Snips and Snails and Puppy Dog Tales

Are these not the best headphones ever?



( More colors and pictures back here. )

Unfortunately they cost about $255, they're currently taking preorders.

( Cat sushi! )
So cute, probably so yummy.

A week or two ago, I posted that Disco Poo video about public defecation in India. Well, it turns out that poop isn't the only thing India has a problem with.

Pee in public, get "peed" on in return. Work safe:



If you'd prefer something nicer on a Monday morning, head to your local Starbucks instead and order yourself something sweet to go with your coffee.

I don't understand most of this song (it's in Spanish, I think), but I can't stop listening to it.



A Target commercial uses it, and after hearing it once, I had to track the whole thing down.

I decided to compromise on the bird/cat issue. I took the feeder down for now, and in its place hung up a big bird bath. Birds should be able to find enough food this season on their own, but water is probably a bigger issue. They're slowly getting used to it. Come winter, I'll likely put the feeder back up -- maybe the cat issue will be cleared up by then, due to my actions or otherwise.

I have tomorrow and the next day off (WOOT!). I keep hitting our PTO cap, and if you don't use the time you lose it, so I'm trying to burn some off before we reach another 'can't take time off for any reason' period at work. I really hate losing vacation time.

I'm reading a great book (Ready Player One). I'm about a third of the way through it, and already writing the review post up in my head.

Give a kitten a potato, make his day:


Could you imagine having a houseful of kittens? You'd never get any work done or any sleep, but it sure would be fun.

Speaking of cats, Ellie New Cat is such a bold little thief! If I wiggle a pen and then put it down right next to my hand and "ignore" it, she'll come stalking over and snatch it up and try to run off with it. Anything that's smaller than a pen is fair game for her to steal. It's very odd, but also very cute. Sometimes she tries for longer things (she tried to steal a wooden spoon once), but she can never get the balance right and ends up with her head tipped all the way to one side until she trips over it. I have no idea why she steals these things, but she'll steal the same thing over and over as many times as I take it from her and leave it out where she can get it. (Yet she ignores people food; I can leave my plate next to her while I go to another room and she has no interest in it.)

tersa mentioned calendars, which made me want to comment on mine for this year. I bought an uncharacteristic one for me, Thich Nhat Hanh 2013 Wall Calendar: "Taoist symbols, ancient imagery and the gentle reflection of nature meet and merge in Nicholas Kirsten-Honshin's artwork. The Thich Nhat Hanh wall calendar combines Honshin's graceful paintings with the words of renowned Zen master, peace activist and author of over 60 books, Thich Nhat Hanh." I'm really, really liking it. While I think this month might not be popular with a lot of folks, it makes me so happy. I couldn't find an image of it alone online, but it's the lowest left image on the back cover. A bunch of scallions, held together by a simple band with a (Vietnamese? Chinese? Japanese?) symbol on it. Not only are the colors beautiful and the design simple but interesting, but it tickles me that it fits with IC things in my current RP as well. I said that Thistle was growing scallions before I saw it was featured in the calendar, and the oriental symbol on the band makes it a perfect match.

It's such a nice calendar. Simple, beautiful paintings, nice color schemes, and the quotes are peaceful and happy. If there's a 2014 version next year, I'll be buying it again for sure.

For you all: I'm in love with this gif. So peaceful.


For cats tossed into the air: Bad dreams are one thing. Everyone has them, they're normal. I just hate it when my brain comes up with a bad dream so stereotypical that it's laughable. Last night I had a dream that I was an act in a small circus. I juggled. Cats. We were about to go on, I was standing just off stage, and I realized I didn't know how to juggle. (Let alone juggle cats.) That's right up there with showing up in the school classroom without your pants on!

For non-flying cats: I had to go to the pet store today to get more food/litter, and of course the adoption group had a bunch of kittens out for adoption. The one I had been considering (the one with a missing front paw) got adopted (YAY!), but the other ones were darned cute and sweet and... sigh. Now I want a second cat again.

I've been going back and forth on this issue for months now: I want a second cat, I'm happy as-is with one cat, but if one is good two are better! Etc. I decided to move across the country with a tiny fraction of the thought and stress I'm putting into this second cat issue. I just don't know how I'm supposed to decide on something when I don't have basic facts. I'm happy now. Will I be happier with a second cat? If I could answer that, I could decide on this issue, but it's impossible to know without having that second one to see. (But the kittens are SOOOO cute!)

For me/WoW: It's finally hitting me. Two weeks until MoP. My to-do list is unreasonable.

In a perfect world, before MoP I'd:
Level Sedgegrass to 85 (80.5 now).
Level Meadowsedge to 85 (80.5 now).
Level Icerime to 85 (61 now).

Level Meadowsedge's mining and herb to max (both 300s now).
Level Sedgegrass's mining and herb to max (herb 82, mining 300-something).
Decide on professions for Icerime, level both to max.

Cap honor and VP (selling honor for VP) on my two PvP alts.

Organize my mats and things to sell. I have three six tab guild banks and a crapton of personal banks full of things for MoP drop. When am I going to start selling them? How?

That is an amazingly unlikely list of things, especially since I'm reading a good book now and would rather read than play. (And notice RP isn't on that list, I haven't RPed outside of Twitter for ages. D: )

A more reasonable list:
Icerime to 68 so he can fly in Northrend (and thus be a better bank/AH alt). That's about four dungeon runs from one of my 85s. Doable.
Level herb and mining on both Sedge alts. Likely doable; doable on at least one.
Organize mats -- this is a must.

Two weeks to go. Arg! I'm so not ready, but it sure will be nice to have space back as things sell. (Edit: Apparently my dates are off!)

There's something wrong with this cat of mine. I can't give her any kind of cat toys with fur (or feathers or 'plush' toys) because she plucks them bare. Lacking a toy to pluck, she's started plucking my chair. She bites the fabric and pulls back, repeating that until a string/thread/bit of yarn comes loose, then she plucks it out. She shakes her head to get rid of it, but I'm sure she's eating some.

With the toys, it's as if she were plucking some dead animal she killed. There's no way a little kitty could have killed something the size of a chair though! :P

I'm going to have to put some kind of cloth over the exposed part of the chair, but this behavior is going to be troublesome if she starts in on my rugs.

---

And on WoW: Mr. Deathwing, please please please stop stalking my one alt. I swear, you've killed him dozens of times now. Many days in a row, over and over! I have lots of other alts, maybe you could roast them, too?

...oh wait, you heard me! Keen got eaten AGAIN this morning, and Dandelion got roasted tonight. I had thought he only visited one zone, one time per day!

I finally got a sort of good screenshot. This one amuses me more though: How the hell am I supposed to do my daily now?! Quest giver and mobs, all lost in a sea of flames.

So tired. On the best of work nights, I get five hours of sleep. It's rarely a "best of" night. Three to four hours is closer to the norm. Last night I got all of one hour of sleep.

So. Tired.

Ellie New Cat is so full of energy. Every morning from 3:30 to 4:30 AM she races around from room to room (how a galloping cat can be so loud!). Unfortunately this includes my bedroom. And my bed.

LEAP ONTO THE BED! LEAP ONTO PERSON! KILL THAT FOOT! EAT THAT BLANKET! RUN RUN RUN OFF!

I try to wear her out during the day, but it doesn't seem to help at all. I'm considering getting a second cat to keep her entertained and help her burn off energy, but then I might end up with two cats who keep me up at night... (And I'm not sure getting a second cat would be right for her.)

And on a more serious note, I've been thinking about this for a while. I wonder how long it takes for love to happen. More important: Does it always happen? I couldn't have loved my previous cat more. If she had been human and a spouse or child of mine, I couldn't have loved her more. It's impossible for a human heart to feel more love than I felt for her. Ellie New Cat? She's a nice enough cat, but I feel nothing for her. That both makes me sad and makes me feel like I'm cheating her somehow.

I think part of the issue is she's still somewhat scared of me. It's been a whole month now and if I get too close to her, she'll sometimes run off. If I reach for her with two hands, she'll sometimes run off. If I look at her wrong or the moon is waxing or who knows what, she might go running off. She is getting better, every day it seems like she's making an improvement, but it's still so... depressing. I've been nothing but kind to her, I don't even have to lift my voice to correct her (she's so sensitive), I feed her and play with her and give her treats, and yet at times she still treats me like I'm going to hurt her.

I don't mind waiting more for her to come around, I just worry she'll stop making progress and she'll never really trust me. I'm probably worrying too much, that's a specialty of mine. :P

Welcome to Drunk, Goldseller, or Typical Teenager, where YOU can win FABULOUS prizes! I'm your host, Thistle! Let's start the first round!



In case you can't read it, the line in question is:

cau U nedd more [Volatile Life]

Now it's up to YOU! YOU decide! YOU have a chance to win! Is this person drunk? A goldseller (thus non-English speaker)? Or a typical teenager?

What will our winners get? Why, it's an inappropriately curious cat!

For all you cat folks, can you confirm something for me? I've always taken tail flicking to mean 'go away'. The last quarter of the tail, maybe an inch and a half of it, flicking repeatedly. That's an annoyed, 'I need space' sort of thing, right?

Ellie New Cat sends me such mixed signals that I'm starting to question myself. She wants loves, she wants pats, but OH NOS YOU ARE SCARY. So I pat her when she wants it (basically every waking minute), but as soon as her tail flick (often after just a couple pats) I stop. Then she looks longingly at me like WHY NO MORE PATS?

Today's Ellie update was going to be all happy and upbeat: She's making such progress! She spent the evening with me in the living room instead of off on her own as she previously had been. She wants pats! She almost took treats directly from my hand!

But that was before the poop. Like my previous cat had done, she stands inside the box with her butt outside the opening and pooped. Unlike my previous cat, she decided ALL of the litter needed to be scooped out of the box to attempt to cover the offending poop. That failing, she attempted to cover it with the bathroom rug.

I don't have a too-small box, I bought the biggest one in the store. Why can't cats step in, turn around, then squat? What's this stepping in, squatting, then turning around and leaving?

I really, really hope this is a one-time thing. The box has a cover on it so there's only the one opening, so maybe odds will be this not happening again, but the odds didn't matter with my previous cat.

Does anyone else's cat do this? Am I flailing over something common?