Blogger Blather

Gawd, I love Hollis. She doesn’t do anything half-ass. If she’s not feeling something she skips it all together. If she is feeling it she plunges in the deep end.

This Halloween, let’s just just say she dived into the ocean.

Her house was CRAZY. Her entire yard was covered with oversized inflatable pumkins, skeleton driven coaches carrying coffins, and animatronic spooks.

I also love Hollis because even though she doesn’t drink, she always has lots of booze at her house.

Tonight I hung out in her front yard and drank wine while she gave out candy.

Here’s a photo of us posing in the picture wall she made. The sign pointed to her “Trick or Trailer” — she had her trailer all decked out with strobe lights, and “Headless Harry” — an animatron that pulled his head off. The kids (and some teenagers and adults) were freaked out!

This is the first speck of fun I’ve had in two weeks. So sad! Tomorrow I check out of the hotel and move in my studio. Yeah! I’ll take pictures when I get there.

I know this blog has gotten even more boring than usual, but that’s because it’s pretty much mirroring my life.

I’ve been working.

And when I’m not working, I’m working.

And during my free time I spend it working…

The weird thing is I’m busy and I’m bored. So that’s not a good combination.

Tell me something interesting that has happened to you lately so I can live vicariously!

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:

The Holiday Inn on Pharr Rd. (Atlanta, GA) is first class, baby. I have an extended stay room so it’s set-up like a little apartment, with a separate living room and bedroom and a full kitchen.

Today I was in-house at my new gig for 11 hours. I am a zombie. Good thing I stopped at the grocery store yesterday and stocked up on necessities, (i.e. WINE).

I just poured myself a big glass and I deserve it. I’m not sure what the heck is going on at the contract I just started. Looks like I may be looking for another assignment soon. Oh well, not much I can do about it since none of it is my fault, or in my control.

Oh, did I tell you I got another new coif? It’s not that cute, but I think it will be better in a couple of weeks when it grows out some. Check it out…

I drove 500+ miles yesterday and arrived in Atlanta around 6:30pm. It took me almost 2 hours to unload my car and get settled in at the hotel. My studio won’t be ready until November 1, so I gotta kick it at the Holiday Inn for a couple of weeks.

Today was okay at my new gig… I was pretty optimistic about the assignment in the morning, but a little late day stress (not my fault, I swear!) left me cautious about the assignment. Hope this doesn’t blow up before I get a chance to actually do some work.

No pics. Too tired to bust out the digital camera. Actually, I’ll swipe a logo from the Holiday Inn website so it’s not such a sterile post. Here…

I took the quiz at http://glassbooth.org/ to see which presidential candidate most aligns with my political views.

Oh the irony…

First, check out the comment I made to my own blog post here: http://kittyboy.com/blog/?p=162

Now you wanna guess who I have the most in common with?

Cynthia McKinney, Green Party presidential candidate and former Georgia House Representative (and pain in the ass). She left the Democratic party last year. Check out her campaign here: http://votetruth08.com/

The last few days have been unbelievable stressful. First, my beautiful blubber-butt tabby cat, Fatso, got very ill. On Tuesday afternoon he had a heart-attack at the vet’s office and died. It was really horrible. I was totally unprepared and there’s definitely a void at my house without him.

Mixed in with all that sadness I was having interviews for a 3-month contract job in Atlanta. Somehow I managed to hold it together and not break into heart-wrenching sobs during my 3 different phone interviews. I was offered the job yesterday afternoon and I have to start Tuesday morning. My studio in Inman Park isn’t going to be ready until November 1, so I’ll once again be staying at the lovely Holiday Inn Express in Buckhead until I can move in my own place.

Orange Cat and Sweet Stuff are staying in Baton Rouge and Sharon (and I hope Tom — I need to call him) will be cat sitting.

So, Baton Rouge friends I will be around for Thanksgiving and Christmas, but other than that I won’t be in BR for an extended period until after mid-January. And Atlanta friends I guess I will see you next week.

On Saturday Fatso started breathing funny and on Sunday he crawled under the bed and wouldn’t come out. My vet is closed on the weekend, but I called the 24 hour vet clinic. I told them about his labored breathing but they said they didn’t think it was an emergency. Listening to them was a mistake.

My vet opens at 8:00am and I was there with Fatso at 7:45 this morning. It turns out he has pneumonia and they think he may also have heart disease.

My poor little tabby. I’ve been crying all day because my track record with cats and the vet hospital is only 1 for 4. Sweet Stuff was saved by the wonderful vets at the East Atlanta Animal Clinic a few years ago. But Stinky Poo, Big Fat Cat and the one and only Kittyboy didn’t make it once they were sick enough to be admitted for observation.

Actually, I had noticed that he lost some weight but I stupidly thought it was because he was more active since Orange Cat arrived. When they weighed Fatso he had lost 2.5 pounds — not good. I’m feeling like a bad cat mom.

Since he wouldn’t come out from under the bed I slept on the floor last night so I could check on him during the night. I was so scared he was going to die. He’s a tough old guy and he made it till morning but he doesn’t seem to be doing any better at the vet’s office. I called to check on him this afternoon and they said he was the same. They had given him medicine to try to clear his lungs but so far there is no change in his condition.

(from front to back) Fatso, Sweets and Orange Cat

I’ve been super-busy this week, but not much blog-worthy to relay.

I have four different projects going on right now so I’m just trying to juggle it all and hit my deadlines.

One interesting thing is that the screenplay treatments I’m co-writing with an author are still happening. I should have more news to share on that in a few days.

I got the check from my insurance company today for my hurricane/hail damage. So, that’s good. But, I’ll probably hold off on getting the roof replaced until next year. It’s not leaking (yet) so it’s not a priority. But, getting a new desktop computer, paying rent on my new studio in Atlanta, going to the dentist, and a million other expenses are priorities so that’s what I’m going to use the insurance money for. Hopefully my billings will continue to be strong and I’ll be able to replace the roof in the spring.

Tom and I had a discussion at lunch today about the order of succession if the president dies. We knew (obviously) that if the president dies the vice president takes his place. But we quibbled about the order after that and also about who then becomes vice president.

This conversation came up because I mentioned that I might not vote in the upcoming presidential election. I’ve never missed voting before, but as the runner-up for Miss Alaska would say, gosh darnnit I gotta tell you I am just gonna have to get back to you on who I would vote for.

I actually like John McCain a lot. I supported him back in 2000 when he was up against Bush for the Republican nomination; but let’s face it, he’s pretty old. And being president ages you in dog years. I really believe he may die in office and Sarah Palin cannot be president. Actually, I think she’d be fine as vice president. Historically (before Cheney) the v.p. has been the second banana face of the white house — attending functions and championing one or two key issues that they were well versed on. So, I think she’d be fine as vice president. But president? No way.

On the other side I like Obama okay, but I guess you would call me one of those bitter Hillary supporters. I was really hoping she would get the Democratic nomination and I just can’t make myself really like Obama. So, I may let the rest of you decide this time.

Plus, I’m now registered to vote in Louisiana, but I’ll be in Atlanta on election day. I can vote early, but I don’t know if I will…

So getting back to the order of succession thing. After doing some online searches, I found out that the order of succession if the president can no longer serve is as follows:

• Vice President
• Speaker of the House
• President Pro Tempore of the Senate
• Secretary of State
• Secretary of the Treasury
• Secretary of Defense
• Attorney General
• Secretary of the Interior
• Secretary of Agriculture
• Secretary of Commerce
• Secretary of Labor
• Secretary of Health and Human Services
• Secretary of Housing and Urban Development
• Secretary of Transportation
• Secretary of Energy
• Secretary of Education
• Secretary of Veterans Affairs
• Secretary of Homeland Security

Assuming the new president is the former vice president, the new president would then appoint a v.p. but his selection would have to get congressional approval. Tom and I weren’t sure if that somehow rolled up too.

Anyway, that’s your Jeff Foxworthy lesson for the day.

Orange Cat just had a bad dream. He started crying — a pathetic, pain-filled meow — while he was sleeping. When I heard his repeated cry I went to check on him, but the sound must have also translated into pain to cat ears because Sweet Stuff went to see what was happening, too.

Of course, the terror was all in his sleepy little cat head.

Orange Cat was a stray until I adopted him about 9 months ago. It makes me wonder what frightening and hurtful memories he has from his life before he came to me.

Books, television, and verbal interaction with others are some of the ways humans can learn about horrors that haven’t happened to them personally. But a cat? I have to think he was reliving a harrowing personal experience: Almost being hit by a car; No food for several days; A fight with a one-eyed tom cat; Being pecked by a crazed bird; Being bitten by a rabid squirrel; Being shot by Sarah Palin during a hunting expedition… what do you think he was dreaming about?

It was all a bad dream…

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…