Do I have to? in Stuff

I can’t believe in this day and age that there aren’t more efficient ways to get to Toowoomba from Brisbane. There’s like one option and that is a Greyhound bus. I’ve taken that trip many times there and back in my life and it’s gotten better from what it used to be, but I swear those buses still have the same old musky smell to them that makes me a little sick. Plus it’s a $50 round trip.
There is a train that goes there (“The Westlander”) but it’s double the price of the bus, takes 4 hours (for some reason when the bus only takes 1.5) and only runs on Tuesdays and Thursdays, leaving once on those days at 7pm at night and therefore arriving in Toowoomba at 11:05pm. It then continues out to Charleville. That doesn’t work for a funeral tomorrow morning. Geez, popular route much?

I should just message my brother asking if I can grab a lift with him. It would be cheaper and he’s not all that bad to hang out with, despite our personalities being completely chalk and cheese.

I don’t even want to go to be honest. Funerals are so depressing and in a freezing-cold-in-the-middle-of-Winter-city like Toowoomba (which I’ve never really been a fan of), it’s even more dreary. It’s effort, and it’s taking out the middle day of my weekend and yeah someone’s died and I’m an asshole for being so selfish and thinking like I am.

My parents are making the three-day drive back from Mt. Isa for it, and then turning right back around again and driving back up north for my newest nephew’s baptism. In a rare event, it’s been pouring rain in outback Queensland the last week or so, and I’ve seen the Facebook comments from relatives warning them they might not make it through due to road closures etc etc, but they don’t seem to be letting that bother them. I’ve seen other comments from people suggesting they just fly down and back as it would be a hell of a lot more convenient, but flights to and from Mt Isa are targeted toward the rich miners and start at around $1000 each one-way to fly anywhere even from within the same state, so they are opting to do the really long drive and spend less than half of that amount on fuel it seems. From what I can guess they’d probably spend about $400 in fuel, although the prices out west are way higher than the coastal cities, but it’d still work out way cheaper. They are getting to see a lot of scenery along the way so that’s a bonus I guess.

Mum just messaged me reminding me the graveside service is at 10am not 10:30am. Ergh, I have to go to the graveyard as well now? The thought of the church is annoying enough. I’m just so anti-religion these days from what I was as a teenager. Unfortunately I didn’t get a say into the religious-nutter family I was born into. I suppose the only thing I do have in common with both of my brothers is that they hate church also.

I’ve considered catching a Greyhound up there tonight and getting a hotel for the night, just so this isn’t an entirely depressing experience. I’m going to a funeral of a Great Aunt whom I barely even knew. I noticed my cousin changed his profile picture to one of him and an elderly woman together, and I sat here and looked at it for a while, trying to think if I knew her, but given the recent passing, I think it could have been her. It would make sense, I guess.
How bad is that? Not even recognizing someone who’s funeral I’m about to attend? That’s how long it’s been since I’ve seen her. I must have been barely out of the womb myself.
I should feel like a complete arsehole, but I don’t.

Mum will use any excuse to get the whole family together, and using this as a reason to suits her fine.
It’s not a bad quality of my mother to have though. She’s really the only person who ever makes an effort to organize and get everyone together. Plus she’s always the most onto news happening or someone carking it or being born or divorced. The woman loves her town-gossip. Let’s face it, not much else happens out in the rural area I grew up in.
She always tells me to get a hold of my brother for a lift, since he is driving down tomorrow anyway.
I just don’t have the closest relationship with any of my siblings. I never really have, especially the older two who are a decade older than me and has already moved out of home by the time I was 7 or 8 years old. And my younger bro has the new-born up in Mt Isa, so I doubt he’ll be making the drive down, unless it’s with my parents, but I doubt that.
My sister has managed to get out of it. She conveniently doesn’t return from her USA holiday (currently via Bora-Bora on the way home) until the following day, and she lives in the same city the funeral is being held in.
Wish I’d thought of that.

All in all, once again, death and the consequences of it has been on my mind a fair bit lately. I do find it sad that the only time a lot of my family see each other is either on Easter, Christmas or when somebody kicks the bucket. And what a great reminder that we’re all gonna die one day by being at a funeral of someone we all knew in one way or another.
The most I know about this woman was that she’s my grandma’s sister. I will learn more about her at her funeral than I did when she was alive.

Pretty deep, this thinking about death thing. And my family are living pretty long, generous lives, considering. I’ve only really lost my other grandmother (on my mum’s side) a few years back whom I was very close to.
Which means that there’s a hell of a lot more funerals to attend in my older age. provided I’m the one who’s still alive to pay my respects.
Never know in this day and age, living in an age of terrorism where religious extremists destroying mass lives, all in the name of fear and frenzied media attention, seems to be a thing now.

I’d love to live a long life, but it’s not guaranteed for sure. It’s a good chance though I think. I’d like my funeral to have an array of happy music playing and for people to remember that I lived my life and that I cared for people who took the time to give me a chance.
My great Aunty Freda had to have been in her 80’s I would say. That’s a pretty good life. And all I can say is that I hope it was a happy one for her.

Now to figure out how I’m getting to Toowoomba and back. I’d better pack a packet. It is named Queensland’s coldest city for a reason.

Edit: Revising this entry with an update and less of a wanky title.
I decided to do a Google search of the obituaries in Toowoomba and happened to find the posting of my Great Aunt. In the list of names of whom she’s survived by, a name is listed that I recognize and I now know how exactly I am related to my cousin. All this time and I never knew. He is her daughter’s son and she was the sister of my surviving grandmother. So he isn’t some distant cousin like I thought he was. Goes to show how much of a damn our family gives about the family tree. I know my dad went and worked one out but I’m pretty sure it didn’t extend out to his Aunty’s side, so I guess that’s why I never knew. I just knew he was my cousin somehow and had to apologize when my friend requested his nudes from my phone on Hornet. He replied, “Yeah I thought that was a bit weird.’ Lol. It’s a shame we are related actually because he is just as tall as me, incredibly intelligent and quite good looking. God-dammit!

I was also surprised to learn that she was 89 years old via the article. Wow, she was almost 90! The service is at the church at 11:30am. I haven’t hit my brother up for a lift there. I was going to wait a few hours. I assume mum has probably asked him to give me a lift as well (to make sure) but I don’t know. I don’t even feel comfortable ringing my brother asking him. I’ve currently got the Greyhound website page opened up ready to book a bus there. I’m thinking if I do that, I might make a day-trip out of it, even though I dislike the place. If I book the 8:30am bus, I can get there by 10:15 and avoid having to be at the gravesite, but I’ll be in plenty of time to get to the church service.
I could also ask my bro for a lift back to Brisbane, although he will probably want to leave ASAP after the service. So I’m thinking I might just book a one-way for now.
I looked at hotels but they are way too pricey, even for a night. I mean geez, who’s actually staying in Toowoomba for them to charge those sorts of prices? :P

Last updated July 18, 2016