‘Cats’ Category

  1. loki at 5 months

    February 23, 2005 :: 11:07 pm

    loki monster, kitten of mischief and fire, is starting to develop his grownup cat features. his face is elongating. check this out:

    it’s always funny to take flash photos of black cats. they always come out looking glossy gray.

    Category Cats | Tags: | No Comments

  2. horrible evening

    February 21, 2005 :: 8:40 am

    i did the most horrible thing last sunday night. driving home from dinner, i hit a cat with the car. it was dark outside, and i did not see him until the very last second, and it was too late. i freaked out and pulled over. doc got out and i drove the car around the block to park it off the main road, and then ran back to where he was. doc couldn’t find the kitty, which made me feel even worse because it means that he didn’t die right away… he probably went off somewhere to hide, and died slowly and in awful pain. all because of me. and what if he was somebody’s pet? that person is probably still combing the neighborhood, heartbroken that their kitty disappeared. i didn’t even see what he looked like; i think he was dark in color. i just saw his tail and back legs disappearing beneath the front wheels, and heard the awful thud. there’s no way he could have survived it. all because of me.

    i cannot begin to describe how horrible i feel.

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  3. one way to skin a dreamcat

    February 6, 2005 :: 10:26 am

    i had some strange and upsetting dreams last night. in one, i dreamed that i went downstairs and did the dishes. seems mundane, i know, but when you wake up and realize you did all that work in your dream and it wasn’t even real, and that the task still awaits you…

    in another one — and this was truly horrible — i dreamed that i had to take off neko’s skin, while she was still alive. just the back half of her. i had to do it with an exacto knife. she didn’t seem to mind too much; i guess that it didn’t actually hurt. i had to slice all the way around her tummy and then pull her skin off like a pair of tight jeans. i could see her little internal organs and everything. it was horrible. i woke up sobbing.

    and then in another one, i dreamed that my parents were getting married again. it was in some gigantic bizarre church. i was sitting outside in lawn chairs around a little table with some of the wedding party, but i think that they were actually from kathryn’s wedding, which was on the same day. i was supposed to try to go to both of them but kathryn was running two hours late so i couldn’t go to hers. anyway, i was thinking that it was a little weird that her wedding party included brad robertson, michael briones, and chris werner. she didn’t even know brad or michael, they were my friends from high school.

    i went inside and was trying to straighten up in the room where the beer and wine was, and trying to fix some lettering that said “Beer” and “Wine” in wide red duct tape on a blue corrugated plastic sign. then i realized that the wedding had already started and that i’d better go inside. i knew i was procrastinating for some reason but couldn’t figure out why. when i went in, i sat in a folding chair with a TV tray in the back of the church, that had a sign in sheet and a plate of cookies. after a few minutes, i moved up to the front but wasn’t sure whether i should sit on the bride’s side or the groom’s side, since i came from both! eventually i sat down on the left in the front row. it all was very casual, there were people talking and getting up even as my parents were up at the front doing their vows.

    a small, sad woman in burgundy came in and sat next to me. she had dark curly hair and glasses. i realized it was mom, but i couldn’t figure out why she was sad. this was some sort of break in the wedding where the guy up front was reciting some stuff, so mom and dad had come back to sit down. everyone was miked but the sound was really hollow and scratchy sounding. then a man dressed like a greenman got up and started reciting poetry or something while leaping around the church sprinkling water over everyone.

    then we were all in the back, and it was kind of like my house. i was searching in cabinets for a particular candle, a light green patchouli candle in a plain straight votive holder. i kept opening up drawers and cabinets and shelves and they were just crammed full of all kinds of candles, candles in jars, square candles, ones still in wrappers, votives, large ones, small ones, fruity scented ones, ones in bright primary colors. hundreds or thousands of candles. i thought to myself that i had to get mom to stop buying me all these candles, that i had no use for a house full of wax, it was such a fire hazard. she kept searching for the green candle i wanted, and i said “stop. you just got married. this is supposed to be your honeymoon. let’s go have a glass of wine.” i think i meant “reception” but i said “honeymoon” instead. she was still so sad and i just hugged her and told her that i loved her.

    Category Cats, Dreams, Family | Tags: | 1 Comment

  4. new and improved!

    December 6, 2004 :: 10:58 pm

    Here are some photos of new things around the house. These new things consist mainly of a cat and a couple of coats of new paint on the walls. The paint was planned; the cat, as they say, was a “surprise.”

    loki is so freakin’ cute that, as doc says, we have both developed a blood sugar disorder.

    his tiny golden eyes remind me of those chocolate easter bunnies we used to get as kids, that had little yellow sugar eyes with huge blue pupils. remember those? i loved eating that crunchy eyeball off the bunny. that’s what loki’s eyes look like… except, of course, i have no desire to chew on them.

    neko is being soooo super-sweet. she has turned into a snuggly lap cat. go figure. maybe she’s sucking up, or maybe she’s trying to prove that she’s still a kitten, that she’s still the cute little babycat. maybe she’s trying to solidify her position as tertiary cat, fearing that she might be bumped down to quarternary cat (is that the right term?) in the pecking order.

    she was looking at me earlier tonight as i sat here at the computer. her eyes were HUGE and liquidy and the black pupils were as big as her eyes themselves. remember puss in boots from shrek 2? and how he started purring and his eyes got all liquidy and huge and you just wanted to die from cuteness? THAT is exactly what neko was doing. she must have been watching HBO while we were gone and picked up that technique.

    loki, the grand unifier, the kitten of mischief and fire, has brought balance and order to the cativerse. all four cats are strangely peaceful. neko rarely chases martini anymore (she got a taste of her own medicine, haha!), and martini and angst are getting used to the new kitten MUCH faster and more smoothly than we thought they would.

    this third photo is my lava lamp against our new red wall. i tried to take a photo of our new paint job but i think i’m going to have to get doc to do that for me. nothing i took came out worth a darn, except for this lava lamp photo.

    the house looks AMAZING. it’s incredible what a couple of gallons of paint can do for a place. i feel like we’re living in a designer magazine (that is, if i ignore our shabby furniture) instead of a cruddy beige 1980s white-walled plain old boring pre-trading-spaces-looking house.

    next project: painting the upstairs. or, getting new flooring to replace our carpet. or, redoing the kitchen. or, getting a new tree for the courtyard…

    ah, homeownership.

    Category Cats, House | Tags: | No Comments

  5. three’s an angry furry crowd, so is four a zen balance?

    November 22, 2004 :: 3:11 pm

    You thought Neko was cute… how about THIS cat?! Check out the little guy with the black fur on the right. This is Loki, the Kitten of Mischief and Fire.

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  6. random thoughts on politics, holidays, and the moon

    October 27, 2004 :: 9:27 pm

    we voted early last weekend. not that it matters one way or the other, seeing as how we live in a giant red state. however, something interesting has been happening: i’ve been seeing pro-bush, anti-kerry ads on tv. here. in texas.

    why?

    you’d think that if they thought they had the state wrapped up, they wouldn’t bother spending the money on unnecessary ads.

    unless they’re not unnecessary.

    ha-HA!

    oh, hell, i know it’s a pipe dream. but i can dream, can’t i??

    in other news…
    chris hamilton, a friend who is a photographer, came over and took a bunch of pictures of our cats for a business he’s starting. they turned out great! i don’t think that i can really post any in a public forum (they are his pictures, after all). our halloween party is this coming saturday. on friday, in our new building at work, we are having little preschool kids coming through to trick-or-treat. our office’s theme is “black and white” (even though we just moved and are still settling in, and have had no time to think of holiday decor, the whole building is apparently expecting great things from “the creative group,” so we brainstormed the other day and came up with something). anyway, i’m going to wear my black and white stripey stockings and my short black supermodel wig. man, any excuse to wear alternate hair!!

    the moon eclipsed tonight. we saw it for a few minutes through a break in the clouds. it was pretty cool; it turned this nice rusty red color. actually it’s still going on, but it’s awfully cloudy outside. in fact, the weather has just been horrible lately: incredibly sticky and very very warm. i want my cool dry crips autumn days, goddammit!

    Team America: World Police is freakin’ hilarious!! I highly recommend it, as long as you are over the age of 16 or so. America, FUCK YEAH!

    jon stewart was on crossfire last week, i think — the lesson learned here is, do not fuck with jon stewart; he will make you look like an idiot. he called that bowtied freak tucker carlson a dick! my favorite line, when carlson was poking at him about the quality of the questions he asked john kerry during his daily show appearance: “wait a minute, you are on CNN. you know what show leads into mine? puppets making crank phone calls.”

    Some fun links…
    Give Bush a Brain!
    iFilm political short films & clips (freakin’ awesome site!)
    the U2 iPod

    Category Cats, Halloween, Links, Movies, Photography, Politics, TV, Weather, Work | Tags: | No Comments

  7. vaction time is over

    September 28, 2003 :: 10:22 pm

    We just returned from a weekend trip to Wichita, Kansas. Now, laugh if you will, but Kansas is a really pretty place. It may be flat, but it has these tall forms of vegetation that the locals call “trees,” and they’re starting to turn from their natural green color to these gorgeous red and gold fall colors. The light is much more rich and golden there, the sky is clearer and bluer, and the weather was absolutely spectacular — dry, crisp, sunny, and cool. In fact, Friday night we were out at a bar listening to a band, sitting outside, and I was very grateful for the big space heaters that they had, because it was probably 50 or 55 degrees. In September!! I noticed several extremely cool things about Wichita: It is a very clean city; there is not much trash lying around, and the downtown does not smell like either diesel or urine; people with different skin colors and ethnicities hang out together (doesn’t happen much here in Dallas); a gang of “tough” teenagers on trick bikes rode past us at midnight on the streets downtown, and very pleasantly said “Hello” to us as they rode by; there is public art all over the freakin’ place, and it’s not defaced or destroyed. People seem altogether much less pretentious than in Dallas.

    The vet has told us that cute little Neko will always have a very cute little head… the key word being “little.” She is only about eight months old and already her head is pretty small for her body size, and the vet said that it probably would never grow to catch up with the rest of her! She really IS going to be a mini-Bob!

    No childhood stories tonight; I’m too tired (please, please, hold back your cries of disappointment).

    Happy birthday to my wonderful husband. :)

    Category Cats, Travel | Tags: | No Comments

  8. Happy Birthday Kimberly!

    July 2, 2003 :: 10:15 pm

    Darn it, I keep forgetting to bring photos home from work. Hillsman came to our signing at Barnes and Noble on June 14th, and took about 75 digital photographs. I have not even looked through them thoroughly yet. And then I scanned in photos that go with the fork story below, that I sent to Scott’s mom and dad. I wanted to add one to the blog entry, but I can’t seem to remember to put all that stuff on a CD before I leave for the day.

    Arushi and I moved the QFC pages to a new server. We finally broke down and bought commercial hosting services. My iDisk, while free, was too damned slow to use. It served pages to users at an OK speed, but uploading files was absolutely painful. So now editing, uploading, and downloading are much much MUCH easier, plus we can use FTP, plus we both have access to work on the pages, PLUS we have new custom email accounts! This all makes me happy.

    Unfortunately, our hosting service does not use Mac OS X Servers, but maybe we can eventually find one that does, at a comparably reasonable price. At least they offer a Linux option, so we don’t have to use Windows servers.

    Neko is eating something unidentifiable under the computer desk. It sounds like styrofoam. Aha, it IS styrofoam. Somehow she got ahold of a packing peanut. I don’t think I’ve had packing peanuts in my office… I wonder where she dug it up from.

    I’m also happy that it is a short week at work. On Friday we are probably going to hang out with Brittney and hopefully Kim as well. Dinner in air-conditioned comfort, watch fireworks somewhere, then maybe have some drinks to celebrate Kim’s 12-year medical anniversary, which is Saturday. I’m not positive exactly what the date signifies, if it’s the day she was diagnosed with the brain tumor, or maybe the day that she was given the all-clear by her doctors. At any rate, it is definitely an occasion to celebrate.

    Category Books, Cats, Friends, Holiday, Writing | Tags: | No Comments

  9. nemo, neko, neo…

    June 2, 2003 :: 10:02 pm

    Finding Nemo. Go see it. Right now. I don’t care if you are at work or if it’s 3 a.m. — it will be worth it. In fact, call me, because I will go see it again with you. This has got to be one of the coolest movies I’ve seen in a long time. Dude, I love the sea turtle. “First you were like, ‘Whoa!!!’ Then I was like ‘Whoa!’ Then you were like, ‘Whoa…..’”

    It made me laugh my ass off. And it made me cry. I was completely stunned by the sheer beauty of the film. And it made me realize just how brilliant the guys at Pixar are. Thanks, Steve! (wink) Hands down, this is the best Pixar movie yet.

    And how many movies can you name that show a caring, nurturing father figure? Not a strong, protective father figure — those are practically a dime a dozen these days, and granted, those are good qualities for a father to have. But what about a movie that shows a father who can display emotions like love and fear to his son? Having a hard time thinking of any? Us too. Well, except of course, Finding Nemo. It’s worth it for the male role model factor alone.

    Oh, be sure to stay ALLLL the way through the end credits. There’s a little bonus surprise for you right at the end, but you have to be sharp-eyed or you’ll miss it swimming across the screen.

    Speaking of creatures, imaginary or otherwise, whose names begin with “Ne” and end with “o,” our little Neko is a Matrixcat. She goes all Matrix jumping sidways off the walls, chasing the laser pointer. It is a sight to behold. If only I could capture her in Bullet Time… but I guess I’d need 50 or 60 more DV cams to do that, wouldn’t I?

    Category Cats, Movies | Tags: | No Comments

  10. dammit, i need more TIME

    May 22, 2003 :: 10:06 pm

    Good lord. There are just not enough hours in the day. It seems like before I know it, it’s midnight and I have to get to bed (katy on less than 7 hours of sleep is extra crabby), and it feels like I haven’t accomplished nearly enough. I work at a computer 8 hours a day, come home, work on my computer for another 3 hours, squeeze in dinner, maybe a little tv for unwinding and relaxation, quality time with Doc somewhere in there, and oh, all the OTHER non-digital creative stuff I am compelled to do… Could I just have about 3 more hours, please?? That’s all I ask, 3 hours per day. That way when it’s 11 p.m., I have 12 p.m., 13 p.m., and 14 p.m. left to go before it’s midnight.

    Little Neko, who we estimate is maybe four months old, appears to have gone into heat today. I think that’s a little young, but who knows. Maybe she’s just small for her age. We thought that she was just being cute and kittenish, rubbing herself maniacally all over the carpet. But she wouldn’t stop for anything, and then she started crouching with her butt in the air and her tail to one side. Hmmmm…. kind of suspicious. I picked her up and she desperately wanted to be held and petted and scratched, but still kept trying to poke her butt in the air. VERY suspicious, because she is normally the squirmiest little fuzzy creature you can imagine. An extensive internet search revealed that this is typical cat-in-estrus behaviour. I am amazed how difficult it was to find any site that had straightforward information on how a cat in heat behaves.

    So we get to schedule a little surgery tomorrow, I think. Poor baby. Snip snip.

    Book news: We have a book signing at the Barnes and Noble at Mockingbird and 75, on June 14th from 2 p.m. – 4 p.m. If you are reading this, come out!! We need you to be there, even if you’ve already bought a copy of the book!! We are going to do a little cooking demo and then sign books. (Assuming anyone comes to it at all.) Also, we are trying to set up a signing at a place called Book People in Austin. Borders at Preston and Royal wants to do a signing as well. Arushi and I know the PR guy, Jonathan Briggs, from high school.

    Category Books, Cats, My Boring Life, Writing | Tags: | No Comments

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