On the other up side, I came home to discover TEN unemployment claim forms in my mailbox. I had fallen behind last year, and was filing claims for four months ago. Apparently, now that Congress has reauthorized the Federal UI Extension (I'm still in the second tier), they've decided to pay out the remaining almost $4,000 left in my claim all at once. Which I'm not going to say no to.

And, also apparently, I have been collecting UI long enough now, and have done plenty of work in the intervening time, so when I do run out of my Federal Extension, I'll be able to file a whole new CA state claim.

So, there's a nice rose bush amidst the bramble.

I'm glad you have a bit of good news, Sean.

I'm so sorry, Sean. I'm glad you had an upside.

I just called animal control, something I'm loathe to do, but I think it's the only hope for this dog. The people renting across the street have a rottweiler that they've been staking outside in an unfenced yard. This is illegal in this county, not to mention cruel. Mr Peabody and the three dogs next door were barking wildly at something in the front I couldn't see, and I went out to find the rottweiler in the side yard. He had pulled his chain out of the ground and was dragging 20-30 feet of heavy chain behind him.

I went out front to see if he was approachable, thinking maybe I could grab the chain, but he went into a defensive growl. I love dogs, but I'm not crazy. He was running back and forth across his yard, so I didn't feel comfortable approaching the house. There were no cars and no lights, and I'd think they would have noticed all the barking and yelling if they were there.

Then he took off running after a car. I didn't see any happy endings there, so I called animal control. They said they'd look into it, but they're shorthanded.

Ugh, poor guy. I hope AC can remove him.

Sean, that's great news. I hope it gives you some breathing room.

Sean, I'm sorry about your cat, but glad there was some good news.

Ginger I hope they can rescue the dog.

I was going to go to knitting tonight even though it's extremely cold (-1, feels like -11) because cold wasn't going to stop me! But my car did. It wouldn't start, it's the battery and last time I had the car in they checked the battery and did a read out that said it probably wouldn't start in cold temperatures.

It is guys night and I am debating between going to see Les Mis by myself or just going downstairs and crafting. I've been feeling emotionally off the past couple of days and I wonder if a good sobbing will help me purge some of the emotions that have building up.

Mind, I've processed them and know where they are coming from and have talked about them with the proper party, but I still feel kind of built up.

Does any of that make sense?

Aims, processing is intellectual (and can be some emotional, but to me it's largely intellectual/mental), so you can still need a good emotional catharsis. No question.

Then the good sobfest it is. Plus, it's $5 night at the local theater, so I've got frugality on my side, as well.

Also? Mental illness (though I realize MI does NOT have the patent on emotionally purging) sucks a lot of the time. Even with the right meds. Sometimes, I hate my brain.

Aims, seeing Les Miz after Christmas was wonderfully cathartic to me, so it sounds like a good plan.