a hand in desire

my review of emspace dance's "a hand in desire" is up at the appeal. if you're in the bay area and a) like tennessee williams or b) want to experience local dance/theater at its most unique, go see this!

todd accompanied me to see "hand" last friday, and as we were early, we ducked into a handful of used/new book stores along valencia on our way to the show, with a particular interest in finding the bookstore cats. almost all used bookstores tend to have local pets, and we had time to kill. well, we didn't find any, except one place that had a mini-memorial to their beloved sphynx who had recently journeyed to the giant catnip clouds in the sky.

as we checked in for the performance, the director, erin mei-ling stuart, came up and introduced herself to me at the exact same time that todd said, "becca! look!" with erin's hand in mine, i spun around to see a black ball of something on top of an animal-print blanket in a wheelbarrow (it's a unique store with a basement performance space).

the lighting inside was dark, and with todd just pointing, all i could do was furrow my brow and say, "is that a cat or a dog?" he started laughing, and replies, "what do YOU think?" um. really. i can't tell. it's DARK in here, man. and our cat is bigger than a pug; size doesn't matter! oh, and i'm hand-in-hand with the director here, and you've pulled my attention away for a questionable black ball of fuzz? so i turned around to the director and tried to play it cool... "i've got somewhat poor night vision. is that a cat? a dog? can i pet it?"

afterward, all i could think of was erin totally baffled at having invited an animal-crazed, blind woman to review her production. and it was a cat.

what is he?

alphie does this odd singing/yelling thing where he, most times, sits on the table in the bay window and warbles. it's a mixture of a deep meow and a rooster squawk, and there's never just one. it's one after another after another, sort of like he's serenading all those down in the backyard (i'm now armed with my mp3 player/recorder at home, so hopefully i'll be able to record his next vocal session for anyone interested in listening to the next best thing in kitty pop). i hadn't realized how much his songs carried until last weekend, when i was down in the backyard and heard him four floors above me, crying out, "rewowowowow! mrrrrrrrroooooh!" over and over and over again. i couldn't decide whether to be embarrassed or proud, but so far, i'm thinking the latter.

with that, i tried googling any mixture of cat/or maine coon and howling, yelling, singing, serenading, etc., but came up with zilch. without much else, i went back to the breed drawing board.

me: what if alphie isn't a maine coon?
todd: don't tell him. he loves the maine coon special kitty food.

me: haha.

todd: have you been reading cat fancy?
me: no. only at the vet's.

todd: what breed do you think he is?

me: he looks a lot like this norwegian forest cat... here's a sample image. check out the next few in the set, too.

todd: yep, one of those pics is a dead ringer for alphie.

me: i know! but whatever we do, we can't tell him. it would be worse than the "you're adopted" talk that we haven't had yet.

*slightly edited and modified conversation for your reading pleasure.

but can i give him alka seltzer?

yesterday, we took da' kat, who was squinting his left eye up a storm (either there's something in his eye or he was really happy to see me!), to the weekend emergency vet. after everything else that's happened with him, i'd rather be safe than sorry... an hour later, we boarded a 43 bus home with an optional tube of eye ointment (should his eye get worse) and minus $143.

last night, alphie spit out some wild sneezes (but these kitty sneezes were cute! ack-cheeeuu! ack-cheeeuu!), so this morning, after whipping out the iron for my pants and a shirt of todd's, i attacked the bathroom with scrubbing bubbles; followed by bleaching the mold on the kitchen window; cleansing the stove top, kitchen counters, and window frames; and dusting most of the furniture. then i vacuumed most of the apartment, all before 8:30AM. sounds all noble and inspiring, right? but now i'm starving, and i have an uncommon urge to windex my office windows...

another alphie update

the latest on the alphie front:


he went through an e-collar stage, which was sort of sad to watch. all recent dents in the walls, doors, and couch can probably be attributed to this 5-day period. also, i shot two very short phone videos. you'll need to turn and twist your head to watch.







this is alphie as of last week, with a paw that looks pretty normal, except that since the doc removed most of the paw ligaments and a good chunk of bone (replaced by metal plates and six kitty-sized screws), his flexion isn't equal to the right side. he's back to playing, snoozing, and cooing at 3am, which is more than i ever could have asked for.

the cat's meow

as alphie can attest, it's not easy being green.



on a separate note, i'm wearing pink shoes today and loving them.

he's cast a spell over me

for the next six weeks, we'll be making the weekly trek to marin for a progress check up and a new cast. after our first check up, todd dropped me off at work and brought alphie home where they were merrily greeted by several of our female neighbors, who were psyched to see our little commie (their description, not ours!). next week, i'm requesting a less controversial color like green. or brown. or white.

super kitty

i haven't posted in awhile because my cat fell out of our 4th story window. the details are quite sketchy, as i don't speak meow, rwow, werr, or coo, but a totally sweet and amazing neighbor found him the next day (i was literally in tears the previous 24 hours, so this was a huge relief), huddled under her flower planter/bench, drenched in urine, feces, and blood. after tons of veterinary care and orthopedic surgery, he's starting to heal, both emotionally and physically. but with everything happening, i just haven't had the head or the heart to post anything.

but in the meantime, here's the link to my review of tina leblanc's farewell performance at sf ballet.

something smells fishy

every year, we do a little spring cleaning, which regularly consists of me getting rid of really old t-shirts and those jeans that i never really hoped that i'd actually wear. todd's gift to the garbage bin normally includes a stinky old pair of basketball sneakers. each year, i try to sneak our singing rubber fish by him and slide it incognito into the donate pile, but it never works. billy the bass always ends up back in the closet; it was the valentine's day gift todd actually wanted way back in 2003 or so, and i was dumb enough to shell out $9.99 at walgreens for it.

last night, we got home late, and i fed alphie and popped into bed. soon i'd be off to dream world... until i heared bobby mcferrin's voice crooning in the front hall closet--"here's a little song i wrote, you might want to sing it note for note, don't worry, be happy..."--and kitty claws scampering quickly across the hardwood floors. alphie, doing what i've always wished i had the balls to do, attacked billy the bass. and billy fought back with song. fine, billy, you can stay for now.

he's just so catty

in his new budget plan, the governator is trying to add sales tax to veterinary services (in addition to appliance repair, vehicle repair, and golf). From The California Veterinary Medical Association (CVMA) recent action alert:

Governor Schwarzenegger recently announced his plans to add a sales tax on veterinary services as part of his budget plan to stimulate the California economy. This was part of a larger combination of program cuts and revenue increases to solve the multi-billion dollar budget shortfall. It is particularly disturbing that veterinary services were included with “appliance and furniture repair, vehicle repair and golf.” All of the other healing arts professions were excluded from the sales tax proposal.

if my healthcare or your kid's pediatrician's visit isn't taxed, then why should my cat's bloodwork for a chronic thyroid condition be? and when we have so many animals being surrendered to shelters, do we really want to increase companion's costs of housing an animal? what's next, stealing money from kids? oh wait... never mind. vet taxes seem pretty low and dirty, though, on the part of our strong, able-bodied, and well skiied leader.

so what can you do about it?
1. send a well worded message to arnie and your representatives via the Humane Society's website.

AND

2. call the governor's office at 916.445.2841.
-select your language choice.
-press "5″ to leave your opinion on a current issue.
-press "1″ to select the issue of extending the sales tax to veterinary services.
-press "2″ to "oppose" the veterinary services tax proposal.

hoppity hop hop

spring is pretty much around the corner (just 20+ days go go!). the other day, my trainer and i somehow got on the topic of bunnies and how they're different from rabbits. from my thorough research, which mainly included entering words into my google search bar and clicking enter, i've found there really is no difference. it's just a matter of preference of us humans.

with that, i thought i'd plug saveabunny, which is a bunny wabbit rescue organization located in marin. i've grown quite attached to a few of the bunnies, at least a few posted on their website, but that's as far as my bunny ownership goes. todd and i are pretty convinced that if we ever adopted a peter cottontail, alphie would either a) attack it with all his might just like he ferociously does with fake mice and stuffed animals or b) bathe it constantly until he threw up bunny hairballs. *ralph*. and neither of those would be too much fun.

to see the fuzzy wabbits at the top, go here.

what a happy family...

tuesday night/wed. morning, middle of the night, moon overhead

alphie (at the foot of the bed): *aaaschnew!*
todd (groggily, to me): want a kleenex?
me: that was alphie!
todd: oh. bless you! *snore*

testing, testing, 1, 2, 3!

true, riding the 49 bus south on mission tends to be unsavory, but this weekend i came to realize it's also informative! for instance, say your dog has syphilis. what would you do? and more likely, what would you do if you found out your dog could talk? if you're on a 49, you need only look up to receive help. and remember, if your dog's too embarrassed to talk to you about his, er, condition, you can refer him to dogsaretalking.com.

tastes good with catsup!

for those who need a laugh, chuckle, or snort today. thanks, i can has cheezeburger!

vroom vroom

when you're on the phone with someone and they ask if there's a lawnmower tearing through your backyard, that's when you finally realize that your cat purrs really, really loudly.

save ferrets

if you were worried that all that's on the government's mind is war, where to legally smoke, and immigration, well, you're wrong. surprisingly, they're also trying to help rescue black footed ferrets! these little guys are cute. wonder if alphie'd like one...

muni tails

i started my holiday shopping early this year. i made my list of who's been naughty and nice, calculated the current postal price for shipping coal, and came to the pine-tree sniffing conclusion that i should pick out (most) of my gifts in person. that's right. amazon.com would be relegated to the difficult-to-find items (such as a genealogy computer program for the grandpa), and i would buy everything else on foot. i started a few weeks ago, even purchasing gifts for 3 people prior to thanksgiving. this weekend, i braved the storm downtown and made a mad (which transformed into the crazy) dash throughout the new mall. after 3 hours of incessant lines, indecisive shoppers, and throngs of people haphazardly milling about, i threw my hands up in disgust and hopped a bus home. and that's where i thought the most awful shopping event ever would be over. but this is san francisco, right?

i was sitting next to, well, someone. i had my headphones on, listening to NPR and whatever illustrative commentary they were providing, while also contemplating our dinner options (pasta, pasta, or... frozen potato pancakes by the dozen. little star pizza won out in the end.). we got to civic center, and the person (hey, it's a woman!) next to me says something. really, with my high-quality headphones from cowon, it was all just a jumble. so i take them off and ask her to repeat her question....

fizzy haired, green eye shadow up to her eyebrows, purple flowing house dress lady: i have a cat question.
becca: um... kay.
lady: you just seem to be a cat person. you have this big aura around you, one that just screams that you enjoy cats.
b: me? eh... i have a cat.
l: yes. i can tell. and you've had cats your whole life.
b: well... pretty much. i also had dogs growing up. big dogs, little dogs... is it the fur on my polartec? alphie loves to snuggle up on it.
l: no no no. i mean throughout your past lives, you've always been very close to cats. they've always been your confidantes. and i can see it all, right now (starts waving her hands).
b: on the 21 hayes? you can see all that on the bus? you sure it isn't just my exhaustion from almost getting eaten alive at the mall?
l: so i have this cat problem, and i know you can help me. i've had dogs most of my lives, but for the past 12 years, i've had cats. and i just put in a cat door so they can go inside and out. do you think they can learn to use the door? or should i wait until they're kittens again?
b: kittens? um... again? like... in their next lives?
l: right
b: well... you can always teach a dog new tricks, so why not?
l: oh, look at your aura... it's glowing.
b: yeah... look, a bus stop! and it seems to have an aura to it, one that's calling to me. this isn't my stop, but... i'll take it.

getting to know you...

does spot need a date for the midnight double feature of milo and otis and the shaggy dog at the red vic? perhaps trixie's looking for a purring backyard playdate who likes to climb trees and nibble on blue jays under the hot warmth of the november sun.

is your pet tech-savy? does he/she want to get out there (without roaming down the street) and meet other animals with similar interests and ideas? and more imporantly, are you crazy enough to support said venture? if so, look no further than catster and dogster, two sites devoted to, well, your devoted.

and yes, alphie's got a page. but it's all in the name of research. really.

at least he doesn't eat worms.

being home more than usual lately, i've gotten to view our live neighborhood version of meerkat manor. only with cats, dogs, and birds instead of meerkats and wolves. behold, a furry four-legged feline fantasizing on the futon!

wide awake

this morning, against my better judgement, i gave in and bought a bottle of starbucks mocha frappuccino. ick. i don't do well with coffee. after a summer in boston of coffee overindulgence, i kicked the habit and have been clean ever since. chai, yes. diet coke, yes. sudafed, sometimes (for sinus issues). coffee, no. i get the shakes, my pupils dialate funny, and while i focus well, some people say it's a little too much me, too fast for them.

my mom and sister both drink coffee, and i remember growing up, my mom had to have at least one cup in the morning. black, too. and if she didn't, it just wasn't a pretty sight (she was pretty, but just irritable!). i also have recollections of my dad mixing me half coffee, half hot cocoa drinks (i still don't know what was so bad about just drinking hot chocolate, but that's a whole other story). they tasted good, but the alertness was just too much for me. anyway, for some reason, i never got hooked on the whole coffee craze. perhaps it was the fear of coffee breath or the bitter taste or the fear it would stunt my growth (vertically) even more.

but i gave in this morning. it's a big work week, and today i'm working on about 5 hours sleep. why, you might ask? or perhaps you won't. well, i kept having trouble falling asleep last night, and around midnight, when my mind was finally calming down and tumbling into a dream state, i heard "mew mew mew" coming from the back door. alphie, who had been curled up under my arm, purring with abandon, perked up, all alert. at first i thought it was one of our building mates' cats, but this was a "mew" like no other. opening the back door, i came face to face (and bed head to bed head) with my neighbor, who also looked like he had done the same thing. "mew mew mew." there at our feet was this adorable medium-haired tabby, just staring at us. the four-legged friend turned out to be the "lost cat" from 3 buildings down, elliot. after some discussion, it was decided that i would return the cat to it's rightful owner. with 8 legs following me to and fro, i threw on a jacket, grabbed some flip flops, and carried elliot home.

now, i had met elliot's neighbor recently when he moved in, and again when he was posting "lost" signs on anything that even remotely resembeled a wall, scaffold, post, or tree (yes, we do have trees in the city). he's a nice fellow, and i knew that he would be relieved that elliot was ok (as he had just been neutered on saturday). but this was midnight. on a monday.

right. so holding the purring kitty in my arms, we scampered down the street, rang the doorbell, pounded on the door, and a few minutes later, our neighbor appeared. in only his boxer briefs. and nothing else. in the end, returning the sweet kitty and then chatting with a mostly naked, good looking, very likely gay man in the middle of the night made up for the disruption of my sleep patterns (or lack thereof). so bring on the coffee. but just for today. promise.

chew on this

as i've mentioned before, netflix has changed my life. i watch good movies, as opposed to whatever's on, and i don't have to worry about walking the extra block from work to the video store. the downside? i think alphie hates it. perhaps he's passive-aggressive, but using my esp and pet psychic skills (thanks, animal planet), i'm getting the strangest feeling that he hates not only dvd's, but netflix. and i have proof. exhibits a and b: