It Started with a Journal

On my list of things I never thought I'd ever have to do, which I wish were still on my list of things I've never done: Pull dental floss out of my cat's butt. Yeah, seriously, I don't know. Why would he pull that out of the trash and eat it? What the hell is wrong with him?! It was just as disgusting as it sounds.

I have now watched The Avengers with Joss's commentary. I usually don't like watching commentary tracks, regardless of who's commenting, but in this case I felt guilty NOT to, considering so many overseas fans are missing out completely. (Empire's tweet was hilarious: "It's Shawarmageddon all over again!") Plus Joss is funny as hell. But I have to say, I kind of wish I hadn't listened to it. :/ I really, really did not like what Joss had to say about Hawkeye or Jeremy Renner. I mean, maybe I'm just inferring things more negatively than they were meant, but after listening to what Joss had to say, I am now very pessimistic about the direction they're going to take both the Hawkeye character and his relationship with Black Widow. ( *sad face* )

UK fans who want Joss's commentary are apparently being encouraged by Disney to buy the U.S. Blu-ray (linking bundle I got), because the U.S. Blu-ray is region free (the U.S. DVD, which also has the commentary, is region 1 encoded, though). According to them, Joss recorded his commentary too late for the UK release (which, seriously Joss? I know you must be super busy, but think of your fans all over the world!). Their mistake, imho, was in thinking people would rather have the movie sooner, without the commentary, than wait, and get the commentary. It seems so OBVIOUS that that would not be the case. Anyway, they currently don't have plans to reissue a version with the commentary, because they don't feel that they can ask the fans to buy the movie twice. I thought that was a fairly reasonable alternative (though not ideal by any means), until I read that apparently there was some kind of fuck up with the transfer, and the UK got some other country's censored version of the movie, which edits one of the scenes (the death of one of the characters). There were some early conspiracy rumors that they did this to retcon the scene so that said character could actually come back to life at some point -- but I have to say, not only would that be super lame (especially since it'd only be true for part of the world), but having listened to Joss's commentary, I'm as convinced as I ever was that the character is dead and isn't coming back. Anyway, since the transfer error *was* actually a mistake, I think Disney ought to reissue/replace the discs for free, and if they do that, they might as well also include the Joss commentary. Edit: Also apparently the UK also doesn't have the shawarma scene, is this true? I have read differing reports. I always figured that "Shawarmageddon" would eventually pass, because while the scene wasn't filmed til after the movie had already premiered in many countries, there wouldn't be a reason not to include it on the DVD/Blu-ray version. O.o

I have now watched the first two seasons of Teen Wolf. I know many people love it, but god, what a silly show. I really only love Stiles. And I reallllllly love him. Derek's fine, but is hampered by the utterly silly werewolf mythology. I really like Erica -- or at least, I really like her origin story -- but they haven't developed her very well (or any characters who aren't in the opening credits, really). I want to like Lydia more than I do. I fucking HATE Allison, and Scott mostly bugs me also. Did no one notice when they cast Tyler Posey that HIS FACE IS CROOKED? OMG, it's so distracting. I've always felt that werewolves were kinda lame, and been far less interested in them than in vampires, witches, and other supernatural creatures. This show does not make me change my mind about that. When they "wolf out" it looks soooooooooooo fake and lame. >< They're not frightening at all; they just make me want to laugh. Whereas the vampires on The Vampire Diaries are actually scary looking (way more so than the vampires in the Buffyverse, which Teen Wolf's wolves remind me of -- but BtVS was made YEARS ago). Anyway, much of the mythology, 'plots,' and character development so far are dull at best and nonsensical at worst (the whole thing with Peter Hale is so WTF). I read my first Sterek fanfic the other day and it was good, but mostly because it was in Stiles's POV and very in character, so it was fun.

So... Jaime went on a blind date today to meet A.'s cat Phoebe. I don't think he made a very good impression though, because he was a scaredy cat -- get it? -- and hid under A.'s bed the whole time. Or at least I assume that's what he did; we did leave and have lunch for an hour, but he was under the bed when we left and also when we got back, so... I don't think Phoebe even got a good look at him. I doubt he came off as very manly, though, since there was just the hiding under the bed and then the being forced out from under the bed by Mommy and Aunty A. before being stuffed back into his pink cat carrier. He seemed relieved to see Talis when we got home and is now sleeping next to me. Phoebe was totally looking at A. like, "Did you know there's another CAT here?"

The Market Arms was very cute. I was expecting a dark, dank bar atmosphere, but it was actually very open and bright. We both ordered the fish and chips, which was fine, but the fries were a bit soggy (even for me, and I usually like soft fries). I should have ordered the Full English as I'd been planning to, sigh. The butterfly shrimp appetizer was excellent, though.

Tonight K. and I are going to have Mediterranean food and go watch The King's Speech. Woot!

It is so flippin' cold and windy here. It wouldn't be so cold if it weren't so darn windy. Isn't CHICAGO supposed to be The Windy City? Dude, I'm not going till May! Stop giving me a preview!

The video shoot went REALLY well last night, so I am pleased. Sometimes, I really love people. Basically, when they do what I want. :)) Cab fare, in case you're wondering, was $53.

I've heard/read that cats are nocturnal creatures, aka they sleep during the day and go prowling around at night. Jaime just sleeps when Talis and I sleep. Sometimes he's not in the room when I'm watching TV or writing on my Netbook or whatever, but when the lights go out, he comes in and sleeps with us. On the weekends when I tend to sleep in late, he'll wake up earlier than me, but otherwise sleeps through the night (and on weekdays, I get up before either of them). He doesn't wake me to be fed or anything. This is good because when I start turning on the heater, I'll need to close the bedroom door in order to maximize energy, which I can't do if he needs to come and go.

I was at Walmart last night to pick up toothpaste and a soap dispenser, so I checked the cat toys area and they had the Bouncy Mouse again!!!!!!! This is the beloved mouse that turned all grimy and disgusting that Jaime once liberated from a trash can. I've never been able to find it anywhere else, and the first one I got was the very last one they had, found in a pile of toys like junk. Every time I've checked after that, no Bouncy Mouse. But yesterday they had 4!! I bought all of them. >.>

Alaska has a sale going on for Seattle-Cali right now, and I was just able to buy my winter vacation tickets for $65/one way! :O

akscully just forced me to read spoilers for Merlin 3x10, and ... holy cow. I'll say nothing more. ( Okay. I lied. ONE spoilery comment. )

I've started rewatching Firefly because I got it on Blu-ray, and I'd forgotten HOW MUCH I LOVE JAYNE COBB. And I'm even more into Jayne/Kaylee this time around. I never liked Simon/Kaylee.

I'm SO TIRED this morning despite going to bed at 10:30p last night. Hasn't anyone invented a coffee IV drip yet?

Gorgeous day today. Might explain why my allergies have gone crazy -- at least I assume they're allergies, since other than sneezing, itchy eyes and needing to constantly blow my nose, I feel perfectly fine. :P I don't get it though, I've been taking my antihistamine pill every day for Jaime, shouldn't that work for seasonal allergies also?

Speaking of Jaime, he has this toy mouse. It's like a little puppet. It was very cute at one point, with dangling arms and legs, whiskers, pink ears, etc. Both its arms are now gone, its feet have been amputated, and its body is now quite grimy and sad. It actually resembles a REAL dead mouse, as opposed to a cute stuffed animal. You do not know how many times how many times I have found this disgusting thing on my bed. He sometimes carries it around in his mouth like it's a fresh kill, and all I have to say is that I am very thankful I don't have a mouse problem, because if I ever found a real dead mouse in my bed, I would freak. out.

I had the most amazingly delicious dish at Ka Won, my favorite local Korean restaurant. It's a black cod stew/casserole, served on a huge sizzling platter. Since it's supposed to serve like 4 people, it's not cheap. I'd love to try making my own sometime, but online searches for recipes have yielded nothing, and none of my Korean cookbooks have it, either. Sigh. If you know of a recipe for this dish, called "Eun Dae Gu Jo Rim" in Korean, please let me know, I'd be so grateful!

In the last few days I've rewatched all three Bourne movies, and I must say that it's one of the best action/suspense trilogies out there. (And Die Hard, of course.) Usually a good movie's made, then subsequent sequels follow, which don't live up to the first. They have a great blend of action, character development, shades of romance, and intrigue -- with enough complexity to keep things interesting and provide depth, but not so much that it becomes ridiculously convoluted and unintelligible.

OMG. I'm reading Mockingjay, and no plot spoilers, but I've just gotten to a part where we meet two minor characters, brothers, who are named Castor and Pollux. The second I saw those names it struck a chord of recognition in me, so I went to Wikipedia. And I was right!! Those are the names of the brothers in Face/Off (one of my favorite guilty pleasure movies)! Castor Troy (played by Nicolas Cage) and Pollux Troy (played by Alessandro Nivola)!! Now that I know Suzanne Collins must be a Face/Off fan as well (I mean, I just can't believe those two particular names could be coincidental), I'm super tickled. Yeah, and how big a fan of Face/Off must I be to recognize those names like that? LOL.

Edit: OMG, whatEVS you smarty pants with your knowledge of mythology and what not. Way to be a buzz kill. It was so much more fun to imagine SC being a fan of Face/Off. Also, it's pretty sad that after loving mythology all through school and even taking a class on the subject in college, I never once learned about brothers Castor and Pollux.

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Can't really tell yet if the antihistamines are working. My eyes seem less itchy, maybe? Hard to tell re: my arms, since they already have the rashes going on it'll take time for those to heal on their own before I'll really be able to help if the antihistamines are going to prevent them from happening.

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Tried Zippy's Giant Burgers in West Seattle today. It's gotten tons of write ups. I think there's a bitter feud between them and Red Mill Burgers, which is possibly Seattle's most well-known burger joint. I've only been there once, and that was a long time ago, so I can't directly compare the two. But Zippy's grinds their own chuck in the morning and hand-shapes their patties, which is great. I prefer the fries at Five Guys, though.

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I curse and love corianderstem for introducing me to Ciao Bella's key lime graham gelato. It is AMAZING. The only thing, in my mind, that would make it better is chunks of graham cracker crust. I bought some of Ben & Jerry's key lime pie flavor because theirs does have the crust, but it was disappointing. The flavor of the ice cream isn't as good as Ciao Bella's (and, being ice cream instead of gelato, the texture isn't as creamy), and the chunks of crust aren't really all that great either. I think I may actually just make a graham cracker pie crust and crumble it on top of the Ciao Bella gelato. In the last few days I've eaten so much ice cream that I've run out of spoons before washing, which hasn't happened in I don't know how long.

Sorry for blurriness, but it is so hard to get photos of the two of them together because they're constantly moving! Anyway, a recent cute photo of Talis and Jaime. I like to pretend they always get along this well.



Also, a wacky coincidence... I got contacted by someone whose name is Jaime, and her fiancee's name is Talis. O.o She found my LJ because she was searching for her wedding site or something. Anyway, she asked for a couple of photos of my pets because she wanted to share with friends/family about "the other Talis and Jaime," which is a cute idea. But how crazy is that?! Talis and Jaime, getting married! LOL. Makes me want to dress up my pets in little wedding outfits. But I won't.

The car saga seems resolved, for now. Knock on a lot of wood.

I picked up the Pontiac from the Nissan dealership on Friday. They made me sign a form that said I understood this was a one-time fix only, that they did as a courtesy (due to my threatening to be a huge PITA). Joe said, "I'm going to be candid. It's an older car and it IS going to break down again in the future." Which, of course, is something I realize. I just hadn't expected it to break down the day after it left their lot.

I left the car at work overnight, then the next day my mom and I picked it up. We drove a couple miles to a local lube place I've used before, when I had my Corolla -- I remembered their oil change to be really inexpensive and I had liked the guys there. The oil change was $25, which I think beats even Wal-Mart's price. I asked them to let me know if they found anything else wrong with the vehicle. They said the car was leaking oil from at least 3 different places, and if I planned to keep the car, I should probably fix them (I guess the valves were bad), but if I wasn't going to keep it, then maybe not. I asked how much it would cost to fix; they quoted $660. I asked if the car was dangerous to drive. They said no, but that it would use oil a lot faster than normal. So I'm probably not going to do any repairs. Even if I changed the oil every month for $25, that would be much more cost effective considering I'm not planning to keep the vehicle. Also, if at this point that is the worst thing that can be said about the car, it's more than I could have hoped for.

My mom and I opted not to take it on the freeway, and drove it home (well, she drove it, following me) on surface roads. It made it home, and I have been able to use it a couple of times for short-distance trips, so, so far it seems to be doing OK. *crosses fingers*

Many people have advised me to sell or trade in the car as soon as possible (after I get the title). If I sell it privately, I'll disclose what I know of its recent problems and that it needs those valves replaced. I'll bet some car-minded person could fix those valves at very little cost, since most of the expense is in labor. Alternatively, I could trade it in at a dealership for another vehicle (a Japanese car for sure, if I go this route), and will likely get much less for it, but without the hassle of selling it privately. I can't sell OR trade it until I have the title, though, so hopefully the car will hold out at least until then.

I finally took some photos of both cars. ( If you're curious. Photo intensive! )

Some coworkers with kids just told me that it's been the rule for awhile now that kids are not allowed to bring peanut butter to school (in sandwiches and otherwise), due to the prevalence of peanut allergies. Is that true?! This is super shocking to me. PB&J is *the* school lunch! I mean, I know the times, they are a-changin', but man, this more than anything else has illustrated just how different they have become.

Jaime's nonstop hunger has not abated. A coworker of mine who has two cats (well, one is her cat, the other is her partner's cat) says that it's due to alpha behavior. When one of their cats died, one of the two remaining suddenly started eating nonstop. Her theory is that cats who do this are trying to bulk up in order to become the new alpha. It would make sense, I suppose, since Jaime has Talis to contend with, and Talis is nearly twice his weight.

LOL: How to Tell If Your Cat is Plotting to Kill You. Jaime does almost all these things except bringing me dead animals and throwing up grass, but that's only because he's not allowed outside. He also doesn't paw at my face while I sleep -- thank God, because his nails are SUPER sharp.

TV Show Meme... Day 08 - A show everyone should watch: Mad Men

Totally and completely brilliant. The authenticity (such as I can tell) is amazing. Great actors, storylines, execution, etc. I don't know how this show ever got the greenlight (studio execs seem in general to be totally unimaginative and I can't even imagine pitching this show), but I'm glad it did. It deserves all the accolades it's gotten. It does take a few episodes to draw you in, and maybe more than that to get you totally hooked, but once you're in, you won't be sorry.

Edit: This is exactly what I think of Twilight.

I love Tippr/Groupon. Today I bought a voucher for an hour-long massage for $35. I haven't had a proper Swedish massage in like 7 months. Plus because it reached its maximum value we all get a free neck pillow.

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It turns out that I'm likely not going on the Portland trip over July 4 after all. K. isn't sure she wants to go anymore, and to be honest I wasn't super keen on it either. Maybe that's why I was so blase about booking Talis into his usual kennel, which apparently has a one-week cancelation policy during peak periods (May-Sept). It's actually probably a good thing that I didn't, given the uncertainty K.'s experienced now, otherwise I'd be out a deposit. I could still try to get him in, if they decide they want to go at the last minute, but there's no guarantee. I also wasn't looking forward to leaving Jaime home alone for ~4 days. I was going to travel by train, though, which would have been fun. Anyway, it's looking unlikely at this point, which I think is all for the best. I think I'm still going to take tomorrow off, because, why not? I have like 8 weeks' worth of vacation to use this year. O.o

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More Jaime weirdness. Actually, I don't know if it's really weirdness, as I've never had a cat before. But it's weird to me because of things I've read and been told about cats!

( A litterbox story. )

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My dad's not a foodie like me. Mostly he just likes certain things and a certain way of preparing those things. While he was here we went to a number of places, but only two really stood out: Fatburger and Chandler's Crabhouse.

( On burgers and overpriced seafood. )

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TV Show Meme: Day 07 - Least favorite episode of your favorite TV show

Since I used Glee as my favorite TV show for the last question, I'll stick with it for the sake of consistency. My least favorite episode by FAR was the finale. It sucked. It was rushed and incohesive, and a glaring wart on an otherwise blemish-free season (mostly). It was not worthy of such a brilliant and fun show.

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Next Friday is K.'s eldest's 5th birthday party, and they're celebrating by renting Molly Moon's ice cream truck to serve ice cream to all of C.'s little friends. Now, this may sound like she's super spoiled, but that's not the case. K. and D. just seem to be able to find fun and original activities to make things special, rather than just going with the tried and true like everyone else in their parenting group does. The cost of the ice cream truck isn't actually that much, and they're not serving anything else at the party or renting bouncy houses, and they've asked that no gifts be brought. The kids are just going to play at the park and have ice cream. But not a lot of people would have investigated the option to do anything but the usual -- the parties all seem alike, with hot dogs/burgers, kids' fruit juice, and the ubiquitous mountain of Safeway cupcakes that is supposed to resemble one big cake, but is easier because you don't have to slice it, you can just pull cupcakes out (and they taste like crap, btw).

Jaime's food problem

Still a total piggy. He eats all his food, and if Talis doesn't immediately eat his, Jaime will go after it, especially if there's any wet food in it. After all the reading I did about how dogs like to eat cat food because it's more strongly scented, I totally thought I was going to have the opposite problem -- the typical problem of getting my dog to stay away from the cat's food. Instead, Talis is as picky as ever, and I have to keep Jaime from eating dog food. SIGH.

The cool thing is that I was at Trader Joe's and their canned cat food seems to have all the good ingredients that Wellness has, but is much more reasonably priced -- $0.59 for a 5.5oz can (a 12.5oz can of Wellness costs about $2.50). I bought a few cans and will see if Jaime likes it, though I can't imagine he won't.

My dad complained about how I wasn't treating Talis fairly because I wasn't giving him the good wet food that I was giving Jaime (he's a dog person through and through, and Talis is definitely his favorite grandpet). I explained how I had tried wet food on Talis before, and he just wasn't into it, but to be fair I had never tried giving him the good stuff, i.e., Wellness. So I bought him a can of Wellness, and as per the usual, on the first day he ate it up and enjoyed it immensely. The next day? He didn't want to have anything to do with it. I ended up giving it to Jaime (I only mix in a tablespoon or two with his dry cat food, so it's not like it's really bad for him, as he'll get his taurine as usual).

Also, I have to admit at this point that I tasted both Jaime and Talis's cans of Wellness. >.> And it actually does not taste bad at all. Mushy, yes, but it doesn't taste like crap -- it tastes like real food. I can totally understand the people who are down on their luck and eat pet food now. Of course, you can get canned human food for cheaper than a can of Wellness, so they're probably not eating Wellness. Plus you can get fast food these days for really cheap that tastes better than pet food.

My Garden

I've had my first "harvest" -- five strawberries that ripened during our warm last few days. Unfortunately the birds had gotten to 2 of them. Still, they were very pretty (and yummy). :D I see a few more baby tomatoes -- yay! I think it'll be another 2 months before they actually resemble anything I can eat, though. Some of the garlic scapes are starting their second loops, but I'm still trying to hold out until they all have at least one loop before I harvest the scapes. However it occurred to me today that I could harvest the scapes at different times, so as to stagger the actual harvesting of the garlic heads... but that might be a bit ambitious for a first-time grower.

Reading

I've started Empire of Ivory, the fourth book in the Temeraire series. I don't think I mentioned when I finished book 3, Black Powder War... that's because it was pretty unmemorable. Not nearly as good/interesting as the first two books.

I'm also reading The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, but it's slow going because I find it hard to keep the unfamiliar names of people and places in my head. I'm lame like that.

TV Show Meme

Day 05 - A show you hate

My answer to this one isn't going to make me very popular, because everyone and their mom seems to like this show. Actually, it's a tie, but most people seem to like them way more than me. Anyway, my answer? It's a tie between all reality shows and True Blood. I hate them all. Reality shows I find vile in general. Not only are they totally lame (and I personally don't find them the least entertaining), but they are KILLING good TV. Why should networks fork out the cash for a great drama when they're getting the same ratings if not better with a cheap reality TV show? It's a travesty to me that so many people watch them. I weep, WEEP, for the days when they were rare and not a dime a dozen. Now I can only depend on HBO for quality television.

As for True Blood... I just don't get the hype or the love. I watched both season 1 and season 2, not because I enjoyed it, but because I was doing it for someone I loved and wanted to be able to share it. Well, that reason no longer exists. So I can let fly the fact that I think it's total dreck. The characters are super annoying, the storylines are trite and, in the case of season 2, a total mess, and the vampire thing has been DONE. And BETTER. (And no, I am not talking about Twilight.) There is not one thing about it that makes me want to tune in week after week to watch it. And yet, it seems to be universally liked. I guess this is just one where I am not in touch... I just don't get it, why it's compelling to so many people. The one thing I will give it is that I think the show has fine actors. They are, however, wasted on these characters and this show. I even tried to read the first book, thinking that it might explain the furor over TV series... but what I read of the book was even worse than the show, which is saying something. Seriously, after Twilight and True Blood, I feel like all I need to do is write some vampire dreck and I will catapult to overnight success. :P

Now y'all hate me for dissing all the shows you love... but I had to be honest.

A quickie post before bed.

The Jaime/food problem came to a head this afternoon, lol. When I came home from work the bag of cat food, sitting on the counter next to the stove, was in shambles, torn into. You veteran cat owners are shaking your heads at me that I was naive enough to leave the bag of cat food out in the open like that, but I honestly didn't even *think* of it as being a problem. I'm not used to having a pet who can jump that high and get to stuff on the counter. It never occurred to me that Jaime could/would get to it.

Who knows how much he ate, lol. He probably glutted himself. He totally didn't meow for food like he usually does when I get home -- GEE I WONDER WHY. I ended up putting the food into two gallon-sized Ziplock bags and storing it in the cupboard where it belongs. Later on, if you can believe it, he begged for food. I gave him his usual 1/3 cup plus 1-2 tbsps of wet food, and he gulped it down. And asked for more! I swear I don't know why he's so hungry all the time. Now I'm wondering if he has a medical condition or something (worms? parasites?) wherein all the food he ingests goes somewhere else and that's why he acts like he's starving.

The whole bag-being-ripped-into thing is particularly ironic considering I had taken the advice of several people and purchased an automatic feeder online. But of course that won't be arrive for several days yet. Sigh. I got one that has a timer -- you can select a certain amount of food (from 1/4 cup to 2 cups) for it to dispense, up to 3 times a day. I figure that will be really good for when I'm traveling. I also have a Catmate fountain that holds enough water to last 1 cat for several days (at minimum), but both Jaime and Talis prefer a regular bowl of water rather than the fancy filtered fountain. SIGH.

Meanwhile, I have taken some pics of the garden!! It's actually at a pretty promising stage, so hopefully the weather will hold out and not drop down to the 50s again.

( Yay garden! )