Its snowing hard, Im in Kate's place, kate's roomie is cracking me up, my mouth is still reeking of the schmeer of lox I had on the best bagels in bay ridge.

New York, eh?

Now, I gotta head out in this blizzard to catch the boat to the Island.

I dont wanna.. but the cats are smelling my mouth for salmon.

Random thoughts....

(Yeah, I miss the random pix too...)
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Bradlee's is closing and liquidating ALL their stores.

WTF???
The ONLY department store I regularly shop at???
Why dont they just close those stores in Bumfreeze, Vermont and Walden's IceLick, Mass that are sucking the corporate coffers dry and keep the righteous hi-traffic ones like in Union Square open???

Shit.

Bradlees is the ONLY store Ive found that stocks a selection of regular clothes for us big guys.

*sigh*

So, the choice.. pay my cell phone bill.. or go look at the Bradlees liquidation sale yesterday?

Hm. I hope they dont cut off my phone this week.
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As we hugged and parted ways in Union Square last nite, Kate yelled.. "Be online more!!"

She knows Im nowhere near a puter usually nowadays, but I understood what she meant.

Im not online often or long enough to talk to.

However, part of the long-term plan is to cut back drastically the time I spend in front of a puter screen, which is why Im not really scrambling to find ways to be online right now

But I do feel like Im losing touch with my network, who are usually on my Buddy List.

Amazing how pervasive all this has gotten since ICQ and AIM came into being in 96...

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Itsa good thing HappyCat makes that little birdlike meow/chirp as he walks around, otherwise Id trip over him a LOT more as he dashes around to where he thinks Im going to be.

Hmm. Eric (ex-coworker and super of the building Im moving into) was telling me it'd be fine, no problem if I wanted to have a cat there.

I protested a little bit, but rilly - I guess I wouldnt mind having one.. but I think I know why Im hesitant:

A cat, any pet, would be a long-term COMMITMENT.

What?

I never said I was commitment-phobic.
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Lissa (aka the incredibly talented and long-lashed Waterbelle) wrote:

< So. A cat person convert. *evil chuckles* >

I shall resist the evil plot cat people like you, Kate, gabz and Fred are plotting to take over the world with those mind control...

Aww. HappyCat is rubbing against my leg and purring... purring...must... obey...

< You'll LOVE the Water Bowl Olympics in the wee hours of the morning.>

I am seriously puzzled. WHY must the blasted cat throw his water dish from here to kingdom come??

Goofy thing.

<< The stampedes for the kitchen when you go get a glass of water.>>

I KNOW!! What the hell is up with that???

A midnight pee run is becomes high drama and a trip to the fridge is like a trip to DisneyWorld!

Kate was telling me her cats go absolutely nuts in the middle of the night and just go madd barrelling through the apartment, making all kinda thunderous rackets...

Weird.

<< And definitely get a laser pointer keychain. Mina and Sebastian go NUTS over them!>>

Heheh...

"YOU'LL PUT YOUR EYE OUT WITH THAT!!!"

I only JUST the other day got around to seeing A Christmas Story and understand why some people crack up at that line.

Nah, my cat will be too intelligent to ferk around with obvious distractions like that.. although I note HappyCat goes into Madd Attack Mode if he spots a leaf on a throw rug....

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So, I said.. "... never you mind Kate, yer a survivor..."

Immediately she quipped:

"Yeah, at the end, it'll be roaches, Cher and Kate.."

She crax me up. :-)

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Lets hope the weather bunnies are wrong this time.. but theyre clamoring for a foot of shnow to be dropped here by Saturday with those oncoming storms.

Dammit. Serposed to hook up with Min Jung Saturday on her visit here.

I dunno, theyre bandying around nasty words like 'major storm', 'foot of snow', 'snow drifts' and chit......

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*sigh*

Im staying out in Staten Island.. and except for the sound of an occasional full power takeoff from Newark Airport.. its quiet in this little victorian house while I wait for the apartment..

No sirens. Maybe 5 cars go by in a day. Peaceful.

Its New York, but its not New York.

Staten Islanders pray constantly and fervently that the yuppies and city snobs will keep looking down their noses at Staten Island, and stay far far away - or move to Westchester County, Connecticut or New Jersey..

They only want their friends to move here.

Yep. Such a change of pace.

Its making me wish to clear my license, get a car, rent a house, get a cat.
I could do with a bucolic lifestyle.

No. Really. Stop laffing.
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I havent taken any pix in a week.

Ive been meaning to go out and about.. but frankly, this bitter cold and constant wind scares me.

This page is looking awful bare tho.

I'll add pix soon.. specially for those who look at a page and go "Whut, no pictures??" :-)
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Actually, lemme amend the "I wanna be a surburbanite" rant above..

I dont REALLY wanna live in the country.. no no.

Otherwise I wouldnt have moved to NYC.

I want peace, but I also want to be close enough to a city, so that when I am restless (like Im feeling now).. its only a quick mass transit ride away.

Yanno?

Tish was concerned when I went down with food poisoning these last few days.

Specially with my living situation right now.

I didnt want her to worry, so I tried to slip it by her.

She wasnt having any of that.

I dunno, Im used to suffering by my lonesome.

Although its nothing she wouldnt do for any other friend of hers, Im truly not used to anyone being more than mildly concerned for me.

Its times like this I wish ....

I dunno. I always brace myself for the worst from some people.... so I try to be ornery and independent.

Its times like this I realize in doing that.. it brings out the worst in myself.

And thats a disservice to her heart.

Yeah, theres is a reason Im going through this now. Im trying to be a better man.

And she is making me want to.

Mm.

That's all.

I suck.

No one got a card or Christmas greeting from me this year.

Im sorry. That did not mean I wasnt thinking of you all.

You all know that, right?

Ok then.

With that in mind, happy holidays to my buds...

And if you think I missed you .. call me on it.

Im open to guilt right about now.

I admire Leo's and their organizational abilities.

Puny.net and fredlet.net are prime examples of that, as a good web site is first and foremost an exercise in organization before the true creativity can even begin to flow.

So, I am awful glad to see Jules of puny.net resurrect her site and start showing her skillz again.

Im a HUGE admirer of her talents, as she makes what is hard look deceptively simple.

In fact, I think Carol got pissed at me as I yammered on about how ever-cool Jules' site is as she is learning her own skills & abilities...

Feh. Fire signs. Shoot, Carol will soon be at that level herself....

Anyway, Im glad she's back..

Although, she is kinda on probation wit me until I see several consecutive weeks of goodness on her site.

Knawmean, J? :-)

"..so what is love then?"

"Love is a higher power."

Tisha really wanted to know, and we had started the conversation as to why I dont say 'I love you' easily or casually.

I tried to visualize for her why and how love could be such a powerful and interconnected force, but I think I may have lost her somewhere between the concept of harmonics and angels. :-)

She knows what it is, instinctively - because she is searching for it.

I on the other hand have avoided it like the plague, not because I was so afraid of Love, but I had the feeling it wasnt a trivial thing.

I was right, but I couldnt really tap into its power until I was shown what it was and how I needed to be.

Now, I cant do without love, and I dont avoid it.

But, Im learning to love people, which means I have to accept them....

This last year has been a trying time, where I had doubts even that I would live to see it through.

What has kept me going through it has been the massive amounts of love I have experienced, from folk close and far.

I wouldnt have made it through without it.

Now, the point of this...

Grace Lin Yamamoto, aka 'TigerEyes', mother of Matthew, wife and too-brief love of Brian died in her sleep at 8:30am on Christmas Day.

She was deeply loved.

I want a cat.

I grew up as a dog person, but with my lifestyle, I havent had time for pets.

Actually, I havent had pets for nigh on twenny years.

Not a fish, dog, turtle or snake.

But, after being around PsychoCat (Tito's), ChubbyCat (Carol's), Kate'sKat (Kate) and HappyCat (Rich's) these last few days.. I could do with them as quirky as they are.

Yeah, yeah - I know.. they basically show love as a symbiotic survival instinct - but is that so wrong?

Although it may be the mind control that HappyCat is exerting as he's curled up on my side, purring like a demon...

This food poisoning doesnt seem so bad with a hyperactive furball around.

"One of Us, One of Us.."