Life is going pretty good so far. I like that the gym I'm signed up in is walking distance from the house and my membership is prepaid for the year. I've been making an effort to go regularly. In the past week, I've been there three times and on other days I've still tried to go out walking or do some physical activity at home.

I have been slacking a bit on studying, although it's kind of a hard test to study for because of the scope of what can appear on there. I've studied the 50 most common GRE words, and quite a few besides that (I have flashcards and such). I'm going to write a few timed practice essays and work on some of the reading comprehension samples. I don't have much hope for my mathematical ability, but the math section is multiple choice, thankfully.

Midnight is getting more used to the house. Sadly, Isis and Bastet are not getting anymore used to Midnight, and they're even trying to bully her a little. O_o Which is kind of funny considering that Midnight could very easily beat them up if she wanted to, and has actually been very, very good with them since she knows she's the new cat in their territory.

Phew! Although there will still be plenty of unpacking to do, I am glad to say that I won't have to be doing any cleaning and moving tomorrow. This is good. My arms, legs, neck and back currently hate me.

I'm at my parents' place in Brampton, staying for about the next year.

Midnight is here now. She's kind of freaking out and has been hiding under my bed (I think she likes my room best so far because at least the scents are mostly familiar to her here). I've given her food under the bed for today, and I might have to bring her litterbox into my room for today. Blech. At least it's just been changed.

Isis and Bastet promptly greeted Midnight with a hiss when I first brought her in, but they're at least not handling it any worse than we really expected. Mom's keeping the girls in her room with her while she reads for the evening so that if Midnight does explore, it won't be in a hostile environment just yet.


With the GRE looming on the horizon (September 15th), I'm not going to put too much effort into job hunting just yet. I'll put my name into some job agencies, and I'll check around local offices. I'm going to also call the Ontario Disability Support office to investigate what I have to do to get myself identified as a person with a medical disability that is able to work...but that needs certain accommodations. The key ones are a) a job that will allow me to sit nearly the whole time, and b) I have to be allowed to eat small amounts of food regularly.

Still at mom and dad's place...my brother's charger appears to be charging my laptop, so I'm just going to try out a couple of other little experiments to make sure that's what the problem is. There is one computer guy to call if it turns out there's something I can't figure out (he's working on his PhD in programming and designing programs to be user friendly, is about my age, very nice and friendly and cute), but I'd rather solve the problem myself if possible.

Dad was researching some desktop computers for me just in case, because he knows I want something with a decent sized LCD monitor and that'll be fast enough that I can operate Photoshop without any annoying delays on account of the computer not being fast enough to handle it. My hope is to avoid buying a new computer until I graduate - then it'll be my graduation present.


Not that long ago it was Isis who hopped the fence...Bastet isn't as good at jumping as Isis, but she managed to get into the neighbor's backyard today when they were having their outdoor time. The neighbor wasn't home this time around, so one of my brother's friends, Mike, helped me retrieve the cat. More or less, he hopped the fence with ease, I had to climb awkwardly and he helped me not fall on my ass. XD I know how to corner Bastet and she knows me better, so I was the one to actually catch her and pass her over the fence to my parents. Well, more accurately, I had to drop her over the other side onto the grass near my parents, because she was scared and squirming and has really sharp back claws that nobody wants to get kicked with.

So the girls are no longer allowed outside for backyard time, because we don't wish to have incidents like this every couple of weeks. It's kind of a shame because they really enjoy their outdoor time, but if they're going to find ways to get out of the backyard to explore...that's going to be a problem. Unless we put harnesses with leashes on them, but I see that failing big time.

...at least this incident has taught me that in spite of my pain issues, I can still move pretty darned fast when I really need to.

Thanks to frog_songs for letting me know about Aleve being available over the counter now. I bought two bottles of it. I'd have just gotten one big one but they only had 24 packs available at the drugstore.

The doctors recommended I take anti-inflammatory medication until the bloodwork is in and I've gotten the chance to see the specialists. Well, at least the rhuematologist and after the bloodwork is in. I don't really need to wait for the dermatologist. I met enough of the fibromyalgia qualifications to already diagnose me and they offered me medication for it (including tranquilizers to help me sleep O_o), but I don't want to take that until it's confirmed by the rhuematologist as well. I'd rather take the anti-inflammatory meds that are just weak and over the counter until it's conclusive that I need to be taking other stuff.

Had a small adventure with the cats the other day while I was at my parents' place. Apparently, Isis can jump higher than we thought and cleared a 5 foot high fence into the neighbor's backyard. O.O That chase was less than fun, but with dad helping me to herd her, I caught her and carried her safely back into the house. Poor little thing's eyes went HUGE and her tail was poofed out and when I was holding her, her little heart was beating so fast.

Midnight was happy to see me when I came home this weekend. She frequently comes right to the door to greet me whenever I come home, and she'll often sit on my lap and snuggle in for a good 10-20 minutes and just purr. Sometimes, when I feel like crap, there's something wonderful about coming home and getting that kind of unconditional love from a pet.

On a happier note...affectionate cats are awesome. Midnight seemed to know I wasn't doing very well today at all, because she's been pretty mellow and she stayed near me for most of the day.

I think I'd be able to handle work a lot better right now if I didn't have to walk there and back. Part of me is glad that I do walk, because it makes sure that I'm getting close to an hour of mild exercise every single weekday. Part of me hates it, because being walking to work while dizzy and achey is a miserable experience and not terribly safe either - seeing as I'm not walking with anyone.


Randomly, I love my slow cooker. Tasty meals that are easy to make are wonderful.

Today's meal: Berry-licious chicken

A can of wholeberry cranberry sauce
1/2 cup of soy sauce
1 cup of maple syrup (no need to use the good stuff, it's just a chicken blend)
2 breasts of chicken (you can use up to 6)

More or less, you mix the first 3 ingredients together in a bowl, and then dump everything in a slow cooker. If you cook on high, it's 3-4 hours, if you cook on low, it's about 8-10 hours.

...I'm glad I've already eaten dinner because I'm feeling nauseated right now. Not because of any food issue.

I just read about Kenny Glenn and what that sick little fucker and his brother did to two poor cats. (Warning: Link contains upsetting information and a couple of upsetting but non-graphic images, so don't click if you're not prepared to deal with that)

This is the sign of a psychopath in the making. Abusing a cat is horrible enough. Putting it on YOUTUBE indicates that he was proud enough of the act to share it with thousands of people.

Unfortunately, the kid's dad is RICH and his parents are close friends with the local judge. Hopefully, someone will be able to petition for the case being moved to another county on the grounds of bias.


On a more positive note, the two cats are okay and up for adoption at a vetinary hospital.


This kind of stuff upsets me so much. I had to hug my cat for like, 20 minutes after reading this. The site has a lot of contact information up - I am thinking of phoning the DA and expressing my concern about Kenny Glenn's connections and how that might make for a very biased trial that won't see him appropriately punished for his actions.

I believe that not only does that boy deserve time in jail, but he also needs a psychiatric assessment and mandatory counselling. Because holy crap...just the fact that he's done these things and done them more than once is a big blinking warning sign that he'd probably have no problem abusing a child, an elderly person, or a disabled person who wouldn't be able to talk. Forced counselling should be a bare minimum. And hey, his parents are millionaires. They can afford the psychiatric intervention their sons so sorely need - particularly the abusive little psycho. But also the brother who not only stood by and watched, but filmed it.

I got Midnight a collar the other day. I saw an ad posted in my apartment complex saying "Black cat found, come to the rental office if you are missing a black cat". Though it hasn't happened often, Midnight has gotten out of the apartment before and I decided a collar would help make it obvious that she's someone's pet.

So far, she's tolerating the collar. She hasn't made any attempt to get it off.

I'm going to give it a week before I look into getting her an engraved nametag. That's long enogh for her to adapt.



I feel crappy today. I woke up really nauseous and haven't had much appetite or energy today. X_X Not fun. Though my stomach seems to be calming down at least.

Midnight's biting habit is still a problem. I always feel bad for doing this when I've just come home from grocery shopping, but I have to lock her up in a room until I'm finished putting everything away because otherwise she tries to eat the plastic bags. Not the food in them, the bags. She'll even ignore fresh food that I've just put out for her in favour of the bags. As I love my kitty and don't want her to get sick, I have to do this. The times where she's gotten at plastic? It's come out in her poop, and she's barfed it up, too.

What doesn't help is her rattling the door and making the saddest little meowing sounds ever.

I wish she understood words so I could tell her the plastic is what made her sick those times, so she wouldn't do it again.

...or possibly she would. Midnight is more than a little stubborn. She knows I don't like the playbite game and still does it pretty regularly. I have punished with the spray bottle, and she enjoys that. She playbites me so that she'll get chased. I do play with her. She very specifically wants to be chased - usually when I have no energy to play with her.

Midnight is lucky that she's a cuddly little sweetie the rest of the time. It does make up for her annoying habits.

I bought a laser pointer as a present to Midnight, as well as to Isis and Bastet when I visit my parents.

*snerk* Very much worth it. They go nuts chasing the little red dot on the floor. I have to be careful about how I aim it so that it's only on the floor. Other than that, it's a lot of fun to play with.

Best cat toy ever.