I was so stunned to read tonight that Acidman has passed away.

We never met but his was one of the first blogs I started reading when I started to get serious about putting on my blogger britches.

There is a great feeling of loss all across the country today.

Goodnight, Acidman

Posted by: Princess Cat at 10:58 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
Post contains 56 words, total size 1 kb.

I'm not really sure what has been going on lately, but I can't sleep for crap. There have just been a string of odd, creepy dreams that leave me tossing and turning for hours. I suppose I wouldn't mind so much if it were normal for me to dream, but it isn't. In the past, dreams have meant something. They have been previews of events to come or they have carried with them messages for me to decipher.

Last week there was the talking dog that left me feeling particularly disturbed one morning. Last night it was ghosts.

In a very House on Haunted Hill fashion, there were a group of people staying at my grandmother's house. Each person had their own bedroom ... and each was haunted in a different psych-ward induced nightmare-ish fashion. The house was filled with a variety of screams and terrible noises all night.

The girl in the bedroom next to mine was the only person I could communicate with. The ghosts in her room had slammed the door to the hall and refused to allow her to open the one that connected to my room. She kept screaming for help as I could hear her go insane with fear.

Futilely, I tried to reassure her - if you are nice to the ghosts, they will be nice back. I sat in my own room have a one sided conversation with at least 2 or 3 ghosts that I couldn't see but I knew were there. It was only small talk, but nothing had touched me and I was relatively sure I was free from danger.

On the other side of the wall I heard what sounded like chaos - her screaming, items being thrown, banging on the walls and doors. At one point, I think I heard her crying and saying that one of the ghosts was raping her.

I was powerless. It was up to her to keep her ghosts at bay. She hadn't shown them the respect that they wanted. If I went to help her, it would have been the two of us to die. No amount of outside effort could save her.

Posted by: Princess Cat at 12:39 PM | Comments (1) | Add Comment
Post contains 366 words, total size 2 kb.

I found a little calcluator that says ArmyWife should be bringing in six figures for what she does all day ...

Mom Salary Wizard

Wonder if there is a calculator that says how much an unemployed recent graduate should be making for all the "work" done at home all day ...

Posted by: Princess Cat at 04:04 PM | Comments (2) | Add Comment
Post contains 57 words, total size 1 kb.

Ok, I'll admit it ... my bedroom is a complete fucking sty ... the only thing missing is pigs. There are empty boxes, piles of clothes, stacks of books, random collections of stuff ... the list is rediculous, I assure you.

The problem is that I think I'm just too overwhelmed with my own slovenliness to recover from the avalanche this time. Luckily there are no dirty dishes or things for actual animals to eat, or I'd be in real trouble.

I'm finally willing to pay whomever wishes to become the paid victim of this chaos that cleans it up. It will have to be a hefty pricetag, I'm sure. But I can live on credit for a while if I have to ... right?

Posted by: Princess Cat at 07:28 PM | Comments (2) | Add Comment
Post contains 135 words, total size 1 kb.

Too often in my life I have let two things be a monumental distraction and get in the way of what I know is good for me - Boobs & Booze ...

I'm sure some of you guys out there are nodding in agreement. You've been there too? *shaking head* I don't think so.

I'm not referring to the bouncy, perky, sweater pillows that you guys thinkg I'm talking about. I'm referring to the selfish, lazy, TV watchers of the male gender that some of you may very well have been at some point in your life.

Whether it was because I was tired from a long night of drinking or because some boy didn't want to wait on me to go to sleep, I can recall many an occasion where I didn't wash my face at night, or apply moisturizer, or floss, or take a vitamin, etc.

But I'm trying to turn that around these days. I've got myself a tastey mouthwash, pretty smelling lotion, and a lovely soothing moisturizer that are becoming loyal and relaxing bedtime companions.

Now if only I could find a way to get a pedicure and manicure just before bed once a week ...

Posted by: Princess Cat at 05:34 PM | Comments (1) | Add Comment
Post contains 206 words, total size 1 kb.

1 Heck Cat, you know danged well that I had a whole other thought on the title of this post. I'd elaborate, but it wouldn't be pretty...

Posted by: RedNeck at June 28, 2006 07:49 PM (tSJ8V)

Hide Comments | Add Comment

I've been in a lot of places that experience good ol' thunderstorms ... the Central Plains, the Pacific Northwest, Florida ... but last night here in DC was perhaps the most wicked thunderstorm I've ever seen.

It was too loud to sleep through so I laid in bed reading as it pounded away outside. The lightening kept my room lit for hours and the thunder cracked so strongly that it shook the walls of my condo.

Surprisingly though, we never lost power and I didn't see any damage in my neighborhood this morning.

Guess nature is just funny that way.

Posted by: Princess Cat at 02:07 PM | Comments (2) | Add Comment
Post contains 104 words, total size 1 kb.

I don't care what you say, it is. And it is a perfectly reasonable meal after the time I've been having.

First I had a fitful sleep because of some crazy dream about a talking dog. The thing looked like a stuffed animal my grandmother had, but it was real. It died and I left it in the bathroom. I knew it was there, but I didn't do anything with it ... after all, it wasn't going anywhere, right? Wrong. Turns out it wasn't really dead. It started talking to me, telling me that it wasn't dead but horribly sick instead. But I couldn't find a way to get it to the vet, so I woke up in a panic about how it would be all my fault this dog died.

Solution: Ice cream for breakfast.

I discover my newest piece of artwork is warped and has to be weighed down to flatten, so there goes my plan for hanging that today. Grrr.

Then I decide to finally put together the awesome pub table I bought a couple months back. Which means taking apart the old one my roommate had a fit about me wanting to get rid of. Well, if I just take it apart, he can't be mad. It ended up coming apart quite easily, much to my surprise. But not without smacking my head on the hanging light above it and almost knocking myself out.

I think I inflicted some drain bramage though because following that, I voluntarily mopped the kitchen. Not swiffer mopped or some half-assed shit either ... I full on mopped with a real mop and then got down on the floor to use a rag on the floor. I've never mopped a thing in my life. I'm either missing brain cells or I really need a job.

So, thinking that my day was beginning to go well, I started in on the new table. The table itself went together in a flash, super easy. Rock on, maybe today won't suck so much after all.

But sometimes we realize, we jinx ourselves, even in thought.

I hit my head on the damn light fixture, almost breaking it, another two or three times ... I'm not really sure, but I think the number line got knocked right out of my head. 1+1 = 9, right? Right? Oh, I can't hear the answer anyway, the headache is too distracting.

But I was determined to get the four stools put together. And therein lies my mistake. On the first stool, I put the crossbar into one side of the base, laid it down and attempted to put the other side of the base on. And the stupid end of the crossbar snapped off inside the base piece. SON.OF.A...

That was the end of the line for me.

Solution: Ice cream for lunch.

I told you it was a reasonable meal ...

Posted by: Princess Cat at 12:58 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
Post contains 494 words, total size 3 kb.

For the last couple of days I have been emailing with someone I have come to discover is a nearly daily reader ... and I had no idea ...

My first reaction was to feel like a total schmuck, completely out of touch with who on earth the reading audience really is.

Until it hit me ... literally hit me ... (I was still in the throws of pain from having hit my knee on the desk when I realized) ... emailing and being friends with readers is cool, but writing without knowing my audience means I really am not writing for an audience. Unless, of course, I'm writing for an imagined audience ... which may or may not actually read me ... but I digress ...

My point was, perhaps not knowing my audience doesn't make me such a horrible ogre* after all, just someone blogging for what blogging is about.

*(no offense Ogre, I meant the other kind ... that bad kind ... not the you kind, or the Shrek kind ... )

Posted by: Princess Cat at 11:17 PM | Comments (1) | Add Comment
Post contains 177 words, total size 1 kb.

I've set up a little search agent with Monster.com that is supposed to e-mail me with jobs I might be interested in. So, I open my email this morning and find one from them. I think to myself, "Cool. Maybe today I'll find something more than I did yesterday." It is a service that would be really helpful to job seekers ...

... if the information were timely!

The email this morning told me all about a two day job fair, that ended yesterday.

Thanks a lot, Dickwads. You were a huge help on that one.

Posted by: Princess Cat at 12:43 PM | Comments (1) | Add Comment
Post contains 102 words, total size 1 kb.

But damn I wish I had found this song a few relationships ago ...

Posted by: Princess Cat at 11:22 AM | No Comments | Add Comment
Post contains 310 words, total size 2 kb.

In a blatant cry for help to boost my spirits ... and since music is such an effective form of communication with my heart ... I'm posing an application to date me, of sorts ...

I'm asking readers - men and women alike - to leave a comment with the song lyrics they'd play for me in their version of a standing outside my window Say Anything moment. Or perhaps the lyrics they'd play mid-relationship as a reminder to me. Maybe just some sweet and touching words.

I'm constantly hearing lyrics that I wish were words said by someone that mattered ... so here's your chance to make a sad girl smile ...

Posted by: Princess Cat at 07:51 PM | Comments (17) | Add Comment
Post contains 121 words, total size 1 kb.

Whole Foods Markets Inc has decided to "stop selling live lobsters and crabs on the grounds that it's inhumane."

Animal rights activities were thrilled with the decision, not just because of the way lobsters are harvested, shipped and stored but because of the fate that awaits many of them — being dropped alive into a pot of boiling water.

Have we really carried things this far? Are animal rights activists going to eventually win against cattle farmers too? Because you know, they are killed while they're still alive and all ...

And what about this evidence:

...lobsters can shed a claw that's stuck between two rocks and move on like nothing happened, said Diane Cowan, a marine biologist who studies lobster behavior in Maine

Posted by: Princess Cat at 11:02 AM | Comments (3) | Add Comment
Post contains 182 words, total size 1 kb.

After what was relayed as a night of one too many ... my dad is now the proud owner of a "cute," young, expensive purse dog. Yes, a purse dog.

A PURSE DOG... A 10 week old Yorkie to be specific ...

I'd feel sorry for him and shake my head in sympathy for the poor bastard, except he did this to his own damn self. I don't think the wicked step-mother knew it was happening or was even there to directly influence him. There's just no poor bastard about it at that point.

And to top it off, not one person in my family likes yappy dogs.

I think we're all starting to lose just a little bit of respect for the man we believed him to be ... I mean, come on ... this is worse than getting a cat ...

Posted by: Princess Cat at 11:18 PM | Comments (2) | Add Comment
Post contains 153 words, total size 1 kb.

I've gotten what could hardly be called a good night's sleep over the past two days. I couldn't fall asleep and I woke the instant the sun rose. This morning, getting back to sleep was literally impossible.

I had important places to be ...

Seems some HR people (as unexpected as these particular ones were) finally wiped the sleep from their eyes and noticed the fine specimen of an employee I would make.

... AND ... more...

Posted by: Princess Cat at 09:06 PM | Comments (4) | Add Comment
Post contains 160 words, total size 1 kb.

1 We are not worthy! Congrats!

Posted by: Ogre at June 14, 2006 06:59 AM (/k+l4)

2 Hooray!! Glad it went well for you, and glad you woke with the Sun. Now, go do something to celebrate, and don't forget the hat.

Posted by: armywifetoddlermom at June 14, 2006 08:59 AM (I97LW)

3 I'll keep my fingers crossed for you and hope you have every reason to celebrate soon.

Posted by: The Maximum Leader at June 15, 2006 07:50 AM (jiSuM)

4 So... employed... means I can quit my job and you can support me in the lifestyle to which I intend to grow accustomed? Sweeeeet.

Posted by: rsm at June 15, 2006 02:34 PM (Po8C+)

Hide Comments | Add Comment

As the blog so clearly shows, a lot of things I care about have fallen victim to neglect these past weeks. More realistically, over the last month or so. I have been so consumed in personal frustration that I have lost touch with everything and everyone that makes me happy and keeps me sane.

My house has never before been such a disorganized terrible mass of chaos - none of the times I have moved can even approach this level of discord.

I have left many blog friends hanging in the ether of webspace without contact for months. Unbeknownst to them, they are often in my thoughts ... but my fingers never quite manage to communicate those thoughts in their direction.

Phone call after e-mail from family and friends go unanswered. None of them needs to take the neglect personally, but several if not many of them have. It is a growing mess I can't bring myself to clean up.

Graduation and my trip to NYC were a believable excuse for a while, but their effects have been much longer lasting ... and somewhat more detrimental...

In true mid-20s fashion, the dysfunction between my family and me is rampant, if not unbearable at times. During the later part of May, I saw all their worst qualities...

My brother, the epitome of insecurity and weakness, lashing out in anger at the hint of a challenge ... walking around on a pedestal of his own making, yet relying on the fragile world he created to validate the existence of his pedestal.

My father, second only to my brother in weakness of character, just broke my heart. Our communications have grown superficial at best. The belief that follow through or support will come from his direction is gone.

Spending two weeks with my mother almost destroyed any relationship we managed to build over the last 5 years. I saw in her the worst kind of selfishness and self-interest ... a fundamental lack of respect for others and an inability to understand the impact of her actions.

And before people go pointing fingers about being ungrateful for the money spent on my education ... I am thankful that my parents paid for college and helped me in part with graduate school ... but we all know the cliché, "money can't buy you love." Instead, I'd like to ask, where was the attempt to understand what I study, or why I studied it? I am the single, sole departure from medicine. Where is the curiosity about how I developed such a different passion? No one asks how I walked away from my previous passion so easily? Money will never answer those questions for me and could never keep me from asking them.

I suppose I am as lost and frustrated as you're supposed to be in your 20s, but when it comes to "finding myself" I believe I'm well found. I know what I believe in and I know why. I know where I want to go and I have learned many of the painful and necessary lessons from where I've been. I know that there is a world out there larger than myself, one that will keep spinning even if I fall off, that can still be influenced if I put my heart into making it a better place.

But when I am as secure as I about myself as I am, yet still find such little emotional support from my family - the people that are supposed to be your cheerleaders because they love you that much - how am I supposed to have faith that I will find it anywhere else in the world? How am I to believe that our society as a whole isn't made up of hopeless, weak, self-interested characters? Who else will do the right thing even when they must do it alone?

Posted by: Princess Cat at 11:51 AM | Comments (2) | Add Comment
Post contains 651 words, total size 4 kb.

1 Yay, Chaos! Hope that made you smile and not completely hate me for all time. And you will find that most of society IS made up of hopeless, weak, self-interested characters. Guess you learned somethin' in that fancy school there, huh? The trick is to surround yourself with those who are not and simply ignore the others. The idea that it's your family, well, I think you've already seen the answer yourself, as unfortunate as that may be.

Posted by: Ogre at June 12, 2006 12:10 PM (/k+l4)

2 Cat, I need to call you, and will do so when I recover from my own trip "with family". Here is something to put in your pipe. Relationships with family, and the complications related to those relationships, well in my opinion. They do not change much. I have learned to handle them differently. Sure the relationships wax and wane, but there is simply "something" about family.

Posted by: armywifetoddlermom at June 13, 2006 09:13 AM (U5ZI2)

Hide Comments | Add Comment

I'm sure other people would love to have this problem but ...

I'm so sick of getting money and gifts cards as presents.

Between graduation and my birthday I've gotten far fewer gifts than monetary donations. Don't get me wrong, I'm not turning down anyone's money ... but from some people, I just expect more.

Dad? Amex Gift Cheques. I thought better of him than that ...

Ex's parents? A personal check. Makes sense ... we don't interact much anymore.

Lil Bro? Amazon Gift Code. Seriously? The store that markets itself as having everything? Really?

Cousin I've never met? B&N Gift card. Thanks for thinking of me ... books are always nifty.

So I'm frustrated on two levels:
1. The people that should know me well enough to at least pick a particular store to get a gift card from are the people that go just one step past sending me cash. How much forethought and planning did that require? Just exactly how impersonal were you trying to be?

2. I hate Amazon. They may have a website with everything under the sun but I can't ever find what I want actually IN STOCK! Plus, I have issues with not being able to touch certain things. For example, if I go buy myself a stand mixer like I've been wanting, I want to know what the finish on it feels like. It matters. I want to know before hand how hard getting caked on flour is going to be. AND, if I go out and find in a brick and mortar store what I want, I have to go home and pay shipping on it instead of being able to buy it right there and taking it home.

Grrr ...

Posted by: Princess Cat at 04:10 PM | Comments (6) | Add Comment
Post contains 294 words, total size 2 kb.

1 Well, personally I prefer cash as a graduation/wedding gift. For birthdays, yeah, something different would be nice, but I'm the kind of person who buys stuff if they want it so it's rare that I'm given something I want/don't already have. If you get married, I'll be giving you cash. Fuck the stuff on your registry. I know you can just trade that stuff back in for store credit. With cash, you can tip the bellhops when you are on your honeymoon.

Posted by: Dorothy at June 08, 2006 02:13 AM (c1bX0)

2 .. goodness... I'm glad I haven't picked out a gift yet then....

Posted by: Eric at June 08, 2006 09:37 PM (r5XsL)

3 Not just that, but it would be nice to get something you could keep to remind you of your graduation and in celebration!

Posted by: Sissy at June 10, 2006 12:14 AM (gCk3+)

4 Hey hot stuff. We are having a BBQ at noon here at Walter Reed at the Mologne House... Please feel free to drop in with yo bad self... I got a personal gift for ya....well not really, but Ill think of one

Posted by: Sgt Allen at June 10, 2006 10:23 AM (ewZg6)

5 OR- You could just be happy that people felt enough of you to give you a gift, regardless of what it is, and realize that you ended the day with more than you began with. I once felt sorry for someone who didn't like the gift her Dad got her, until I met someone who's Dad was dead and gone.

Posted by: Barry at June 11, 2006 03:39 PM (kKjaJ)

6 Ex's parents? The same guy we went to play pool with? Does that mean you are single...wink nod...nudge

Posted by: Sgt Allen at June 14, 2006 03:28 AM (ewZg6)

Hide Comments | Add Comment

Tomorrow is my birthday ...

Posted by: Princess Cat at 04:29 PM | Comments (14) | Add Comment
Post contains 11 words, total size 1 kb.

I feel a little odd about my trip to NYC ...

This is the first time in I can't think of how long that I went on a trip and didn't at least buy postcards with the intention to send them. Usually I at least mean to send them even if I don't quite get around to it.

This time I bought a package of panoramic postcards as mementos of my trip, but none for my friends. I keep telling myself it is alright since I also forgot to write their addresses down on paper before I left town ...

... but still ... I miss the idea of the smile people get when they find something unexpected and personal in their mailbox at the end of the day

Posted by: Princess Cat at 02:26 PM | Comments (4) | Add Comment
Post contains 131 words, total size 1 kb.

It feels like I've been gone for-ever...

I managed to find myself coming down with something the day before my family rolled into town on the 17th and I have yet to get completely over it. Just my luck that stress-induced immuno-suppression would lead to a nasty cold on my own graduation.

NYC was a trip to say the least ...
I have never appreciated the pace of DC so much in my life!
Day 1 we were there I vowed to take advantage of the benefits of DC and never complain that the crowds or attitude of the people were the worst I'd seen in my life. I was amazed at how true stereotypes really can be.

I did, however, have a pretty good time. I went looking for the history and that was mostly what I found. The Statue of Liberty, Ellis Island, the Brooklyn Bridge, Ground Zero, St. Paul's Chapel, St. Patricks Cathedral, the Empire State Building, the Flat Iron Building, Carnegie Hall, Rockefeller Center, Radio City Music Hall, South Street Seaport, Greenwich Village, Times Square, a Broadway Show, Central Park ... and of course ... FAO Schwarz for a teddy bear

I was supposed to be on a plane last night in order to be at a hearing for my grandmother's court case but medical advise kept me from flying. So I'm uneasy today as the hearing went on without me.

But I am gradually crawling back into my life that seems to have been put on hold for the last several weeks ... and trying to get used to 2 extra letters some job might attach to my name ...

Posted by: Princess Cat at 01:56 PM | Comments (2) | Add Comment
Post contains 281 words, total size 2 kb.

... But I'll really be in NYC ...

I had hoped to blog more while the family was in town but it just didn't happen with all the running and the inevitable drama.

I'll be back as soon ... but I hope to send a few folks over to look in on the place while I'm off continuing to meet family obligations.

Everyone have a safe & happy Memorial Day weekend!!

Posted by: Princess Cat at 11:30 PM | Comments (2) | Add Comment
Post contains 77 words, total size 1 kb.