Today I went to my aunt Kristy's funeral. The loving mother of 3 daughters, a substitute special ed teacher, and wife to my uncle (mom's brother) Richie died at the age of 41 of cervical cancer.

She was diagnosed in September of this year, and from what I can tell, never had a chance at beating this tumor that pretty much engulfed her lower left abdomen and thigh.

The day after I found out about Kristy's passing, I had to go to the doctor's office to see about my nagging head cold. Ironically, there was a big stack of Gardasil (the HPV vaccine) pamphlets on the desk in my room. So of course I read the entire thing from cover to cover.

I had absolutely no idea the statistics. The most alarming of which are:

80 PERCENT of women will be diagnosed with HPV in their lifetime.

Condoms don't really do well at hindering infection.

There are, at least, 30 different strains of the virus, 2 of them being the pretty much sole cause of cervical cancer in women. Cervical cancer is not considered to be a hereditary disease and at this point is entirely blamed on these two strains of HPV.

The vaccine blocks 4 strains of HPV, and is for teenaged to 26 year old women.

The only screening for HPV is done through regular pap exams.

Months prior, the first question to my mom when she told me the news of Kristy's diagnosis: "Did she go to the OB regularly?" She didn't know.

I learned last night at the visitation, from one of my other aunts, that Kristy wasn't very stringent with her annual women's exam. As sweet, loving and great a gal as Kristy was, she neglected herself when she needed it the most.

It wasn't a complication of not having health insurance; in fact, my uncle's was quite generous, thank goodness (can you say over $600k in medical bills). She just never made a habit out of it.

Never got around to it.

There is absolutely no reason why anyone should have to suffer like she did. I saw her several weeks ago, bound to a hospital bed in her own home, moaning in agony in spite of the steady morphine drip she was receiving.

To all of the women in my life that I love dearly, I am SHOUTING to you that early detection is everything, and self-awareness is extremely important! Health care or not (Planned Parenthood is always there for you), get your ass into a doctor's office once a year for those paps. Yeah, it's uncomfortable and icky and weird ... but it saves freaking lives!

Please pass this information on to everyone you know and please take good care.

http://hpv.com/

We picked up our wedding invites today.

And. They look. AWESOME.

The big day is officially 5 months from today. To the day.

WHEEEEEEEEEE!!!

... or is anyone else queasy nervous about tomorrow? Like, the kind of sick-to-your-stomach feeling you get before a really major test?

Because that's what I feel like about tomorrow. Even though I only get one vote. Even though the entire election isn't up to me.

Yet, I have this horrible feeling of dread in my gut that I used to get before major standardized tests; the feeling that, even for all my studying, the results won't be what I wanted.

I guess its probably because this is my third November 3rd ... the third time I've been eligible to vote in a presidential election. My last two November 4ths were such abysmal disasters that, for all my hoping and positive thinking, the believing in the better of humankind to make the right decision ... this time hope is all but lost.

I'm just downright scared.

Want to understand the root cause of the current economic meltdown?

So last night I watched a film that I think anyone who has a credit card should see.

Which is everyone.



What amazes me is the timeliness of this film; even though it was made at least 3 years ago.

I'm going to do it. I'm going to start training and by next Labor Day, I'm going to do the LSL Long Course Triathlon.

RAWWWWWR!!!

... you could have been beaten in a swimming competition by an all-torsoed man.

Which actually happened to 35 people a few weeks ago in Pennsylvania.

This story is unbelievable.

sesquipedalian (ses-kwuh-puh-DAYL-yuhn), adjective:
1. Given to or characterized by the use of long words.
2. Long and ponderous; having many syllables.

noun:
1. A long word.

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Finally Hillary Clinton is in the news for a good and just cause: fighting yet another evil right-winged plot to revoke women's right to contraception.

I first encountered this type of Christian thinking when I first told my dad I'd gotten the Depo-Provera shot 'round about my 20th year.

"But ... that type of birth control allows fetuses to grow then aborts them," he stammered pitily. (Which, in essence, is true.)

Now, thankfully, my dad's morals aren't nearly as strict and he's long since given up on trying to preach the Gospel to my deaf ears, but this issue Bush is trying to enforce is exactly the same line of thinking: the idea that "it's not birth control when 'babies' are being killed." When that highly debatable issue of "life" still weighs in the balance.

It is a slippery slope when government gets to revoke our rights to contraception based on semantics. Forget the fact that it's nearly impossible to even find quality women's health care in this country, where does it leave us when the dumbest President -- armed with the stealthiest lawyers on the planet -- exploits every last loophole in US legislation.

The dark ages, that's where.

Please take the time and go sign the petition. For all the women you know and love.

As is my favorite way to travel, I was looking through old photos, contemplating my past.  I then decided to be productive and upload some of the old "hard copy" via the crappy scanner and put them into my "The Old Me" folder on MySpace.

It's weird to think where I was and what I was doing with my life at the time in each of these photos; I really had to think, to pinpoint the exact season and time, and in some cases I think I may be wrong about some of them.  But they're near enough to be true-ish; to the best of my recollection.  It's also odd to consider how much weight and hair I've put on, taken off, and shifted around over the past 15 years. 

It's probably all because I feel the need for change again in my life.  My life couldn't be happier at home; Brian, the dogs, my family ... everything is fantastic.  Bad economic times, a strict debt payment and savings schedule, and a thankless job have my otherwise cheerful disposition in the shitter though. 

Thus is life though.  Not everything can be perfect.