CHINESE CURSE TIME

Interesting times indeed. The more alert amongst you will remember that I agreed to play a bit part in The Angriest Video Store Clerk In The World TV pilot. Shooting was yesterday, which necessitated getting up at 5am to be in North Perth at 6 so I could be shuttled out to the shoot.

So Luscious, Erin, and I roll out of bed at the appointed hour and bundle ourselves into the car for the 45 minute drive to drop me off. Halfway there I notice that the Luscious One isn't looking so well. By the time we're 15 minutes away from our destination I'm so concerned I turn the car around and head home. I ring the Clerk guys and let them know I won't be there, and Lyn heads back to bed for a couple of hours sleep, which seems to do the trick.

The boys have Tae-Kwan-Do in the afternoon, and by the time they're ready to be dropped off Lyn's looking bad again, so I take her down to the maternity hospital for a checkup. We're there for two hours, and it gets serious enough that we organise for the kids to be taken care of by rellies while the nice doctor shoves Lyn full of drips and nausea relief medication. Eventually she improves. We're allowed to leave, and God speed all who sail in us. We head off to get the kids sorted and get on with our evening plans (more down below).

By 7.30 this morning we're back in the hospital. Four and a half hours of tests later, Lyn is full enough of drugs to fall asleep (By which I mean actual sleep, not the doze off-roll over-jerk awake in pain-lie awake for ages-doze off routine she's been in these last 8 months). I decide to leave, because she needs the sleep and if I have to watch her lying there for one more moment without knowing what's going on I'm going to climb the nearest water tower and see how many I can take out before they get me. I do, however, promise to return later with a change of clothes and Erin. Lyn's happy to see the back of me, I think. Obsessively brooding hairy guys probably aren't conducive to the resting process.

The day proceeds to get better: I don't speed. I never speed. I mean, never. People have commented on it. I'm a hairy guy from the Mullet Suburbs. I should speed. And yet I don't. It's an indication of my state of mind, or perhaps just my luck, that I get pinged by a Multanova on the way home. Twice.

Waiting for me in the letterbox is the coroner's report on the cause of Sharon's death. (For those maintaining an interest in that particular matter, the pre-trial conference, which was scheduled for November 5, has been pushed back to January 18. I was originally assured that the whole thing would be over in July of this year. Sharon, you might recall, died in December. 2001. FTL does not stand for Faster Than Litigation...)

When I return to the hospital, just after 5pm, Lyn's looking a lot better. She's eating, which is a vast improvement on the rest of the day. But they're keeping her in overnight, for observation. And they still don't know what the problem is. By this stage she's been throwing up and other delightful things on a regular basis for over 13 hours. When it's time to leave she bursts into uncontrolled crying, and it's all I can do not to lift her out of bed and carry her down to the car. I settle for overcompensating by letting Erin stay up late to watch cartoons. At least I don't encounter any Multanovas on the way home.

It's some ungodly hour of the evening now. I should go to bed: Erin will be up early as usual, and will undoubtedly be cranky due to the late night. But I can't get over how big the bed looks. All we've been told about Lyn's condition is that it's likely to be something viral, and I'll get a ring in the morning when it's time to come pick Lyn up.

I'll be there already.

I've been told, by people who have had them (and by Luscious herself, who's had more than one) that pregnancy is usually a wonderful, beautiful thing. It's a miracle, a blessed event that helps bring a family together in ways no other event can.

Personally, I've never wanted anything to be over more badly in my life.

GO SCOTTIE!

My brother Scott spent the weekend on the Gold Coast at a seminar for his work. Pretty damn cool, if you ask me: I work for myself, and my boss is a tightarse when it comes to sending me places.

I picked him up from the airport last night, after dropping Cassie at her grandparents' and Lyn & Erin at home.

Not enough to get a free four day trip: the firm held a couple of raffles for attendees, and the clever bugger managed to win himself a deep fryer and an $1800 digital video camera!

Lucky lucky jammy lucky jammy jammy lucky.........