Owl's blog: "Life as a Freakonature"

I spent the time between January 23 and February 22 away from my home, my computer, my friends, and my job. I spent that first week at Denton Regional Medical Center, and the remaining three weeks at Integrity Transitional Hospital, both in Denton, Texas.

I was gone because of an infection in my left foot that resulted in a partial amputation. The post-operative recovery led to the discovery that my kidneys were compromised,. At last check, they were only working at about 40% efficiency.

I watched as both of my calves swelled to the size of watermelons as I gained, and eventually lost, about 45 pounds worth of water weight.

For the most part, no one cared, or even noticed, that I had vanished. Life on Fubar went on, as normal, as though things were status quo. On Facebook, it was maybe three weeks before many of my friends acknowledged I hadn't been updating my status. It was about two weeks before anyone at work thought to ask what happened to me. I only had one visitor the entire time I was laid up.

It put a lot of things in perspective for me.

I often half-joked with the bar patrons that if anything happened to me, no one would notice until it was either my turn to bowl or the phone queues backed up at work. Judging from the less-than-overwhelming attempts by friends to get in touch with me, I realized I wasn't wrong.

Sickness, death, and bad news in general all have a way of refocusing one's priorities. Five weeks from now completes year number 38 for me on this planet. With my closest living relatives being aging parents residing no closer than one time zone away, having no dependents of my own, and having no prospects for companionship, I realize that the only one in this life I can truly rely on is myself.

So: to all those I've attempted to reach out to in this failed Texan experiment which started in late 2006, including those people I attempted to greet thinking I would make a friend or two (who responded in kind by telling me to go find someone else to talk to), I remind you, cordially, that what goes around comes around. Correspondence is more than just clicking the “Like” button in blnid reaction to any change in status. Social networking implies being social. You cannot attach a point va;ie to true friendship.

I'm done trying. You had your chance.