Current mood:	worried
Current music:	'Hatesong' by Porcupine Tree
Entry tags:	cricket, grandpa, life, mum

Don't you just love life?
Dear life, the universe, and everything else,

Please, give me a bit of a break. I had quite enough on my plate with Grandpa's passing. It's the first time I've lost anybody close to me and I'm having a rough time of it, you know? I was starting to make progress, though. I was going to go out shopping, get back to my e-mails, and try to return to the swing of things. Then of course you just have to go and kick me when I'm down with my mother being admitted to hospital due to a recurrence of the pancreatitis that had her rushed to hospital the day I began my move to Melbourne last year. Thanks, life. Thanks a bloody lot. Sure, she's OK now, with good medical treatment and painkillers and all that good stuff, but I don't exactly like my mother ending up in Accident & Emergency and I sure as hell don't welcome the news that no matter how well she follows medical advice and is very careful with regards to her actions and diet, she is likely to suffer seemingly random pancreatic problems like this for the rest of her life. So now I'm both grieving and worried. Just what I wanted.

Well, at least the cricket's been good, albeit rain-affected. I'd never watched Lasith Malinga's bowling action before - he doesn't bowl overarm, he bowls roundarm, and it's quite an extraordinary thing to watch. It's like he doesn't have an elbow! I've tried to replicate it but it's not easy. And in other news, the Porcupine Tree tour anticipation has kept my spirits up a bit. I baked really delicious chocolate muffins at midnight last night - yes, that's my solution to being unable to sleep. Apparently I'm taking after my mother there. Now I suppose I'll go take after my father and pour a glass of wine, turn up the music, try not to get bogged down dwelling on negatives, and wish the cricket that was going so well earlier hadn't been washed out. Why the hell do they schedule day-nighters in Brisbane in summer anyway? What do you associate with summer evenings in Queensland? That's right, storms. They should at least have the common sense to schedule the matches at the start or finish of the season, i.e. spring and autumn, or figure out a way to put a roof on the 'Gabba and find the money to do it.

So yes, thanks life. This is precisely how I wanted my February to begin; trying to drown out reality by absorbing myself in cricket and music. Can't say the month looks like improving either. Thanks a bunch.

Cheers,
Ax