Kitty kitty kitty

Talk about perfect timing!

Now that we're moving into a place where we can have a cat, I've been dreaming of kitties, looking at the photos of available cats and kittens on the local animal shelter's website, etc. I've been making lists of what I'd need to get for a kitty, as well as looking up vaccination and spay/neuter ages. Now all I need is the kitty.

And in two months I'll have one! One of my co-workers today asked me if I'd like a kitten. Of course I nodded vigorously and said "Ohmigodyes!" Turns out his cat had kittens just yesterday and none of them have been claimed yet, so I get first pick.

They are all different colors, and I'll get to see photos of them tomorrow. One of them is a little marmelade tabby and I happen to be particularly fond of those, so I'll probably end up with that one. I had a marmalade-siamese mix once - my first-ever cat that was really mine and not just a general family pet - named Merlin. He was a sweetheart, but his farts were deadly.

I made the mistake only once of feeding him some leftover beans.

He wasn't allowed to sleep on my pillow with his butt on my head for damn near a week after that.

Ah, cats. I love them so, and am very happy that I will once again have a feline friend to come home to. *big grin*

Edit: We might actually get two kittens ... Oh, joy! Oh, wonderment!

Edit, again: It's official. We're getting two!

Weirdness meme

So, rather unexpecetdly, I've been tagged for a meme simply by reading a friend's blog. Well, ok, so it's not really an official tagging when said blog post begins with "TAG YOU'RE IT," but, well, it's 9:08 p.m., I have no school stuff to do (taking this term off to move), the boy is doing music-type stuff on his new laptop (late birthday present from lil' ol' me), and damnit I'm bored and need to get my mind off of the excitement of moving. Since, you know, I can't start packing and moving right this instant, which I want to do.

So. I'm submitting to the meme tagging, and present you now - purely for entertainment purposes - ten weird facts about me. You can submit to the tagging as well if you'd like and post your own ten strange facts about you, but you don't have to. You can just point and laugh at mine if you wish.


1. Just to get this started right, allow me to let you on to a guilty secret. Anne Rice got to me. I want to be a vampire. Yeah, really. Like the realistic, romantic and kickass and whiny and artsy and schitzoid and wonderful characters from her books. The part that sucks (heh, heh ...) is that no matter how much I want to, and no matter how many weird ghost-related things have happened to me in my life to make me believe in ghosts, I can't bring myself to believe in vampires. I try, I really do - it just doesn't work.

Um, any real vampires who may be reading this are more than welcome to make me a believer, though ...


2. I believe in ghosts. Have since I lived in Germany as a kid and we had a bunch of 'em in the attic (footsteps which would magically stop as soon as someone would open the attic door, no matter how long they stood right outside the door, listening to a horde of people walking around, back and forth, directly toward the door, directly away from it, etc.). The real deal sealer for me though was that one night one of them preceded my step-father and I down from the attic to our apartment door, footsteps only, just a few feet in front of us - it stopped three times when we stopped, then walked the rest of the way down the stairs to the front door when we stopped a fourth time, eyes and mouths wide, me hiding behind step-dad.

Creepy as that stuff is, I fucking love it.


3. I love the smell of a tattoo parlor - it's like a drug to me. Probably the smell of the ink alone is the major appeal, being an artist and all (new books do it to me too). But the mixture of ink and hot metal and raw flesh - and yes, blood - is just it. If someone could bottle that and sell it as perfume, I'd marinate in it. Or if it was made into incense, I'd have a cone stuffed up each nostril.


4. I have come up with strange food concoctions, many of which are better than most homemade, down-home, "just like grandma's" meals that most people salivate over. My favorite is what I call simply 'burrito goop.' The recipe is as follows:

a) Put two frozen microwaveable burritos in the microwave and heat for about 30-45 seconds, just until they'r soft enough to cut into little chunks.
b) Cut into little chunks, and sprinkle a generous amount of sharp cheddar over them.
c) Heat for another 30 seconds, then add a bit of spicy salsa and more cheese, and heat once more for one minute.
d) Remove from microwave, add ranch dressing, mix into a pile of goop, and enjoy.

No really - I dare you. It's delicious.


5. My preferred non-alcholic drink is 3/4 Dr. Pepper, 1/4 lemonade. Goes great with burrito goop.


6. Until I returned to America from my six-year stay in Germany as a very young kid, I didn't know racism was alive and well today. My school there - an American school for military brats - had us wee ones believing racism magically ended when slavery did.

Talk about culture shock.


7. I like to draw strange, dark things, like unicorns corrupted by demon claws or meat hooks and made into psychotic, too-wide-grinning, bulging white-eyed Night Mares. Further, I love the look on people's faces when they see those drawings after knowing me only as "the sweet young lady who smiles and is so nice and helpful." It's sort of like taking off the mask for a moment, winking, and whispering, "sshhhh - it's a secret."


8. Sometimes I dream of being an uber-top-secret, scientifically-experimental, biologically-, chemically- and all other cool ways-modified, military-ordered human weapon. I've escaped from the lab, am chased by the feds, and deliver a twisted but wholly accurate brand of justice to the wicked, sliding quiet and unseen through dark shadows. I never get caught, of course - just bloodied up a bit, and my reputation precedes me.


9. My imagination is vivid enough that I can scare myself shitless just by thinking about things like clowns, ventriloquist dummies, and what half-rotted, grinning ghoul/zombie/skeletal face I'll see when I turn over to face that empty space beside the bed late at night when I can't sleep because some something woke me up. I can keep myself awake for hours, terrified to move or even open my eyes. (I don't believe in vampires, but the gibbering, mad undead is totally possible.)


10. I like to dip french fries in vanilla milkshakes.


*straight face*

And what's really scary is that those are all true.




... Tag. You're it.

Movin' on

The boy and I are moving!

I'm so excited I'M TEMPTED TO WRITE IN ALL CAPS TO BETTER PORTRAY MY BOUNCY LOUD HAPPINESS, but I'll spare you. This time.

So we've been wanting to move for a while now, as the apartment we first moved into a little over a year ago is now way too small for all of our various stuff and junk and things, including everyday items like pots and pans and a coffee pot that we don't even have storage space for (which consequently take up all the counter space in the ridiculously tiny kitchen). Now, working at the newspaper as I do, I have been able to keep an eagle eye out for new rental listings, and it was while acutally putting Friday's classifieds section together that I noticed a "New Today" listing for a tri-plex right here in town (amazingly, it's even closer to work than we live now). Two bedrooms, very clean, laundry room (OMG!), and small pets are ok.

I pounced. I called the boy and gave him the information and he made the call (the day before the ad was set to start running the paper!) He got the address and we checked out the outside, then called back today to say we were interested in seeing the inside. The landlady said we could see it right away, so off we went.

Let me say now, in complete internet geekiness, Oh Em Gee. It's the basement apartment of the tri-plex, totally remodeled and newly painted, re-floored, etc. The ceiling is pretty low (throughout much of it it's mere inches from the top of the boy's head, and in some of the doorways he actually has to duck down a bit), but he said that should be ok. It has a little yard (which we have been given the ok to landscape), and the laundry room is our own, so that now we need to get a washer and dryer (oh, glory days!), and it already has a cable hookup so I just need to call Comcast and let them know we're moving. And "small pet" does not just mean a cat would be ok, as we assumed it did - we can get a small dog if we want to. We probably won't though, just because it is a small yard and we don't actually own the place. But I am so getting a cat! Further, the layout rocks. It's not just squares within a bigger square; both bedrooms are sort of oddly shaped, which just tickles me pink because I hate square rooms (they're so very common, dahlink).

The boy and I both loved it, and the landlady said she really liked us and would feel good about renting to us (she made it clear she's pretty picky about renters, making sure everyone in the tri-plex gets along well), and that we seemed like "good people," which of course we try to be, although I think my grinning like a fool as soon as we walked in might have helped a wee bit. So we filled out an application, wrote the deposit check, and this upcoming Friday we meet with her again to sign the renter's agreement, pay the first month's rent, and get the key. It's ours.

I am so incredibly excited!

There is, of course, a catch. But it's only a tiny one, and with some scheduling it's all good. See, today is February 23, and the landlady wants to have everything wrapped up and the keys in our hands by March 1, which is exactly one week from now. So, in one week we'll officially be tenants there, paying rent and bills and such, regardless as to whether or not we're actually moved in yet. In order to maintain good renter's reputation where we are now, we're giving the preferred 30-day notice, so we can get our deposit back and be on good terms with the landlord and managers here for future references. This means that we'll have to pay pro-rated rent through the 23rd of March for this apartment, even though we'll also be paying rent at the new place. Ouch, but being pro-rated it's not the usual full-month's rent, so our deposit should cover it pretty easily. Also, it will give us a month to get everything moved, which is far better than trying to organize, pack, and move in one week.

In order to make things go smoother, I've decided to take this term off from school, or we really would need that entire month to get everything done. Even then it would be pretty damn hard, as most of my evenings are spent doing school stuff and due to recent changes at work, me taking a day or two off if I'm not dying is just not really possible right now, so all the packing and moving will be confined to evenings and weekends. So, this term is a break for me to move, then I'll start up again next term at the decellerated schedule, all nicely moved in and organized and rested and ready to go.

Have I mentioned I'm so excited my cheeks hurt? Smiling this big, for this long, is a bit much for the cheek muscles, but I can't seem to quit.

OMG I GET TO HAVE A KITTY!!!

Ahem. I mean, um ... We're moving into a bigger place! A better place! Where, coincidentally, I will be able to get a cat ...

I'm freaking thrilled.

Stickies from Natalie

In response to the most recent stickynote challenge, Natalie sent in an adorable ladybird, and a computer mouse ghost, which probably wakes the ladybird up at night with chain-rattlings and from-beyond-the-grave moanings and such. Poor ladybird.

The cuteness:


The ghostly computer part:


Ladybird, ladybird fly away home, the ghost is about and the cookies are gone!

It's nice to be spoiled

Harry's my personal hairdresser (apparently, my head was a more appealing perch than the fake tree).

OMG. Hedge-face.

Now I understand why you like hedgehogs so much, mom. I mean, I knew they were cute and all, but oh my god ...

Bleh

I hate being sick. Worse, I hate being this sick for this long. It's been over a week now, and despite a few days where I thought I was getting over it, I'm now just as bad off as I was when this first hit me.

I'm going to the doctor on Monday, because people are getting bronchitis and pneumonia from this, and damnit I'm worried. And, well, I just hate being sick. This has affected my school work. I'm four days late with one assignment, one day late with another, and the last two assignments for this term are due Monday. I can't think, or concentrate much. I'm still sleeping more than I'm awake.

I hate this.

Office Guardian

Apologies for the low-quality photo. I took it with my cell phone. This green dragon guards my workspace at work. I've been working on him bit by bit, here and there, for several months now. Here's a close-up of his eye, which I'm particularly proud of:



His name is Puddles. Don't laugh.