Let it rain, let it rain, let it rain!

Hmmm, doesn’t quite have the same ring to it. Fifty-nine degrees, and raining heavily out, with thunderstorms predicted for this afternoon yet. It isn’t exactly Christmas weather here. Good thing I come pre-shrunk.

The Socialist is off to the West Coast with the Matrix’s hatch full of wrapped gifts and the front seat full of munchies and heavy metal CD’s. Traveling by car leaves him flexible and he’s set no firm date for his return trip home. The apartment will be lonely without him, but perhaps now the cats can be convinced to switch their allegiances back to me again.

As for the holidays next year – I skunked out my coworker and feel not a pittance of remorse about it. Those of you following my chronicles remember that she managed to oust me from Christmas week on this year’s vacation schedule. As it turned out, I had no vacation left to take by the time Christmas rolled about this year due to my illness. That wasn’t the point, though. I had vacation time when I originally signed up for Christmas week, and had it wrested from me. Well, next year’s vacation calendar is not yet posted. It won’t be posted until the first week of January. I happen to be friends with the girl in charge of the calendar though, and my name is already on for Christmas week next year. I won’t be cheated out of California two years in a row.

I’m seriously thinking about taking the Kitten and the O’Beast to PetSmart to have their pictures taken with Santa on Saturday. I know better than to take Cattitude; she’d rip Santa’s jolly red nose off his face. I’m genuinely not sure how the other two will act, but at least I know Santa won’t file any lawsuits for pain and suffering if I give it a try with them. I even got them Christmas collars for the occasion – Kitten’s is a nice bright blue with candy canes, and the O’Beast’s is red with a green bowtie that has a jingle bell on it. I hope they cooperate.

I also got them some Christmas presents while picking up cat food yesterday. Kitten will get a six-pack of fuzzy mice – those blasted fuzzy mice disappear faster than kibbles in the O’Beast’s bowl. I’ll be damned if I know what she does with them. O’Beast and Cattitude really can’t be bothered with toys at their “advanced” ages, so they will get treats that are laced with catnip instead.

And for all three of them … Catnip bubble juice! I have no idea if this stuff will actually amuse them, and the O’Beast actually has a history of being deathly afraid of bubbles. But the O’Beast also has a history of being utterly addicted to catnip and is much more affected by it than the other two, who also adore the stuff. I’m hoping to give the stuff a trial run this weekend. If it turns out to be entertaining enough, then I’ll try and get pictures of the antics.

I believe I’ve failed to mention that I saw the Two Towers on Wednesday night. Don’t worry, no spoilers here. I will say I was a bit disappointed in the movie, but it was disappointment borne of seeing a good movie after seeing a surpassingly excellent movie and expecting the second to be just as good. There were some departures from Tolkien that I’m going to have to mull over before I decide if they truly bother me or not. My initial feeling as I walked out of the theater was that the changes were more than necessary to make the film, but I may moderate my views after some reflection. For anyone who wonders, it is definitely worth going to see in the theaters. I would NOT recommend taking a child to see it. If the kid is old enough to read the trilogy, he’s old enough to see the movie, but that’s probably the cut-off age.

The only unfortunate part of my movie going experience was being stuck behind a group of college freshmen Legolas-lovers. I really could have done without the squeals every time their favorite hormone inducer strung his bow or mounted his horse. Even when I was at that age and had my own personal Harrison Ford crush I was never that bad. I think.

Finally, a tune for the season:

*hepatectomy: surgical exision of liver tissue