num_6

As of noon-thirty . . .

2009-08-07T20:54:42Z

Some Statistics

Pages: 98 (short for a thesis, but I always was a succinct writer.)
Figures: 19
References: 114
Years: 3 years and 51 weeks
Weeks Remaining: 3
Apartment: Trashed
Crappy pics on the iPhone to commemorate the end: 2, but you only get 1

I'm so happy I don't feel anything.

The Reign of Destructo-kitty

2009-06-20T18:25:19Z

Penny's occasional nickname, Destructo-kitty, has suddenly become very appropriate.

Last night I was vacuuming the livingroom. Unbeknownst to me Penny had unwound a ribbon and hauled it just underneath the couch where it was obscured by the couch skirt. My very awesome (new) vacuum cleaner's amazing suction power (<3!!!) totally grabbed onto this ribbon, and before I realized what had happened it was hopelessly entangled in the brush mechanism. There was a significant amount of smoke and my apartment still smells like burnt rubber. After the smoke cleared I checked everything out, and the vacuum still has suction, but the brushes don't spin. I honestly don't know if there is a separate motor to control the brush mechanism that may have been damaged by the incident. But, I'm hoping there is only one motor (cuz if so, I know it works fine) and replacing the belt will fix the problem. =X I've only had that vacuum for ~2-3 months.

Then, this morning I got up and did some tidying (don't try to sort clothes in front of a kitten. Just don't.) before work. As I was leaving I grabbed my iPod only to discover that something was not quite right. . .

Fail, Kitty! Fail! Hopefully copper doesn't give her indigestion.

In which Penny is the star

2009-06-06T14:08:44Z

For those of you who weren't aware, I decided to name the kitten Penny, despite the fact that she responds better to "kittenface" and "Thundercat Hoooo!"

She's learned the rules of the house very quickly; mostly do not climb up peoples' legs even if they're wearing exciting flow~y pajama pants. Since she is a kitten she's full of energy, so she plays hard and sleeps hard. No, I mean she sleeps really hard. The other day I clipped all of her rear claws without her even waking up! It's always kinda nice when we have those "adult cat" moments when she wants to be with me, but is not particularly interested in eating my hands. She really is quite affectionate, which is a trait I sadly have not seen much in the cats we owned as children. Even Eli likes her despite her claims that all cats are aloof and boring!

We did have a bit of a scare when I first brought her home. I was told that she was weaned (kittens are usually weaned by the mother at 6 wks of age, Penny was 8 weeks old) but she wasn't. The previous owner mentioned off-hand that she'd noticed the kittens nursing on Mommacat the night before I adopted her. Mommacat was taken to the vet the morning of the adoption to be spayed. I didn't notice Penny drinking at all that night, or the next morning. I tried dipping my finger in the bowl and getting her to lick water off of it. She did this happily, but she wouldn't drink from the bowl. In the afternoon I became more concerned. She was still very active and alert, but when I sat on the floor with a glass next to me she started licking the condensation off greedily (at this point it had been about 30 hours since she'd had anything to drink). We spent a long time doing the finger dipping trying to get her to associate the bowl with water. Finally, I just grabbed her paw and dunked it. She shook it off fiercely and looked horribly offended. But when she started licking the water off she kinda paused, looked at me, looked at the bowl, then spent the next two minutes lapping at the water. What a relief! I really didn't want to have to take her to the vet for fluid therapy.

We've done baths and nail trimmings with very little drama, which is a huge relief to me. Too few people acclimate their cats to these activities at a young age, but Penny seems to take to them well. The thing about bathing cats is you have to figure out if your cat is a "bath cat" (place the cat in standing water) or a "shower cat" (Pour the water over them). Penny was totally chillaxed when I just poured water over her from a cup, and she really seemed to enjoy towelling dry. Success! I figure I'll bathe her ~once/week just to keep allergens at bay.

The other day I came home and couldn't find her. I checked all her normal haunts, and found her curled up on top of my Fruits Basket manga on the bookshelf. I bet she's a Kyo fan. . .

Penny's favorite part of the day is that time right before bedtime. We've been sleeping on the couch together, so each night I pull the pillows off the couch and pile them in the floor. Penny will romp all over this pillow fort for about 20 minutes, and then she's perfectly content to join me for bed.

This pretty much sums up Penny's day:

Be cute:

Be vicious:

Be unconscious:

Well, she has gotten herself hoplessly entangled in some string, so I'm going to go extricate her. For those of you who don't particularly care about kittens I'm sorry that this post ended up being all about Penny!

num_6 @ 2009-05-29T18:37:00

2009-05-29T22:40:43Z

Hey guys! I need your help naming my new housemate.

She's 8 weeks old. So far I'm thinking Ayla. Do you have any suggestions?

Well, while she's napping I'm going to run get the last of the kitten supplies!

AZ Diary Thingie (SUPER PHOTO HEAVY)

2009-05-29T01:47:21Z

Hollie didn't arrive in Winston-Salem until ~4am Friday morning, so we decided to leave around 9am to give her a chance to get a little rest. We packed the car, but had her try on Aya's wig before we left. I'd put in 12'' extensions so we could trim them to length when Hollie arrived. We showed her how to put on a wig (she's proud of the fact that she got better over the weekend) and her initial response to the long dangling eartails was "EEEEK, I'm not used to hair touching me down there!" Yes, it went all the way to her clavical. So we trimmed her up and hopped in the car. It's about a 2 hour drive to Raleigh from my place so we took Hollie's special road trip CD - a bunch of cover songs. Some were bad, some were really bad, and some were just funny. My favorite was "Hey Ya." Hollie and I have a whole history with that song, so we <3 it.

We had to stop by a Target on our way because we forgot one of our stage props (omg, sad tiny topiary!)

We arrived at the hotel around noon, and our room mates had just arrived as well. Fortunate timing! The first thing we did was look out the window to see what our view was like. All we could see was construction. . . and construction workers. Hollie debated whether we had license to catcall them. To which Prodigy responded with:

This was the first photo of the weekend, and quite possibly the best. XD I have to say that Seivka and Prodigy were the most awesome room mates ever. We had 5 people in our room but it never felt like more than 2 or 3 (until we piled all the towels in the bathroom before leaving. . . Yikes!) Sievka and her sister, Baru, will probably be staying with us at Nekocon, which rocks. Not only are they awesome people, they're really corteous roomies, too! What a great find!

We dressed in Weiss and painted Medusa (seriously, we were all filling in the dots!) and headed over to the convention center to get our badges - hooray for not having to wait in a line!

Our Weiss line-up was:

Youji - Tassie
Aya - Turbi (she has yet to make a cos.com ID under this name)
Omi - Elke
We seriously have no pictures of these costumes. . . we really failed hard. This photo was taken by Jayce. We attended Ryusei Nakao's panel and were alternatively amused by his answers and endeared by his humility. We're so glad he was still able to attend the convention!

Tassie and I changed into Isane and Ichimaru respectively for the the Bleach shoot. It was the shortest Bleach shoot in the history of cosplay. Seriously, it was done in less than 15 minutes. There was one huge group shot and then it just kinda dissolved from there. So, I grabbed a couple of cool people and got some smaller group shots.

I got to hang out with Regena (clearly we are up to no good)

Tassie found her taicho

We wandered Artist's Alley for a bit and then Turbi went exploring while Tassie and I went to the SE photoshoot.

There were lots of awesome peeps

and Epic butt grabs (Black*Star x Hoang, anyone?)

After the shoot we went back to the hotel room to shower and eat before the Soul Eater panel (which we were late to because we couldn't find the room . . . go us). I didn't get any pics during the panel because I was wearing 1x Mizune which doesn't really lend itself to moving the arms. Zippy called me up on stage at one point and I said "Chi." A lot. I mean, she can't talk in 1x form, amIrite?

The only photo I have is of our epic cross-dressing shenanigans. I am Soul here - you can tell because of the *manly* headband. While it's kinda fun to have a body double I'm not sure how I feel about that person being male. OH WELL!

I did go to the pajama party afterwards, but didn't take any photos. Z (as Free) and I had a little striped people party over in our corner. When we were asked to relocate to the convention center I went back to the hotel because it was already ~2am and I knew my roommies would be asleep. Tassie was, Turbi was not. Apparently Tassie fell asleep to the "dulcet tones of my sister chewing on peanut M&M's." Turbi and I giggled and ate M&M's for a little while, as sisters are wont to do, before crashing.

More pics can be found under the various AZ09 galleries here. These are all shoddy photobucket resizes because I was to lazy to do this properly. Fail, Elke! Fail!
Umm, Saturday's recap will have to come another day because . . . Whoa!

Zomg, Poast?

2009-04-10T00:01:26Z

I realized the other night that I actually have friends on this account now, so maybe I should actually update. I mean, it's a bit rude to just stalk all of you. Unfortunately, I don't particularly think my life is of any interest to . . . well, anyone.

Example: Today I went to work. Worked like a mad scientist, meaning I didn't eat lunch until I got home at 6ish. (Tassie brought me some peanut butter crackers because she is awesome <3) Eventually, I shall go to sleep. The End.

But, most of my LJ friends are into cosplay, so maybe I'll talk about that?

I'm driving down to Nashicon on Saturday with Tohma. I'm kinda undecided as to who I'd actually bring, but I'm thinking it may end up being Ichimaru Gin (Hueco Mundo version - because I can take off layers as needed if it gets too hot). Hello, breezy hakama! I know a handful of cosplayers who will be there, so it should be really fun. I get to spend some more time with people who I was too shy to really interact with at Katsucon. I'm funny that way - I get so attached to people but then when I see them in person I just feel like I'm crashing a pre-established group. So, I usually end up absconding.

Humans don't know greatness

2008-05-28T02:06:15Z

Went to a human gathering called a "con" on rumor Grimmjow would be there. Everyone took pictures of Grimmjow and Ulquiorra - no one wanted pictures of Luppi. Am v. sad.

Saw Yumichika there. Not sure if I'm the prettiest.
Will have to primp my curls for next "con."

Szayel's tongue is frightening. Will secretly be sleeping with nightlight.