I crave good storytelling, like medicine or food. 

Lately, I listen to a lot of podcasts at work. My mainstays are BBC Global News, and Stuff You Missed In History Class. The Truth is a fave, but updates infrequently. 

I want story; metaphor elevates me out of "point and click, lather rinse repeat." I want plot, I want action. I want it in the moment. 

The Bechdel-Wallace (as Ms. B has said she thinks it should be called) Test is more important than I've realized. When I was a kid, I wanted to be Han Solo, so I could save Luke and kiss Leia.  Try to find any story where a woman does that. I'll read it or watch or listen to it, and praise you for leading me to it. 

I want to create those stories, but I flounder on the rocks. I'm still trying.

I don't want to exclude men. I want to include men and women. The field is wide, but thin as it stands. 

In the meantime, I watch Jessica Jones at night and keep hitting the search button during the day. ​

I don't always lie down next to humans and act cute, but when I do...

I wait for them to pet me, and then shred their hands to bloody stumps. 

Of course, my humans try to play with me. I've broken the handle of the string toy twice. I will catch The Red Dot. And Blanket Shark?

Blanket Shark Begs Me For Mercy. 

I'm The Most Interesting Cat In My World. ​

I was lacing up my boots to leave, my brain was a jumble, and I needed something to lift my spirits. Just to see what would happen, I tapped on my phone, and said, "Siri, play some beautiful music." 

Go ahead and look it up if you like. I won't force it on you.  I have to say, I've never heard the "n" word 3 times in ten seconds, in context, before. 

Sooooo... yeah. That was fun. 

Today I listened to a lot of Stuff You Missed In History Class. 

To make a long story short, this exists, and it comes from a place of kindness and curiosity. 

Unrelated: I just started reading Brainwashing by Kathleen Taylor. It's all scientific and stuff. 

Too rainy for a lunch walk. 

Setting reminders for myself to do things tonight. 

The Punch Brothers' new album is really good. 

Operation Get Ted To Celebrate Responsibly and Happily With His Community was a huge success. 

Shelle & Houser let us tag along with them and Captain America. Ted stayed on the sidewalk with other costumed adults while the kids did the candy ritual. 

We sang "Grim Grinning Ghosts" and "Headless Man" while we walked. A few people recognized him from The Media Theater, and greeted him kindly, which made me really happy. It was also surprising, considering Ted's heavy disguise, 

The boys got tired and it was time for ghosts and heroes to call it a night. I asked Captain America if he wanted a hug or to slap me five, and he didn't answer, so I held out my palm and he slapped me five. 

As I turned away, I heard a tiny voice say, "I want a hug." 

Oh, the creaking down on one knee hurt, but the heroic hug was gold. 

​

He's getting settled in awful quick. 

Not that it was easy. The minute we pulled out of the parking lot, he took a dump in the carrier.  He carefully turned around, folded his towel over the evidence, and meowed the whole way home. 

If one of us is in the room with him, he's snuggly and purrs a lot. If we're both in there with him, he's curious and playful. 

Squeaky busted in at one point. She headed straight for the food bowl. We told her not to touch it. Squeaky looked at us like, "oh, this bowl? This one right here?"

The cat waited, sniffed Squeaky's back legs, waited for Squeaky to look at him, and then EXPLODED into a whirlwind of claws and snarling. Squeaky ran toward the door. The cat hopped onto the chair, and back onto Squeaky, who cringed and whimpered in the corner. The cat circled around to block the door. We threw a blanket over the cat, and hustled the dog out the door. She refused to leave the room until Vince went into the hallway with her. 

"I haven't bitch-slapped a dog in a long time, but that doesn't mean I forget how." 

Anyway. It's going to be hard to get these two to peacefully co-exist, but this guy's so snuggly it's worth it. 

Also bitey. Very very bitey. 

P.S.: Jury's still out on the name. His personality suggests Thrym, King of Jotunheim, but Vince wants to name him Turd Ferguson. 

He says he looks like a Mr. Ferguson. Fergus would be a good name for him, but I think we're going to wait and see what name sticks. 

Looks like we're getting a new housemate tomorrow. 

He's bitey, spunky, and fun. We filed the paperwork a couple weeks ago, and finally, tomorrow, we can pick him up. 

This means two weeks of Cat Introduction. Hope he likes us. 

We stopped by the Northeast Philly PAWS building today, so Mo could get her annual vaccines, and we could do the final paperwork. It's a beautiful shelter, lots of windows in the adoption rooms, very clean, lots of cat perches. I took Mo out of her crate and held her to walk around. She purred a lot, and sniffed at a friendly orange & white boy named Rubio, who was quite enamored of her. But we're committed to this stripey boy. 

We're planning to name him Thrym, The King of Jotunheim, although a close second was Benedict Thundercat. 

Too many emails from Hillary Clinton. I swear to God, she's stalking me.