The day started off with some worrying news. My friend, Fel, the one with the brain tumour, is in hospital. Either the chemo drugs or the tumour itself has caused Stevens-Johnson syndrome, which, on its own can be a killer. For those who are curious and who have a strong stomach, there is more information on the subject here. In short, this syndrome attacks the mucous membranes of the body, both internal and external. She has not been able to eat since last week, as one of the places affected was her mouth and throat. Her lungs are affected too, though pneumonia has been ruled out. I called her and spoke for a short time - talking hurts her. She sounds upbeat though and thrilled to at least be able to eat jelly (jello to those in the USA) now. She's considering bathing in jelly. Her sense of humour is still good.

I didn't sleep well last night. I was tired after our rather complicated day, but, though I was calm at the time, the whole thing hit me when I went to bed. My mind started playing the whole scene through and presenting countless situations where everything could have gone horribly wrong. Needless to say, I overslept this morning.

It was cool and drizzly again here today. Weatherwise, delightful. For me, though, a day of highs and lows, moodwise. A day spent working hard on my 'glass half full' and wondering why bad stuff happens to good people. Yes, yes... lesson to be learned, character to build, yadda, yadda... we've heard it all before. For the record, I'm not depressed. I'm just finding optimism a little harder than usual today.

Hm... I'm sitting here wondering what everyone will make of today's photo....

They say you should be careful what you wish for. We have been wishing for rain and boy... did we get rain?!

São Paulo is flooded again. This time, it is on our end of the city. These buses are stuck outside some slums... it is the bus route we would usually take to get home. Those buses have to cross that 'river' to get to where we live. There is no other route into the city. The photo here shows the same slums as the ones in the top photo here. The 'river' you see here is actually the road running in front of those slums.

The photo below is of another major road we would have to cross to get home. I'd say it is rather damp. We got 80mm (3 inches) of rain in around half an hour this afternoon. Our cousins are flooded. They're camping on the second story of their house. Downstairs is a muddy river.

4 People (to my knowledge) have died in this flood and 15 000 are without homes. This kind of rain is normal for this time of the year. Getting so much in one day isn't all that normal though. This month, we have had 217mm (8.5 inches) of rain so far.

We were meant to go into town tomorrow to sort out Tat's voter's registration and ID card. She turns 18 on Tuesday and will then have to vote and needs a new ID. Apparently, the rains aren't over. There will be more thunder showers tomorrow and Sunday, with an easing off for Monday and Tuesday, so we'll see what gives.

It was a stormy week in other ways too. The family here has been stressy. We're waiting on payments from big corporations from as far back as October last year. It's always the little guys that get shelved. Their excuse is that they're missing two signatories. They need six in total to be able to pay contractors. What's with that? I bet their utilities are paid. Makes me so angry. I hate that this kind of thing always happens before a special occasion. Tat is in for a very quiet birthday again. Dang!

Then there is my friend, Felicity. She was given her prognosis for her tumor - it is the worst kind, grade 4, inoperable and aggressive. The doctor, bless his sensitive soul, told her that she has a year. She's amazing though. She's positive and cheerful, or at the very least, determined to be positive and cheerful. It's going to be a rough road for them. Her husband is in a new job and can't take off work, so she's alone at home.

Ah well... let me get to bed. I have been going to bed between 2 and 4am every night lately. It's adding up. It is once again 2am. I think my biological clock has packed up and left home.