Of Swords and Parasols

Tonight my parents had an ice cream social at their place.  I:

1)  Had an instance of a stranger touching my hair and telling me it was pretty.  (I swear, complete and near strangers just walking up and touching my hair is half the reason I don't like being touched very much.  No, do not suggest I cut it.  I like having long hair and I don't believe I should cut it just because people can't respect the idea of personal space.)

2)  Was mistaken for a high schooler.  Admittedly, the person who asked was at least in her 70s, but I haven't been mistaken for a high school student since...err...since I was 24 or 25.  I've been upgraded to college student the last few years.  (I'm 28, for those who don't know.)

Aside from my irritation with the first, though (the second just threw me) it was nice, even for a fairly anti-social person like me.

Patches, though, wasn't happy.  I went into the house to leave my purse inside before going to the back yard, where everyone was, and she jumped up, growled, and then switched to demanding petting mid-growl when she realized she knew the latest intruder.  Later, I went inside and she literally herded me to the bathroom because there was a strange person in there, and she did not approve.

Unfortunately, I also learned that they haven't seen Squeaker since Tuesday.  Apparently, she never came home.  She tends to wander off for a day or a day-and-a-half, but has never been gone this long.  There are about 18 houses on two acre lots where my parents live, and most have multiple outbuildings, including a few with barns who own the lot behind the one on the road, so we think that she's probably closed up inside of one (it's really common for cats and even dogs to wander in while the owner's there, and then the owner not realize it when they close the door, only to be almost knocked down the next time they go out there) if she didn't climb into the bed of a truck or under someone's car and unknowingly gotten driven off somewhere.

Patches (not the cat in this icon...she's camera shy) is a Lap Kitty.  Mom tends to always be fiddling with something, but dad and I tend to plop down in a chair and either watch TV and read a book, meaning it's very easy to get absentminded petting from us.  Lately, she's taken to rolling around in the lap if the petting isn't going the way she wants.  What she tends to not realize, though, is that Dad is 8 inches taller than me, and most of that is leg, so she tends to be rolling and rubbing and then suddenly she gets to my knees and frantically scrambles to stay in my lap (she has yet to actually fall) and then she shoots me this wounded/offended look like "Where are the rest of your legs?"

Also, this reference will likely mean nothing to most of you, but I'm currently reading Ellen Kushner's The Privilege of the Sword and after I left Wal-Mart, I realized that the brand of the turkey I got in the deli was "Riverside."

("Riverside" is a district in the city the book is set in, and is where most of the action in the book's predecessor, Swordspoint, takes place.)

I return from the parents' with pictures of furry things  that stand on my back and try to lick my scalp while I'm asleep, and then bat at my head if I roll over and don't get up fast enough.



(Ignore the date.  i haven't figured out how to fix it on the camera yet.)

( The power of Squeaker's kittyness compels you to click the link. )

...this is what I shall be doing:



Of course, Squeaker is almost as big as Patches, now.  Should have normal internet access.

Also, Dad patted me on the head today at lunch.  What's with that?

 

(And why do I think this is Goku at his first bath after getting out of the cave?)

1.  Squeaker snagged her paw and ended up pulling the nightstand cloth completely off, scattering everything and breaking the cactus candle I gave Mom for Mother's Day last year into 4 pieces.  This depresses me.

2.  I don't have bugs at my apt.  I had almost completely forgotten what moquito bites are like.  To ensure this doesn't happen again, the mosquitos have gotten me at least 10 times.  Probably more.  Also?  I have smooshed 2 scorpions.  More than I've smooshed in the last year.

3.  Watching doramas(anything, really, but esp. anything subbed) goes SO much slower when you have to pause to do anything but sit and watch.  I'm currently on ep 7 of The Little Fairy, and normally I'd be, conservatively, between 10 and 15 by now.

4.  In the summer, I tend to end up only half under the covers overnight, and when I wake up, I stretch.  Cat heads have been bopped this way.

5.  I think the only way Patches knows there's a difference between me and Dad is that my lap is smaller and I don't sit still as long.  Of course, as long as i let her curl up and stroke her like a Bond villain, she doesn't care.

6.  After about 4 days of giving me the cold shoulder(which is ironic, as when I lived here, she'd wriggle her way under my covers and sleep against my stomach) Squeaker has started sneaking up behind me and sitting there without making a noise so she can follow me.  As a result, her tail has now been stepped on twice as i didn't know she was there.  Bringing the grand totsal of the number of times I've stepped on a cat's tail to 3.

7.Have I ever mentioned the parent's keyboard is a pain?  I usually have to literally pound on the keys to get it to type.

Kitties:

Squeaker must learn that cuteness does not equal my immortality.  Using my legs as a tree to climb is not acceptable while I'm wearing jeans, much less when I'm wearing my far less protective nightgown.  Going after my ramen during the 3 minute wait after adding hot water?  ALSO not acceptable.

Also, yesterday while I was cleaning their litter box, Patches was waiting for me to put it back with a "what TOOK you so long?" face and then stared at me until I left the room so she could do her business(I kid you not...and if you peek, she stops and glares at you until you leave)  Today, Squeaker was staring at me while I was cleaning it, and was almost in the thing before I finished putting it back down.  (What are those two doing?  Holding it in until I clean out the litter box?)

Also, they still don't like my sleeping schedule...too bad for them that their bops on my sleepy head don't have a lot of affect.

Pet Peeves:

So, today and on Sunday, I encountered two of my pet peeves(oddly, the 2 are direct opposites of each other, but anyway...)

On Sunday, I went to Waldenbooks to see if they had Mushishi because James gave it a pass(he used Blade of the Immortal comparisons...just the art, but he knows my weaknesses)  Would have ordered it, BUT while I was there, there was a woman and her daughter trying to order a book.  The daughter was about 15-16, and when the cashier said it wasn't available, but had been rereleased in a 2-in-1 omnibus with the sequel, and that she could order it.  The girl asked her mother if it was ok, and then said she was going to but the book she was holding(so she could find the title) back where she got it.  No whining, no attitude, perfectly polite and well behaved and, hey RESPONSIBLE with no prompting.  So, with her daughter being a good customer, she says, lodly, with her daughter three feet away "she's such a pain in the butt."  

HUH?  First of all, parents should never badmouth their children in public, especially in their presence, it's only going to encourage them to misbehave.  Second of all, WHY?  Her daughter was behaving, was being polite, and was being conscientious and putting the book back where she got it.  I mean, if your kid is being good, praise them, don't badmouth them.

The other was today at the post office, picking up some of my anime. Two little boys about three and four were running around, clearly having gotten away from their mother and almost knocked me down and then later in line, they were horseplaying and one of them(for lack of a better word) fell on me.  Now, kids get away from their parents, and tey get bored and horseplay.  99% of the time, the people who have to dodge the kids don't mind and understand and don't get annoyed with the parents, etc.  However, most of that 99% of the time, the parent will actually, you know,  APOLOGIZE to the person their kid bumped into, or who had to didge their kid, especially after the second time.  As opposed to deliberately looking away the first time and then loudly talking to their companion the second time.

Unfortunately, those 2 varieties seem to be more and more common...acting like their kid was bad just because it's a kid, and not attempting to control or take responsibility for their kids.  It's even worse whenthe parents like that seem to look down onthe more responsible parents.

Anime:

The first batch of the anime I ordered has arrived:  Full Metal Alchemist, Full Metal Panic: Fumoffu, Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex Season 1, Saikano, and Samurai Champloo.  Samurai 7 was SUPPOSED to be in the batch, but wasn't.  Haven't heard back from the seller as to why.

Still coming are:  E's Otherwise, Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex Season 2,  Revolutionary Girl Utena, Those Who Hunt Elves, Hellsing, Tsukihime: Lunar Legend, and Someday's Dreamers.  And, one way or another, Samurai 7.  In theory, I should be set for anime for a lllloooooooonnnnngggggg time, but knowing me, it won't last long, given the anime mood I've been in lately.

V for Vendetta:

And finally, I got to sit down and watch V for Vendetta(many moons after most of the rest of the f-list)  I figure pretty much everyone here knows about that one and the basic plot(1984-ish near future in England where a young woman gets caught up in the plot of a "terrorist" with a Guy Fawkes fetish, to give absolutely the most basic description possible) so all I'll say is that it's absolutely excellent and everyone should watch it just so they can listen to Hugo Weavings dialogue and diction.  And V in the apron(I require icons of that)  And the dominoes.  And a weird romance.  But mostly for the dialogue.

At the parents, and I have decided to scrounge around for dad's pictures of the cats, and so I give you Squeaker(little one) and Patches(big one)

The pictures were taken around Christmastime, when Squeaker was still brand new


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