Some bad news. My grandmother is in hospice as of Monday. She probably will not last to the end of the week, battling lung cancer and other complications. Since I may have to go to Duluth and very soon (this weekend, maybe),\u00a0 It\u2019ll be okay. It\u2019s been months since everyone has known about her dying, now. Still though, she\u2019s pulled through a lot of the time when we thought the worst was about to happen.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Well, I was really panicked at first \u2019cause earlier that day, right before it was time to close up at work, a family friend called to update me on Grandma\u2019s condition. I all but ran home to pack and get going but my mother called to talk to me and said that from the time I got the call up \u2019til then, things did change for the better and I ended up not going up anyway.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Mom said Grandma wasn\u2019t \u201cdoing good\u201d but they were just anxious to tell me I guess. I did say a couple things to Gram on the phone Tuesday night though. Probably for the last time, but that\u2019s a good thing\u2026I will always have good memories of her, plus she has her faith to keep her strong, so I know she\u2019ll be okay, even in the end.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
On a lighter note:
Well, the trip to St. Cloud was great. I got in really late last Thursday night, because the person I was traveling with had to work Friday. No biggie. I was ready to head home anyway. Plus we were exhausted and didn\u2019t feel like staying for the awards dealie and speech after the last night\u2019s dinner. I was kinda glad to be back.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The whole trip was alright in general \u2019cause everybody was nice but I don\u2019t think I could do it next year. Maybe. Anyway, our destination was about an hour and a half away and when we arrived it started raining and pretty much rained the whole time I was there, it was very sticky but not too hot, though.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
At the kickoff event on Tuesday night we went to the Paramount theater where the entertainment was great. Warren Nelson and the Blue Canvas Orchestra of Wisconsin\/Minnesota fame, opened the show and The Blenders topped it off.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
There were lots of people where we were staying. The next day I went exploring downtown and ended up doing some shopping and hanging around in coffee shops and bookstores while mom and her gang and the rest of the officials attending were in classes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It was cool that night \u2019cause we went to a dinner and they had this big band type playing. The highlight of the night (NOT) was this: they hauled the ten Miss Minnesota candidates\u00a0into the ballroom where we were all sitting,\u00a0and had them introduce themselves and talking about their candidacy and their soft non-issue-laden platforms\u2026what fun.\u00a0 No world peace and saving the whales type of shit, but not my idea of dinner entertainment, either.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Did I make any personal progress? Well yes. I met a lot of people. Most of them involved in city and community work, so they little or no expertise in my line of business. I did pass my card out to some folks who asked who I was but was careful not to put them on the table I was working at, thereby advertising myself. I was there to promote Organization X, not myself. I did get five new members signed up for the group, and handed out lots of material to those who were curious but not ready to sign up yet.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Later that night all the booths went down and so did I, to the cash bar before hitting the last dinner, which was more of a formal affair. Didn\u2019t get hooked up with some rich mama\u2019s boy mayor or anything hot like that, so no nookie points, but all\u2019s well that ends well, I s\u2019pose.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Also, I just snatched up an at home net job, it is writing reviews for a very up-and-coming but nonetheless, live website for travelers, businesses, tourists, etc. and I am sure that it will be a challenge at first, because it is entirely different to what I\u2019m doing right now to make a living, but I\u2019m kinda excited to see how well I can do at this. Yeah.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
How\u2019d that happen? Well the other night I was just looking around at job websites and I saw two so far that seemed attractive. They were both no-pay jobs but I was willing to do them \u2019cause they small and quick projects that would add to my portfolio, which needs some fattening, I\u2019ll admit. One was an offsite job where they wanted someone to design their graphic logo and re-do the HTML for the main page. Very easy. I looked at the other one after that only to find out that they are in India. Well that doesn\u2019t make any difference if it\u2019s offsite work.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Anyway before I got the offer yesterday, I posted replies to both of those two no pay ones and about seven others I thought I could handle.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I\u2019ve got the debt repayment program working set up and working now, I can\u2019t tell you what a blessing it is to be able to use it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Well that\u2019s all my news for now, since I\u2019ve gotta get up at 5:30 to go walking, I should be hittin\u2019 it\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\nOther posts on this day:<\/p>\n\n\n\n