NAME MY KITTY

Here are some pictures of my new kitten.  He's a male snow marble Bengal.  Bengals are descended from Asian leopard cats crossed with Egyptian Mau cats mostly.  This one has a lot of Siamese markings as well and his eyes are blue.  They may stay blue or turn green.  Not sure yet.

Hubby wants to name him Mr. Peabody.  I want to see what other people come up with, so instead of trivia this week, I'm playing... NAME THAT KITTY!

I've been looking at different Asian names or maybe something Egyptian, but haven't come up with anything yet. 

I want to know your ideas.  Post a comment if you have a suggestion on a name for this cute little kitten.  I might even give a prize out if I actually decide to use your suggestion.

And if you like Mr. Peabody, then let me know that as well.  I guess if we don't come up with anything else by the weekend, then that will be his name.

So....NAME THAT KITTY!....

NO WORD YET ON MY MOM

Well, Katrina has passed through Mississippi and the damage reports I've gotten are worse than people originally thought. My brother was the last person to talk to my mom yesterday and she said she had lost power around 1:30 p.m.

Even though she's angry at me and doesn't want to talk to me, I still tried to call her several times today. The phone rings and rings and no answer. The lady that helps her doesn't answer her cell phone either. It goes straight to voice mail. I left a message there. I'm thinking that the phones just aren't working at all. At least that's what I hope it is.

I stumbled across a blog for the local weather in the town she lives in. People were posting comments on damage and there were others commenting to check on people. I left a comment asking if anyone knew the extent of damage around where my mom lives. The weatherman there responded back very quickly wanting her address and saying he would send the local police to check on her. I'm sure she's without power still and if the phone isn't working, she would have no way to call anyone to help her. She's legally blind so she certainly wouldn't be out wandering around and I know she wouldn't have left her dog and cat, either. There's no telling if the roads are even passable because I know there must be trees down everywhere.

So now all I can do is wait and hope for the best. All the terrible things my mom said about the Internet and blogs and it just might be that a blog will help get her the help she needs or save her life. There really are a lot of good people out there willing to help others and it's at times like this that you realize and are thankful of that fact.

Thank you, Mr. Josh_Johnson...

SOME KITTY CUTENESS

Here is Priestess, enjoying the new shelf hubby built for her to get up on. Doesn't she just ooze cuteness?

MADE FINAL TABLE AT WORLD POKER OPEN SATELLITE TOURNAMENT

I played in a WPO (World Poker Open) satellite tournament today up in Philadelphia, MS. Top 3 come back January 8th to Tunica for the $10,000 tournament.

There were 28 players and even though it was $90 to enter and optional $10 for a rebuy of 1500 chips, everyone just paid $100 and got the 5000 chips at the beginning. This was only my second time playing live. The first time was a charity tournament.

I made the final table, but I went out in 8th place, so I didn't get one of the 3 seats for the tournament in January.Before the tournament started, I sat down at a cash no limit table with my $100 minimum buy in and won $25 off the bat. I didn't have much time to play before the tournament. So after the tournament, I went back to the cash tables.

This time I had to wait on a table so I signed up for a couple different games. I ended up on a limit 3/6 table. I haven't played much limit hold 'em. I sat down with $40. I noticed that you can't force people to fold very easily and they tend to call everything. The first pot I took more than doubled my money. Then I was up $100 (my 40 I bought in with and 60 I had won). Next thing I knew I was at $140, so I had won back my $100 tournament entry fee.

At about $160, I decided to get up and go eat. The lady that went with me got our dinner comped, so I ate filet mignon for free, plus all my drinks. After eating I went back to the tables and ended back up on the 3/6 limit hold 'em, but a different table. I had given my friend some money so she could play slots. I ended up giving her $150, which she paid back to me. The table I was at was a little tougher than the first one I had been at.

I was back down to $40 after a while. Then I won a couple of hands in a row and I was back up to almost $100. I won a few more half an hour later and was up to almost $200, which wasn't bad for starting with $40, giving my friend some money, losing a few hands until I was back at $40 and then up to $200 (probably more if you count the $30 I tipped dealers all day).

So I basically won my entry fee back, plus added about $100 in winnings and ate for free. All in all, not a bad day. And it being my second time to play live. All my play has been online for the most part. I would have stayed longer since I was doing well, but my eyes were just too tired of looking at cards all day.

INFURIATED

I am slightly infuriated at the moment.  I talked to my mother on the phone tonight and I could tell she was a bit tired.  That usually means that it doesn't take much for her to decide to start pushing buttons.

With the past week and weekend I've had, I'm in no mood to deal with the woman.  Naturally she starts in on my husband since that is her favorite thing to do.  If I had been laid off, it would be a different story, but since he was the one that was laid off, it is somehow HIS fault in her mind.  Well, of course it isn't his fault because they laid everyone off.  The company is most likely declaring bankruptcy and will just re-organize and open up under a different name.  I see companies do that quite a bit.  The fact that he hasn't found full time work paying the same or more than he was making means that he isn't pulling his weight in her eyes.  She knows nothing of the work world.  She's never had to work a day in her life.  My Dad supported her and he was in the military so he had about the best job security one could have.  People didn't just get laid off in the military, so my Mom does not understand that we live in a time where there really is no job security and lay-offs and downsizing can occur at any time.

I know she is going to get her barbs in at some point during my visit there next week.  She pretty much confirmed it tonight.  She said that she's going to have a 'long talk' with me about my husband and that I am going to listen and we're not going to get angry at each other.  I think she needs to put down the crack pipe, because she must be smoking something to think that I am going to sit idly by while she trashes my husband during her 'long talk'.  She says that she needs to get it off her chest and that once she has, she won't mention it again.  Yeah, right.  I told her that sometimes we don't necessarily need to get everything off our chest by saying whatever you feel to someone else.  She has her opinion and she's not ever going to change it.  She even agreed that she didn't like any of the men I've ever dated, which I knew.  It wouldn't have mattered who I had married.  She wouldn't like them.  So I'm not sure exactly how I am going to handle this.  I could either just sit quietly and put my mind elsewhere and let her say whatever she wants and just not pay any attention or I could tell her I don't care to listen to her trash my husband and leave the room or take a drive.  I'm not sure what other options I have, but this is the whole friggen reason I am not looking forward to this so called 'vacation' next week.

To top it off, I mentioned the scholarship I had applied for to her several weeks ago, so I told her I had gotten a letter regarding it.  Before I could even say that I had not been selected, she spouted off that I didn't deserve any scholarship.  Excuse me?  I met the requirements for the scholarship and I damn well deserve it just as much as any other applicant that wanted to better themselves.  She actually accused me of just wanting the money from the scholarship and not actually using it for school.  They don't just write you a check.  They write a check to the school that you are attending so that they know it is used for school.  I just couldn't believe she was saying this to me.  She really knows nothing about ADHD or how it could have affected my life.  Then she asks me who is going to support my husband if I decide to go back to school.  And yes, she meant it as an insult in every way imaginable.

She wonders why my husband will not talk to her.  He won't sit and tolerate her verbal abuse without telling her exactly what he thinks of it and what he thinks of her upsetting me.  He has much less patience than I do and he feels he doesn't need to tolerate her abuse.  In that regard, I agree with him.  Nothing good would come of those two talking to each other.  That's why I am going there, because I really don't want my Mom coming here.  I would be sick the whole time worrying about the two of them in the same room.  Hubby was actually going to stay at a motel if she came to visit and I don't blame him.  We know it's not going to change and that my Mom is never going to be civil very long.  It's sad and I envy those families that get along much better with their in-laws.  My mother makes all these problems though.  She is the one that has chosen to be ugly to both her son-in-law and her daughter-in-law.  As a result, she has pushed both my brother and I away from her.

I had to rant because I am just fuming.  I really don't know how I'm going to handle her little talk where she just trashes him and I know it's coming.  It's not going to be a good scene.

LATE NIGHT FREAKINESS & OTHER RANDOM STUFF

I had a terrible time getting to sleep last night.  I knew it would probably take a while to fall out, but I wasn't expecting the weirdness that happened as soon as I laid there in the darkness trying to fall asleep.

Some of you may know from previous posts that I seem to have very sensitive hearing, empathic abilities at times and sometimes even sense or feel (and occasionally even 'hear') another person that is nowhere around me.  It's really hard to explain this phenomenon in any scientific or logical fashion.  I also am unable to turn this ability off and on at my whim.  If I actually TRY to use it, whatever I might hear or sense will be just out of grasp as far as me being able to understand it clearly.  Yet other times I can be laying down, relaxed and not even trying and then it's almost like several stations on the radio just became clear as a bell, all at once.  It's really strange.

For some reason, I seem to be able to pick up radio waves or sound waves out of nowhere.  I can occasionally hear a radio when it's not even turned on.  Same with TVs.  Sometimes I can clearly pick up on a neighbor's TV or radio or even someone driving down the street, maybe 2 blocks over.  Most of the time, I really don't know exactly WHERE it's coming from, but I can hear it, plain as day.

Last night, I heard a radio station from somewhere and it was a country music station.  I figured it was probably one of the neighbors or something.  I don't normally listen to country music, but it didn't bother me because it still fascinates me that sometimes I hear things so well from far away.  About a minute later, though, I heard something that was really odd.  I heard what sounded like a person speaking over an intercom and then right after that, I heard a group of people all around me.  It was too hard to make out what they said because they all seemed to be talking at once and loud enough that it was also too hard to make out what was said over the intercom.  And just as soon as it happened, it was gone.  And then the country music was back.  I don't know what all of it was, but it really freaked me out for a while.  It's still a bit freaky thinking about it now, even.

I've been in a melancholy mood all week, for the most part.  I have let stuff get to me that shouldn't.  I've felt some negative emotions from people around me lately.  I've felt guilty sometimes for doing things I wanted to do because it seems to bother some people around me.  I've been in pain from the dental work I've had and migraines that come and go.  I seem to be both hurried and lethargic, sometimes going from one to the other in minutes.  Yesterday and today I have had stomach cramps since Aunt Flo came to visit yesterday.  I haven't been able to shake my pissy mood very well, either.  I did go out Thursday and I downed about 6-7 margaritas.  I was pretty wasted.  Thursday was also my brother's 60th birthday.  My brother is friggen' 60 years old.  That means my Mom will be 80 in October and next year I'll be 40.  We're all about 20 years apart.  Also my nephew had to skip his chemotherapy treatment this past week because his white blood cell count is too low.  Hopefully it will be better next week, but of course he'll feel like crap afterwards.  It takes a lot out of him.

I've still got a lot to do before I leave here for vacation.  I'm worried about the bills.  I don't see us paying them all at this point.  So what do I let slide?  Obviously I can't not pay the mortgage, the truck payment, insurance payment, electricity and water.  And I still need food and gas money after that.  The only extra bill I have is my cable/Internet and it's at the lowest level I can have.  I could care less about cable that much and I thought about switching to dial up again because it's cheaper.  But after I looked at having to get a home phone line hooked up in order to use dial up, it's not that much cheaper, if at all.  And it's really the only entertainment we can do right now.  It's depressing being broke.  I noticed that a lot of the foods I like and stuff I like to drink is more expensive than the stuff that isn't very good for you and soda.  I had gotten away from drinking soda.  But soda is cheaper, so I've been drinking it again & my stomach hasn't been very tolerant of it.  I like to have a beer when I get home from work, and I've had to get less expensive beer, which just isn't as good as the stuff I like.  It's very difficult right now because we had our monthly income reduced by 2/3.  That's more than half.  So when I get back from vacation, I'm going to see about getting a second job for a while, I guess.  At least to help out for now, until I can figure something out about school.

School brings me to the next thing that has put me in a melancholy mood.  I got a letter from the people that were giving away the scholarships that I had applied for.  I felt I had a good chance, and I'm sure I did just as much as anyone else.  So when I got this letter, I was afraid to open it at first.  It's like waiting to see if you got into the school you wanted.  Well, I did open it and read it and I have to say it was probably the nicest sounding rejection letter I've ever received.  I was not selected for one of the scholarships.  I knew that it wasn't a sure thing, but it still was disappointing.  I know the key to getting a better job and making more money is going back to school.  So I haven't given up on the idea of going back.  I guess I just get to fill out a bunch more paperwork and see if I can get financial aid now.  I was thinking I'd go to working part time at the most when I went back to school.  That means hubby is going to have to find something full time that can support me only working part time, while I do this.  It isn't going to be easy but I hope he understands why I'm wanting to do this.

Since I haven't felt too good today, I haven't done much of anything.  I know I need to do some chores around here today.  I was hoping to do chores tomorrow since Sundays are screwed up anyhow because the next day you have to go back to work.  I usually do things on Sunday evenings and nights to prepare for the next day.  Therefore I would generally prefer to leave most chores for Sunday since I know I'll be getting ready for the work week anyhow.  Hubby seems to like doing chores on Saturday, which ends up messing up both days with some chores.  He's a Taurus, though, and he can be hard headed about things.  He's already doing chores today and I've done just a couple of things.  He's come back inside and seen me still writing this entry a couple of times.  He knows I don't feel well, so he hasn't said anything, but I can sense he's wanting me to get something else done other than blogging right now.  So I guess today will be a chore day.  I still have groceries to get and I have to be extremely frugal this week.  The truck still needs the spark plugs changed and washed/waxed.  Actually it probably could use an oil change too.  The pool probably needs vacuumed and I know inside needs dusting/vacuuming and mopping.  Plus I have a ton of laundry. 

If I do all this stuff today or most, then tomorrow I'm not doing much of anything at all.  I wanted to go surfing, but it was flat earlier and besides, I'm bleeding a lot today, so I usually refrain from being in the ocean during this time of the month.  I don't like being 'shark bait'.  Hubby still wants me to go with him, though.  I may take the camera and get some video.

Speaking of video, I will try to post some tonight sometime.  It'll give me something to do to maybe get my mind off being melancholy.

 

YEP...ANOTHER STUPID QUIZ FOR A FILLER POST

Your Ideal Relationship is Polyamory

You want to have your cake... and everyone else's. Which isn't a bad thing, if everyone else gets to eat too! You're too much of a free spirit to be tied down by a traditional relationship. You think relationships should be open and free, with few restrictions.

What's Your Ideal Relationship?

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, CY!

I just want to wish Cy-pres a Happy Birthday today!

Go on and visit his site and tell him Happy Birthday, too!

 

  

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, CY!

                        

      

HEY, DO YOU SMELL SOMETHING BURNING?

Oops, it was me.

Yesterday's dental visit really sucked ass.  First I had my teeth cleaned.  No big deal there.  Then I was going to get the last two teeth that needed crowns done because 1) it would only be a matter of time before it HAD to be done and 2) you can see those two teeth and the fillings if I smile really big and I'm self conscious about it.  There was only one problem.  My gums in that area were too far down and there wasn't much of either tooth exposed, which made them look like they were much shorter than every other tooth.

So instead of being fitted for crowns, the dentist used a small concentrated laser and cut (by burning) some of the excess gum off each tooth.  My face was numb so I didn't feel it, of course, and I had no idea that was what he was doing at first.  But the smell was horrible and I'm sure those who have smelled human flesh burning can relate to that.  Also because it was in my mouth, I could also 'taste' that lovely smell.  Then he had to show me in the mirror what he had done and how I was going to have to use this really soft brush and some rinse that he gave me to brush upward on the gums to help them heal faster.  Also the gums can sometimes grow back and that helps prevent that.  I really did not want to see what he had done.  It's one of those things where you could see it on someone else and it just makes you hurt looking at it.  Plus I was still tasting and smelling burning flesh.  Yuck.

I have to wait on this to heal before I get fitted for the crowns, which will be late next week.  Anyhow, I'm not feeling too good because it does hurt, even with the prescription pain killers.  Pain from burns seems to linger for a while, plus it also feels like pain from a cut along with it.  I suppose that makes sense since that is basically what they did.  It sort of reminded me of a scene in that movie "Logan's Run" with the lasers.

I'm at work today, but of course I'm somewhat dopey on pain killers right now.  I'm trying to figure out what I can eat.  There's no way to really know except to try something and see if it makes it hurt worse or not.

I wanted to get some video edited and posted of some fun we had at the bar and a concert and party, but I doubt I'll feel like messing with it much tonight.  I might play some poker, though, depending on how I feel.  Actually tonight I'm supposed to go out and I'm going to try to make it if I can.

I still have a ton of stuff to do before I leave town.  I need to find some luggage for sure.  I have one really huge bag with no wheels, and a small overnight bag with wheels.  Go figure.  So I need to buy either one really large bag with wheels or a couple of bags with wheels to make it easier going through the airports.  It never fails that whatever plane I'm on will arrive at the farthest gate possible so that I have to walk miles to either the baggage claim or to the gate.  Therefore I tend to check whatever baggage I can check and have only one carry-on bag.  Since I'm taking my laptop, that will be my carry-on bag.  I have a nice laptop case except it doesn't have wheels and it enables me to pack a lot of stuff in it, which I tend to use to its maximum capacity and then I end up having to cart this one heavy carry-on bag all over the place.  I really need to get one that has wheels because of this or buy a luggage carrier, which would probably be the cheaper route, but then I've got two things to deal with.  Hopefully I can fit my tennis racquet in one of the bags I check.  I want to see if I can rustle up a tennis game while I'm there for something fun to do.

Plus my Mom isn't going to be able to pick me up at the airport, since she's legally blind (and doesn't live in Florida), so I have to find my way there.  She may rent me a car for the week.  I don't have a 'real' credit card in my name, so it's almost impossible for me to rent a car myself because most places won't take debit or prepaid credit cards.  I also run into trouble with hotels because of that.  I don't understand why places won't take the debit cards.  Hell, I usually had more in the checking account than I did for a credit limit when I did have credit cards.

Oh, and I need to come up with a team name for my fantasy football team.  I decided I'm going to try fantasy football this year and I'm drawing a blank on a team name.  I want something catchy and original, but it may end up being something lame if I can't think of something really soon. 

All for now...

OFF TO THE DENTIST ONCE MORE

I stopped off at work for a few before I head on to the dentist.  I'm not really looking forward to going, but I will be happy to have the last couple of teeth I feel don't look that good looking better.  And then I shouldn't have to go back until 6 months later.  This time around I'm not going to wait so long, though.  I narrowly escaped a root canal this time around.

Our friend that works at NASA stopped by last night and as usual when he drops by, it ends up being a late night.  He was going to start tuning my piano, but we need either a tuning fork or an electronic tuner that is meant for tuning pianos.  My guitar tuner wouldn't work right.  So instead he sat down and played some jazz on the piano.  It really didn't sound too bad.  Earlier I had printed out some more White Stripes guitar music and learned another song.  Most of their stuff is pretty simple, but it sounds good.  It's just hard to believe there are only 2 people in the band.

Yesterday after work, I stopped by my boss's house to take a look at the kitten I'm getting.  He's only 3 weeks old.  I won't be taking him home until after I get back from "vacation" (ie. spending a week helping Mom).  He's going to be a snow marble Bengal.  He should have some nice contrast on the stripes being somewhat dark on his light coat.  My other cat is probably going to pout for a few days, but I think she will eventually get used to having another cat around.

Hubby's friend that is staying with us again (he's the one who fights with his girlfriend all the time).  He'd been paying her mortgage on a house his name isn't even on and that he doesn't even have a key to.  So anytime she got mad, she just locks him out.  Now that he got laid off at the same time hubby did (they were working at the same place), she doesn't have anyone to pay her mortgage and bills for her.  So I guess she's applying for some sort of welfare help and he has to go to court again this Friday.  I think he's already paying the maximum on child support that he can pay, except now he's only collecting unemployment, so he's making less money.  I don't know exactly what's going to happen there, but I think he's trying to have more custody and she's just wanting more money.  Seems to be a neverending battle between those two.  I feel sorry for the kid.

Well, that's all for now.  Gotta run.