Sick As A Dog ...

Little Miss K is sick. A couple of nights ago, she took ill and was unable to keep food down, and she was extremely lethargic and a little chilly. So I sat with her, and took her to the vet first thing in the morning.

So, she has an elevated liver enzyme and a high white blood cell count. Which means ... could be a number of things. But the disturbing thing is that it could be poisoning due to the canned food I was feeding her [once every three or four meals, tops.]

So, I'm feeding her chicken and rice, as she regains her strength. And giving her lots of pills.

Somehow the fact that they can't talk makes it even harder. And that they trust us unconditionally.

I'll post more about her condition in a few days. At least she's better than she was on Monday.

Stay tuned ...

Taking a break from posting. Catch me in about 2 weeks, I'll have something new then.

Beep Beep My A$$

You know, I'm always just fascinated by people's bumper stickers. Like slapping some silly sticker on your car somehow makes you ... the living embodiment of the sentiment hanging on the grimy bumper of your Ford Taurus.

Today's entry had 7 stickers, and I got six of them down before the light changed and they pulled into the Trader Joe's. For your pleasure, here they are:

• Humans Aren't The Only Species On Earth. We Just Act Like It.
• Live Your Own Myth
• Save Mono Lake
• War=Terror
• Owls Don't Kill Jobs. Greed Kills Both.
• Good Sam Club

Good stuff!

I have never been tempted to put a bumper sticker on my car [except for the Geico "Cavemen Are People Too" sticker that adorns my desk.] I do have a very small Vox Girl playing bass in silhouette on my car window, but that's because in my mind it's always 1982.

Last Night A Record Changed My Life

That's the title of a column in Mojo magazine, a magazine that I read regularly even though it's $10 to buy. That's a lot of rice pudding money, friends, just to blow on a magazine. But if you read me regularly, you know I love music, and love reading and writing about it.

But my point, if I have one, is the phrase "... it changed my life!" or "This will change your life!" Usually said breathlessy. By someone with a severe case of overestimating their relative influence in the world.

And yet so few things have "changed my life." And I'm not counting things like meeting friends, or people dying or 9/11. Those things obviously changed my life. Hell, when the price of stamps goes up, my life changes at least temporarily.

But what things did change my life? Reading Viktor Frankl. Watching Graig Nettles play third base for the Yankees in the 1978 World Series. Hearing the Byrds on my little portable radio, under the covers, when I was 13 in 1976. When my friend D. sent me a bunch of Kurt Vonnegut books when I had the flu when I was a teenager. That got me into reading, after not doing much reading in High School.

But, no, the music of the Smiths, Mr. Ed, the introduction of the New Beetle or the ascension of Jon Stewart in popular culture ... these things did not change my life.

Is There Gas In The Car? Yes, There's Gas In The Car

We spend last weekend driving in a very orderly fashion around the greater Phoenix area. Which should be news in and of itself. The last few years we can safely say that some of the gas shortage nationally was due to our inability to locate anything on our yearly Phoenix jaunts. But this year, we had a GPS unit and bless the silicon-based heart of the person who invented the damn thing. Because otherwise, we become a carload of haters.

It was a good trip, save for the usual mishagas from our Geico-caveman-in-residence friend. Who knows who he is. And we discovered the joy of U.S. Egg, and their great breakfast-based menu. One of the great unsolved mysteries of the trip concerned the mural on the wall of their Tempe location. Was the Statue of Liberty holding De Tocqueville's Democracy in America, or [my guess] Mario Puzo's The Godfather? The group consensus was on the former, in my heart I am hoping it is the latter.

We saw greyhounds run. Which is weirdly cool, if you get past the inhumane aspects of it. And the fact that I lost $12 doing it. But we did not go slick cart racing this year, sadly. I had some new moves I wanted to try out.

So here we are, 20 days away from the start of the regular baseball season. Can anyone else stand it? It is so damned exciting! Why isn't this dominating the national news?

My friend D. told me that his old friend, the professional comedian/actor/mascot for anti-smoking in Arizona/former Jeopardy loser J. bumped in to D.'s old business partner M. [whom we all sort of find amusing as a person, as in "to laugh at" not "to laugh with"] in Kauai. How does that happen? Two Bay Area ex-pats meet in Kauai?

Speaking of the near-ubiquitous gameshow Jeopardy, I think I know three people who have been contestants: stand-up comedian, Mr. Mishagas from para. 2, and my chain-smoking lesbian speech teacher from Junior College, P.G. Mr. Mishagas won in most impressive come-from-behind fashion [I've deleted the witty double entendre that used to reside here. Thank me later]. And P.G. was a five-day champion and was later on the Tournament of Champions. I know some seriously smart people, folks.

Speaking of the smart, one of my old friends has a book coming out next month, and it looks to be both good [and well-reviewed, which may be more important] and timely, in a high-profile way. Preview it here.

I'm currently reading about everyone's favorite drunken angel, Townes Van Zandt. God bless Townes.