KJ

New Year, new week, new update. I didn't mean to take this long a break from, well, everything, but I did, and I think it was the right choice. A long enough break to miss it? Yes, but I suppose the true test will be whether I start it all up again -- writing, journaling, fandom.

I think a quick year in review is a nice place to start. The best, most exciting thing, of course, is that we adopted some kittens in October -- calico sisters whom we named Katsu and Mochi. They're seven months old now, and they are huge -- at her vet appointment last month, Mochi weighed 8.5 lbs, and Katsu is just under a pound less. They're also the softest kitties in the world, especially Katsu, and adorable trouble-makers, and I love them.

( Pictures! )

Other things that happened include vacations to Hawaii, Maine, and Lake Shasta, reading almost no books but falling down lots of YouTube rabbit holes, sinking lots of hours into Baldur's Gate (and we're only just starting Act 2), and getting the flu for Christmas (I'm pretty sure -- I tested negative for COVID four times, and the symptoms were distinctly flu-like). Fortunately being sick didn't mess with my holiday plans too much, although I took more time off from work than I would have preferred. But overall I would say things are good.

Will I be here more going forward? It's hard to promise anything. But I would like to be. I at least promise to try.

For my first Talking Through December prompt (many more slots available!), renay asked for cat spam. I am more than happy to oblige. :) Sorry it took me so long to get rolling on these -- I plan to start doing about one a day for the rest of the month.



These are my cats. They're nine years old, and they're littermates (brother and sister). We've had them since they were about 13 weeks old. The silver tabby girl is Tori (Yakitori) and the big black boy is Lexi (Alexsei).

( Images, so many images. )

So, those are my kitties. My old LiveJournal Scrapbook album, which hasn't been updated in awhile but has lots of good kitten pictures, is here, if you haven't had enough already. :)

seventhe asked me to talk about my neighborhood.

I live, as most of you have probably figured out by now, in beautiful San Francisco, California. Although I grew up in the Midwest (born in Ohio, ten years in Iowa), my heart has always been in Northern California -- my mom's family all lives here, we came to visit about every other summer, and being here just felt right to me, even as a kid. Moving here as a teenager was like coming home. And the place I always loved, above all others, was San Francisco: downtown, Golden Gate Park, taking Muni to the Zoo, visiting my aunt in the Mission or the Western Addition. So coming to live in San Francisco in 2000 was literally a dream come true for me. SF is not, of course, the perfect city: it gets really dirty, the cost of living is through the roof, the politics make me crazy sometimes, and don't get me started on Muni. But the joys of living here so far outweigh the annoyances, and right now I can't imagine wanting to live anywhere else.

My home base is a warehouse conversion loft in South of Market (SoMa), more specifically South Beach. T bought this unit in 1999; I moved in with him in 2000, and we've never left. I live right near the Bay, just a few short blocks from AT&T Park (where my beloved San Francisco Giants play). As for what's awesome about this particular neighborhood, let me start with a picture that's worth a thousand words:



This is the view from my streetcar stop. (Click here to see it full size.) I see this almost every single day. Twice, really; once going to work and once coming home. And this is just a crappy shot taken in a hurry with my iPhone on an ordinary day. There's nothing like seeing the bridge shrouded by fog, or during sunrise, or lit up at night after a storm. The sheer physical beauty of this place is not to be denied.

Another thing I like, although admittedly sometimes I have a love-hate relationship with it, is the proximity to the ballpark. I love the energy, the idea that I can just pop over and watch a game (although I almost never do), and I love the changes that it's brought to the area. This neighborhood used to be marginal, almost nothing but abandoned warehouses and empty streets, rotting piers, a run-down marina. Now it's a real place, with a grocery store and restaurants and parks and houses and cafes and more development coming in all the time. It's what we call "an emerging neighborhood", and it's been a lot of fun watching it emerge, both as a resident and as a long-time city planning geek.

Also, it's really convenient to the freeway, which is not something to take lightly in San Francisco.

Finally, there's my home itself, which I actually detailed pretty well in another meme awhile back; the only updates from that are the upgrading of the TV to a 40" HD model and the fact that we've added a couple of T's photographs to the walls. No pictures, but I confess I feel a little weird about posting pictures of my home in an unlocked entry; the place is actually fairly unique in the city, and it would be a little too identifiable for my taste. So in lieu of that, have pictures of cats in my house instead:



Really, I think I should just do a photo essay about the cats alone sometime later in the month. Do I have the votes for that? ;)

30 Days of... Project! Complete list of questions / Ask a question on LJ or on DW.

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!

A cat emerging from a snowstorm

Actually, Tori was getting up off the white sofa, and Lexi was sitting on the ottoman, which was covered by a black comforter. But something went wrong with the exposure, so everything but Lexi, the comforter, and Tori's stripes disappeared into white nothingness. Pretty cool, huh? Click on the picture to get to a larger version.

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!!! )

It is taking me forever to go through these pictures, so here, have a preview:



Full size is here. Warning: large picture is large.

In honor of the 70th anniversary of the Golden Gate Bridge, have some photos. And I threw in some kitties, as long as I was at it. ;) All photos by T.

Update: I am informed that the bridge photos I uploaded were not properly resized, and you should look at these versions instead.

( Tori being cute )

( Lexi being cuter )

( The Golden Gate Bridge being awesome )