slr2moons

Thanks so much to everyone who commented yesterday. I was so happy to see one reply, five was overwhelming!!! Thank you! :DDD

Today I'm posting an adventure, rather than a life update. So...this morning I noticed Shizu (my 3 year old Maine Coon) had blood in his stool, which was also runny. (Apologies to the sensitive, this is the last I'll mention poo.) I half-way panic, wondering what was wrong with my baby. The vet didn't open until 8, so I was stuck until then.

He was acting completely normal. I was brushing his belly when I saw black streaks on his pale cream fur. I realized it was oil from my bicycle, which I had started keeping in the entryway rather than out on my balcony. I cut the oiled fur out, and put the canvas cover over my bike...which was open on the bottom. It just drapes over the top and either end. This ended up making the bike even MORE interesting, and next thing I know, Shizu is underneath the cover and having a blast. I called him out, and of course, oil was now all over. Ugh.

I cut out what I could (including his right ear tuft), washed off the rest with a little Palm Olive and a paper towel. Finally got a hold of the vet, and took him in.

Vet thinks he'll be fine. Gave him an antibiotic shot, and I have to squirt some strong probiotic paste down his throat every 12 hours. If he's not back to normal on Monday, I should call.

He also weighs 16.1 pounds, and it's all muscle and bone. ^^V I love my big heavy baby!

Vet said if this or something similar happens again, don't use soap or rubbing alcohol. Instead, clean with vodka. Yes, the Russian potato liquor. You don't have to rinse after cleaning with vodka, it will evaporate. This public service announcement has been brought to you by Shizuo and 3-in-one household oil. :P

The bike is back out on the balcony. I'll just deal with the spiders.

I cleaned for 6 hours today, and I am STILL not done. I made a list this morning of everything I needed to clean, and marked the most important ones. (Windows, mop, vacuum, empty cabinets under sinks so the apartment guys can check for leaks.) I took 3 times my usual dose of caffeine, and got busy.

( In which slr2moons details her cleaning adventure. )

I still have some stuff to do. Gotta finish cleaning the stove top, sweep up the floor in the bathroom, pick up scattered laundry and make sure at least all the underwear is hidden. :P I need to do this all tonight, too, b/c last year the inspection started with MY building, right at 9 AM. Bleh.

Gonna take another painkiller before I go to bed tonight. I'm gonna be sore tomorrow from all this vigorous exercising. And possible with the sniffles, too. I get sick easily these days, my endurance is really down. X|

But at least now my apartment smells pleasantly of Mr. Clean. I wish my walking buddies Sno and Mab were coming over in the next few days, so they could see how nice everything looks. ^^ And I noticed my windows are easier to slide open and closed! Imagine that.

Now, it is 8:30 PM, and I can finally get to work. Wheeeeee!

My last post was me venting about everything that's been bearing down on me in the past few months. But some good things have been happening, too!

( Spicer is doing better, new URL for my fanfic recs page, manga counting continues, reading, small shigoto update, New Title 12's identity revealed, exercising with friends, Adult Things to Do List )

That's everything positive I can think of to share at the moment. ^^ Back to work for me! The Clay women are calling. C:

Greetings, my flist! All ~5 or of you or so who, like me, are still on DW and LJ and check it regularly. ^^

I haven't said much here lately, and I admit, it's b/c everyone else is on FB and it's nice to say something and start a dialogue. *sigh* I so miss this platform's glory days. But I should stop contributing to the problem by not posting here, and post more! Ha!

Okay, so...here's an update on what's happening in my life.

Tl;dr: Not much, as usual.

( Longer version within! Work, Yuletide, car, health, living arrangements, misc, and entertainment. )

I guess that's it for this long update. It feels good to talk to you guys again! Please leave a comment, if you have anything to say or ask. C:

Interesting things happening in the manga world that are relevant to me.

First, the bad news. Clay is ending in the October 4th issue of Jump Square. This means 2 more volumes in English. I already have Japanese Clay vol 26, which was published in June. One more Japanese volume is coming, possibly two if the final chapter is super-long.

I'm not sure how I feel about this. I started lettering Clay in fall of 2005. 9 years, guys. It won't be my first ongoing series to end--that was Nana, which didn't have a real ending, but cut off abruptly due to mangaka health problems. Honey, Captive, and the various oneshots all had ended before I began. Clay will have a real ending.

*is at a loss*

In lighter news, apparently Seraph will have an anime. This is early, particularly since it's a monthly title. IDT we know the anime studio yet, but I hope it's Madhouse or Bones, and that they don't stiff the budget. I likes me some pretty animation. I also hope they wait until next spring. That'll give us around 8 more chapters of manga, and if they keep the anime to a short 11 or 12 ep season, that should be just enough. Please no half-baked anime-studio-written endings! *cough* Clay *cough*.

And in news that's relevant to me on a personal, apparently there's a new manga adaptation of Arslan. O.o Being done by FMA's mangaka, Arakawa Hiromu. Talk about a complete change in style from the original shoujo manga adaption. *blinks* And here I thought the Arslan manga people had mentioned reading at Crunchyroll was the shoujo version, and I'd been surprised someone would license such a dated-art-style manga. This explains things, huh?

As for me, I'm going crazy trying to finish everything--or as much as I can--before the week I lose in Texas for family visits and my cousin's wedding. (No one can lay a guilt trip on you like family, amirite?)

I have this fear that my being away for so long will trigger Spicer into another bought of health problems. It's entirely possible. Argh.

Last weekend was the exception to the new standard for Spicer. I had to give him two doses of the painkiller on Tuesday, but today he seems better. No painkillers needed. I guess Tuesday was a bad day? He isn't nearly as perky as he was over the weekend, but he's definitely better than Tuesday. I have a few more doses of the painkiller for future use. I'm sure I'll need them. *sigh* :|

As for myself, I have more encouraging news. I bought a jump rope a couple weeks back, and I've been using it. First indoors (apologies to my downstairs neighbors, though they moved out on the 31st!), and now outside. I started with 10 jumps inside a few times a day--had to relearn how to jump rope. :B Then I moved outside and did five sets of 25, walking along a short route in between. Now I'm up to 7 sets of 25.

Guys, I already feel better. It's amazing what exercise can do! Jumping rope is an incredibly easy way to increase the intensity of a workout. 20 hops and I'm winded! Seriously! It's not just the obvious of legs and heart, either. Your abs must be held steady to keep your balance, your feet build muscle b/c you're jumping on your toes, your shoulders and arms are worked out swinging that rope around. Who knew little kids (and boxers!) had such a well-kept secret?

I haven't lost any of the weight I've gained, but I know I've reclaimed at least a little of my former muscle. (At least in my feet! Haha!) But I feel so much better, I don't really care about no loss of fat yet. I'm sure it's partially the placebo effect. I know I'm exercising, and that makes me feel happy, on top of the endorphins actually generated by exercising! Whatever, I feel better! Yay! Without drugs! Without tons of caffeine! Yay!!!!

...I just have to share this.

Late last night when I went to sleep (or TBH, not very early Tuesday morning), I woke up after dozing off. Not much time had passed, because Kakashi was still curled up against my right-hand side with only his head above the blanket, like mine. (So very cute!) I don't know what woke me up, but as I blinked in the dim light that comes in through my windows at night, I saw a dark blob where there isn't supposed to be a dark blob.

I focused on it, wondering what it was, and saw a spider. I could clearly see it was a spider. I disctincly remmeber not wanting to disturb Kakashi, and wondering what I could do for a weapon. No shoes nearby, no stray papers within easy reach, my glass and mug far away on my desk...how to kill it.

I watched the spider for a bit, and noticed it was swaying gently in the air. It wasn't on the wall, it was doing the dangling-from-a-single-thread routine. I finally admitted defeat, and acknowledged that to kill the spider meant disturbing Kakashi. I flung back my covers, sat up, rolled out of bed, and found the fly swatter. I returned to bed and peered at the wall where I thought the spider should be, as I had apparently forgotten about the dangling-from-a-single-thread variable in my exhausted brain. No spider. I looked at the ceiling. No spider. I squinted at my bed clothes, no spider.

Through all of this, Kakashi hadn't moved. He was still curled up in his spot on the bed, watching me, completely unconcerned about any missing spider but fascinated by the fly swatter.

After about 30 seconds, I gave up on hunting. I figured if the spider reappeared, Kakashi would probably play with it to death, or just eat it. I placed the flyswatter right next to the bed where I could easily grab it, and crawled back into bed. Kakashi snuggled up, I wondered where the spider went, and drifted back to sleep.

Fast-forward to now, when while reflecting upon my hazy spidery encounter last night, I finally realized some interesting facts:

1. My eyesight isn't great. I have to wear glasses.
2. I could see the spider clearly.
Conclusion A: the spider was quite close to my face. Within 16 inches, I'd say.
3. I flung the covers back before I sat up.
4. Reference Conclusion A.
Conclusion B: I folded the spider into my bedcovers, specifically between the layers of my bedspread. And it being a quit of many colors and patterns, of course I couldn't spot a spider on it in the wee hours of the morning when I was half-asleep.

I have no idea where that spider went. I haven't seen it since, and I realized where the spider likely ended up long after the sun set tonight.

Meh. It won't eat much. And if it DOES return, I am now armed with my flyswatter. Heh.

Hi. I'm still here. Finishing up a 2nd work crunch with Voice vol 4, but it's not nearly as bad as it was at the end of the Summer of Hell, so there's that.

Spicer is not doing well. The vet asked me to bring him in today, and diagnosed Collangia (spelling?) Hepatitis. IOW, his liver has a nasty infection. Spicer is back on antibiotics, the shots again since he reacted so badly to the pill version. I have to give him a full syringe twice day. We have another appointment on Monday. By then, it should be visible whether Spicer is improving or not. I'm gonna be very good at injecting kitties. ><

I'm hopeful again. This past week has been a nightmare for both Spicer-kitty and me.

I post so little these days. It's not that I've abandoned LJ for Twitter, Facebook, or Tumblr like so many have--because I don't post at any of those places, either. I just don't feel the need to talk as much as I once did. I guess.

Kakashi-the-kitten is at the vet, being removed from the gene pool and tagged for tracking by Big Brother. I'm grateful for both, as he's been really rambunctious the past few weeks, and keeps attempting to escape through the front door whenever I come home. With no more testosterone in his system, he should calm done somewhat and stop running me and Spicer-kitty ragged. And if he ever DOES escape, then I'll have a much better chance of recovering him with that microchip under his skin.

Anyway, Natsume 12 and Skip 28 are both done, except for corrections. At the moment, I'm wrapping up Clay 20, then I'll be officially without work until Naruto 59 or Skip 29 arrives, whichever happens first. With all four titles caught up to the Japanese release, and me being backup for Naruto anyway, it's probably going to be feast or famine in regards to my workload. Famine like now, with only one title, feast like a few weeks ago, with all four at once. The upcoming months will be most interesting.

I find it ironic that the one holiday season I won't be visiting the hometown in TX is the one where I will barely have any work to interfere. Of course. Also just watch: since I won't have to worry about weather interfering with my flights, it WON'T freeze or snow or otherwise grow nasty this holiday season. Never fails!

( Fannish concerns, ala Big Bang art, Yuletide fic, and meeting fellow writers IRL OMG! Also shopping and reading. )

Look, I actually managed to write an update. Yay!