The Dark Night of the Soul

One of my favorite Loreena McKennitt songs... and played on a flattop... heaven.

The key to unlock the hidden mysteries of the human soul...

...can be found in a mass-forwarded email containing a personality quiz designed by the Dalai Lama!

In the general mode of mindless after-work decompression, I for once actually followed the directions (well, at least some of them) on one of those *highly scientific* and *wish-granting* personality quiz forwards that I'm always receiving (and promptly deleting). You know the one - where you're asked to prioritize a list of animals in order of preference, list a personality trait for a list of animals, associate a name with a color, etc. The one where you get 25 ba-jillion warnings to forward this to 25 people in 25 seconds and whatever you do, don't read ahead and peek at the answers or else your chin will grow a hair-covered wart the size a Texas and you'll never get a date again and your mother will come down with lumbago and it's all your fault! *gasp* *gasp* *gasp* Ahem. Anyhoo, I thought my "results" for 2 of the questions were interesting enough to warrant sharing.

Scientific and Wish-Granting Fact #1. Prioritizing animals tells you your life's priorities!
I ordered them like so: Horse (Family), Sheep (Love), Tiger (Pride), Cow (Career), Pig (Money) (But now honestly, I'd like to see some money-grubbing floosey actually pick oinker as her favorite animal. Although to be perfectly honest, I nearly put Miss Piggy first just cuz I loves me my bacon, hehe)

Scientific and Wish-Granting Fact #2. Describing shtuff tells you personality traits about you and others!
Disclaimer - I swear I didn't know the "answers" when I wrote down a description for each item, lol. But I like my results nonetheless. :D Dog (I'm a loyal butt-sniffer), Cat (My sweetie pie purrs when I pet him), Rat (My enemy's intelligent... and hey, aren't I my own worst enemy?), Coffee (I like my nookie "strong... and with a spoon in it" [quote from Eddie Izzard]), Sea (My life could be described as "blue and gray and green." [quote from Sarah Plain and Tall])

DramaCat

THANKS TO EVERYONE FOR SUPPLYING CAPTIONS!!

I'm sure some of you might have noticed that I bcc'd everybody on my email requesting ideas, but its purpose was twofold: 1) I didn't want people hitting Reply All and ruining the surprise, and 2) I didn't want to start one of those group emails that quickly clogs your inbox. And if anybody thinks of some more, please throw them in comments!

But now, without further delay:

Take me to . . . . The volcano!

O sole mio!

Everybody was kung fu fighting...

Friends, Romans, Country Cats, lend me your whiskers . . .

Va, pensiero, sull' alli dorati!

Cry havoc, and let loose the cats of war!

A box! A box! My kingdom for a litter box!

Friends, Felines and Housemates lend me your Catnip!
It is I, Kitty, who will take the first sniff!!!!

And they will hold their cat-hoods cheap who fought not with us upon St. Crispian's Day!

...and there I was, 40 feet up in that tree...oy!

My kind of town, Chicago is...

Ah, ah, ah--stayin' alive, stayin' alive

Let me see your tootsie roll--to the left, to the left

Thank ya, Jesus-- the Holy Spirit--it's got me!!!

Then Spiderman grabbed MaryJane and shot his webbing like this...

Cannon to right of them, Cannon to left of them, Cannon in front of them, Volley'd and thunder'd; Storm'd at with shot and shell, Boldly they rode and well, Into the jaws of Death, Into the mouth of Hell, Rode the six hundred.

--- and my favorite submission saved for last---

False Alarm

Luckily, the Moocha pregnancy is a false alarm. I hadn't seen her in quite awhile, and certainly not recently, prior to Larry the Neighbor Guy's announcement yesterday evening... so I had no way of knowing the accuracy of his statement. I knew that she had been on the verge of kittens the last time I'd seen her, but since it'd been several months since she'd last graced my porch, it was possible she had another batch in the oven.

But surprise, surprise, Moocha showed up on my porch this evening right as I got home. Fat, poochy mama belly she has, but no kittens. Which, I've got to admit, my wallet is very grateful.

And hey, I got a new neighbor friend out of the deal, so all's well that ends well.

Oh, and since I'm following up on my last post seemingly, Ashum's all registered for the fall. Yeah! But seriously... Musical Appreciation: Classical Western?! I loves me my old country songs, but I don't know if I'd sign up for an entire semester. Now, Western Classical, maybe...

Yes, a real blog post... for once

I met a neighbor this evening and am heartily glad of it. He introduced himself as Larry but failed to also introduce me to his brother Darryl and his other brother Darryl. The very errand for his introduction made me take a liking to him immediately. For Moocha Bella is in the later stages of her pregnancy, and he was concerned for her and her impending kittens. We talked at some length about what we could do for her, but for the moment we are waiting and watching.

But that O-ren gets along so well with Moocha is not far from the forefront of my mind. Perhaps she may get a roommate and then several additional and significantly smaller roomies in the near future. Moocha, I think, would be happiest to remain an outdoor mrow in the long-term, but she should get a little maternal refuge for the interim. Quite frankly, I can't bear the thought of her kittens chomped by a predator or squished by a tire. Once the kittens are weened, I'd like to have Moocha spayed and back on the porch, although perhaps she could come indoors at night if still so inclined. And the kittens, what do we do with them? I'd likely keep one, of course, but I wonder how many others I'll need to find homes for. And where will I find the means to do all this? Well, where there's a will, there's a way. And I've not got German blood in me for nothing!

In other news, Ashums and the J'nette (hellooooooooo) are in Springfield, MO, becoming familiarized with the campus, professors, etc. and registering for classes. Other than Ashley trying to tear the dorm room apart her first morning there (i.e., shower door), things are reportedly going wonderfully and exhaustingly busy. I'd called Jeanette earlier, so I knew a little of what was going on already before Ash called, but it was wonderful to hear The Toot's voice just a few minutes ago, telling me about her classes and what she's been doing on campus since arriving. I'm positively thrilled for her and can't wait until I can drive up to campus to visit her this fall. :)

I wonder...

...what would happen if I dipped O-ren in a bleach bath...

Nothing as gorgeous as this, I have a feeling. Whether photoshopped or not, I'm in love with this mrow. (sorry, O-ren)

Speaking of O-ren though, she updated her blog with a few pictures.

Because, well... can you ever have too much opera?

Lol, NO! There's no such thing as too much opera when we're talking about Calla, Cabelle, and now Edita Gruberova! I just discovered this voice... how had I been living without it?

L’amour est enfant de Bohême

From the moment I got home tonight, late though that might be, I've been lost in a world of Maria Callo and Montserrat Cabelle. And of course, everyone gets to share in my love of a beautiful classically trained voice.


(You may want to skip to the 2:15 mark if you just want to listen to Habanera... but if you do, SHAME on you!) Lyrics/Translation


And yes, ladies and gentlemen - that's 2 minutes and 30 seconds of applause at the end. I love how she stops them dead with the palm of her hand.)
Lyrics/Translation

What's your flirting style?

So I'm doing my semi-weekly MySpace log-in to check up on a few friends... but I just can't get past the stupid ad that's blinking on the right side of my browser window.

Now first of all, why are the last three options all the same? Am I missing something here?! What happened to boy shorts? Granny panties? Hipsters, anyone? How about high-cut briefs for those grannies that want to show some leg? And hey... I want a choice that's blank. Can you show me a little something with waist or thigh support? Sigh... but no, tho we certainly have our choice of thong options... actually though, they're all just different style g-strings, so we don't even get thong options!

Ah well, who needs a doctorate in psychology when we have underwear?

TGIF

TGIF, man. That's all I've got to say to this week.

Chyna of Gondor

First of all, this picture could easily have been of Chickitty Chyna (the Chinese Chi-kitten), so it wins a special place in my heart just for that.

Secondly, is it wrong that my first thought on seeing this picture was that I want to dress the mrow in some mail and an elven cloak, place a sword in its paws and a cloven horn of Gondor and weapons of slain enemy meeces by its side, and send it over the Falls of Rauros all whilst singing "Lament of the Winds"???

Quotient Quotables and Potent Potables

Hey, hey, HEY, boys and girls! It's time for another episode of Quotient Quotables and Potent Potables! And now a word from our sponsor, Friedrich Nietzsche, Inc. - your favorite posthumous scholar, philosopher, and critic of culture!

[And yes, I am the kind of person that will mix Krusty and Nietzsche without a shred of guilt.]

Without music, life would be a mistake.

There is always some madness in love. But there is also always some reason in madness.

I wear my shadows where they're harder to see, but they
follow me everywhere. I guess that should tell me I'm traveling toward light.

Ignore reality, there's nothing you can do about it.

And those who were seen dancing were thought to be insane by those who could not hear the music.

Gaze long into the abyss, and the abyss gazes into you.