topsy-turvy...

i tell you, things seem soooo different nowadays...i guess it's like being Alice in Wonderland, i'm looking through the Looking Glass and everything is just soooooo - i don't even have the words for it.

one thing i've noticed is how completely ABSURD things seem.

i'm noticing lots of ironic things as well...case in point: i'm a non-smoker, smoked only socially in college, might every once in a while have a clove cigarette. when kris and i were together and she worked at bars that tobacco reps visited (primarily the Slippery Noodle) and we'd fill out a card and get some little prize - i've gotten cigarette coupons in the mail for YEARS although i don't smoke. friends i've had that smoke tons never get coupons and i get stuff in the mail all the time. so now i've got a mom with lung cancer, most likely from her smoking. yesterday's mail brought a package addressed to me from Marlboro - "On your big night nothing beats LIVING IT UP with a full house" says the outside of the box - inside there's a note that says "Here's to a year full of action - Happy birthday from Marlboro" and a deck of playing cards included.

it's gonna be a less full house these days, with me taking mom to radiation treatments for the next month.

as for the "year full of action" - that seems a bit fucked up, because the small amount of research i've done on mom's cancer says that she's got a year or two to live. yeah, guess we'll be making the most of that year, since that might be all she's got.

so, they have to put the surgeon general's warning on the box, even tho there are no cigarettes in the package: "Quitting Smoking Now Greatly Reduces Serious Risks to Your Health." Mom quit smoking about eight years ago.

i know it's just chance that this stuff would come in the mail the week of my mother's lung cancer diagnosis, but sheesh...