Don't know feline or child; the photo was captioned, 'Her favorite toy'.
Edited to link to adorable instead!

(Sorry - it was not that large when I looked at it! O_O)

There's not even any porn! LOL! Cute Boys with Cats. Does what it says on the tin. *g*

For iamjw, there's even a pic of Mr McCartney with kittens, from 1967.

In other news, home life has improved considerably and would be quite good indeed if I could manage to get completely free of old place. I am so fed up.

Work... well. There is too much to do, there is overtime available, and I'm not currently taking any because by the time I get to the end of my regular work day, I want to burn things. Preferably some of my co-workers. I have been complimented very highly by the HR person I've been working with about my staff problems on my handling of said problems, who's also nudged me gently recently and told me that I'm expecting too much of myself. Which is true, and not a new development in my personality or anything, but. Augh. I may spew out the whole long, ridiculous tale some time soon, see if anyone has coping advice, but I haven't done so yet because by the time I get home, I'd really like to just forget all about it.

The Establishment continues to monopolise a lot of my brainspace. For those who used to read but didn't know, Juwel has stepped down as GM - life just got too busy - and there's a 3-person admin team now.

I read sporadically, am trying to comment more, and generally attempting to interact more. It's a slow process. Be patient with me. ♥

This is hilarious. Head over here to You Tube and watch the little episodes of Simon's Cat. They're line drawing animations of a guy and his cat. stargazerdavid, you HAVE to watch the "TV Dinner" one. It's so bang on! :D

I have, perhaps surprisingly, been more or less following the US elections. Maybe it's from having been friends with politically-minded people long enough that some of it's rubbed off, heh. Or it could be because what happens there will affect what happens here on an even larger scale than usual, and in an increasingly uncertain world, I find that there isn't the room for wilful ignorance that there used to be. Despite that, and despite obviously being aware of Obama Barak's race, it did not occur to me to worry about his personal safety whilst making a speech. This blog entry demonstrates that there were people so worried, though; scared that his ultimate prize would be not the Presidency he seeks but death. It's a sobering and heartbreaking read, and I encourage you to read it for that very reason. There is an awareness there that I will never share. That's okay, because I am who I am and I can't, nor do I want to, change that. But it bears reminding me of that every so often, because the true crime would be to forget.

Tangential to that is this article about the new security measures for US drivers' licences that the HSO wants put in place. Ew. Invasive much?

In ...happier news (?), we have moved the cat's food dish to the second platform of his tree. This is actually more easily accessible than the first platform, as it's a small step above the end table beside the couch he gets up on twelve million times a day already anyway. The idea is that he will go to his food dish when he's actually hungry, as opposed to his existing habit of, "When in doubt, eat." We tried to do the rationed portions at specific times thing (he's always been allowed to free graze dry food), but my dad is the one who feeds him primarily and he wasn't cooperative with that. *eyeroll* Nibbs needs to lose some weight and the mother saw the tip about the tree location and we thought that might actually work with him. He's not exactly a happy camper about it but this was the first day, so we shall see. So far the only problem is that he keeps forgetting where it's moved to... *sigh*

I give up. I cannot find a silver charm bracelet at all, never mind a child-sized one. The only bracelet I even found that had links delicate enough to accommodate the charms was a) kind of a funky style that would look very strange indeed when the clasp was closed on an inner link instead of the end bit (as it would be too large), and b) too expensive. I'm not paying $35 for a bracelet for a four-year-old. No matter how careful and responsible a child she might be - and I have no idea if she IS or not! - she almost certainly will lose it eventually. Augh. You know, if I had done this whole search in the summer and realised I was never going to find anything, I could've gotten one of y'all who live in SoCal to go buy me the damn kiddie charm bracelet in the Princess Store in Downtown Disney, where I originally got the charms. (I did not get a bracelet because it was much too small for me. :P I never found an adult bracelet that would accommodate the charms then, but I also didn't do the same kind of exhaustive search.) I checked the Disney store here but they don't have anything of the sort. *sigh* I think that I will just put them with an invisible-wire choker I have, that came with my hand-beaded 'T' pendant. I know THAT is skinny enough to allow the damn things to close over it! And I don't wear it because I don't like chokers. It'll be a bit big on her, but it shouldn't be too bad. I'd come up with something else but I have no idea what else at this point, and we're mailing the box later this week so today was it and I didn't find anything else, so this will just have to do. I think that I will send only half the charms, though (there are eight) and if any of y'all are in DD, would you look for the bracelet and pick me up one? I'll happily reimburse cost + shipping, and then I'll send her the remaining charms on the bracelet *next* Christmas!

Oh, the party last night: it was okay. I find that I've lost most of my patience for small talk. I know it can make other people uncomfortable - and me too, sometimes - but if I don't have anything to say, I just don't say anything anymore. Not that I was ever a chatterbox but really, there are only so many ways you can say, "It's fucking cold!" The dancing part was fun and the DJ was much improved over my previous outings to that bar. I ended up sitting with E and her partner, both of whom are hearing impaired, anyway. Bit strange to know they're chattering away at each other and I can only catch the odd word; I know a tiny, tiny bit of ASL from my time as an assistant in an autistic classroom, most of which I've forgotten in the years since. It's hilarious to see people do a double-take when E dances, though - or wears a discman at work. Hee. She can feel vibrations just fine and she has a bunch of heavily percussive music that she can enjoy. I'd not met her partner before, but she seemed very sweet, too.

I did manage to find a top to wear yesterday afternoon - in fact, I bought two tops! Er, both black. LOL. The one I wore to the party has a deep V-neck and is gathered over the bust with a large, circular "brooch" holding it together, and then falls almost like a babydoll top. The other one I debated about as I'm not crazy about the sleeves, but it has one of those trapezoid cut-out necklines, and a matching one in the back, which was what really sold me on it. I have turtle issues and clothes that leave a great deal of my upper back and shoulders exposed can make me feel twitchy, but because this has a band that goes across the top of my shoulders at the back and then a large opening beneath that, it doesn't bug me. Although, seeing the patch of skin and spine indent there kind of has me going, "Hmm. Needs ink." Heh. It *would* actually be a perfect place to put a tattoo, except for the ridiculousness that would be involved in trying to clean and moisturise it properly as it's not an area I can easily reach myself. I mean I can wash my back obviously but the nitpicky kind of cleaning a fresh tattoo requires would be nigh impossible. And no, I can't see the mother agreeing to help with that, lol. It'll have to wait until I have an amenable roomie or a partner, I think. I know what I want though. :D Maybe I can get someone to draw it for me in the meantime. Or, if I do end up getting a summer vacation this year, get it done right beforehand and coerce whoever I go visit into helping. ;-D

A handful of links to stuff wot y'all might find amusing:
Human Costume T-shirt - Inspired by Doctor Who but really, lots of fun regardless!

Wee interview with Gerard Way about the end of the Black Parade and pushing the sexuality envelope, in case any of y'all missed that one. It's cute. :D

Purrcast. Yup, it's exactly what it sounds like: podcasts of purring kitties! *smooches* to femmenerd for the original link.

BANDSMUT.com, a new site/forum/zine for any and all aspects of bandom, helmed by screwthedaisies. As the info says, "Both BANDSMUT.com and the BANDSMUT zine are pan-bandom. Is it about a band? It's allowed. Is it about a musician? It's allowed." Go, join, pimp, enjoy!

So tired. I don't like ten hour days, dude. Especially when I'm broody but also too tired to stop all the retarded circular thinking. At least the thing for which I was the on-call expert type person did not end up eating my entire day, which I had feared given all the questions last week! But I guess they were better prepared to go live than we thought. Yay.

My hair is finally in half decent condition, nice and sooooofffft. :D I was sitting outside for a few minutes at lunch today in the sun, and it just looks weird to me that it doesn't catch the light or glow or anything like that. I honestly keep expecting to see blonde. Even most of the time that it was red, I did. My self-image is definitely blonde. (Yes, laugh all you like - I did go through high school nicknamed Blondie. :P)

stumphed linked to this kitty video that might be the cutest thing I've ever seen. Awwwwwwww. ♥

Remember Strikethrough07? I happened across this utterly hilarious disclaimer post by beer_good_foamy. If you like your humour dripping with sarcasm, you'll probably enjoy it. :D

And then there's this - no cut for you! I love this.



Au revoir and good night, flist. I think I'm getting that fucking cold that's going around, joy. And today was just one big ball of emo child. Lots of sleep should help with both and hopefully the sporadic crying jags won't follow me to bed. :-/ *notes that she still didn't post about her actual weekend, yeesh*

Also: Happy Thanksgiving! Even if it's Columbus Day or just a Monday for you. ♥


ETA: Forgot. Best CD title ever: I Shall Exterminate Everything Around Me That Restricts Me From Being The Master. I am even more amused considering that the only song I know by this band is Gay Bar. *laughs*

My cat is CRANKY. He really does not like high heat, and this week has been on the brutal side. I don't like it any better but at least I work in air-conditioning. He normally sleeps on a towel-wrapped pillow in front of the railing that overlooks the 2-story entranceway - this week, my mother has been putting one of her frozen gel packs under the towel and he's apparently been quite happy to lay there. :D His tolerance is slipping today, however, after a number of days of this. At least, even if it's Ontario-esque summer weather, it's not accompanied by the smog alerts and all that shit - the sky is still blue. Me, I'm a fan of whatever keeps me breathing. I'll prolly shower right before bed, sleep with the fan on...re-wet my hair in the morning so I don't scare people...LOL.

Can't remember what else I was going to say, which is nice and ironic considering that I've had one of those days where my brain just WON'T. SHUT. UP. Argh. I suppose I'll just leave it there and come back if there's anything burning to be said. *snerk*

Moviephone interview with Dan Radcliffe, Emma Watson & Rupert Grint. The three of them ask each other the questions from the teleprompter. It's entirely too cute. It does, however, have a few clips from OotP so if you don't want to be at all spoiled for the movie, bookmark it for later. :-)

Video for Gogol Bordello's new song, Wonderlust King. *loves*

Job posting for Assistant Producer, Doctor Who Confidential. Yes, seriously. Hee.

Speaking of Doctor Who, I am now immensely grateful that I DID blitz watch, because most of the S3 episodes have since disappeared from online. :-( The Confidential eps are still there, though, thank goodness - I'll probably start on those tonight.

I am completely, gloriously alone. My parents' anniversary is tomorrow and so they've hied off somewhere for the weekend, w00t! I mean, I spend too much time alone in the one sense, but one reason for that is that I almost never have *pure* solitude. The only time I truly get all to myself tends to be whilst driving. So, I'm not doing anything especially unusual but it's wonderful to not have to worry about the volume or anything else.

Yesterday was my kitty's birthday. *kisses to Nibbs* *watches his face scrunch up* Heh. Not a kissing or hugging fan, my cat, but he puts up with it. :D

And in case anyone needed to know, I like comfort!pr0n. It's both familiar and utterly hot, and feels really good. ♥

^That's the name of the one-year anniversary Pink Velvet Burlesque show I went to last night (they also have a myspace). ( It was awesome. :DCollapse )

Wow, and that turned into a super-long ramble about loads of other stuff, too. O_o

Okay, so this kitty video is the most adorable thing ever. *mwah* to sick_of_me for posting the link originally.

And this is the funniest damn thing I've seen in ages. Dude...it's a penis cake. GO LOOK! You gotta read her commentary before you look at the picture. Fucking priceless. :D

The Oscars ran long (shocking, I know) and were fairly boring (also a shocker :P), however, I am content for having watched them even if I end up being tired tomorrow, lol. Apologies for spamming tonight! ♥

Fuck me gently up the Jesus tree, but I'm glad my cat only has to get a physical/vaccine once a year. He is just...the best explanation I've ever come up with is that he pulls an Exorcist act. The only reason it's such an ordeal is *him* and he's been impossible to take to the vet's since he was neutered. Yeah, there's a pinch when the needle for the vaccination goes in, but damn, it doesn't actually hurt to have someone peek at your ears or your teeth or hold a stethoscope to your chest, man. But that low, almost electronic bass growling starts as soon as he's taken into the examining room and someone else comes in. Then, once he's out of his carrier and the poor tech with the hawking gloves on and the towel to wrap him in to keep him still and the lampshade collar thing ready so he can't bite the shit out of her just touches him, he starts screaming bloody murder. It's the kind of sound that you need industrial earplugs to avoid. And that is when I start to cry and have to leave the room, and just listen to him wail for the next twenty minutes or so because it takes twelve times as long as usual to examine him since he struggles so fucking much. I'm not sure if it's better or worse that way than it was back in Ontario, b/c my vet's tech was a useless bitch and I held him down myself. I never got out of it unscathed, though - ended up going to the doctor for antibiotics once - and the truth is that he frightens me like that, as much as I hate to admit that. And it didn't really make me feel any less helpless, either. *sigh* It's better for him that someone properly trained does it, as much as anything can be better for him in this situation.

Anyway, watch this space for PWI. Alcohol is not normally what I consider a good solution to anything, but it's once a year and the situation isn't something I can avoid - I need to make sure he stays healthy - so my plan is to get completely fucking wasted. Hopefully I'll retain some ability at html coding since I'd like to do a proper birthday post later, but for now:

Happy 35th Birthday, Billie Joe!

I'm with thelackey - can we outlaw Mondays??? *sigh* I just, don't even wanna talk about it. I need to go to bed in another minute. But I wanted to post a link to this post of kylecassidy's. He's a photographer - honestly not sure if he's pro or am, though he takes some great pictures regardless - and a lot of them are of Roswell, his black & white cat. Who has recently gone apeshit for nori, those seaweed sheets used to wrap sushi into a roll. So cute, man. Someone else took these ones since he's holding the cat lol.

Oh, whoops, is that supposed to read, "Home, sweet home"? ;-) Heh. Which is where I am - back in Hfx where it is actually the same weather as I left SF in waaaay too early this morning, aka cool and drizzly. Beats the near-freezing with the odd swirl of snowflakes (!!!) that was Toronto! Although - weirdest fucking thing of the entire trip, and I'm including the EEB in that: I saw my former boss in the Toronto airport. No joke. If I hadn't been just about to go through the boarding gate I would have talked to him but I didn't have time. It was about 6:20 and the flight was supposed to leave at 6:35! (It was a stuffed-full flight and they were reallllllly slow.) The oddest thing was, as soon as I saw him all this info came rushing up - he would have taken the 5:00 flight from Ottawa b/c that is an hour long and would have gotten him to TO at the time I saw him going through the airport, and after I saw him, he'll have gone to get his car b/c he parks there for the day instead of taking the GO train, and then I thought, yay I don't have to do the travel expense claim paperwork. LOL. I haven't seen the man in 3 years and it seems nothing has changed in his world. Little bit of a sad thought, really, especially considering *my* world has undergone quite a transformation in that same time period. I'm just blown away by how completely RANDOM it was!

ANYWAY, will work on a recap later; I have a bazillion emails to wade through and I expect I'll hit "crash" right soon. I'd actually thought that my flight didn't get in until midnight for some reason; that must have been the Saturday one I originally wanted to take (that would have been $100 more!).

Awwwwww. Nibbs just plopped down on the clothes I just took off. *snuggles her kitty while he's still in "I missed you" mode, before he hits "You suck I hate you for leaving me" mode* ;-D


ETA: There aren't all that many questions yet in the "Ask me" meme here, hint hint nudge nudge. :-)

I belong to a few interesting comms, some of which are busy, like little_details. This is the place to go when you've Googled and Wiki-ed your way to nada and need more information. Even when you're not asking a question, or you don't know the answer yourself, some of it is fascinating reading. (That's where I got the synaesthesia info before.)

Another fascinating discussion is currently happening in writing_sex, about noises during sex. It's very frank, so you've been warned! But it's interesting both in terms of the information and assumptions being posted, and for the openness of most of the posters on the subject.

Clearly I opted to stay in this evening! Because a) I didn't feel like glamming up to go out and b) I wanted to work on some projects here and c) once I am in the house, it's occasionally difficult for me to leave the house. However, I'm still meeting Karen to go see a play or two tomorrow afternoon. Dude, I *have* to. It has the pretty boy actor we saw in The Sex Play last February. It's an office comedy thing, so I'm guessing he won't be half-naked and making out with girls and boys this time but that's okay. :D

I put MuchRetro on and let it run for a while, b/c it's fun to hear 80s and 90s tunes, and the video for Bon Jovi's Living in Sin played. OMG I remember the massive controversy when that came out. They thought it was soooooo immoral and showed too much skin. *snicker* Not so much by today's standards. Though the cut from her taking the communion wafer to her kissing his bare chest still packs a punch.

Last but not least, seven years ago this weekend I got my sweet little Nibbs. I saw my parents the Monday night of the long weekend and they were all, wtf why are you all scratched and bleeding? lol. The pic below of him sleeping in his hammock was taken recently, and yes, those are my uber white legs reflected in the glass door. *dies* I was gonna crop it but I think it's funny!

( AwwwwwCollapse )

Ack soooo tired this week. And emo, holy crap. If it wasn't totally the wrong time I'd think I was PMSing with the freaking crying jags. The tired is not helping there, nor is the roadkill I saw on my way to work the other day that was a not-full-grown tabbycat. :-( There was no way it survived from what I saw, but I didn't have time to stop and make SURE and I have been upset ever since. (It was gone by the time I went home.) Apologies if I've just freaked any of y'all out but it's been really bothering me. My own kitty has been extra clingy and affectionate this week like he knows his mommy needs that. *loves* I'm so fucking glad tomorrow is Friday.

Anyhoo, a meme that only requires me to post it now, and then come back later with a functioning brain to answer stuff - t'only kind I can manage atm! :D

Take a look through my interests. Ask me to explain any one of them.

Then re-post this in your LJ, so I can ask you. (Optional. :) )

My cat got in the dryer this morning. No, I'm actually *not* making it up. Unfortunately we were all retarded and no one grabbed a camera fast enough, LOL, but it was cute. I'd thrown dry clothes in there to get fluff/cat hair off them and when I turned to grab another piece to toss in, there he was, curling up in preparation to sleep! Silly kitty. xD

I'm rewriting one of my mostly-done pieces from scratch, now that I've...well...attained proper headspace, for lack of a better way to put it! And I *knew* I'd written down the opening paragraph. I remembered debating whether or not I should and I knew I HAD b/c I didn't want to lose it. Er, except then I could not find where I'd written it down!!! O_o I'd assumed with the disinclination to scribble it that it had been in my journal, b/c I keep that in my bedside table for exactly that type of thing in the middle of the night, but no: it was on my Post-It notepad at work. *facepalm* At least I had a coffee mug on top of it.

Heh, I just looked at my post previous to this from last night, and am vaguely embarrassed. Giddy much?! lol

Someone in favorite_son posted links to a whole bunch of streamable/embeddable Green Day vids, most of which are really, really old. There's one that's a full set from McGregor's in '92, long enough after Kerplunk came out for the audience to know the words. Actually, they close with "Road to Acceptance" and Billie Joe needs to fiddle with the cord to his amp at one point, and the audience keeps right on going when it's time for the next verse, lol. It's so cool. He picks the guitar back up and just laughs and listens to them finish the verse. :D And then the bar manager brings out Beth from the kitchen and presents her with a male stripper for her 21st birthday. O_o And then GD come back on and do Dominated Love Slave & My Generation, which is the same performance as the vid snippet that I've seen passed around before. Although, I do not remember Tré yelling in the snippet, "Fuck it, this is for Dimitri," (the stripper's name) before starting into DSL. LOLOLOL

The old ones like that always feel weird to watch, b/c they make me think about what I was doing at that time and it's in another realm entirely. Like, I turned 19 in '92. That's when *I* started going to club shows like this one. Except, not so much like this one, lol. I honestly don't think I've ever been to any show quite so informal, which is a damn shame. But I was also living in Kingston and going to Queen's University at the time, and it ain't a big city, so you work with what you've got. And by the time I was actually living in Toronto, I was much too fucked up to be finding and attending indie shows anymore, unfortunately, aside from the odd thing with the Celtic Society. It's really something I've only picked up again recently. I just wish I had more money for it, and friends who wanted to go with me. Cuz while I certainly have enjoyed the ones I've gone to, they still would have been a lot more fun if I hadn't gone alone all the time. :-/ But hey, baby steps. At least I have friends again, lol. Eventually I'll meet someone, probably *at* one of these things, who wants to go to more.

Speaking of baby steps, I don't think I posted that I'd decided not to apply to grad school for Sept. '06. And neither the fact that things are going exceptionally well at work with taking on extra responsibilities et al, nor the fact that I probably didn't have enough time to finish everything I needed to get done before the deadline (Jan. 15th), really have anything to do with it. It's more to do with the way I continually had to back away from the process because it was inciting literal panic attacks. Somewhat of a psychic newsflash that I'm obviously not ready for that step yet, and that's okay. Really, at this point? Another year makes no fucking difference whatsoever, lol. I've pushed myself a LOT this year, and I'm rather pleased with the way it's all gone (if my bank account disagrees!), so I don't want to mess it up by pushing too far. (And *smooches* to beelzezuk for helping me figure some of this out. :) )

I can't remember what else I was going to post about, b/c my cat is a freak and I had to go take a picture of him snoozing on the wrapped presents under the tree, LOL. Silly kitty.

I so don't feel like doing anything today - again.  lol.  It's overcast and periodically rainy, kind of foggy, and just generally blah.  One of those days where it would be excellent to just stay in bed, or attack the stack of as-yet-unread books that I now have sitting prettily in my bookcase. 

Unfortunately, I have a fair bit to do downstairs still so I need to do that.  And tidy up the kitchen, too.  I finally closed the windows in my living room this morning b/c it was a bit damp and I could smell the paint anew, where I haven't been able to for the last couple of days.  I guess it started raining overnight but it was clear enough when I went to bed so I had left everything open.  Of course, the cat is outside on the deck; he hasn't been able to get as much outside time as usual because I can't let him out when I'm downstairs - the screen door has to be closed or 6-leggers get in, and I can't hear him meow to come in from the other floor obviously.  He's been so good, though.  I hadn't painted around him before (he was still in the apartment when I painted in the house last year), so I wasn't sure what to expect, but he totally stayed out of the way after he inspected everything and decided that paint did not smell good, lol.  He either slept upstairs or found a corner of the couch to perch on if he wanted to be closer.  Such a sweetie. :-)

Sigh.  Okay, another cup of tea and some food, and I shall get a move on.