This is my story

Randi comes home tomorrow.

I'm sweating.

agh.

Fortune cookie today: Doing what you love is freedom. Loving what you do is happiness.

Yeah, platitudinous. But it made me smile.

Another thing to add to my list of things that irritate the shit out of me... but first a little background. Back in the day *cough* before we had phones that answered with menus (a big peeve for me to begin with - I hate the things), we secretary types were trained that, if we had to put someone on hold for a long period of time, we should reconnect with them periodically to let them know they hadn't been abandoned or forgotten. The length of time we could leave them alone varied a little, usually about 30 seconds - 1 minute. Now on to the peeve. I hate it when an automated menu service does that to me. Who the HELL do they think they're fooling??? If some pre-recorded message comes on every once in a while (usually interrupting some nice song I'm listening to while I wait) and tells me that my call will be answered by the next available person, do they think I'll actually believe they care? I particularly hate the ones who say "Your call is important to us." Bullshit. If it was so important, why am I still on hold? I'd rather they be honest, shut the fuck up, and let me listen to the music while I wait.

Yeah, I'm a bit irritable today.

I buried one of our pet cats today.

Ivan was a Siamese cat. He was about 18 years old. He had enormous fangs (hence the name, Ivan the Terrible), but a gentle spirit. More than anything in life, he loved being petted and held. For a long time he was devoted to Randi and wouldn't let me come near him, but we finally made friends, and then he was fine.

For the past year, he'd been getting thinner and thinner, and a bit senile as well. But he could still jump up to get his food, he was eating and drinking normally, and he seemed fine. Then, on Friday, he just stared at the food like he wanted to eat but couldn't. By Sunday, I knew he was dying, and I dug a hole for him. He died Sunday night. I suppose I could have taken him to the vet, but the emergency costs are enormous, and he sank so fast, I didn't have time to consider it much. As it is, I think he was better off here. He didn't seem to be in any pain. Sunday night he just curled up in one of the cat beds. I gave him some food, and while he didn't eat it, he pulled it up close to him so none of the other cats would. My new kitty, Poofer, spent almost all day Sunday with him, just hanging around, and my dog, Paris, gave him a tongue bath. Then he moved to another bed and settled down for the night, and I found him in the exact same position this morning, only cold and stiff.

And that's all I can say, because now I'm crying again.

I hope (and, I'll admit, assume) that my online friends are forgiving me for not being around much. Life's been busy and tiring lately, trying to get the house ready for a roomie who will come back with a wheelchair and walker. However, the good news is, we have a date that she'll come home - May 30th. That's dependent on some routines that she has to practice, because she has to be able to do certain things when no one is there, since I'm out of the house from 5AM to 6:30PM. However, she's making excellent progress, so it will probably be May 10th. Then I'll have even more work to do! But it'll be different work, not so fatiguing. She's so excited - she hasn't seen her home or her animals since Nov. 21st, after all.

I finally got myself into Goodreads. I think. Maybe twice. It seems to be attached to Facebook. I'm not sure I'll ever get social media.

I also added an RSS feed to my Catherine Dove blog. Sheesh. My head hurts.

Little rant:

Among several things I dislike about social media, I really dislike those pass-around things. You know the type - cartoons or photos or cheap sentiment that you find in your email as well as in Facebook etc. It's not the stuff so much that I don't like, it's the way you're practically blackmailed into participating in the mess. You know the technique: "Send this to your friends, and send it back to the person who sent it to you to show that you appreciate them." (Hon, if you don't know I appreciate you, then either you're dense or I'm abstruse.) "If you believe in this, Like this post and share with your friends." (Insinuating that, if I don't obey, then I don't believe in helping starving children or the handicapped or war veterans, or something else equally, ahem, radical.)

I may agree with the philosophy or sentiment, or find the cartoon funny, but I will not succumb to being coerced to spread the thing through my mailing list. For one thing, my mailing lists include a wide variety of people, all of whom, I do assume, would rather keep their email and social media free of useless fluff. For another, I resent any attempt by any person to coerce me to do anything. So if you've run across something that you thought I'd enjoy or smile at, great, send it along. I often do enjoy and/or smile at them, because I have cool friends. But don't expect me to respond by being an Internet pusher.

( The odd thought or two, probably of interest to no one )

I do have more concrete things to mention. They plan to send my roomie home in two to three weeks. My feelings are mixed, because on the one hand it'll be good to have her home, and on the other, I'll have even more work to do for a while.

Oh, yeah, and I'm a brunette now. My hair is light brown, like acorn shells. I like it. I love dying my hair. It's a fun way to change myself.

Y'all know how much I love Shakespeare. But sometimes, not so much. His language is usually beautiful, but I admit to some twitching when a character comes in, states that there is little time, and then spends 5 or 10 lines describing the dawn rather than getting on with his actions. And tonight, I'm watching Anthony and Cleopatra, and I'm saying, "Come on, just shut up and die, would you???"

Yeah. Nothing's perfect.

"Life is hard; it's harder if you're stupid." ~ John Wayne

LOL!!