She is dying because she abuses hardcore drugs. She's been in the hospital a few times already but this time her lungs have gotten really bad and she has pneumonia on top of it. My dad is being a drunk, but thats not really new for him, so I tried to ask him how he was doing and he also is like "i'm fine."

So I've decided he's fine.

But I don't believe my brothers and I don't know if I should try to force them to talk about it with me or just say "i'm here if you need somebody to talk to" and otherwise ignore it.

well, I wouldn't force them into anything.

just try to be supportive.

I usually go with the middle one - "here if you need me"

(But I am not you, your brothers, your family, or an expert...so)

*Hugs Glitch*

I think Michael will be fine since he is older and kind of understands why but Jacob is the baby and I don't know if he will be ok.

I would opt for the "here if you need me" thing too. But it's hard since you live out of state.

I haven't lost any of my parents yet so I can't relate to that aspect.
But I have gone through some trauma in my life.

It could be possible that it won't really hit home until she is actually gone.

A co-worker of mine lost his dad due to cancer. He acted fine. He was probably relieved after his dad was sick for so long. But another co-worker said that he may not feel the impact now, but years down the line he would grow to miss his dad.

Well this is because of her meth abuse. She was in the hospital two years ago at the point where her lungs had turned into rocks is what the doctor said. But she managed to pull through and was supposed to be on a transplant list but she couldn't drink while she was waiting and she did anyway. It's all because she inherited several million dollars when her father passed away.

So anyway my one brother is old enough to see her doing all these things she shouldn't be doing and my other brother isn't really old enough to understand what is going on.

I want to go visit them but then I feel like if I make it there they are going to know I am just coming because of that.

Geez, that's rough. :(

I've made friends with a woman who lost her home due to her meth abuse. There have been a couple times when I worry she's succumbed to the addiction and gotten a fix, but she for the most part tries to keep clean. She's taken it upon herself to try to get people to smile, even though she herself lives on the street.

You know there is nothing wrong with visiting them because you are worried about them because their mom is dying.

I think that is the hardest thing about loving someone with a substantial problem, you can't force them to get clean, or stop using, or to get help, or to even acknowledge that something is wrong.
The feelings of helplessness are overwhelming for those loved ones watching this happen. :(

I'm very sorry you are having to go through that.

Wow, time sure flies fast when you are older!

I can't believe tomorrow is going to be Christmas Eve already! XD

it sure does and it is D:

but i got a ham! all is good

I like ham, but I don't want ham for Christmas cuz I just had one for Thanksgiving. I want turkey! But that's not going to happen.

So maybe we'll have some sort of pork/beef roast instead. :)

I replaced the keyboard on my laptop :D

I dragged out an old convertible slate laptop of mine that... well, frankly at the time it was a waste of money -- we bought it so my wife could use it as a portable art tablet, but Photoshop wasn't compatible with the pen drivers! And so it sat fallow for like two years. Stupid waste of money.

But Microsoft bought N-Trig (the manufacturer of said pen display used in this laptop) and suddenly there are new drivers that work with Photoshop!

Of course, this laptop was on the weak side when it was NEW -- the convertible aspect was the source of most of its price tag -- and now it's significantly underpowered. But it qualifies for the free Windows 10 upgrade, so it's running that now... And it turns out that all of the Windows 8 / Metro / Modern jank actually works REALLY well IF you have a touchscreen -- and I do.

So... I've basically got a new old laptop to play with. It's not as nice as my work MacBook, but it's in better condition than my personal MacBook (I fell down on it when I slipped in the rain once) so for chat and web and programming it's... nice to have.

My husband and I traveled home for Christmas. It was nice spending quality time with the family. Went out to eat, shopping at the mall, threw a birthday party for my brother, and saw Star Wars on Imax.

New Year's on the other hand was a mess. It was a catastrophe.
My husband had to work late. He didn't get done with work until 9pm. He had totally forgotten that it was New Year's Eve so he decided to go hang out and have drinks with his co-workers until 11pm. Let's just say I was not amused when he got home...

I have new stuff issues. So I know there is a new macbook out, much nicer than the one i have, and I want it like crazy bad. But mine is fine and it works fine and it's fine. I also don't have $1500+ to spend on the new macbook so. . . Same with the iphones. XD Mine is 2 years old now and I like supppperrr want the new one XD