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Shoda's been declining for some time, but when the end finally came it happened insanely quick. Last night I realized I couldn't let her go one more day like this; it'd rapidly reached the point where she had trouble moving and eating, like in 24 hours. One day she was stealing chicken out of the trash can and leaping to the counter, and the next, literally, she couldn't get up to go to the cat box.
So Adam and I took her to the ER vet and there were no miracles to be found there except one: a fast and painless end.
I don't feel like writing more now. |
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1. Writing is going apace. Since the laptop died (around Thanksgiving) of logic board soldering issues, I've been mostly researching new stuff. I've about doubled my book collection in the last few months, luckily all inexpensive reference volumes and atlases. I've got a review on my desk to finish up this week and I'm set for the month! I love doing this. The new novel is going to be rockalicious, I think. Most people who hear the premise think it sounds like fun--and it'll be fun to write!
2. The mud is going great too. Waiting for a code update and getting reference materials together for it. The goal is to make a really immersive environment (sound familiar?), make it somewhere people can LIVE. Sports teams, slang, fashions that change with the years, saints to pray to, all of it. Adam's throwing himself into the Noble houses--I couldn't have a better mastermind for that.
3. Work's going well. I'm still a supervisor and the work's fun. If you absolutely have to have a job, this isn't a bad way to go about it. And Adam's still at his job at that cell phone company, and one of the perks was a brand new phone for me -- a very purple one. If you had my # before, please reply and I'll get you the new # (I think I can get into the old one to get the ones I used to have).
4. The car got a flat tire. Turns out the doughnut was flat too! Luckily Geico took care of us with a free tow to the tire place. The Minx has new dancing-shoes, and Geico has a lifetime customer. Again.
5. I'm in good health and looking forward to spring and gardening season! I've got plans for raised beds and tomatoes and herbs in the garden plots. Can't wait to put it all together. The ground's still frozen--we had snow just last Wednesday AND Thursday, which weirded me out but all the natives went "Well, duh." I'm maintaining my goal weight nicely enough that I can have homemade chocolate zabaglione or fresh pita occasionally.
6. Save a horse, ride a Cowboy.
7. The Tudors are entering a new season, and yes, I really like it overall. Except this one episode where they really fluffed Anne Boleyn's response to Henry's request to become his maitress en titre. And yes, I'm looking forward to "The Other Boleyn Girl," though I've not seen the book yet.
Happy End of Winter, everybody! Sorry I've not been around--writing for pay's kind of made it hard to get to the journal. I hope you're all doing well. |
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If you ever had chicken pox, and you are now an adult, you can get a disease called "shingles" that is a recurrence of chicken pox. Most people who get chicken pox end up getting shingles later. Shingles manifests as a muscle ache on one side of the body, followed a couple days later by a weird rash right over where the ache is. A day or so after that, you get the blisters, and they are NASTY--huge, painful, and clear, over the red rash (DO NOT fuck with these, because they are filled with pure virus, and do not put anything on them without your doctor's clearance). If you go to the doctor within a day or so of getting that initial rash, they can put you on an anti-viral that may seriously help (the virus is called "herpes zoster," and as with any herpes virus like fever blisters, the faster you get on the drug the happier you'll be). The disease is as painful as you can possibly imagine, and it is without a doubt the suckiest thing I've had happen to me anytime in my recent memory and I'm including Evil Ex in that equation.
It still itches like MAD (remember chicken pox? Welcome back to memory lane!), but I'm mostly over it. I was out of work for a few weeks, but that's why God invented savings accounts. I wasn't doing much with all that money anyway, I guess. ;) I'm just feeling fortunate that I didn't get it on the face, like a co-worker of mine did a few months ago; she had to visit her eye doctor every other day because they were so worried it'd get into her eyes (if your nose tingles, and you've had chicken pox, go to the damned doctor IMMEDIATELY, because the virus can blind you). It's not contagious unless you've never had chicken pox before, so I didn't get it from her, my doc didn't think.
However, suffice to say that my entire month has been SHOT, and has sucked, and I'm damned well ready for things to get better.
On other fronts, the Minx is fixed! She is fixed! She is beautiful again! My Minx is lovely! They literally replaced every goddamned part on the car from the doors on back, including the glass, the trunk, the underbelly, the doorlocks, the lights, you name it. I'll post the whole list if you're curious, but it was about $3500 of parts and labor to make her beautiful again. She shines like lipstick and purrs like a kitten (instead of grumbling like a drunken whore like she did for a month there).
Seriously, when Adam told me the car'd been hit, I thought, Don's gonna KILL me. But the car is prettier now than it was before the accident, and handles like a dream come true. I just couldn't believe how expensive it was to fix. Hey, wasn't MY accident, I guess, so I sure didn't have to worry about a penny beyond the rental car's $50 gas deposit (which I got back).
By the way... we found out what happened to the woman who rear-ended the Minx. Adam found her motorcycle repaired and on a street corner with a sign on it: "MUST SELL: CANNOT AFFORD INSURANCE ANYMORE."
And who says evil's never punished? Everybody wins: I get my car fixed on her dime, and she can't get distracted and crash into pretty Minxes anymore. |
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Amazing how cold it's been, for late May. Snow's gone, and I'm about ready to get the gardening done, though on a shoestring.
I've been busy though. I've been really working hard on Florentine Persona, my history website, and just thrilled at how many hits a day it's getting. But there's SO much work to do on it.
And in the middle of all of it, I queried the editor at a very large educational press and was accepted -- so I have a manuscript to get done now! More news later, but it's very thrilling! I've done several small articles for "Renaissance Magazine" and the new editor there is a real gem, easy to work with and I like how he polishes my text so nicely.
So... all is good, I'm crazy busy, and just happy that my house is looking more and more like a home every day. The Miata gets fixed this week -- and not a second too soon for me. |
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WTF
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Mar. 28th, 2007 @ 10:12 am
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The promised hard frost hit, uh, yesterday. Seriously, the mountains are white again and it's 30 degrees out, and all I can think is that last weekend I was in shorts and a tank top. Glad I didn't plant.
Today I'm going photo-hunting for a magazine -- that editor I'm working with now took not one but two articles, which I got done pretty fast, and now I'm looking for some images. That part's pretty easy. This isn't too hard overall. I love this -- I'd have researched this stuff anyway, but now I'm getting paid to do the wonky history-nerd stuff I like best! One article's about a castle, another about mercenaries, and both are short -- but I'm getting a lot faster at this writing stuff.
I was going to the mountains this weekend, but I'm not sure now. Oh my god where did all this cold come from? |
| » Holy cow |
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I sent off 4 queries for freelance stuff and to my shock, all 4 got accepted -- one's an ASAP sort of thing.
My nonfiction career is now officially 10 times more successful than my fiction one. And I can't complain.
The weather's perfect, though everyone up here in Idaho is just about squealing with the effort of NOT planting. It's in the 60s and low 70s, but there's one more hard freeze, they insist, and so we can't plant anything even if the lawns are green and overgrowing. People are limbering up their lawnmowers and starting to weed, but the plant seed packets are still unopened.
I finally got a BBQ grill -- a little portable one. I bought a T-bone steak to go with it and Adam thinks the whole process is beyond barbaric -- but I sure did have me a grilled steak with my roasted green beans last night. (Incidentally: get Bon Appetit this month. Srsly.)
Just a little update... have a good week, world.
Mar. 22nd, 2007 @ 11:40 am
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| » Frittata. |
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I resisted making frittatas for years because I thought they were hard.
Now I'm a bit peeved I waited so long! Dear god this was easy. Picture this, yo:
1. Steam thin-sliced potatoes till tender in about 1/2" chicken broth in the cast-iron skillet. Remove the potatoes, wipe out the skillet, and pour in a few tbs of oil. Fry the potatoes till brown, then remove potatoes. While the potatoes cook, mix in a bowl 6 eggs, 2-3 tbs of heavy cream or milk, nutmeg, salt and pepper, just as if you were making scrambled eggs.
2. Saute up 1/2 lb sliced mushrooms. Add peeled, diced fresh tomatoes (I used some of Adam's mom's heirloom golden ones) and cook them down. Layer in the potatoes. Pour over this the eggs and sprinkle in chopped herbs. Let it bubble on medium heat till the eggs are set on the bottom -- play with the edges with a spatula to get the raw egg to the bottom, but don't mess with it much.
3. When the eggs are about set on the bottom but loose and runny on top, set the whole pan under the broiler till the top is browned.
4. Slice n serve. It's a bit like white-trash quiche. One-pan dinner, easy cleanup, what's not to like? You could use any veggies or meat you like, just cook all the non-egg stuff first and then pour in the eggs.
This was so beyond "good" it should have its own dictionary entry.
Also I made a pink strawberry cake with homemade preserves last night. I'm calling my kitchen all set up. Now to do the living room.
Michelle, if you see this, I'm getting a house phone on Friday -- my email's STILL down and the cell phone minutes are SHOT.
Oct. 10th, 2006 @ 10:43 am
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| » Moving pains. |
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I feel like the "super secret LOTR diaries." This entry would be as follows:
Kitchen acquired. Still no internet.
Also, we went to Adam's mom's house again last weekend to finish fixing her computer, only to find that my hard drive had been destroyed somehow in transit. Dangit dangit dangit. So we bought a new hard drive with her and got it installed, only to find she was still crashing everywhere. So we're taking Celeste, my pretty blue computer, up there this weekend AGAIN and gutting its sysbd/proc/mem to upgrade her ancient one which is clearly hosed. Neat tidbit: she has a quail hunting license. And she loaded us down with food again. Adam's brother is living there temporarily (between the end of one lease and the beginning of another -- sounds familiar) and he's very appreciative of my cooking, so I made myself useful in the kitchen most of the time.
The house is turning out well, except we REALLY need more bookcases. There's not nearly the storage in this new place in the kitchen so I've jerry-rigged some of my bookcases in there to function as a pantry. It's a gorgeous kitchen with real stone tiles, don't get me wrong, and a window above the sink looking out on a backyard that could reasonably pass for a state forest park, but large it is not. So I stole my garb shelves and made them a "gadget shelf" out in the garage. And one of the little bookcases is being used to store clothes in the bedroom. So I'm short four bookcases. And I needed more bookcases to begin with. But I have a second bedroom now, tons of storage elsewhere in the house, and a gorgeous yard. So it all works out.
I miss having the internet, but things are busy enough right now that I probably don't need the distraction. Crazily enough, Adam's talking about getting back into mudding as players -- NOT staffers this time; we'll never staff again unless we start our own game. I wouldn't mind being just a player somewhere. But that's far in the future after the Bookcase Fiasco is settled.
Oct. 9th, 2006 @ 09:55 am
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| » Moving Day |
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Whew! Barely enough time to sit down around here.
I finally met Adam's mom, and she likes me. :) She's a gardener with an odd definition of "just a little stuff to take home" -- but I've got some foodie friends who'd DROOL to see the contents of my fridge. I don't even know the names of all this stuff. There's Chinese cucumber, lemon cucumber, a bazillion varieties of sweet peppers (one's bright scarlet and squiggly) and heirloom tomatoes of every color. I liked the "candy onions," which are smallish yellow onions that have none of that bite. Seriously, you could eat these like apples. She loaded me down with herbs, too. And pluots and odd varieties of squash (one's flat and pale green, another's yellow with darker stripes), heirloom eggplant, delicious dark grapes, you name it. I don't even know what all this stuff is, just that it's yummy.
Right after that, we decided to move. I do love this little place and its gorgeous view, but it's just getting too expensive. We discovered we'd save about a hundred a month by moving into a house, and found the perfect one about a half mile away. I still won't have a commute!!! It's literally on the other side of where I work. We're paying burly guys to come move us tomorrow; it'd cost almost as much for the dolly and U-Haul, and frankly, I do not want to try to move that china cabinet ever again. Ever. Ever. Ever.
And oh what a house. Just like the one in Georgia, it was the first one I looked at, and I fell in love with it. It's a teeny little thing, two bedrooms and a bathroom, nothing at all like the McMansions the soccer moms want nowadays. But it's full of cute touches like real tiling in the bathroom, foyer, and kitchen, and tile counters. It has long planters out front and I have been informed I may take advantage of whatever's here for gardening -- and Adam's mom is giving me cuttings of her heirloom herbs! WHEE! The layout's different, so though some parts are smaller and some are bigger, it's generally all vertical-wall space so I can shove as many bookcases in here as I can. It has a large backyard and a covered patio for a barbecue and garden table, and a shed where Adam can put all his power tools when he gets them. The garage is quite sizeable. Overall, I doubt I could have found something this nice this close to work for this kind of rent. I've never rented a house before, so this'll be a new experience. Did I mention that it's an utterly QUIET neighborhood?
I'll miss this little apartment. But I'll appreciate the extra room and the garden, and it'll be nice to get away from noisy neighbors. The broodmare whose famblee was stomping so loudly they were knocking stuff off my walls and rattling the windows, the Garth Brooks fanatic up there now who only just figured out that playing his mp3s at top volume at midnight isn't nice ... I'm just tired of dealing with it.
We're moving tomorrow, and there's so much left to do.
My cell phone's still the same if you have that, but I turned off the house phone a while ago. I won't have internet access for a while, so don't worry if I drop off the face of the planet. To make my life even more hectic, I'm going to the Tri-Cities to visit Adam's mom with him on Saturday to return her computer (he was fixing it for her; she has AOL still, isn't that cute?). She says she'll give me cuttings of her herbs to plant -- MORE stuff to do! I tell you -- I'm buying a flat of Calgon tonight and I think I'll be out of it in a month.
Actually a long hot bath does sound rather nice. Adam'll be back any minute, so I'm off -- be well.
Oct. 1st, 2006 @ 06:06 pm
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| » Whoops. |
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To anybody on the flist who knows my "real" email --
The florentine-persona.com server went belly-up and Ben is working on something to fix it, but it's taking time. Don't worry 'bout me. Just use my hotmail address instead for now. Don't know it? Post here with contact info and I'll find you.
Life's good. I just made pezede cookies and they are marshmallows!!! I JUST MADE HOMEMADE MARSHMALLOWS! That so rocks. I'm making a Greek feast for some friends tomorrow and just got done with the major prep work; the htipi is done and the tzatziki is in process of its components draining. Yogurt looks neato when it's drained. My hands reek of garlic. This is great.
Cas
Aug. 16th, 2006 @ 07:56 pm
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| » Albertson Park |
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Downtown Boise has a number of large parks, but by far my favorite is now Albertson Park.
Founded by the people who own Albertson's grocery stores (yes, THAT Albertson's) as a bird sanctuary, Albertson Park is just across from Morrison Park, which is where I attended a chili cookoff and some concerts last summer and year before that. I didn't go to Albertson Park, though, thinking it was just some park like Morrison. Morrison's gorgeous, lots of arching bridges and reflecting pools that you can't go wading in, and expansive lawns dotted with trees. It's beautiful. I like the place, and if I lived closer, I'd probably go more often to walk there.
But Albertson Park is a miracle.
Nestled in the middle of Boise, just off where Emerald turns into Americana, there is an intersection. On the right is Morrison Park. On the left is Albertson Park. Turn in, and unlike Morrison Park, you'll find only one miniscule parking lot with about 20 spaces. From there, there are signs begging you to be quiet and not to feed the ducks or other birds. And there is only one paved path leading up into the park itself.
It's a huge park, though, with paths through very little of it. It's thick with trees, very cool and damp even in the blistering heat, with pocket ponds ringed with cattails and mossy rocks. I don't know what all of the berries and shrubs were but there were hundreds of varieties, all buzzing with honeybees and languid dragonflies. The ducks are in paradise here, all dipping into the water under the lotus and water weeds. They had a display of the biggest Ponderosa pine tree ever, the trunk cut in cross section and marked with dates -- it's almost 400 years old so the markings marked things like "pilgrims land at Plymouth Rock."
In a little isolated area called the Eyrie, we sat on cool stones in the chilly shadowed air, took our shoes off, and marveled at the pond beyond for a long time before a daycare of shrieking four-year-olds came running in and destroyed every single vestige of peace to be had. We left happy, emerging into the shocking heat and retreated to the Minx to drive home in blessed AC. Next time we go, it'll be very early, before it gets hot.
I sold another query, so I'm hard at work researching that, and feeling pretty happy about things. My nonfiction career is officially ten times more successful than the fiction one, but nothing's wrong with that. I'm just following the path where it leads for now.
Jul. 21st, 2006 @ 12:12 pm
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| » If I had a million dollars |
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That used to be my favorite song. Yesterday while I was doing research (the next piece is going swimmingly and soon I'll be able to query it -- cross yer fingers!) Adam asked me, "Where would you live if you could live anywhere?"
I said, immediately, "Lowman." Lowman is about 50 miles north of town in the mountains -- very rocky and rugged and forested. And isolated and not at all crowded or trendy. But it's close enough to a real town that I won't feel like a hermit. I fell in love with the place a long time ago. McCall is a second pick, or Idaho City, but they're all about the same -- mountainous, rugged, isolated, northward but not too far north (Sandpoint is heavenly, but too far from civilization).
He said, "Would that change if you had a billion dollars?"
I told him it might change the general size of the house, but not by much, and it might change some lifestyle decisions like employment, but no, I'd still want to live there. To my surprise, I just couldn't see myself in some huge McMansion with 10 times more room than I'd ever need. Give me 3 or 4 bedrooms that I can stuff full of books and garbmaking supplies and I'm one happy little camper.
He said, "Hmm," and went quiet.
"Making plans?" I teased.
"Always," he said.
Huge-ass houses full of crap nobody needs... that's, to me, one of the more glaring symptoms of what's wrong with the country. Someone convinced the nation's Mommies and Daddies that they had to have 6000sf and six SUVs in the driveway or they were deprived and couldn't hope to have normal kids.
Jul. 11th, 2006 @ 11:38 am
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| » Silk makes me nervous. |
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Just began a new sewing project with silk shantung and discovered the hard way that silk shantung doesn't much like being machine-dried even on low heat.
Also, Shoda now likes Nilla Wafers. She'll take my hand off at the wrist for them.
Things are quiet; I'm studying Italian with books and getting as fluent as I can, because the trip's getting more and more definite. Adam says he's picking up the plane tickets soon here. I made a gorgeous new necklace and bracelet set with iridescent green-blue beads and chunky irregular-shaped 12mm-ish pearls. And probably doing more gaming than is strictly good for getting anything done around the house. Our 4th was quiet; I ended up at a friend's house for barbecue and brought blueberry muffins with lemon sugar toppings.
Slowly it's sinking in that I'm moving in a couple months and I'm not looking forward to that. I hate moving.
So, in short, things are fine here.
Jul. 9th, 2006 @ 11:13 am
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| » Lightning struck twice! |
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Renaissance Magazine published another of my short pieces in its Proclamations section! I'm published twice now! There was a check in with the sample issue! A check! She didn't even ask me for edits this time -- just put it in, AND one of the photos I submitted that I went and got permission from the museum to publish!
Now to go find something else to send to her..... This is clearly working out for me.
Jul. 3rd, 2006 @ 06:58 pm
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| » (No Subject) |
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It's like 50 degrees here. I've been wearing a jacket and wondering when in heck it's going to get warm again, if ever. We're going camping next weekend, so it dang well better get warm before next Thursday! There's still snow on the mountains, but not much, and the emerald green trees are just breathtaking up there. I have got to get out there. (I confess I also want to make sure Marty's final resting place doesn't resemble a Creepshow set.)
Mystic's found herself a new home -- back with Adam's ex! His ex got rid of her other kitties, and Mystic won't be as cramped there. She knows the kids and should do better than in our happy little zoo here. I'm pleased -- and Adam laughed, "You fixed her in more ways than one."
Adam has set down a New Rule: I am not allowed to make a Vodacce mime to partner with his Highlander swordsman. He's being very firm about it.
Life's good. Busy, but good. I'm looking forward to the weekend; this week just flew past. I worked Monday to get out of OT the rest of the week, so I'm going home and sleeping. And writing. I'm still working on how to start the new writing piece -- so much depends on where it starts! So I'm plotting midbook scenes and hoping my muse decides to be less recalcitrant soon. The editor at that magazine hasn't gotten to me about my most recent two pieces yet -- but that's normal so far. :)
Happy Wednesday, world.
May. 31st, 2006 @ 11:45 am
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| » COLD. |
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Jesus it is cold outside. I think it's like 65. I have to go grocery shopping and I don't want to step foot outside. I want to enjoy the bread I'm making and that is dedicatedly it. In a way being terribly broke isn't so bad, because it means I get to make my own bread and make a ton of comfort food.
My company went and bought a call-flow system from some independent contracting company that is actually quite cool. Very non-confrontational. I started using it today for the first time and have to say the reaction's been just -tremendous-. It's so surprising what a few little tricks accomplish in terms of rapport. For the first time I genuinely feel like this is a system that works with my natural personality style. And it doesn't require anybody to say "sorry" at all unless it's really a sorry situation (like someone disconnecting becaue her mom just died). I like that a lot. People are more cheerful at work, and there's less bitching about Problem Customers. I'm starting to wonder how much of these problem children happen because of a confrontational call flow -- a rhetorical question, to say the least. Not all the agents are taking to it -- it's less formal and WAY less PnP -- but overall the feel of the call center is more relaxed and, yes, happier. I have to say it's a very positive first few steps to the goal, even if the concept of "buying a call flow model" sounds about as ludicrous as you can really reasonably get.
May. 7th, 2006 @ 02:35 pm
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| » Why I'm Hellenic. |
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It's been a busy as hell few weeks. But here's why I really don't believe in coincidence.
First, last week on Tuesday I got word that I got that article published in Renaissance Magazine. So go check it out! I'm, uh, one of the feature articles. That was, to say the least, exhilarating. The editor there is just fabulous, really fun to work with. She sent me the sample issue and check as a surprise and I was absolutely on cloud 9, just giddy all night.
The next day, I came home from work and discovered Marty (Shoda's littermate, also 16-17 years old) happy to see me and cheerful as one could be under the circumstances of being unable to stand and frothing dull-colored blood at the mouth. Didn't seem to bug him at all, but twenty minutes later we were at the vet's, where we discovered he had cancer -- a tumor the size of a golf ball in the poor little guy's stomach that I could only feel because the vet was pushing it up where I could tell. I hadn't known. I'd just known he was getting weak, and I'd scheduled a vet appointment for him for Friday, fearing the worst. But he didn't make it till Friday. To those who knew him, I want to say: his passage was swift, dignified, and painless. I held his little head in my hands and he purred right up to the point where he got stuck with this baby-girl pink stuff in a syringe. The vet was very sensitive about it, and agreed that this was the most humane thing I could have done, and reassured me that detecting cancer in cats isn't at all easy.
Without the check I couldn't have afforded the vet visit till Friday. It still blows my mind, the timing.
Afterward, we took him north, to the mountains (Adam, who was perhaps a bit more aware of the situation, had actually been keeping a handshovel in the trunk for a week), and buried him at the base of a huge pine tree. I sat and watched Adam dig the hole -- it was pathetically small; Marty'd begun losing weight dramatically and precipitously, ending his life at about 6 pounds. But now he was all finished with that horror. I've now lost two very dear individuals to cancer. It wasn't any less ghastly this time around.
The mountains north of here are magnificent this time of year. It turns out Idaho City had a gruesome winter -- 6' snowdrifts up till, oh, last week -- and they're starting to rebuild. Every house on the way, it seemed, was draped in Tyvek and huge pieces of unpainted clapboard (what's that they call that stuff? It looks like slices of head cheese). There were signs on the lone gas station that told people to boil all their water -- the river is so turgid, running so high, it's destroyed the water supply. There were muskrats out, and deer, enjoying the spring grass now that it's finally getting warmer -- now, I say "warmer," but that's only by comparison; it's still sweater weather here and I couldn't be happier. Up in the mountains, though, it can't have been past 40 or 50. I was freezing; I'd run out with Marty in my arms in just a light jacket.
He's safe now, past all that pain he must have felt even if he didn't show it. He's part of a part of a huge ecosystem, and that comforts me. I was looking at the swift-flowing pewter-grey river and thinking, as Adam dug, about how my boycat would become part of all this. Nobody ever truly dies; they just seamlessly transition from a foreground figure in the great tapestry to a background thread, still just as much an integral part. As long as I live, he's mixed with me; as long as the forest stands he'll be part of every tree and creature in it. That's something I can hold when I miss him.
I love the idea that I've finally been paid for my work, but it just seems so absolutely right that it came when it did -- a cosmic validation, two momentous events twined together so closely it's hard to tell one from the other.
I miss Marty so much. He was a wedding present from Evil Ex, along with Shoda, two little balls of five-week-old fluff. He was such a concerned cat. Always so worried-looking, like an anxious parent. I used to love "talking" to him -- they're part Siamese and Marty and I would have entire conversations in Cat. I never had any idea what I was saying, but he seemed like he was gently correcting my pronunciation. He could hide ANYWHERE. He was a 22-pound Houdini. Once ![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif) justben and I had to take apart a hotel room to find him completely hidden under the end table, hoping we wouldn't find him and stuff him into a cat carrier. He was a world traveler -- sampling the hospitality of Japan and all over the United States, but never happy about it. He got terribly carsick, but I'd carry him in my arms to the vet because he hated carriers so much.
He was a fiend for catnip and hairball treats, moreso than any other cat I ever knew. But always so concerned. On September 11, 2001, while Ben and I watched the attacks on TV, he curled up around me, worried about our anguish, and purred to reassure me. All he wanted was for everybody to be content. He got along with absolutely everybody -- the Hays gang loved him uniformly and even people who disliked cats loved his straightforward FDR-style knack of putting people at their ease. He was huge and protective, this gently draping reassurance-blanket over me for my entire adult life. He was a floppy Hawaiian shirt of a cat with a distinct personality -- and one that I think people loved about as much as I did.
I can't say I didn't see his end coming, when he began to lose weight, though I didn't suspect cancer at all. In 2003, I wrote a poem begging for more time. I got it, but eventually, all things end. In the end, a humane end meant more to me than forcing him to hang on for one more day in pain.
The darts of Artemis are swift and sure, clean and quick, and gentle in their way. I'm as thankful for this one last week as I was for the one she granted my mother three years ago. And even more thankful that my writing is what gave this one to Marty.
I got promoted at work, too, and I've got a few days of training, but that's just a side note with all the other stuff going on. Busy month. Hope it's going well with everybody!
May. 4th, 2006 @ 03:54 pm
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| » That was nice! |
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I found out yesterday that various managers have been listening to my calls. Adam let it slip; his manager is one of them. Adam was boasting to the manager about my call control, and the manager listened to a few of my calls.
So I transferred to that manager's team (I like him a lot, and hey, I get to see Adam all day long now), and my very first day on that team, after only 2 months in the call type I'm in now, I got asked to do side-by-side mentoring for a newbie. I marveled at this later, saying I had no idea how the manager even knew what I sound like, and that's when Adam told me.
Ain't that flattering.
It isn't hard to be good on the phones in a call center; even mediocrity is well-received. I could, very likely, be doing something for a hell of a lot more money, but I confess I like having no commute and the easier pace -- and the customers are, almost uniformly, very nice. (Also, the benefits are *very* nice, for this part of the country.) I've never worked around such nice people or had contact with such nice customers. Of course, a big part of that is how I talk to them; I've had several psychologists/psychiatrists (customers) tell me I'm very good at defusing people. Retention's not about SAVE THEM NO MATTER WHAT. If you say you want to disconnect an optional service, you'll go to someone like me -- who will find out if that's really what you need. Some people don't realize the service is nationwide; quite a few don't realize we can suspend their service at no cost while they're house-hunting. Some have genuine issues that need resolving, and once we do that, they're happy. Really, all people want is to be petted and told they are pretty. I wish they'd come up with a better name for the department, though; only about a quarter of my calls actually want to disconnect. The rest are "problems too weird for the floor to deal with."
I genuinely believe that owning cats has been perfect training for this job.
Foodies: Check out that new Chef Whozit's garlic & artichoke sausage at the grocery store. I got some and was blown away by how good it is.
Jan. 30th, 2006 @ 10:21 am
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I'm aware that Atlanta occasionally gets a bit of snow, and I've lived in climes that got snow before -- Baltimore, Vancouver BC, Oregon. It's not like I've never seen snow. Idaho actually gets a lot of snow, usually. But I swear it still just shocks me when it happens. The snowflakes were quarter-sized this week -- after days of weather so warm I was comfortable without a jacket and in skirts, someone upstairs realized it's STILL WINTER and decided to open the gates.
I'm glad I live within comfy walking distance of work, in case things get bad.
But Adam laughed at my reaction to my first look outside Friday morning, when I saw the 1/2" on the ground and burst out, "Oh my God, we can't go out in THIS."
You can take the girl out of the Deep South, but you cannot take the Deep South out of the girl without surgical intervention, apparently. I see snowflakes and immediately begin taking mental inventory of how much milk and toilet paper we have on hand.
Probably the weirdest thing to happen this week was some interesting fanmail that came in to my florentine-persona address alerting me to some kind of internet security corporation that was using one of my Parthenon photos on their homepage. The name of the file was even exactly the same! I wrote them a nice letter thanking them for thinking so highly of the photo and advising them that the photo wasn't actually public domain but I'd be happy to discuss licensing/purchase of it, and they withdrew it immediately; I haven't heard a word yet back from them. I try to be careful around copyrights with my page, and I make it clear that my photos can be used for nonprofit/educational purposes, but I have to admit this is the first time I've ever run into this situation. I FEEL SO FAMOUS.
Jan. 29th, 2006 @ 09:56 am
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| » OMG I got a nudge! |
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I wish you could all see the mountains here. They are breathtaking. There's nothing to compare with these new, rugged, clean, crisp, jagged edges, not back south. Snow blankets them, with the trees poking up from time to time. It's hard to believe that winter is nearly gone, when you look out at them from the patio. But a dozen quails scuttle across the green-brown grass right outside, nibbling seed, and hawks circle overhead, clearly visible in a startlingly blue sky that is not any color I've ever seen before living in Idaho.
I've been busy with work; Adam and I hit a nice agreement a week or two ago whereby he'd take over all the overtime, if I'd just take care of the housework. This is a pleasing arrangement, because, frankly, I've got a domestic streak a mile wide. Also, this means I will always know where the hell my measuring cup is -- Adam's approach to putting dishes away could be best described as "pragmatic."
I got a rejection letter for my novel, so another package is in the works for the next lucky contestant. However, I've been working with a nice lady at a large magazine regarding a project for about six months now. I'm learning a lot about nonfiction writing, and she's awesome to work with. If this project turns out not to be one she wants, it's becoming a book of its own. Adam's gotten used to piles of books all over the house when edits get back from her. The funny thing is, whatever I make from this project won't even pay for the books I've bought to research it, but ... BOOKS. I consider that its own investment.
I've learned to make a feta cheese dip (htipi?) that is to die for. I've fallen madly in love with the food processor Rachel sent -- and poured about half a cup of olive oil into the dip while whirling it, just because it was so cool to watch the cheese go frothy. I made homemade pita bread for the occasion, and ate most of the dip myself. PS: Ben, you'd so love this.
I'm content. Life's noodling along at its own pace, the cats have learned to get along more or less, and I've got dance practice tonight. Mystic, incidentally, has become a pillow kitty. I got her spayed last year, finally, and she's become a resplendent cat with a resonant purr you can hear across a room. She's still a squirrelly, skittish little beast, but she loves to lay out along my side if I'm in bed reading or typing. She's started to play with the other cats, though not all of them are sure what to do with the idea. Little Bit is still her arch-nemesis. The kittens.. well, Puff's about 15 pounds of neurosis-laden muscle, and Monster's still about 4 lbs, the tiniest cat I have ever seen. They're 1.5 years old now, but Monster is still a kitten.
I hope everybody's doing well over there. Life's peachy over here :)
Jan. 26th, 2006 @ 10:29 am
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