Pack Rat

I've spent most of today sorting my belongings that I have stored in boxes into four categories:
Category 1. Donate to Goodwill
Category 2. Throw Away
Category 3. Ship to New York
Category 4. Storage at Dad's House.

I feel today's work has been successful. My category 1 is much larger than I expected, my category 4 is just the right size, and my category 3 is not nearly as large as I had originally thought. So far so good. I made a few interesting finds today as well, its funny how you forget about some belongings that you don't display in your daily life. These are a few of my personal favorites:

I've probably had this Ginger Spice Doll since I was in eight grade.  Yes I know, I was far too old to be playing with dolls but in my defense this box was never opened.  It was strictly part of my Geri Halliwell display.  And my boyfriend at the time bought it for me.  Please note the K-Mart price tag in the upper right hand corner that reads $12.99, this item is priceless now.  
I found this sign about four years ago when I lived with this very sweet, ultra religious girl named Jenn.  I didn't know Jenn when we moved in together and after a year of living with her I must say that I didn't get to know her very well either.  When she moved out she left some stuff in the closet which she told me I could have if I wanted, so one day I went through her old belongings and I found this street sign.  So much for being paranoid about smoking weed in my room.  



This is a favorite of mine. I actually acquired this from a bum on First Ave outside the Contour about five years ago. My sister and I went to happy hour where we got super wasted, when we stumbled out onto the streets after we decided it was finally time to go home I saw the bum holding this charming Looney Tunes character and asking for change. I told him I would trade him the shot of tequila, which I was holding on the street for some reason, for the figurine and he was more than happy to do. This is in Category 3 for sure.

Four rooms.

As I stand here at work checking someone in to the hotel they ask me, "You look really familiar, have you worked here for about 3 years or so?"
This is one of those times where I grit my teeth trying to suppress the anger and disappointment in myself and respond, "Actually yes, I've worked here for almost four years."
Even though this brief interaction does make me feel pitiful there is a light at the end of the tunnel folks. As of yesterday March 18th I will only be working at the Hotel for two and a half more weeks! My official notice has been filed and soon enough I will be free! Free and unemployed! Like so many other Americans!
I know this may not sound like any great feat but its easy to fall into a daily routine. And sometimes that's okay, but other times its defeating. I've grown up believing that personal happiness is one of the most important things in life for some reason, I'm not sure if I've just been telling myself this or if I actually learned it somewhere, but I cannot deter myself away from this path. This is why I've ended relationships with people for no apparent reason, why I've run away from so many challenging issues that I've faced in my life, and why I currently may not be making the most economically wise decision.
I've always had this fantasy to live in the deep south (a place I've never been, by the way) along a bayou in Louisiana and own an alligator farm. I would frolick about the marshes in cut off jean shorts, hair in braids, with a stick of grass hanging from my mouth. And when I would go to town I would drive there in an old beat up Ford truck with gator skin interior. I would be the Pippi Longstocking of the Southern United States. The strongest women in the world with a pirate Daddy who is off hunting for treasure in the South Seas.

So maybe I don't make the best life decisions but then again maybe I do. I'm pretty sure there is no such thing as a simple life for a simple person.

Update

Kitty is, in fact, feeling much better. He is almost through with his medicine and hasn't coughed at all the past few days. I must say that I'm a little concerned that he may become sick again before (or during) our move, however it seems that he has been sleeping enough to keep any illness at bay. Awww the life of a cat.

Cat Scratch Fever

Kitty is, in fact, sick. He had a fever yesterday when I took him to the vet so she put him on two types of oral antibiotics. One in pill form, the other a liquid. It just so happens that I have never given a cat any type of medicine before in my life and it was definitely not as easy as it looks when the vet does it. It wasn't easy at all. In fact, it involved multiple scratches, biting, and having pink medicine spit all over me. This is probably the most frustrating thing I have ever done at 5 AM. It took 20 minutes of me cursing and trying not to punch a freaking wall. And then I felt bad for Kitty so I had to spend like 20 more minutes consoling him. I didn't want him to be mad at me for gods sake! There must be an easier way of doing this.......

For the past three days Kitty has been waking up in the middle of the night with coughing fits. Most of the time when cats are sick they show no or very subtle symptoms of their illness. So considering that the fits have worsened over the past few days its is safe to say that I am very concerned for my little guy, so today we will be making a visit to the vet. The last time Kitty and I visited the vet he was just a month or so old, and he hated it. In his youth it was much easier to control him considering he only weighed two and a half pounds, where as now I'm pretty sure he weighs over twenty and can easily protest any treatment he likes, or doesn't like for that matter. Which for a cat is pretty much everything that they don't choose to do themselves. The last time we went to the vet was when he was getting fixed, when we arrived at the vets office we were a little early so I took him from the crate, as he meowed incessantly, and sat him on my lap where he immediately curled up like a croissant and started purring. It was heartbreaking to know that I was taking such an adorable creature to be castrated. And now here we are again going to the vets when he is sick and I know he is going to be upset by the whole circumstance. I've been reading up on what conditions are associated with cat coughing and it seems that heart disease is the most common. So I'm keeping my fingers crossed that this is not the case, hopefully he just has an infection or something. Get well soon Kitty!

I'm don't normally purchase MAC products but I do find their advertising quite interesting and visually stimulating. I mean, they used Dita Von Teese for god sake in their AIDS fund campaign, how could I not love what they do?! But when I heard MAC was doing a Hello Kitty product line I knew that millions of Asian girls were squealing with glee. I however wasn't all that into the idea. Hello Kitty is cute and all, but its just not my thing. Then I saw this video:




Viewing this ad did not make me want to purchase this line by any means, however I can't help but love a brightly colored video that happens to feature a cat that just so happens to bear a striking resemblance to my little man, Kitty! Seriously, that cat is his twin! Or he has been moonlighting as a cat model and I didn't know about it. Which is highly feasible, I have no idea what hes up to when I'm sleeping. Unfortunately the second half of the video got boring. After the girl travels through some fluffy, vaginal portal Kitty's twin turns into a dominatrix and starts dancing around a gang of S&M Hello Kitty men. But Kitty's debut was amazing none the less.

I had the pleasure of seeing the movie Coraline the other day and I must say that it was a wonderful experience. I mean how can you go wrong with a 3D, stop-motion animation, full length film? It was absolutely beautifully done and I would even have to say that I would love to see it once more before it is no longer in the theaters. Not only was it visually amazing, but the story was entertaining and the film was able to convey a moral for the children in the audience. One aspect of the film I found interesting was that the ghost children called the other mother 'The Beldam;' I had never heard this term before and according to IMDB the name came from a John Keats poem entitled "La Belle Dame sans Merci." This poem describes the enchantment of the Belle Dame which I found interesting in parallel with the movie. I wouldn't say this is one of Keats best works however it does provide an appropriate mystic, eerie characteristic.


La Belle Dame sans Merci

I.

O WHAT can ail thee, knight-at-arms,
Alone and palely loitering?
The sedge has wither’d from the lake,
And no birds sing.

II.

O what can ail thee, knight-at-arms!
So haggard and so woe-begone?
The squirrel’s granary is full,
And the harvest’s done.

III.

I see a lily on thy brow
With anguish moist and fever dew,
And on thy cheeks a fading rose
Fast withereth too.

IV.

I met a lady in the meads,
Full beautiful—a faery’s child,
Her hair was long, her foot was light,
And her eyes were wild.

V.

I made a garland for her head,
And bracelets too, and fragrant zone;
She look’d at me as she did love,
And made sweet moan.

VI.

I set her on my pacing steed,
And nothing else saw all day long,
For sidelong would she bend, and sing
A faery’s song.

VII.

She found me roots of relish sweet,
And honey wild, and manna dew,
And sure in language strange she said—
“I love thee true.”

VIII.

She took me to her elfin grot,
And there she wept, and sigh’d fill sore,
And there I shut her wild wild eyes
With kisses four.

IX.

And there she lulled me asleep,
And there I dream’d—Ah! woe betide!
The latest dream I ever dream’d
On the cold hill’s side.

X.

I saw pale kings and princes too,
Pale warriors, death-pale were they all;
They cried—“La Belle Dame sans Merci
Hath thee in thrall!”

XI.

I saw their starved lips in the gloam,
With horrid warning gaped wide,
And I awoke and found me here,
On the cold hill’s side.

XII.

And this is why I sojourn here,
Alone and palely loitering,
Though the sedge is wither’d from the lake,
And no birds sing.