I met it! I just now, a few minutes ago, submitted work to a literary magazine! YAYAYAYAY for me! OK, so I got a few nudges from my friend Vince, but I did it. Whether or not it’s accepted doesn’t even matter. I submitted.

According to the Cornell Feline Health Center, there’s a ton of plants and food to keep your cats away from during the holiday season. And the rest of the year, too. Poinsettias are one of them, though according to the article, they aren’t as bad as say, mistletoe, which can cause death. Lilies are also listed. I used to think this was just relevant around Easter time, you know, as in, Easter lilies? Turns out that even a teeny tiny amount of any lily can kill your cat.

It was already a stressful weekend, about a month ago. Hopper was at the vet that Saturday to have her heart rate and blood pressure re-checked (that’s another story), and as she gets older, she has less patience for vet visits. On Sunday, we were expecting new bedroom furniture to be delivered — we finally got a platform bed with storage drawers underneath; I’d been concerned about Hee Seop’s safety because he had long ago created a hidey-hole by tearing open the box spring, to which he normally retires after a meal. You know how hard it is to get a cat out from under a bed as it is? Heh. Try getting one out from inside the bed. So if there was a fire or something, well, I didn’t want deal with that.

At that time, I still had trouble communicating with people, especially face-to-face because of my anxiety, so I was glad Brian was home for the furniture delivery. However, early that morning, we noticed a huge streak of orange smeared across one of Hee Seop’s snowy cheeks. If he’d gotten into the trash or sink, I didn’t know what he could have eaten because we didn’t have anything with tomato sauce or chili (the culprit last time) the night before. Then Brian found a chewed-up petal on the floor below the mantle, where we keep fresh flowers.

Brian buys a new bouquet each week, and this time I noticed what I thought were lilies, but they were orange, so I wasn’t sure and didn’t think they were a big deal. Still, I got all paranoid and we looked up cats and lilies on the Internet. I can’t remember which site it was, but it said the teeniest, tiniest amount ingested of any part of a lily could cause serious, probably fatal problems. The site said that if the cat’s treated within 6 hours of ingestion, the survival rate was high; between 6 and 12 hours, touch-and-go; after 18 hours, forget about it.

Fortunately, it hadn’t been more than 6, and I insisted that Brian take him to the pet ER. I so badly wanted to go because Hee Seop’s still such a shy guy and only goes to the vet once a year because he’s so healthy. He doesn’t leave the house, otherwise. And having worked at the pet ER once upon a time, I know how chaotic and busy it is, especially on the weekends. In addition, our vet is a cats-only hospital, so the poor guy would have to deal with the presence of dogs. Who knew how long we’d be there, and one of us had to stay home.

I was able to deal with the furniture guys on my own, which was nothing compared to my concern over Hee Seop. He was hospitalized overnight. They had him on fluids because lilies mainly affect the kidneys. According to the notes, he wouldn’t eat, tried hiding inside his cage, and was very scared and nervous — but sweet! The next morning, Brian transferred him to the regular vet where the poor guy was hospitalized the rest of the day.

Hee Seop survived the ordeal — having ingested the lily, as well as the anxiety he must have felt around all those strangers, strange smells, and the poking and prodding. When the regular vet sent him home, they told us to watch out for vomiting, lack of appetite, and lethargy. He was totally fine, other than his confusion at there no longer being an “under the bed” in which to take refuge.

I can’t frickin’ stand these stupid Christmas Hallmark specials and other holiday specials that mean my shows are canceled that week! But what’s worse are the incredibly repetitive and obnoxious holiday sales ads whose jingles I can’t get out of my head. Two-day sale? Um, hello? That commercial for Carson’s two-day sale was last week. It’s been way more than two days since that sale ended. Oh, wait! Let’s just recycle the commercial for this week’s one-day sale with 50% off for seniors.

Not because “It has seen the end of Kenobi,” but because Brian and I finally, finally, FINALLY got to eat at Hot Doug’s! We’ve driven past it over the years as it’s only a couple of miles away. It looks like your typical corner hot dog joint, except their sign contains words like “sausage emporium” and “encased meats.” So I figured they also sold like, those really long links of sausage wrapped around a rod near the counter or something, like at a deli. Yuck. Who’d want to eat there and have to look at that?

This past summer a friend in Arkansas asked if we’d ever eaten there. I was like, “uh…no.” I asked how she’d heard of it because it isn’t a chain, like Gold Coast Dogs. Well, she saw a segment about it on the Travel Channel! And she was like, “Yeah, it’s supposed to be really good.”

So Brian and I went that weekend. OMFG. The line went out the door, around the corner, and halfway down the block. You’d think it was the hottest new club, except that it was about 2 in the afternoon, not in the morning. The place closes at 4, so we couldn’t have dinner there.

I figured our best bet would be to go on a weekday while everyone else is at work. So we tried again this past fall, on a day Brian had off. We went about 1pm and there was still a line out the door! I didn’t realize that the electric company has a plant nearby and people were probably on their lunch hour. Finally, today, in 8° frickin’ Fahrenheit weather, we achieved our goal!

It was packed, and there was a long line inside, but at least it wasn’t out the door. I realized that all this “sausage” and “encasing” on the sign business was because they serve not just hot dogs, but chicken sausages and whatnot. One of today’s specials was rabbit sausage infused with brandy (WTF does that even mean?) with all these fancy trimmings like foie gras mousse and raspberry mayo. Yuck.

Me, I had the mandarin orange/teriyaki chicken sausage with some kind of cheese I never heard of; I passed on the fancy “dijonnaise” that went with it — not a fan of mustard. It was good. There were bits of orange inside the sausage but it didn’t taste very teriyaki. The cheese (Esrom) was good, mild. Overall, my choice was a bit bland, so I’m thinking I should’ve been brave and went with the dijonnaise, which probably would’ve given it more taste.

Brian’s was better. He had the “Cristobal Huet,” which I should’ve ordered just on principle, but I was scared off by the seaweed. I tried it and it was awesome! The sausage was way more spicy than the menu’s description of merely “spicy.” Yum! Brian actually refilled his drink three times! Seriously!

Both of our orders were from the specials menu, which changes each day. I don’t even know if they ever have the same one twice! But anyway, the whole point is that we finally got to eat there!

…and by that, I don’t mean Blagojevich! The title of my blog is a play on the word “blog,” obviously, but also on Blagojevich’s name because the guy, as many of you know, lived down the street when I started this blog. We’ve since moved but he still lives down the street — just a different one. And I live in Chicago (well, duh). Hence, “bloggo chicago.”

I would like to make it clear to the public that I did not pay anyone for use of the title.

This blog is not corrupt unless some fucking hackers have managed to infiltrate the server or whatever, because I occasionally get spam comments on old posts, on which commenting has been closed. I’ve also been getting spam users registering; apparently they just love my blog. Fuckers. They’re so obvious.

*cough* Anyways, I’ve had two relapses since August but my condition is improving, which also means I’ve been busy trying to get better, trying to spend less time online. But I miss the blog and I’m trying to find a way to manage reading your blogs again. Admittedly, Twitter is so much easier than blogging. And there’s still Crackbook. I’ve suddenly had an influx of friends and it’s hard to catch up with everyone. Etc., etc.

So here’s an overview of what’s been going on in the past month, and I may expand on them later: Brian’s paternal grandma suddenly passed away in the beginning of November; one cat was diagnosed with heart disease; another cat ate a frickin’ lily and had to be rushed to the animal ER — all of which happened in the span of a week: election week, during which I had the stomach flu! Early voting is a wonderful thing.

As for the blog itself, I’ve decided to shamelessly use Amazon Associates links for past and future book, DVD, etc. reviews. Don’t like it? Don’t read it. Still working on cutting down categories but using tags. Maybe I’ll go ahead and add the tag widget soon, even if it isn’t complete. What the hell.

Here’s a shout-out to one of my oldest blog friends, who lit the fire under my ass to get this thing going again. Hi, April!