Journal Entries
Good news!
Posted Aug 9, 2000
Well, I finally have some good news to say the least to put up here! My dearest-darling, beloved has gotten her divorce (finally) and is now happily moved in!! Who knows, within a year or so Mom may even get her wish and finally become a Gramma!!! Now THAT'S a scary thought!
~S
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Latest reply: Aug 9, 2000
Excerpts from a Cat's diary...
Posted Jun 8, 2000
Found this tucked away in a remote corner of the house the other day. I'm quite disturbed by it to say the least...
Excerpts from a Cat’s diary…
DAY 339 - My captors continue to taunt me with bizarre little dangling objects. They dine lavishly on fresh meat, while I am forced to eat dry cereal. The only thing that keeps me going is the hope of escape and the mild satisfaction I get from ruining the occasional piece of furniture. Tomorrow I may eat another houseplant.
DAY 344 - Today my attempt to kill my captors by weaving around their feet while they were walking almost succeeded. MUST try this at the top of the stairs! In an attempt to disgust and repulse these vile oppressors, I once again induced myself to vomit on their favorite chair…must try this on their bed.
Day 350 - Slept all day so that I could annoy my captors with sleep depriving, incessant pleas for food at ungodly hours of the night.
Day 357 - Decapitated a mouse and brought them the headless body in the attempt to make them aware of what I am capable of and to try and strike fear into their hearts. They only cooed and condescended about what a good little cat I was…Hmmm…NOT working according to plan.
Day 369 - I am finally aware of just how sadistic they are. For no good reason I was chosen for the water torture. This time however it included a burning, foamy chemical called “shampoo”. What sick, twisted, perverse mind could invent such a liquid?!?! My only consolation is the piece of one of my captor’s thumbs still stuck between my teeth.
Day 370 - There was some sort of gathering of their accomplices. I was placed in solitary confinement throughout the event. However, I could hear the noise and smell the foul odor of the glass tubes they call “beer”. More importantly, I overheard that my confinement was due to MY power of “allergies”. I must learn what this is and how to use it to my advantage!
Day 384 - I am convinced the other captives are flunkies and may be snitches. The Dog is routinely released and seems more than happy to return. He is obviously a half-wit. The Bird on the other hand has got to be an informant. He has mastered their frightful tongue (something akin to mole speak) and converses with them regularly in exchange for food. I am certain he reports my every move. Due to his current placement in the small and stoutly barred hanging cage, his safety is assured. But I can wait; it is only a matter of time.
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Latest reply: Jun 8, 2000
Driving in Chicago
Posted Jun 5, 2000
It's occurred to me this morning, as I battled my way through the rush hour traffic to my place of work once again, exactly where the root of the complaints comes from. Most people simply can’t keep the matter in perspective. In a city of this size, where just about everyone owns a vehicle and hardly anyone lives near where they work, you are simply going to have problems. If you don't live in the States or even if you do, but haven't been to Chicago in particular, you really can't imagine it, it's something that absolutely MUST be experienced to be believed.
The way things work, when driving that is, is ridiculously simple. You simply have to drive as if you were 15 minutes late for THE single most critical appointment of your life and you'll get along juuuuuuuust fine. From what I have seen, most of the criticisms of how people drive here come from those who are...
1) Visiting the area and don't actually live here.
2) Recently relocated here from another area where life moves at a FAR more sedate pace of speed and/or far fewer people own their own vehicles.
Chicago definitely is NOT the place to come and unwind. It's the place to come if you want to GET wound. I don't know of any other place on the planet that has this number of people and almost all of them own cars. Not bicycles, mopeds or motorcycles (though we have those as well, but usually purely for recreational use), but honest to goodness cars of every make, manufacture and year.
A vehicle on the side of the road, engulfed in flames, because it's motor caught fire is probably newsworthy by you, here it's hardly even a footnote in the morning traffic report. This is simply because with seven and a half million people living in a sixty square mile area, most of which own their own vehicles, you're going to have more than your share of incidents, accidents and general mayhem when they all get on the road first thing in the morning.
When you stop to consider it, I find it mind-boggling that there aren’t far more problems than there are when everyone gets moving. I lived abroad for eight years, traveled Europe and Asia both extensively. I never found a single city, in a single country that had near the amount of people that owned their own vehicles. It’s simply a matter of keeping things in perspective. How many people in your town own cars? In mine with a population of 280,000, nearly everyone does and if they’re married they definitely have two vehicles at a minimum and don’t forget to factor in an additional vehicle per teen, per family, depending on their age.
Now factor in that less than 10% of these seven and a half million people actually work within twenty or so miles of where they live. What you get is one heck of a lot of people, all in their own vehicles, trying to get different places, in the same sixty square mile area at the exact same time. Taking all that into account, I find it purely amazing that things aren’t worse than they are.
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Latest reply: Jun 5, 2000
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