Blather, rinse, repeat

What did I used to write? Just day-to-day stuff I guess. It's not like I used to write anything hugely profound or anything, it was mostly "today I blah blah" except I think my life was more exciting back then and I definitely went more places and knew more people.

Today at work, well, our receptionist left last week and we're in the middle of replacing her (she was great, we loved her, she just moved to VA and we hired someone else but then she changed her schedule etc) ANYway, the upstairs garbage hadn't been replaced in a while and someone threw some nasty food in there and it was going bad. You could smell it downstairs though I thought I was the only one (and I'm the only one wearing a mask!) But then Renata came out of her room--Renata is the reflexologist / aesthetician, she's around 69/70 or so and from Poland--she came out of her room spraying some rose spray saying, "I think someone fart, my dear," only she pronounced it "fort" and I just laughed so hard.

I adore Renata, she calls everyone "my dear" and she's so good at her job, you can tell because she's 70 or thereabouts and her skin is pristine. She looks to be around 50.

IDK what else. I started a fanfic like, last SPRING I think, or maybe the beginning of summer, and I just haven't finished it yet and I'm so mad at myself. WTF is this. I used to bang out thousands of words a day, now I get like, 200 and I'm congratulating myself on my focus 😭 How the HELL am I supposed to write my next novel? Thank god I have Blueshift coming after Carnelian, that should save my ass for another few years, ugh.

My shiny new fandom is The Untamed / Mo Dao Zu Shi, but actually the other day--funny thing actually!--out of nowhere I wrote an Inception flash fic. IDK where that came from, the urge just came to me and there it was. Haven't written Inception in years, YEARS. Almost a decade I think.

So anyway I'm trying to write this fic and I have like, 38K words and that's since the summer. Can't believe how stalled I am.

I got into this fandom after I finished my final edits on Carnelian, when I was still with my previous agent Emmy, who told me to take a nice break after writing and editing a novel, so I wouldn't stress about being on submission (which I did anyway.) So I started watching this show that I had wanted to watch back in '20 when it first came out except I was editing then and I knew it would eat my entire brain and distract me. I was right though, so I'm glad I waited.

And I got sucked into the show immediately, and then into the fandom when I started reading episode recaps by this amazing writer who reminded me SO MUCH of my friend spatterdash -- Wait. I don't remember how to do this! spatterdash holy frick. It's been a minute. Anyway, this writer's voice is so freaking much like Spatterdash that my brain substituted her image every time I read her meta. Like: funny, witty, vulgar in exactly the right amount it was UNCANNY.

and that's how I ultimately got into the fandom.

Well, anyway, that's it for today. My goldfish (The Doctor! Wow, I had him back when I was journaling, he's 11 now!) is munching on his expensive aquarium plants beside me. That makes it sound like he's sitting on the sofa beside me, snacking on leaves as I write. His tank is beside the sofa though.

What even is this entry?

So I did mention, in that last post, that our clinic is under new management and I've been doing some desk work. Nothing major, just answering the phones, booking appointments, taking payments, that kind of thing. Basically the stuff I was doing before, only officially now and for more time. It's pretty straight forward stuff. I get to sit at the desk and wait for the phone to ring. I'm allowed to bring my laptop, so that I'm not just sitting there while the phone *doesn't* ring. And that's nice. I could load my first draft into google docs and do a lot of editing and stuff there, but then I'd have to copy and paste it all back into my Scrivener at home, and what if I make a bunch of small edits in different chapters? That just seems like a lot of work.

I guess I can call it a second draft now, in a way. I cut a chapter or two and did some minor line edits. I added a chapter here and there. But this second draft is more like a first draft than the first. It's clunky and crazy, with random notes to myself like “PUT SOME TENSION HERE FFS” and “DON'T FORGET THERE ARE MILLIONS OF DEAD PEOPLE, SO...” You know, it's just so frustrating because it took so much work to get that first novel of mine as sparkly as it is now, so much work and so much TIME. This new one seems a million miles away from that and I just want to kick it. At least when I wrote the first draft of the first one I was like, “This is genius!” But writing this one is constantly like, “OMG this sucks, you know how bad this is, there are notes everywhere and you just changed the main character's name for the fifth time, THIS IS TOO HARD, I CAN'T FIX IT.”

But I still go back to it every day, so.

Umm. What else did I used to write about in here? I forgot how much practice it took to write in LJ all the time.

The weather. It wants to be warm out. I can feel it really trying to be warm. Like, when you drive to work in the AM and you have the heat on, but then coming home, if the sun peeks out, you have to shut it off, and maybe even turn on the air a little, but only a little. And tons of rain, which beats the hell out of snow, thanks.

I want to have a garden this year. I've only done minor gardening before, like just flowers and the easy plants, berries and such. But this year I want to do a real, organic veggie garden. I don't know where to start. I mean, aside from Home Depot. Gardening seems pretty simple, but I know actual gardeners, and there are all these tricks about what to plant where, this goes next to that, this needs acidic soil, this needs more water than the other thing, and how do I keep the dogs from whizzing on it, etc. Also, how to keep ticks tf away from me because that's a huge issue for me.

I also want to build a little walkway to the pool. And, you know, actually open the pool.

I don't see how I'm going to do all of this, or ANY of this, in the two hours that Callum takes his naps. Although, with gardening, he could come outside with me. (But then there's that tick thing again. Unless you live on Long Island, or, IDK, maybe Connecticut, you can't possibly know just how bad the deer tick population is around here and how many people get Lyme and RMSF and those are two really awful things that you seriously do not want to have.)

Now I'm pissed off about ticks.

Someone tell me what to make for dinner tonight.

So even though I just found out that my job probably won't be there when I get back from maternity leave (more on this later,) here is some GOOD news: It's spring, and Sano has all his platelets! (*Knock on wood!*) The only thing I changed was adding coconut oil to his diet, on the anecdotal "evidence" that it's helped human ITP patients keep their platelets up. His entire CBC was normal.

I also had Haku's Zonisamide levels checked, because the drug seemed to not be working too well, and we (Wizard Vet and I,) wanted to see if there was room to raise the dose. But actually, the dose is already pretty high, so there's no wiggle room. He's 3.5 weeks from the last seizure – but it's Spring, and the full moon, and Spring always triggers seizures with him. The next step is switching to Keppra. But, I'm going to see how it goes for a while, first.

Anyway, yeah, my job. Bosslady's sister (her babysitter,) is moving to California, and her husband works 70 hrs a week. There's no way she can continue working, so she can't keep the business open. She's been trying to sell for over a year now, but hasn't found any buyers. Originally, whoever bought the place was going to "buy" all the therapists, too. But now all the therapists are bailing (except me.) So unless she gets a buyer, who wants to "buy" me as well, I won't have a job when I get back from leave.

I did ask my boss if she planned to open something smaller. She does, in the autumn. I hadn't planned on waiting that long to go back to work (I seriously can't afford that,) but I asked her if she would consider taking me with her when she went, if I couldn't find something before then. She said she would.

So basically, I'm pretty sure I'll be able to get work when she reopens elsewhere, but not for a while. There are a few other clinics around, and I know places are typically looking to hire therapists, but with a newborn, it's going to be difficult to find work. Especially a job that's going to fit my exact schedule of when I have child-care (and dog-care!) and when I don't.

I'm wondering if I could collect unemployment in the meantime, since my job would basically be going out from under me? But then, I'm sub contracted, so I have no idea if it works like that.

This past weekend I was at a seminar for pre-natal and post-natal massage. It was pretty awesome, because they didn't have enough volunteers, so for the first day, I got to volunteer for the entire session. First massage I've had in about a year and a half, seriously. What's more, I actually learned more about pregnancy and childbirth in those two days than I did from all of my various OBGYNs. Very enlightening.

Well, it's Springtime, and the snow has (mostly) thawed. Today I took the dogs to the park and I ditched my coat in the car. It wasn't exactly warm, but it was non-cold, and you could acknowledge that the sun radiated heat occasionally.

Tomorrow, I have a lunch date with Lady Chrysanthemum, SnarkLit, and the Empress (who sprained her ankle at a tournament – ouch! Poor Empress!) I haven't seen them in AGES and I am dying to have some time with them. I miss training, so fiercely. At least I get to see them. (All of which involves either boarding Haku for a few hours, or giving him a little bit extra phenobarb; haven't decided yet.)

The next month is shaping up to be pretty crazy, with a baby shower, fixing up the new room, washing and sorting clothes, OMG, all kinds of things that I can't even think about right now.

But it's Spring! Winter is over!

Today I heard back from an agent I'd queried in November, who requested the first 3 chapters exclusively in December. She wanted them for 3 weeks and when I didn't hear anything, I kind of forgot about it. I was just going to start querying again tomorrow.

But then, after work today, I GOT AN EMAIL FROM HER REQUESTING TO SEE THE WHOLE NOVEL. She wants an exclusive look for 8 weeks. Exclusives are kind of a bummer because you can't query anyone else during that time. But I also think it's worth it. If an agent is interested enough to ask for that, it's a pretty good sign.

This one is really special to me because it wasn't just a synopsis or first ten pages. It was the first THREE, which is 39 pages. Which means, to me, that she thinks the writing is really good. That I'm really good. And if she rejects after this, it's not because the writing sucks, it's just because it's not her kind of thing after all.

This is some really sweet validation. :D

And speaking of sweet validation, my Mom made employee of the year at her job, out of like, 130 employees. They had a party and announced it in front of everyone. It was really cool.

Work is about the same for me. Last week we were really busy, with all the post-holiday gift certificates coming in. But this week, tapering off again. Also, I had to miss yesterday because I had a monthly check-up. It's quick – you pee in a cup, get on the scale, then blood pressure and fetal heartbeat, end of story. But I met a midwife and stayed to talk with her for a while to ask questions. We discussed the fact that I want as little intervention as possible, unless it's an emergency. (Seriously, if I had my way, I'd go and crouch in the forest and bite on a stick till it was over.) She asked me if I was single or if I had a birth partner. When I told her I was single, she was so happy for me. She grabbed my hand and said, "That is so wonderful. Good for you. And I'll tell you something else. Even if you're not single, you're still on your own. There's only so much a partner can do, and in the end, they usually don't do much anyway."



Well, anyway, I should get back to fretting over the rest of this novel. You'd think this whole situation would instill me with confidence, right? Yet every time this happens, I go nuts trying to "correct" things I suddenly think aren't working. Even if I was totally happy with it last week.

And that's what's up this week so far! Woooot!

This seizure came at 8:15 this morning. That's five and a half weeks since the last one, which isn't too bad I guess. The sucky thing is that I have to work today, and I was hoping to be able to test the waters and leave him alone for a little while. But, we're having a dinner at work to say farewell to our receptionist (so sad about that because I really like the folks I currently work with,) so I don't know how late I'll be. So with this going on, Haku has to spend the day at the vets. Bleh.

The interesting thing is that Genius Vet showed me a GV point on dogs that I couldn't find. (On people it's below the nose. Dogs don't really have a below the nose, so on them it's the tip of the nose.) So I put my finger on the GV point on the tip of his nose during the seizure, and he sneezed, and stopped seizuring. He wasn't awake for about a minute after that, but at least it stopped a little. I'll have to remember that for the next time.

Well, and that's that, and now I'm off to work in a bit, and then out to dinner. I just wish it wasn't a sad dinner. (Lots of changes at work.)

Today is a fine day. Yesterday was, too. For the first day of Spring, we had 70 degree weather, and the same today. It's clear and sunny. Yeah, maybe a little too hot for this time of year, and that is kind of worrying. But it's hard to focus on that when you can feel the sun again. (Although, isn't that always nicer after a hard winter? We hardly had a winter at all this time.)

So today I took the dogs on an hour-long walk through the woods by the lake. We climbed hills and they went into the water. Haku is still a little drugged, and Sano has a hard time keeping up because of the pred.

I like to document every year when I hear the treefrogs for the first time at night. Well, it wasn't night, but they were making a ton of noise in the woods today, so! Treefrogs.

Also, after a decent sleep, I woke up to find, first thing, a feminism collab on HitRECord, with Joe citing my written piece as a source. ^_^ It's funny, before I went to bed last night, I checked HR and I saw that he'd given a heart to that piece I'd written in November. I was like, "Why's he necro-hearting? Is he going to use it for something?" And then I was so pleased that he did. Not only that, but for something that means a lot to me.

As you can see, the feminism collab already has TONS of entries in it. So inspiring and awesome! I love that people are catching on. Especially when we've got an actualfax war on women going on in the government.

So I wrote two more pieces for it: Asking For It, and But What If I Want To Be Eaten?

(Also on HitRECord recently, I did a video about my birds, called Fly Away. I'm really proud of that one, and mostly because I worked with my awesome cousin SB. That's his amazing music you hear there.)

So that's made me pretty happy.

Also, last year's redwing blackbird Reid came back to the feeder the other day. Or maybe he's been back the whole time, but this is the first time I've had my door open and been able to see him. Still, that made me happy.

What is making me sad is that the receptionist at the fabulous clinic where I work is leaving in May. I get along really well with her and we always have so much fun. I have no idea who's going to replace her. I'm worried.

Also harshing my shine is that my arm is really freaking hurting a lot of the time. I woke up this morning and it was pretty much on fire. I stretched and it went POP! And then it felt better. I did see the chiro about it and he was like, "Hmm. Well... hmm. Hmm." Looks like either bicipital tendonitis, a mid-delt tear, or maybe a trapped nerve in my neck. None of which is fun.

Ugh, and I have to do my taxes still (or rather, get them done,) and I'm going to owe. MEGA-owe. Dang.

Well, eff it. I'm going to water my plants and play Skyward Sword. BECAUSE I CAN.

So this, then, was the holiday season of '11. I quite liked it. I got a tree for the first time in three years, and it was a good tree, not too tall or short. In fact it's still up – gotta take it down Sunday, really, along with the rest of the decorations. I hate that.

I got to spend time with people I see all the time and still want to see more, and also with people I haven't seen with in a while.

The 22nd, a Thursday, was our Kung Fu party. We haven't done one of these in a few years, either. It was swell to get back into that. We went to the grill around the corner from our school, after class. When we all came in wearing our uniforms, the waitstaff got goggly-eyed. One of the servers said, "Are you all Shaolin people?" We're not, but that's what people tend to think. She laughingly asked us not to break anything, and said she loved our "Gi uniforms." Or Ghi or whatever the Karate ones are called. "Wear the Gi with pride," she said. No one corrected her.

The food was delish, the laugher was sincere (because the jokes were funny,) and the dessert was shared. At the end, The Empress and I took our traditional Bad Angle Photo, which we do every time we all go out together.

( Kung Fu party pics. )

On Friday the 23rd, I got to hang with my two best friends from high school. (Tangent: I did have two more friends in high school, and one of them I still hear from sporadically, and the other, I don't know what became of him. His name was Jimmy; He was teenytiny, played guitar, and we used to go out to lunch every day and do stupid things like photocopy our body parts, loiter around the candy stores, break bottles against the wall of Pergament, set fire to leaves, and generally act the fool – but we never got caught.)

ANYway, these two friends I still keep in regular contact with, after, what, 23 years now? Durga moved to Washington (we lived in Seattle as roomies briefly in the 90s, and she loved the state and eventually went back,) and Drex lives close enough that we still get together now and then, mostly for video games. So, Durga had come up for the holidays to spend time with her Mom, and she came by here for a few hours. I invited Drex along, and we had the old gang back together. Drex brought over a 30 gallon fish tank he has no more use for. We went to my Mom's, had pizza, and laughed until we cried. Holy crap, Drex can really tell a story and get everyone larfing all the larfs.

I had to work early the next day, and the mini-party ended around 1:30 AM. Before they left, we took pictures in front of my tree, re-creating the Nativity. ^_^

( Xmas eve eve )

I worked on Christmas Eve. One person tipped me double, another didn't tip me at all. I guess it evened out.

On actual Christmas, Mom and I took turns visiting Boychild's Mama/Boychild/Mom's side of the family at their house across the street. (Boychild's Daddy was working a double.) CeceAnn was there with her three kiddies, and also my Aunt, the one who was in the car accident this past year and lost her leg. It was good to see her smiling and looking well. I went over there while my Mom watched Haku, and then I took Haku back to mine and my Mom went for her visit. She brought over Grampa's shirt to give to my aunt.

Boychild's Mama baked up a storm, which I am still eating, actually. The adults played with the kids' toys, and for the third time in one week, I laughed until I cried.

( Crimbo 1.0 )

And this is where I laughed myself dehydrated: here's Mimi having a helluva time trying to say "Ghostbuster."



Then Xmas night, That Guy I'm Seeing came by in his new (well not new-new) truck. We had some egg nog and I gave him this gold paper crane I had made, with a tag that said, "drive safely" in Kanji. Except the paper crane looked really dorky and he thought it was a pterodactyl so we decided it would be a lucky, golden pteranodon instead.

I worked on the 26th and 27th. To all my clients and co-workers, Christmas was over, but I still had one more gathering. SB, Jo-chan, UD (their Dad, my Uncle,) and Boychild's Mama with Boychild all went to my Mom's for belated Xmas dinner.

There weren't a helluva lot of gifts going around, but what there was, was awesome. Pajamas, socks, handwarmers, things like that. Some people don't even get those, you know. I had given SB and Jo-chan their gifts already, last month. It was Skyward Sword, and who wants to wait for that? I had also pre-ordered them ages ago, and got one for Boychild, too. When I gave him his Skyward Sword game, he danced around the room singing, "OH YEAH! OH YEAH! I GOT IT! I GOT IT!" I just missed recording that; it was awesome and totally worth the wait.

Boychild had gotten, from his parents, a replica Master Sword and Hylian Shield, which everyone had to take turns playing with, especially my Uncle. He's pretty much as big a gamer as I am, maybe even bigger.

One other important thing that happened was this: For a long time, my Mom has been trying to get Dad's music/interviews/rehearsals/ramblings from reel-to-reel onto CD. The reels are ancient, and so are the players, and she had no way to convert them. SB is majoring in music and he's got this incredible wealth of technological knowledge, and resources too. So SB and my Mom spent hours in my Dad's music room, not only figuring out the RTR (and a few of us sporadically came and went to help out – I actually remembered how to set up the RTR! WTH!) but mostly it was SB and my Mom, talking about my Dad (his uncle) and this and that. He's a really good boy who was extremely close to his uncle and I think this was a nice thing for both of them. I love that he gets to help preserve—really save—my Dad's music and history. But, that was only the preliminary "this is what you need to accomplish this, and this is how it works" thing, so he'll be back to actually upload them one of these days.

Also, I got Jo-chan what I thought was a really fly gift, and she was totally pleased with it. A few weeks before, we were hanging around talking about which type of character we would be in the world of Legend of Zelda. We all agreed she'd be a Kokiri. She wondered if anyone had ever made or sold the "Kokiri Emerald" from Ocarina of Time. I was so dang thrilled to find one for her on Etsy. So that was really awesome, too. And my Mom get her an Adiposian from Dr. Who, because the three of us watch that show together.

Boychild, for the first time ever, picked out the gifts he wanted to give to everyone, from the store and from his pre-school sale. For me, pink pajamas and awesome socks, along with a Santa Clause ring. For my Mom, pajamas (I forgot which color!) and black socks, and a keyblade charm from Kingdom Hearts. For Jo-chan, pajamas with kitties on them and something else which I forgot. For SB, Ninja Turtle pajamas. How he knew that SB is the biggest Ninja Turtles fan ever and has been since the womb, practically, I will never guess.

Pics!

( Crimbo 2.0 )

And that was that. Now it's Friday, and I have work tomorrow, New Years Eve. But that's cool, I don't do NYE anyway; it's not my thing. I don't ring in the new year or anything. In fact, I'll either be watching Torchwood or Dexter, or I'll be in bed reading the new King book. I'm about a quarter of the way through.

Oh, probably about a quarter of the way through Skyward Sword, too. Two of my cousins finished it in days. Me, I like to stretch it out as long as possible. Like today. Instead of starting the new dungeon, I walked around with the Gust Bellows and blew on all the NPCs I could find. I posted it to Tumblr and somehow it became very popular. (Not as popular as my "Tenth Doctor/IT IS DEFENDED from the pepper spraying cop" Meme that I did, which ended up on the official BBC Tumblr with over 3500 reblogs. But still popular. ^_^ )

And now, onto 2012/Year Of The Dragon. I will keep working, recording, reading and playing, keep writing, keep querying, and I will KEEP ON TRYING TILL I RUN OUT OF CAKE.

Work has been suuuuuperrrrr sllloooooowwwww. I only had five appointments last week, and this week so far only five again. It better start picking up!

While most of my time has been wiled away on the new Zelda. I'm not even very far along into it, either. Like with most things I like, I try to slow down and make it last. (Which is why I'm still not caught up with Dr. Who even though I started watching it over the summer, and am taking it really slow with Torchwood. How often do I watch a tv show? Not often, so when I do, I need to make it last.)

I've been writing, reading (the new King actually,) and yeah that's about it. Haku got his staples out today. It's two weeks since his surgery. He won't be able to walk for another six so I'm still carrying his ass around everywhere. Good exercise I guess, but so not good for my back. I need a massage in the worst way. I'm due for one, too, as part of a trade.

I also don't want anyone to think that I've been cocooned all in my house here, unaware of what's going on in the world. For most of my political/sociological/feminist stuff, I'm using my Tumblr now. Although it's not just for that stuff; it's also for fun.

You should know I'm super tired right now and not making any kind of sense at all.

It's been pretty cold out. I've been listening to Seth MacFarlane's CD. It's too quiet without Belle. My goldfish, The Doctor, it getting big. I accidentally texted The Gold Dragon that we would definitely get together after the holocaust, and if he's studying, I wish him good lick. Today is my best friend's birthday and I can't wait to see her and give her prezzies. I watched The Christmas Invasion (Dr. Who) while writing out my first cards in 3 years. I want a Zelda tattoo, because it's about time. I feel like I'm close to getting an agent. I know I said that last year, too, but this year it feels closer. My Mom asked me if I could see my cousins' holiday lights from my yard; I told her I could see them from space. I did most of my Xmas shopping on Etsy. I read a novel about Torchwood and it was SO BAD. I love the Kindle because you can write notes in it when you find typos. I spent the last two days watching the ridiculous movie for King's Bag Of Bones. Why the hell are the mini-series' (or whatever they are called, not sure when it's only 2 episodes) usually so damn bad? I miss the Tenth Doctor. The world is changing and I'm changing with it. We live in interesting times.

Etc.

Today it hit 105. See, now this is my summer day. It was already 95 when I went outside at around 10 AM to take the dogs out. Mmmmm that is some delicious weather. I realize I'm the only person on the planet who loves this, but I do. And tomorrow is going to be even hotter. Of course, I will be at work, where even in the warmest room (which they considerately give to me,) the AC is cranked down to freezing. However, I'm allowed to close the vent, which I do.

While I'm talking about work, I want to talk about this one CD that gets played on repeat there. Every time it comes on, it's so loud, with these overwhelming strings. It's supposed to be relaxing, but it's like a six-minute funeral dirge. It is so awful. It comes on and all I can think about is protracted death scenes and long, painful farewells. It's six minutes of mawkish noise and I hate it. I hate it so much I very nearly have to buy it, just so I can put it up somewhere and say "Isn't this song a mawkish dirge?!" and have everyone agree with me. It's called "Breath of Morning" which to me sounds like "morning breath" but whatever, that's not even the point.

Sad, overbearing songs aside, let's see, what else is going on aside from the heat? I got a new betta fish, that's one thing! His name is Shemar. Don't even laugh at me. He's pretty. Check him out.
( Shemar )

See how he's mostly blue, but the red shoots out from his body to his tail and fin? He's really cool looking and badass so his name is Shemar.

Now, everyone look at: ( my leg )

It looks a bit better, right? It's stopped oozing blood at least, but still bruised up. When I came home from Kung Fu on tuesday though, my ankle got all swollen again and I had to ice it. Still, it doesn't hurt except down by my ankle where there is a hard little knob of pain. Actually, it's starting to itch. Now you all know.

I also want to show you guys my ice peen, and I'm not even putting this behind a cut because it's too amazing. This is an actualfax ice cream I was eating the other night:



Okay, so I did the top of it on purpose by sucking on it, but come on now, seriously. WHAT IN THE WORLD, how did it get to look so... Just so. You can't even deny that that is amazing.


It's like art. I was only being a little bit cheeky and that's what came out. I haven't been able to replicate it since then. BUT I WILL KEEP TRYING.

And here is ( me today )

I look like someone's overheated Italian Mama in a sack dress. I was inspired to go outside and pick some grapes after I took this photo of myself, so that's what I did. I picked grapes and I gave them to my aviary birds. (Six of them now: Reid, Penelope, Hotch, Emily, Morgan and the ever-present Car. My two sparrows, JJ and Rossi, are still inside. Good batch this year though.)

I know what else I wanted to document. The other night, I started watching Dr. Who. All of my friends are really into it and I was looking for another show that I could set down and enjoy every few nights or so. I've only seen 3 episodes as of yet, but so far I like it. It's made me miss London, even though I was only there briefly. I think often of going back. I really hope to, someday.

Oh, and! I'm reading Atonement. God, what prose! But according to every review I've ever read, no matter what happens between page one and the end, it's the final page that breaks your heart. Every review is saying something like "I'm writing this after sobbing for a few hours." So I'm really curious as to what happens on the last page. I can't wait to get there. Well, and dreading it, at the same time.

I think that's about it. Anything else would have to go into a locked post.

And I have to remember: go dancing in the park Monday!

Last Saturday after work, I was outside with Sano when I heard my neighbor's kid shouting about this cool bird she'd found. She was outside riding bikes with her brother and their friend. (Tangentially: these are the kids of the guy I used to ride bikes with when we were that age. Last year he moved back in next door. His kids are actually really nice.) So, I put Sano inside and went running over, figuring she'd found a baby bird or something. Because, it's almost June and I haven't had a single baby bird yet. (WTF.)

But it wasn't a baby. It was a full-grown, blue and green parakeet. We all kind of circled around it and finally I managed to catch it in my sweater.



This is Derek. He's named after Derek Morgan from Criminal Minds. He's got a band on his leg and I should really check it. Now that I'm thinking about it, that's not a bad idea.

But if no one claims him, I guess he is my parakeet. He's pretty cute, and I'll always take a bird in need, so there it is. :)

Also this week, I got a new broadsword! This one has an actualfax live blade (just a lot thicker,heavier, steel, and sharpened.)

( Here, under the cut. )

Wow, look at how gorgeous that blade is! I'm just afraid that once I start using it, I'll cut myself in half. Can't tell you how many times I've whacked myself with the broadsword I've used for years. It's a lot thinner, lighter and not as sharp. Guess I'm going to have to start slow and stop making stupid mistakes.

Today is the first warm, sunny day of the season. It has rained every day for over two weeks and not gotten above 60. I'm sick of it! I still have my stupid winter clothes out. Not awesome.

Here is some excellent news, though. My job did a press release not only about hiring me, but also about the Hula class they want me to teach. Within hours of the release, four people signed up. They have until July to sign even more. So I definitely have a class to teach over the summer and I am SO STOKED. I hope I get tons of students, and of all different age groups.

The people I work with are really sweet and fun. I feel like I'm finding a little niche there and it's one that I like. I know now, realistically, that I'm going to have to find other ways to supplement my income. I'm going to have to freelance – which is just as well. I just need to figure out a few things before I start doing that. Although, I am getting some nice change for the Hula classes. :D Which is going to take the edge off Haku's vet bills a bit, too.

Just yesterday I was talking to a darling friend of mine about vet bills. I know I bitch about them a lot and am always talking about them. But I don't think I've ever specified how much the vet bills actually were.

Since May of '09, between Sano and Haku, their veterinary bills have hit upwards of about $45,000 dollars. That is three zeroes you see after that. It might be more by now, with the monthly meds; I haven't counted those in yet.

But since '09, Haku has had 5 surgeries. He's had an MRI, spinal tap, ultrasound, and countless x rays. He's had months of rehab, weeks of hospital stays (which can be up to $100 a night.) At least one of Haku's conditions (the missing kidney) can be traced back to Dr. Dickwhistle. That's not official, but I've asked vets and techs all around the island (without mentioning his name) and they seem to all agree that it's likely that Dr. Dickwhistle accidentally cut Haku's ureter while he was up there looking for a second testicle during his neuter. Spay. Speuter. Whatever.

Sano, since '09, has had X rays, ultrasounds (on his liver, due to one vet accidentally doubling the dose of his meds and blowing out his liver AND his bone marrow,) three-week stay in the hospital last autumn, and three blood transfusions – each at a thousand or so dollars each. He also gets bi-monthly blood tests for the ITP. The ITP is also a result of a mistake by Dr. Dickwhistle, but that one was a willful mistake.

One of these days I've got to take a picture of the "dog pharmacy" as I call it. You'd have to see it to believe the amount of pill and supplement bottles that line the counter.

So, yeah. Over forty five thousand dollars in vet bills over the last two years. That's more than my college cost.

I still want to punch people when they tell me that it's not worth it to keep taking care of them. Also, before anyone says "YOU SHOULD GET PET INSURANCE," rest assured that neither dog is in any way insurable with their preexisting conditions. Pet insurance. I wish.

Anyway, that's just what was on my mind.

So now I've got this parakeet—and I think they're also called budgies? I hope so, because "budgies" just make me think of Monty Python. So far he has not flown out of my lavatory and infringed on my personal freedom.

Plenty of stuffs going on in Kung Fu as well, but that will all be for later posts! ^_^

I'm off tomorrow, except for taking Haku to his physical therapy. I've been taking the dogs to the beach a lot, on my days off. Maybe I'll take them again after his rehab. They have such a great time there and I get lots of videos.

Oh, I should also mention that last Thursday, as I was walking along the beach with the dogs, I dropped my camera into the bay. I had to actually go into my piggy bank for the first time ever to get some cash and buy a new one. I got a little Canon PowerShot for like $170. Ugh, still a lot of money, but I legitimately couldn't go more than a few hours without having a camera. Which is crazy. Anyway, it's fuchsia.

So, that's what's been going on in this neck of the woods for the last week or so. Guess I'll wrap this up now.

ETA: last minute! My cousin just brought over a baby bird. Finally! Her dog had it and it looks slightly worse for wear. But let's hope he'll be all right! ^_^