this year's ashes

Tonight I got Belle's ashes back. That's always strange, you know. It's kind of a relief, but it also kind of puts you right back to where you were when it happened. I still keep going to check on her, reaching for her bowl, etc. I put her urn next to Gran's, with her collar hanging off of it and her tag on top. As I was doing that I was thinking, geez, there are so many ashes in my house, it's ridiculous. Five urns. That's excessive, right? Well, maybe not. Other people probably visit five or more graves each year.

I used to collect, sort of, funeral cards. Well, not that I would purposely collect them, just that I never throw them away, because that seems wrong, you know? Most of those cards were sort of distant: aunts, uncles, cousins I rarely saw. A set of grandparents I barely knew, and great grandparents I only saw on the holidays. Then in the last two years, those cards have gotten closer to home, and now I just don't look at them anymore. Because you see names on them you never thought you'd see.

Then of course, it makes you wonder, will someone "collect" you someday? Will your card be in a tidy pile in a drawer under some unburned incense? And then, you just become a chapter in someone else's story, right? You're a co-star of their drama, which continues without you. Weird, to think of it like that, isn't it?

But let's not think about things like that right now, or ever. Let's think about Dr. Who and Torchwood, and the new Zelda game. Yeah, the new Zelda game! I can't get enough of it, yet at the same time, I'm trying to stretch it out so that it lasts for a few months. Don't know how likely that is, but I'm hoping. Can't say I like it better than Ocarina, but I think I do like it better than Twilight Princess so far. And better than Majora's Mask and Windwaker, too.

Haku is still hobbling around on three legs, but he does toe-touch and he's getting four feet down some of the time, on and off. He stands on it, and has started trying to walk on it a little, with the sling. He has another checkup on Monday (today is Saturday.)

Oh, work today was slow (as it has been,) but I got a $41 tip. Forty-one, what's with the extra dollar? Should I play MegaMillions with it, maybe? That was awesome, but then my next client didn't tip me at all so it balanced out, I suppose. My Monday client gave me a huge basket of gourmet cheese and crackers, like unbelievably good stuff. I ate most of it today with Jo-chan while we watched Torchwood after work.

I think I've got most of my holiday gift shopping done. It's pretty crummy this year, can't even lie. People are getting, like, bits of string and dustbunnies from me. Actually, I did get most of the stuff on Etsy, because you can find super cheap, oddball stuff for people with particular tastes. And that's pretty cool.

Welp, it's more than halfway through December. Let's do some year end memes. Two of them gacked from spatterdash , as usual.

This one's easy. The first line I posted to LJ every month.

January: The new year starts in February when it's the year of the rabbit. This "January 1st" thing is some arbitrary western milestone. So there.

February: Last night I finished Dean Koontz's book What The Night Knows.

March: I just got off the phone with the vet.

April: Lady Chrysanthemum and I got our purple sashes together last night. JOY! ^_^

May: Haku had a seizure at 10 this morning, which is a really weird time for him.

June: Just saw Pirates with bestie Glassworker friend tonight (actually, last night.)

July: OMFG where have I been?

August: I have a long history with Harry Potter.

September: I need to document that the stiff, barbed, dead body of my catfish Dexter just stabbed me in the hand.

October: Right, so eventually I want to get on here and write about the movie 50/50 which I saw and really liked, and about Dr. Who, and Halloween, and taking my plants inside, and this and that and the other usual thing. Except, ffs, I can't get past the Occupy Wall Street thing.

November: HitRECord Halloween MASSIVE recap!

December: Today we had to say goodbye to Belle, my Gran's beloved mastiff. 


( And the questions meme: )

And here's another that I like! ( More questions! )

And that's it then, I guess, for the year-end memes and updates.