Current Events > Today was rubbish

(+) Yeah! (+)

My brother-in-law tried to commit suicide, but thankfully he survived. My sister is not the kindest to him. Their relation is also kinds of messed up, witnessed by the way they speak to each other, the constant fights and arguments they have over the pettiest things. I think she just doesn't really respect him enough. She's been getting into a lot of our family history, getting more in touch with our tribe, and discovering herself a lot more, and in that she kind of left him behind a bit. I hope he's well.

In addition to that, one of my best friends killed himself. I've known him for about 13 years. I knew he was troubled. He went completely off the radar for about three months in 2015. Late last year he came back home and we hung out, and told me what happened: he had a mental breakdown, and starved himself for several weeks before ending up in the hospital. Since I found out, I tried to message him every now and then. He was a very isolated person. He lived alone --- I thought that would be a disaster, but he was insistent. We'd talk about all sorts of things. I told him after graduating I'd planned to come down and visit him, and we'd go hiking at the Catlins. But I got an internship offer, so I went to Australia instead, and here I am posting about this.

That last day we hung out is one of my favourite memories of him. We went on a big pub crawl at 11am on a Monday morning. By 6pm we were on the scaffolding in a construction site, yelling at people walking home from work. Then we hung out with a homeless guy, and I watched him try to buy a chicken and a box of beer with a five dollar note. Another time is when we were doing scholarship English together in high school in year 13. In this lesson, a bunch of year 12 girls had joined us. As soon as we get out, we immediately turned to each other and remarked how one of them had a thick moustache. It was cruel in hindsight, but we were so in tune, the way we both thought the exact same thing at the same time.

Anyways, I'm just ranting. Need to get it off my chest. Thanks for reading.
---

I'm sorry dude. I hope tomorrow brings unexpected happiness yo you.
---

sorry you had to go through that...
---

That sounds really rough. Hope things get a bit brighter.
---

Hang in there fella
---

@Sinroth

You are welcome.
---

Did this really happen?
---

So this is off-topic but I'm interested to hear about your tribe.
---

One of my mates called. We weren't the closest, but we hung out now and then. The pair of us just cried our eyes out over the phone man. Booked the next flight back home. Hopefully we get to celebrate his life and remember the way he affected us all, and hopefully I get to be there for my sister and her bf.

NurseRedHeart posted...

Did this really happen?

100% real. What are the odds?

DevsBro posted...

So this is off-topic but I'm interested to hear about your tribe.

Our tribe is called Muaupoko, which translates as "the head of the fish". In Maori tradition, the two main islands of NZ are the petrified boat of Maui (the South Island) and a great fish he caught (the North Island). The head of the fish is Wellington, which we used to occupy like 200-300 years ago. We trace our lineage from Tara, son of Whatonga, pilot of Kurahaupo, one of the great waka (big canoe thing) that brought our ancestors to New Zealand. By marriage, we are also closely related to the tribes Ngati Kahungunu and Rangitane, via my mum's mum's mum, who married into our tribe as a sign of peace. During the colonisation, musket wars, and land wars of NZ we lost most of our traditional lands, and migrated to Lake Horowhenua (aka Waipunahau), which has basically been the heart of our people ever since.
---

I don't know much about the Maori, are y'all anything like Native Americans, (who never fermented anything, and thus had no experience with alcohol before the white man showed up)?
---

mustachedmystic posted...

I don't know much about the Maori, are y'all anything like Native Americans, (who never fermented anything, and thus had no experience with alcohol before the white man showed up)?

Yeah we didn't have booze or tobacco. There are indigenous magic mushrooms (novazealandiae weraroa --- weraroa meaning "the long heat") but I don't think it really had any widespread medical or spiritual use. The hardest thing we had was kawakawa tea probably, which is a minty-tasting, really mild analgesic plant.
---

If old western TV, movies, (and Dr. Drew) have taught me anything, It's that most Native Americans cannot handle alcohol.
---

Yeah same with us pretty much, though it's getting better
---