So he was probably just getting back at me for the Speed Bump jokes.

No doubt.

I would definitely suggest seeing the vet.

Is the blood unilateral? Meaning blood from one nostril over the other?

Oh, Bonny, I am so sorry. How awful for all involved.

There's a site for representations of people of color in European art history (largely to refute those who say there weren't any).

If it's MPOC, it's a hot mess of problematic awful with an unfortunate cult of personality, inflated claims of qualifications, a habit of talking over POC and ethnic minorities, especially European ones, and I'd suggest one of many, many other people talking about the subject. (Disclaimer: most of them have actual jobs in academia, or a grad students, and don't have the time to post as often as That Other Person does.)

One day, it'll probably all blow up in the runner's face, which would make me laugh and laugh and laugh except for where people who are doing serious work on the matter are going to find themselves painted with the same brush.

Is the blood unilateral? Meaning blood from one nostril over the other?

No, it's pretty equal opportunity. Dr. Google says that cats do sneeze blood for pretty unalarming reasons, including allergies/drop in humidity. But yeah, we'll still take her to the vet to be sure.

Yep. Equal is way better and probably not alarming.

Yay Dr. Google!

for anyone keeping track at home: my kitty's back lump is just a lump of fatty oil fluid near his microchip. He's getting a weeks course of antibiotics. Vet kept saying "this is so wierd!" while squooshing it around. Nice to have professional confirmation of my homegrown finding of "yep, really wierd, totally behaves like subcutaenous fluids!". Also super cool: this vet trip occured while I was flat on my back in my bed. Mom took Malachi in and speaker phoned me with the vet and my exceedingly well behaved younger cat. Living in the future continues to be pretty amazing.

erin, I'm glad it was nothing serious. How are you feeling?

We just ate at a new fancy burger joint. The burgers were delicious and the spiked milkshakes were also yummy! And that was very hard to type, so I may be a little tipsy.

Teppy, if that were my cat and I got beyond the Losing-My-Shit-Over-This-Dramatic-Symptom stage to think clearly, I'd be wanting MY vet ASAP - as in, prompt evaluation at the earliest available appointment. And heck yeah, I'd play up the symptoms on the phone if they were hemming and hawing about getting us in right away. Of course, it helps that this is a more rural area. We don't so much have Emergency Vet clinics as the vets take turns being on-call.

Erin, I'm glad it's nothing too dramatic. What your cat has sounds like something my grandfather had on his forehead. It never caused him any bother.

Oh, yeah, erin, it is good news! And that's some good modern technology, having the cat at the vet for the exam and you there via speaker phone.

That's an excellent solution to not leaving bed, Erin! Go thinking outside the box.

I drove down to Portland this morning for a dance convention. Hoping it'll be good. But I am getting a cold or something--one of my ears is all filled with fluid and won't pop, which is wreaking havoc on my balance. And I'm a bit worried I will not be able to stay awake for the whole thing tonight! But the lessons I went to so far were good. And the hotel room has a fridge, so I stocked up on stuff at trader joes.