Not Mandatory

03:39 pm

I also forgot to mention two other magnificent things:

- I got the part I wanted in the play I auditioned for. (Well, I wanted ANY part, but I love the one I got.)
- Tonight I am seeing Kids in the (Kingsbury) Hall, live. Probably for the only time in my life.

Current Mood: excited

06:54 am - 36 hours

He is home again.

Recap: On Mother's Day, Shan made her first attempt to walk Simon on a lead. Within seconds of crossing the threshhold, he was spooked and he broke away. We all searched the neighbourhood until past dark. It was six months to the day since we had first seen him.

All day yesterday Mum and Shan phoned shelters. I posted classified ads and got the requisite spam, including a demand for $500 ransom. I also prayed and made little bargains with whatever powers might be listening: "I will gladly turn my ankle in the show tonight if Simon will come home."

Yesterday was also the 8-year anniversary of the death of Tucker's partner, Joe. May 12 has never been kind to us.

Going offstage in Act II, I rolled my ankle when I tripped on a prop.

Meanwhile, on the front porch of my parents' house, Dad had set out the old sleeping bag which served as Simon's igloo on those cold November nights after he first appeared and no one knew what to do with him.

This morning, there he sat. The lead and harness were gone, but Simon was there.

He's now back in the bedroom he shares with Tucker.

Today is also the 8-year anniversary of Planck arriving. I will always believe Joe had something to do with that, and now, with this as well.

Thanks everybody for the well-wishes and prayers.

Current Mood: grateful

09:10 pm

Simon ran away.

Oh my god, please come home.

Current Mood: indescribable

09:58 am - Updates as promised

Well, the remainder of Tux’s bloodwork and urinalysis came back normal, says Dr. P. Today we brought him in with the glucometer and I’m now awaiting the results of comparing it with their IDEX. He’s been prescribed sub-Q fluids to rehydrate him, and he’ll get his first dose tonight when Mum can walk us through it. (We last administered them five years ago, when Pixie was in kidney failure. Not knowing this, Dr. P said the other day, “You probably know how to do sub-Q fluids, don’t you?”)

More and more, it appears he’s peeing beside the box because he just wants to. Might be aggression over the ferals.

The vet’s phone call is not the only one I’m awaiting; callbacks were last night and the director is supposed to phone us by week’s end to let us know whether we were cast. I had a lot of fun at auditions, but there were a buttload of talented triple-threats present, so I’m not expecting anything. Tux got an almost-clean bill of health, so I’ll be happy whether I make the list or not.

Today here in the city you can smell the lake everywhere. Even indoors.

Current Mood: covert

11:21 am - Tux update

I phoned the vet’s office for results today, and overall, she said the preliminary numbers weren’t too alarming. Most importantly, his kidney function looks good. Strangely, his glucose was also just about perfect, which means one of two things: (a) our glucometer might be out of whack; (b) his numbers really had been low and the stress of the vet visit made them spike (quite possible). To find out, we can bring the glucometer in and check its accuracy against their IDEX machine. The answer will determine his insulin dosage.

Amylase, CPK, red count, hemoglobin, and hematocrit were a little high. These suggest, respectively, an intestinal or pancreatic issue; a muscle trauma; or…something else. Dr. P thought it might be wise to administer some sub-q fluids because he appears a little dehydrated (makes sense, with all the recreational peeing he’s been doing).

We’ll have a clearer picture when they get the rest of the results, and at that point we’ll formulate a strategy.

09:56 pm

OBT usually auditions one show while the previous one is still underway. In this case, they auditioned for "12 Dancing Princesses" while "Indianapolis Jones" (don't judge) was still in its infancy.

For the last two weeks, I shunned all things carbonated in preparation for yesterday's audition. (Carbonated drinks reduce your lung capacity; so said a director I worked with in high school.)

I sunk fifty bucks and change into a new pair of character shoes because my last ones were put to death (their crime: being fetid as all hell) after "CTR Superstar." I practised "Lusty Month of May" until my poor neighbs were probably ready to phone the cops. I showed up looking like my headshot. I sang and cold-read my heart out and I danced just a hair better than my usual level of awful.

The director said she'd be phoning the called-back among us by Saturday night, and so when, after curtain call, I found no missed calls and no voicemail on my phone, I chalked it up to experience, ate some of my feelings, and focused today on Tux's glucose curve. (His numbers are low; he's peeing beside the box instead of in it; he goes in to Dr. Ponce tomorrow. He seems generally healthy but a little cranky -- maybe over the ferals now chowing down regularly in the back yard. I will report on any findings.)

Shortly after cracking open a Diet Pepsi as therapy, I got a phone call about callbacks on Tuesday.

Tomorrow, then: drop Tux at vet, go to work, pick Tux up, find out if he's even okay, do Monday night "Indy" show.

Tuesday: work, callbacks.

Wish me luck on all fronts.

03:39 pm - Farhad

Saturday we had our first cue-to-cue rehearsal. I stopped by, wearing my bobby soxer costume, for a coffee, but you hadn’t brewed any yet, so I settled for a bag of trail mix and a peach iced tea. You were polite and friendly as always.

News broke about a huge brawl – maybe 20 people in the streets, with knives and boards, Sunday night in Murray.

One young man was stabbed to death.

Last night before tech rehearsal I noticed Aj’s Kwik Mart closed; a sign on the door mentioned an unspecified family emergency. I didn’t make the connection until I saw your picture in the Tribune today.

You were 19 years old, with a 2-year-old daughter and a newborn son.

I am so sorry. Thank you for always being so kind to us weirdos from the theatre next door.

12:02 am

So I'm pretty sure we have a feral cat colony in the 'hood here.

We have three regular tabby visitors -- a huge brown tabby, a medium-size Lynx point, and an itty bitty brown tabby -- and at least two of them are ear-tipped (a feral cat body modification meaning "yup, I'm desexed"). They hang out together, we put out food, they eat it, they hang out on the back porch.

We blink at them through the windows; they blink back. The Saunders cats stare at them through the windows; they stare back. We open the back door and they scatter.

I am in love with them.

Anyone done the caregiver thing before? I suspect we might have another such person on our street anyway, but just in case, I intend to build a shelter out there.

Current Mood: thoughtful

06:06 pm

we_genie and jamayia and emblites are spiriting me away for the tiniest roadtrip/most complicated sleep-over ever. That will be tomorrow night.

I am looking forward to being four sassy ladies on an adventure, a la Golden Girls. Not, assuredly, a la Sex and the City. (I could not stand that show.)

I am the 6,309,234,019,302nd person ever to make that comparison. (That's right. 1,000 times more people than are alive right now have beaten me to it.)

08:47 pm

I hate to make this reference. I really really do.

Lately at my work I am feeling like Aram Fingal getting lectured about scrolling up cinemas.

Any minute now I'm getting doppled into an anteater.

Current Mood: dirty

09:55 pm - Also.

Saw a pair of giant feral tabbies (one brown, one Lynx point, looked like siblings) in the back yard today.

I know cats send scent messages. Is there a feline equivalent of "for a good time call..." being spread around town?

They were gorgeous. One was ear-tipped. The other I'm not sure.

I hope they are safe. I don't know what I'll do if they become regulars.

Edited to add: Tux and Shadow had been expecting "outside fun time" on their leashes. They were PISSED.

Current Mood: contemplative

11:56 am

Today marks 3 years of Tux in our lives!

Right about this minute in 2005, we were signing the adoption papers.

So much has happened since then, but it still feels like the blink of an eye.

Current Mood: grateful

09:26 pm

Weird thing I do:

I look up my date of birth in the Social Security Death Index. Then I google the names of the people there to find out who they were and how they died.

Weird things you do?

Current Mood: morbid

01:11 pm

Went to this last night with my sister, best friend, husband, and mother-in-law. SUU made a worthy effort; USU didn't have a prayer from the get-go. It was a gimme for Utah.

I miss my old sport so much.

Current Mood: nostalgic

09:20 pm

Darren sent flowers (and a bracelet!) to the office, so I got to look loved (indeed I am) and glamourous (indeed I'm not, but I love pretending).

I bought him a bottle of this, and he seems to enjoy it.

We had dinner at Star of India for at least the third (maybe the fourth) year in a row. It was lovely.

We picked up a nice pinot noir to share with Mum/Dad/Shan/Tucker/Darrell at the Krug place, and it was likewise a success. That's where we are now.

A lot of lives were lost or shattered today in Illinois and around the world, and it just doesn't make sense. The world just doesn't make sense.

Nobody is ever truly safe.

I am grateful for my own world while I have it.

Current Mood: confused

11:48 am - Tainted Songs

Volume III of the ripping-off-Laura C. series: songs that have been ruined for me forever! (Please note: reading this will possibly ruin these songs for you as well.)

"I Get Around" by the Beach Boys. Ruined by the fertilization sequence at the beginning of Look Who’s Talking; since childhood, this song has reminded me of sperm.

"Free Fallin’" by Tom Petty. Skate rat in the video murdered his girlfriend (also in the video) so now I associate this amazing song with…murder. If you didn’t know, I’ve now ruined it for you, too, no doubt.

"Michael" by Franz Ferdinand. For reasons not worth explaining, this song is now nothing more to me than an inside joke about farting and belching. I’m convulsing with painful, muted laughter in my desk chair just thinking about it.

"One Night in Bangkok," by Murray Head. Having said that, I am eager for phikus to come back home.

Your turn!

Current Mood: cold

11:10 am - Things people do to get attention

I knew today was a year since the massacre at Trolley Square.

We now live a block away from Trolley. This is perhaps why I got a little jumpy when, as I was getting ready for work, I heard a helicopter over us outside. I'm sure it was a med-evac or a traffic chopper...

Even so...

~~

I guess I'm kind of ripping off loo_arrgh lately (hardly a new thing). She's been posting lists and inviting people to respond/add to them. In homage, I'm going to continue my "I want interaction" quest today.

I was talking with a like-minded colleague a couple hours ago about another colleague whose life quest seems to be getting as much attention as possible, anywhere she can find it. (Every office, classroom, and team or group outfit has one...at least in American culture.)

Things I've observed people doing to get attention, but apparently not popularity:
• Singing out loud to oneself in public, with the obvious imperative of provoking someone to say, "Wow, _____, you have such a gorgeous voice. You should be famous." Variants on this include playing hotel lobby pianos uninvited (usually "Heart and Soul," "Fur Elise," "Moonlight Sonata," or the Richard Marx classic "Right Here Waiting") and reciting theatre or movie dialogue line-for-line while watching said production.
• Overloud phone conversations. This one's a gimme. Best when interrupted (and therefore proven staged) by the phone's ringing.
• Shrill or hyena-like restaurant laughter. Usually practised in large groups of one sex only (both are guilty), and apparently under the misconception that such laughter will attract the attention of opposite-sex diners at the next table.
• Car subwoofers.
• Catcalling.

11:02 pm - Smells

I have mediocre vision and finicky hearing (good at noticing harmony vocals but bad at identifying mumbled consonants), but if anything, I am a super-smeller. I can identify a lotion being used across the room; I can't dine next to someone with delinquent personal hygiene. I can tell if the person who used the lift before me was a smoker. I know if onions are being chopped two rooms away.

That's why this sort of thing appeals to me, and I've mentioned it before. Today I made my first suggestion for a fragrance: insulin. Since we started administering it to Tux, it has become part of his signature odor (along with beeswax and warm air). If you haven't smelled it, most people would say it smells like Band-Aids or doctor's offices.

Grandma smelled of Angel Face powder foundation. Pixie smelled also of beeswax, but Frisky smells like airplane air and sawdust. Pioneer Theatre Company always smelled (still smells) of carpet, grease paint, thermal paper, and coffee brewing. The Hollywood Apartments smelled of vanilla pipe tobacco and Murphy Oil Soap. Our honeymoon was honeysuckle bubble bath and New Car Smell.

I want interaction here: which smells hit you the hardest? Which ones would you have made into a fragrance if you had your druthers? Which ones do you associate with significant eras, places, or people in your life?

04:49 pm

Happy Chinese New Year!

My Rooster horoscope looks less than promising; two fortune cookies have promised large-distance travel; I have heard a lot of beloved late-'80s songs on the radio making me all nostalgic for early childhood.

Lately I'm missing people and places more than usual, and thinking a lot about my grandparents on both sides.

I have rediscovered my love of jasmine tea.

Not trying to sound "deep" here. Just scattered and logorrheic, like usual.

Current Mood: fdijvoaijw,hew

01:35 pm

This livejournal is endorsing Obama.

U.S. READERS: Whether or not you agree, please vote in any primary elections applicable to you today.