The month of April has been anything but kind to my family and myself. To everybody who wrote to me, thank you for your notes and I will try to respond to all of them as soon as I can. Just to let everybody know what happened without repeating my self multiple times. Here goes nothing...

Week 1 (April 1-5):

Bad News- The month of April started with a friendly soccer match in a league that I play in on Tuesday evenings. Our team was doing pretty well. With a few minutes left in the game I went to score and while my left leg was planted to take the shot, the keeper game out sliding to block my shot. Instead of going for the ball, the keeper went hard into my leg and hit it backwards. I heard a bunch of pops and fell to the ground.

Good News- I didn't feel any pain and was able to get up and walk away. So I knew that I didn't do any serious damage...so I thought. Little did I know this would become the prelude of what was to come in the month of April.

Bad News- Later on in the week I was driving to work and my car started jumping around from gear to gear. This wasn't a symptom that had been building up gradually. It just happened in the middle of driving in traffic. During my lunch break I took my car to get looked at and picked up a rental. The next day i received the bad news that my transmission had to be rebuilt.

Good News- With gas prices the way they are, I was given a nice fuel economy car that would only need the tank filled once the whole time I would have it.

Bad News- My knee swelled up to a size of a grapefruit.

Week 2 (April 6-12):

Bad News- 2 years ago my dad had a condition called myasthenia gravis. It is a autoimmune disease that attacks the nervous system affecting basic motor skills. The disease basically makes it appear that you have had a stroke. Well, it decided to relapse itself this week.

Good News- He will receive the same treatment that he had last time to counter attack the symptoms and to return him back to 'normal'.

Bad News- The problem with my car is not just the transmission, but the torque converter as well. This basically doubled the cost of what I was quoted before. $$$

Good News- My transmission is now under warranty for 3 years and it is now paid off.

Good News- The swelling went down in my knee.

Bad News- The more the swelling went down, the more I felt shocks of pain. I booked an appointment with an orthopedic doctor. Had x-rays and an MRI done.

Week 3 (April 13-19):

Good News- My dad completed his treatments and is back to himself.

Bad News- It turns out that I tore my lateral meniscus and I would need arthroscopic surgery to repair the damage. However, I would not be able to afford the surgery until the end of the month because my savings went towards repairing the transmission.

Good News- I met my medical deductible for the year.

Good News- 2 of my friends that I knew from college came into town for the weekend to visit and try to cheer me up.

Week 4 (April 20-26):

Bad News- My dad's recovery was short lived. He went from 2 years between treatments to within 2 weeks.

Good News- The doctor is going to try a more aggressive treatment to try and negate the disease.

Week 5 (April 27-30):

Bad News- Surgery week and will be out of commission for the remainder of the week.

Good News- I can afford it now!

Bad News- It will take a month to work myself up to 90%.

Let's hope whoever wrote "What doesn't kill us, only makes us stronger" knows what they were talking about.

Needless to say the theme for May will be Recovery (Physically, Mentally, Spiritually, and Financially).

"Will I lose my dignity
will someone care
will i wake tomorrow
from this nightmare"

So I am a big sucker for cheesy funny movies and Sordid Lives is no exception. When a friend of mine told me they were coming out with Sordid Lives The Series, I nearly fell out of my chair laughing thinking of the possibilities.

Some background:

The Series is the story of a small town Texas family presided over by matriarch Peggy Ingram (Rue McClanahan) who takes in the town bar singer Bitsy Mae Harling (Olivia Newton-John) who has just been released from prison. Peggy's wild child daughter LaVonda (Ann Walker) lives with Peggy's chain-smoking sister Sissy (Beth Grant), while Peggy's good girl Latrelle (Bonnie Bedelia) maintains an image of seeming perfection.

Peggy's third child "Brother Boy" Ingram (Leslie Jodan) is locked in a mental institution where he performs as Tammy Wynette. He plots to escape while he attends therapy sessions with the crazy Dr. Eve (Rosemary Alexander) who believes she can dehomosexualize him.

LaVonda's white trash best friend Noleta (Caroline Rhea) lives in a trailer in Sissy's backyard with her husband G.W. (David Steen), a Vietnam vet with two wooden legs. G.W. escapes regularly to the local bar in town amidst a small crowd of regulars including brothers Wardell (Newell Alexander) and Odell (Wardell Alexander), Bitsy and this bar's crazy old fly Juanita (Sarah Hunley).

Latrelle's son Ty (Jason Dottley) is an actor living in Los Angeles and struggling with several therapists (Margaret Cho, Carson Kressley, Candis Cayne) to come to terms with his homosexuality, his first boyfriend (Ted Detwiler) and the difficulty of coming out to his family back in Texas.

Sordid Lives is the universally relatable story of a town of family and friends and the trials and tribulations they go through as they learn to see each other for who they are instead of who they wish each other to be.

The Movie:

If you have never seen the movie, I highly recommend it as a must see. It is a very slapstick comedy and surely to make anybody laugh.

I can't claim this, but it hit me hard when I read it. So I am sharing it with you.

"Loneliness sneaks up on you in the night like a thief. All of a sudden you look up and you realize how alone you are and in that moment, the core of your being seems hollow and vast, as though nothing was ever there in the first place. The walls seem starker, your bed feels emptier and your very existence seems small and trivial. Like darkness, Loneliness surrounds you and can swallow you up, choking out your sobs your cries for acknowledgement. You reach out your hand at the last glimmer of light before you are swallowed up. You are consumed by silence and a depth you care not to know of. Loneliness can be our worst adversary. It can also be our strongest ally."

Thanks Jacob - You are truely a great friend.