42053 October 30, 2004

I walked into an exotic pet store one day about eight years ago. Little did I know my life would never be the same. They had parrots, ferrets, boa constrictors, rabbits, scorpions and things of the like, but this store did not sell anything run of the mill or ordinary.

When I walked through the doors, I noticed a large cage in the middle of the floor. There were seven or eight tiny kittens in the cage. They were there for adoption. Apparently, this was a first for the mommy and she refused to nurse. Nursing one is time consuming, I can now tell you from experience, so I can imagine how nursing eight would be quite a task.

I played with several of them, picking them up, petting them. They were so soft and cute. Then one stumbled over and climbed into my hands. I picked him up and held him to me, and that was all it took. It was love at first sight. He held on for dear life, hugging me, purring. I melted.

It turned out that he was about a week old, so I became mommy. I nursed him, taught him to use the litter box and how to behave. I am the only scent he’s really ever known. During those weeks, we bonded and became family. His name is Hemingway.

He fit in the palm of my hand the day I brought him home. He now weighs 30 pounds. As it turns out, he is a main coone. They are notorious for their size. He is as big, if not bigger then some of the dogs I’ve known. For some reason, a large cat is more intimidating than a big dog to some people. The most common phrase in my house for guests is “Oh my god, he’s huge. Keep that thing away from me.”

About three years ago, I moved into a house with two girls. One of them I knew, and of one of them I did not. Shortly after I moved in, the girl I did know decided to move out. About a month later, I found out the hard way that one of my roommate’s friends was abusing my cat when I wasn’t there. He attacked someone and he shredded her arm. Of course, I never got the whole story, only bits and pieces from people who felt bad for me.

I had to keep him isolated for about a year. After I moved out of that house, he was too traumatized to be around people he didn’t know. He had developed terror triggers, the most apparent one being meowing.

Giving him away is not an option. Either is having roommates or leaving someone alone in my home. I can’t take the risk that he could attack someone again. This seriously limits me.

The dangers of apartame – article October 29, 2004

I don't know how accurate this article is, but I thought it was interesting.

http://www.naturodoc.com/library/nutrition/aspartame.htm

I'm taking over your friends page… mwahahahahaha October 25, 2004

Okay, update time…

So, last Monday I got a letter from the state saying “psyche, we were just kidding, you don't really have unemployment compensation.” I guess they talked to Deborah and she wouldn't approve it. Okay, so now I have to look for a job waiting tables. I have my eye on a couple of vegetarian restaraunts I found on the internet that sound pretty fabulous, now I just have to pray that one of them hires me. Keep your fingers crossed for me. I've done the industry gambit, I've done up-scale, fine dining, holes, bars, and gourmet vegetarian… I really liked the vegetarian restaurant. It was the people. I worked with some realy neat people there.

The insurance agency of the guy who hit my car, thus far, has been cooperative. yay!

Brian and I have started eating healthy and taking vitamins every day! When I'm not taking vitamins, I always forget how much better I feel when I am. There is such a noticeable difference! I've been taking 5HTP for almost 4 weeks too. HUGE difference!! I swear by that stuff now. I'm not as stressed (even though I should be) and I'm not experiencing SAD as badly as I usually am this time of year (up north).

This weekend we went to see The Thrill Kill Kult at the Trocadaro… they were fab. Oh yes, and Ministry was there too. Of course, an old friend of mine is the drummer, so how could they have been anything but fab! It was great to see Jason. It made me wish he lived closer. I would love to be able to go to dinner with him again. It was nice to see him, but he was exhausted and there was some kind of drama going on that he was trying to take care of and he was surrounded by people who love him and miss him. When he was last here we were both going through shitty things and we were both miserable and depressed. I wish we could spend some time now that we're both doing so much better. Okay, rambling…

We were going to go to the after party, but Brian was starving and by the time we finished eating dinner it was after midnight. We were turned into pumpkins.

This was a fantastic weekend!! It was just great. I was happy and we had a lot of fun… we did a lot and yet we didn't really do that much, know what I mean? Friday was TKK. Saturday, we tried to do some yard sale-ing, but we didn't know where to find those penny pincher mag's with them listed, so we didn't have any kind of game plan. We went to Media and walked around. We went to Selene Food Co-op… they had carob!!!!! YAY. (I've been on a carob bar hunt for several weeks and I finally found one.) We went to the art store in town… very cute. and then we went to Trader Joe's. That place is awesome!! I was surprised at how good their prices are. We had a yummy dinner. We got roasted garlic chicken sausage, pasta, and sundried tomato basil sauce at Trader Joe's. Took no time to make and was incredible. We spent several hours working on the computers. We sit side by side doing our homework. Cute or dorky? Hmmm, both. I love being able to do that. I think if we started a graphic design business together, it work out well. Sunday we woke up later than we wanted to, drank awesome Trader Joe's coffee, Brian took pictures of Hemingway, we went to drop off jewelry at Walking Turtle, went to Home Depot to get full spectrum lights for me. Then we went back to Brian's, did some more home-work, made dinner and watched Law and Order. Phew… so I lied, we did do a lot.

It's time to go do some research for speech class…

40330 October 18, 2004

Brian and I spent the weekend in Massachusetts. We went to visit Brian's brother, Gregg. No, not Boston. We were in a little town called North Hampton. It's so beautiful. I love the fact that there is a co-op in every town. It's a very liberal area where the things that are important to me, are important to a lot of other people.

Gregg took us to Vermont on Saturday. It's been soooo many years since I've have spent time that far north. I had almost forgotten how gorgeous it is. We found a very old, very beautiful graveyard where Brian took a bunch of pictures. Oh yeah, I almost forgot about the cute older lady whose car broke down. We gave her a ride to the gas station. We also stopped at an orchard on the side of the road where I picked apples, ooh I have to get those out of my car.

My car got hit…. AGAIN.

We got to Gregg's, parked the car on the street, went out for a nice dinner, came back and watched The Office (hysterical English t.v. show), I passed out, woke up feeling good, took a shower, and……………

WHAM
Some guy in a pick-up truck backed right into it, smashed the mirror, and put a nice big dent in the door.
Amazingly, none of the windows were broken.

what is the universe trying to tell me?

well, I didn't get anything done for school this weekend, so I have to go to that now!!

Wait, wait I was wrong… October 14, 2004

This is quality entertainment!!!

Thanks to for showing this to me.

Edit: By the way, the website the images are linked to is worth checking out.

Looking for quality entertainment… October 14, 2004

Look no further.

Yes boys and girls, this is 100% for real…

Dear god… October 13, 2004

Please make me not be sick anymore!!!

It's official… October 12, 2004

I'm as sick as a dog. I feel like hell. I should have slept this weekend, but it just didn't happen. I had so much work to do, which of course didn't get done. It's hard to be creative when all you want to do is crawl into bed and stay there for the next decade.

*sniffle-sniffle*
*sneeze*

I need a digital camera… October 8, 2004

Hemingway is stalking a one of my rubber bands… he he he he

I think I'm sick… I feel like poop. My throat is swollen and it hurts… bah. I need to kick this one quick. I don't have time to be sick damn it.

Debate paper… October 7, 2004

I had to write a paper for my speech class on the political debate held last Thursday. We were not allowed to voice any opinions or write anything that would let our professor know who we were voting for. Whoa, that was a really difficult paper to write…

Damn, my head is really starting to hurt!!

Perspiration, 5 o'clock shadow, and the wrong shirt quite possibly cost Richard Nixon a crucial television debate against John F. Kennedy in 1960. The American public cares a great deal what our leaders look like and how they appear. In this day and age of television, computers, and convenience, debates are how this society decides on a candidate. It's fast-food politics.

We rely heavily on nonverbal communication to make that decision. Nonverbal communication can be a powerful and valuable tool. It allows the speaker to emphasize and accentuate the meaning of their words as well as make them more visible to the viewer, but it can also betray them by revealing their thoughts and feelings.

The first Presidential debate for the upcoming election was held this past Thursday evening. President George Bush and Senator John Kerry debated the war in Iraq, how the situation in North Korea should be dealt with and what needs to be done for homeland security. Both candidates were exceedingly expressive, both verbally and nonverbally.

A frequent use of body language is talking with ones hands. Kerry told entire stories using his hands, with the occasional fist in the air for emphasis. Bush used his hands as well, but almost solely for emphasis. He pounded his fist on the podium, using visualization and sound to accentuate whatever point he was making at that moment.

Another use of nonverbal language I noticed was posture. Kerry stood upright, implying composure, command and neutrality, while Bush leaned toward the listener, insinuating comfort, ease and camaraderie with his palms up and open.

Shaking and nodding your head to accentuate the positives and negatives is an old sales technique. It's a silent way to convince your patron to agree with you. Bush used this more than Kerry, but both candidates used this old technique.

Facial gestures are a prevalent type of nonverbal communication. Kerry uses his eyebrows. When Kerry listened to Bush's criticisms, his right eyebrow went up. Bush is very expressive with his mouth. When Bush listened to Kerry's criticisms, he grimaced or smirked. Intentional or not, it did show when they felt annoyance.

Each candidate had their own way to express compassion. Bush used words, speaking of a grieving widow with whom he prayed. He used pause for emphasis here. Kerry, on the other hand, used body language. He showed us his compassion by putting his hands to his chest.

There was pause for emphasis, but it was primarily used in the closing statements. Each candidate is allotted a certain amount of time to answer or refute, thus eliminating the opportunity to use a pause for emphasis.

In a nation where public opinion has a way of solidifying into a type of reality, a fist or backward lean can carry meaning. In the end, we will all have to decide for ourselves what the candidates were conveying, whether purposeful or not.