The King of the Castle Is Not Happy

Ever since Jinks took up sleeping on my sweater our nights have been revolving around his needs. He goes there before I go to bed and when I come in I have to leave the door slightly ajar, so that he can open it when he wants to get out in the middle of the night. I’m overly sensitive to light and noise, so I almost always wake up at some point because of one or other. Steve is in the living room until the wee hours, so he has to tip toe and turn the TV down to some level where he can barely hear it, because otherwise I could wake up. Jinks leaves the bedroom door open quite a bit (hasn’t learned how to close it at the kitty academy) and we twist ourselves into pretzels to accommodate His Royal Fluffiness. He comes back in when Steve comes to bed and leaves the door open.

So Steve has had it up to here with the craziness and decided that we have to leave him out of the bedroom when I go to sleep. I agreed it was nuts what we were doing, but Jinks is so cute when he ensconces himself in my sweater that I can’t resist him. Before we had a chance to finish discussing “the situation,” Jinks was already in his favorite spot. First, of course, I had to pet him. After I got enough kitty love, I summoned up my willpower and gently started to get my hands under his belly, to lift him up. First in disbelief, he meowed his discontent. Then, pissed off, he gnarled. He was clearly a very unhappy kitty.

In the living room, I looked at Steve as if trying to persuade him to change his mind, but he was adamant. “I love him to death, but this is crazy. Just leave him here and go to bed.” Well, Jinks had gotten to the bedroom before I got there, which guaranteed and even more unhappy gnarling. I left quickly and shut the door.

He made a few attempts to open the door and I can almost bet he’s sleeping right outside it. Not in the least because it’s also a dark spot. I’ll  miss going to sleep with him in the room; there’s something incredibly soothing about having your pet nearby when you sleep. But I know I need to get continuous sleep, too.

So, if anyone knows how to get rid of such sensitivity to light and sound, please let me know. I want my kitty back.

Sticking to the Bike Lane

A guy from New York City got a $50 ticket for biking outside the bike lane. Which was occupied by a parked car or some other stationary vehicle. When he explained to the cop that he should fine the driver of that car, the cop said that he should have stayed within the bike lane. So he made a movie of himself sticking to the bike lane and crashing into everything that was in his way, including a police car. It’s hilarious. Many thanks to the friend who gave me the link.

Prepare for the Zombie Emergency

Or any other emergency. Especially today, before the world ends tomorrow, May 21st. I mean, the world as we know it will end and it will turn into a living hell (see previous post).

Here are a few essentials the Center for Disease Control advises us to pack before we get busy running away from zombies (or becoming one):

• Water (1 gallon per person per day)
• Food (stock up on non-perishable items that you eat regularly)
• Medications (this includes prescription and non-prescription meds)
• Tools and Supplies (utility knife, duct tape, battery powered radio, etc.)
• Sanitation and Hygiene (household bleach, soap, towels, etc.)
• Clothing and Bedding (a change of clothes for each family member and blankets)
• Important documents (copies of your driver’s license, passport, and birth certificate to name a few)
• First Aid supplies (although you’re a goner if a zombie bites you, you can use these supplies to treat basic cuts and lacerations that you might get during a tornado or hurricane)

You have to admit that the zombie idea is pure genius. First, you wouldn’t expect it from a government agency. Second, with quite a few zombie TV shows  out there, they latched on something in the popular imagination/consciousness and spun it into the message they wanted to get across. Bravo!

Later edit: The world is actually coming to an end today at 6:00 p.m. people!

“We can expect the Rapture to start when it hits 6 p.m. at the International Dateline at 180 Longitude — roughly the between Pago Pago, American Samoa, and Nuku’alofa, Tonga. We’ll know it’s Judgment Day because there will be an earthquake of previously unprecedented magnitude.”

http://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2011/05/the-rapture-is-not-saturday-its-tonight/239177/

Gone for a Little Bit

This actually refers to me, not Gadhafi. I did want to write about the latest terrible developments there but life got in the way and now I’ll be gone for a week. Kristen, I owe you a response; hope to get to it next week.

One thing I have to say, though. That the United States and the West in general don’t see the urgency for intervening promptly with military force to rid Libya of Gadhafi and is caught in all sorts of sophisms about possible negative consequences of doing this, after having backed him up for decades,  is unconscionable. I’m completely baffled as to why the U.N. and other powerful international organizations simply don’t have cojones when it comes to military intervention in situations that everyone in this world can agree are completely justified. Do the U.S. and U.N. powers that be sleep better that there are now one million Libyans in need of humanitarian aid rather than having gone after Gadhafi and stomp on him like you do on a venomous snake?

Just asking.

Cheers everyone! I’ll be back.