"Watch your thoughts; they become words. Watch your words; they become actions. Watch your actions; they become habits. Watch your habits; they become character. Watch your character; it becomes your destiny." -- unknown

Insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results - Albert Einstein

Outdoors and unacceptable
October 17, 2007 - 6:54 pm

Loca clearly wants to be an outdoor cat, which really isn't feasible since I live on the 2nd floor...

I took her to the pet parade this past weekend.. and she did about as well as expected -- no fan of dogs. Not of any size.

Though... as long as were about 10~15ft away she would be fine. So it's not a run at first sight sort of thing. It may well be simply too many new animals at one time and if she were one on one she'd get comfortable.

Though.. this doesn't bode well should I ever take her to see the 'rents. They've got a dog, not a big one.. but a kinda active one. Not so sure how he feels about cats.

I took Loca for a very short walk tonight. Tried out a little carrier idea I had and that went very well. Though.. she's now pacing about the place churring - at least I think that's the word for it - and, to me, clearly wants back outside.

I'm still giving serious thought to a second cat, but I don't know... I've got other issues going on and not so sure I want to take on another mouth to feed.

You see, I'm forced to evaluate why I'm in this state. The number of people I know in anything that comes close to counting as 'socially' I can count on one hand and the number of those who've been where I live now.. is one -- and that one has chosen to remove herself from my life.

Hard to imagine, but yes.. it's true.

While I like who I work for, I don't really love my job and I know that all things being equal after grad school, I'd not have moved here, but would have stayed there except for failed chasing.

So yes, I suppose some of my sadness is from that. Not just that it's over, but the way it came about. The worst part of it is.. even if 'something' were to change, I'm left with little to no confidence she'd ever speak up to let me know.

Makes me think of one of the most powerful words people utter: unacceptable.

Think about it. That one word seems to strike a cord with people. It's all you really need to utter when your most displeased with someone and it has a sting to it. There's no need to cursing or screaming or yelling or threats.. just one word and your position is clear.

I think a lot of the power of the word is that.. there's not often a clear way to respond. You're not asking anything. You're not demanding anything. You're making a statement and then.. it's the other's turn to reply, only.. they are likely flummoxed because there's about the only way to really reply is to try and empathize with them.. but that often means admitting you've done something wrong and folks don't like to do that.

I suppose the best reply, more often than not, is to say nothing. To wait for them to ask or demand something and deal with that.

How's that for a totally unplanned segway?

Anyway... I thought I'd something more to say....