I kinda love the guy in the cat climbing video. There are several others featuring him wearing the kittens

Also (i didn't mean to make this mememe, but this has started me thinking) my mother, who I now know was well meaning and did the best she knew how and really loved me sort of mucked it up, because I had about a million of these moments between kindergarten and second grade, and I pretty much had sucessfully dealt with it by repression and lying because she didn't answer my questions, and then in second grade, she sat me down and wanted to tell me about my father. And then I freaked out and refused to hear it, which hurt her deeply, and she has basically refused to talk about it ever since. When we were filling out FAFSA's and I didn't know what to put for my father and was flipping out in case he was included financially, she let me know he was dead. When I was in therapy and asked her and my uncles about it, my one uncle refused to tell me, my other uncle was too young to know but told me all I could, and she basically told me that she wanted to have a baby, so she slept with someone to get pregnant and have me because she wanted a baby. Which might have been nice to know earlier, since I spent a long time convinced that she had been raped and was unable to have an abortion, since Roe vs Wade was passed just about when I was conceived. So my family is kinds f-ed up, but I didn't know it when I wanted my family to be in the house!

I went to a Lutheran school from 1st through 8th grades. We had a class that was about 25 kids, on average. As far as I can remember, everyone's parents were still together, for all 8 years.

ION, Señor Sock used to climb me like that when he was a kitten. When he was older he'd do this flying leap to my upper body, and climb to my shoulders from there. He loved to ride along on my shoulders, seeing the world from a whole new perspective....

My birth certificate reads "Mother: Unknown" and "Father: [insert grandfather's name]."

Yeah, I had some weird episodes with the whole family tree thing in classes, too. However I was an overconfident, cheeky young kid and I don't remember it bothering me. I still have a kindergarten drawing where it's me and my dog. Above them, scrawled in bright orange crayon, it reads "Java's family".

dup post

One of those kittens is obsessed with water. His sister, otoh, is not, as evidenced in that video.

Got home at 6 tonight, neighbor came up an hour later to complain about the noise (I had taken three quick steps to chastise my kitty who was pulling out the drain in her leg --side story, my vet has no need to remove it now). I was a bit vulnerable, having answered the door with a face mask on, and didn't give her the half-assed smack-down I've preparing ever since I got the first official complaint.

She came up five minutes later! FIVE! 5!!!! Five minutes! At 7 in the evening!!!

Told her I was already walking on tippy toe and that there was nothing more I could do (had washed the mask off by this point, but still trying to be pleasant and concilliatory, which is a major fault of mine. No good deed goes unpunished). Also, by the way, could you not slam the doors open and shut. She insists that she has been closing them quietly. Suuuuuuuure.

At this point I'm logging every time she comes up to complain so I can complain about her harrassment and starting to look for a new apartment, because moving every six months is FUN!

Seriously, what would she do if she lived underneath a single mom with two kids bouncing around, rather than a single woman with two itty bitty cats?

What a mess, Juliebird.

Randomly, can you people see this picture on Facebook? [link] Holy shit, if it isn't the epitome of my high school.

Julie- that sucks! I am always afraid my cat meows too much, but my downstairs neighbor is happy I don't have loud parties, and people over and such-- she laughs because my kitty and her kitty meow at each other through the wall! My former neighbor complained about me all the time and called the police once! I wish you good neighbor ~ma.

{{{ }}} everyone who's had the weird family issues and insensitive teachers. I had my own and the ghosts of them are coming back to bite me on the ass right now. At least I live 350 miles away now.

I'm having to figure out what to do about Nate. He's the quintessential bright kid who doesn't like school, who has his own way of processing information and has horrible handwriting to boot. Plus, my sensitive boy as well. I don't want to coddle, but I don't want teachers stomping on his creativity and humor and the self-confidence he does have.

Weekend has otherwise gotten off to a good start. Went out to dinner for the birthday girl (she can put away a NY Strip with the best of them, lemme tell you) and then Kilwin's ice cream for dessert where she had a vile flavor called "Superman" that was unnatural shades of blue, red, and yellow and allegedly fruit-flavored. The Barnes & Noble.

Oh, and Hec, the X-Men books were a HUGE hit-- thanks for the advice!