Ugly Cat Speaks

Tuesday, June 29, 2010

Update on Kestra (with photos)


In January 2009, Kes had surgery to remove a cancerous tumor from the lymph node in her neck.






She was a bit self-conscious while her fur was growing back (plus New England is cold in January and February).




 
 Things were looking up after the surgery even though the vet indicated that the lymphoma she had was a fast-progressing cancer.
 





Fifteen months later, in April of 2010 another lump was found on the other side of her neck. (Kes wasn't thrilled with the thought of more surgery, so we decided on a steroid treatment instead.)  


The steroids had some  side effects: Lethargy, weight gain, and green laser beams shooting from her eyes. (Okay, maybe not that last one.)






Ultimately, she is doing well, but still remains jealous of her sister, Willow, who is painfully cute!




Willow is jealous of the attention Kes gets and has threatened to run away several times. Since the lack of thumbs prevents her from actually opening doors, she randomly summons her supernatural power of cuteness and attacks Kes instead.

Sunday, June 13, 2010

Same to you Netflix!

The other day I opened my email and saw the following subject line:

How was the Picture Quality of "Rescue Me: Season 2: "Bitch"?"

My first reaction was, not too bad A**Hole!  My second reaction was to forward it to my friends with a witty comment (or something that might pass for one, anyway). I often wonder about the thought process that goes into forwarding emails to friends, family, and other people you hardly know.  It's one thing to have a bit of useful information (such as avoid this scam, or vote on Tuesday), but most of what gets forwarded these days is some form of humor.

Humor is subjective. That it is, is fact. People don't even find the same things funny in the same way. A pratfall to one person is funny because the person fell and to another because of the way the actor reacted to it. Perhaps it is even funny because the first person liked to see people fall and the second person was feeling the humor of the embarrassing situation that the actor was in. So this makes me curious as to why people forward items to other people.  True, they may be thinking "I thought this was funny and I think you will as well."; but most people simply don't think that much about it. I do.

I don't have one group list that I send funny emails to. Every time I forward an email I hand-pick the recipients based on whether I think they would appreciate it and whether I think they have the time to deal with my email in the midst of all the others they might be getting.  Sometimes, I think the funny bit is worth it. Other times, it only gets sent to a couple of my die-hard forward-loving friends.

I want to clear up what may be a developing notion right now - that is, that I am somehow better or should be praised for the method I use.  Actually, the opposite may be true; in that, I am making a judgment every time about what I think my friends and family would appreciate. It's one thing to brush aside an email from someone you know forwards everything to everyone. C'mon, we ALL have one of those on our friends/family list. You know the one, he or she warns you about the gang who drives around with their headlights off so that they can kill you after you flash your lights at them. Yeah, you know who it is immediately, don't you?  Anyway, we can easily flag those emails and not read them if we don't have time or skim through them to see how lame they truly are. But, when someone who only carefully sends forwarded emails to you shows up in your inbox, you tend to take the time to read it (unless, unbeknownst to them, THEY are that forwarding monster on your friends/family list -- a fact I sheepishly admit may apply to me). So, does that mean you are wasting their time EVEN MORE? Perhaps it does.

The bottom line, in a post that I'm sure no one will read, is that no matter how careful you think you are in sending your emails, someone may take it the wrong way. Isn't that right Netflix?

Thursday, June 10, 2010

Miscellany

I'm having a Summer writer's block party. Chapter 16 is lazily meandering to the festivities and my poetry is still inside playing video games. I resolved to at least get a blog entry in with the scant poems I have. Perhaps I will get inspired and write something new. (I would settle for finishing up Chapter 16, which is now going on several months of being "in progress".)




mechanical hums
the awakening of birds
Spring in my kitchen

ltv





 

the day of the dead -
woke up late for work again
still with the living
ltv





through the shifting
black -- a long coat and
short skirt -- the woman's legs
moved like a frightened fawn
suddenly realizing this
well-manicured lawn was not
her home -- in fact -- she
was lost and also running
late for work

ltv