Category Archives: LJ

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This just came down from my skunkchat list. Los Angeles County is trying to keep a qualified wildlife rehabilitator, Share Bond, from renewing her permit because she works with skunks. I am familiar with this woman’s work. Among other things, Share gets rescued skunks across the California border in a sort of underground railroad. Skunks are illegal to own as pets in CA and when they are discovered, the animal control people hand them over to her to convey across state lines instead of putting them down. She will no longer be able to do this and her wildlife rehabilitation work if her request is denied.

Please sign the petition to help her get her permit.

Click HERE to sign the petition.

Been napping with Hobkin for most of the evening. I’m not sure if a seven pound fuzz creature on my chest has actually helped my bronchial clarity, but he was warm and soft. Until he stuck his nose in my ear.

Now, I’m a bit wired. I feel disjointed, like my thought processes are ricocheting around my head and colliding with each other. Bing. Maybe it’s just the fever.

I suspect I’m just going to ramble for a bit, so I’ll be merciful and put everything else behind an lj-cut.

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Went to work today. Shouldn’t have. Got woozy and light-headed peering at my monitor. I stuck it out for three hours, just long enough to get a little testing in order so I could hand it off to one of my team members, before throwing in the towel. Driving home was a little scary. I think I made some questionable driving decisions, but fortunately there wasn’t a lot of traffic.

In other news, I got email notification from an anthology market to inform me that they got my submission. They also said in their note:

“I will be reading it this weekend…although I must say, when I opened the story and read the first line, it certainly got my attention. Nice beginning.”

So now my hopes are soaring . . . on the basis of a complimentary sentence on my opening line. Argh.

Rejectomancy and acceptomancy are dual roads to writerly insanity.

Woke up this morning with a fever, headache, and my knees and my fingers swollen and painful. It’s official, I’m in a full-blown lupus flare-up. Whee.

So I’m staying home today. Man, I just cannot shake this sick thing. It’s been three weeks!

And further suckitude, I really needed to be at work today. Big testing, late project. Argh.

I feel like I’m fixating on the enthusiasm with which my lungs are trying to leap free of my chest, but it’s hard not to. It’s like my lungs are in a perpetual state of spasm or impending spasm. It sucks. Got an appointment to see my GP tomorrow. Although I wonder if I should see a specialist. I’ve learned more about Lupus by poking around online than I have from any of my normal run-of-the-mill doctors. It’s such an uncommon condition, I tend to think a specialist would give me better care. Then again, most medical personnel point me to a Rheumatologist when I tell them I’ve got Lupus, and joint problems aren’t my main problem (yet). I dunno.

Anyway, we went out to see Chamber of Secrets yesterday. There was quite a range of ages in the theater. And all of them were well-behaved! Not a single screaming, wailing, or talking audience member for the whole film. Neat.

I think they did a better job translating book to screenplay with this one. They followed the book pretty slavishly, but not to the point of the first movie, which I think included more side bits than it really ought to have for pacing’s sake. Very pretty, of course. Although Rupert Grint, the actor who plays Ron Weasley, looked constipated for most of the film. I tend to blame the director for that more than the actor.

But the ending was kinda . . . weird. There was a huge climactic cheering/rousing music bit for nothing all that stirring. Huh.

But it was fun. And I ate more greasy popcorn than I should have.

I’m having my first Christmas shopping anxiety fit too. What’s the perfect thing to buy for family/friends/hubby? Oh, the agony!

Last night, Matthew and I had tickets to “All’s Well that Ends Well” at the Shakespeare Tavern. I was still feeling a bit sickly but I popped more acetaminophen and some cough syrup, and put on my happy face. As usual, much fun was had, although this play is kinda variable. We’ve seen it before at the Illinois Shakespeare Festival, but it was unmemorable. Literally. I didn’t recognize the storyline until about one third of the way through.

Watching it brought up a storytelling element I’ve been dwelling on lately: pacing. I think this play’s pacing was off. The first half dragged, which is unusual for this particular company as they typically have an amazing interpretation of Bill’s works that translates into, among other things, incredible pacing. So I think it was the play rather than the company. Especially since the second half really picks up and just rockets along. Pacing is a tricky balancing act. Need to read more short works of people who have it down.

And, as a clumsy segue, I no longer think I’ve got anything resembling a cold but rather am having a full blown Lupus flare-up. I saw a blurb on CNN about Howie Dorough of the Backstreet Boys giving $165K to fund Lupus research because his sister died of it. When describing the cause of her death, he went on to mention a “Lupus-related cough.” Gah! 1. I’m getting my health information from a Backstreet Boy. There’s something really wrong about that. And 2. that reminded me that lung problems are a common symptom of Lupus, one which I hadn’t had before, so I shoved it to the back of my consciousness. A quick online search pinpoints my symptoms to a T. Crap. Looks like it’s time to see the doctor. Great. Stupid crappy immune system.

And finally, I heard from a person on my skunk chat list who also subscribes to a ferret list that someone in Indiana is planning on shooting their ferret if nobody will buy her. An excerpt from this asshole’s email:

“I’m sorry to say that if I can’t sell my ferret and cage. I’m gonna have to take it out and shoot it. I had to shoot one already but that was because she was real sick.

“There are no shelters in my area, I checked. As far as the sick ferret I shot awhile ago, I did take it to the vet, there was nothing he could do. If you people really cared, you’d buy this animal. So don’t give me your shit about me being sick. I also read a suggestion about putting it in the paper. that costs money that I’m not willing
hand out for her. I came on here for some help getting rid of it. If you can’t help, I understand, and I’ll take care of it myself.”

There’s just so much wrong with this guy I can’t even begin ranting about it.

The skunk chat folks are organizing a sting. They’re sending him an email saying one of them is interested in buying her (he won’t even just give her away, but is asking $100 for her and her cage!) in the hopes of getting him to give a phone number or address. Then they want to call the ASPCA on his ass. I hope it works. And I really, really hope they can get the little sprite away from him.

Yep, here’s a stat counter.