Dododreams

Wrong place, wrong time, Anansi

konekox4 — Sat, 29 May 2010 01:42:54 +0000

So, picture this. I was relaxing in the tub, hot water up to my chin, thinking happy thoughts and gradually parboiling while slowly swinging my legs back and forth to make gentle waves. Suddenly I noticed a bit of flotsam had washed up on my chest — not an unusual occurrence as often there’s a little bit of sock lint or cat hair inadvertently carried into the bathtub.

I looked down to flick it off and froze. Christ on a cracker, it had legs. Long deep brown legs. Many of them. My thought process went something like this run-on sentence:

“Oh shit oh shit oh shit it’s a fucking spider thank god hot water kills spiders oh my god it’s on my CHEST there’s a fucking SPIDER ON MY CHEST OH SHIT.”

At that moment I became very brave and slowly reached over to pinch one leg — “Oh god oh god this is so disgusting I’ve got to get it off me…” — so I could pitch it out of the tub. And I did! Only then to immediately think…

“Oh shit IT CAME BACK TO LIFE!!!! It’s scurrying towards…. OH CRAP! IT WENT INTO! MY! SHOE!!!!”

Needless to say this was not a very agreeable turn of events. Christ. I couldn’t just ignore this. Out of the tub.

So, picture this. A dripping wet naked woman, one hand full of a wad of kleenex, hesitantly reaching over with the other to stealthily grab a shoe, quickly turn it upside down and tap it against the floor, and zap the creepy crawly beast that was knocked out. Not the relaxing bath event either the spider or I had hoped for at the end of a long day.

Nicknames

konekox4 — Fri, 29 Jan 2010 04:51:34 +0000

Over the years all of my pets have had nicknames.

Some were obviously derived from their proper names…

Beauregard —> Beau

Scooter —> Scoots or Bootsie

Harlequin —> Harley Q

Matilda —> Tillie

Some were based on physical characteristics and give you a clue what the given animal looked like…

Beauregard —> Beast

Dulcie —> Larddonkey or Orca (guess who is gray on top, white on the bottom, and fat?)

Sasha —> Fluffers

Clove —> Pumpkin Belly or Couch (as in, the color of my old one)

Some were based on personality…

Lucy —> Lucifer (although she is not very devilish in reality)

Roscoe —> Fizzbin (referring to the fluff in her cranial cavity)

But only one truly has no explanation…

Tillie —> Goatgirl Monkeypants.

Sometimes these things just happen!

It’s been a long time since I posted anything

konekox4 — Sun, 10 Jan 2010 16:43:37 +0000

Putting up little movies and links seems kind of pointless. Eventually I hope to write up some commentaries about photos I have taken.

The return of Ninja Cat! — TTT 13 Nov

konekox4 — Fri, 13 Nov 2009 16:14:04 +0000

Here’s another movie of the stealthiest feline ever, showing how he moves only when he cannot be seen.

Shuttle service

konekox4 — Sat, 07 Nov 2009 14:35:31 +0000

When I was in France recently I watched with sympathy as my little sister drove her daughters all over the place to various activities. I was reminded of that yesterday afternoon as I reviewed this weekend’s schedule for my children. This is how is appears it is playing out:

Friday: leave work early to be able to stop by the grocery store and pick up pizza, as Christopher needs to be up at the high school by 6:00 for theatre crew. He had gone to his father’s house to get his show black clothes, and I was supposed to fetch him there but found out on the way there that since he was hauling his choir tuxedo home his father had already gotten him (thanks again, Dad.) Drop that leg of running around, get to the house, feed everyone, drop Christopher off and then drop Anna at a friend’s house for a movie and sleepover. Pick Christopher up at 9:00.

Saturday: Christopher is picked up at 7:15 for a robotics competition 20 miles south of here. Rose is due at the middle school at 9:00 for theatre crew, after which she will go to a friend’s house for a Miyazaki marathon and sleepover. Anna needs to be picked up at 1:00; then after a grocery store run (last day on cheap milk, my father is out of bananas, they have 2-for$5 bacon, dude!) she and I will head out to the ubergiant-mall for Christmas and miscellany shopping. Being out and about then works out well as Christopher has to be picked up across town at around 4:45, brought home to change and get food, then back to the high school for theatre at 6:00. That should wind up around 9:00 with one final pick-up and today’s trips will be done.

Sunday: Christopher back at school at 12:30 for the final play performance. Rose needs to be picked up sometime mid-afternoon, then Christopher again around 3:00. Everyone under the age of, well, me will complain about being tired and I will make them do homework anyway, take their evening baths, and get ready for school on Monday.

Somehow this seemed a lot more complicated in my head, I guess it’s not so bad after all. It bemuses me a lot of the time, this being a parent thing, but once one learns to go with the flow and not stress out too much about what has to be done, it’s not so tough.

Twisty turns

konekox4 — Wed, 21 Oct 2009 01:29:48 +0000

Kind of a short random post:

It occurred to me this evening that often I only make 4 turns between work and the house:

(1) Left out of the parking ramp;

(2) Right onto Lexington;

(3) Left onto Ruggles;

(4) Left into driveway.

Maybe some evening I’ll be bored enough to figure out how many right-turns-only it would take. Why muck up an easy commute, though?

Balloons — TTT 20 Oct

konekox4 — Tue, 20 Oct 2009 15:19:15 +0000

This is from the 2009 Albuquerque Balloon Festival. Isn’t it neat? You can look up and down and around by moving your mouse on the picture, as well as zooming in and out. How pretty!

Balloon Fiesta in USA

The Civil War, very accelerated — TTT 15 Oct

konekox4 — Thu, 15 Oct 2009 18:49:57 +0000

Hi all,

haven’t posted anything in a while, been sort of busy with work and travel and being braindead a bit. I hope that over the next couple weeks I’ll be able to distill the 750+ photos taken in France into a series of little photostories, but in the meanwhile here’s a youtube movie that has nothing whatsoever to do with anything… except I thought it was interesting.

If you have cats… — TTT 11 Aug

konekox4 — Tue, 11 Aug 2009 18:45:22 +0000

…do NOT let them watch this video!!

What’s next, opposable thumbs? The mind boggles.

Mail from the Feds

konekox4 — Tue, 04 Aug 2009 02:38:16 +0000

After work today I had a series of errands to run including picking up my mail from the post office. In amidst the pile of catalogues, discount coupons from the eye glass place and a couple bills was was

uh oh

dah dah DUM

A letter from the the U.S. Department of Justice.

Now in my experience a letter from the Feds is not always a good thing. Bracing myself I stood inside the post office and opened it, peeking inside to see what the heck they wanted from me now.

Well, who would have guessed? What they wanted this time was to inform me, via a rather official-looking certificate with the U.S. Department of Justice seal on top was:

SUBJECT: EMPLOYEE POSSESSOR LETTER OF CLEARANCE for: {Me}, Display Operator

Dear {Me}:

You have been approved to transport, ship, receive or possess explosive materials as an employee possessor under the Federal explosive license or permit indicated above.”

Whee! The Feds are letting me blow shit up!

This is so cool.