hey, everybody! Blog Resource has chosen cat-o-bloggo as the Blog of the Week! here’s what they say:
“A once self-proclaimed cat-hater named Barb talks about, well, you guessed it, her lovely cats.”
A not so typical photo and story blog, “cat-o-bloggo” gives us a
sneak peak of the lives of a human “kitty mom” along with her darling
felines Basil, Hopper, Angelo and Hee Seop as they face
life?s joys, mishaps, and the vet. Find out which of these furballs has
puking problems, or is the picky eater. Purr–fect!!
*sigh* yes, i admit it–i used to hate cats. absolutely hate ‘em. but i think i’ve made up for it by willingly catching Basil’s puke in my hands before it hit the printer, keyboard, etc.
i’ve been bad about not sharing Hopper, Basil, Angelo & Hee Seop’s links to their kitty friends, so i’ll post them once a week starting today!
go visit the Richardson Zoo, home of 28 different animals friends and their humans–stop by and leave a comment!
move over, Numa Numa, there’s a new dance in town. thanks go to Mamazilla for this one!
i almost didn’t make it to the pdoc today, not because i couldn’t get my ass out the door but because i just didn’t feel like going. but i had an order to ship out, and being the responsible entrepreneur that i am, i left to do that and figured that maybe i’d change my mind about going to the pdoc once i was in the car. as luck would have it, the post office was closed because of the holiday, which of course i didn’t know about beforehand. i didn’t want to stand in line anyway, so i went to the doctor.
part of the reason–a small part, but definitely a part–that i didn’t want to go was because it was weigh-in time. and i knew–i just knew–that i’d put on weight since i last saw him five weeks ago. i was right, too. in the past five weeks, i put on 9, count them, 9 frickin’ lbs. un-fucking-believable. we went through my chart and saw that last July i weighed 123 lbs. by the end of August, i was up to 134 lbs., and so on. yet this entire time i was going to martial arts regularly. i even had bloodwork done, which revealed that i’m fine.
it makes no sense whatsoever. every time i see him, i’ve put on like, at least 5 more lbs. the thing is, my diet has always improved since my previous visit. like this time around, i know i ate way too many peanut M&Ms, but look at the rest of the stuff i eat (in sleep & eat) (deleted blog). there’s no way i should have put on 9 lbs.
the pdoc said that the prednisolone i was on last week could do it, but i only took it for six days. he said that Lamictal doesn’t cause weight gain so he doesn’t know what’s going on, but he decided to take me off Lamictal and add Wellbutrin>. no mood stabilizers for now. i had also been taking Effexor XR, but i’ve taken that for years and i know it doesn’t make you put on weight.
it’s just as well because i was going to ask him to give me the name of a good dermatologist. i am so sick of my Lamictal acne. ever since i started taking it last summer, my skin has broken out like you wouldn’t believe. it wasn’t even this bad when i was 14. these aren’t the normal type of pimples i get when i’m PMSing, either. these are big, red, and angry. i suppose it’s better than the death rash side effect: a fatal (genetic) syndrome that if you’re predisposed to, can be set off by Lamictal. you basically die of third degree burns from the inside out or some other horribly unspeakable Star Wars Imperial-type death. see frightening pictures below. for this very reason, i didn’t want to take this stuff in the first place. oh, and if i’m ever in a punk band again, i have dibs on the name Death Rash Side Effect.
p.s. - the pics below are not for the squeamish. i’ve posted them to show how serious Lamictal side effects can be.
Read the rest of this entry »
to avoid needlessly backed up traffic on major streets, learn to navigate the alleyways. this also gives you the advantage when competing with other drivers for that one open street parking spot, and may be used in conjunction with Chicago Living Tip #23.
EDIT (10:06am): thanks, tom, for reminding me about idiots who speed down alleys. i used to be one–until i got pulled over. that’s right, folks. the CPD will–i repeat, will–pull you over for speeding in an alley. the speed limit is 15mph, though i don’t recall ever seeing any signs in alleys. or maybe i was just driving too fast.
coming soon (maybe even later today!): the circumstances around which i got pulled over speeding down an alley
on Friday and Saturday, a journalism student at a local university interviewed me–me!–to discuss my experiences of being a musician with bipolar disorder.
well, ok, i don’t play music anymore, but in my early 20s i played the drums for a few local bands. i was close to breaking into the biz–almost replaced the drummer for a band touring as the opening act for Hole. that didn’t pan out and eventually led to shifting my focus towards writing.
anyway, if you’re reading this, Liz, thanks for making me feel like a rock star all over again.
i don’t know what possessed Brian to choose this CD to listen to, but i’m glad he did. i’d completely forgotten that we even have it.
the members of New Order used to comprise Joy Division. after Ian Curtis, Joy Division’s singer committed suicide, the rest of the band re-formed as New Order. gloomy, i know, but it underscores the album’s overall tone, in spite of the upbeat, catchy synthesizer riffs.
Low-Life is one of my favorite all-time albums and, in fact, i originally owned this on vinyl. it was an import copy, too. the band around the left side of the cover where it says New Order wasn’t simply printed on; it was an actual sleeve made of what i can only describe as a heavier weight of typing paper. i can’t remember how i discovered this record, but i played it over and over and over beginning in summer ‘85, right before my junior year of high school.
i scrolled down to the "Traffic" section of my sidebar, and what do you know? i’m a Large Mammal in the TTLB Ecosphere!
does this mean that, seemingly overnight, your favorite Chicago blog has turned into a Republiblog? or is this the work of the Machine?
something that all 4 of our cats have in common is their dislike of being inside a carrier. the one we use the most fits perfectly under one side of my desk, but for the past several months, it’s been stored underneath the weight bench in the bedroom. a larger one is in the basement, but doesn’t get used as much because it’s rare that we ever take more than 2 cats anywhere at a time. anyway, like you might expect, Angelo doesn’t go anywhere near the carrier. on the other hand, Hopper, Basil, and Hee Seop love to sleep inside it.
when i first got Hopper, i read that in order to train your cats to be placed inside a carrier without any fuss, you should leave it out instead of storing it in a closet and only taking it out a couple of times a year. once they’ve been confined in a carrier and taken to the scary bad man/lady vet, they never forget the experience and will associate the carrier with that horrible trip. so when they see you take it out of storage, they’ll disappear and you’ll have to reschedule the appointment because the cats have successfully managed to wedge themselves behind the fridge and nothing–not even tuna–will coax them out.
however, if you leave the carrier out to blend with its surroundings, it becomes less of a threat and just another piece of cat furniture, like the printer, or your head. they’ll grow accustomed to the sight and will either ignore it or use it.
every once in a while, Basil and Hopper will spend several days in the carrier, only coming out to use the litterbox, to eat, and to let us know when they want to eat. it isn’t very large–just a medium–yet they manage to squeeze themselves inside of it and lie there all day, 2 peas in a pod. Hee Seop is larger, and no one cuddles with him except for Basil, and even that’s rare (though hopefully the situation will change). so lately, Hee Seop has had the carrier to himself.
the weird thing is that after bringing Basil to the vet, or to the old folks’ home we used to visit once a month, as soon as we’d return home, he’d go back into the carrier he’d so avoided getting into before leaving, and stay there the rest of the day. go figure. crazy cats.
is it me, or does it seem like most of the Large Mammals in the TTLB Ecosystem are Republiblogs? what implications, if any, does this have on our society? can anyone answer this in 100 words or less? feel free to use the 5-paragraph essay format. you must have a clearly worded thesis, examples, and support for your assertions.
