I Need To Keep This In Mind

and so do you.

I Used To Be

This morning, I'm thinking about some "things" I used to be that I am not anymore. Mostly, I wish I still was these "things," even if it's just a little bit. I'm no longer these "things" because of various circumstances, or lack of energy, or lack of inspiration, or lack of company, or lack of monies, or...

• a fair to middling funeral director and pretty damn good embalmer. I embalmed so many folks who had been autopsied, they called me the "Post Princess." That was before they hated me.
• an amateur photographer
• magnanimous
• crafty
• sociable
• good company

I'm in a rut.

Re: Ovariohysterectomy

It has been four days since Olive's surgery and, for the most part, she is doing fine. As awful as it was to take her and leave her for her procedure, I think the post-surgery care is even worse-for both of us! She's in a little bunny e-collar which she hates, of course. She keeps trying to groom herself despite the fact that she's accomplishing nothing through the collar. Since she is so short, the collar gets hung up on all sorts of things in her cage, though many things have been removed to give her a little extra room. Her belly is shaved and her 3 or so inch incision is stapled (my poor bun!), she is on cage rest until next Saturday when her staples are removed, and we're giving her pain meds orally every night.

I hate seeing her cramped and uncomfortable and struggling with her collar so much. I was really affected by it, seeing her made me so upset. Last night, while I cleaned her cage, we gave her some e-collar free time out of her cage, which made everyone happy. She played and lounged and groomed a lot in her cardboard tunnel-she probably felt safest and most out-of-our reach there. Although I was upset to relegate her to her cage again, I was so much happier after her recess time.

Today, while I was around to "supervise," Olive had some more collar-free time. We left her cage door open, but she stayed inside the whole time. Tomorrow, I'll do more supervising.

I am inclined to let her be sans collar for, well, the rest of the week. She doesn't seem particularly interested in her incision at all, and things would be so much better (right?) if she wasn't so... restrained. But it's only a few more days. I'll be so excited to bring her home after her staple-remover and let her go on her little bunny way.

p.s. Blogger should be less ridiculous and let me put my pics where I want them, where they belong.

p.s.s. Having Olive is one of the funner things I've ever done, I think.

Damn It!

1) I like this house, certainly more than I liked North Street, but for the love of wild Alaskan salmon, why are there so many god damn flies here?????

2) Two nights ago, a bat got into our bedroom. Jesse was scared, so I had to get it out. I am brave! Then J reminded me that we had a bat in our apartment six years ago! I had to get that one out, too. I'm even braver than I thought.

But seriously! What the fuck with the various and disgusting pests?

Hank

For some reason, I stopped keeping such close tabs on Henry Rollins. I spent many formative years loving him, loving his books, loving every word that came out of his mouth. I'd see him as often as I could and long wistfully for him for weeks after seeing him. This was a serious thing I had going with him.

Then I got busy or I stopped reading altogether which means I stopped reading Hank. Or I thought I was post-Hank. Ye gods! Post-Hank?!

This morning, I came across Hank in a most unexpected place, and it all rushed back to me.

I used to fight the pain, but recently this became clear to me: pain is not my enemy; it is my call to greatness. - Henry Rollins, "Iron and the Soul"

p.s. I know that's a pretty weird image for me to choose. He definitely looks better elsewhere. But I wanted to talk about this: why is that what he's wearing?!?

image via Cville

Ovariohysterectomy

Today is Olive's surgery, and I'm scared. She's such a cute fluff bunny, and we've only recently begun to be friends. Well, some days we're friends. Some days she acts like it's the first day we've met and she's super scared and and so confused.

I hate having to try to get Olive into her carrier. She gets so scared and she wiggles her nose so much faster. I just hate it.

She has to stay at the vet overnight, too. The vet is great and her vet techs and staff are so nice, so that helps. And it's not like she's a cat or puppus who might come to me for comfort. I just.... I want her to be ok and still like me after, even if it's still the same teeny bit she likes me now. And now I'm crying.

She's gonna be ok, right?

Why I Love My Husby

Reason #563

J took a couple of hours out of his busy work day to come home and chauffeur Olive and me to Olive's vet appointment a few weeks ago. The heat was ridic and my Element has NO AIR! I was stressed and Olive was extra stressed and J swooped in like a knight in shining Nissan and saved the day! Hip-hip-HOORAY!

Reason #32

Without going into details, I just do. So I have agreed that we will have a Chocolate Lab (or whatever other color J prefers) as soon as it is sensible for us to do so.

Not Very Good Blogger

I'm so far behind with the news that I don't even know where to start and I kind of am too tired to even try. Keep yourself sated with some trip pics.

p.s. I love Tovah. Why can't we be together always?

An Open Letter

An open letter to all parties who will see me on my trip to IL, WI, and MI.

Dear everyone:

This time next week, I'll be on my way to Chicago to see Tovah and Andrew (wheeeeeeeeee!) before getting to WI and MI to see J's family. I'm leaving my little bun, Olive, in the capable hands of my mum and dad. That said, I'm totally going to be SNR about this. I'm told that she'll be fine; the House Rabbit Society says leaving little Olive with my fam is the best option for her health and safety and happiness. But I'm still going to be fraught with concern.

What if she doesn't remember that she likes her nose scratched? What if she's mad at me? What if she gets sick while we're gone? What if my dad is the Bunny Whisperer and she wants to stay there? I'm a momma who's never left her babe before, and you're probably going to hear about it.

Please be nice to me. I'm just worried.

Re: Summer 2010

Summer grades are in, and they're good! I'm including my actual grade this time because the letter grade doesn't tell you how awesome I was in my research class (the truth is, all classes are research classes @ BU).

• Social Science Research Methods: A (99%!)
• Psychology and Culture of Women's Bodies: A (93%)

Now I have two full months of vacay before my fall semester begins. It definitely looks like I'll graduate Spring 2011!

It's a Girl!

Little Olive had a mani/pedi today and the vet confirmed what we'd hoped. Olive is a girl! Break out the pink cigars.

Freedom To Marry

Lucky you. You can get married. Everyone else should be allowed to marry, too.

Take the pledge.

via Slog

"Overheard" on Facebook

Eric to Lisa: I think the origin of the word "bunny" came from "funny" with a bounce.

Olive Breakthrough?

I maaaay have had an Olive breakthrough tonight. I've been doing a lot of reading about buns-especially lately because I'm concerned that she's soon to become a dredlocked bunny because she won't let me touch her and she certainly won't let me brush her. So, I've been worried about her delicate skin and also worried that the vet will think that I'm a bad bunny mum when I bring her in to be fixed.

Anyway, one thing I came across is that lots of buns prefer to be pet on the forehead. Hmmm. When I try to pet her, I try to pet her bod like I'd pet a cat or doggins. It makes sense that she wouldn't be into that since it might feel like I'm a predator looking for a teeny, fuzzy lunch. I don't think I've ever tried to pet her forehead!

So, I've been up late tonight working on clearing out my Google Reader (um, I mean, I'm working on HOMEWORK. I'm doing HOMEWORK!), and went to the kitchen to give Olive some H2O. She was sitting next to her cage looking fluffy as ever. I returned her water bottle to its cage spot and absentmindedly tried to rub her forehead. She didn't move! I rubbed her forehead and around her ears for 3 minutes, perhaps, then gave her a sesame seed treat. I sat on the floor waiting for her to finish her treat; she returned when she was done. Interesting!

I tried again: I rubbed her forehead and around her ears for another couple of minutes. She seemed relaxed; maybe she liked it! I figured I'd better not push my luck. I gave her another treat and left her alone.

This miiight be a fluke, but I hope not! I've been struggling to get Olive to do business with me for a couple of months now; I really hope this might be a turning point! Hooray!

Why Is This So Hard?

via HuffPo

Wah Wah Waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah

via AlterNet

Cars, Assholes, School, LIFE

WARNING: This post contains language that is NSFM (not safe for moms) and graphic menstruation art.

• I am car shopping. I've had it with the Sube, and it's time for it to make penance for all the trouble (not to mention money it has cost us) it has given me. So during my perusing, I've noticed that there are about a 1,000,000 Chevy Cobalts available in this area and in my price range. There are two top reasons I'll never own a Chevy Cobalt.

1. I am pretty sure there's an explanation for the million or so Cobalts available to me; I'm also pretty sure I don't want to find out what that explanation is.
2. Chevy Cobalts are not cobalt, and I have a problem with that. Even the blue ones aren't cobalt. I won't purchase a liar car.

• We are entirely out of that shit hole, also called North Street. Here's a huge "fuck you" to our white-trash neighbors and their little shit kids and the jackasses who own/"maintain" that place. You had it easy with us. Oh, and karma is a boomerang.
• My summer classes are making things really hectic for me, but I am enjoying them. I evenlove one of them. Plus, I'm doing a project on menstruation which is pretty much as good as it gets for me.

There's more news, but I'm tired now. I'll try again soon. In the mean time, enjoy some menstruation art by Isa Sanz, via Museum of Menstruation and Women's Health.

Spring 2010 Grades: I Made It

Spring grades are in.

Intro to Human Development: C

Adolescent Development: LGBTQ: A

Politics of Education: A

My summer session starts tomorrow. I'm not ready!

Hellllllllo, Broad Street!

Some news:

• J, Olive and I, with huge help from my family, have moved all our things to a new place! Everything is a giant, confusing mess; our box spring didn't fit upstairs; I'm sick....
• Little Olive is not so little anymore! She's nearly 4 months old, which means that bunny adolescence is upon us. She is a super daredevil and she's started thumping her little bunny foot, which is pretty cute. At first, though, it was alarming since we didn't know that strange sound was her! She's also old enough to start eating some veggies. So far, she's tried carrots and carrot tops, red leaf lettuce and alfalfa sprouts, although it seems she's not crazy about the sprouts. Next up for Olive, getting fixed....
• I've finished my first semester at BU, and it was pret-ty, pret-ty, pret-ty, pretty hard. My summer term begins next week and will last a month. It'll be really intense: 8 hour days two days a week.
• My brother, Eric, graduates from Ithaca College this weekend with a B.S. in Outdoor Adventure Leadership. After Tiffany finishes her school year, the two of them will be doing a 5-week road trip across the country. If you're anywhere west of us, you might be getting a call from them....

I'll report on my first couple of days of school sometime next week, I hope.

Overheard in the J and L House

Lisa to Jesse: I feel bad staying up late when Olive has to be in her cage.

Jesse to Lisa: Parents get to stay up later than the kids.

Here's Olive squished behind her cage. She likes it there.

She's getting so big!