So just when I was starting to get excited about the whole upcoming month-long trip to Manila, Philippines, my mom gives me a call last night and tells my that they found a mass by one of her ovaries during an ultrasound exam. Since she had a history of breast cancer, they need to do an exploratory surgery and a biopsy as soon as possible to find out whether the mass is malignant or benign, which pretty much means we won't be able to make the flight tomorrow.

I have to admit I was seething at first, I mean the timing was absolutely deplorable. My mom suggested that my sister and I can still go with my uncle, but we ultimately decided against it. I don't think I would have enjoyed the trip as much without her and especially worrying about whether or not she is going to be OK. So there goes my vacation, at least for now. Hopefully they won't find anything serious with her and we are able to easily reschedule our flight after they do the surgery, biopsy, etc. and that she has an easy and quick recovery after that.

I've already notified my manager and immediate co-workers of my situation and they seem to be supportive of the situation. I also cleared the vacation from my electronic calendar. Hopefully I'll be able to reschedule without a hitch. But yeah, it kinda sucks all around.

Speaking of work, I spoke to the manager in charge of tech support for the Phoenix office. We talked a little about the guy who quit and the new person they hired to take the position. I indicated to him that I was still interested in the position just in case things don't work out with the new person.

If I wasn't the first or second choice, I wanted to make damn sure I was still in consideration for the position as third choice or whatever because hell, you never know what's going to fucking happen. The new person may not think his or her new job is the "right fit", or they may open another branch office somewhere else (hopefully west coast), hell, anything can happen.

I know all these fucked up things have been happening but even in a seemingly random and uncaring universe, a simple random distribution of good vs bad events would dictate that the good stuff needs to come pouring in to balance all of the bad stuff. Well that's my theory at least. Also, a positive outlook is just about the only that's keeping me going nowadays. I've done the depression thing before and I can't say I'm really fond of any of it. So yeah, despite everything, Derrick is cool and for now that's all I have to say about that, so until next time...