Blogger Blather

Just like in real life (where I divide my time between Baton Rouge and Atlanta) I’m now dividing my time between two blogs.  This is my original online home and my new digs are over at Skirt! magazine.

Check out my new blog at http://skirt.com/kittyboy

If you aren’t in the mood to dig around, here are a couple of my favorite recent posts:

WHY CREATIVE WRITING IS OFTEN USELESS FOR A WORKING WRITER:

http://skirt.com/kittyboy/blog/being-career-day-speaker-part-2-forget-everything-you-learned-creative-writing

ONLINE DATING TIPS FOR MEN:
http://skirt.com/kittyboy/blog/tips-men-online-dating-donts

and MY PASSIVE-AGGRESSIVE WAY OF DEALING WITH BEING IGNORED:
http://skirt.com/kittyboy/blog/sporting-harry-potters-invisibility-cloak-2010-atlanta-film-festival

Enjoy, y’all!

I’ve been feeding some stray cats in Baton Rouge for the last year.  After one dropped a litter of kittens on my doorstep I decided I needed to trap them so they could be spayed and neutered.  I was too overwhelmed to do it on my own, so I contacted an organization in Baton Rouge for help.  Four of the cats (pictured below) were trapped and brought to LSU Vet School last week.  The gray tabby bite someone at the vet’s office, so he has been quarantined.  I checked on him today and this is the reply I received:

The grey tabby is doing great, but, man, is he a bad one.  He has pulled so much dirt into his kennel that it’s about 1″ thick on his floor.  He’s even got roots from the ground in there.  He dumps over his food/water dishes, his litter box, his box with bed.  It’s just such a mess in there every day.  I had to put food/water dishes that attach to the side of the kennel so he’d have food/water.  I’ve had only one other cat that was this bad.  He wants out!!!  Animal control has to come over to check him before he is released (I think just one more day) and I hate for them to see his kennel.  Anyway, I’m glad that I could help.  Animal control at first wanted him kept at a vet, but I insisted that he stay with me, where I’m sure he is happier, even though he is not happy at all.

The little monster described above is all the way to the right in the photo.  He’s the only boy of the bunch and I guess he’s pissed that his manly bits got snipped.

Are you a writer with folders full of unfinished and/or unsold work?

A filmmaker with an unfunded project?  Boxes of footage that you never finished editing?

Or a creative freelancer who finds themselves squeezed by unemployed cube dwellers who are saturating your profession while they look for their next full time job?

Then welcome to my pity party!

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Filmed with a Sony HDR-UX10 High Definition Handycam Camcorder using normal room lighting.  Audio captured with a Sony ECMHW1 Bluetooth Wireless Microphone.  (Am I the only one who thinks the audio sucks?  This is a new mic — maybe I’m not using it correctly.) 

To my right:

To my left:

I wish I could blame this pathetic Saturday night on Baton Rouge, but I actually did have something to do tonight — I just chose not to do it.  Instead I am about to pour myself a glass of wine and watch a couple of episodes of Angel (Season 2) on DVD.

I know what you’re all thinking – what a fun gal!  And she has cats!  I wanna date/friend/be just like her!  Right?

I spent Valentine’s night — and I am being totally serious here — at On The Border crap-ass Mexican restaurant.  The reason I was at On The Border crap-ass Mexican restaurant  is because it’s a great place to go on Valentine’s night if you don’t have a significant other.

Since refried beans and guacamole don’t exactly say “Love” — there’s no need to worry about being bummed out by seeing fabulously beautiful and happy couples exchange extravagant gifts over the complimentary basket of tortilla chips.

I bypassed the crap-ass Mexican food and instead drank three glasses of $4.50 wine (only the best for me!), and was home asleep by 10:30 p.m.  Happy Valentines!

The Cajun version of Will and Grace… or as Tom deemed us — SPINSTERS for hire.

I was away from Baton Rouge the entire month of January, just returning a few days ago.  What do I discover?  My redneck neighbors still have their Christmas decorations up.  Not only that, but they proudly turn the lights on at night.  No shame at all at their laziness.  I bet the person next door to them who has their house up for sale is thrilled.  Check out this photo I took last night, February 7, 2009, 45 days after Christmas:

There’s a much-used saying “Home is where the heart is” — which alludes to the fact that where you live isn’t necessarily the place you consider “home.” Well, as someone who is now dashing between primary and secondary residences (in Baton Rouge and Atlanta, respectively) I have to tell you, that saying is bullshit.

Here’s the deal… I own a house in Baton Rouge and 95% of my “stuff” is there. But I don’t like living in Baton Rouge. There’s no work for my profession and no organizations that support my interests.

So, I also have an apartment in Atlanta. A place where I have work and a lot of creative opportunities. Only about 5% of my “stuff” is there, but Atlanta is more where I consider my heart.

But having been away from my house in BR for weeks and months at a time is making me miss “home” terribly. So, to hell with home being where your heart is — home is where your stuff is.

My house in Baton Rouge during the December 2008 freak snowstorm (which I missed because I was in Atlanta at the time). Photo courtesy of Tom Redmond my wonderful housesitter and cat caregiver.

I just downloaded a bunch of photos that have been trapped on my camera for a few weeks. Instead of writing something lengthy I thought I’d just post the photos with a quick caption so you can see what’s been happening with me.

Thank goodness Atlanta has an Ikea. Sofa, end table, lamp, and pillows — all bought new for less than $400. In fact, my entire Atlanta apartment was furnished and stocked by Ikea — with a few items from Target — for well under $1000.

Check out my pet possum. I’ve been leaving food and water out for the stray cats — and any other wildlife who happens to be hungry. I see this possum almost every night along with a calico cat and a black cat. Other visitors are a white cat with a black tail and a darling grey tabby with white feet.

The indoor kitties love Christmas because there are lots of boxes and baskets to curl up in.

Orange cat enjoying his Christmas present — a cat tent (from Ikea, of course).

Oh my, Tom and Sharon deserve some special recognition after the day they had on Tuesday.

The two of them have been checking on my house and cats daily while I am in Atlanta working. That in itself is a huge task since the cats have smelly litter boxes and insatiable appetites. Add in the fact that my burglar alarm started going haywire Monday night and you see why I can’t thank them enough.

Sharon got a call from the alarm company at 2:30am — then again at 3:30am. The cops went to my house but didn’t see anything wrong, so the next morning Tom went to check it out himself and discovered a steaming pile of cat poop in the kitchen. I guess the alarm going off literally scared the shit out of the cats.

The alarm company came out and replaced some things and hopefully it is working properly now. Regardless, I feel terrible they had to deal with my problems.

I owe you both!!!

In addition to having to go in-house and work all week, I had to work all day yesterday and all day today on two other freelance projects. From a monetary perspective I’m not complaining because I need the cash, but I am tired and not very happy.

So today while I’m working I have CNN on and they are talking about the fact that now is not the time to make any type of major life change. Don’t change jobs, don’t change your living arrangements, don’t even change relationships. I swear they said this. That everyone should “be nice to their boss” because times are tough and we all need to just try to keep everything even keel in our lives.

On one hand I’m thinking well I should feel fortunate that I’ve had this sudden dump of work on me — because I get paid by the hour/project and I have a lot of hours/projects ahead of me in the next few months. But on the other hand I just leased a studio in Atlanta and I’m taking on more financial responsibility because of the added rent and expenses — including travel to go back and forth from Baton Rouge to Atlanta. So am I following this advice or not? Is this even good advice?

Oh, and speaking of traveling I made my plane reservation to go to Baton Rouge for Thanksgiving. The ticket went up over $150 while I waited for my client to “approve” my travel dates. Again, gotta just suck it up for 3 months. Not used to someone telling me what to do 8+ hours a day, but at the end of this it will be worth it (I hope).

I got no new pics to share. Too tired and lazy to upload anything. Instead I’ll just share a funny photo someone sent me. Don’t drink too much this Halloween or this might happen:

Lots going on, so let’s just jump in shall we…

HURRICANE DAMAGE AND MY INSURANCE

I filed a home insurance claim because my roof is toast after Hurricane Gustav — or so I thought. The adjuster from Safeco came out yesterday and said the roof was shot, but the damage was caused by hail. (Remember this post?) So, I have to get a new roof. This roof was just put on in 2002, so it stinks that I have to shell out $1000 (my deductible) for this. Money may be tight this Christmas, so I hope everyone likes bottle cap magnets and beaded bookmarks

STUDIO SPACE IN ATLANTA

I made a quick trip to Atlanta last weekend and while I was there I leased studio space in Inman Park. It’s a little apartment behind a luxe home and it’s right on the park. Literally, it’s the first lot next to the park. How cool is that? Because of holidays and family birthdays, I’ll be living in both Atlanta and Baton Rouge during November, December and January. Then I’ll spend February till May in Atlanta so I can (hopefully) take on a multi-month work contract. After that, we’ll see…

NEW CLIENTS

Food is following me around these days. For several months I’ve been working as a project manager for an online cookbook and today I was hired to build a site for a television cooking show.

HOORAY FOR HOLLYWOOD

I’ve been asked to collaborate on some screenplay treatments for two major Hollywood production companies. Seriously. The person who approached me has the connections and has already had pitch sessions. They’ve been instructed to now submit treatments and wanted to know if I was interested in collaborating. I was like, “Shit yeah!” I couldn’t get any play in Hollywood on my own, so I have no problem with being second banana if the top banana has connections.

PC IS REALLY DEAD

I tried to reboot my desktop computer again today. It’s even more dead than before. Now I can’t even get past the first screen. With the roof, the deposit on the studio, plus the extra costs of running households in two cities, I just can’t afford to replace it right now. So, I’m a laptop girl for the next few months. This thing is giving me carpal tunnel…

After 9 and 1/2 days without power (that’s 224 hours — but who’s counting) my electricity finally came back on.

Still no phone, Internet or cable, but air conditioning and a lighted room are very nice.

Obviously, everything in my fridge and freezer had to be thrown away. Well, almost everything. This is what I was able to salvage:

• caffeine free diet coke
• bottled water
• mustard
• ketchup
• hot sauce

Sounds like dinner to me…

I’ve never been a patient person, and my patience surrounding Hurricane Gustav is almost dissolved.

I guess I’m just hot and cranky because sleeping in a 90+ degree house and reading books by flashlight gets really old fast.

Tonight is a new episode of Project Runway and I do not want to miss another week of my favorite non-guilty pleasure. There, I admitted it. I don’t really miss the ability to run my computer at home, wash clothes or cook. What I really miss is reality television.

Hurricane Gustav was “fierce”

I’ve posted a lot of pics of the damage Gustav did to buildings in Baton Rouge. But I’m sure some of you are asking — what about the people? How are the folks in B.R. holding up? The answer is not well.

Here’s a little photo essay of what I’ve been doing during my 7+ days without power (and counting)…

I got attacked by ants while I was cleaning up debris in my mother’s yard. My left foot is hugely swollen looks like it belongs to Fred Flinstone. Guess I need to cancel the foot modeling gig I had lined up – ha! Taken Thursday, Sept. 4.

Here’s a pic of my current state of loveliness. When you don’t have use of a hair dryer or straightening iron you gotta go with it pinned up. Taken Sunday, Sept. 7.

Sweet Stuff looks bored doesn’t he? Yes, taking pics of me and the cats is big fun these days. Actually, that’s always big fun at Casa de Kittyboy. Taken Saturday, Sept. 6.

The cats are hot and bored. Looking out the window is huge excitement since they can’t watch Animal Planet. Taken Friday, Sept. 5.

Irene is without power too. She looks thrilled to see me, huh? Taken Sunday, Sept. 7.

I’m on day 7 with no power. People are getting ornery for sure. Check out this house on my mother’s street. It was under contract and the closing was in a week. $1 million. The seller seems a little pissed, huh? I would guess that sale’s not going through…