Day 8, Level 1: Temperature drop, traffic woes, euthanasia and green eyes

Not bad weather today. But boy did the temperature drop early afternoon.
Went from around 18 degrees C to 10 in a matter of minutes. 

Busy productive morning in my office. Then headed to Omaha mid afternoon - the journey north to Omaha took over 2.5 hours with the traffic about as bad as I've ever encountered heading out of Auckland. Ridiculous. At 3-4pm on a Thursday, you are trying to drive north of Auckland but end up going precisely nowhere fast. Apparently the traffic was much worse going south. The whole road network is just disastrous and needs serious attention. 

The further north I got the worse the weather got - but thankfully the better the traffic got! By the time I hit Warkworth and called into the supermarket for a few supplies, it was misty, dull and raining steadily. Just like it was when I'd left the area on Tuesday afternoon! The traffic from there on was simplicity. Oh if it was all like that ... 

Indi was very patient in the car on what ended up to be a long drawn out drive north. She quickly found her feet again once we got to Omaha. She loves it here. 

Indi - on the Omaha couch, nestled into St Basil's, Moscow!
Note her white whisker!

Had a Zoom meeting at 7pm. Did a bit of work after that. Watched a bit of tv. Made my dinner pretty late - around 9pm. Chili prawns, avocado, edamame beans and delicious Mary Rose seafood sauce. Took a jiffy to create and it was just what I felt like. And boy was it delicious. 

Inktober can wait till I have time tomorrow or next day, for catch up. As I say, it's not a competition or pressure cooker test. As and when ... 

I did watch part of the Leaders Debate tonight - Jacinda (Labour) v. Judith (National).

What I saw was just the same old same old. Politics aside, I found Judith rude and Jacinda authentic. 

The crux came when they were both asked "Would you remain leader of your party if you lost?"

Jacinda was an emphatic and prompt NO. A clear statement - she either wins or she goes back to real life as a mother and human being, making a difference in a different way. I get the feeling she wouldn't mind either way. And would possibly prefer the latter, should voting determine it. 

Judith - she's in for the long haul. She worked very hard to get to this place - she'll be hanging on for grim death. And given all the recent leadership changes, that's all she can do.

Oh, politics.  Que sera sera. The only thing I absolutely hope upon hope that gets passed is the Euthanasia Bill. I've been pro euthanasia since before I even knew it was a thing. Since childhood I guess. I've just always had a compassionate approach that no one should have their life hideously prolonged if they are dying and in distress and pain. 

Thank goodness for David Seymour and his Euthanasia bill. It is well thought out and watertight. Yet some people still think it allows for people to go sign up to kill themselves if they wish. For goodness sake, read the fine print. And it isn't even fine print. You can't just rock up and ask to die. 

Let's give the dying some dignity rather than give credence to those who anticipate living forever and ever without issue and then popping off in perfection. 

It can happen for some, but few and far between as we all live to ripe old ages. Without euthanasia, death is likely be in a horrible way, that you wouldn't allow the hedgehog that got half-squished, the bird wrecked by an inadvertent window flight or a dog mangled by a car to die. 

Reality is, people dying in hospital will die via morphine anyway. Euthanasia is already alive and well. My mum died without distress because we asked for morphine. Otherwise she could have lived on and on and on for days - but she was always going to die. So why make her suffer? No way. Medication can help. It's called euthanasia - been happening for decades. I've got at least a dozen similar stories. None of them are lovely, but they are all reality. Death made easy. Even though, in many cases (including mum) death should NOT have happened at that point in time. Medical misdemeanours are more prevalent than most people realise. 

Sad thing is, Brett's mum did live on and on and on, unconscious and in distress, for days and days. She was always going to die, there was no coming back from her trauma, and she was 97. But her kids couldn't bring themselves to ask for the morphine. To terminate it. 

That harrowing week, watching Muriel slowly die, gasping for breath, shutting down so painfully slowly, was the most terrible of things I've ever witnessed. Especially the last hours. Please may I never go through that again. 

Please NZ, bring in the Euthanasia bill so that I never have to go through it myself. Or watch anyone else die like that. 

Give me my mum's quick release (aka euthanasia) from the inevitable, any day. That was in 2007. 

No one should ever have to die the way Muriel did. Not when modern day medicine can end the suffering. 

Euthanasia is already in operation and has been for decades. Let's make it legal in NZ in 2020. 

SHARE-NOTE OF THE DAY:
Envy and Jealousy ...

ENVY: is when you wish you had what someone else has.

JEALOUSY: is when you wish the other person didn't have it either. 

Envy is understandable; jealousy is not!

Are these the green eyes of envy or jealousy?

 This is a pencil, ink, charcoal and pastel artwork I did some years ago.