obliviousally_lj | Entries tagged with cats

Things have been generally frustrating over the last week.

Like.

Really generally frustrating. Exorbitantly generally frustrating.

Last week, we got a certified letter from the insurance agency Tony and his mom go through. It was a letter from his mother, saying that she's taking him off the insurance as of the 18th because of 'lack of contact'. Or something like that. Not returning calls, something stupid and untrue.

We haven't heard from his mom in over a month. We think what happened was, when I called to thank her for the money she sent us awhile back, I was in the basement on campus when we didn't have internet - the place that gets crap reception. I, in all likelihood, I got to the voicemail, and it crapped out mid-message. She likely assumes we're unappreciative assholes, which we are not.

So she's cancelling Tony's insurance. Which means we'll be without until summer money comes in May. This isn't the end of the world, but it means we have to go in to Warren before the 18th and get his title and shit, since Al kept the original title and, naturally, lost it. This is, of course, going to be done with the whole zero money we have currently. Which is awesome. My mom's sending me birthday money, which is basically going into the gas tank so we can go to the Rasputina concert on Wednesday (which tickets were bought months ago for) and a trip into Warren. Hurrah.

I actually don't mind my birthday money going into the gas tank, I just mind having to go in and deal with Warren.

So there's that, right? Pretty big inconvenience, but we can talk this out, right?

Wrong.

I called Tony's mom the day we got the letter, asking to talk and explain what it was about. We get a call back the next day, they hang up when Tony answers. I call back, Al answers the phone. Says Tony's mom isn't around, asks to take a message. I say it's nothing in particular, just to call us when she gets the chance. He asks if it's about the insurance, I promptly tell him I would prefer to talk to Karen about that. He hangs up on me.

THESE ARE SIXTY+ YEAR OLD ADULTS.

Karen, of course, never calls back. This morning, I call her to ask her to call me back, again. She calls back, Tony answers. She hangs up. Calls back again, leaves a message (I was on the phone dealing with something else, which I'll get to in a moment). THREE MESSAGES saying to call Violet (the insurance agent) and she'll explain everything to us.

NO. THAT'S NOT WHY I'M CALLING. I KNOW HOW INSURANCE WORKS. I'M CALLING TO SEE WHAT CRAWLED UP YOUR ASS TO CAUSE YOU TO TAKE THIS COURSE OF ACTION.

But these people can't work outside of this childish mindset, apparently.

THEN.

The cell phones.

We discovered we could upgrade our phones in March, instead of August, like we originally thought. Awesome, we think, why don't we see what phones are free. You know, because we're broke and don't want to add anything to the bill. So we check out what's free and settle on Droid Incredible 2's. Nothing added to the bill, nothing changed on the bill. We place the order - as I have access to the online account, so we could see how much data usage and everything that we use. You know, so we don't get charged anything extra.

The day after I place the order, I send Karen a text - which I know she can receive - telling her not to freak out if anything with the phones is changed, nothing's been charged to the account, we just upgraded our devices for new ones, since the old ones have been butts lately. In short, don't worry about the phones, but that's what's going on, so you know.

Phones get shipped out, supposedly two day shipping. Weekened and holiday turn it into four. Whatever.

The bill gets paid on the 6th and, apparently, SO DOES THE RECEIPENT ADDRESS. The original order had them coming to us, in Kent, obviously. We were like hawks over the FedEx tracking page to see when it would be out for delivery, since we had an appointment this morning and didn't want to miss it, as it needed a signature. The FedEx page updates at 7:35AM with a failed delivery message, which cannot be possible, as they don't start delivering until 8AM - AT THE EARLIEST.

So we wait a tic, after calling FedEx to get clarification (where we're told someone changed the address it's going to), to see if it updates with out for delivery. It never updates.

Cue at least two hours of phone tag with Verizon and FedEx, trying to make sure the box is either going to be held there, if I'm able to pick it up, if I'm able to change the address, etc., etc. It was ridiculous.

Eventually, I was able to set myself as an account manager on the Verizon account, so I could get the address changed. Something which was, between this afternoon and now, undone by certain parties in Warren. Whatever, I got what I wanted, so I don't need that level on the account anymore.

But I know they're sitting there in Warren having a conniption because they probably think we're doing stupid shit with the account, despite telling them otherwise and them not even being adult enough to give us a call.

Eventually, we were able to drive out to the FedEx location and pick up the package just fine. But good lord.

On top of all this, we discovered the Salvation Army can't help us because of the wrong bank account issue on the electric. Since it counts as a bounced check. I don't know what the fuck to do about that. I think HEAP should be able to help, but that's still $275 we have to find for electric, plus $525 for rent. I start work in about two weeks (around the 22nd), but I won't have a paycheck until May. It's so frustrating.

I'm just really pissed my birthday has been overshadowed by all this bullshit. Not that I need/want it to be some spectacular thing, but it's frustrating and enraging when I'm so stressed out over things that I can't enjoy one day. My mom's been really sensitive/weird on Facebook lately, too. Just taking things out of context and telling me she thinks I'm 'mean' 'on purpose' because I don't thank her for every little thing she does for me. UGH. Just frustrating.

BUT GOOD THINGS, YEAH?

Game night was awesome. Angie invited her friend Ryan (so now there's two Ryan's at game night), which was a good move. There's six of us now, which makes the games we play pretty interesting. Bang! still takes forever, for some reason, though...

Our phones are really nice! It's going to take a long time to get used to the virtual keyboard over the old physical keyboard on the Pixi, though. I have fatty fat fingers, so they don't take well to it. I want to root it, but I don't know if I'm going to yet. I modded the Pixi's and they were just fine (bricking's hard to accomplish unless you're fundamentally retarded). There's just SO MANY useless apps and stuff on the phone that I was gone. So I'll mull it over, but I'll likely end up doing it anyhow.

I've been drawing! I know, big occassion.

Sahariel; Terrance, Emily, Sahariel; Sitara; Sahariel; Poe

It feels good to be drawing again, even if they're just little art cards and headshots. It's a start, right? Also trying to accomplish faces. It's hard. Like, math hard. But I'm trying.

That sketch one, I'm working on coloring, but Terrance and Emily don't even have their designs down, so that's a fun little adventure in and of itself.

I've been posting stuff like this regularly on my artblog, too: http://obliviousally.tumblr.com/

I've got an Instagram now! (of course I do) My username is, of course, 'obliviousally'. I take lots of pictures of my cats. Naturally. But it's just SO. NICE. to have a phone with a good camera again. the Pixi's camera sucked so hard, but the Droid cameras are really nice. It's easier to whip my phone out and take a picture of something, than make sure i have camera batteries, make sure they're charged, make sure I have the camera with me, dig it out of my bag, take photo, wait to come home and transfer it to the computer and upload it wherever. I love my camera, but it can be a hassle.

Sam, Finnick, Snickers, Dean, Finnick, and my wall.

I also installed Words With Friends and Draw Something, but I haven't done anything with them yet, since they're both Zynga and connected to Facebook. I don't want that cluttering up my feed, so I'll probably do those a little later so I can set proper permissions.

So! Anyone with a Droid phone have any app suggestions? Should I absolutely root my phone? Anything I should know of/avoid doing? :O

Also! If anyone wants to throw me their number, feel free to message me (here, Facebook, wherever). I don't tend to import my old contacts to new phones, it's one of the few things I 'start fresh' on so I don't have a lot of clutter and all.

Current Mood: stressed
Current Location: Kent, OH

Today was an...interesting day.

About a week or two back, whenever we were out driving around last, we ran over this huge-ass rock that clunked up into the back bumper area of the car. Nothing went awful when it happened, just a loud, noise, so we didn't think much of it. Until today, of course, when we're heading up to Ravenna for Tony's therapist appointment and we get up to Walmart and there's this scraping sound as we're driving. First assumption, the rock did a number on the muffler.

So we pull into the plaza and I get out to investigate things.

Turns out the muffler strap was rusted on the one side and, when we hit the rock, it broke the strap and the lower half of it was just dangling around under the car. Lovely. I couldn't do anything about it at that moment, because everything by the muffler was still hot.

So we walk over to Walmart to find something to jury-rig it with. We end up, after awhile of wandering to find proper tools (in this case, an adjustable wrench - which I needed anyhow - and wire cutters) and some galvanized wire. I ended up lacing the wire through a small hole in the end of the muffler (one that was already there, as part of the muffler design) and bungee-ing it to the trunk. It holds well enough for now and it's not like it's the worst looking car in town.

My real ingeniousness comes from the fact that I needed something to hook the loose piece of the strap to (since it's welded on in a spot and I couldn't get the bottom piece off). I ended up tearing apart an old cell phone holder with a belt strap so I could use the strap part to, essentially, clip the loose piece to the bumper of the car.

The drive home was fine, which is good. We're still going to need to replace the muffler strap and I'm SO thankful that a new strap is only around $10. It shouldn't be too difficult to switch out and, worst case scenario, I can ask the neighbors for help.

Slightly off topic, I was really surprised that NO ONE in the parking lot asked what we were doing/what was wrong/if we needed any help while I was half under the car fighting with things. I don't know if it was just Ravenna or what, but it was kind of weird.

In other news, Sammy cat has a cold. I believe his nose it actually chapped and it's not his acne spreading. His acne has actually disappeared for the moment. But he was all kinds of miserable the other day, spent the entire day in my lap and just waited in my chair when I had to get up and do things. So I've been putting him in the bathroom in the evenings with wet food (because he can't smell the other food) and the warm heater. He's been cool with it and, generally, when I wake him up, he's in much better spirits than he is in the evening. Actually trotting around with his tail up and purring and kneading me.

I discovered today that the kitten, Finnick, will wear clothes. I was putting one of Jem's stupid shirts on him and I threw one on Finnick and he didn't even bat an eye. Wore it for quite a few hours before rolling around out of it while he was in the bathroom eating his kitten food. Now he's sleeping on my mousepad.

I gave Tony his second testosterone shot today. I am...not very good at it. I did it right the first time, but I didn't think I'd actually got it in because his skin indented. So I was an asshole and pulled back, pulling the needle out. Herp derp. Then it was difficult the second try to get in. I AM NOT GOOD WITH NEEDLES. I'll get better though, I was just really nervous and I have this subconscious thing with needles where something in me gets faint-feeling and I don't like it.

In other, other news, I haven't been drawing and it's been butts. Everything just looks the same, same faces, same poses, same stupid lines on the same stupid paper. It's frustrating. I need to branch out, try something new, maybe go back to a more simplistic style, don't be afraid to draw dumb shit.

I've been planning for NaNoWriMo. Sort of. Kind of. I still don't have a solid plot line. I think it's a lot because I want to start/end the story with one specific scene and the rest is full of flashbacks and such. I guess, considering where I'm starting/ending the story, the whole bulk is technically a flashback. But, ah, the incidents leading up to the climax, I suppose. The ~foreplay~ of the story, I shall call it. I have, like, three pages (in my little notebook, so that really isn't a lot) of questions to myself on how things happen and why they happen the way they do. Stuff that's plot holes at the moment and need filled with some kind of bullshittery. But if people are interested, my NaNo account is obliviousally and my NaNo tumblr is lace around the wound. I'm still not sure what to categorize my novel as yet, though. Horror/Supernatural? Adventure? Mystery/Thriller/Suspense? UGH. Choices.

Aside from all that, I've been dicking around roleplaying and making forum graphics between putting in applications and laughing at how little work there is in the immediate area. My life is so exciting, I know.

Oh, and I made this for my web design class (there's more to it, you can click through to see the full page):

We did laundry with Angie on Monday and, basically, spent a few hours dicking around, lulzing about character stuff, and starting some Superwho shenanigans.

Current Mood: awake
Current Location: Kent, OH

I was curious if anyone on my flist who own cats have ever had any issues with feline acne? Sam seems to have it, I noticed some crusty black things on his chin a little while back and they went away for a bit only to return sporadically. Last night, I noticed his nose was sore and red and there were the sort black black blackhead things he'd get on his chin.

It doesn't seem like it's very severe and I've been reading up on it, but I can't seem to find a good way to combat it. Some sites say to use a gentle soap, some say to use peroxide. I'd really like something a bit more all natural, really. We have plastic water bowls at the moment, so I know that could be part of the problem.

Current Mood: curious
Current Location: Kent, OH

This is Finnick. He is always wide-eyed and pointy-eard. He also has a jingly collar with soot sprites. I'm letting him explore the house today, since he's had his wormer. The other cats have mixed opinions. I think Dean keeps mistaking him for his brother, Sam, when I have him in my lap. He'll sniff and lick Finnick's head, but then hiss at him if I lift him up. It's weird. He wants to play with the other cats really badly, though, and keeps wandering around purring and batting at them.

Current Mood: bored
Current Location: Kent, OH

Yesterday, we had an impromptu game session on campus with

jevin and his friend, Ryan. He's been trying to get people together for a bit now, but something always fell through with us, so we haven't been able to do anything for awhile. But yesterday we were free! So we went and had food at Euro Gyro and then went up to campus. Initially, we'd planned on going to see Super 8 after bumming around for a bit, but Jevin had brought...

Now, I fucking love mystery/roleplay/horror games. I also dreadfully miss playing big, in-depth games like this. I guess it's just hard to find a group of people to get together who want to devote the time to play it (since a game can be an hour plus). But there were four of us initially, then another kid, Mike, was in the student center lounge and looked interested, so Jevin invited him over. Later, another kid (who's name I didn't get) came over to watch and joined in our second game.

It's really kind of a ridiculous sort of fun, and I imagine doubly so when we're not all learning the rules and are actually secretive about the whole hero versus betrayer deal. The first time through, Tony slaughtered us all horribly. The second time through, we didn't get to finish because the student center was closing, BUT WE WERE SO GODDAMN CLOSE. Stupid alien atmosphere gas.

SPEAKING OF ATMOSPHERE, I kind of wish I had my Nightmare game here, though Tony won't play it. Sadface.

But it was a good night! We're going to start doing it every Saturday, so I look forward to shenanigans~

I think I'm done at the bookstore for the semester. It's ~about that time~. I'm putting in applications at the Save-A-Lot down the road and Five Below is hiring. It frustrates me a little because EVERYWHERE in Aurora is hiring right now, but there's hardly anything there now.

Speaking of Aurora, and how I'd know everyone is hiring, we was up there last week on the hunt for Halloween stores (there's so few nearby) and...I ended up adopting a kitten from Pet Smart. I know, I know. But I don't feel bad about it because my rent is paid up and my bills are taken care of. December is probably going to be rough but December is always rough. But I couldn't not have this cat. I can normally coo at the cats and move on, but not in this case.

He's only six or so weeks here, it's a photo from the rescue I adopted him from. He's about four months now and he's wily and slender and bitey and playful. His eyes also are SO much more vivid. He's got bright orange eyes with green near the center. He's essentially a Halloween cat. I'm really hoping a kitten will be good for Dean to romp because Jem can be really aggressive (he's not mean, just really into playing) and Snickers does romp around, but Dean plays a lot more. Sam doesn't give two shits about anything other than daddy, me, and his feather.

His name was Fanuch, which no one could pronounce. The lady from the rescue said I could re-name him if I wanted, so I went with Finnick, because it still has that 'eff' noise he's familiar with. Tony dubbed him Samhain (pronounced correctly, sa-win), so his name so far is Finnick Samhain.

He needs to be de-wormed, they don't always come from the rescue wormed and he could have picked something up in the store anyhow. But that's $20 tops for the pills and he'll be ready to mingle in a few days or so. The other cats have had introductions with him, either through the door or with me holding the kitten. They have mixed reactions, but overall Snickers is the only one who's really gotten vocal about her dislike. But she was kind of bitchy when she first came to us anyhow, so that's to be expected.

My biggest concern in adopting him was Sammy's reaction. Sammy's my baby and I'm his person, essentially. He loves Tony, but mainly for fighting and belly rubs. I spent a week cradling him when he was sick and petting him after he'd puke up water and generally just being a mother hen to him. So bringing a kitten into the house worried me because I didn't want him to feel dejected or upset, since I know how cats can get. So far, though, he doesn't really seem to care either way. He hasn't been standoffish with me and he's been acting his normal self, which is a relief.

So, new kippen.

Other than that, not a whole lot going on. I've been cleaning the house off and on for the last week, slowly trying to get things organized, picked up, ectera. It's just a constant state of disarray and I need to take care of it every season, really. I also want to put the Halloween decorations up.

Current Mood: sleepy
Current Location: Kent, OH

So we have the four cats, right? Three of them have absolutely no litterbox issues. Even if I forget to clean the box, they don't gripe about it, they'll still use it. There's four litterboxes in the house - one for each cat - in different rooms in the house (one downstairs, one in my office, one or two in the animal's room, depending on if I need to move one somewhere else temporarily).

Dean, however, is a whole different issue. Dean will not use a dirty litterbox. Dean will inform us of the box not being up to his standards by peeing on things. Namely: the bed. He'll do it while we're sitting right there, if he can.

Is there anything that can be done to stop this? Is it just the one cat being a nitpicky bitch about something? He'll use the box up to some intdeterminate time that he deems wherein the box is no longer clean enough for his liking, despite the other cats having no issue and the box really not being all that dirty.

It's really frustrating because we never know when he'll decide that the box he chooses to use that day isn't up to par. He's otherwise a really good cat and I don't think he's pissed off about something and it peeing on our things out of spite.

Current Mood: frustrated
Current Location: Kent, OH

Went up to Gabe's today to see if I could find some decent shorts. See, I have great legs, but my thighs also rub together. It's lame and I'm a pudgy fatty, but whatever. Obviously, jeans are no issue, but I can't really wear anything that allows my skin to rub together because, of course, it will chafe. And that sucks. Also, hurts. So all the cutoffs I have from jeans I've worn through are super short. They're laze-around-the-house-maybe-check-the-mail sort of shorts, not -go-outside-and-do-stuff shorts.

So I've been trying to find some that are long enough to avoid my fatty thighs from rubbing together. I like these styles:

But it almost NEVER FAILS that I'll try on a pair with any manner of tapered bottom (akin to the last two) and they will not fit over my calves. They're my size, sometimes a size or two up (because girl's jeans are never the correct size), but the won't go past my calves, let alone even consider my thighs. I don't think my calves are that muscular (they're almost all muscle due to walking/biking) or large, so...what gives? Are they just made stupidly? Can only girls with toothpicks for legs fit them? Can only preteen girls fit them? I don't get it.

Here's a pretty good example of my legs:

I mean, I'm obviously not bizarrely mis-proportioned or anything, so I'm not sure why shorts are really hating on me lately. I mean, worst case scenario, I buy some decent-fitting jeans from Goodwill and cut them off, but I also hate to destroy a pair of decent jeans like that. Augh.

I also want to gripe about empire wait dresses making me look pregnant. I like the style of them, they're super cute and casual. I like clothes that keep me cool in the summer. It doesn't matter how cute they are, I always look pregnant in them and that is not a look I want to rock.

Don't get me wrong, they look cute. On everyone else but me.

What I did acquire from Gabe's was two shirts, one of which is this magnificent hipster piece of art:

Tony also found a bunch of cool Red Pil Phobias tees and I got a coimetrophobia (fear of cemeteries) one. He picked up a few of those and some of Red Pil Artifacts shirts that are subtle and look really nice. He had a really good haul and got the Tubes of Mars, Mind Control, Moon Trenches, and Wiltshire June '04 (I believe) shirts. I kept eyeing the Freemasons shirt and I still kind of really want it. Maybe I'll swing up there today and snag one.

They're super soft and comfortable, too. While I wouldn't pay full price for a tee from them (I rarely pay more than $10 for a shirt unless I'm buying it online, Gabe's is one of those places that sells clothing that's been cycled out from retailers, so all those tees are priced, like, $3-$4), I'd still reccomend the quality.

Now, here's some pictures of our dumb animals:

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