Tuesday, July 31, 2007

Plastic features and hollow eyes (Bay Area adventures)


WADDA DAY. After Fannie’s 8-hour surgery yesterday, she seemed fine, but then, this morning, her BP plummeted to 70 over 30 or something. To make a long story short, her doctors decided to move her to ICU where they pumped her full of drugs and new blood. Her BP had crawled up to more normal levels by the time (Fannie's friend) Elroy and I left the hospital two hours ago.

Whew!

Naturally, my folks called Fannie (from OC) this morning, only to hear their groggy daughter baldly state her BP numbers plus the fact that she was being moved to ICU. That’s when she faded out. My parents freaked. They left a panicked voicemail on my phone.

With a phonecall, I managed to de-freak them. I'm trying to encourage them not to talk to Fannie directly. Not at least until she emerges from her post-surgery groggitude.


GRUFF BUT GOOD. Elroy and I visited Fannie at about noon. That's when I observed Fannie's very gruff eastern European (Russian?) nurse, in whose way I managed to stand. “Vat is deh matter vit you, eh? Seet down over dehr! Be now out of trau-ble!”

OK, so I exaggerate. A leetle.

Just then, Fannie’s doctor showed up and happened to mention that nurse Natasha (or whatever her name was) was “the best nurse in the hospital.” She was standing right there, inspecting the previous nurse's work with the IVs and whatnot.

“Oh, please. Now you shaut aup,” muttered Natasha.

Later, my sister confirmed that Natasha was indeed a great nurse. “I like you,” said Natasha to Fannie, after Elroy and my first visit today. “Remember, dough,” she added, “Deh [namely, Elroy and I] are s’posed to entertain you, not you dem!”

OK, so probably she IS a great nurse.

At one point, I saw Natasha glaring at the Tower of IVs next to Fannie's bed. Something was wrong. Soon, Natasha grabbed one of the IV tubes and pointed to a section of it. She announced, "Dees tube ees keenked. You getting nutting! I feex!" And she did.


It was another dreary day, mostly, here in Fogland, though there were patches of sunlight, at least over in South San Fran, where Elroy and I visited the local Costco to buy Fannie a portable DVD player with video iPod thingamabob. It’s nice, but it looks like she won’t be using it any time soon. She can barely move.

I TOOK SOME TIME this evening to catch up on the news in OC, but that only managed to piss me off.

GRATUITOUS COUGAR KILLAGE. Evidently, last Friday, some assholes from the Department of Fish and Game shotgunned a cougar to death out near the fucking Coto De Caza Gold & Racquet Club. Evidently, two cougars were spotted there earlier, so the Fish & Game assholes went out there to check it out. According to the OC Register, “When the two big cats approached [the] wardens, one cat was shot and killed.”

That’s just fucking great.

A few hours earlier, says the Reg, a 14-year-old kid spotted a cougar at the golf course. The beast was quietly sitting in the grass, minding its own cougular business. The kid came within 25 feet of the cat and took dozens of pictures. He told the Reg, “I wasn't really scared or anything because (the lion) just seemed to be really calm and kind of reserved.”

Yeah, reserved.

Other people were with the kid, gawking and yammering, but that didn’t inspire feline aggression. Eventually, the creature got up and “wandered away down the golf course.”

—Yeah, only to be shotgunned to death by MORONS a few hours later.

Here’s one of the pics.


SEAL STABBAGE. As if that weren’t bad enough, yesterday, the Reg reported that a court hearing had been set for a local ASSHOLE who (“allegedly”) stabbed a sea lion to death with a steak knife:

Police arrested Hai Nguyen [aka TOTAL FUCKING ASSHOLE FROM HELL], 24, on charges of attacking a 150-pound, female sea lion near the 'M' Street Pier in Newport Beach, stabbing the animal repeatedly with a steak knife after it had taken bait fish from his fishing pole, Newport Beach police Sgt. Evan Sailor said…The wounds proved fatal, with veterinarians at the Pacific Marine Mammal Center electing to euthanize the animal after it was found the several chest wounds could not be treated, Richard Evans, the center's medical director, said.

Knife Boy is facing charges of cruelty to an animal. But he could face federal charges as well. Hope so.


UNBELIEVABLY STUPID WOMAN SCARED. One animal story managed to cheer me up:

Self-described psychic scared by 'unbelievably large man'
A woman who described herself as a psychic told police on Sunday that a large "crazy" man was on her balcony Saturday night…The woman described the man as "unbelievably large God-like man" with "plastic features and hollow eyes." She told police the man used her phone and then told her "thanks."…The woman reported that her cat is now terrified because of the experience.
I wouldn’t take the woman’s word for that last bit of info. I’d talk to the cat directly.

(All photos above taken today by Chunk from Elroy's car. —'Ceptin' for the cougar shot, which was taken by that kid.)

Roy's obituary in LA Times and Register: "we were lucky to have you while we did"

  This ran in the Sunday December 24, 2023 edition of the Los Angeles Times and the Orange County Register : July 14, 1955 - November 20, 2...