dancerjodi

On Friday Brian and I went with a dance studio friend to see The Rocky Horror Show at the http://turtlelane.org/. I've seen the movie with a shadow cast a billion times (Brian and I met there) but had never seen the musical. They did a great job! I liked hearing the music I had heard years ago in the Roxy Cast Cassette (from the 15th Anniversary boxed set) and their direction though different than the movie (and apparently other live musical shows) was great. Their use of "phantoms" rather than simply Transylvanians was very neat. The craziness and humor of the Criminologist was wonderful (who knew he could be such a memorable character). Their Columbia didn't tap dance which was a bit of a let down, but all in all we had a great time.

We had a troop on Saturday out in RI to support a blood drive that Ryder Wyndham had organized at the Rochambeau branch library. The goal for the day was 15 pints but they collected 30! Ryder invited us to his home for a cookout after the event, what a great guy. It is wonderful being part of such a great Star Wars family that we can do things like this. We were enjoying hanging around in the back yard after most of the guests had left, but we had to pack up the remainder of our home for our deleading work, so we headed out and were back by around 7:30-8. We were both exhausted from being out all day but got what we needed to do done. We spent the last couple of hours of the night lounging in bed since all of our furniture was covered/moved and it was the only clear space.

We got up on Sunday and got ourselves together for breakfast at In a Pickle before heading Worcester-ways for http://www.rockandshock.com/. In all of the years that this convention/concert has been happening Brian and I have never made it, despite being big horror and metal fans. October is busy and it always creeps up on us, and there are other things to do, but somehow this year we managed to get it into our calendar and get there. We met Mer and Mike and wandered a bit with and without them - it was great to catch up. The vibe was wonderful - so much more relaxed and fun than Supermegafest. The room had a similar number of guests and vendors as that convention, but it was more spread out and had more of a 'chill' vibe. It was also more family friendly (which is funny, considering it is a horror convention) - there were lots of families out there together, many in costume. While Mer and Mike were waiting in Ace Frehley's line we pondered trying to meet Robert Englund, but decided against it when we saw the huge crowd. We did get to see Kane Hodder and get a couple of things signed (Tember, we have a surprise for you). Brian's Death Trooper was very popular, and he got lots of photos with people http://www.flickr.com/photos/dancerjodi/sets/72157627784240629/with/6251308606/ . His biggest fan was a six year old girl who waved to him, slapped him five or asked for a picture every time we passed her (about 20 times through the day). Check out her little leg flip in this picture she took with Brian and her Dad http://www.flickr.com/photos/dancerjodi/6250760875/in/set-72157627784240629. We chatted with her Mom later at the convention about how she has grown up going to this each year - she was a month old for her first Rock N Shock! Her parents were vendors and their booth was named after her. They also had a 1 year old son who was so taken with Brian, that when we tried to walk away he started crying - he didn't want the zombie trooper to leave! Who knew that the horror/metal convention was so family-friendly? The woman told us that we should come back next year with our babe in costume. I think it really is just a matter of kids being exposed to things and what is normal/scary and what is exotic. We have friends with children who think nothing of being surrounded by Star Wars costume characters (they know who we are out of costume and in), so I'm sure this is very much the case. I can't believe it took us so long to come out to this thing!

After the con we went back to the car so that Brian could change and grabbed a quick late lunch before heading home. We packed up our animals, animal supplies and things we would need for the week in NH and drove out to my parent's house. They helped us lug everything up to their empty 2nd floor apartment and we got things set up, and then had dinner with them downstairs in their home. Brian took off to head back to Waltham since he was meeting the contractors there this morning. Our poor cats were so freaked out. Jayne was super affectionate and kept coming up to me, laying on the bed, etc which is so unlike him. He has a bit of an abandoment fear given his life before us, so I think he was just happy that after the hour-long ride, I was still there. Mal hid in cabinets and closets and behind doors and I could only get him up on the bed with me once. I feel so bad for disrupting them so, but an empty apartment will be safer than my sister's where we needed to keep them from her cats and very jumpy and loud Boxer. It has been weird being mothered again in the first time in a long time: showing up for dinner cooked for us, Mom packed me a lunch for today, having breakfast with them this morning.

Getting up and showered and the animals fed this morning was easy and I had breakfast with my parents downstairs - we are leaving for work in MA at the same time. I hope the cats are able to relax a bit while I'm gone today. I have a pre-natal appointment at 4:00 (including my glucose tolerance test) and will stop by the house after to get mail, run some errands, and am meeting Brian after work for dinner to avoid traffic before we drive back up to NH, each in our own cars. Poor Brian spent the night in the house and woke up to finish the prep in our bedroom - pushing furniture to the middle of the room around the bed. When he got out of the shower he ended up stubbing his baby toe on a doorstop that's usually between a door and a bureau, and broke it (on his right foot). You know, the driving foot. After some drugs and ice it's feeling better, so he's at work with it all taped up and in flip flops. When it rains it pours. :/

All in all this process has gone more smoothly than I could have hoped for, so despite being displaced a bit we are doing well. We are extremely lucky for the support we have been offered and have received. I can't wait, can't wait to get back home and settled in. We had no plans for next Sunday, so last night I put a calendar entry into google: "DO NOT MAKE PLANS". I am looking forward to getting things back to normal by this time next week. :)

Christmas photos are here http://www.flickr.com/photos/dancerjodi/sets/72157625409669663/with/5294920716/

Our cat is smart, S - M - R - T
http://www.flickr.com/photos/dancerjodi/5294311567/

My new favorite thing.

Life without Max is so weird. You don't realize the work you do for somebody until they are gone since its so ingrained in your schedule.

For instance, my Dad dropped by last night to talk for a bit and brought me some flowers. I took them out of the wrapping and went to take out the baby's breath - oh wait, there is no cat anymore that I need to worry about eating them and poisoning himself. I took the baby's breath out anyway - I don't want it there. I slept an extra 15 minutes this morning and didn't need to feed Max, give him his shot, and clean up puked on blankets, peed on pee pads or anything like that. I almost actually forgot to feed the bunnies before I left the house since I'm really a creature of habit and one change kind of throws me off. This is going to take a lot of getting used to.

In a way though, Max's parting is going to help other animals in the way that an organ donor would. We went out to our vet yesterday to drop off unused insulin, needles and cat food. Vescone is going to keep the blanket we brought Max to them in and that he died in - the vet mentioned that it will come in very useful for snuggling other patients and keeping them warm. I put an add up on Craigslist for someone to take our pet steps and leftover pee pads. This is one of the responses that I got:

"Hello, I wrote to you last night from my home e-mail. I have
not heard back from you if you have given them away yet. My mother in law
REALLY needs these items. We always buy her the puppy pads and man they are
expensive. Also The she's been wanting the steps because with her arthritis
she cant pick up the dog anymore. Please let me know you would make an old
woman happy and easier. I can pick it all up. I live and work in Watertown
so it's not a problem. Just tell me where."

I just replied to her. It makes me feel better that the things we got to help Max out in his final months will go to help an older woman's life easier with her own pet. To connect to our cheezy vacation, its a small world after all (and all that).

My brother's cat died early this morning. He's Max's brother and just as old. He's been getting thinner and thinner, having problems walking, and all the other things that cats do when they are on their way out.

From my Dad:

"Hi Jode,

I don't know if EJ mailed you but Blinky died in his arms at 5:15 this morning. He was down in his room all night, I am glad Blinky timed it right for EJ. JD took it hard and broke me a bit looking at him so I just held him and told him he was ok in heaven. Last night is the first night Blinky didn't sleep on our bed. I am making a nice spot for him in the back corner of the yard and we decided to put him in a little cardboard box like he loves, Mom gave me a towel to put him in because he always sat on then when she got them out from the dryer. I will be making a spot and will bury him in the next hour or so. He looks so peaceful now, EJ curled him up nice the way he slept. He has to go to work this morning, I felt so bad for him I wanted to hug him too but that would be silly. Say a little prayer to send off to meet Poonsie & Winky.
Love Dad"

Blinkie was the sweetest cat. We called him "Blinkie the dog" because he trotted around the house like a dog, and would talk to you with well timed and loud meows. He also would carry socks or gloves around in his mouth like he had caught a mouse, and make this weird growl noise when he did it. We'd hear a noise from the other room and a few minutes later Blinky would come in and drop a sock at our feet.

I love you Blinky, I'm glad you aren't suffering anymore :(

Here's a pic, he was such a cutie:
http://www.diabolis.net/gallery/displayimage.php?album=146&pos=26

Blinkie loved to sit inside of things. This pic is of him this past Xmas sitting inside of a tray that the Tiggerette made for my parents. The second that thing came out of the box Blinkie's eyes lit up and he HAD to sit in it :)

He's the first one of three to go from the kittens that three excited kids picked out many, many years ago. Its very hard to lose such a special part of your family.

He was severely anemic due to kidney failure; it was possible that he also had internal bleeding and after around $1500 of more tests and treatment the vet said that his prognosis would not be good.

So little Flopsy is now sleeping peacefully and will be laid to rest in the pet cemetery in Middleboro, MA. They asked permission to do a 'non-invasive and cosmetic' autopsy in order to specifically diagnose things (free of charge) so that we could make sure that Praline isn't sick.

*****

That is all I can say right now. I would like to tell people however that the Veterinary Emergency & Specialty Center of New England is an excellent and caring facility and that the experience was the best we could have.

He's home and very relieved to be done with vet stuff (until next Thursday when they'll keep him for the day again and monitor his glucose levels). We have to give him an insulin shot 1X a day at the same time (though we can vary 1-2 hours if necessary and he should be OK). That kind of rules out any weekend trips away unless we can find someone willing to come over at 7:30 in the morning, feed him and then wait 1/2 hour to shoot him up. It was so odd going to the 24 hour CVS in Watertown last night around 11:30 to buy insulin and syringes for a cat.

His heart is OK, they shaved a bit of his tummy to do an echocardiogram (I think that's the test that they did - whatever it was it cost us $200) so he looks a bit funny. Though he's slightly off the vet said its nothing to be worried about. We'll have to have another test in 6-8 months to make sure he's still OK.

I'm really hoping that once the steriod from his Asthma shot leaves his body he'll get back to normal . . . having to be home each morning and awake between 7:30 and 8:00 AM is going to seriously effect our ability to go on weekend trips (which are generally easy with cats because you just leave them food for 3 days and go) and I won't be able to sleep late on Saturdays and Sundays anymore. At least he was cool this morning with the shot - he was SO irritated last night when we picked him up at the Vet's. B was freaked out because he had never seen him hiss before.

*********

I'm just looking forward to getting back to "normal" life in other areas. I decided to skip going to K's equinox celebration tonight for some good ole fashioned cheeze and violence - seeing Blade II in Reveeeah (baby)!

We got a new bunny this past weekend, a companion for Flopsy. She's part lop and part holland and should get to be around 7-8 pounds (a good size to be compatible to him). An interesting rabbit fact that I did not know, we can't put them together even though he's neutered until she's spayed . . . if he mounts her she'll THINK she's pregnant and start acting that way, shredding things and building a nest and being a big crab at him. A month later she'd figure it out, let him mount her again and the cycle continues. So for now they can look at each other while one runs around and the other is in the cage, they are already trying to rub noses and lay near each other (aw). You can see a picture of her at B's journal at http://bunicula.livejournal.com/ .

I've settled back into things after the trip: back at work and being productive with a fresh attitude toward things, back to the gym a few days a week and almost done collecting everything for my Umass application. Now I just need to collect a couple of more letters this week, put the finishing touches on my essay and send it all out in the mail early next week.

Halloween, I don't know if I'm going to be able to sew that dress in time to wear to Manray or any of the parties this weekend. Its a lot of work and I know that if that's all I did I'd finish in time but I just haven't been in the mood that much (I want to play with bunnies and see friends more than sitting in the kitchen with 10 yards of fabric and a sewing machine).

So ramble, ramble, ramble . . . here's a thought to leave you with from the Intranet:

Quote of the Day: "Awareness to attitude makes a difference to life." - John Ahern