tux returns!

Schrödinger is back. That's Tux for those of you who missed my last post on him.
He's not looking so hot, I think he may have parasites. OK, he probably does have parasites. The local no-kill shelter that Noah came from is giving me some medication to take care of that, although they can't take in any more cats. The Oubliette Cat Shelter is also full to capacity, which means Callie was the lucky one, the last one in. (Yes, Lair, I'll take some new pics of her, as soon as she emerges from wherever the in the 100 Hells she's hiding this week.)

Looks like Tux/Schrödinger/Here, Kitty, Kitty will be more or less an outdoor cat hanging around the fringes of The Oubliette area. I'll be doing what I can to obtain minimal health care for him, but unless you want your own kitty, looks like he'll be staying outdoors for now.

Now if the damn opossums didn't eat all of his food each night, things would be great. Shiny, even.

stargazing photos

This is what I'm looking at, and the type of objects I'm looking for when I spend half my night in the Evil Chair of Doom.

First Pegasus. (I'll post Cassiopeia separately when I'm done labeling everything, since it's a much more crowded region of the sky.)


Click on the image for larger versions, up to 2856 x 2142, about 2Mb.

Now that the sci-fi geek in me is getting a chance to type, thanks to being in Vicodin Land, I start to wonder. Which of the two galaxies in Pegasus, Pegasus Dwarf Irregular (Peg DIG) or Pegasus Dwarf Spheroidal (Peg dSph) is Atlantis located in?

rain

There is actual, genuine rain falling right now. Oh, sweet rain. I'd forgotten what it sounded and felt like, it's been so friggin long since we had rain around here. Of course, this being the South, lightning was a part of it, but that's fine with me. It made for a lovlely light show. At least this time I didn't have to go running to the house to avoid being hit.

Let it be known that I do eventually learn. When you can hear the lightning coming down from the clouds, you really shouldn't be outside in the storm. No matter how pretty it is.

friday catblogging

Callie has decided to take the day off, so Eep is taking her place.





Eep defends HER place on the back of the couch. Mostly using her Death-Glare, which causes most cats (and some humans) to tremble in fear.

mira's (mis)adventures

Vicodin Land is back again (details of how I got here in a minute) so anything I produce for the next few days will be either crap or crack. Possibly both. I'm hoping I don't screw up posting some kitty pics here in a minute.

Yep, I managed to hurt myself. Again. This time it was the Evil Attack Lawn Chair. You know those folding camp chairs, the ones that come with a nice carrying case and fold up to about 8"x8"x3'? I have one of the super-deluxe models, it has a footrest and reclines. Well, a word of advice to everyone out there, make sure when setting up your chair (unfolding it), that you don't put one of the legs in or over a hole in the yard. This is vitally important. Remember this, it could save your life.

I learned this was Vitally Important when I leaned ever-so-slightly to the right and fell right the fuck over on my side. The Evil Attack Lawn Chair took this opportunity to try to eat me. Even my beloved dogwood tree got in on the action and took a chunk out of (OK, scraped) my wrist.

Let me paint a mental picture. Mira is laying on her side, this damn chair folded up AROUND her, right wrist, shoulder and back hurting like a mother-fucker, and can't get free from the Evil Chair of Doom. The Chair of Doom has her pinned next to previously mentioned dogwood tree, which did nothing to help me escape. Did I mention this is at 1AM, so nobody can see me and I don't have my cell on me?

Yeah. Loads of fun. So I slowly self-extricate from the Evil Woman-eating Chair, and I don't use the word "extricate" lightly. I seriously was trapped when it folded up around me. Considering calling for help kind of trapped. I manage to drag my sorry ass out of the chair and make it to my feet. I ended up using some sort of ninja-roll/kick to free my legs so I could get out of the Evil Chair and make it to my feet.

This was at 1AM Wednesday. Wednesday afternoon I had to work (model) and couldn't get an appointment with my doctor until yesterday. The Evil Chair of Doom was a new one for him, and Dr. F is a part-time ER doc, in addition to his family practice. He ordered X-rays of my wrist (which looks like I botched a suicide attempt with the bandage over the scrape), shoulder, and ribs. Fortunately, I bend, but I do not break. Still hurts like a son-of-a-bitch, though.

So now I'm lazily making my way through Vicodin/Skelaxin Land. It is such a beautiful place, full of pretty colors and funny things.

Evil Attack Lawn Chair: $20
Co-pay for office visit: $15
Prescriptions: Let's not go there.
Being able to tell this story: Priceless.

(Bill Engval, please do not sue me over the use of Vicodin Land(TM). If you haven't seen him do his Vicodin Land bit, you need to. Hilarious. Even while not on Vicodin.)

whee, work!

I never thought I'd be excited about going to work. Of course, since I haven't had a job for 15 months does change one's perspective.

Yesterday was my second day, I'll be at work in about 45 minutes, and tomorrow is my last scheduled day for this term. There's still a chance I may be needed next week, but that's unlikely since the scheduled model is dependable, barring any true emergency.

That's why I'm modeling today. I wasn't originally scheduled to, but the scheduled model couldn't work today. Yay for me, an extra session's pay. I'll also be scheduled for the drawing classes in the fall, but models aren't used until about the second half, so it will likely be October before the Art Department needs me again.

Hey, it's something, which is better than nothing. The instructor is understanding, so he picks poses that don't strain my back. This week, I'm laying on my stomach, arm as a pillow, looking like I'm asleep. Yeah, real difficult pose. Hell, yesterday I almost fell asleep.

The students are a great bunch, and have come a long way since the first day of class, when I was thier model. The first day they all had the same problems with see proportion - how wide my shoulders are compared to my hips, or if the distance from the top of my shoulder to my elbow is the same from elbow to wrist. Yesterday they were having difficulty seeing exactly how my shoulderblade is a different plane than my back or ribcage. And they get two more days to work on their pieces, so they get to start having fun with facial details, toes, fingers, and other little details. Heh. They're going to hate that. Yes, years ago when I was a student myself, I took this class. I understand exactly what they're going through.

Time to go, my ride should be here any minute now.

friday catblogging

Callie makes another appearance.


Callie looks pretty from her window perch.


Callie gives Eep the death-stare.

sitemeter reading

Well, I've been having some fun, going through my sitemeter hits and have had readers from some interesting places.

The most amusing (to me) hit in the log is the visitor from Burnaby, British Columbia. (If you were visiting from Bridge Studios, I swear I'm not the scary, stalker type.) To all of my Canadian readers - Salut! Yes, it never fails to amaze me how many of my readers aren't from the States.

To my Western Australian visitor, welcome! You win the prize for being my most distant visitor, greater than 11,000 miles. Sydney, you come in second at over 9,000 miles away.

Bonjour, mes lecteurs qui lisent français! Oui, j'écris français, mai je pense vous lisez anglais autrement vous ne visitez pas mon blog. Et pardon ma français, je ne pratique pas souvent.

Si alquis legas lingua Latina, salvete!

Yep, that is the extent of my language abilities. I'm not even going to attempt Spanish or German, since it would be embarrassing.

carnival of the cats #120

Yes, this is late, but go forth and look at the kitties at the 120^th Carnival of the Cats, hosted at Music and Cats.

friday catblogging

And now I bow to the demands of my readers...


Callie pretending to be a sphinx.


Callie tripping on some prime 'nip.


Die, you Evil Table Leg. Die!

catblogging!

Maleficent watching Eep walk by.


Look at me, I'm cute!

finally, a job

Today I worked my first paying job in 15 months. Woo-hoo! It's not nearly full time, more like as needed in the University Art Department. The job? Model. Hey, it's something I can do, and I remember my days as a student, being grateful to have a model to work from during both drawing and clay modeling.

Nope, this is one job where there won't be any pics of me at work. There may be some pics of the artwork the students create, depending on how they progress during the class. Today was the first day so the sculptures were amusing, proportions all wrong. My head half the size it should be, impossibly long arms, stick legs. The Venus of Willendorf looking one was one of the better ones. Everything was exaggerated, but hey, it's art, and they're there to learn.

I'm just terminally amused.