Monday, May 30, 2005
So long, Hobbes ...
... and thanks for all the snuggles.
Many, many years ago, back when I was still getting public education rather than giving it, we had a cat.
This is not that cat's story.
This is the story of one of that cat's kittens, Hobbes.
It was me who gave Hobbes her name, thanks to her orange and black markings and my love of the work of Bill Waterson. Her cuteness instantly won over 80% of our family, with even my father (the guy in the picture) caving in eventually. (He justified the bending of his will by claiming that Hobbes was, in fact, a dog in a cat's body.)
Being the type of person who always liked to root for the underdog I spent most of my time with Hobbes' sister-in-crime Daisy, but I was still unable to resist the occasions where Hobbes jumped onto my lap while I was doing schoolwork.
Hobbes went through a lot. Back when my mom still let the cats outside Hobbes didn't come home right away. Later that night she managed to drag herself back to the porch, having been shot twice with a .22 rifle. The vet who treated her said that the angle of the more serious injury was the textbook angle for taking out most of the internal organs in one shot. As it was only the lung was damaged, and that wound had been cauterized from the heat of the bullet. If cats could play the lottery, Hobbes should have bought a ticket that day.
Flash forward to 2005 and Hobbes is getting very skinny and week. The vet broke the news that she was having kidney failure. Now for humans we have multiple forms of dialysis and even kidney transplants, but they apparently just do not do these things for cats. My mom was given some medications and special food to improve Hobbes' quality of life, but we all knew the end would come sooner or later.
The end came this past Friday. Hobbes had gotten so weak that she would only eat tuna in water and her breathing was very shallow. Sometime around the middle of the afternoon, she passed away. My dad made a small coffin for her and buried her in the yard near our old clubhouse.
Wednesday, May 18, 2005
Use the forks, Homer!
 | You scored as Obi Wan Kenobi.
Which Revenge of the Sith Character are you? created with QuizFarm.com |
Saturday, May 14, 2005
You know you're a Megalomaniac when...
This list was mainly written by Paul and myself, although a friend from a writing group we helped found (hi, Teri!) added the "Australia" one. This used to be on that writing group's site, but since that group has long since died out (and Paul was asking about it) I thought I would post it here.If you can think of a good addition, I'm not adverse to editing this list.
-You find yourself laughing along with the villain in a TV show, movie, etc.
-You see taking over the world as "thinking small"
-Your hobby is taking over small European countries
-You own more than 3 edged weapons and know how to use them
-You blew up the building where your Megalomaniacs Anonymous club met.
-You cried when the Death Star blew up
-You saw the Death Star's destruction as a perfect opportunity for you to step in and take over
-Your evil laugh is copyrighted
-You analyze and learn from the mistakes of those who came before you (i.e.: Napoleon attacking Russia, Hitler attacking Russia, messing w/ a Sicilian when death is on the line, etc.)
-When showing your friends pics of your "latest conquests," instead of pictures of members of the opposite gender, you have pictures of capitol buildings
-You own a POWER Macintosh, just because of the name.
-You try to take over the world every night along with the help of an idiotic sidekick who enjoys using the word "NARF!"
-You've memorized every line said by the Emperor from Star Wars
-You've ever used the phrase, "I can use my powers for good, anytime ... no, really, I can."
-While watching Star Trek: TNG, you've ever said, "Yeah, I could take Q."
-You give Australia as a birthday gift to your childhood friend.
-You own stock in more than one munitions Co.
-You consider the "Dragon Slave" as a WEAK spell.
-You were rooting for the ID4 aliens.
-You saw Vlad the Impaler as "Too easy-going."
-The demons of darkness summon YOU.
-You've ever ended the psalm "Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death I shall fear no evil..." with "'Cause it's MY valley!"
-You rewrite Shakespeare's plays so that the antagonists WIN.
-You can cause small woodland creatures to explode by concentrating.
Wednesday, May 11, 2005
I love DSL :)
Verizon was supposed to turn my new DSL connection on at 6:00 on Friday, but I got an email at school today that said it was already on. After delving into the guts of my (free) wireless router to configure the encryption and whatnot, I can announce that my life on dial-up is a thing of the past!
...Until I visit friends or family in Pennsylvania and have no other choice.
In any case, I think I'll spend some time off and on uploading some files to archive.org and deviantArt. I have lots of files on those sites already, but it's so much nicer to use a high speed connection to add more.
Thursday, May 05, 2005
Haircut. Yes, a haircut.
Went to the mall today and got 10.5 inches cut off of my head. It was getting a little too long to manage, and I like the fact that I can donate hair to Locks of Love. Last time I donated 13 inches, but we can't always outdo ourselves - it took 2 years to grow it that long!
Now when I went to get it cut I said I still wanted to be able to pull it into a pony tail. I like pony tails because they're a low maintenance way of keeping my hair out of my eyes / artwork without shaving my head. Unfortunately, some of my hair is now a half inch too short to make sure it stays pulled back for more than five minutes. Oh well, it'll grow longer again.
On a side note, you should have seen the bystanders who were taken by surprise when some guy got half his hair hacked off. One lady stood there with her mouth hanging open for no less than half a minute. It was indeed quite comical to watch.
Ok, it's almost 12:30 now. Time for bed.
