are so many ways for you to support the cause, even if you don't want to spend a penny. And if you're willing to cough up a few bucks, there are ways to do that, too!
There are plenty of other ways for you to help out so pick the one that's right for you....even if it's just giving a girl a hand with her breast exam ;)
