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WRITTEN LAST NIGHT, POSTING TODAY
We visited, debated about, and finally got a new cat Saturday. He's mostly hidden in wardrobes, terrified of us, the horrible changes wrought in its life (all eleven months of which had pretty much been spent in three small council flat rooms--he's always been an Indoor cat) and, weirdly, of DOORS (they are the worst things, apparently). He's easing up--LOVED the ribbon and bauble necklace/cat toy I made out of discarded cracker wrappings last Christmas yesterday, today willing to sit on the bed with us for before-bed tv. Cat FUCKING LOVES Downton Abbey and Star Trek--less interested in Sarah Jane and Red Dwarf. This is a cat with super-decided tastes--really INTENTLY watched Downton, sat on the bed with us for Trek, but then Katy put on Red Dwarf and it 'bitch please'd and jumped off. It was a very TV night, as Katy and Jo were exhausted from the wedding reception she went to last night, and I was exhausted from the cat waking me up at 4am with a FRANTIC NEED!! to explore the landing, and Molly calling to chat/prolong my awake!agony.
Here are some pics the previous owner took: http://www.gumtree.com/p/pets/male-cat-for-free-to-a-good-home/88885166#gallery-item-full-5 . We chose him largely based off his stupid face. His previous owner called him Sasa, but said he's never responded to it. I am reluctant to change his name if he knows/likes this one at all, but if he doesn't respond to it for a few weeks, I guess we'll have to try and find something he shows some evidence of liking/remembering. (And something cooler, tbh.)
Molly, my sister who is two and a half years my junior, recently announced she was two months pregnant. Mixed feelings on this. Happy FOR her, because she and her new husband really wanted it, and it's not my place to say 'that's not what I'd want and therefor it's an invalid thing TO want'. Also suspicious of having a baby at 23 (our mom and grandma still have her beat--Hill People/Old-Style Jew fusion, y'all) and what it'll do to her ability to do grad school and to do work she wants to do. Suspicious of her and Jake reproducing in, and thus being probably for a few years tied down to, our small town and batshit family therein, which is hardly the best child-rearing environment/environment for the two of them around.
And this is small and petty, but Molly having the BABY OMG BAAAAABY really REALLY overshadows anything I'm doing in our fam's eyes.
Example convo w/ my mom:
'Hey so I finished my thesis--'
'What is thesis? Is important? Is important like BAAAAAAAAAAAABY!!!?'
'I have been accepted by a few more advisors?'
'Will advisors give you BABYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY!!!!?'
*IN BEST POSSIBLE WORLD:*
'OH MY GOD I HAVE BEEN ACCEPTED BY A PHD PROGRAM AT CAMBRIDGE WITH GREAT FUNDING!! ALSO MY AUDIO SERIES HAS REALLY TAKEN OFF AND I'VE BEEN HIRED BY SOMEONE OFFICIAL SOMEWHERE! AND I GOT A NEW JOB, AND KATY GOT A NEW JOB, AND MY BOOK IS COMING OUT, AND I'M PART UUUUUUUNICORN!!!'
'That's nice. Have you noticed the foetus? Now that's a legit life-achievement. By which I mean, BAAAAAAAABYYYYYYY.'
It's fine, I just sort of have to suck up having a family that's very unfamiliar with the benchmarks for achievement in any of the fields I'm working in, and is liable to respond to 'I finished my MA thesis' with 'what were you studying, again?' and 'So it's for practice and I'm not submitting it to anyone (I didn't say: because it's fic, but I consider fic a legit literary form, and this an achievement), but I finished a novel.' with 'Well, I guess I'd be happy if you were as famous as someone only slightly famous, like C.S. Lewis or something.' (Thanks, gay!daddy, for both gems) Or! 'I got accepted by four advisors, at UCL, Birkbeck, Queen Mary, and Marina Warner (with a Booker Prize and titles for being awesome) at (otherwise lame) Essex' with 'Well, it's not Oxford, is it. That's what people know in America, you know, and if you don't go there you'll regret it forever, like I regret not having gone to Yale for law when I was accepted.' (hat tip to bio!dad). Oy.
Officially quit the Tea Box, for NEVER giving me hours and being god-awful at communicating (and being a truly nasty place of work when I was there, due to the vile vile bosses). Good riddance to bad rubbish. Now have to go to bank and check deposit history to make sure Vile Boss paid me when she said she did, and go through my google calendar, any emails from them, and any conversations I had with Katy re: working overtime, because her estimate seems low (even knowing she lied about paying 8 an hour and actually pays 6, thanks for this hot tip, other fed-up employees) and is for July only (I think I also have unpaid shifts for June, potentially May). Not today though, I have like, actual shit I need to get done that doesn't involve double-checking this bitch over like 100 pounds max, because this is the sad little back-alley my working life has detoured into. I'm doing it, I'm just hating it.
( Productivity Stuffs )
We visited, debated about, and finally got a new cat Saturday. He's mostly hidden in wardrobes, terrified of us, the horrible changes wrought in its life (all eleven months of which had pretty much been spent in three small council flat rooms--he's always been an Indoor cat) and, weirdly, of DOORS (they are the worst things, apparently). He's easing up--LOVED the ribbon and bauble necklace/cat toy I made out of discarded cracker wrappings last Christmas yesterday, today willing to sit on the bed with us for before-bed tv. Cat FUCKING LOVES Downton Abbey and Star Trek--less interested in Sarah Jane and Red Dwarf. This is a cat with super-decided tastes--really INTENTLY watched Downton, sat on the bed with us for Trek, but then Katy put on Red Dwarf and it 'bitch please'd and jumped off. It was a very TV night, as Katy and Jo were exhausted from the wedding reception she went to last night, and I was exhausted from the cat waking me up at 4am with a FRANTIC NEED!! to explore the landing, and Molly calling to chat/prolong my awake!agony.
Here are some pics the previous owner took: http://www.gumtree.com/p/pets/male-cat-for-free-to-a-good-home/88885166#gallery-item-full-5 . We chose him largely based off his stupid face. His previous owner called him Sasa, but said he's never responded to it. I am reluctant to change his name if he knows/likes this one at all, but if he doesn't respond to it for a few weeks, I guess we'll have to try and find something he shows some evidence of liking/remembering. (And something cooler, tbh.)
Molly, my sister who is two and a half years my junior, recently announced she was two months pregnant. Mixed feelings on this. Happy FOR her, because she and her new husband really wanted it, and it's not my place to say 'that's not what I'd want and therefor it's an invalid thing TO want'. Also suspicious of having a baby at 23 (our mom and grandma still have her beat--Hill People/Old-Style Jew fusion, y'all) and what it'll do to her ability to do grad school and to do work she wants to do. Suspicious of her and Jake reproducing in, and thus being probably for a few years tied down to, our small town and batshit family therein, which is hardly the best child-rearing environment/environment for the two of them around.
And this is small and petty, but Molly having the BABY OMG BAAAAABY really REALLY overshadows anything I'm doing in our fam's eyes.
Example convo w/ my mom:
'Hey so I finished my thesis--'
'What is thesis? Is important? Is important like BAAAAAAAAAAAABY!!!?'
'I have been accepted by a few more advisors?'
'Will advisors give you BABYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY!!!!?'
*IN BEST POSSIBLE WORLD:*
'OH MY GOD I HAVE BEEN ACCEPTED BY A PHD PROGRAM AT CAMBRIDGE WITH GREAT FUNDING!! ALSO MY AUDIO SERIES HAS REALLY TAKEN OFF AND I'VE BEEN HIRED BY SOMEONE OFFICIAL SOMEWHERE! AND I GOT A NEW JOB, AND KATY GOT A NEW JOB, AND MY BOOK IS COMING OUT, AND I'M PART UUUUUUUNICORN!!!'
'That's nice. Have you noticed the foetus? Now that's a legit life-achievement. By which I mean, BAAAAAAAABYYYYYYY.'
It's fine, I just sort of have to suck up having a family that's very unfamiliar with the benchmarks for achievement in any of the fields I'm working in, and is liable to respond to 'I finished my MA thesis' with 'what were you studying, again?' and 'So it's for practice and I'm not submitting it to anyone (I didn't say: because it's fic, but I consider fic a legit literary form, and this an achievement), but I finished a novel.' with 'Well, I guess I'd be happy if you were as famous as someone only slightly famous, like C.S. Lewis or something.' (Thanks, gay!daddy, for both gems) Or! 'I got accepted by four advisors, at UCL, Birkbeck, Queen Mary, and Marina Warner (with a Booker Prize and titles for being awesome) at (otherwise lame) Essex' with 'Well, it's not Oxford, is it. That's what people know in America, you know, and if you don't go there you'll regret it forever, like I regret not having gone to Yale for law when I was accepted.' (hat tip to bio!dad). Oy.
Officially quit the Tea Box, for NEVER giving me hours and being god-awful at communicating (and being a truly nasty place of work when I was there, due to the vile vile bosses). Good riddance to bad rubbish. Now have to go to bank and check deposit history to make sure Vile Boss paid me when she said she did, and go through my google calendar, any emails from them, and any conversations I had with Katy re: working overtime, because her estimate seems low (even knowing she lied about paying 8 an hour and actually pays 6, thanks for this hot tip, other fed-up employees) and is for July only (I think I also have unpaid shifts for June, potentially May). Not today though, I have like, actual shit I need to get done that doesn't involve double-checking this bitch over like 100 pounds max, because this is the sad little back-alley my working life has detoured into. I'm doing it, I'm just hating it.
( Productivity Stuffs )
