The 28th
I decided to go to trivia at The Link tonight and afterwards some of those “young people” were hanging out at a table, one of whom had a guitar and decided he’d self-appoint himself to the position of “crowd-pleaser” for the rest of the night. Soon after assuming this role, his obnoxious guitar playing and aggressive singing style (not to mention his terrible taste in music) succeeded in driving away most of the post-trivia crowd. Then he and his buddy became indignant when patrons quietly filed past them on their way out of the joint. He’d sing ever-louder in an irritating and goading manner at the people who, rightly, were leaving him and his lack of talent behind.
Of course, most of this loud, terrible performance was taking place directly behind me as this douchebag’s chair was backed right up against mine. I’ve never been closer to someone I’ve hated so much in my life. I imagined ripping the strings off his guitar to strangle him with, and pictured smashing the guitar over his head then shaking the jagged, splintered hole in the guitar about his face and eyes. Drunk or not, who the fuck brings a guitar into a restaurant and plays it? Retard douchebags, that's who.
I have difficulty fully describing how much malice and aggravation the likes of that dude and his buddies triggered in my gut but I’m doing my best. Thankfully, we didn’t stay much longer because I was seething with eye-gouging-and-choking-style animosity and had to get away from those people for my own good. Then, as if they hadn’t been obnoxious enough already, D’Arcy told me outside that after we got up to pay that the guy’s loser pal gave him the finger for leaving. I’m not prone to violence or confrontation in the least but I’m pretty sure had I seen that or D’Arcy told me before we left that I would have lost it. It’s like that guy and his starved-for-attention, talentless boyfriend were specifically placed in that restaurant to provoke their own murder.
I hate people and I wonder why I even leave the house.
The 27th
At my eye appointment this morning the doc said my eye is extremely dry, that there’s no scratch on it but it’s possible for my old eye injury to come back. Apparently the cells that heal can be on the surface only and can be removed when the eye gets really dry. Nice to know but my eye ain’t feeling any better because of it. Though, the good thing about seeing this specialist is that he said I can get in same day if the pain comes back. He gave me some new drops to try, and I go back in three months for a check-up. If it becomes a major problem, he can do some procedure that involves plugging up the drainage duct or something gross to that effect. Let’s just say I hope I can get by on drops.
I had a hankering for sushi afterwards and hit The Monsoon for lunch. I got me some tasty French Onion kind of soup with oodong noodles, mushrooms and shrimp, and some spicy salmon and tuna roll. I wasn’t expecting that kind of sushi because I’m certain last time I got it there was just shrimp or crab meat in it but it was delicious all the same. I should have ordered double everything it was so good. Then, as I left with a satifying belly full of goodness, I got back to my car to find I’d been dinged with a parking ticket because I didn’t put any money in the meter…because I'm oblivious and forgetful.
In sick kitty news, Hobbes has unfortunately taken to eating his litter as he’s possibly anemic from the leukemia or whatever is wrong with him. It’s not looking good at all. Debbie said that at this point it might just be prolonging the inevitable and she dropped off a brochure about euthanasia. I don't want to read or even think about that right now.
The 26th
The vet left a message saying that there’s nothing that can be done for Hobbes.
The 23rd
My eye is all screwed up again. The only thing I can do is lay in bed with my eyes closed, listening to the radio and chipping away at my collection of podcasts.
I ate another bear claw.
The 22nd
Hooray! A snow storm brought us a wonderful gift—one foot of snow! Everywhere! Eric helped with the driveway using his snow blower like some Heaven-sent mustached angel in gum rubber boots. Snow storms definitely suck but there’s something about them that equates with requiring junk food. Pizza, chips, a bear claw danish and some pop found their way into my belly. I then cleaned up the mess of things around me and tried to get rid of junk but it’s damn near impossible. I have too much stuff.
The 21st
I bought a car today, a 2002 Alero specifically. Charlie was able to find me a good replacement for my old Nissan and I’m really glad I didn’t get the other car I looked at because I’m much happier with the Alero. Power locks sure are nice, not to mention an engine that doesn’t sound like it has emphysema.
Hobbes is doing somewhat better as he’s taken to eating from his dish a little bit. My fingers are crossed that his appetite will keep improving and that the vet will be able to figure out how to make him better. I hate seeing him like this and I definitely don’t want him living in pain and being just plain sick.
In other news, I had Bacon Mushroom Melt that wasn’t super sloppy. I didn’t think that was actually possible.
I went to trivia at The Link with Nathan, Greg, D’Arcy, Luke, Karen and her friend where we snagged first place and then went to The Silver Fox afterwards. Little Big Man strutted in and joined us at our table. Highlights include him hilariously referring to himself as “Big Man”, telling Luke that if he bought him a beer that he’d make his night (read: he’d give him dope), and the capturing of snapshots and video on our cameras and iPhones. LBM also somehow managed to convince Nathan to go with him to another table where he proposed his selling and Nathan’s buying of dope and then, when that offer didn’t pan out, a simple beer-for-dope swap. More unsuccessful bargaining yonder forced him back to our table to ask Luke again to buy him a beer even though Luke himself just got turned down since it was after last call. Oh, Little Big Man, will you ever learn that people don’t want to buy your dope or want to buy you any beers?
Richard is back, and he’s talking about shooting his skit about running for mayor…
The 20th
The winter decided to stay and now there’s snow and ice covering everything. I happened to see the sun shining off the icy branches this afternoon and snapped a pic during that one pretty moment before steel grey clouds blocked out the sun for the rest of the day. Winter may be pretty at times but it sure ain’t welcome.
I needed to get out of the house badly tonight so I ended my trivia truancy of nearly two months tonight to go with Nathan and Greg. But I guess the weather turned people off going to trivia, forcing it to be cancelled because there were too few people. The time has come for snow and cold to turn everyone into shut-ins. Lovely.
Hobbes seems to be doing slightly better today by eating his creamy gruel soup without any fuss. The vet said his test would be back tomorrow so I’m going to hold off getting one for feline leukemia/FIV until then. If it’s an infection of the kidneys then he’ll need to go on antibiotics for a while but if it’s leukemia causing the problem then he very well may have cancer or something harsh inside his kidneys. I really hope it’s just an infection that pills can take care of and make him healthy again. The poor guy is just sitting in one position all day long and doing a whole lot of being tired, groggy and sick.
The 19th
Hobbes is very lethargic and still won’t eat anything unless I force him to eat with the syringe—a plan he doesn’t want to go along with for very long. The vet said to bring him in so they could give him some fluids and do some tests. Turns out his kidney is enlarged but they still need to figure out what’s causing it so they’ve given him an antibiotic that lasts for a few days until the test results come back.
She said to feed him whatever he’ll eat in the meantime because anything at this point is better than nothing, suggesting the McDonald’s of cat foods like Whiskas or whatever. I got him some “junk food” and he seemed interested at first but he still won’t actually eat solid food. It was time to dump some Fancy Feast into the blender and feed him a cat food smoothie. Since he did seem to put up with the smoothie idea I figured I might as well try it with food that’s actually good for him. So into the blender went the low-protein diet food and the stuff came out a lot better than the Fancy Feast. No little bits of food chunks, just a smooth, light beige cream of sorts and he actually lapped a bit up from the bowl.
That was too good to last for very long, though, and he was back to the syringe except this time he seems to actually like the food. I don't know if it’s because there are no solid bits in it or if he simply prefers this food over the other. All that matters is that he’s finally getting some food into him and hopefully this will help him recover.
In other news, we got crap weather tonight and now there’s snow everywhere. It’s absolutely miserable outside. Old Man Winter showed up for the party and he’s an unwanted guest if you ask me.
The 18th
Since Hobbes still hasn’t eaten anything I’ve had to fill a syringe with his gruel water, and squirt the stuff into his mouth so he doesn’t have much choice in the matter. Suffice it to say, he’s not been keen on being force-fed liquid gruel but the pill to improve his appetite hasn’t been helping at all so it isn’t leaving me any choice. I can’t let him starve and waste away.
The vet on call give me a different kind of pill tonight and the only thing it did was make Hobbes dopey. He does a slow fancy walk and is otherwise pretty wobbly on his legs. When he still didn’t eat anything tonight, I sat down on the kitchen floor with the woozy guy who was like a furry puddle in my lap and fed him with the syringe again. Thankfully, this time he licked the gruel as I slowly depressed the plunger and the food oozed out of the syringe. It was good to see him eating something again but it’s not fun to see him all doped up and out of it. There’s not much food getting into his system but it’s better than nothing. I think he’s going to have to go back to the vet tomorrow to see what else can be done for him.
The 17th
Hobbes hasn’t been eating much of anything, and you can really tell he’s losing weight so the vet gave me some pills to help his appetite. I’ve had to try and force bits of food into his mouth hoping he’ll eat them instead of just spitting them out. It doesn’t work well at all. He seems to only want to lick food instead of chewing it, and only laps up the water in his wet food instead of eating anything. On top of that, he seems stuffed up so maybe he can’t smell his food. Apparently if a cat has a cold and can’t smell their food then they’re likely to not eat. They like stinky, smelly food and I heard a vet on the radio recommend heating up cat food to make it smell even more—and therefore worse than it does already. Have you ever smelled microwaved cat gruel? Hot cat gruel stench is enough to make a person gag. Even that little tip of mixing up his food with hot water doesn’t seem to be helping my sick kitty’s appetite any, nor the pills I’m forcing down his throat unfortunately.
The 14th
I brought Hobbes back to vet so they could do blood tests. From inside his carrier, he meowed like crazy the whole way up there and back, which is normally kind of funny but I hate putting any more stress on him while he’s so sick. I feel pretty bad for little guy.
Tammy invited folks out to her place in Lot 16 for her birthday party tonight. I drove out there with Nathan and arrived to find lots of people and lots of food. Of note food-wise, a big glazed ham prepared by Tammy’s mom using her “should be rich and famous for making a glaze this good” glaze, and a big bowl of chocolate fondue. Good gawd…fondue.
The 13th
I picked up Hobbes from the vet today and he did not look very happy to be in a cage. Not happy at all. They said he was flipping out, chewing and clawing at the bars, so much so that they were worried he might break his teeth and said it was best to reduce his stress by letting him go home. He acted like a big baby as usual on the way home, and spent the entire day and night meowing for attention when he wasn’t sleeping on the couch while I watched TV with him.
He has bare spot on his side where they buzzed him for some sort of patch. Kitty skin is weird.
The 12th
Hobbes slept all night in my room and was good about getting up to use his box, but he threw up twice this morning and it sounded nasty. He still drinks a little bit but he won’t eat anything at all, and seems really lethargic. The poor guy hides in the corner between the wall and the tub when he’s confined to the bathroom, and I really don’t like the idea of him lying on the cold tile floor all day long. The vet suggested I take him in to be looked after at the hospital for a few days so I brought him up there this afternoon. Debbie called and said he still wouldn’t eat but he wasn’t stressed out and seemed to be doing fine otherwise.
Neil dropped off a copy of his latest movie, Victory, and I watched it with Nathan and Greg. It turned out well with a lot of great scenes and shots, plus he mixed in some footage from London that English Dave’s friends supplied. I think the movie need subtitles, though, on account of English Dave’s accent and my fake accent mumbling. I’m terrible at deciphering thick accents, hence my need to watch Snatch or The Office with subtitles on.
The 11th
Hobbes has been going to his box a lot and he’s going so often that I need to keep an eye on him to make sure he’s not making pit stops in other places around the house. This means the little guy has to spend a lot of time locked in the bathroom where I know he won’t get into something he shouldn’t and is always near his box. I feel bad keeping him in there but I can’t shadow him all day and night making sure he isn’t squatting on something other than his litter box. I decided to keep him in my office with me so he could sleep in his basket for a while, to give him a break from the bathroom, but that only lasted until he pissed right on his basket blanket. After I washed the blanket he went and did it again. I don’t know what else to do with him. I don’t want him ruining anything because his bladder is all out of whack. But putting him in the bathroom has always been a punishment and I hate to keep him in there now, making him feel like he’s done something wrong when he hasn’t. I can’t punish the poor guy for being sick.
The 10th
Hobbes has seemed kind of depressed lately and hasn’t been eating very much, plus he’s been pissing more than usual in his box and on other things. The poor guy has been meowing a lot more but not in his normal meowing way. I brought him into the vet today to get checked out and they think he probably has kidney disease. Not the news I was hoping to get. They think that maybe with the right kind of diet he might start feeling better and could still be relatively healthy afterwards. He is eating a bit more but definitely seems sick.
The 9th
On my way out to my sister’s birthday dinner I spotted the neighbour’s cat—I think it might have been Petey—just hanging out on top of their mailbox. I don’t know why but for some reason I felt it would be a lot of fun to hang out on top of a mailbox, and I was envious of Petey’s little hangout. But then food and cake popped into my head and I was over it.
The 8th
Peake Street had another art show opening tonight and I figured it would be a good chance for me to see some Ch’town folk. Plus Josh and Erin were visiting PEI for the weekend and I hadn’t seen them in close to forever. Erin wasn’t able to make it to the show but Josh was there with Tyler and Melissa. Yvette and Mark were there, and she had a piece in the show that was a slab of white cake with her writing printed on rice paper applied across the top. It was edible literature that was sliced up so everyone could have a piece of the story with their piece of cake. Mark and I put our pieces together to help complete the sliced up story. It was tasty (the words and the cake) so I had another piece.
After the show Josh, Melissa, Tyler and I hit the China Garden for some Chinese food. Well, three of us got Chinese food while Josh ordered fries and a grilled cheese sandwich. Maybe she just misheard him but it seemed as though the waitress had never had anyone order a grilled cheese before, and was double- and triple-checking that he did, in fact, order a grilled cheese sandwich. Josh said it was an excellent grilled cheese and then I wanted a Chinese grilled cheese sandwich.
The 7th
’Twas a mild and foggy night that beckoned me out of doors for a quiet walk. I brought my camera with me an ended up walking through Queen Elizabeth Park where I thought I’d try messing around with some long exposures to see how well I could pick up the backlit leaves on the trees. The test shots turned out kind of neat so I tried to get myself into the shots and go for an transparent ghost look. Surprisingly, it worked but I can only imagine what someone nearby watching me in the park, alone, at night, wandering around the swing set would think I was up to.
The 1st
Jill and Troy had a post-Halloween Halloween party out at their place in the country tonight and I was invited to dress up and join in on the fun. I borrowed a big pumpkin head mask from my mom, clipped a couple of LED lights inside of it, and tried to cover any exposed skin in black. Problem was that walking across the road, through the yard, up the steps to the door of house I’ve never been to before was made quite difficult due to my bobbing mask having very small eye holes. Plus the lights inside only made seeing outside in the darkness that much harder. Regardless, I stumbled inside and it seems to me that most people including my friends didn’t know who I was, which I thought was strange. Someone I didn’t know and who appeared to be dressed as some hunched over crone character (I could barely see them, to be honest) walked up to me, gave me a hug and a big mask-to-mask smooch. I think someone said later it was Jill’s mom which I find hilarious.
My mask didn’t stay on very long, it got way too hot and humid inside that orange latex bulb. Tammy was dressed as Little Red Riding Hood, Mike as the Werewolf of London, Troy was spot on as Nacho Libre, Jill had a great scarecrow costume and James was a “dirka-dirka” terrorist from Team America: World Police (he even hacked up his beard with a razor for full effect). Atticus hung around looking for party-goers willing to give him snacks all night and otherwise was just being his awesome, handsome pup self. Apparently I missed out on the other dog, who is sort of half-wild and came with the house, bringing a rabbit it caught into the yard and eating it in front of guests outside having a smoke. Probably not something I needed to see.
