Nikolai James

I'm still not sure how much of the past few years I'm going to get around to blogging about, but the story of how we got our little buddy, Niko, is too good not to share.

Like I said in my last post, Jerbs' mom unexpectedly passed away last year.  It truly came out of nowhere and I think it goes without saying that it was just a terrible, terrible time.  The combination of the loss and being so far away when it happened (because we were in WA, obviously) was just . . . overwhelmingly bad.  And on top of that, there was a huge delay as far as the funeral/burial, and because that was all so uncertain, we weren't able to plan flights and had to road trip to AZ.  That drive suuuucks.

So anyway, we were in Kingman at the end of June.  Jane's whole side of the family (9 brothers and 2 sisters plus their spouses and kids and, in a few cases, grandkids) were in town.  I really only spent time with them on the days of the services for Jane, but Jerbs, of course, was with them non stop.  The week we were there, Austin was playing in a baseball tournament; he had a game on Thursday night, a few days after we arrived, and by then, Jerbs needed a break from her fam, so she came with my family and me to Austin's game.

Now, my brother in law was there with my step nephew and step niece; my step niece (Nic) isn't super into actually watching ball games so she was off playing with her friends at the park.  Nothing too new or exciting, but about halfway through the game, she walks up to the bleachers, carrying this tiny little grey kitten, and she pretty much holds it out to her dad and my sister and says, "I found this in a bush!  I stuck my hand in to get it and it didn't bite me!"

The parentals were pretty much like, um, no, you can't have a cat.  But I was sitting a little above them at the top of the bleachers and I could tell that the cat was possibly a Russian blue, so I called Nic over and took him.  Sure enough, it was a little boy Russian blue, mauve paw pads and all.  Jerbs and I were completely in shock.  He fell asleep in Jerbs' lap, and pretty much didn't move for the rest of the game.  We pretty much knew right away that we were going to be taking him home, because . . . well, how could we not?  Thankfully Jerbs' aunt said he could stay at her house until we left, so after the game, we bought him some kitten food and a little litter box and all that, and took him over.  He spent a few days there, and was spoiled/cuddled/loved on by all of Jerbs' aunts and uncles.  We also put ads on Craigslist and Facebook, just in case he was somebody's cat already, but by the day we were leaving, we'd had no responses.

So we brought him home to WA with us.  He loved the car ride home, and loved the dogs right away (and now he thinks he's a dog); he slept on my pillow in the hotel when we stopped for the night.  For the first couple months we had him home he slept in my room, usually on my pillow, until he decided he was too big for that.  He's a very brave cat--we intended to kind of keep him alone in my room for a week or so, because he was tiny and the apartment and other cats are so big.  But . . . Niko had other ideas, and within a day he'd completely slipped past me and explored the house and met Irene and Ilya.

The girl cats have done OK with him.  Irene is mostly disinterested, although she will sometimes lay next to him.  She'll also kick his ass when he tries to jump her, which is usually pretty entertaining.  He and Ilya are friends, though, and they cuddle and he grooms her and she sort of actually plays with him.  Sometimes he's a bit much for her (he plays VERY aggressively sometimes) but mostly it's all good.  And he still loves the dogs, and his fave thing is playing with Hollie.

We struggled naming him.  We considered desert-ish names (Sage, Saguaro, Mesquite, Zona, Tumbleweed) and Peanuts related names (Snoopy, Woodstock, Spike) and Russian names (Ivan, Tolstoy, Leo, Dostoevsky).  Eventually we settled on Nikolai, both because it's Russian and because it's similar to my step niece's name, Niko for short, with a middle name of James to honor Jane.  Niko loves feather toys more than anything, he begs for treats with the dogs every morning, he walks on a leash like a champ, he and Jerbs usually fall asleep together on the couch on Friday nights, and when he was little he liked to be zipped up into my sweatshirts to keep warm.  He is the sweetest, cutest, dumbest little thing and we love him so much.

I firmly, absolutely, 100% believe that Niko was sent to us by Jane to help us through the grief of losing her.  The odds of finding a Russian blue kitten in (essentially) the desert, at the time that both of us happened to be there despite living 1200 miles away, the day after we laid Jane to rest . . . He was a gift from her.  And the fact that he was so calm once he was with us, even though the crowd was cheering and there were other games going on and loud announcements happening--it was like he knew he'd found where he was supposed to be.  Jerbs' aunts and uncles all agreed.  I am so grateful that we got him, because I think he really has helped Jerbs through losing her mom; he's a tiny tangible reminder that her mom is watching over her, and that's beautiful.

And now some pictures of our little pal.

Stealing my office chair.

Cuddling with Jerbs on the drive from AZ to WA.

The first time he got into my window on his own.

All zipped up in my sweater.  This was how I worked for most of his first winter with us.

Growing up handsomely.

He sleeps in the funniest positions.

Hiding under the Christmas tree table so he could jump out
at the dogs.

When he got neutered and had to wear the cone.

He LOVES to shred paper products, so if paper towels,
toilet paper, tissues, etc. get left out . . . they get attacked.

Another Irene Adventure

Let me tell you about that time Irene disappeared for 13 hours.

This all started yesterday.  Jerbs had to work but I was home all day.  It was not a great day for being at home; I tried to do laundry and washed two loads before I realized that the washing machine was leaking pretty badly, so our laundry room got pretty flooded, and I had to clean up the mess, which was very, very unpleasant.  Thankfully we are very lazy, so there was a pile of towels waiting to be washed on the laundry room floor, which prevented the flood from hitting the kitchen too.  It's mostly aggravating because this happened a couple months ago and maintenance replaced the pump.  Hopefully we'll get a whole new washer/dryer this time . . . but we'll see.  And that all doesn't have much to do with Irene disappearing except that after the massive clean up, I was tired and grouchy and had a headache and decided to take a nap, and I'm pretty sure that's when Irene slipped out of the house.

At any rate, Jerbs got home and after she'd been here awhile she asked where Irene was, and I just kind of shrugged, because really, Irene's a cat.  She hides a lot so when I don't see her for hours at a time I don't worry about it.  And neither does Jerbs.  So we ate dinner and put up Halloween decorations, and then Jerbs took the dogs for a walk and when she came back, she noticed that the screen on our living room window was completely loose at the bottom.  We searched the whole house and Irene definitely wasn't here; Jerbs asked me when I'd last seen her and I think it was when I was cleaning the laundry room.  (And I won't tell Jerbs this but I'm not 100% sure on that, it might have been earlier).  But my assumption is she went out the window while I was asleep.

So we walked the entire apartment complex, no Irene.  We drove to the little shopping complex next door and all the other complexes on the street, no Irene.  We came home and I put ads on Craigslist and Facebook.  By this time Jerbs was completely freaking out because Irene is her baby, and I felt like the absolute worst human being on the face of the planet for losing her cat.  There were definitely some tears.  This was at almost midnight, so I had to go to bed, but Jerbs insisted on staying up to see if Rene came back.

At about 2:30 in the morning, Jerbs woke me up to tell me that Irene was home and safe.  Jerbs heard her meowing and went outside and saw her at the bottom of our stairs and went down and got her, and that was that.  Thank.freaking.goodness.  I was so relieved.

It was just odd, because normally when Irene gets out she immediately starts yelling to get back in, which definitely wasn't the case here.  So we figure that she got out while I was asleep, and cried to get back in but since I was sleeping I didn't hear her.  We think that she eventually gave up and just went to sleep somewhere where she felt safe, and was either too asleep or too scared to come to us when we were calling for her.

That freaking cat, I swear.  But as annoying as she is, I'm very glad she came home.

Halloween Nails

Since I was basically immobile all weekend (thank you, URI or whatever), I decided I'd take advantage of having to sit still and do my nails.  I think it was a successful venture.  Glitter acrylic is actually quite a bit easier than I thought.  Obviously I had to a Halloween manicure.

I really like how they turned out, and they've served their purpose in keeping me from biting my nails.

Unrelated to the nails, while I was sick my little Siamese buddy got super cuddly, it was very sweet.

He likes to lean against my legs while he sleeps.

I'm feeling a lot better today, and I actually made it through a whole day at MHC and then an hour at SHF.  Thank goodness!

An Adorable Mess

That's what Jerbs called me last night when I was getting all weepy and emotional about her leaving.  Because I'm . . . adorable, I guess.

Jerbs is gone.  I dropped her off at the bus station a few hours ago and now she's somewhere between here and Phoenix.  (It's a 15 hour bus ride to San Diego from here.  Isn't that insane?)  I already miss her . . . it's just so different when she's not home.  And the cats watched her pack and both panicked so I'm sure that's going to be lovely for the rest of the week.  Sigh.

Anyway, back to the adorable mess thing.  I don't know why, but I've been just kind of down the past week(ish).  Some of it's hormonal (yay) but my cycle's finished and I still just feel sad.

Some of it is Jerbs leaving.

Some of it is missing Ex-Fiance, because ever since he was here he's been on my mind and I've just been thinking about things with him a lot.  I just . . . I'm just sad that we're not together, and I still love him, and I still want a second chance so badly.  I'm lost when it comes to this, I really am.

Some of it is Benji.  The past few weeks he hasn't been as active and mobile as he usually is.  I suppose it could be the weather (lots of monsoon rain and lower temperatures) making him want to just stay in his bed, but I worry that he's nearing the end of his life, and it breaks my heart in a way that I can't even explain.  I wish so much that he could be healthy and have the life he should have.  It's not fair that he won't live as long because of the assholes that had him before me, y'know?  I'm just trying to make him happy and comfy.  I mostly let him sleep, and when he does get up I pet him and cuddle him and tell him I love him.  I want to let him sleep in my bed with me but there's too big a chance of him falling off or trying to jump off and hurting himself.  I just hope he knows how much I love him even if I'm not very affectionate . . . does that make sense?  And I know these are silly things to worry about but . . . no one will ever understand how important Benji is to me.  In all seriousness he is the reason I'm alive.  The past few days I've taken him out on the porch (because he never goes outside anymore) and held him and just let him sniff the breeze for a few minutes.  It's really sweet to see his head sort of perk up while he catches the wind; it makes me happy.  He can't see or hear, really, but his nose still works!  I really wish he could talk, so he could tell me if he was really suffering or if he'll be OK for a bit longer, y'know?

Some of it is Max.  He's so sad with Jerbs gone and I don't know how to explain that she's coming back because . . . well, Max is a dog, obviously.  It's just a little sad to see him so mopey and everything.

Anyway.  That's that.  Hopefully I start to cheer up soon . . . I don't like this blah down in the dumps feeling at all.

Oh, Y'know, Nothing Much

So let's see.

I had my first evaluation at work last week.  It was my 90 day done about a month late (my boss and I tried to schedule it like 5 times and then things kept coming up and we'd have to reschedule).  Anyway, it went really, really well.  I was basically told I'm doing a great job and to keep up the good work.  The only thing I need to work on is modifiers, which I already knew.  Overall my job performance is rated 3.9/5, so not too shabby.  It's really odd to have a job where I'm not constantly worried that I suck or that I'm about to get fired.

Having a car is awesome.  I love it.  The only thing I can complain about is the gas mileage but that seems to be improving so I'm not too worried.  There are definitely moments where I completely panic about it and think things like OMG I can't afford this and I need to just give the car back or something and what was I thinking this was a gigantic mistake . . . but I know that's just me being me, because worrying is what I do.

There are things I miss about the bus.  I miss a few of the drivers, and in a way I miss the schedule . . . I've been 5 minutes late to work every day since I got the car because I just can't seem to get the timing right, which is lame.  And I miss my morning downtime.  I didn't realize how nice it was to leave the house and then have 40 minutes to just kind of veg out and listen to music on the bus before I got to work.  Without that I feel like I just go go go in the mornings, which isn't really a bad thing, it's just an adjustment.

Last Friday Jerbs was off so after I got off work, we spent the day together.  We had lunch at Karma (a sushi place downtown), wandered around the downtown area, then bought some bread and picked up Max and went to the lakes near our house to feed the ducks and let Max enjoy himself.  It was so much fun.  Max peed on just about everything, chased some ducks, and spent a good chunk of his time begging us for chunks of bread.  That dog, I swear.

But Max's weirdness aside (and who am I kidding, I love that he's weird) it was an awesome day.  I felt happy, and I realized after we got home from the pond that not once that day had I thought, "This would have been better with Corey."  I think I'm genuinely starting to get over it.  That's a strange feeling but a good one, and I don't know if I really am getting over it or if this is just kind of a phase (because I've kinda felt like this before).  At any rate I just wanted to mention that.

I'm going to Kingman this weekend to visit my family.  I planned to go because it was supposed to be Austin's last T-ball game of the season and I really wanted to see him play, but for whatever reason the last 2 games were canceled.  I'm bummed because I was really excited to see him play.  Austin is counting down the days until I get there . . . today it was only 2 more sleeps!  I think it's totally precious how he measures time in sleeps.  Too adorable.  I just love him and I'm looking forward to seeing him.

Lately

Like I said I haven't been much in a blogging mood lately but here's a general update.

Good Stuff:
--The car.  I love it.  It's awesome.  I need to post the whole story of how I ended up with it and some pictures soon.  It still doesn't have a name, though.
--I got insurance through work.  It's not super great insurance and has a high deductible but still, it's something.  And the thing about a deductible is that you get charged the insurance's allowed rates instead of the cash pay rate, so paying in full for my psych appointment last week meant paying half of what I usually pay.  So I'm not complaining.  (Although my name was misspelled on my insurance card, jerks).
--Physically I've been feeling a little better lately.  Still some days of low energy but overall better than before.
--Work is still going well.  I have my first evaluation tomorrow (my 90 day a little late) and that's nerve wracking but it also potentially means a raise, which would be nice.  Hopefully it goes well.
--Nice weather lately.  Not too warm but not cold (although my office is always freezing at work) and a nice breeze most of the time, plus some days of cloud cover.
--Max is doing really well.  He's gained a whole pound since we got him and he's almost 100% potty trained.  He's also just super cute and he gets protective of Benji.  It's adorable.
--I wrote an organizational plan for the apartment.  The lease is up at the end of July and I suggested we move to a 2 bedroom but Jerbs nixed that idea.  I told her that if we couldn't move, I wanted to do some deep cleaning/organizing here just to make it a little less cluttered and stuff.  I'm looking forward to doing that, even if Jerbs isn't.

Not Good Stuff
--I haven't been to the gym in like 3 weeks now.  I don't know why but I just . . . don't feel like it.  I can't even explain it, really, but it's frustrating.  I know the trick is to suck it up and just GO but for some reason I can't seem to do that.  I need to get back on track.  I'm hoping that having a car will help with that (ie knowing I'm not going to have to walk two miles in the process of getting home might make the idea of spending a half hour on the treadmill at lunch a little more appealing).  Plus with a car I can go to the gym on weekends, something I couldn't do before.
--Saturday it will have been one year to the day since Corey told me he didn't want to marry me, and I won't lie, I'm kind of a mess about that, for so many reasons.  I'm terrified of it, really, because this is the anniversary I've been dreading.  I honestly never believed we'd get to this point, yet here we are, and it's going to come and go and there's nothing I can do about it.  And Jerbs is out of town this weekend (doing PCC with the Flicks) so I'm all by myself and that doesn't really help.
--My boss announced that she'll more than likely be leaving in July and that's depressing, because I really like her.
--In general I have just felt kind of blah lately.  Like . . . I don't know.  Just really unmotivated, gym and otherwise.  I think I'm having trouble engaging right now, if that makes sense (which I'm pretty sure it doesn't but still).  I guess life right now feels really transitional; a lot of changes have happened since the beginning of the year and I feel like, in a way, I'm struggling to catch up.  Like the changes are happening faster than my mind can process them.  And even though they're good changes (for the most part), they're still scary.  And I definitely have a tendency to detach a little when I'm uncomfortable with changes.  But I'm working on it and I'm not worried.

That's about all I can think of for now.

Introducing Max

I'd like to introduce Max.  He's my new baby.

Full name: Maximillion Giffin . . . still working on a middle name!

I know, kind of out of the blue, right?

This whole thing started about a week and a half ago at work.  It was a Tuesday, and one of my co-workers was talking about how she'd rescued a dog over the weekend.  Basically, she had taken her kids down to Phoenix to visit their dad, and they'd gone to visit some friend/distant relative at their house.  In the backyard was Max and these two big pitbulls who'd obviously been trained to be mean pits, and they were picking on Max.  At one point my co-worker was in the house and heard a dog yelping in pain; she went outside and one of the pits had Max in his mouth, holding him by the hips.  He dropped Max when he saw her but then picked him up again, this time by the neck/head.  My co-worker and her friend wrestled him away from the pit, and she could tell when she touched him that he'd been neglected (ribs poking out, etc), so she basically dognapped him.  She said she couldn't leave him because she knew if she did he'd end up dead.

Well, the thing is, she's only allowed to have cats ate her place; she lives in rent controlled housing and has 4 kids so getting evicted//moving isn't really an option.  None of the no-kill shelters in town would take him (they only rescue from shelters now) and she didn't want to give him to a kill shelter because he's so skittish/scared, he'd never get adopted and would end up put down.

I asked Jerbs and initially I said we'd foster him, just keep him until he was ready for a new home.  Because I can't say no to rescues after Benji, and their stories were so similar . . . yeah.  The next day we took our lunches at the same time and I went home with her to meet Max.  Well, I fell in love.  He is so cute, and the way he acted reminded me SO much of Benji when I first had him.  At that point I pretty much knew I wasn't going to be his foster mom, I was going to be his forever mom.

He went to the vet and got neutered and his first round of shots this past Monday, and then spent the rest of the week recovering at my co-workers house.  A couple hours ago her and all the kids came by to drop him and his stuff off, and he's officially mine!  It was hard for them to let him go, though, which sucks but also shows how good of people they are . . . all of them have big hearts and I know that they'd have given Max a fantastic home if they could have.  (And can I just tell you that these 4 kids are amazing?  I was so happy to meet them, and I'm looking forward to spending time with them so they can see Max).  And I told the kids how I ended up with Benji and explained that he came from the same background as Max, and that seemed to put them at ease.

I'm definitely going to keep in touch; I promised them I'd text them pictures and stuff and I know that this summer we'll probably all take Max to the park together and stuff like that.  Like I said, this family is awesome, and I have no problem sharing Max with them.

It's definitely odd to have him home.  I didn't even know I wanted another dog--like it wasn't something I was even remotely thinking about--but I'm so excited to have Max!  I remember how cool it was to kind of watch Benji come out of his shell and lose that fear and abused attitude, and I'm happy I get to watch that again.  I really do believe that rescuing an animal is the only way to get a pet, because the work you put in is rewarded with a really unbelievable loyalty.  I am really looking forward to watching Max adjust to his new house and become a part of my little family.

I Got Money In The Bank

I got paid today!  My first paycheck from MHC!  It was incredibly exciting.  I only got paid for my first three days of work (so like 20.2 hours) but still, money's money.  Plus I didn't think we got paid until February 1st so finding out pay day was this week was pretty cool!  And given that nothing has been deposited into my bank account since November (my last check from Hastings) it's a great feeling.  So of course I treated Jerbs to a nice dinner out, and it was well worth it, even though I feel disgusting from how much I ate and don't want to see or hear about banana pudding for at least 6 months.

Aside from pay day, work is a little stressful right now.  I mean, I'm still totally loving it and enjoying working there but . . . my boss boss was on vacation this past week.  Before she left she made a training schedule for me, so everyone knew who I was supposed to be training with every day and what I was supposed to be learning.  And then it all went to crap because one of the front desk girls is pregnant and got sick and is now out until further notice, which leaves the front desk short handed.  To help out, the billing office took over eligibility verification, which is basically just making sure a patient has the insurance they say they do and finding out the details of the coverage so we know if they have a copay or deductible or whatever.  It's not hard, but it is tedious and time consuming (we use insurance websites for verifying almost every plan so you have to log in and obviously I don't know any of the user names or passwords by heart so I have to look them up).  So yeah, that's fun.  Apparently the goal is to be two weeks ahead . . . and today I finished Monday and Tuesday of next week.  So yeah.  It's what I'll most likely be doing next week as well.  At least, I hope it is, because for whatever reason I feel really driven to get it caught up, at least for next  week, plus there's something weirdly satisfying about it.

So that's work.  I really do love it, and I feel like such a grown up in my office!  Well, my half an office.  It's pretty awesome.
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In news not related to work, this past Thursday my mom had to have another one of our childhood pets put down.  This time it was our big fluffy orange cat whose name was Monkey Orange but who we always called Fuzzy Puff.  She was an old cat (I don't remember when we got her) who we adopted as a stray; my dad found her in our yard early one morning when he was going to work, and he let her in the garage, where she immediately started climbing the peg hooks on the walls.  That's why she was named Monkey Orange.  She was never a very cuddly cat but she was sweet, and I'm so sad that she's gone now.  But at the same time, there was something wrong with her back legs (like maybe she had a stroke?) and she was in pain, so I'm glad she's not suffering anymore.  I'm sure she's in kitty heaven having a wonderful time and walking around just fine.  R.I.P. Fuzzy Puff . . . you'll be missed and remembered.

What Are We Up To?

I've been jogging.  (But more about that later).  I'm also feeling really bleh lately, not mentally but physically.  I'm sore all over (from the jogging and sleeping on the floor, I know, but it still sucks).  I also just feel weak a lot lately, and I've been having stomach issues.  Like I've had a lot of days recently where I'm really hungry but absolutely nothing sounds appetizing.  And my sleep schedule is still a disaster, and a messed up sleep schedule equals a messed up meds schedule.  I'm still taking everything I should, but the schedule needs to be a LOT more regular.  I'm working on it.  In good news, I won a $10 giftcard to JCPenney as part of their holiday buttons thingy.  I'm happy because I never win anything like that haha.

Jerbs is stoked because today was her last day of work before 12 days off.  She'd asked for this coming weekend off to go to a Mountain Goats concert and visit our friends, the Flicks, in Phoenix.  She had a bunch of vacation time that she needed to use up before the end of the year so she decided to do it now.  She is soooooo excited . . . today I watched her give money to 2 different charities at the mall, so yeah, she's pretty pleased.

Benji has been spending most of his time in his heating padded bed, and it's adorable.  He looks totally blissed out when he's in there.  He's stopped waking up and barking in the middle of the night too, so that's good.  (For awhile, every night around 3 AM he'd start barking for no reason . . . I think because he'd wake up to find himself alone and get scared, maybe?)  He actually ate some of his dog treats the other day; last time I tried to give him one he didn't eat it, and I assumed it was too hard for him, even thought it's a chewy treat.  But I guess not, so that was a relief.

Irene is just Irene.  She walks around like she owns the apartment and everything in it and that's just that.  She's been feisty with Ilya lately--they've had some pretty epic wrestling matches recently, and it's pretty entertaining.  She always seems to know when I'm watching something on TV, and she'll choose that moment to jump up on the TV stand and sit RIGHT in front of it.

Ilya is still scared of everything.  Some mornings when I'm in Jerbs' bed, she'll cuddle with me.  She crawls under the covers and everything, it's so sweet.  Other than that, she still likes to play with her gross little teddy bear and drown him in her water bowl, and almost once a day I step on it while it's wet.  It's disgusting but also kinda cute.

So that's what our odd little sorta family is up to at the moment!

Lately

I finally admitted defeat in the air bed battle.  I deflated the bed and now I'm just sleeping on the floor on top of it.  It's actually not too bad.  I sleep for longer chunks of time because I don't wake up every 20 minutes needing to re-inflate the stupid thing, and it's kind of a relief to know I'm not bugging the neighbors with the sound of the inflating or anything.  Most mornings I wake up when Jerbs leaves and I go in her bed for a few hours, which is always nice.  At this point I'm just keeping my eyes out for a good deal on a mattress/box spring set.
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I've been having phone issues for about a week now.  Like, my phone won't let me make calls (when I try it tells me calls aren't allowed from this line), it won't accept calls (when people call me they hear that this person is not currently accepting calls), and I can't send or receive texts.  I have no clue what's going on but based on googling it could be my SIM card.  This is especially annoying because in the past two weeks I've filled out a ton of job applications and if anyone tries to call the number I gave, they won't be able to reach me.  Blech.  Still not really sure what I'm going to do about this one.  Probably just get a prepaid no contract phone to replace it.
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Adam, Jenny's best friend from college, was out visiting from Florida on Friday.  He and Jenny spent the day together and then he spent the night in our living room.  Well, I took Benji in the bedroom with me so that he wouldn't bother Adam, and he cuddled up and slept next to me on the floor.  It was so sweet, and it made me think of how he used to sleep with me every single night.  I love that little dog.
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I've been biting my nails again lately.  I have no idea why, because I was doing so well not biting them.  Weird.  And a little disappointing.
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I have fallen in love with this long haired cat who's up for adoption at PetSmart.  He's beautiful and if Jerbs weren't allergic he'd already be here with me, and his name would be Duke Orsino.
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Remember how I talked about missing the deadline for that short short story contest?  I was really bummed about that but then I got an email from Writers Digest saying they extended the deadline til December 17th!  That doesn't give me much time BUT I think I can come up with at least one entry for it--especially since that weird depressive funk is gone.
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Really, really hoping I start getting calls from jobs soon.  I'm sick of being unemployed already and I'm ready to go back to work and make money.  I'm already making plans for saving and whatnot and I'm excited to get started on those.  All I want is to be able to support myself, really, so hopefully something comes through soon.