Saturday, July 29, 2017

Family Reunion 2017 - The Ride Down

Mom, Dad, Grandma, and I packed up and left Saturday morning, stayed the night in Lebanon, Missouri and reached our destination at 5pm Sunday.  We had a long but interesting drive down.

We drove past the Gateway Arch in St. Luis.  Which I had apparently been to before but I don't remember so it was basically my first time seeing it.

We stopped off at the interesting attraction/shop.  We'd been seeing the billboards for miles and were intrigued.  I bought some fudge and they got some moonshine and a t-shirt for my uncle.  If you're ever in the area, it's worth a quick stop, only about 5 minutes off the highway.





I sent this photo to my friend Theo and he thought it was fake.  Not fake, just hilarious.  

Sunday, July 9, 2017

My Cousin The Juvenile Delinquent

A basic introduction to my aunt's family.  My aunt 'Katie' is a lesbian who has been with her partner 'Dina' for 16 years.  They have my cousin Ryker who I've mentioned before and they also adopted two boys.  'Dan' is eleven and has foetal alcohol syndrome and an intellectual disability, pretty much the nicest kid you'll ever meet.  'Don' is ten and has foetal alcohol exposure, prenatal cocaine exposure, ADHD, ODD, and some other things that have yet to be diagnosed.  So suffice to say, he has some problems.  Don is such a handful that I'm one of the only people that will child-mind for them anymore.

Well yesterday I was over there childminding and Don asked if he could go out and play with his friends, I said yes but to come back in an hour to check in and then he'd be able to go back out if he wants.  So he comes back an hour later, I say he can go out for another hour and then he's in for the night.  He leaves and two minutes later, Dan comes and gets me saying Don is in my aunts car.  I go out there and he has indeed locked himself in the car.  I tried talking him out but he wouldn't so I go back in to grab my mobile and phone my aunt, they say they're close and they'll be back in 10ish minutes.  I go back out and tell Don he'd better get in the house before they get back or he'll be in worse trouble.  He then decides he's going to DRIVE THE CAR.  

He backs it up and over a bush right next to the house.  Keeps going back and forth in the driveway for like 5 minutes.  I'm on the phone again to my aunt (freaking out) 'he's driving the car you need to get home RIGHT NOW!'  He stops the car pretty much in the middle of the driveway.  I again try to get him out, telling him his parents are on the way and it'd be easier for him if he just out out now.  He starts wailing 'don't call don't call,' and starts driving again.  Ends up crashing into the garage door, leaving a big dent.  The car is now in roughly the position it started in.  He finally gets out of the car.  Does a hulk like pose and screams "I just drove a car!"  

I drag him into the house, make him hand over the keys and then try to get him to his room.  Again I tell him he'd best listen and his parents are on the way and he'd better be in his room when they get back.  He starts screaming and runs to the phone to try and call them.  They don't answer, he tries two more times and then shoves the phone off the counter.  Starts running all over the place.  My aunts finally get back.  He runs out and meets them in the driveway.  My aunt is looking over her car, it's all scratched up, the bumper in loose.  "Don what happened?!"  "I didn't do anything.  It was already like that."  Cause she's going to believe that.  "Get. In The. House. Now."  He hops on his bike and rides off.  Dina jumps into the van and takes off after him.  My aunt has Dan fetch Don's new PS3 controller and smashes apart with a hammer.  We go into the house and I tell her what happened.  Dina shows back up saying she couldn't find him.  They discuss calling the police and eventually decide to go back out and look for him.  So they leave, Dan and I are hanging out seeing if Don'll come back to the house.

Ten minutes later my aunt comes in dragging Don by his neck/shirt.  I stand there awkwardly there while she spanks him and then puts him on the couch.  I say I'm gonna go and my aunt asks how much she owes me.  I say don't worry about it and leave.  I go outside and Dina is sitting on their front lawn.  WTF.  I ask what's going on and she explains that Don knocked her over.  I help her up and she asked if I was paid.  I say no but it was fine and not to worry about it.  She insists on paying me the $10.  I go home and tell my parents about my exciting evening.  

So yeah, I certainly had an interesting time yesterday.  I don't know what they're going to do with him.  He's always in trouble, always.  Ten years old he's been expelled from 5 different schools, keeps sneaking out at night, already tried to set the house on fire.  They keep having to call the police.  Police don't do anything, his doctors don't do anything it's only a matter of time before he ends up in juvenile hall.  

Friday, July 7, 2017

Plasma Donating

As ya'll know I'm unemployed and waiting on disability and lately I've gotten particularly tired of being perpetually broke so I started donating plasma.  I've no problem with needles and have a lot of free time so it's a decent way to make $60 a week.  I've been going since mid May and overall it goes decently.  There have been a few issues.  

Like the fact that I have 'bad' veins and only one person there 'Trish' has managed to successfully stick me, so until the people realized that, I had to deal with what seemed like every person in the office unsuccessfully digging the needle around in my arms.  Mostly that's stopped (except the time I went in and Trish wasn't working, which actually kind of worked out because if they stick you and can't get the vein, you get to leave but they still pay you full price) and the people know to just have Trish do the poking.  She doesn't always manage to get it on the first arm but she's still better than everyone else who can't get it at all.

And there were the times I felt really poorly and they had to stop the machine to fan me and give me something to drink.  One of the times that happened the machine didn't start back up properly and I didn't end up finishing the donation.  Plus because the machine wasn't working they were unable to return a fair amount of my blood which I'm sure contributed to the horrible cold I came down with 4 days later.  Once 'Shae' said I turned so white she thought I was going to turn into a piece of chalk, which was rather amusing.  

And of course there was the first day I went in, which took SIX AND A HALF HOURS and I didn't even get to donate.  It took forever to get me set up in the system and then when I finally got to the back, the guy that stuck me fucked it up so bad that I couldn't donate for a week.  He stuck the needle in and I just immediately got a huge bruise.  I don't know what the fuck he did because I've had like 10 different people poke me since then and that hasn't happened again.

Yeah, but other than all of that it's been going pretty well.  I managed to save all the money I need for the family reunion (which is the week of the 16th and I will definitely post about when I get back) and I even had extra to buy some books and stim toys and to help out an acquaintance.  Here is their fundraiser if you'd like to help out.