a wolf angel is not a good angel

Hey, how long have comments here been closed? I hadn’t noticed. Anyways, they’re open again, should anyone feel inspired to comment.

The female cat is much better, and madly madly affectionate (and so adorable). Her eyes are a bit watery, and she sneezes now and then, but on the whole, she’s pretty much better.

The male cat, not so much. Over the weekend his eyes got terribly bad, and he is drooling, or maybe snotting, out of his mouth. His eyes actually are shut by whatever is coming out of them, which I wipe off a few times a day. When I do open them, the third eyelid is all red and swollen. It looks horrible. He is still eating, as far as I can tell, though he is skinnier than he was, and he’s definitely still mobile, but Tuesday he needs to go in to the vet. (Sadly, I absolutely cannot bring him in on Monday.) I am a little worried about him. I have antibiotic ointment for the eyes, but they are not getting any better.

I really need to not do this to myself.

Update: suddenly eyes seem slightly better (half-open, but still icky). This might have been because I took female kitty out for a cuddle and he was looking for her, but this seems promising.

Just wrote a snarky email to the volunteer coordinator who phoned me to say that, hey, someone new coming in, so the new person will be partnered up with my partner, and she’ll let me know when there’s someone new for me. I also cc’d the main coordinator. If I don’t hear back from her within about 10 days, I’ll probably try to switch jobs within the SPCA, because I’m really annoyed. (I understand new people being paired up with experienced people, but this should wait until there are two new people.)

There’s also supposed to be a group meeting, so far unscheduled, but I will not be going unless I have a new partner.

I am a lot angrier about this than I thought I would be.

Update: the main coordinator wrote me back to ask for details. Hopefully this means something positive will happen.

Oooh, I’ve been tagged. I think everyone else has done this already.

What I do in order to be successful.

1. Limit my excessive use of the internet. Surfing is fun and easy, but less fun (and more easy) than things that I feel better about long-term — even just reading or watching movies. I am generally not as successful at this as I would like.
2. Get places on time. Tardiness is very associated with depression for me, and sometimes being on time even when I am not feeling it can help turn things around a bit
3. Get dressed in the morning, even if I am working at home.
4. Write stuff down. I don’t need to keep looking at it, but I do need to have written it down.
5. Give myself defined goals (I will do x number of ys) and rewards. (I also don’t let myself stop except in multiples of x. Depending on the task, x might be as little as 10 or 15 minutes work.) This is probably the most effective thing I do.

On the news that Apple has now sold 100 million ipods, the CBC has reported “[t]he iPod sales have been credited with boosting Apple’s profits and stock price.”

You think?

Things I crave (an incomplete list):

• pancakes;
• cookies;
• waffles;
• bagels;
• pizza;
• challah;
• french toast;
• sandwiches;
• croissants;
• pies.

Things I don’t crave:

• matza.

You know, people say “Go shop at independent booksellers! They’re wonderful and friendly and they need you!” And I will certainly agree that used booksellers tend to be quite friendly, and sure, we used to have this wonderful independent bookseller (Canadian only), but they shut. And the independent bookstores here? Full of obnoxious pretentious grumps. No, I don’t want you following me around all the time, but if I go into a small bookstore I would at least like the courtesy of a “hello, may I help you?” instead of listening to you all talking about your new hats and an obnoxious customer from last week.

Seriously, I went in that store and was so irritated by the staff that I swore I would never go in again. You want me to pay a lot more than the already higher Canadian prices? Fine, but then I expect that I am paying for customer service: please provide it.

I really want to know where all these wonderful independent bookstores are. They’re certainly not *here*.

I brought my cat home, and, alas, she is having total panic attacks. I suspect I will shortly be moving her food and litter into my bedroom and locking the other cats out, as they are ignoring her and jumping on my bed anyhow. The kittens continue to be terrified and anorexic. Even my friend’s gluttonous cats are only eating some (most, but not all) of their food. I am like the bestest cat caretaker ever.

I gave in and phoned to see a doctor. (Dr. Google can cause large amounts of fear.) First I phoned my doctor, whose office was closed (except it wasn’t, because my father saw him in his office today, so I guess the machine was wrong). Then I phoned the drop-in clinics near me, who suggested that, as I didn’t have a file there, I drop in next week. Eventually I went to a different drop-in clinic, waited 2.5 hours, had the doctor look and prod at my hand for perhaps a whole minute, then prescribe me antibiotics. (I have been asked three times today if I’m allergic to any prescription drugs, and in particular penicillin, once by the doctor, once by the pharmacist I gave the prescription to, and once by the pharmacist I picked it up from.)

Oddly, the doctor said that though he gave me 10 days of antibiotics, if I was healed after 7 days, I could stop. but to be sure to do at least 7. The pharmacist, on the other hand, warned me to absolutely no matter what take all 10 days. I’ve never heard a doctor say to just stop partway through the antibiotics if you felt better.

Earlier this morning, I took the kittens out of my closet. This annoyed them sufficiently that one of them bit me. The bite got progressively worse during the day, so that by dinner time I could no longer use my hand because of the pain. So I left the house wearing sandals, because they were the only entirely slip-on shoes I could find.

It is snowing today. My feet are very cold.

The good news is that, though the hand doesn’t look any better — still red and swollen — it doesn’t hurt nearly as much anymore, either because it started to heal or because I took a painkiller. Tomorrow morning I will see if I need to get antibiotics and/or have my toes treated for frostbite.