Family drama sucks anus.

I'm going up north this holiday weekend for a mid-week funeral and then driving down the same day after the funeral for the burial in LA.

So Sad.

On top of all of that, some of my extended family members are causing trouble and making this time even hard for all of us. They made it hard for us while my grandmother was dying and now are making life miserable for all of us as we struggle to deal with the sadness and stress of losing a loved one. Even my 71-year-old Dad is feeling the stress -- last night, almost got arrested at the airport for arguing with a cop when he was trying to pick up my cousin. I know, crazy and weird.

If you guys can pray for me I'd appreciate it... because all I want to do right now is go up north and kick the crap out of one of my (not blood related) aunts and cousins.... and what I really should be doing is going up and spending quality time celebrating my grandmother with my relatives.

When this is all done, I think I need a spa day.

Wen Yei Fung Lee

My grandmother passed away on Tuesday afternoon. She was 99 and a tough, tough lady. I will always remember her strength and faith... and her love of strong drinks and peanut butter. Thanks for everything, Ma-Ma. I hope you have fun in heaven. *sniff sniff*

a case of the mondays.

This weekend I went to see my grandmother + all of my extended family in the 'Jo. It was a doozy and I'm still recovering. I'll post about it later.

One clue about how I'm feeling after this weekend: It's 12:13pm and I'm at work but I could really use a drink about now.

My grandmother is tougher than your grandmother

These past few weeks I've been sort of in a holding pattern. My grandmother is close to death and my family and I have been preparing for it. We were told that it might be this week so we've been preparing the slide show, eulogy, the funeral services, etc. and travel arrangements for us to go up north for the ceremony at the end of this week. However, my Ma-ma is as tough as nails and has continued to surprise us. The doctors and nurses did not expect her to last this long. It's Tuesday and her vitals are still strong, despite being off her IV and not eating. It's hard because she's up north and I can't see her everyday, all I can do is wait.
My grandmother turned 99 on Friday!

happy birthday!

Minsoo and Oojin!

one more day

I've been feeling really worn out -- from my grandmother to my sick stomach to work. So I just sat down to write an entry all about my woes.

But just when I feel like complaining about the things in my life, God reminds me that hey, I don't have it so bad. I flipped on the news and saw the brush fires burning on the east side of LA. And it humbled me.

War, poverty, corruption, injustice. That crap is serious. Not that my stuff isn't sad, stressful and important to me, it's just that there's more to life. On days that I put it all into perspective, I can put off complaining until another day. And that's one more day I can spend being grateful for what I have. Because this cranky girl needs all the days she can get.

it's been a fun 3 days

Monday morning I was rudely awakened at 6:30am by nausea, followed by the big D, followed by throw up. lots of it.

And... repeat. And... repeat.

Almost 9 hours later, my body finished its hourly purge. I laid down to try and sleep but couldn't because of pain in my abdomen. I called Dr. Nakji to ask him where the nearest ER was and he came by and went with me and minsoo to the ER.

Four hours and 2 bags of fluids, 1 blood/urine test, 1 anti-nausea med later, I left the ER feeling a tad bit better. I guess. Or maybe it was the cute intern taking my blood that clouded my judgment, I dunno.

When I woke up on Tuesday I felt better, but as the day progressed, my stomach kept hurting. I'm assuming it's from all of the trauma of Monday, but it made it impossible to eat or sleep or even move comfortably, so I still sort of felt like crap.

Today I woke up and felt better and was able to move around without pain and even do some work from home. Next step: a meal with solid food.

I hate food poisoning. Although had it not been for this, I would have been at the Tuesday marches and might have been at all of the craziness that ensued with the police. I'm not sure which one would have been better.