Snark is a good thing.

Hi there.

How are ya? Feeling good tonight? Good. 'Cause my night sucked like a whore in a cheap hotel room.

Don't get me wrong, today was actually a pretty great day. Exploring on the beach with the little monsters (Gaga will NOT copyright that term if I have anything to say about it), actually accomplishing some cleaning of the human transport vehicles, watching Mythbusters, Dirty Jobs and even a little Hannah Montana with the fam.

But tonight beat me over the head with a dead raccoon. A really squishy one.

See, my mom is sick. And it hurts, a lot. It's not cancer or something fun like that - that might give us hope that it'll go away some day. No, it's a whole slew of conditions that in reality means that she's just going to keep getting worse for a really long time.

Some people in my family aren't dealing with it well. Honestly, I'm really not either - I cope by keeping busy with my job and my family, and trying to invite her along with me wherever I go, as often as I can.

Other people in my family, one in particular, are trying to escape it through avoidance. Because that makes it all go away, right?

I've been accused of lecturing, I've been accused of "shrinking," and despite the fact that this is not going to go away, other people will not accept that the choices they make directly affect the lives and well-being of others. I took it upon myself to tell that to a particular person this evening. And once again, it was as if I took a flying leap into a crowd of moshers - who turned around to look behind them at the guy whose hair was on fire, right as I crashed to the floor.

Have YOU ever felt absolutely, gut-wrenchingly ineffectual? Oh, it's so much fun! It's just like jumping in front of a speeding Yugo after its driver watched a NASCAR race and decided to live the rush.

So I'm sitting here blogging tonight with a sinus headache and that Yugo sitting on my shoulders. I want to make this better. For my mom, for my family, for me. But I can't.

So I snark. And I blog. It's a lot cheaper than therapy.