Phase One Complete

This morning, my dad and I took three cats to be spayed. Soon we'll be going to pick them back up. I know three cats out of....... however the fuck many we have, doesn't seem like much, but I feel infinitely better about the whole situation knowing that I have, at least, made some progress. I am going to do my very best to make sure that we at least get the majority of them taken care of before spring comes around. Lest we start the whole mess over again with new kittens.

(pun!)

Reconciliation

Remember when I said that my pigs had gotten a divorce? Well, it seems that they have reconciled, or at least decided that their problems aren't worth being cold at night anymore. They do, however, apparently still want me to think that they don't get along at all. Every time I'm around, they grumble, and bitch, and refuse to go into the barn at the same time. I wouldn't even know that they were sleeping in the barn together again if my sister hadn't gone to get something out of the shop when I wasn't around. She caught them all snuggled up together and took a picture.

Notice the extra set of ears in the background there? That would be Tuni. 

 

Do You Want to Play a Game?

Considering the fact that it was Thanksgiving, yesterday was actually a pretty decent day. I managed to avoid any and all holiday related activities, which was almost enough to make me forget what day it was. Then last night my mom, my sister and I hung out with my aunt and my cousin, who I haven't seen for quite some time. We sat around and talked and played board games until 1:30 in the morning. Then, of course, I had to drive home on icy roads at 1:30 in the morning and try not to die (and, more importantly, try not to fuck up my mom's car). Still, pretty nice overall.

 

Gee Thanks

It's time again for my Annual Angry Thanksgiving Rant. Are you ready? Here it is.

Thanksgiving is the worst holiday ever, and here's why-

1- It's actually about absolutely nothing that it claims to be about.
2- It is, by far, the most miserable day of the year for vegans (unless they happen to be lucky enough to have a group of other vegans to spend it with. Even then it still kind of sucks.).
3- It mostly involves forcing people to pretend to get along with people they don't get along with at all.
4- It encourages a multitude of unhealthy behaviors.
5- Our society is so fucked up that a day that is supposedly about being thankful for what we have is immediately followed by a day dedicated to insane greed and rampant consumerism.
6- The fact that people say "Happy Turkey Day!" and I have to pretend that I don't feel the overwhelming desire to strangle them.
7- We are so oblivious that we don't see anything wrong with the fact that the origin of Thanksgiving was the Native Americans basically saving the pilgrims from starvation, and that they "thanked" them for it by murdering them and stealing their land.
8- The fact that no one thinks it's completely horrifying to be "thankful" for the corpse of a murdered bird with a bunch of bread shoved up his ass, and that no one seems to care that he would have been thankful for not being tortured and killed.
9- Everyone thinks you're a horrible person if you have the nerve to point out any of these things.
10- (This year specifically) I didn't get to go to Farm sanctuary's Celebration FOR the turkeys, which is the only thing that ever makes me not hate this holiday with a fiery passion.

  

We'll See

Today, my dad and I made my forge. At least I think we did, anyway. It ended up being a bit of an ordeal, to say the least. It's more of a detailed process than I think anyone would care to read about but, basically, we ended up having to do the bulk of the work four separate times. It turned out the we had significantly less insulation material than we needed for the size we were trying to build. Then we couldn't quite figure out how to fix it, so we just kept trying. Anyway, after about three hours, we ended up with a much smaller size, but we think it will still work. If it does work, it should be pretty amazing. Supposedly, it takes about a week for this stuff to dry though, so I guess we'll have to wait until then to find out if this was all worth it.

At Last

I have finally begun the process of taking care of the cat overpopulation issue at my house. I found out that P.U.R.R. offers reduced rates for spaying and neutering, and I got appointments for three cats this Sunday. Obviously, dealing with three cats will barely even make a dent, but at least I'm finally starting the process. Now at least I don't have to feel like such a shitty human being.

Plus, Alaska is definitely going to be in this first group. I'm not sure if I've mentioned her before, but she's the one who raises the worst kittens ever! So this will at least greatly reduce our population of asshole white cats who are too dumb to stay out of the road.

700 (ish)

So I totally forgot to mention my 700th post. I know no one actually gives a shit, but I just like to sort of commemorate every hundredth post. I don't know why, it just feels like they should be relevant, or more relevant than the others, or something. Anyway, Bad Timing was actually the 700th post, which seems rather ironic since I am just now realizing what number it is once it's too late.

I did an image search for "700" and found this. I find this pretty appropriate since, as of today, I think I'm finally making progress with my cat problem. I'll let you know when I have anything more concrete to report. 

Socializing

If you can believe it, I actually interacted (to the best of my ability) with other humans twice this weekend. Last night I went to a bonfire, and today I rode in something called a "side-by-side" which I had never done before. It was quite enjoyable. And I even managed to talk to people.....a little.

Bad Timing

Generally, when I go to kickboxing, I show up pretty much at the exact moment that class is supposed to start. Well, last night I somehow managed to get to Morgantown, get my groceries and my pig food, and get to class fifteen minutes early. So, naturally, my instructor ended up being half an hour late. I'm not sure exactly what happened, but I think he had a good excuse because he showed up in a suit jacket so it must have been important, right? Anyway after that, the other girl and I finished the twenty-count that we've been working on. So that was cool.

Gifts

For Christmas, my dad has decided to help me build a forge. I'm pretty excited about it because now not only will I be able to make the jewelry that I've been talking about but, if I get motivated enough, I can make all kinds of other stuff too, like swords and shit! You know,because that's a really practical thing to do. I don't care though, as far as I'm concerned, the coolness of it far outweighs the impracticality.

Also, a client's wife gave me a DVD player because I was bitching about mine being broken, which was incredibly nice of her and will definitely make my life easier. That is, assuming I can manage to prevent my electronic-killing-curse from infecting this one too.

I looked up images of forges and couldn't find anything very impressive. So I searched "making swords" and found this, which I thought was kind of hilarious. 

Could You Be a Bit More Specific?

I'm still looking into this whole idea about submitting writing to various publications. The problem is, I keep coming upon this one phrase "previously unpublished work." What I'm wondering is, how picky are they really going to be about that? Because pretty much everything I've ever written, I've posted here. One place actually specified that posting something on your own blog counted as it being published, which to me sounds fucking insane. I'm hoping that since the other places didn't specifically say that, that they are being a bit more realistic. I mean seriously, where else in the world would posting stuff here possibly count as being published? If it does count then I might as well go ahead and retire as a successful writer , because I've had nearly 700 pieces "published".

Submitted For Your Approval

I've been considering trying to submit some of my writing to.....something....I don't know. I found this site, Places for Writers, that has a list of all the publications that are looking or submissions and I'm considering giving it a shot. I feel like I've been in a bit of a slump lately, writing wise, and I haven't been able to come up with anything very interesting to write about. It seems like maybe if I think there's a chance my stuff will end up somewhere other than this blog it might make me feel a little more inspired. Anyway, I don't know if I'll actually go through with it or not, but I'm considering submitting some poems and/or a shortened version of The Moth Story. We'll see.

I Mean It This Time!

I'm really, really going to try to actually learn how to make some metal jewelry soon. My dad was kind enough to order me some sand last night. I also ordered another book on metalsmithing. And now that the weather is being complete bullshit, I should have plenty of time to practice. Obviously, there are still other things I will need, but I think I've made a good start. This is something that I've always wanted to do, and going to fucking do it!

No really! 

So Get This

I decided I might as well go ahead and talk about the reason I didn't write a post for Saturday. It was because I had a date. At least I think it was a date anyway; I'm so inexperienced with such things that I honestly don't know how to tell. Anyway, this was a pretty big deal for me since I never do that sort of thing. It was nice, it seemed like the sort of thing that people with actual social skills would do. Of course, I am not someone who has actual social skills and I can only hope that I was able to hide that fact well enough that he didn't think I was psychotic or something. Either way, at least I did it. So that's something, right? Look at me being all normal and shit.

Not Too Bad

Sorry I didn't get around to writing a post yesterday, maybe I'll tell you why later, I haven't decided yet. Anyway, I figured I'd go ahead and fill you in on what happened in class Friday. The girl who was in class a few weeks ago was back. I guess she has still been there, but usually comes on another day. Anyway, she and I basically practiced punch combinations, alternating with one of us throwing punches and the other catching them. I feel like we were doing fairly well by the end, so that was good. It still wasn't nearly as intense as it is when I'm the only one in class, but it was okay.

Finally!

I finally got confirmation of something that I have been wondering about for years. I do, in fact, look far shittier in pictures that I do in real life. I used to absolutely refuse to even let anyone take my picture because they always came out horrible. Then my sister started doing photography and convinced me to let her take my picture. It came out much, much better than pictures of me generally come out, so I decided that she is the only one allowed to take my picture. Here's the thing though, even in her pictures which are, without a doubt, the best pictures of myself I have seen, I still always look worse than I do in real life. 

For a long time, I honestly thought that I was delusional or something. I would look in the mirror and think "Okay, I look decent today." Then I would see a picture from the same day and think "What the fuck happened?" No one else ever acknowledged this though, so I thought I must have a some sort of skewed perspective on the way I really look. Which was pretty disappointing really. Well, yesterday someone finally told me, without my asking, that I "Don't photograph well". I probably shouldn't be happy about that, but it's nice to know that I'm not just insane, and also that I don't actually look like that. 

Sam knows what it's like to take bad pictures.

Lovely Weather We're Having

Today, I stepped outside to get the pig's water buckets, and guess what? It was fucking snowing! I am not ready for this shit! Also, it snowed the entire time I was out with the pigs and then stopped as soon as I was back inside. I'm telling you, snow hates me as much as I hate it. It's always trying to kill me.

Perhaps I'm being a little dramatic about this.

There's Nothing Like Manic Panic

My hair finally grew out enough that I felt like it was relatively safe to bleach it again. I trimmed off as much as I could of the yellowish part, which was also the irreparably fried part. So today I redid it with Manic Panic, which is what I had always used when I my hair was blonde before. I had forgotten how much better it works! It didn't fry my hair, or burn my scalp, or run down my neck and ruin my clothes. So yeah, if you ever need good hair bleach this \/ is what you want.

The only problem is that now I need another new picture, with my hair the way I wanted it in the first place. 

On a completely unrelated note, the 200th episode of Supernatural was fucking hilarious! And if you didn't watch it you really missed out. I'm fairly certain they addressed every single inside joke from the fandom, and they brought back one of my very favorite characters. 

It's Not Looking Good

You know how I mentioned that my dad and I were trying to resurrect the Subrusaurus? Well, it didn't work. We finally got the parts that we thought might fix the transmission, and my dad put them in yesterday. Alas, she still only goes in reverse every fifth or sixth time you try it. It looks like anything else we might possibly do would be far more expensive than it would be worth for a car so old. I think I might finally have to let her go........

On a more positive note, the 200th episode of Supernatural is tonight. So that's pretty cool. 

Who Would've Thought?

Do you remember how, forever ago, I mentioned that I was going to try to learn to do metalworking? Then I decided it was going to be too much of a pain in the ass and made some clay jewelry instead? Then how I got bored with the clay jewelry and stopped doing it altogether? Well, I've been thinking about it lately, and I still really want to learn to do metalworking. So I bought a book about it. It seems like for the kind of stuff I want to do (making designs out of clay, making molds of them, then casting them in metal) what I need is sand. Apparently, there is a technique in which you just press the model into this special, very fine grain, sand and that becomes the mold for the metal. That sounds so straightforward that even I can't get too annoyed with it.

Evidence of My New Hair

Yesterday, my sister and I went to Cooper's Rock to take some pictures. She wanted to take some artsy pictures for her photography page and I wanted some pictures of my new hair. It was cold as all fuck and so I ended up looking somewhat miserable in all of them, despite my best efforts. Also, I just always tend to automatically make this weird face every time I actually look at the camera. This has come to be known as my "stupid face". Anyway, here is what my hair looks like now.

Well, That Was an Interesting Change of Pace

Last night at class, there were these three other guys there. They weren't actually there for my class. In fact...... I'm not entirely sure why they were there. I kept catching bits and pieces of conversation, but I think that one of the guys used to teach there. I ended up practicing with him a little. He was showing me this slightly different punching technique, which was supposed to provide more power. I must say, it worked really well. Anyway, after that all three of the new guys kind of went on and on about it for the rest of the class. I'm not sure exactly what I did, but they were apparently impressed. I don't know. One of them apparently took a video, and snapchatted it to a bunch of his friends. It was quite an unusual experience for me, and a pretty nice confidence boost.

I Don't Believe It!

So, Hughesnet actually showed up yesterday! And we finally have internet access at my dad's house again! It's amazing! I was honestly starting to think that we would never be able to get online again. On a related note, I wasted my entire fucking day on the internet.

If you don't get the image, don't worry. I don't get it either. It's mostly for my sister's amusement. 

Combat Ready

A few weeks ago, one of my massage clients and I were talking about my kickboxing class. The conversation then progressed to my general affinity for things that are likely to be be dangerous and/or painful. He then stated that he didn't like those things because he "was built for comfort, not combat." This has become sort of a running joke. I've been thinking about it though, and I have realized that may be a very significant part of my problem in life. I'm built for combat and everyone else I know is built for comfort.  

I did an image search for "built for combat" and for some reason I keep getting pictures of Lego soldiers....

Why Can't I Worry About Normal Things?

I stress myself out about the stupidest possible things. I honestly don't worry at all about things that most people worry about. For instance, I have absolutely no concern whatsoever for my own personal safety. Nor do I ever worry about anything I own being stolen (partly because I don't own anything that anyone else would ever want). You know that cliche about people worrying that they left something on and their house will burn down while they're gone? I don't do that. You know how sometimes people get all nervous when they have to be out alone at night, because they feel like they are more vulnerable? Not me. I do however freak out every time I change anything about my daily workout because I'm afraid it won't be as effective as whatever it was I was doing before. What the fuck is wrong with me?

This Could Get Interesting

You know how a while back I mentioned that a yellow jacket had gotten into my room and stung me in my sleep? Well, it turns out the little fuckers are living in my ceiling! Every night, I get more and more of them suddenly appearing in my room. They seem to just sort of hide in the ceiling all day, until I go upstairs at night to read before I go to bed. It appears that the light draws them out. So I go up there and everything seems fine, I sit there and read for a few minutes, then I start to notice a buzzing noise, then my room is completely overrun by yellow jackets. The best part is, turning on the light brings them out, but turning off the light does not convince them to leave. So they just fly around like lunatics and crash into the walls in the dark, and then sometimes end up in bed with me. Last night I finally stuffed some fabric into the crack I'm pretty sure they have been coming out of. That seemed to help; I only had a couple last night as opposed to the six or seven the previous night.

In Case You Were Wondering About the Moth

I just thought I would let you guys know that I am still (half-assedly) working on my Moth Story. I just decided to stop posting it here because 1-I don't know that anybody really cared (you know, as apposed to my usual posts which I'm totally sure that everybody cares about deeply). And 2- I'm just not very good at writing linearly. The only way that I'm able to continue to care about the story at all is if I just write random scenes as I think of them. Unfortunately, I just don't think anyone is going to care to read it that way. So I think I'm just going to have to hope that someday I manage to finish the damn thing. Then anyone who actually gives a shit can just read it as a whole.

Yeah......Chuck knows nobody was wondering about the moth. 

Pig Divorce

I can't remember for sure if I've mentioned this before or not, but my pigs have gotten a divorce. When they first came to live with me, my dad, my cousin, and I built a nice new barn for them to share, which they did up until a few months ago. Then Tuni apparently got tired of dealing with Riley's bullshit and moved out. Now she's been living in an old dilapidated barn that has been sitting unused in the opposite side of the field for like 20 years. I kind of thought that once it started to get cold, she would move back in with him, but it has been getting pretty damn cold and she's still living in the other barn. So today, my dad and I did the best we could to make it at least a little more comfortable for her, by covering up as many of the holes as we could and putting some fresh hay in there for her. I feel like she really got the short end of the stick on this one, but she seems to be making the best of it.

Far as I see it, you people been given the shortest end of the stick ever been offered a human soul in this crap-heel 'verse. But you took that end, and you - well, you took it. And that's - Well, I guess that's somethin'.

Fail

Last night, right before it was time for me to leave for class, I got a text from my instructor telling me that class was cancelled because he was sick. I assume "sick" is code for "got invited to a Halloween party". This was understandable, most people do actually have fun things to do on Halloween. Just because I'm pathetic doesn't mean I expect him to be. Also, my mom and my sister were planning on going to a Samhain/Halloween get together/celebration thing, and I had intended to stop by after class anyway. Well, they decided not to go. So I ended up spending one of the only holidays I like at all sitting around doing nothing, just like I do every other night of the year. Fucking hell I need to get a life!