MetaChat - good things, bad things...

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24 August 2008

good things, bad things... →[More:]
On Friday I had a job interview and got the job on the spot. I'm looking forward to it.

However I had to put off starting until Wednesday, because I have a friend coming to visit tomorrow until Tuesday suppertime...

Then yesterday another friend emailed me to tell me his mom was killed in a car accident yesterday...

I really want to be there for the funeral, but I have no idea when it is. I'm waiting on a death notice in the paper online (he's in Toronto, I'm in Montreal) but so far nothing... I've emailed a bunch of his friends but no one's replied yet. I don't know phone numbers for anyone but my friend, and I don't want to hassle him about this right now. I did reply to his email and say only if he is able to let me know when the funeral will be... I'm not sure what else I can do, so I'm kind of sitting on my hands over here. I might be able to put my start date for my job on hold another day, but I can't really tell my friend she can't stay here. But that's all presuming I find any of this out on time... I've been reading about Jewish funeral rites and it seems the funeral and burial happens right away whenever possible, as in, it might already be done.

So I'm kind of stressing... and now I'm venting.

post by: loiseau at: 18:15 | 6 comments

loiseau, I'm so sorry about your friend's mother. How horribly tragic. I hope you get an answer soon when the service is.

good thing: Olympics closing ceremonies. Also, my baby boy (he's five) is starting Kindergarten tomorrow after four days of no school because of the storm.

Bad thing: I am working tomorrow. (Who knew this would be his first day?) I won't be able to send him off. Husband will be there to take pics and send him off with love, so it's not so bad.

posted by LoriFLA 24 August | 19:42

Agh, loiseau, so sorry to hear about that. It's so cruel when a tragedy hits at the same time as something that should be a happy event. Not that there's ever really a GOOD time for a loss like that to happen, but man, there are bad times for them to happen.

As for me, lessee...

Good: I just had four days off that I DESPERATELY NEEDED after working stupid amounts of overtime under stressful conditions all summer. I basically hid out at home with the cats and didn't do anything productive at all, and it was just what I needed. I can feel my brain starting to work again.

Bad: OK, the weather SUCKS. Tropical storm Fay is hovering somewhere south of us, so our weather for the last four or five days has looked and felt like that ten minutes right before a big thunderstorm, only we never get the thunderstorm. It's dark, gloomy, windy, humid as FUCK, and yet we're not getting any significant rain out of it. I didn't get to do any photography while I was off due to it being so damn dark all the time, and also we had to turn the AC back on because of the humidity. Go away, Fay, go away!

posted by BoringPostcards 24 August | 19:54

loiseau, so sorry for you and your friend. And it's true that Jewish funerals are immediate, so if she did die on Saturday it's very possible the funeral was today, but it could be tomorrow too. I hope you don't beat yourself up for missing it if you do miss it! And it's traditional to bring food to people who are sitting shiva; meatless lasagna if friend is kosher or similar, and having sat shiva, it really means a lot more to be visited by food-bearing friends during shiva than seeing them at the funeral.

Good: My tomatoes are finally turning red, and I just found this delicious sounding squash souffle recipe for the blue ballet squash I just harvested and am storing for winter. Oooh, I'm already so excited to curl up with my squash souffle on a cold drizzly night.

Bad: Boyfriend left for a last minute business trip to Ottawa just 45 minutes ago. Hate it. Wah.

posted by birdie 24 August | 21:49

OK. We've found the listing on a funeral-home site. (Who knew there are only two jewish funeral homes in Toronto?!) The funeral is tomorrow at 2pm, so I definitely can't go. My friend is arriving at 3pm.

Now I just have to figure out if I should ask to put off starting my new job and go to shiva Wednesday, or wait until the weekend. (Everything I've read says shiva lasts until the morning of the seventh day after the funeral, which would be Sunday morning, right?)

posted by loiseau 24 August | 22:56

*hugs loiseau*

Tell the job people that there's been a death in the family and go.

I was raised Reform; what happened when my father's parents died was that there was a gathering at my uncle's home after the funeral and then we went to Friday night Shabbat services that week. When my first dog died I wanted to sit shiva and stay out of school, but was turned down.

posted by brujita 24 August | 23:12

Good things:

I'm delighted to be out of New York; to have met Miko, Elsa,LT, danb, gregnog, initapplette, Mr. I and to have seen jessamyn again. Being in New England further cements that I want to ultimately settle here.

I'm gorging on blueberries.

Portland has several wonderful independent bookstores.

Bad things:

The net nanny in the hotel in Portland wouldn't let me log into mecha even after I sent an email stating that it WASN'T a chatroom.

The junkie problem is worse in Portland than in Burlington.

I have a bite on my leg that has the bullseye even though I didn't go into any woody areas and geeting it checked out will bite into time I want to spend sightseeing.

Good and bad:There are tons of independent ice cream places but I have a sinus infection and need to avoid dairy.

posted by brujita 24 August | 23:25

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