Have you ever?

Have you ever looked a sleeping cat, curled in on herself with her head tucked under her shoulder, sucking her paws adorably in her warm ball of innocent fuzz... and wanted to toss water on her? I have. I have a lot of mean little thoughts passing through my head at times. It's a measure of my kindness and humanity that I don't act on these.

Also, the poor thing was terrified this afternoon, when the mowers started their thing. I've taken to closing the bedroom door as well as the bathroom door, since she sicked up on the bed. My reasoning was: "you sick up on my bed, I lock you out of the bedroom. Fair's fair." I came home while the mowers were going at it (there's not enough grass to cut, but I guess they get paid by the hours or something), and she wasn't in the chair, or on the futon, or anywhere. I finally found her cowered under the kitchen sink in a dark, moldy cabinet. I felt horrible, and immediately opened the bedroom door so she could hide under the bed.

Oh, Charlotte, my little sweetie pie with the strong jaws, sharp claws, and violently playful nature. For all her cuteness, she's a pain in the ass, and for all her irritating behavior, she's adorable and affectionate. I'm so glad I got her.

Also, it is now official that I'm staying on in Dirt Town after I graduate this August. They're going to pay me, and I'm going to keep my IT job and do the DI work (still have to work that part out with the ever-so-prickly folks who are in charge of DI/CI). They're extremely short on CI, so I may get sucked in again. I'd hate for that to happen for everybody's sake though.

But yeah. No romantically cold climes where the heater is what keeps you live in early spring. No romantically atmospheric climes where a water storm of great magnitude could wipe me off the state and into the ocean in a burst of cyclonic fury. No romantically balmy climes, where I could only afford a tent and hammock between two palm trees on a beach and where ramen would be my three meals a day. I will remain in the romantically dusty clime, where the Dust Bowl is coming in a matter of years and where the tumbleweed litterally bounces across the highway regularly. But I'm happy.

I think I'm still on a high from my forced march into Thesis-land. I delivered a copy of these pages to a guy up on campus who's workshopping them for me, along with a kicking-ass map of the two warring countries. I hope he likes. It ends so far on a really (melo)dramatic moment, where all sorts of creepy magic stuff is going on.

And Pandora, if you've got the time for it, I could send you the so-far stuff. But I don't want you getting too busy, especially since you're working on your own practically-graduated classes. (And I think that if the Good Doctor read the pages, she'd maybe be a bit upset. I've been told by a source I trust and value that it's "unwholesome".)

Ah, the beast awakes. I'm going to play with Charlotte for a while, and then work on Numbers. It's chapter 4. I can't bear to name the work as a whole until it's done, but the chapters have names up to about 7. Gives me something to write toward.

Love and Peace