Christmas depression

[MoonCat]

I'm glad you have some good stuff going on. And you get to see some additional kitties!

[Eireann]

Yes, I went to the first place last night (didn't have to go to the second place, because that friend only left yesterday). Food okay. Water okay. Litterbox okay.

Then I wandered around looking for the kitty. I wanted to make sure she was okay. She's a shy girl (must be something in black cat genes that makes them spooky), and I knew she wouldn't be standing there, waiting for me. I found her, finally, under the bed. I stretched out on the floor and held out a hand to her, which she sniffed. I then went into the living room and sat on the couch. She appeared a minute or two later, looking at me, then hurried back into the bedroom.

Today, I go to both places. The other place contains two boycats, at least one of whom is very friendly, so I get a little additional fuzz therapy. Last time I was there, Mr. Friendly hopped up on the counter and snacked on my hair. I told his person about this yesterday, and his person told me that kitty often jumps into bed with him and grooms his hair, holding on to his head with both paws.

[charred]

Just remember: you're not alone.

[MoonCat]

Check in and say Hi to us today and tomorrow, 'k? Someone's always online here.

[Eireann]

I'm here.

I worked today, then made the kitty rounds. First place, two boycats. One boycat is EXTREMELY large. I mean, he could beat up a guard dog, he's that big. They both jumped on the counter and gave me big headbutts as I got their food. Food okay, water okay, litter scooped, everything okay.

Second stop, shy kitty. She met me at the door, probably thinking I was her person, then made a run for it when she saw me. I checked everything, gave her some wet food and Whiskas milk in honor of the holiday, went to pet her and couldn't because she ran again, and left.

I had dinner at my favorite Indian restaurant; I'm going to make cookies for everyone there. I came home, ran a load of laundry, got the dishes put away and the dirty ones washed, cleaned up one of the kitchen counters and the area around the stove, washed my own kitty's water bowl, and got on the computer to do some work.

So all in all, I haven't been this busy in several days. I'm on Facebook now, chatting with a friend who has invited me to go with her to two different open houses, on Christmas Day and the 26th.

[MoonCat]

That sounds nice. What did you have at the restaurant? There's a place here that makes this incredible chicken mahkni (boneless chicken pieces in a creamy tomato sauce over rice).

[Eireann]

I had butter chicken. I love it. They make it VERY well, too. I really should branch out a bit, and sample other items on the menu, but for right now, butter chicken it is. It's rather ironic, because when I first heard about the dish, I just thought it was chicken cooked with butter, and I thought it sounded boring. I should have known better - in India, it's all about the spices and sauces.

I was chatting with a friend on Facebook about ten minutes ago when she went off on me. We were supposed to meet today and go to her friends' place for a sort of holiday open house, but she wasn't feeling well and wasn't sure if she would be able to go. Then I mentioned a project that I'm working on, about which I had asked her advice, and she repeated her previous advice, and kept hammering home her opinion, and said that I WAS NOT LISTENING to her.

Yeah, well, guess what? When you give advice, you have no control over what the other person will do with it. Either learn to live with it, or stop giving advice. Get the fuck off my back. Oh, and have you forgotten it's Christmas?

So I thought, fuck this. I'm not going to kowtow to her; I'm not going to fight back; I'm not going to explain myself or give excuses. I don't have to do that. I told her that I won't mention the project again in any way, and I left Facebook entirely.

Of course, she may well try to start another argument; if she does, I'm shutting her down again. We were supposed to meet today and tomorrow, but I'm just going to assume that both meetings are off. Which is fine. I'll spend time by myself. I had been looking forward to both open houses, it's true. Not so much that I'm willing to have her complaining that I won't fall into perfect line with what she says.

[BeenThereDoneThat]

Sorry about your "friend". I have one or two like that...and it's a double standard; I can't get away with the same attitude towards them. *hugs Eireann* Good for you for standing your ground.

As Christmas winds to a close I'm pretty down. Not really uncommon for a Sunday night, but today was the most boring, just-like-any-other-day Christmas I've had in a very, very long time. Not much gift giving or receiving, no family other than hubby (he's been nice though), just...not much special at all. I am looking forward to the Doctor Who Christmas Special in about half an hour on BBC America...I have to moderate a chat during that time also, though...which is kind of annoying though it's important both to me and anyone else who might show up. After that, it will be 11 PM, and time for me to start winding down. Gotta work tomorrow and not happy about it. Still, it could be worse, and I know it...

[MoonCat]

Sorry about your friend, Eireann. Maybe she's having a bad day but hey, that's no reason to get snotty with you. I know people like that: If you ask their opinion or advice, and then decide not to use it, they get very snippy.

The butter chicken sounds good. I'll have to check around and see if any of the Indian places here serve it.

Hope you had a pleasant day even if the open houses weren't part of it.

[Eireann]

Today, I FINALLY finished a job I received. It's due tomorrow. It's done. I am very glad. It took much longer than I thought it would.

I went by the Indian restaurant today; the waiter had told me they'd be open. Turns out, they weren't. Also turns out, there were staff members inside. Just as I was approaching the door, one of them came outside, and said, "We're closed."

"Oh," I said, "is anyone inside?"

"Yes."

"Good," I said, "because I have these cookies..."

That one worked better than "Open sesame." He let me in, and one of the staff members opened the bag, slid the cookies off my plate and onto one of their plates, put my plate in another bag, and gave it back to me. They all looked very pleased; I hope they like the cookies.

I then made the rounds of cat care. I discovered that one of the boykitties had an unfortunate bathroom episode. The smell hit me first, as soon as I came in. Yep - his person needs to get a MUCH bigger box. This boykitty has been having some digestive trouble, and said trouble was in large evidence in, on, and around the litterbox. He hit the scale with it. The side of the box. The floor.

And, as in that story "The Steakhouse Incident", there was no toilet paper.

I cleaned everything up as best I could, but God, that stench. I then sat on the couch and waited for the boys to come to me for attention, since they're alone for so much of the day. They both made themselves comfortable all over me, and purred.

Second stop was uneventful - I gave girlkitty more food and water, finally got her to let me pet her, and left after half an hour or so. Maybe I should do this as a sideline.

I did have another episode of negative thinking, but it didn't last too long.

[MoonCat]

You were sweet to take cookies to the restaurant staff. I bet they don't have any other customers who do that.

Poor kitty! My older girl has similar troubles. She's on prednisone, which helps. I hope that boykitty's people appreciate your cleaning up after him.

[charred]

Daily positive human contact:

Does you have it? [sic]

[Eireann]

The restaurant staff give me little discounts, so I returned the favor. I hope they liked them.

I told boykitty's person about the incident, and he thanked me. He's going to pick up air freshener on his way from the airport. Hell, I hope boykitty doesn't have another episode like that; I won't be able to do anything about it!

One of the kitties is just huge. He weighs about fifteen pounds. Having both of them pile on me was an experience, especially with both of them purring. They're both very sweet boys.

As for daily positive human contact - I don't have it in person. I have it over the Internet.

[MoonCat]

The restaurant staff give me little discounts, so I returned the favor. I hope they liked them.

I told boykitty's person about the incident, and he thanked me. He's going to pick up air freshener on his way from the airport. Hell, I hope boykitty doesn't have another episode like that; I won't be able to do anything about it!

One of the kitties is just huge. He weighs about fifteen pounds. Having both of them pile on me was an experience, especially with both of them purring. They're both very sweet boys.

As for daily positive human contact - I don't have it in person. I have it over the Internet.

One of my aunts had a big boy cat like that. He weighed around 20 lbs and was called "Chubby." He was a sweetie.

Re: contact, sounds like the people at the restaurant could be considered positive. They're nice to you right? Every little bit counts.

[Eireann]

I went for food at the restaurant today. Everyone was thanking me for the cookies, and one of them said they were a little like traditional Indian sweets.

Good!