Do you know what my dog Riggs is scared of more than anything in the world right now?

Take a second to prepare your guess. Is it my tiny kitten, who slaps him whenever he comes near? No.

Is it the UPS man, who has a loud truck and louder knock on the door? No.

War? Genocide? Ghosts?

No.


Carnation Instant Breakfast bottles.

I am not kidding. You hold one of those bottles towards him, his tail goes between his legs, and he backs out of the room in panic and sheer terror. We can't figure out why! If he sees you drinking one, he has to leave the room. If he sees the bottle sitting on the counter, he's gone. If he's playing and happy and jumping around, and you accidentally pick up the bottle and put it in his sightline, he's cowering in fear, looking around like "WHY ARE YOU DOING THIS TO ME?" and then, again, he's gone. Into my dad's room to take his I'm Scared nap and not be seen again, until the bottle has been put away.

IT'S A BOTTLE. OF CARNATION INSTANT BREAKFAST. AND MY 80 LB GOLDEN RETRIEVER CANNOT TAKE THE SIGHT OF IT. It's not like he's ever been beaten with a bottle or had it thrown at him. When we got the case and I took a bottle out of it, he walked over curiously, then upon taking a closer look, he freaked out and backed away. And has been living in fear of them ever since. I cannot explain it. And I cannot resist the temptation to exploit it, so now whenever I'm having one, he peeks into the room and hides until it's in the trash.

Thought you should all be aware.

In case you don't want to miss it: my deceptively large post introducing Simon is here. It's not like I'm requiring you to read it, but it was quite cathartic for me to write, and I know I love hearing about new kittens, so there's that.

So. Thanksgiving.

We had a rat.

Not for dinner, that would've been odd. But my dad opened the day informing everyone that the cats had chased a rat into this fenced enclosure we have around the air conditioning unit, that also holds a shed and the lawnmower and other outdoorsy storage. Well, now it held a rat. My mother was freaking out.

Dinner went nicely. I made mashed turnips (I could've boiled them a little longer, but everyone insisted (lied?) that they were good) and we had a Honey Baked Ham and a chicken instead of turkey, much to my mother's chagrin. At dinner's close, my mom, laying down her fork and wiping her mouth with a napkin, announces, "Alright. Let's go rat hunting."

( Mose and Dwight will help )

I haven't updated in a while, and especially after my last slew of posts, wanted to let everyone know I'm doing better. Everything with Jadey was just such a shock, that I think I shut down a bit; I don't even remember that Saturday after, though from the Sunday on things have been looking a bit brighter, and here we are, what, two weeks later, and things are a little less ... sharp and scary at the edges.

This guy has something to do with that:



That Sunday after, my mom and I went to an outdoor shopping mall and sort of wandered around; we went to my favorite restaurant, into my favorite stores; I bought a new set of earbuds in the Apple store so I wouldn't have to use the ones with Jadey's bite marks still in them, and that was the extent of my shopping. Then, this random ma'am on the sidewalk with a covered stroller of kittens told us the Petsmart was having an adoptathon of rescue cats that weekend, like, ending that day. So we went over, and my mom told me she was worried it was too soon -- but my thinking was this: she was going to work the next day, the next week, and for many weeks after that, for many days in which I'd be home alone, just, alone, and I'd be very aware of all the little spaces in the house that Jadey was once and wasn't anymore, so I didn't think it was too soon at all. Anyway, she wasn't convinced. And frankly, I couldn't convince her solely on my own. We had to have some help by that little guy pictured above.

The rescue agency had a whole tent set up outside with all these cages of adorable wee kittens, but I wasn't quite feeling it. They were all fuzzy and rolling over each other and climbing up the sides of the cages (those bird-cage like deals for kittens, my god they're a toy in and of themselves!) and utterly adorable, but you can't know what personality a kitten is going to grow into. And at that point, I wanted a lap cat that would sleep in my bed, purr when I put my head on her stomach, bite the shit out of me, and be as sweet as she was wild. Now, I obviously knew that I wasn't going to get Jadey back, but I still wanted a sweet lap cat. That was my criteria. So, I went over to a few of the older cats, still nothing. I glance over, and there's a cat in a cage on a table that's outside of the tent, and since it's midafternoon the sun sort of keeps moving, so they have to keep moving his table so he's in the shade. And he'd just been put out there. I mean, within the half hour of my mom and I finding out about the adoptathon and walking across Coconut Point to the Petsmart, he was taken from the car and put on a table for adoption. What kind of fate is that?

( this is getting kind of long, and is only going to get lengthier )

Before I end this post, and I should because it's getting very long (I'll talk about my Thanksgiving epicness and Christmas tree in another post, maybe later tonight, but this one's long enough) I wanted to make one special note about Molly. The night Jadey died, my other cat Molly, who had been following me around all day, came into my room and did some very odd things. She laid in my bed right where Jadey laid. Then, she did something she'd never done before in her life -- she took my whole arm, wrapping her legs and arms around it, and bit my hand. This is something, again, that Molly has never done. Ever. But Jadey did it probably ten times a day. And Molly knew the exact position, even though I'm not sure she ever saw it. But she did it, and she watched me the whole time with this expectant little look, and even though it made me cry, it also made me feel a little bit better. It was like a little reminder, a little final bite, even though it didn't come from Jadey herself. So, that was nice. It was really, really nice.

Anyway, look forward to my Thanksgiving update. A body was excavated, and there was rat hunting involved.

So I went on Yahoo! Answers to see about a kitten question. Let me show you my findings:

- Why doesn't my cats poop smell better than mine?
It used to taste and smell good, as If it were healthy. Now it's poop tastes and smells terrible. I'm worried, please help!

- Is my cat seeing ghosts?

- What happens to a cat after its been eaten by a dear (sic)

- How do you get a bad tuxedo cat to be good?
when you you have a tuxedo cat that mess up toilet paper what do you do

- My cat is sat staring at me..whats he thinking?

- Is it possible that my cat killed my trees by scratching them?

- My cat only eats pebbles?

- My cat is stuck in my tuba?

- Warrior cat names needed?

- I snorted the catnip?
If the bad?

amazing.

I just want to thank everyone for your comments to my last post. They all meant the world to me; I would love to respond to each one individually, but right now I really can't even go into that post, what with the picture and everything. So, just know that I read every one of them, and just having your support and understanding made the past few days that much easier to deal with. ♥ ♥ ♥

Sorry for the abruptness of my last post. Jesus Christ, you guys. Jadey was my baby. She was everything to me. She'd sleep in my bed and purr in my ear and let me hold her and cradle her, and then she'd flip out and tear me apart and purr nonstop while she did it. It just it feels like something been fucking torn out of me -- I need a gif of a hysterical black woman falling to the floor amidst wails of despair because that's me right now, literally. I just. She just went in for a hairball. It was just supposed to be a hairball.

Apparently all her organs were red, like she'd eaten something toxic. But, I don't know what it could've been. I have no idea. She died on the table, while they were operating. Her heart just stopped. And now she's gone and I can't even process this. I don't know what to do. I swear to god, you guys, part of the reason I decided to stay home and write a book instead of go to college was so I could be here with her and now she's -- oh my god. I'm kind of inconsolable right now. So please, just, whatever happiness you can spare for me today, I fucking need it.


She was my baby. She'd wait on the desk when she wanted me to lift the curtain for her to jump on the window. She'd sleep on my pillow when I wasn't using it. She'd look at me and close her eyes to just a squint to tell me she was happy with me. She was really, seriously, everything to me.

Guys. Guys, Jadey died. I can't. I don't know what I do. I fucking don't know what to do.

Don't mean to spam, but the vet called, and they couldn't find anything on the X-Ray but Jadey is still really tense and sick -- so they're doing exploratory surgery to figure out what's wrong with her.

That's ... safe, right? *hyperventilates*

I was trying to print out pictures of tree houses (lol I have my reasons) but my printer printblocked me and started spitting them all out in NEON, so I decided to compile my findings together in a post that can be scrolled through!


( Tell me you don't hate every one of these people for getting to live in one of these )

Real Life

Television
Let's get this out of the way first.
( Supernatural )

( The Office )

Novel
Ugh, don't talk to me.

Real Life
Okay, here's the big thing I made this post to talk about. (I kind of rambled on about TV to distract myself.) My cat Jadey is like, really sick. She gets some bad hairballs, but nothing like this. I'm really worried I caused it too, because she ate a bunch of string from a cat toy that I bought her, and that's when all the trouble started. She's got some hairballs that have created this blockage, and it's -- bad. We took her to the vet, they kept her overnight to induce diarrhea and get some of the hair out. They thought that would work, but when we brought her home, she was unresponsive, listless, drank a bunch of water only to throw it up, and didn't eat a thing -- and hadn't eaten for two days prior, so that's 3, now 4 days that she hasn't had a bite to eat. She sort of purrs when you pet her, and she'll flick her tail a little, but she's just out of it, and crawling around looking for dark corners to hide in, and all. So we took her back to the vet, and DOCTOR JAMES WILSON is keeping her overnight again to take x-rays and examine her more fully. There's a good chance the hairball, or even that ribbon (some of which has come up in her vomits, but not all of it) is strung through her intestines, which would mean a lot, lot, lot of pinpoint precise surgery. So, hopefully that's not the case, but, tomorrow he's going to spend the day with her and call us about how to proceed.

Speaking of that: this vet is like, the nicest person ever in the history of the world. Friday is actually his day off, but when he saw the state Jadey was in, he told us he's going to come in tomorrow to see to her personally. And he was pissed that the nurses let Jadey go back to us all crusted with the medicine they'd given her all over her chest and ears and feet. So tomorrow he'll do the x-rays, clean her up, and try to figure out what's wrong. Because there might be something really wrong. :\ So, that's what's encapsulating my being right now. I'm barely writing or eating or even sleeping; I'm so used to having Jadey running across my desk and leaning down from my windows and curling around my legs, I don't know what to do without her here.

Riggs and Abra were really sweet when she came home, though, you guys will like this story. I brought Jadey into my room and let her out of the vet carrier, and Abra was BANGING on my door to get in. I ignored her, because I thought she just wanted to greet me, but she was flipping out so I let her in. She ignores me, goes right to Jadey, sniffs her all over, licks her ears and under her neck, and sits down beside her; Abra didn't leave that cat's side for almost a half hour. Followed her every move, watched her like a hawk. Then Riggs came in a little later, and he's usually like -- if Abra's the caring matron who pads in quietly, sits at your bedside, sponges your brow and coos softly in your ear, and just generally makes you feel better ... Riggs is the guy who comes crashing through the window swinging on a rope, somersaults into the room, jumps on your bed screaming in delight, kicks over your pitcher of water, knocks both of you out of bed, and once you're pinned under him on the floor he tries to hump you a little bit before he goes tearing out of the room after a moth flies by and throws him into a new adventure. That's just how he rolls. Anyway, my point is, with Jadey he was really sweet and gentle; at the same time, he kept sticking his whole nose in her ear and jumping backwards like he was playing with a lit candle that kept burning him. So he got a little too excited and had to leave (Abra growing all the while to get out of the hospital wing); overall though, they were really great, and Jadey purred and was happy to see them. I just hope ... idk, that next time she comes back, she's alert and energized and ready to slap Riggs across the nose when he tries to lick her. Because as great as it was to see her sit there and let the dogs sniff her and investigate -- it wasn't like her. She usually cries and runs and puffs her tail out and slaps at their feet from the threshold of the door all "YOU SHALL NOT PASS." So, I'm eager for this all to be over so I can get that cat back. And I just ... hope that I do.

Ugh, sorry about the essay. Here, have a ridiculous awesome shadow puppet show to make up for it. :)

Trying a new format, and trying to see if I can keep it up.

~Novel
So basically, I have 53 Post-It Notes on my desk, each detailing a scene/paragraph/snatch of dialogue I need to write/rewrite. My goal, should I choose to accept it (and I really have no choice by this point) is to complete as many of these Post-Its as I can a day. So expect to see updates of how many Post-Its I've completed in a day, and wish me luck!

Television
My non-spoilery thoughts
How I Met Your Mother - Sometimes this show is so good it's ridiculous. And sometimes, it's so bad it's shocking. This season has had more of those bad episodes than it's had good ones. Also, when the hell did T-Mos become my favorite character??
The Big Bang Theory - I want Howard and Raj to get married for real. That is all.
Friday Night Lights (I don't even know what day of the week it's on, but I was rewatching it earlier, so there) - I don't post often about this show, which is kind of ridiculous, because it's truly in my Top 3 favorite shows of all time, you know? (BSG and The West Wing are the others, in case you're wondering.) There aren't many shows where I can not watch it for months, then come back to an episode and have, like, a crippling emotional connection to the characters. The moment I saw Coach Taylor again in the premiere, I got all teary-eyed and attached. And that kid Luke in the second episode? I INSTANTLY WANTED TO HUG HIS WEEPY LITTLE FACE. Ugh, I love this show.
House - FORGET HOWARD AND RAJ. HOUSE AND WILSON NEED TO BE MARRIED, MARRIED, MARRIED, AND I'M NOT WHOLLY CONVINCED THEY AREN'T ALREADY.

Writer's Block
I'm not reposting any, but when I scrolled through the answers (the question: your last words), several people were propositioning Death for sex. Just so we're all aware, apparently he can do amazing things with that scythe.

Adam
Of course bbs getting his own category. HIS ALBUM IS #7 ON ITUNES TOP ALBUMS, AND IT'S ONLY A PREORDER. THE ADAMSTORM CONTINUES.

Picture of the day
(click for bigger)

Because I just rewatched the trilogy (man, you guys, I like the theatrical edition of RotK waaaay more than the extended. Some of the extra scenes they plopped in killed the flow of the action, and I hated the Sauron's Mouth character.) And because I like horrible cakes. And because, WTF THIS GIANT GLOB ON TOP OF THE CAKE 1) BARELY LOOKS LIKE THE EYE OF SAURON AND 2) DOES NOT LOOK AT ALL APPETIZING. THE ICING LOOKS LIKE IT WAS SMEARED ON BY HAND.

I have to say, though, I love the addition of the trees. What in the world.

unfffff

why, no, I do not have anything else to contribute.

I've spent all night either watching [Rec] (for the second time, showed it to my mom. freaking scariest movie there IS) or marathoning Ghost Adventures. I know all ghost hunting shows are, to put it mildly, bullshit, but it's just basically 3 guys taking everything too seriously, wandering around in the dark for six hours, scaring the crap out of themselves. I love it. In this one episode tonight, they heard a knocking sound and Aaron starting to scan around the room with his camera, and turned to find this gigantic buffalo head mounted to the wall and he shouted in surprise and got all freaked out, and Zak and Nick were basically like "It's a buffalo, calm down." Love it.

We kept the lights off and didn't allow trick-or-treaters (the two we had (BECAUSE APPARENTLY PEOPLE WILL KNOCK EVEN IF YOU'RE DAMN LIGHTS ARE OFF) scared Riggs half to death), so we're keeping all the candy. I kept scaring myself, though. The movie got really quiet, and I heard this HYSTERICAL LAUGHING in the background -- it was my dad's TV, but I nearly had a heart attack. Then every time my dad would burst into the room from his bedroom, I'd scream. Probably not the reception he would've appreciated, but eh, wash your hair.

What'd you guys do for Halloween?

TONIGHT WAS RIDICULOUSLY EPIC.

HERE YOU GUYS, HAVE A RADIO RIP OF ADAM LAMBERT'S FIRST FUCKING SINGLE

FOR YOUR ENTERTAINMENT

This town is DEAD to me. I went to every Halloween superstore I could think of, and there's not one plastic axe to be found in the lot. There's lots of gothic, bloodied scythes and things, but I just want a damn axe! I ordered one online and it only cost $5, but then they sold out and canceled the order. FUUUUUUUUU.

I've already got the plastic raincoat. How am I supposed to complete this look without an axe??

My mom suggested we go down to Home Depot and get an actual one, but ... I don't really trust this idea. I feel like it could only end bloodily.

In other news, I downloaded like, 80 episodes of the original Ricky, Stephen, and Karl XFM radio casts. There's seriously something wrong with me.

I've been for a while now saving a bunch of pictures in a folder I call "Inspirational Pictures," which I use for descriptions and things when I write. And the folder's gotten quite big, so I figured, screw it, I'll show other people. Because sometimes you need a nice break in the day to look at foliage and waterfalls.

So, these are from all over (there are several from LOTRO promotional screencaps, LOL) (and if there was any reason I would want a PC instead of a Mac, it would be to play LOTRO. D:) and just ... enjoy this look inside my head.


( c'mon in (warning some of these are big, and there are lots) )

You know, people gave The Orphan a lot of flack because of the crazy ~twist there at the end, but I thought it was a legitimately good movie! The acting was incredible, especially the kids and Esther. And, on a weird note, I adored the end credits. They were delightfully creepy.

But yeah, heads-up: if you haven't seen The Orphan because people have for months been making fun of the absurd plot twist at the end, go ahead and watch it, because it's actually really cool.

That's my mellow review, LOL.