Cat Adventures

Pepper is batting at a jingly ball that's in a plastic bag where we've put it so that when she loses all of hers under the bed or refrigerator, we can pull it out and be jingly ball heroes.

W.E.: Pepper, will you quit it?

Me: Maybe you should get the ball out and throw it for her.

W.E.: picks up a ball not in a baggie and throws it. There.

Pepper: That was not satisfying. I will continue to bat at the baggie until it gives up the jingly ball.

W.E. picks up the baggie. Pepper swats it.

W.E.: Will you put this away somewhere?

Me: putting the baggie on top of the fridge. You'll never find it up here. Mwaha.

Pepper: SUUUUUUUUUUUUUULK.

W.E.: Come here, Pepper. I'll comfort you since the mean lady took your toys away.

Me: Whatever. I have to blog this.

Fin.

Pegasusness!

Look what came in the mail today:

Well, technically it came via FedEx. They left it in a bucket on my porch. BAD FedEx! What if someone had stolen my hard-earned copy of Pegasus? I would have been very upset and had to write angry letters which would have taken up all of my paper-writing time. Kind of like blogging this is.

Unfortunately, I don't have time to read it because I have to read sources for my paper and re-read Gwenhwyfar by Mercedes Lackey because it's a secondary source for my paper. I probably won't get to read Pegasus until after December 1st (that's when my paper is due). Boo.

Pegasus Will Be Mine!

Ever since my friend Jodi got her ARC of Robin McKinley's Pegasus, I've been doing everything within my power to get my hands on one, as well. After all, at the time, I had plans to write my dissertation--at least part of it--on Ms. McKinley. I needed the newest book. NEEDED it. Since then, those plans have fallen through (partly because if I want to write about how the actual medieval period appears in fantasy, as far as it does, I need books that use the medieval period rather than the pop culture medievalism found in novels such as McKinley's, and partly for other reasons which I will not expound on here), but I continued to enter every contest possible to get my very own copy of Pegasus, preferably without waiting for the paperback or e-book to come out, my impatience being outdone only by the size of my bookshelves and bank account.

Yesterday, I received an e-mail from Goodreads informing me that I'd won an advance reader copy of Pegasus. Like Dexter is Delicious, it's not advanced advance because the book is already on shelves, but I got it before I would have otherwise and I didn't have to break the bank to get it. Both of which make me happy.

There will be pictures and a review when it gets here and I have read it.

Anonymity

Lately, I've found myself missing the old days of the Internet. The days when, with very careful editing, you could keep anyone you interacted with from knowing who you were. The days when privacy was paramount because everyone was terrified of being stalked, hunted down, and murdered.

I suppose this is because I've discovered that I have very few places, even online, where I can say what I'm really thinking. Sometimes I need to rant. Sometimes those rants will be full of four-letter words, invectives, and things that could get me in huge trouble if heard by the wrong people--but I need to say them. To get them out of my system before it builds to the boiling point and I say or do something I'd really regret. Everyone needs an outlet, but everything has become so public, privacy so beaten down and even frowned on, that these outlets are fewer and further between.

I, for one, am tired of being told that my emotions or reactions to things are "inappropriate." I'm tired of having to hide and shove things down and ignore the stress or the stupidity I find myself surrounded by because the wrong person might see/hear it and give me a smackdown that includes the word "inappropriate." How is it "inappropriate" to need a break? To be frustrated by what appears to be willful ignorance and stupidity? To want a bit of autonomy? And how is it "inappropriate" to voice these things in the few tiny corners of the Internet that I've staked out and claimed as mine? Especially if I'm careful, if I follow the old rules, if I make sure that nobody who sees them has any idea who I am (or, if they do, they're people I trust implicitly).

I suppose what I really miss is not being accountable to anyone because I don't have to worry about professionalism or its ilk. It's way too late for that, but the frustration continues nevertheless.