obligatory

it's been a few days since i've written anything in this space and even though i don't feel like i have interesting things to say, i feel rather obligated to write something. isn't that awful? you don't even have to read this if you don't want to.

forget about it. go away.

yellow's been on goofy schedule the last couple of nights. at 2:30 in the morning he starts scratching at the panes of glass in the french doors that lead to our back yard. he thinks he wants out, but he doesn't really want out, because when we let him out he just wants to come back in. this happened this morning as well as yesterday morning. yesterday morning i was unable to get back to sleep after even after his hour-long scratching session ended. this morning i fell asleep again at about 4:30, but kara remained awake.

how do you train a cat to not think he wants to go outside? we'll fill a spray-bottle with water this evening and have it ready.

here's a picture of the little criminal, taken earlier this afternoon, immediately post sneeze. he's been a bit sniffly of late. and he's still very needy and affectionate, since rumble's passing. he and eliot tussle a lot these days too, and i don't want any more neck (or other) wounds and abscesses! no more drains! when i hear those scuffling sounds and eliot yeowling i stamp my foot and they scatter.

i'm a wee bit upset that pan's labyrinth didn't win best foreign film, because i do like guillermo del toro. i confess i haven't seen the other nominees in that category, including the winner. i'm glad, though, that forest whitaker took best actor, even though i haven't seen the last king of scotland yet. i've liked forest for a long time. and yay helen mirren! and, well, we saw the departed recently and didn't think all that much of it.

and i'm 53% of the way through main street (page 242). yeah, it's not a short book. it's good, though. it's not totally gripping but i'm interested in seeing what happens next. i enjoy the descriptions of the insular and provincial townspeople. i like that carol, the main character, has sudden highs and lows of mood; they're well-depicted.

and hey! i finished a draft of a story! i'm actually hesitant to even mention it because it's rather pathetic, what with successful novelist friends all around me, and me finally finishing a draft of a 9-page story of questionable merit. i took those 9 pages (actually only 5 pieces of paper, because i printed it on both sides of the page) to the mandolin on friday morning and saturday morning and read it over, making notes. i have yet to apply those notes to the word document on this computer, but i'll get to that this weekend if not sooner. at the moment i'm enjoying remaining in bed until 6:30 am, even if i'm not actually sleeping. just for scuzz i post page 5, with notes. call it a teaser.

oh i guess that's about it for today. i reckon i've fulfilled my imagined obligation. you can go about your business.