Category Archives: Life

On February 2 last year, my only brother died of ALS. On February 3 this year, I dreamt that he, my sister, and I were young children again, cleaning the kitchen in my parents’ home as we waited for them to return from vacation.

As we cleaned, I looked out the window and saw my brother, looking as healthy as he did before his diagnosis, driving down the driveway.

Even in the dream, I knew that he was dead and that the disease had robbed him of the ability to drive long before he died. I knew, and yet I was filled with the certitude that he was again alive.

I rushed out the front door, shouting, “It’s Brian!”

But when I got to the driveway, there was no car. No Brian.

I fell to my knees, sobbing, heartstruck. That feeling . . . you know that feeling if you’ve ever lost a loved one.

My mother emerged from the house behind me, placed her hand on my left shoulder, and said, “It’s like that sometimes.”

I woke and lay in the darkness, newly griefstricken.

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This week my mother’s doctor told her she could die at any moment because her aortic valve has become so narrow. She is scheduled for heart surgery on February 23.

I went to Japan. I returned. In between, I did stuff: ate yummy food, rode many trains, and went to Tokyo Disneyland and Disney Sea. And I wore hats.

Sometimes very strange hats.

Roy likes to jump to the top of doors. Usually he jumps from the bathroom counter to the nearby door, where he alternately parades and poses, as in the photo below.

Two days ago he leaped from the back of my chair to the door clear across the room. I have NO idea how he managed to do that–or why he would want to. How did he even figure out that doors have a surface to perch on?

Four cats in one house definitely demand more than twice the attention that two cats demand. Instead of two cats vying for attention and being satisfied (well, almost satisfied) by getting as much as the other cat gets, four cats vie for as much attention as the other three cats, combined, get.

A little while ago we noticed a stray cat living in the bush in our front yard, and we fed her occasionally. A little while later we noticed two kittens hanging around with her, so we decided we should capture all three cats and get them fixed so we wouldn’t end up with a billion cats in our yard.

After feeding all three for a week, placing the bowl ever closer to our front door and moving ever closer to them as they ate, we managed to accustom them to our presence, place them in cat carriers, and take them to the vet.

We paid $300 to the vet, who spayed them, and then we kept them inside our house for the recommended week of recovery. By the end of the week, the mother cat was desperate to return to her outdoor life and kept driving her kittens away and hissing at everyone, so we let her out. She comes around to be fed everyday, but she still hisses at us.

The kittens, though . . . .

The kittens were cute and cuddly and happy to be inside, so we adopted them. We named the male kitten Roy. He is solid black and loves to climb high in the air–on top of bookshelves, on top of CD racks, on top of the TV. Up. The female, who is tortoiseshell and talkative (“yow, yow, yow”), we named Sally.

Our older cats, Oku and Mr. Green, think the kittens are annoying, but they haven’t fought with them. All-in-all, we live in harmony.

Here’s a picture of Sally (in the foreground) and Roy (in the background).

Watching Project Runway. Looking forward to the new season of America’s Next Top Model. Gonna watch Survivor when it returns later this month.

I wish there were new episodes of 30 Rock, but I’m dying to see new episodes of Battlestar Galactica.

Beyond that, nothing.

Ah, the joys of sun worship. When I was younger, I used olive oil as a tanning lotion, roasting in the sun–swimming, hiking, biking, playing volleyball all day long with nary a thought to skin damage.

Now look where it’s gotten me. Cancer. Surgery. Uglifaction.

You’ve seen a photo of my male cat, Mr. Green. Now here’s a photo of my female cat, Oku. She’s about 18 months old, but she’s only been living with us since February. My brother died of ALS on February 2, then two weeks later my old cat, Missy Blue, died. Too much death, so I went to the local animal shelter and got Oku.

I named her “Oku” because I like that sound, not because it means anything.

Yes, as you can tell by the lack of recent posts, I have been LAZY: consuming rather than creating, holing up rather than going out.

It’s time to hit the reset button!