once again, my grandpa is in the hospital due to intestinal hemorrhaging. i really don't know anything about it other than he's had fits of bleeding for years. it may be something left over from his navy days at the bikini atoll, no one knows for sure. in talking about this with my aunt, i learned that all of my dad's family (i'm just talking about his parents and siblings) have O- type blood except for his youngest sister. that is just so bizarre to me since i grew up in a O+ household.

my grandfather is a hearty bastard. he's weakening, but he makes it through things. given a brief summary of his life, one would think that he should be dead by now. all these things we are taught about being healthy to prevent cancer and such was not his lifestyle at all. he spent a lot of time in the sun, smoked for years, and let's just say his diet/exercise regime is not that of an athlete. he's in his 80s and still going. my dad died in his early 30s. they just don't make 'em like they used to. ;) (actually, every time i think about it, i think my dad was the runt of the family. an oddball of the litter. it's then not a surprise then that he died so young.) when my grandparents visit for my graduation, my grandpa will be in a wheelchair. i hope i can handle the sight of it.

it's hard to imagine any of my grandparents dying but it will happen one day. i just don't like to see the human body weaken. it was heartbreaking to watch video footage of my mother's mother in a wheelchair, unable to eat solid food. i don't know how i will handle seeing her in person. in other ways though i'm a real insensitive bastard. when i was little, people were dropping off left and right so i learned early on that death is a part of life and to just treat it as such. however, i haven't gone through someone close dying in a long time that when someone remotely close dies, i'm not the person one should turn to because i'm just so fucking insensitive about it. life goes on, get over it, etc. well i don't say that but you get the point.

one of my fears is that my grandparents will die before i really get to spend time with them--this goes for both my father's parents and my mother's mother. in moving back to LA, one of my goals is to become closer to my family and learn family history. they are the sole keepers of much family knowledge and it would be a tragedy not to record it.

it's now time for the skullblog blood lesson of the day
(facts taken from blood donation web sites)

"Healthy blood donors can give blood as often as every 56 days. If you began donating blood at age 17 and donated every 56 days until you reached the age of 83, you would have donated over 50 gallons of blood." [comment: i still have yet to donate even 1 gallon of blood.]

"When a blood transfusion is necessary, donor and patient blood must be compatible. If not, the patient�s body will react to the incompatible donor cells, leading to complications, maybe even death."

and in case you didn't know, one version of japanese fortune telling is based on blood type (instead of say birth year or birth month). such blood-fortune-telling columns can be found in many popular magazines--i used to read them now and then when i lived in japan. in day-to-day situations, japanese talk about blood types and how they relate to things a lot more than americans. in fact, i don't think i've ever seen an american talk about blood types.