In other news, what? I think I shall do a list.
- I think that the wee Mr. Stripey may have an intestinal parasite. He will need to go to the vet today. I will say, he doesn't seem to be any the worse for wear, but his butt looks funny, and I say better to be safe than sorry. Now, I could take him to the vet by school, which is linked to the adoption program through which he was fostered and where his treatment would be free, but you know what? I'm taking him to my vet. As much as my vet is an asshole (and really, he totally is: BFF has confirmed it), he has kept my little Man-Kitty healthy and happy, and I do, weirdly, trust the guy. Yeah, I think it's time for him to meet Mr. Stripey.
- Today is the last day of my summer teaching!!!!
- I got my stats from my spring course evaluations last week. They are the best evaluations I've ever received in the course of my entire teaching career. Like, on a scale of 1-5 I actually got 5's on a few questions. And lots of 4.9s and 4.8s. What is responsible for this statistical windfall? I shall speculate: 1) I was only teaching two classes, and yes, I had lots of responsibilities to fill in for the other two courses in my load, but still, two classes is two classes; 2) Both of those classes were ones I was very excited to teach; 3) The class dynamic in both sections was awesome; 3) The stars aligned; 4) I've finally become The Most Excellent Teacher in the Land; 5) Sometimes good things happen to good people, and those things happen when a person who is totally burnt out on teaching comp doesn't have to teach it anymore. In other words, who the fuck knows. But I'm very excited about this.
- One reason I'm excited about this is that it does seem to confirm my snarkily conceived "goal" for the 2009 year to teach more diverse texts because in classes where I teach those texts my evaluation numbers are consistently higher. This goal was snarkily conceived partly because of my lasting hatred of our evaluation forms, and because it was a politic way of noting to my chair that indeed, some of our students are sexist. Who knew.
- You know, the state of Mr. Stripey's butt makes me wonder if I'd ever notice something similar with the Man-Kitty. He's just so furry, and he does not display it by walking around with his tail raised. Who the hell knows what goes on with his butt. I suppose he likes to keep it private, and if something were wrong he'd let me know.
- I'm beginning to get very excited about the Lebanon trip. I'm also excited that A. is coming for our belated Vagina Power Weekend over the 4th. And I'm very excited that the front and the back ends of my trip to Lebanon will be spent visiting in hometown, which means I'll be there both for A.'s birthday and her boyfriend's birthday.
- I am sad because I will be out of town when BFF moves away. And when I come back there will be no BFF. It's going to be a year of change, with that being the case. I'm hoping it's good change. If not, that will certainly suck.
- Now that school is done, it's time to a) totally clean my house, which I've still not done, b) get back on the fitness bandwagon, c) prepare for my travels, and d) relax. Ah, relaxation. Well, once I've got my grades finished. This should be done by tomorrow.
Once I woke them up by taking the first picture, they then proceeded to keep their positions for some pre-bed bathing.
Yes, my cats take naps before bed. Going to bed really takes a lot of energy, you know.
10 comments:
It's cute seeing Mr. Stripey with the Man Kitty. How old is Mr. Stripey? He looks so tiny next to the Man Kitty. I've often thought about getting another cat to keep mine company, but I've been too worried about how they would get along (and how it might affect my allergies--it took a couple of years to adapt to my one cat.)
And I was just thinking how Mr S has grown!
That First Person article rings true, but I've never found the equilibrium post-tenure either. I'd love to have the money to have a housekeeper, just to keep the cat hair down to tolerable levels (which would be much lower if I weren't the one responsible for rounding it up).
Belle,
I think that the way to look at your cat hair problem is that it *is* at tolerable levels for you, otherwise you would round it up more frequently :) This is what I tell myself. I only get angsty about it when I think about what other people would tolerate. Cat hair really never hurt anybody :) And I feel like he's getting bigger, too - Mr. Stripey that is! Of course, he still is wee compared to the M-K, but unless he ends up being the size of a puma he will always look that way because M-K has the furriness advantage that makes him look larger than he is.
James,
First, I was meaning to respond to the other comment you left: given what you wrote, I feel like it's entirely possible that we're in the same place. Perhaps you'd like to send me an email at reassignedtime at gmail to tell me who you are? If not, that's completely cool, but I figured I'd ask.
The Man-Kitty is just about 5 years old and weighs 11 lbs. Mr. Stripey is just about 14 weeks old, and I'd estimate he's probably weighing in at around 2.5 or 3 lbs. I'll know better about that after he goes to the vet tomorrow (I couldn't get him an appointment today). I was very worried about how the kitties would get along if I got a pal for M-K, but ultimately the sociable nature of the M-K combined with my upcoming 2-year schedule made me think that it was worth the risk. Also, the fact that both were rescue kitties and were fostered by the same person - making them similarly sociable and laid back, I do believe - made me feel more comfortable about it, and in addition it meant that in choosing Mr. Stripey I was able to chill with him and his biological brothers for a span of time before picking, so I got to see what his personality was like and to think about how he'd get along with M-K. I'm actually slightly allergic to Mr. S. I think (though it could just be that I live in the land of pestilential air) but zyrtec works wonders :) I also think that kitty allergies can be better/worse depending on what you feed them, though that might be something I made up.
Oh, and something else to note, that I forgot to mention in my post, which you can kind of see in the second picture. Mr. Stripey's markings on his belly make it so that he seems to have a giant zipper up his middle. What with the little boots on his back legs and his spats on the front paws, this makes him look like he's a kitten wearing a tiny kitten suit! What's more funny than a kitten in a kitten suit? Nothing, I say!
I liked the comforter-as-burrito image a lot. That said, I came away from that column with a little bit of a "and the point was??" feeling. I didn't think it was bad - just more like a blog post than a job column. ;-)
(But it is nice to read one that's not idiotic, isn't it?)
I love Mr. S's big yawn in the first picture!
I'm with NK on Mr. S's yawn.
My thought about the first person piece was that Jane Haladay needed some feminist analysis. Her colleague is male and has a wife! There's a reason that for men, having children is a professional advantage, and not for women. (At least in History -- see the Lunbeck report on that one.) I want a wife too : )
And while I sometimes think that we have the level of disorder/dirt/mess we can live with, sometimes I think that when it gets beyond us, it's too hard to catch up.
I sent you an email. Cats are cute at that age, though I'm not sure if the Man Kitty agrees. He looks like he might be thinking of pouncing of Mr. Stripey in the second picture. It sounds like you carefully planned out adding a kitten to your home. The environment matters a great deal; I know the owners of several of my cat's siblings and they're very different depending on the environment. The kittens that grew up with dogs like dogs, which my cat loathes, while the barn cats stalk anything that moves.
Nah, M-K wasn't thinking about pouncing. That's always the look on his face when he gives himself a bath. With a tail like that, you've got to mean business in order to keep yourself in order. :) Usually what happens is that he'll be bathing and the wee Mr. S. will pounce and then M-K will attempt to bathe himself and the kitty. I'm thinking that Mr. S. has gathered that this is the case, which is why I've never seen him bother with bathing for more than 30 seconds at a time on his own :)
A kitten in a kitten suit! How adorable! They are looking at each other so cutely in that picture.
i do love that it looks like he has a zipper up his belly! and that giant yawn! oh he's so sweet.
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