Don,  
    
   DL> In my case...back in the 80's...it was endless marriage this...marriage  
   DL> that. Just bothering with that was enough to drive anyone crazy.  
    
    It's like the taglines "Marriage is SAME SEX -- the same sex all over  
  again!!", and "Sex is a Misdemeanor. The more ya miss, da meaner ya get".  
    
    
   DL> Know fully well about the loneliness. Am by myself & have no one to  
   DL> talk to...except for on here. Add on all the garbage from someone  
   DL> else...that Mystic Rat was right...don't marry or sleep with anyone  
   DL> else with more problems than you have.  
    
    I have my ham radio, square dance, and BBS friends, but that's it. I  
  talk to a lady friend who lives with her boyfriend. I keep them informed  
  about bad weather, as their dachshund (who is spoiled rotten, and thinks  
  of me as "his uncle"), doesn't like thunder crashes, gunfire, firecrackers,  
  etc. -- can't say that I blame him. I took the BBS down overnight just after  
  nightly maintenance, due to approaching thunderstorms...and they were all  
  over the region today. There were several severe thunderstorm warnings,  
  numerous flash flood warnings, and even a tornado warning for a storm that  
  was 40 miles to my southwest, moving northeast. The thunder didn't end here  
  until 6pm local time.  
    
   DL> Yep! It's almost to the point that you better hope you have a taxi  
   DL> there & back. In terms of parents...been estranged from those Klan  
   DL> scumbags others call family for 30 years & am better for it. Don't even  
   DL> know who's still alive or dead or care. They are not part of my life or  
   DL> even want them to be part of any type of my life.  
    
    The facilities here will NOT let you take public transportation, because  
  of the liability issues. You have to have an individual bring you there,  
  stay there while you're in prep, surgery, and recovery, then take you home,  
  and stay with you overnight. Otherwise, you have to do as I do...spend the  
  night in the hospital...which the insurance companies don't like to pay  
  for...but they refuse to consider that "I basically have no family left".  
    
    My brother is in worse physical shape than I am, from a freak motorcycle  
  wreck not 3 months after my wife died over 13 years ago, that nearly killed  
  him. He was impatient, went to pass a car that was going too slow for his  
  liking, and a mailbox on the side of the road caught the handlebar of his  
  motorcycle. It stopped...he didn't...flying off it onto the pavement. He  
  had shorts on, but nothing else...not even a helmet. He broke his shoulder,  
  ankle, and elbow, plus fractured his hip. He's lucky to be alive...and is  
  so bummed up now with arthritis, that the pain meds don't even work for  
  him, anymore.  
    
   DL> 1st time with stones was the only time I've been given morphine. Even  
   DL> 30 years later...never had another shot...since it's the greatest stuff  
   DL> in the world & I would abuse it like crazy.  
    
    They gave me that morphine, and it shut my colon down. It was a bear to  
  "clear the plumbing" as it were. :P  
    
   DL> At least 1 good thing...we have our toys there & can't get them taken  
   DL> away. Even have a half bag of fake corn chips beside me on the  
   DL> desk...so I have food. ;D  
    
    As long as I can do my hobbies at the computer, I'm content. Of course,  
  when the weather is bad, like it was today...I try to catch up on sleep.  
  Of course, when the weather radio alarm is constantly going off, that  
  kind of squelches that idea. The thing is, if it's a possible tornado  
  to my southwest, I'm going to stay awake for it.  
    
  Daryl  
    
  ... Why isn't there mouse-flavored cat food?  
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