Hungry?

I know you've all been dying to meet Lulabelle. Here she is!










Frankly, this first photo makes her look like a piece of sweet-and-sour chicken. Maybe it's because I haven't eaten a real meal today. She's less walnut-like than I expected, based on what I was told about her being slightly bigger than a walnut. She looks bloody, as if she didn't give up without a fight. Good on ya, baby!






















These other two photos are more clinical to me, therefore less appetizing. Icky little creature, isn't she? May she rest in pieces.

Oh, Come ON!

I offer three perfectly wretched specimens of cathood up for "adoption" and I get no takers. None! Shocked, I am. Maybe it's because I didn't put up a pic? Well, here ya go. Look, I only drew one oozing orifice!












Last night on Comedy Central there was a Derby Doll appearance (and yours truly was amongst the throng) on a game show called Distraction. We got to skate around the contestants and hit them with little velcro flags while they try to answer trivia questions. It was fun. One of the guy contestants seemed to really not mind being hit by six roller derby girls. Hopefully the episode will be rerun a bunch o' times. Luckily we recorded it.

I'm still in Unemployment Land, so I'm thinking of making some 1" buttons to sell for fun and profit. I'm thinking of making four designs, and selling them in little four-packs. The images to use is of course the hardest part...should I use stuff I already have, or make new stuff? Ah, to think and to dream...

Want a Used Cat?

Anyone want a cat or three?

All my cats are giving me grief. There's the diabetic fat-ass who has been picky about what he eats lately, so making sure that he eats enough to get his twice-daily insulin shot has been interesting, to say the least. There's the angriest cat in the world who just got over some kind of ick where she was puking Exorcist-style. Now the third cat, the big dummy is both crapping and puking, I think due to him eating rubber bands. How do I know he's eating rubber bands? I found the piece of one today in a pile of his poop that he oh-so thoughtfully left in the bedroom. Niiiiiiiice kitty! Tomorrow he goes to the vet if this continues. For now he's sleeping peacefully and oozing-orifice-free on the couch.

Before coming home to Pukefest 2006, the husband and I got out to see Hoodwinked. This film got a lot of flack on an animation-related board that I have since abandoned. It's CGI and was done for about $15 mil. That's nothing compared to the usual film budget, much less an animated film budget. It was very ambitious, but the story held up and Patrick Warburton did a voice for one of the main characters. Of course he was brilliant, so I was able to dismiss some of the not-so-stellar animation in some parts of the film. Shame on the whiners on the animation-related board that I used to frequent for being a bunch of haters.



















It looks like there's going to be a special non-music event going on during Austin's most famous music event next month. I can't say too much except that it involves a roller derby league or two and a match up that'll be AMAZING. I don't know how much I can say about it yet, except that I'm now a fan of Jaegermeister sponsor-wise.

Frankenstein and Bootlegs

Today I finally feel human. I got to take a real shower and I got to shampoo my hair for the first time since Thursday. Ahhhhhh, cleanliness is next to gawdliness...or something like that. Here's a photo of the cool surgery wound I'm sporting:











I don't know how many stitches I have in there, but it looks disgusting, doesn't it? I was told that if I neglected to put sunscreen on the wound when I go outside, the scar will stay noticeable. If I wasn't such a vampire I'd be tempted to forego the sunscreen. What I want to ask the doctor about is this: Lulabelle was right under my jawline, so why did they start cutting on me halfway down my neck?! I'm sure the presence of nerves had something to do with it; I was told before surgery that I could experience nerve complications in my face if they hit the right nerve at the wrong time. Whoa!

In other non-news...

I have a love/hate affair with bootlegs. It sucks when artists get ripped off and don't get their due, especially when it comes to music. I understand that they don't get diddley per CD sold; they make their money touring and with merch and stuff like that. However, there's something seductive about the cheapness of a fun bootleg. Two of my favorite shirts are bootlegs of the band, the Cramps. The shirts themselves are cheap and falling apart, and the silkscreening job done on them is haphazard at best. However, they're disgustingly comfy and convey what the band is about better than official merchandise.

Another bootleg I have is a DVD set of Studio Ghibli films. The husband and I picked it up in Chinatown a couple of years ago and didn't even know it was a bootleg. It's actually a well done piece of work, and hey, we have a bunch of Miyazaki stuff that we didn't have to pay Disney to see.

Below is my current favorite bootleg. It's obviously supposedly capitalizing on the Powerpuff Girls, and fails miserably in getting anything right. I picked this up at a local Japanese grocery store for a couple of bucks and is now being proudly displayed in my bathroom. I haven't used it yet because I'm glorying in its badness.










The one bootleg I can't stand? The Calvin-peeing-on-whatever vinyl stickers. Those are tacky!

My Impression...

...of what Lulabelle looked like at the time of her "birth":









Cute lil' bugger, isn't she?

This site made me laugh. A lot. And it hurt because of my stitches.

Thanks to Mary for posting that baby!

Farewell, Lulabelle

I'm home from the hospital after getting my lump, Lulabelle removed. I'm irked that I didn't get to keep her, but they said they had to take her to the lab for further testing. The doctor said she would take a picture of Lulabelle for me, but I won't know for sure if she did until next Thursday when I go in for a follow-up visit.

Things I've learned: anesthesia doesn't have to make one nauseous. This is the first time where I didn't feel like puking my guts out after being put under for surgery. The hospital staff went to some lengths to make my stay a non-vomiting one.

Morphine's good stuff. I had the opportunity to take morphine for pain while in the hospital. At first it made my stomach a little upset, but I got over that. At the time I didn't think the stuff worked too well, but now that I'm home and am in more pain, I now know the subtle glory that is a pain-free existence thanks to morphine.

Being put on an IV drip sucks when all one wants to do is sleep. I kept waking up every 3 hours to go use the restroom because of the IV drip. Dang. It took the buzz off the morphine a little.

If you're ever in Westwood and want a good donut, go to Stan's Donuts. I demanded an apple fritter on my way home and that place was where we stopped to get it. Dee-licious! The husband and my seestir found a really good pizza place in Westwood too. They had pizza while I was recovering from the surgery. Lucky bastards!

I can't fully shower until Sunday. Ick.

Lulabelle was a little larger than a walnut. Wow, I've been carrying a walnut-sized tumor in my neck?! Weird!

I have some awesome friends. A couple of my derby girls are supposed to come by with food from our favorite Italian place, Alejo's. That stuff's the best! I can't wait!

Have I babbled enough? I think I have.

Is it really winter?

The past two weeks have been summerish weather-wise. February? Ha! California laughs at the idea of winter. It makes running errands on my bicycle so pleasant. It makes driving intolerable because for some reason people get even more stupid when the sun is out and shining brightly.

Let There Be Light!

One side affect to having the husband's computer die last week was that he completely rearranged his computer area, which happens to be by our sliding glass door to the backyard. He moved his table back so that the door shades could be completely opened, letting in more sunlight. Imagine my surprise and disgust to find out how much more cat hair is gathered in every corner and crevice of the room, which before now was shrouded in inky darkness. It really opened the room up.

The cats are still having mixed reviews. They like the wide-screen "kitty tv", which provides more sunlight-stretching-out space for them. They're still confused over not being able to sit on top of the flat-screen monitors, but I think they're finding the sunlight to be a good trade-off. Even the current sickly cat is enjoying the new-found view of the backyard with its squirrel highway in the form of telephone lines running through.

Friday Babblings...

This week has been another fun-filled stressfest. Still no job prospects, the husband's computer died, and one of the cats decided to go on a projectile-vomiting spree.

Since Disney bought Pixar, a lot of stuff over there is on hold. CBS and the WB network are merging, so not a whole lot is going on at Warners, either. I can't get into Cartoon Network even if I fellated the entire staff including the janitors and gave 'em all $100 bills afterwards. Same with Nickelodeon. Am I sounding whiny? Sure I am.

The husband's computer suddenly and very abruptly died. He kvetched for a day but found another one for a semi-decent price at Fry's Electronics. The big score was upgrading to 2 flat-screen monitors for his geek needs. The cats are absolutely freaking out over the monitors. They love sitting on top of the old monitors, so when the husband set up the new ones, the cats tried to jump on top of them to curl up and sleep as usual. Whoops. That didn't work out so well, and it's left the critters sitting on the husband's desk looking very confused over the whole thing.

The angriest cat in the world decided to projectile vomit a lot last Thursday evening. She likes to puke on carpeting, but she did a helluva number when she upchucked all over our vcr, cable box, and spare dvd player in the den. I took her to the vet, where they had to sedate her just to examine her. Her liver is larger than normal; her heart smaller than normal. They took some blood, hydrated her, and sent her home. She was OK over the weekend, but Sunday night brought more vomitrotious fun. So I called the vet and asked what could be done. They decided that they had enough of her blood sample left to do another test, and I came in to pick up some antibiotics and anti-vomit medication. The next day she stopped puking. Two days later and she's strong enough to growl at me when I pick her up to give her her medication. Three days later and she's back to pawing my face with her claws in my sleep. Whatever was wrong seems to be at bay for the moment.

I'm not even going to mention the derby drama going on. It's just too stupid. At least the husband had a good if low-key birthday yesterday.

Headless Chickens...

I feel very scatter-brained this week, so here's a silly doodle for you to gaze upon.

O. G.

Last night one of my Fight Crew girls had a 40th birthday party for her husband. Since the Big 4-0 was involved, the theme for the party was gangsta-oriented...dress like a gangsta, bring 40's of Old English, and a bottle or two of Night Train. Being LA, most who attended went for the Mexican cholo/chola look. The music was fun...when the husband and I first arrived rap was heard, but as the night went on everything from the Circle Jerks to Neil Diamond was playing. Dang. We should've insisted on them playing the mix CD we brought after all...everything from the Datsuns to Deep Purple to Rosemary Clooney. Oh yeah, I'm a mix-master!

Below is a photo of me and Markie D Sod sporting our chola looks. People thought I actually shaved off my eyebrows for this. Ha!

Winter is ugly

California can be an overcrowded place, but it's better than living in an area where this could happen.

(none)

More paperwork fun with the insurance companies. Yee-haw. Here's an unrelated doodle: