Neegaa

Yeah, I stole this off of g.tobin, but I simply had to pass it around. A pilot for a series called 'Tokyo Breakfast' - rich Japanese family speaking ghetto english. Gotta see it.

Urmph. Haven't been updating.

Summary (hah!) of the past week or so:
Laura and I went to the movies last Wednesday and saw X-Men 2 and The Matrix: Reloaded (we originally had just planned to see X2 but when we walked out of the theatre the Matrix was playing in 15 minutes, so we said what the hell. We should have stuck with the original plan.) X2 rocked. The whole franchise raised a bit in my estimation when I watched the first one again a few days ago and noticed the eensiest bit of foreshadowing for the second movie. Love X-Men. The Matrix 2 sucked. As Laura said, 'It was a 2 hour music video.' Don't waste your money, wait 'till it's at the dollar movie or McConomy. Or a coupon from Blockbuster. Sure, the graphics were nice and all, but the rest of it was downright painful.

Then, graduation weekend. Fwoomph. First, I stress because my family's all coming into town, and I picture them all together, with my friends, and start to freak. Laura calls me up Friday morning and suggests a Pamela's breakfast, so I rush to get ready and meanwhile Ayako calls from her cell phone, wishing me good luck and telling me to take lots of pictures, sorry she can't be there. So I head to Pamelas, Laura shows up with roommate Pam in tow, and we sit right down at a table. When the waitress stops by, Pam asks for another place setting, and I look at her, ready to ask who else is going to be coming, when I turn around and see Ayako standing next to the table! Holy shit! She totally surprised me, I had no idea. She had flown into NYC a few days previous and Greyhounded it to Ptown. Hot damn. The weekend was much better after that.

I chauffer(sp?) my mom, sisters, and Emma all over Pittsburgh for a while, head up to my aunt and uncle's place with 3 Mineo's pizzas and feed Bruce, Gram, the 3 cousins and Elizabeth's boyfriend (Russ? maybe?), a 20 year old hot hot hot Scottish boy who may be a ballet dancer. (Cousin Elizabeth turns 17 next week and is a ballerina.)

After family stuff I head back to Beeler, pick up Aya and Laura and head down to Taste of India so they can eat dinner (I get chai). We then head to Ritter's for dessert and cruise back to Beeler, where Laura crashes and Aya and I watch X-Men. I stumble back to Hobart at 5 am, sleep in, throw my cap and gown in the car and meet the fam at Morewood for a campus tour. We finish up early, I put on my robes (stupidly happy, feeling like a witch from Harry Potter), and we head to the UC to wait for Aunt, Uncle, and Gram to arrive. Jenny and Mom get teary over Dad-stuff but I, oddly, do not. Perhaps because I'd been thinking about it so much and it had just occurred to them that this is the one thing he really wanted to see. I had fully expected to cry at some point but only got a little misty-eyed at commencement.

The ceremony. Tons of people I hadn't seen in a while. Jamie and Brooke do a fantastic speech (a marriage ceremony to design, swearing on an iBook). I'm halfway through the line because thankfully they send the CD kids in first (I'd hate being #2 or 3). Asa Sherill strikes a pose on stage with Cicozi and his diploma. I just concentrate on not falling or knocking anyone/thing over, including my cap which I forgot to pin to my head. As I walk up the stairs I hear my row (8 people) clap and holler 'yeah Wendy!' quite loudly. Mentzer flashes me a grin and I send a wry grin back, but manage not to blush, probably because all blood has drained from my face from sheer nervousness. Shake Bruce's hand and grab the diploma, hug Cicozi, get my pen, walk down the stairs and get my robe caught on some guy's foot (but luckily I'm off stage by then). Dazedly walk to the back of the room but get pulled aside by Eric, Bob-o and Liza for handshakes.

Wander around the ceremony afterwards, unsure of what to do. Laugh at the life-size cutouts of Dan Boyarski (attending his daughter's graduation elsewhere) that people are posing with. Don't see too many people. I deliver the 100 foot extension cord to Josh Space as requested - many jokes follow about making extension cords be the official honor cords of ID majors. I agree wholeheartedly.

Afterwards, the 9 of us converge on Girasole in Shadyside for a lovely lunch, I get presents and money (yay!), then we split. The family heads to Uncle Bruce's for drinks, Aya, Laura and I hit the Blockbuster and Coffee Tree in Squill. We pick up Chocolat and Laputa: Castle in the Sky. We stop by G'eagle to pick up chocolate for the movie (you've got to be crazy to watch that movie without some chocolate), settle back at Beeler and have a movie fest. Between movies Aya and I go down to the O and pick up a small fry. Laura marvels at our ability to eat continously. I once again stumble home around 5 am.

Next day, commencement. I'm late. I drive to Beeler to park and pick up Sarah at the house (Jenny and Mom had left earlier that morning), we walk to the stadium. GSIA is already lined up. I walk through them only to see the CFA parade approaching, and hitch a ride when I see Brooke pass by. The ceremony is boring but as I'm sitting nearby Jamie I'm entertained by sarcastic remarks throughout, as I try to keep my cap from blowing away and poking someone's eye out. The student speaker sucked ass. Joel Wolpert has a great middle name, I find out from the program: Abiogenesis. If you remember spontaneous generation from Biology class - life from nothing - that's what it means. Random, but great. (Info courtesy of JSpace) Better than that guy from CD whose middle name is Janas (sounds like Janice). Ouch.

After the ceremony, Sarah, Aya and Laura and I head over to pick up my car (no ticket for parking near a hydrant! Yay!) and cruise over to Lawrenceville for the Church Brew Works. Chris Blue (Doulgeris) and family walk in a little after us. Love seeing families of people you know. :) Good food, hasty trip back to the airport to meet Sarah's flight. The rest of the day Laura, Aya and I spend lounging. It takes us an hour just to get out of the car once we get back to Beeler, spending the time going through Ayako's Ridiculous Memory of Birthdays. She knows her orthodontists birthday, swear to god.

More time lounging and being silly at Beeler. We say goodbye to Pam, who's going to UPenn for grad school. We head to Aladdin's for dinner, then downtown to drop Aya off at the Greyhound station. *sniffle* Plans are in the works for a trip in mid-August to visit San Fran.

End of weekend. I spend Monday recovering, try to do shit today but am foiled by overwhelming tiredness. Finally get around to cleaning part of the kitchen, which I discover is largely covered in a disgusting gray/brown sticky coating that can only be removed by full-strength Lysol kitchen cleaner and a scrubby sponge. Ew ew ew. Now 2 cabinets are contact papered and I can actually put dishes *away* when emptying the dishwasher.

Job search continues. I need to make somewhere around $1200+ per month to cover all my expenses. Not sure the best way to do that - 2 or 3 part time silly jobs, one full-time and another part time job? How related do they have to be to design? How much spare time do I want? Do I want to dress up? Do I want to wear a uniform or a paper hat?

I should stop worrying and just apply to every job I find, and decide then. First I need to leave the apartment. Damn this comfort zone, I need money.

Yay for the BBQ coming up this weekend. Boo for people leaving.

Mad props to Jeff for figuring out the whole 'you have 2 weeks to find a new server' thing. Hopefully the transfer will go smoothly.

See all you Pittsburghers this weekend!

Forgive me for any typos, my cat likes to sit in front of my monitor while I'm working. :P

Not too much going on - it appears that my mom finally came to the realization that if I move home, the cat comes with me. She is suddenly more willing to work with me on the whole 'self-sufficient by Friday' thing. God. Graduation on Saturday. Where did the time go? So anyway, it appears I am staying in Pittsburgh indefinitely, and I'm applying to temp jobs because I figure that's the quickest way to earn decent amounts of money. Meanwhile, I continue to get my portfolio together. If you're feeling up for a crit (and apparently you are), cruise over to my spot on coroflot and tell me what you think of my boards. They're what I'll be using when I actually see people in interviews.

Results on kitty's tumor came back this past Tueseday - apparently he doesn't need any chemo or radiation rihgt now - the doctor got everything out (clean lines, they call it) but this type of tumor tends to recur often, so we have to keep a close eye on it and get him checked more than we ususally would. His sutures come out Tuesday afternoon (along with his collar, so that's good). I have 2 more temp places to hit on Monday, then the rest of the week I'll probably be packing up stuff at Beeler and getting my robes and returning my keys. My mom and sisters are staying in the Hampton Inn in Monroeville. Not sure if Emma the super-cute puppy will be accompanying them or not. Maybe once I finish moving in and get a broom and a vacuum, I can get rid of all the frickin cat hair that I'm currently covered in.

I'm hoping this didn't have too many typos, given that my test at RHI said I had 97 wpm with 100% accuracy. But then, I could actually see what I was typing, and my left arm wasn't falling asleep. Although my fly was open. Cheers, Willy. :) Time to call Ayako for venting. Later children.

I just realized X Men 2 opened this past weekend. Motherfucker. I can't believe I didn't go see it - that's one movie I would have gone to see alone, damn the torpedoes. Something for this week/end, perhaps. Any p-towners interested?

My kitty finished his pain medication this morning but is still bumping around in his 'lampshade' (Elizabethan collar) and finds it very hard to get comfortable while he's sleeping. He's such a sweetie, though - he's kneading my shoulder right now while he's lying on his back. Sooo cute. I loves me kitty. I was supposed to get the lab results back on his tumor today but the doctor never called and the office was closed before I realized it. This was another one of those who-drained-my-life-force weekends.

Thanks to Ayako for the loan! Yes, it is a loan, and I'm an asshole for not calling you yet to thank you personally. If I don't call you tomorrow I'll hurt myself.

you're fuck.


What swear word are you?
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Good news! Surgery went well, and kitty still has ALL 4 LEGS. This is a very good thing. If all goes well tonight I can pick him up tomorrow.

I'm going to do a little more research into kitty chemo and see if it's worth the pain/cost if that becomes an option. We'll get the pathology in a few days. The doc said hopefully we won't even have to worry about it, but it's good to be informed just in case. Once again, I plan for the worst and hope for the best.

I realized yesterday that I don't have a whole lot to focus on in my life besides taking care of myself, which isn't a whole lot of fun. As far as I'm concerned, my cat takes precendence over most things in my life. He's my child, now. And why not? I'm only 22. I have very little to be responsible for right now. There's a lot more stupid stuff for me to be concerned with or spending my time and money on other than the beloved pet I've had since I was 13.

And many thanks to Mr. Space, who yesterday gifted me with his very nice Palm Pilot IIIc with accessories. I appreciate all of fortune's little life preservers when you suddenly get dumped into the ocean of crap.

Kitty update:
He's at the vet right now, surgery is scheduled for tomorrow late morning/early afternoon. The surgeon said he doesn't think the leg will have to be taken off but he can't be sure until he gets a better idea, maybe not even until he's doing the surgery. That's the good news. The bad news is that depending on what type of cancer it is, exactly (which we won't know until the tumor is examined after surgery), he may have to undergo chemo. He said chemo's not as bad for pets as it is for humans, because they're going for 'comfortable' and not 'cure'. But I'm sure that'll be expensive, too (groan). The other possibilities are that the surgery will fix everything (slim), or that the type of cancer will be so agressive that chemo won't do a damn thing and then he won't have much time. Either way, doc says the tumor has to be removed because it's getting big enough to start interfering with things soon so it should improve quality of life anyway.

Surgery total is $900-1100 depending on how long the surgery takes and what he might need to use during the operation.

Let's add up my major expenses for this month, shall we?
$1100 - surgery
$1000 - rent, pet & security deposit for Hobart St. apartment
$600 - biopsy and vet visit
$425 - rent & utilities for Beeler house

Well, it's not like I'll be the only recent college grad in debt. That's how I plan to handle mom's complaints - don't pay the credit card bill this month (or at least, just the minimum due), and I'll get it when I get my job. Interest and everything. Still, though, ouch. And with all this, I haven't been working much at all for Barb, so the income is very very low. But shit happens, right? According to my sister, it always happens all at once, too. Which is nice, because you get a break once in a while. So I've heard. ;)

I bought some chocolate truffles and fresh bread on my way home. A little indulgence right now is a good thing.

I miss my baby. Even if he did bite my hand at the vet. He's such a bastard, I love him so much. Currently highly emotional, and going to finish my boards tonight and search desperately for a job tomorrow.

Geography Quiz

I got 147 out of 150. I think it was Nebraska that gave me some trouble. Damn rectangular states.

Last two links came from .::says me::., FYI.

Jeff and I were supposed to join Joe, Lisa, and others at 'Art All Night' in.. Lawrenceville? But we both ended up falling asleep in our respective apartments until midnight and decided not to go 'cuz we were too tired to go out by then. Party animals, that's what we are.

The Oracle of Starbucks Personality type: Clueless You don't go to Starbucks much; when you do you just tag along with other people since you have nothing better to do. You would like to order a Tazo Chai Crème but don't know how to pronounce it. Most people who drink tall white mocha are strippers. Also drinks: Wine coolers Can also be found at: The mall

My streak of life-suck continues.

Upon arriving in Pittsburgh, exhausted, I moved a bunch of my stuff into the new place with the help of Ms. Foley, locked my cat in the bathroom and went to Ritters for comfort food. The next day, I took my cat to the vet, where the doctor checked the lump and said she was very worried and she wanted to keep him for tests. He stayed there most of the day, I picked him up that afternoon and wrote a check for $500 for the X-ray, bloodwork and biopsy surgery. Kitty was very pissed at anything that came near him and drugged up to his eyeballs. They'd shaved his neck so I got my first look at the tumor - the size of a film canister. Everyone wondered how we missed it, and I don't have a good answer for them.

The biopsy results came back yesterday - malignant tumor, cancerous, needs to be removed. The vet says his entire left arm and part of the shoulder will need to be amputated. I scheduled a surgery consult today for Tuesday afternoon. The estimate for the surgery is $800 to $1000. I don't know if that includes post-op stuff, like medication, physical therapy, etc. My sister's taking up a collection at work to ease the initial financial blow - I will have a job, one way or the other, in a few weeks so it's more of a loan than a donation. If anyone's feeling generous, $20 here and there would help a lot. And it'll be paid back in a few months.

I feel so horrible for my kitty. He's actually doing very well now, the last couple of days the excretory adventures have stopped and the litter box is doing its job. He's been very affectionate, even to Laura when she came over (he hates strangers usually) and purrs pretty much all the time. Still a bit scared of anything new - he freaked out this morning when I took a shower and hid in my computer box.

It's horrible, knowing the future. I keep staring at his left leg, that perfect little paw, knowing it will disappear forever in a week or so (the surgery itself isn't scheduled yet).

At the same time, it's horrible not knowing the future. Will all the cancer be removed with the surgery? Is it worth all the pain and suffering? Will it really extend his life or just delay the inevitable by a few painful months?

This just all has a terrible ring of familiarity. I hate cancer.