Catblade's Perceptions

5 months

Fri, 06 Nov 2009 15:41:21 GMT

So we've been married 5 months as of today. It is a happy thought. I'm still glad we are married.

My head is full of goo still, although the flu is gone. It appears it made me a present-a sinus infection or an ear infection. The world is dizzy and spinning, but more in the "my head is full of goo" way than the "I'm sick and feverish" way.

I called the doctor. Hopefully he bypasses the visit and just sends me happy antibiotics. For the record, I hate antibiotics. They tear my intestines into gooey little pieces and make me unable to digest food, so I've got to be pretty unhappy to call a doctor.

And yes, I'm at work anyway. Yes, I drove. It is only a little over a mile to get here-I could concentrate for that long. I can work while dizzy-just not spin, dance, jump, climb, or operate heavy machinery. =P

Hopes and dreams

Mon, 02 Nov 2009 19:16:14 GMT

I joined the community unsentletters last week, and unjoined them today.

It seemed romantic, and a quarter of the letters are romantic hopes and dreams.

The rest though are rants, and I don't need those in my daily readings.

Pretties

Mon, 02 Nov 2009 14:26:12 GMT

(taken by Justin Dodd)

Flu

Sun, 01 Nov 2009 13:52:39 GMT

Got a flu (no idea which-if I'm still ill in three days, hello doctor). Stay away from me, yo.

Who the hell ever knew toenails could hurt?

J is wonderful-he took my temperature this morning (orally) and cuddled me.

Tonight

Sun, 01 Nov 2009 06:21:01 GMT

Tonight went far better than the past ones. I am very pleased.

Doggies

Fri, 30 Oct 2009 15:37:16 GMT

So, in neighborly news, the husband called the neighbor in to animal control on coming home to find her puppies whining in an outdoor cage she had built for them in the snow in 30 degree weather without any form of shelter. I approved of this, as at this point it really *is* abuse, and all of our conversations with her that have been at all confrontational have resulted in her acting like a five year old child, so we opted out of that.

Yeah, she has a tarp on the cage, 9 feet up and the cage is against a wall, but it is chain-link and the wind was coming in both sides. So we've been ignoring the fact that she has her puppies in the cage for a while at all hours, but this was just too much. She has a dog house-UPSIDE DOWN, OUTSIDE OF THE CAGE. WTH?

This is the same neighbor who kept calling us in for leaving our dog in our backyard, not in a cage, with a kiddie pool filled with water in the summer and his own dog house in the winter on moderate-weather days-any sort of inclement weather had him inside. He enjoys a quiet life in our house now, where he behaves himself, doesn't eat our furniture, and is generally good unless his intestines are *really* unhappy that day. He would still prefer to be outdoors, but we got tired of having to explain the animal control people that she's off her rocker. They would take one look at the dog and his toys and his kiddie pool, roll their eyes, and leave, but it got really disruptive.

She's really mad. She occasionally just starts slamming her door. Repeatedly. For hours.

Justin Dodd Photography

Fri, 30 Oct 2009 15:25:55 GMT

...

A shot from the first night.

Last night

Fri, 30 Oct 2009 14:24:46 GMT

Last night went really well. People scare me when they applaud me. I think it is hilarious. I was surprised to find munchies and water downstairs in the dressing room. That was excellent.

After my solo, they screamed. It was great. I can't wait for pictures!

There were sound/light problems, but I kind of expected that.

Better

Thu, 29 Oct 2009 13:38:16 GMT

I feel much better today. Drama is slightly less.

Yay!

Truth-telling

Wed, 28 Oct 2009 13:29:17 GMT

The weather-man was telling the truth when he predicted snow.

I was amazed this morning to go outside and find it dark and... snowing. I love snow-so peaceful and soft, like little kitten kisses left everywhere, cold and damp and gentle.

Normally, here, it does not snow ever until after October.

Unlike most of the world, I like fall and winter best. For some reason, I am more alive then.

A Writing

Tue, 27 Oct 2009 17:54:08 GMT

It is Autumn again, and she sits quietly at the base of a tree, her back against the cool, rough bark, watching the leaves fall in surreal time. The swirl of colors, red and green and gold, are unusually vivid in her eyes, the soft rustle as they fall speaking in whispers of forgotten music. She is silent for this time, even her thoughts, simply immersed in a moment she thinks of as a memory, though it is real, watching the leaves fall quietly in the darkening light.

After a time she rises, tying a silk veil hand-painted like fire around the lowest branch of the tree. Inside of the loop, she slips a note. "I will remember you when I dance this Hallows Eve. Neither of us is dead, but it seems appropriate in the communing of ethereal friendships."

She silently watches it flutter for a time amidst the falling leaves before she turns and softly walks up the path.

tightropes

Mon, 26 Oct 2009 14:19:31 GMT

I wish I could do this... but it makes a nice happy thought.

WHEEE! CREEPY!

Thu, 22 Oct 2009 22:10:12 GMT

So my officemate moved upstairs to be more accessible to someone she works with continually, and decided to move up there. I was quietly celebrating because she likes bright light and I like dim light, and this solves my problem. I'm also getting more done, as she is on the phone doing worky things all the time and no matter how loud I make my ipod, it doesn't make up for quiet productivity.

She then moved her number up there and had a new number put on her phone.

Today she read the new number out loud. I blinked. I went ahead and called it to make sure it really was the new number. It was!

This number is... my mother's old number from before she retired a year ago. I couldn't resist-I'm moving desks. What are the chances that this would happen? FWIW, I work at a company with >7000 employees and probably more than that in phone numbers.

I then texted her to tell my mother about how I'm stealing her old number. She is completely and utterly creeped out.

I love it!

Sometimes, creepy is just plain fun.

*giggles madly*

Fog

Thu, 22 Oct 2009 14:13:11 GMT

It is a foggy morning. I love twilight mixed with fog about as much as I like twilight mixed with rain!

I texted my husband to tell him I want to live in the mountains, because my moment of breathing air in the foggy quiet was not quiet enough.

He told me we needed to get our future cars with 4wd then. I love my husband. So. Much!

In other news, we are taking off tomorrow. To do homework, and to relax, and to just have a good day. It will be awesome.

Lunch is at The Cube with co-workers. I figured I'd best eat some meat before the transformation to being disgusted by eating meat is complete. Mmmm... hot dogs wrapped in bacon!

After the great fish die-off of 2009, sushi sounds absolutely disgusting. J had tuna last night with his mac and cheese and just the smell made me want to vomit, and usually I love tuna. So I think my meat-eating days might be numbered, if it is this easy to push me away from my favorite food.

...

And as an extra bonus, Truface hasn't tried to contact me since I told him off. N was surprised-I sent him the last text I sent Truface so he would know for when Truface went after him for hurting his "friendship" with me. He told me that it means a lot to him that I had the courage to say what he couldn't.

Truface

Wed, 21 Oct 2009 21:02:16 GMT

So, the psycho started messaging me today. The conversation is as follows (texts):

Truface: What are you selling your house for? I have someone interested in buying it.

Me: I already have a realtor. Find it when it is on the market.

Truface: Who is your realtor?

... I didn't know what to say here, so was putting it off...

Truface: Or are we not friends anymore?

Me: Did you think I would not find out what you were saying behind my back? I bear you no explicit ill will and hope you find the help you need. You made your choice.

Truface: Well it works both ways i mean N said a bunch of shit you supposedly said but I didnt believe it but i guess your choice is to believe it

Me: I have watched you tear my friend into little pieces and like a piece of shit I chose your side. you did not break up with him. you chose to play your petty games and tear him down with GLEE. Now that I understand, I want out. I dated one of your kind before and no longer experience the social dissonance you are used to. I get it. If I am wrong, I will suffer, but I doubt it. Good luck with your life. I hope you find your way.

...

No response yet. I hope I never get one.

Lovely

Wed, 21 Oct 2009 14:02:59 GMT

This morning I had twilight and rain at the same time!

Something about the rain still soothes my soul.

...

Also, my traumatized Pleco, the big one that used to be in the cichlid tank but got moved to my koi tank, finally emerged (3 weeks later) and was just relaxing on the castle this morning. He still looks a bit harassed, but a bit less so than he was. He's very pretty.

Ack!

Wed, 21 Oct 2009 01:14:54 GMT

I shortened my veils on my poi just by a foot, and magically they stopped tangling!

I have a full piece that works. I just went through it for an hour straight. Pulling veils through the air at high speeds takes a lot of upper body strength. I'm happily exhausted.

But I got through the piece 3 times without tangling or major errors and added some needed movements and removed other awkward, difficult, and likely-to-tangle movements. I'm going to cover that whole darn stage!

*happy sigh*

Are we sure mercury isn't in retrograde this week?

Tue, 20 Oct 2009 22:50:11 GMT

Also, the carpet installer called to delay until Friday because his kid is vomiting because the poor baby has the flu. He's starting to cough too, so we'll see if that happens.

Bah.

Sushi

Tue, 20 Oct 2009 20:00:30 GMT

I wanted sushi last night for about ten seconds, and then all of my fish deaths came crashing down on me. I thought about it briefly today for about two minutes, but little dead fish wiggled at me in sadness.

I really hope I don't turn into a vegetarian over my aquarium deaths, although I somehow think I'll always be able to eat chickens.

Here: have a happy though!

I want to sleep there, someday.

You can see the hotel here!

Jerks

Tue, 20 Oct 2009 15:23:47 GMT

I called Clark's. All they did was offer to refund the price of the two fish.

Assholes. I'm going to check out "Fins and Critters" on Eubank.

Down down down

Tue, 20 Oct 2009 14:28:27 GMT

Remaining fish are:
1 molly. ???
1 loach. ???
7 zebra danios. Those jerks never die.
1 raphael cat. ???
1 upside-down cat. ???
2 chinese algae eaters. They are probably just fine.
2 snails. They are fine.
1 pleco. He's fine.
1 Convict Cichlid (they aren't as aggressive without friends). He looks to be fine.
3-5 cardinal tetras. These are resistant to that particular parasite, so might be just fine.
2 1 black neons. I am betting I lose both of them. ~~One will probably die today, considering I see bad signs and the speed that they deteriorate is very quick.~~ It already died.
1 blue neon. I think this one is immortal.

*sigh*

I look at my goldfish/frog/australian tetra tank with 1 pleco and 1 algae eater from time to time just to feel better. That tank is so full of life.

The cichlid tank is just depressing. It is getting redone as soon as the babies are big enough to take to the pet store, which looks to be pretty darn soon. I have no algae-eater in the tank and don't get to clean the gravel as often as I would like because I'm afraid of sucking up babies. This is definitely sub-optimal. But it will change, and THAT tank will be an angelfish tank.

Mass Fish Extinction, 2009

Mon, 19 Oct 2009 13:31:31 GMT

I like keeping dynamic tanks where I am continually adding a fish or 2 to my fifty gallon instead of filling it all up at the beginning. People liked the blue neon's, so I bought 2 more from Clark's on Juan Tabo and Menaul about 2 weeks ago. My front tank has 3 huge koi, 5 extra-hyper australian tetras, and 4 frogs, 2 of which I also got from the same Clark's.

When I came home Saturday to find a mass number of dead fish (4 neons, 1 loach), my thoughts immediately turned to ick which very badly killed 2 of my tanks a little over a year ago, contracted from the local petsmart on Eubank. If it was ick, then both tanks were probably infected and I had horrible thoughts of my beautiful koi dying, which really are the dogs in the fish world and have a hell of a lot of character. Treating the tanks was going to be tricky if this was the case because the treatment would kill off both the frogs *and* my big, beautiful apple snails. I cringed inside.

It wasn't ick. It looks to be what is called "neon tetra disease" which is an intestinal parasite that is passed by a fish eating a dead fish. No cure but to remove their little bodies as soon as they appear.

Apparently, the Clark's didn't quarantine their fish before selling them, because if they had, their neons would have died before making it to my home. So I'm not buying from them ever again, and might well call the store and tell them. The store on central is more careful, so I will continue to go there.

All of my algae eaters have survived. One of my loaches is still alive. So far, the one convict cichlid is doing splendidly. I keep having to remove tetras, 8 dead that I've found to date, 1 loach, 1 regular red tetra. The last one I think is on its way out, but I don't want to remove it until it is time. I had to euthanize one of the 2 remaining mollies because half of its body was dead and it looked really sad. I hate seeing things suffer.

The zebra danios act like nothing was ever wrong-those are tough little bastards. The ick didn't kill a single one of those either. ONE blue neon tetra is still alive. 3 black ones are still alive. I think all of the cardinal tetras have survived for whatever reason.

I will wait 4 weeks from whenever my last body removal is to get more fish. The good news is that it isn't tainted water. I haven't decided what fish to get though.

It is really sad. I had many many neons in that tank-it was a tank of life and color. More tetras have died than the number I have removed-I don't think I noticed until the more advanced stages of the epidemic. Now it just looks so empty.

Sigh

Sat, 17 Oct 2009 04:22:11 GMT

On top of everything, I have dying fish. I found 5 dead ones in my big tank on returning home and my old roommate, the non-psycho one, said from my description of a sick living one that it might be a fatal, contagious, and incurable disease. He's going to come by tomorrow morning and look at them. I probably got it from Clark's on Montgomery, as 2 of the 5 dead ones were from there and 4 of them were all the same type of fish. I'm going between hysterical and furious.

I'm going to play WoW and kill things for a while, until I stop sobbing, and then go to bed.

My husband is too sleepy to comfort me and is already asleep, but I don't think random hugs would help much right now.

Whisper Quiet

Fri, 16 Oct 2009 16:16:16 GMT

It is amazing how much of a difference quieter air pumps make in the atmosphere of a room with fish tanks in it. The money is worth the quiet.

Ha

Thu, 15 Oct 2009 21:37:33 GMT

Ironic: Wearing 4" high heeled boots to work will just about guarantee you will be climbing ladders. Not whining-just amused.

I need some new shoes, particularly non-murderous boots.

And a new dose of common sense would be nice. I think mine is all run out.