Christine A. Cooney

Books to read in 2016

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So last year didn’t work out so great for reading. After my father passed away I had a difficult time with doing things in my life. I couldn’t write down things in a planner, I didn’t really want to do much when I got home from work, etc etc. So I didn’t get to finish the books I wanted to read last year. So they’ve now been moved to this year.

I hope to upload a picture later of the new book stack, but here’s a list.

  • The year of the intern – Robin Cook
  • 1215: the year of the Magna Carta – Danny Danziger and John Gillingham (I did take a class on the Magna Carta last year for its anniversary, so partial victory?)
  • Kafka on the shore – Haruki Murakami
  • The family that couldn’t sleep – D.T. Max
  • The gifts of imperfection – Brene Brown
  • Seraphina – Rachel Hartman (Currently reading as of this post!)
  • The greatest knight – Thomas Asbridge

There will be other books I plan to read this year like:

  • Revisionary – Jim C. Hines. Last of the Magic Ex. Libris series coming out in February. I have such a sad.
  • The Death of Dulgath – Michael J. Sullivan. I’m waiting on my Kickstarter book to come in the mail.
  • Book 4 of Song of the Summer King – Jess E. Owen ?? This will be Kickstarting later this year, so I’m not sure when it’ll arrive, if it’ll be even this year. But I’ll be reading it when it comes.


Seriously you can stop now

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So I started having health issues about mid-year. Since then I’ve been dealing with doctors appointments, tests, and having to make payment arrangements to pay off said tests.

First I had to see an ENT over sinus and headache pain that I had been dealing with for weeks. $50 co-pay to see him. He gave me some medicine to take, and thought I might be actually having migraines. So he sent me to get a sinus x-ray to see if anything was going on. He suggested a walk-in place to get it done the same day. I already had to take the rest of the day off of work, so sure, worked for me.

I go there and they tell me how much it’ll cost. Okay, I could afford it and didn’t need to make a payment plan. So sure. Everyone was nice.

I returned to the ENT (another co-pay) a week later to get the results, which came back as normal or as the paperwork said, “Grossly unremarkable.” So the ENT said again he thought I was getting migraines, probably from exposure to a chemical smell that the janitors were using to clean with at work. So he suggested a neurologist who he had sent patients like me and they had all gotten better. Sounds great.

The neurologist was another $50 co-pay. He thought I was having abnormal migraines, but wanted to do a VNG due to dizzy spells I was getting. Fine, whatever, let’s schedule this.

I couldn’t eat anything before the test and it was scheduled for late morning so I was hungry. Another $50 co-pay and I did the test. And boy did it make the world spin for me. I got the worst case of motion sickness on the ride home. (My husband drove.) I spent the rest of the day in bed, being absolutely miserable.

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From Heck Straight to Jigoku

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My life has gone from going to heck to going straight to Jigoku*.

My Father when he was young.My father passed away today around 5:45 am. He was suffering from renal failure. I’m just mostly going to post my status from Facebook, with some additions and modifications, since it says all I want to say.

When I was 2 months old my father had a stroke. My father told me of how the nurses snuck me in so he could see me while he was hospitalized. The stroke would leave him with a useless left arm, and a brace for one of his legs, along with walking with a cane. He later lost the brace but always had to use a cane to get around.

I remember stories of when he was in the service. Like when it was so cold that the water in his canteen froze.

Or how when we went anywhere he told me to hold his hand so he wouldn’t get lost.

When my father took me to my brother’s hockey games he always got me a hot pretzel. Or he bought a bag of Santitas on his way home from work. He said they were both like gold to me. And I’m still addicted to those snacks.

My father would wake up very early for work and turn on the radio in the house. It would wake me up and I would go to him, hug him, and wish him a good day at work. He returned the hug and shooed me back to bed before he got in trouble for waking me up.

We would have just us time when he went to a donut shop to get a coffee. He would read a newspaper while sitting across from me. I had a Boston Cream and a Hot Chocolate (often with cream to cool it off a bit.) Over time I learned to read upside down. My father also loved chatting with the people at these places, introduce himself, and get to know them.

He was laid off from his job in my junior year of high school. I didn’t understand why he was home early that day and that’s when I learned about pick slips.

My father went on to tutor math at a technical college. He helped a lot of people, especially those who had disabilities. My father wished that he could get a teaching degree, but he felt that he was too old to go to college again.

Even though he was handicapped from the stroke, he still drove a large truck. I always thought that was awesome. He rarely seemed to let his disability get in his way. Though there were times he told me he wished he could have held me or tossed me like he had my older brothers. But that never bothered me.

I am both heartbroken, and extremely grateful for all the times we had together.

Early family photo.Back left to right: Mom and Dad.
Front left to right: Kevin, me, Kenneth (Ken), and John.

Funeral arrangements are being set for Monday. I’ll be traveling up to Kentucky over the weekend.

*Jigoku is the Japanese word for Hell. I like it better than saying Hell because it just feels more intense.

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