KJ

I keep promising to update my journal more often and then not doing it. Well, no time like the present. Five things make a post?

1. The Winter quarter concert is over, and it went well. Now we're on a brief break until April, when we start rehearsals for Beethoven's Ninth. That's such an awe-inspiring piece, and I'm really looking forward to it.

2. DOINK! sign-ups are open through Friday!



It's no exaggeration to say that DOINK is my favorite event on the fandom calendar, except maybe the Kiss Battles. I've been participating in DOINK since the very beginning, and I've gotten and produced some of my very favorite stories in the process. If you are at all interested, check it out. Even if you can't make the official schedule work, the mods are always in need of betas and pinch-hitters (I find writing pinch-hits to be especially satisfying).

3. I just realized that I never posted anything about my latest cat drama. ( Cut for pet health issues. )

4. Is anyone surprised that I started playing FFX-2 right after finishing FFX? No? I didn't think so. In other fandomy things, I am still doing the 30 Day Grey Warden Challenge, but I've decided to post my answers only on Tumblr. If you're interested, you can follow along on this tag, and I'll probably also do a master post when I'm finished. Speaking of master posts, I really need to make one for the DA Kiss Battle, and I'll plan on doing that this week. Hold me to that, Internets.

5. Although it might be a challenge with cat care, I'm planning an overnight trip to Napa with some friends next month, as part of my extended birthday celebration. Hey, I turned 40. That rates a birthday month, doesn't it? Despite living in the SF Bay Area since 1986, I've almost never been to Napa, so I'm looking forward to that, too.

The situation has not improved; it is, in fact, notably worse. If the cats are both out, Tori hisses and growls at Lexi, making noises I did not know a cat could make, and rather than leaving well enough alone, Lexi keeps trying to make overtures toward her. Whichever cat I put in the bathroom freaks out -- we tried to leave Lexi in there overnight, and then learned at 3:30am that he knows how to open the door. After enough caterwauling, we herded Tori into the bathroom and had some relative peace. This morning we attempted to reunite them, an effort which went poorly, so now Lexi is back in there (with something heavy blocking the door, which should keep him from being able to push it open). I barely slept and really don't know what to do now.

Everything on the Internet said to keep them separated, switching rooms regularly so they can still smell each other, and then slowly reintroduce them, a process which can take days. But I'm going out of town on Thursday; we don't have days. Any advice is welcome. :\

Update: On advice from my friend A, I let Lexi out while watching both kitties like a hawk, and after some hissing and posturing, everyone settled down and we seem to have relative peace. I'm still wary, but the situation is stable anyway. Let's hope they work this out on their own now, another night like last one is not really on my wishlist.

Whenever I go a week without posting, it feels wrong, like somehow I might cease to exist in this corner of the Internet if I don't interact with it often enough. I'm still around, I still comment -- I doubt anyone starts wondering if I have disappeared off the face of the earth. (Especially as it remains obvious to anyone within 50 miles of Tumblr that I have not.)

Anyway, still here. Still working the Saturday work schedule. Vegas was a great time. The highlight of the trip was probably the tour of the Neon Boneyard, which is where many of the city's old signage lives. I posted a selection of my favorite pictures on Tumblr, here. They're opening a full-blown museum later this summer, which I would love to go see. We also saw the Cirque de Soleil show 'O', which was pretty much as amazing as billed, wandered around town, hung out in a very crowded pool, and ate. Good time with good friends. Next up, I am going back to Rome. For a week. Less than two weeks from now. So, so, so excited.

The less said about work, the better, although at least I feel like I've finally adjusted to the new schedule (just in time for me to stop working in for break). The other thing of note that's happened lately is that one of my cats, Tori, has started having unexplained seizures. Not very often -- four that we know of, over the time period of a month -- and the vet can't find anything else wrong with her, so it's probably just some sort of epilepsy. It's scary, but as long as it stays within certain tolerances, it's not likely to cause her any long-term harm, so for now we watch and wait, and maybe if they get more severe we put her on medication. Between times she seems totally fine, to the point where I was hoping that the first couple of attacks were a fluke, but alas, no. Not fun times for kitty. :(

Fandomwise, I got my Doink! story submitted a whole day early, got a great Al-Cid/Ashe/Balthier story as my gift, and have continued to work on my Hawke Alphabet with the hopes of maybe getting it done this month. No other Avengers fic so far, although an Idea continues to brew. Right now my Avengers fannishness seems to be more about meta, and keymashing over how much I love the characters. Which is easy to do on Tumblr, the land of pretty pictures and quick-fire meta conversations. My Dragon Age replay is approaching endgame -- just reached Denerim -- and I should write more about that, because it's been a really interesting experience.

So that's things by me. How are all of you, out there in Journal-land?

Took advantage of yesterday's day off to finally go see The Voyage of the Dawn Treader.

( Some more thoughts, with spoilers. )

In conclusion, I am sorry to say that it is probably my least favorite of the movies. I suppose, in objective terms, it's comparable in quality to the Prince Caspian film, but since a) Dawn Treader is my second favorite book in the series and b) it should have been rather harder to screw up than Caspian, I find this film more disappointing in comparison. It wasn't terrible, but for the first time I find myself not really caring whether the next movie in the Narnia series gets made. Given the promise of the first film, this is a hard thing for me to admit; nevertheless, it is true.

On the other hand, I did get to see what just might be the most wonderful trailer I have ever seen in a theater. Leopard cubs and lion cubs! Being cute and fierce! I must see this movie.

Tired, working early shifts much of the week, running out of time to post for the day, so here, have some cat pictures. Pardon the mediocre quality of my phone camera, especially for pictures taken at night.

( Behind zee cut. )

If you can see this, post a picture of a cat in your journal. Read here to find out why.

( Here, have a couple. )

Pass it on!

So far, a quite enjoyable trip. Flight was delayed by over an hour and a half but was otherwise uneventful -- I think I even slept a little. I got in around 9am, and then we left for our road trip to Vermont, where we had much yummy ice cream and cheese and maple sugar candy. The sun eluded us for the morning, but around lunchtime the clouds cleared and we found ourselves experiencing a lovely summer day -- we even got to take down the top of the convertible while we tooled around Waterbury. Then we got home late and crashed.

Today was a lazily-exploring-Boston day: pancakes for breakfast, pedicures, walking around downtown, having tea at the public library -- they have a really nice cafe where they serve afternoon tea; it was tasty, if a little heavy on the sweets as opposed to the savories. This evening, we met up with concertinette and her husband for dinner, and then they came back to amybang's for some excellent hanging out and chatting and playing with the kittens. Did I mention the kittens? There are two, they are nine months old and totally adorable. A moth came in, and watching them chase it was both hilarious and adorable. They didn't catch it, but they're still half looking for it to come back. I can tell.

Tomorrow we head off to Cape Cod, another place I've never been. We're taking the ferry to Provincetown (yay boats!) and spending the night at an inn. I won't be bringing the laptop, so I'll bid you all adieu for the next couple of days. Adieu!

There's only one today, and it's not even my cat, but it was too adorable not to share. This is my MiL's cat, Peaches, on a rare foray into the house. Looks like she discovered the cat that's allowed to live inside...

( Behold the cute! )

European lynx and house cat live together in Russian zoo.

Those are two happy-looking kitties, despite the size difference.

Yesterday afternoon, right after I wrote my last LJ entry, I headed downstairs. Once there, I was assaulted by an image of unimaginable cuteness -- two kitties, sleeping together on the couch; naturally, I turned around, went back up the stairs and began my quest for a camera. T had taken his new point-and-shoot with him; the SLR was here, but I didn't trust myself with that one. So I pulled out the old point-and-shoot, which isn't guaranteed to work on any given day. I crossed my fingers, turned it on... and got lucky.

( Pictures!!! )