Another Week

Ellice's parents came into town to help out this week, which is no small feat. Her parents live in Vienna, Austria. So the two flew in to make it possible for me to eventually return to work without worrying over Ellice home alone. They have been a huge help, physically and emotionally. Praise to God for providing transportation via the Mission.

Work was hard to face, even just the two days, Thursday and Friday. The hardest part is facing all the people. I'm not the most social person in the world, and the situation compounds my anxiety. I had to explain what happened over and over. I suppose I didn't really have to, but when someone asks, I tend to honor the question. It was exhausting more than anything. I feel like that little zoloft ball in the commercials.

Anyway, the week at home was a little better. My biggest challenge is deciding when it is best to prepare food or eat leftovers. The generous people at Ellice's work and from our Sunday School class have been providing meals, invariably more than we can eat at a sitting. Dealing with household stuff like cleaning and cooking seem meaningless, and having other people take care of those areas for a few days is a great help.

Ellice and I have buried ourselves in Civ (video game) and watching Scrubs; the combination has lightened our moods considerably on occasion. It is amazing how cathartic teaming together and beating up on the computer can be. Reading has been surprisingly difficult; concentration is hard to come by, but steadily, we are re-establishing our old routines. I find some comfort in routine, which shouldn't be surprising.

I read in some literature lately that 70% of couples have a lot of trouble including separation and divorce after something like this, but I don't fear that with Ellice. If anything, the whole thing seems to have brought us closer together.

Trumps of Doom by Roger Zelazny
This is book six in the Chronicles of Amber series. This one deals with Corwin's son, Merlin. Frankly, I miss Corwin. This book was a little weird. Merle has invented some mega machine called the Ghostwheel, and naively made it uber powerful. Lord of Amber Random tells him to turn it off so the bad guys don't get it. Unfortunately, the book was just interesting enough that I have to read the rest of the 10 book cycle. **

Iron Man
This movie was awesome. ****

Survivor: Fans vs. Favorites (TV) **1/2
This would have rated higher if the stupidest move in survivor history and a bunch of injuries hadn't affected the season. Erik gave the immunity idol away. Not the hidden one, the regular immunity idol. Of course, the four women immediately turned and voted him out. What a dolt. And Parvati won, the one I wanted to win it least (except for Fairplay). Ugh. I've been screaming for them to vote her out the whole time. Amanda came in second, two Survivors in a row.