My cat’s most favorite feline friend in the whole, wide, world, is back in town! And still filching my ‘nip:

My cat is still somewhat ambivalent, she didn’t growl or fluff her tail when she saw him but she wasn’t super affectionate either. Time will tell, but BUTCH remembered me AND my ‘nip! I do think he remembers her too because he was outside the window singing her a “love song” earlier. He’s still a falsetto heheee.

I did see a moving van in front of BUTCH’s old house a week or so ago, and I thought they were moving out but I guess it was someone moving IN (I’d heard that BUTCH belonged to the daughter, and she’d taken him with her when she went off to college a few years ago, but I guess she’s back now and brought sweet little BUTCH with her.)

We’ll see if BUTCH walks my kitty home like he used to, and protects her from the big bad bully cats that have been harassing her lately. He’s so chivalrous it’s adorable.

The city recently sneakily passed a law where all cats must be licensed, but apparently it’s not a well-known law, because I didn’t know about it until my mom told me she read something in the paper about it (who reads newspapers anymore?) Fortunately, until the beginning of the year, the licenses are free, but you still gotta pay for a rabies shot which in my cat’s case cost about $100 since she was due for other shots as well and I figured since she was there, might as well get them all, right? Then I had to go stand in line at the Animal Control (actually I could have just mailed in the form, but since licenses are only good as long as the vaccination, I figured I might as well get it taken care of the same day.) They really need to put a “license only” window at the pound because it was really busy with people bringing strays and various mangy mutts and whatnot in, as well as quite a few people getting licenses for their pets or paying fines, etc. Anyway, I ended up waiting about 1/2 an hour, but the good part is I got a free packet of cat treats for my trouble. And my cat is now the proud owner of a shiny new CAT LICENSE TAG which she will no doubt promptly lose and I’ll have to pay a $10 replacement fee (or get her microchipped, which I’m sure will cost more. ) Bother. (And BTW, it’s ALL cats not just those that go outdoors who have to have the license. And I also found out all cats must be “fixed” as well, there are no cat breeders allowed in the city, “professional” or otherwise. Interesting. ::evil grin::)

sort of. PokePlushies added “paintable” adoptables and the first one up is a cat Cylin, and well … I had to get one. I painted it to match my cat Kaia.

Since I’m posting I might as well catch things up a bit, I’m feeling better, but not quite “well” yet but my disability runs out the end of the month and I’m not sure I’m gonna extend it, I think I’ll just leave it up to my doctor to decide. I probably could work at least part-time if I had to, but I’m not sure if working full-time again would just make me sick again or not, and I’ve still not figured out exactly what’s wrong with me. But at least I’m somewhat functional now, just not as well as I was when I was well. But if I continue to improve, things should be OK in a few more months. I’m definitely gonna suck it up and buy health insurance though once I start working again, cuz not being able to go to a specialist and stuff has really been frustrating. And under Obama-care they’d FORCE me to get insurance anyway haha. Well either that or pay a fine that’s considerably less than the cost of insurance. How are they gonna force poor people to pay anyway? Withhold their tax refunds? Take it out of their paychecks? You know the poor will whine how they’re unfairly targeted. And I know I for one would buy health insurance in a heartbeat if I could get it for only $100/month (assuming it didn’t have some outrageous deductible that is.)

and I was bored because I’m off work today so I made a cat movie! It’s about the dangers of drugs.

It’s a metaphor. Yeah. That’s it.

I’ve been playing around a bit with my new camera and I only have two complaints about it so far … one, the microphone pickup thingie is in a bad spot and I always want to cover it up with my finger when I’m filming movies because it’s in the only spot there’s no buttons in the way where I can grip the camera. And two, for some reason Winblowz doesn’t seem to recognize the camera as a device, which means I have to use the software that came with the camera to move stuff from the camera to my computer, which isn’t really that big a deal, but my old camera was auto-detected and I could import stuff directly from the camera to Winblowz Movie Maker. I can’t seem to do that with this camera, but I haven’t finished readin the instruction book yet so maybe there’s a setting somewhere that I can’t find. Oh, and speaking of settings, there doesn’t seem to be a way to change the default folder movies are copied to either so they end up in My Documents and I hate that folder, I always put downloads in a shared folder in case for some reason I forget my password and can’t log into my username or something, don’t laugh, it’s happened before, like that time I was cleaning up files and accidentally deleted my user profile haha. Anyway. Other than those minor annoyances I like the camera a lot, especially that nifty image stabilization feature.

No, not a real baby. And no, not a new kitty either. A new toy! I got some money from my parents for the holidays so I spended it on a much-needed new camera. Yes, very soon (as soon as I figure out all the overwhelming features) I shall no longer be posting grainy, blurry low-rez crap-ass pictures on my blog like this one:

Here is a picture of my old camera taken with my new one for size comparison:

One funny cute thing I noticed when taking a picture of the troll with my new camera is the face recognition feature recognized the troll had a “face.” So I guess maybe it might recognize my cat’s face too? Who knows ….

The first one is a picture of my new camera taken with my old (but well loved) 1.3 megapixel Fuji FinePix A101, which I have to admit has served me very well that last oh … 5 … 6 … I forget years. But alas, technology hath thrust onward into the 21st century and bargain-priced last-century markdown models are no longer worthy. Well, OK, I still love my old camera, it’ll be my “emergency” camera, cuz it uses actual batteries, not spiffy over-priced battery packs. And it’s durable because it doesn’t have one of those fragile pop-out lenses I’m gonna have to be real careful not to bork up like my new camera has.

The most bestest news though is this new camera not only takes movies but movies with sound so not only will you all soon be graced with higher-rez cat movies, but you will be able to hear my kitty talk! If I can I’ll try to catch her in “mama” mode for you! To prove that I’m not crazy when I say she speaks English!

Anyway, I’m happy. And I love Amazon who shipped the thing yesterday and I got it today without having to pay for 2 day shipping woot!

Oh, and another holiday prezzie I have on the way is that new Sondheim CD thingie that’s overpriced but a gotta-have for Sondheim freaks, and my brother was generous enough to give me a rather well-endowed Borders gift card, so well I whittled the balance down a bit on that and a few other “needed” things. Hehe. Good thing he didn’t give me an Amazon gift card or I woulda drooled all over the place while buying out my wish list. Maybe next year. ::hint hint::

My cat, that is. My cat is normally quite feisty and opinionated (gee, I wonder where she gets that from?) But today she was all lovey and snuggly and purry, and instead of jumping up and grabbing my arm while I’m typing on the computer and biting me like normal, she licked me instead. Awwwsers. So I said she was a good little kitty for kissing me instead of biting and she looked at me funny and then did what she usually does and bit me instead. Just to remind me of her true BADKITTY! nature. Like mommy, like fur child. Anyway, I think she’s a bit bored. Yesterday, she was snooping through my wastebasket as she often does, and apparently she didn’t like what I’d had for lunch (mushroom turnovers, for those interested) because she hissed at the wastebasket. It was quite amusing. Anyway I dunno why she got all snuggly today, it might be because it was a bit cold last night (by California standards) or it might be because I’ve been neglecting her lately to help my mom care for my step-dad who just got outta the nursing home on Saturday and has been keeping my mother busy and frazzled and me running around town getting things for her because she can’t leave him alone. (Having an elderly invalid in the house is frighteningly like having a small child in the house; I won’t go into the details but it’s uhm … reminding me why I never had children hehe.) Anyway, I had bacon for breakfast and now my cat won’t leave me alone.

Yay! Finally, my favorite “season” is here, although in California, there hardly are any seasons. And the fall equinox also means another important event … my cat’s birthday! Yes, little feisty Kaia is a whopping six years old now! One more year and she’ll be a “senior” cat. Yikes. Makes me feel old, my youngest “child” is almost a senior citizen. Hehe. And of course, the coming of Fall means sicky season. I dunno if it’s just the change in weather (from 85 degree highs to 75 degree highs with a little gloomy cloudiness in the morning) or if I caught some cooties from the hospital or nursing home, but I think I might be getting SICK. I got the sniffle nose and the headache and the sore throat. Hopefully it’s not gonna turn into a full-blown cold or worse, flu. Speaking of flu, I should probably get my flu shot soon, I’ve been seeing signs up, I should check and see what strains they’re immunizing against this year. Being an old person, I need to make sure I’m protected hehe. But I don’t bother getting one if it’s the same strains that I’ve been vaccinated for recently. And last year I got my flu shot and still ended up with the cold from Hell that lasted a couple months if you count the horrible ear infection and the relapse. I also need to make sure I’m getting enough protein, which lately I haven’t cuz I’ve been living on fast food and ramen noodles. But I know from past experience that every time I neglect to get enough protein for a few weeks, I get sick. Every freaking time. So I went to the store and stocked up on Snapea Crisps. Hehe. And tuna and bologna (hey it was on sale really cheap.) And ice cream, cuz you know, milk has protein. So, I’m all set. Oh! And I bought some Roughy from Trader Joe’s too that I’m gonna bake up and eat with some asparagus. I love asparagus. And fish is brain food and I need all the help I can get to stave off the senility that I’m sure is just around the corner.

for 1-800-PetMeds. I ordered some flea treatment cuz it’s been a wee bit hard to get things done this past week what with running around to hospitals and stuff. My cat knew it was something good! And what joy became us when we opened that wonderful smelling box, it was a free gift for kitty inside!

Hey, gimme that!

Ah, that’s better ….

when your Sims are cooler than you are.

I just splurged and bought Sims 2 Apartment Life and I have to say it’s both fun and mildly depressing. I’m not positive, since it’s been months since I played Sims, but it seems they’ve added new pet interactions, which is cool, cuz, you know, I’m a crazy cat lady. Or at least one of my Sims is. I made one “test” sim with 5 cats, and man I tell ya, those damn cats destroyed about 6 beds in no time before I got them trained not to. Sheesh. Good thing money is easier to come by in the Sims than in real life. And later, with another Sim, I was in the local coffee shop, singing karaoke, and a stray dog comes up on stage and starts GROWLING at me. Yeah, I was bad, but sheesh. I love the new witches though, and one of the supreme witches is apparently also a crazy cat lady cuz she made friends really fast with my crazy cat lady sim, and then she … well … apparently the witch is lonely or somethin’. ::cough:: Anyway, one of my sims is now a green evil witch.

One downside of the game though is it’s full of bugs. And I don’t just mean the cockroaches spawned by bad witches. Fortunately I haven’t found too many myself due to my restraint with the use of cheats and not using any custom content in the game. But one annoying thing I did find is that there isn’t apparently a way to move a family from one of the old ‘hoods to the new apartment ‘hood. So I had to start all over with new families which kinda sucks. But at least this way they’re “clean” and not tainted with all those boolprop cheats and stuff. And one other thing is I have one sim who invites another sim in the same apartment building over, and the other one comes, but as soon as they get to the door, my sim says she’s not in the mood right now and the other sim leaves, even though my sim is “greened up.” I dunno if it’s a bug, or if it’s cuz both of those sims are ones I created. I have no problem inviting other sims over from other buildings though. Another thing that I’m not sure if it’s a bug or not is that my witch doesn’t seem to have the ability to summon a spectral cat. But she’s merely evil, not atrociously evil. So we’ll see. And I wonder if spectral cats can breed with normal cats.

Speaking of cats, I went to PetSmart today to buy some good food for my cat now that I’m working and have money, but the stuff I used to feed her, Nature’s Best has apparently gone from expensive to fucking no way I’m spending that much. I used to balk at paying the $10 then $11 then $12 for a 4 pound bag, but today I went in and it was $23.99 for a 6 pound bag. WTF? Now, I know prices on everything have gone up recently (even my ramen noodles are only 5/$1 now not 10/$1.) But good grief you gotta be kidding me. Just because they changed the package art doesn’t justify jackin’ the price to wazoo. Anyway, my poor cat just isn’t good enough to spend that much on, so I bought another bag of the crapass Purina One junk I’ve been feeding her for the last few months, at least the first ingredient is chicken (probably chicken toes and noses, but hell at least it’s chicken hehe.) I’m sorry but I’m not gonna spend more on cat food than I spend on people food for me. If I can live on ramen noodles and hot dogs, my cat can live on Purina.

No, not mine. My cat’s:

My cat watched and growled and hissed through the window while I cavorted with him outside, trying to get a decent picture. He’s very friendly and made it hard to get him far enough away to snap a picture because he kept rubbing against my leg. She hates him. And she looked at me with her ears back givin’ me dirty looks for petting another pussy. But he’s very polite, he just sits outside the window and looks at her, trying to figure out why she’s HISSING and GROWLING and BANGING against the window telling him to go away in almost-English: momomowaaaynoooOOWWWWWwww. Oh well. Maybe she prefers more aggressive men. Hehe. BUTCH was manly enough to stand up to little Miss Bully Kaia, this guy is maybe just a bit too wimpy.