Withirdeye

07:37 pm: A Nightmare Before Christmas
So, this whole year has pretty much had it in for me. There were bad signs and omens, in the beginning of the year. I didn't take them too seriously, as I'm an optimist. The main gripe was that I was working very very hard. It didn't pay off, of course. The last quarter to half of the year just accumulated suckage. It seemed to culminate all near the end of the year, though. I lost my job, in October. (Side note: very few people know who the Mystery Theatre Sandman - a.k.a. Wesley Dodds is. So, I didn't win any costume contests.) And I have yet to land another position. Even the temp agencies don't have anything for me. Come December, I went on vacation to Disney World. It was fun for the most part. There were a few things that Kim wasn't happy about. And it doesn't take much to set her off. But otherwise, it was fun. I got the cellulitis for free! Near the beginning of the vacation, I got bit by a mosquito. By the middle of vacation, I was infected. Going to CentraCare and Walgreens wasn't exactly on the itinerary. So, that kind of threw the agenda off course a bit, but it wasn't a wasted day. The year is ending horribly, though. While on the train back (Saturday night) my cat-sitter called to tell me my cat went missing. So much for a fun ride back. As soon as I got home and took some luggage out of the back seat of my car, I went looking for Merlin. I spent the entire week in Curtis Bay. Most of the time, I was on foot looking for the cat and posting flyers. I also drove through the alleys finding all kinds of stray cats that weren't him. I had an ad on Craigslist that got some responses. One of them suggested that he may have made it all the way to Brooklyn. Kim and I went to look in that area and found it an even worse place to be than Curtis Bay. Somebody hit a brown tabby with a car. It had a black collar on, so Kim freaked out. It wasn't him. I checked all the shelters and local vets, staked out the sitter's house to see if he'd come back, and kept following up on leads from people who called. Somebody found a cat that just walked in to their home, and called. It looked so much like Merlin, but it still wasn't him. The face was completely different. Still, I took that cat to our vet to be sure and then home for food and water. I named him Strider. Kim's father went back down to the neighborhood and brought home a female kitten. How he mistook that cat for Merlin, I don't know. Those two cats were very sweet, and we got attached. Still, we took them to BARCS the next day. We named the kitten Ura and told the shelter that we'll adopt both cats, if nobody claims them. They still haven't called back. Merlin was eventually found on Christmas Eve. He had bites and scratches all over him. I felt them through his fur and they didn't feel like serious injuries, except that he was bleeding on his hip. I thought it was a fairly small bite, but he was going straight to the vet anyway. Good thing. It's a decent size bite that went across his rear above the base of his tail. It required seven stitches and a drain (basically a tube through the wound under his skin). He's on antibiotics and daily pain medicine, and has to wear an E-collar. I also have the privilege of cleaning his drain with betadine - he loves that, let me tell you. The drain come out, tomorrow, but the collar stays on until the sutures come out. Needless to say, I wasn't in the holiday spirit and was very angry at the sitter. So, I took Kim to see Aliens Versus Predator - Requiem Christmas night. Technically, the day after Christmas. It was a 040 showing. I liked it better than the first, but the ending was a little weak. Oh, and Dallas' brother didn't die! That pissed me off, but not as much as the audience. I don't think Muvico audiences know when to shut up. Still, I've noticed a complete lack of respect from everybody recently (even in Disney World). Anywho, I still liked watching the movie in the theater instead of the small screen. I'm never seeing a movie at the Egyptian again, though. I hope 2008 isn't any worse.
I know I'm late with giving out presents and everything. So, here's a little something to make up for it.



P.S. Is the plural for pegasus pegasi?