You've got double trouble coming down

A double post today, because I saw a story I wanted to share, and because I wanted to address some of yesterday's comments on radio stuff.

First, the radio stuff. jrh, from Turkey on Whole Wheat, was nice enough to say this: "I believe you greatly underestimate your appeal, my friend..." and it was in response to this : "If you actually knew what I looked like you might not be so quick to call." While I appreciate the compliment, dear, what I said still holds and this is why:

I will never look how people expect me to look.

It is the way radio is, but it I think it's worse for women. No matter where I've gone, no matter what jobs I've done, I always get the same reply, even from people who work in the business:

"You don't look like what I imagined."

And then it's followed by something like this (these are just a sampling of some that I've heard)

I thought you'd be taller.
I thought you'd be blond.
I pictured you as a red head.
I thought you'd be thinner (!)
I thought your hair would be longer.
I thought your hair would be shorter.
I pictured you as a brunette (when I had red hair).


Usually, they're all saying the same thing (especially if they're guys): "I pictured a six-foot tall swimsuit model wearing a bikini standing behind the microphone". I once had an intern say those very words to me. And I am none of those things.

I'm 5'6", I weigh more than 150 lbs, I wear jeans and t-shirts (not bikinis!), my butt is a little on a the ample side, and I favour Converse high top running shoes in various bizarre colours. I occasionally wear heels, but generally not to work. Not when I have to stand for fours hours. And this doesn't mean I think I'm hideous, I just don't look like Pam Anderson or whatever fantasy babe our listeners have in their head.

So I think maybe putting me on our website might be a good thing, because then it would shatter whatever preconceived notion people have of me, and I wouldn't feel like I'm disappointing our listeners every time I meet them.


Okay! Now on to this story...

Oscar the Cat is the Angel of Death. No really. There's a story about it here, although you may have already seen this somewhere else. It's a little uncanny, but I also think it's nice, especially since he's apparently not a people cat. I always liked the idea of animals working in hospice care, but then, I like animals.

And speaking of the animals, we've discovered that Chloe has an intestinal buggy. It's called Spirometra erinacei (don't read that if you're just having a meal, really). It can eventually turn into a tapeworm thing. It's actually fairly rare (our vet said he sees a case maybe once a year). How did she get it? By eating an "aquatic animal", such as a frog, or a lizard. She's going to be fine, but I'm left wondering how the hell a cat who's been in a shelter for six months could eat a frog or a lizard!

Sexbomb, sexbomb

My husband is irresistible to women.

So irresistible, in fact, that our cat, Chloe, spent five minutes yesterday trying to claw her way into his arm pit just to roll in his antiperspirant. Take that, you stupid Axe commercials!

This here's a story 'bout Billy Joe and Bobby Sue

Okay guys, I don't have much time to post today. I'm still trying to get TFYO and the kitties to play nice. We're getting there. TFYO doesn't shriek with delight anymore when she sees them (she whispers it, instead), and they don't automatically hide under my bed when they see her. And Zoe and Chloe have both spent some time being petted by TFYO, so like I said, we're getting there. Chloe has also demonstrated she is a talker, by talking from about 1 a.m. this morning until I finally got out of bed around 6:30. She's now comfortably sleeping in my spot on the bed.

I did manage to get my driver's license yesterday, and I owe a big apology to everyone who lives here by assuming that y'all would be as insensitive as the folks who work for the DMV in South Carolina. The people who work at the Georgia Department of Driver Services are lovely,pleasant, helpful, and didn't say "boo" about my Green Card. The only hitch is that they will only issue one year licenses to folks who have a Green Card issued prior to 1990, which the lately nicely and logically explained. I'm okay with that, doesn't bother me to come back every year to get it renewed. The picture wasn't half bad either. I'll write about it a bit more later. I'm off to have my hair highlighted today, I'm feeling very brave and lucky, so why not?

In place of a regular post, I thought we could try something that Willow Tree does, when he's too lazy to write anything *grin*. I'll give you a sentence, and you all can write a story/poem/whatever in the comments. I give you the first line, then you guys continue with each comment. Your regularly scheduled Friday Five will occur tomorrow.

"There was a little girl, who had a little curl...."

So, let's see where that story takes us!

Bringing it All Back Home

Okay, that's an album title, not a song lyric, but I don't care because....

WE GOT THE CATS!

Yes, the folks at the Humane Society of Savannah-Chatham County untwisted their knickers long enough to approve us. Actually, what happened was the lower level worker brought our application to the director, who approved us on the spot. We got the call after all getting our hair cut yesterday. We were just on our way home when Ray's cell rang, and they told us we could pick up Zoe and Chloe that day. So we rushed over to the local pet supply store for everything we needed (like cat carriers, we gave ours away when Grimmy and Puck died).

And here they are:

Zoe is on the top, Chloe is on the bottom.

These pictures were taken this morning. What these pictures don't show are a couple of cats very content to take over the sofa, lounge across laps, and sleep on the bed with us. Of course, it also doesn't show them investigating every nook, cranny and closet in the house for all hours of the night, either.

They both seem pretty well adjusted. They've both already eaten, and found the litterbox. The best part is, they both have wonderfully developed and individual personalities. So, we finally did it. Now the hard part is getting TFYO to understand that the cats won't ALWAYS want to sleep on her bed!

And thanks to all of you for your kind words and encouragement over the last few days. You are all awesome and make me proud to know you.