February 21, 2008
I've been quiet...
I've been writing a lot. Well. Last weekend I was sick. Let us not speak of it.
My action chapter is still kicking my butt, because, well, it's action. It'll be okay, and the next chapter should have fun stuff in it. Well, there was something fun tonight--I wrote a kiss. It's more than just a kiss, though, it's a sexual awakening. Yay!
And, you know, just to make up for my not posting in so long, have a LOLcat. Aw, Pandora is so cute!
December 28, 2007
There are times when I love working for a college.
This is one of them. I was last at work on December 21. I'm not expected back until after New Year's.
You may now hate me. ;)
Sadly, this is not ending up being insane amounts of writing and working out. But I had a very busy year, and probably need the rest. I'm doing things like watching Frida for the billionth time instead.
My cats are in stink heaven. They think I've finally come to my senses and realized that working thing is a terrible idea. Now, if I would just forget that writing business and spend less time on my laptop goofing off, all would be well. I should devote myself to them as is their due. In fact, a couple have velcroed themselves to each outer thigh, which is nice because they're furry and warm.
Instead of writing, I'm pondering the impending death of my PDA, and whether or not I need a new cellphone. These are clearly burning issues that must be pondered at length. Clearly.
Right now, however, the burning issue is my bed, and how it's managing without me.
May 16, 2007
May 10, 2007
Kitty Legal
Because Brian double-triple-dog-cat dared me.
EXT.BALCONY - EVENING
DENNYCAT and ALANCAT are sitting on the balcony sniffing
catnip and eating tuna. AlanCat is also washing, with a smug
air.
DENNYCAT
That was a great trial. We kicked their
mangy asses!
ALANCAT
We certainly did, my friend.
DENNYCAT
Their attorney was so stupid. I'm
going to go over to his office and
take a nice stinky dump. It's the
only way I can think of to properly
express my contempt.
AlanCat looks over at DennyCat, paw raised in mid-wash.
DENNYCAT (CONT'D)
What?
ALANCAT
You'll get arrested!
DENNYCAT
Will not. Mad cow.
ALANCAT
Another shocking scandal for the
pet food industry.
DENNYCAT
What's Kitty Legal without some
relevant, topical humor?
DennyCat scratches his ear.
DENNYCAT (CONT'D)
Want to come back to my place? We
can sleep in a heap.
ALANCAT
How is this different from the TV
series again?
DENNYCAT
Talking cats. David E. Kelly needs
more talking cats on his show.
March 16, 2007
December 27, 2006
I can promise you...
Dear Circe,
I can promise you that you'll never have to take another pill, will never need any more bloodwork. There will be no more vet visits. No more sucky car rides. Goodbye, little ballerina kitty, who two months ago could jump over my head at the ripe old age of 14. I already miss you.
P.S. Meow.
Edited 12/28/06 12:43pm to add mp3 and link to Brian's post.
December 22, 2006
November 19, 2006
NaNoWriMo Update
I'm at 33,717 words, but I also have a sick kitty. She's our current Queen Kitty, and the other cats are worried.
I completely blew off yesterday, and am having trouble talking myself into doing it today. I've been trying to do 2,000 words a day; maybe I can manage 1,000 tonight.
I used up my outline in the first week. D'oh! I'm starting to think I just suck at outlining.
May 11, 2006
Must. Finish. Script.
The last pages of my script are just grinding out like cement. I don't know if it's laptop death trama and the associated rebuild/migrate/etc., the distraction of the new Precious, being busy at work, all of the above, none of the above...
In short, I'm not writing. There must be writing. There needs to be script.
In other news, the cats ate my Navajo loom. In other, other news, fie on Quicken, for I have migrated to something that runs on linux.
February 24, 2006
Getting back on the [insert mythological animal here].
I had two stories in progress when my cat got sick in December, and I hadn't touched either of them since until today.
Well, I just worked on one a little, and I really like it. It's also 2700 words so far and I don't think it's even half-finished, although I could be wrong. I'm very bad at estimating first draft lengths. Partly because I have the basic story beats so far, but not an outline or anything.
Yeah, I'm one of those weirdos who writes to find out what happens next. ;)
This one is surprising me; it's coming out pointed. And there's a lot of religion in this one. Not so much conventional, organized religion, although there's some of that, too. More... what people value.
I suspect that the former cliché story stalled because I was resisting the romance that might occur. And also, yes, it needs more conflict. I don't think that one is completely ripe, although I think I've figured it out a little better.
I kind of wish they'd all come out in a big rush like the Just Not Right story, though. Speaking of which, well... *looks at submission tracker, raises eyebrow*
February 2, 2006
What's Left
What I have left from my best friend for the last 14 years:
- 1 box of cat ashes
- 1 cat tooth, pulled by the vet tech on January 8.
- 5 x-rays: 3 dental, 2 full-body
- Photos
- Memories
It's more than I have for my other dead kitties, but it's not enough.
October 10, 2004
June 8, 2004
Adonis
In August, 1991, I was a graduate art student in Texas. I'd recently acquired a tortoiseshell kitten from a little girl sitting in front of the local Kroger, a cute little turbocharged thing I named Persephone. I got her in the break between classes, and when I went back to class, she was lonely. I didn't really want another cat, but decided she needed a friend.
One day that August, I went to the same Kroger and there was a young couple who were giving away small black kittens. One of the kittens appeared to be very afraid of the man, but liked me. I took him home, holding him on my lap as I shifted gears. He only complained once, a long, loud meow, and once he'd told me that this sucked he subsided. "You can be Persephone's cat," I told him. I named him Adonis, after the myth where Aphrodite hides Adonis in the Underworld and Persephone falls in love with him and doesn't want to give him back.
Persephone took one look at him and started growling and hissing, as if to say, "You brought me a snack! How considerate, Meowmie!"
Ulp.
For about three weeks, there was much hissing and spitting and Adonis hiding under the couch. He would sneak out and sit on my lap while I read or watched TV, then hide again when I left to go to class. It ended after I came home one day and found Persephone holding a terrified Adonis in a headlock, washing him.
Somehow, much to my surprise, he managed to impregnate Persephone when she was six months old and he was three months old. I promptly took him to be neutered. He came home stoned, and meowed to be let out of the carrier. He wanted to sit on my lap. I kept three of the kittens, because I couldn't find homes for them, and Adonis was a good foster mother to them.
Adonis was my special baby. He grew to live up to his name, Adonis the beautiful. He was my probably-not-very-secret favorite, and the feeling was very mutual. He was very jealous of my ex-boyfriend, and used to drop heavy objects from above onto his head. For some reason, my ex-boyfriend didn't find this endearing. ;) I lost the boyfriend and kept Adonis.
Adonis lived with me for almost 13 years. I took him on two cross-country moves. He was the one who told me I have sleep apnea; he'd go and ask my roommate for help. I had undiagnosed sleep apnea for a long time despite Adonis' insistence that I had a problem. The conversation often went like this:
Me: I think I have sleep apnea.
Doctor: [derisive laugh] What makes you think that?
Me: My cat does the Come Quick Timmy dance to lead my roommate into my room, where my roommate finds me gasping for air or not breathing.
Doctor: [rolling eyes] You don't have sleep apnea. You're not an overweight middle-aged man. If you're really worried, go on a diet and get rid of your cats. You're probably allergic.
And the horse you rode in on, Doc. I really believe I'd be dead if I'd followed his advice. I got new doctors. I kept the cats.
So Adonis was practically a service animal for many of the years he lived with me, poor baby. He considered this to be his main job. If my roommate was out, Persephone would bite me on the face to wake me up, which Adonis apparently couldn't bear to do. When I finally got the CPAP, he and Persephone were thrilled. Persephone used to kiss it goodnight for awhile, and Adonis would still sleep by my head every night, just in case it didn't work, so he could go get help.
Adonis actually liked Brian, even though he was male. Horrors! And my boyfriend! Even worse. Even before they made friends, he would poke his head into Brian's room (sleep apnea, remember?) and check on him several times during the day, just to make sure he was all right. It was part of his job as King Kitty to make sure everything in the house was running smoothly.
Sunday night around 2, I realized he was dehydrated, disoriented, and staggering, and for the first time in his life he didn't want me to pet him. I tried to get him to drink. He took a few half-hearted licks to humor me.
This was bad.
We took him to the 24 hour emergency vet, who thought his abdomen was full of tumors but couldn't be sure without tests. He quoted $1300+ to find out and said he thought Adonis would probably die anyway.
Back in high school, I had three cats who were FeLV+. Shinpaugh took to hiding under the furniture, refusing food and water, etc. This is just what cats do when they decide to die--they starve themselves to death. I took Shinpaugh to the vet and he purred really loudly for the first time in about a month, as if to say, "I know what you're going to do. Thank you."
Adonis was acting sicker than Shinpaugh was then. I think he had decided to die.
I respected that decision. Which means that I'm going to be picking up more ashes from the cat cremation place in a few days.
Goodbye, beautiful boy. I love you.
