The Great Cat Naming Contest, In Which Nothing Is Won And I Probably Just Keep Calling Them Silly An
Moving:
So much for the waffling. I was converged upon by Jessica, Urs, and Kate, and the drums are all packed up and ready to go away. Tim took away all the mic stands. I sold the stands the PA speakers lived on. Also packed away most of the guitars into cases, all of the pedals and cables, and none of the amps are connected at the moment. Think music might be acoustic up here for a while, unless I get stuff out and plug it back in.
While Tim and I were out selling off spare and downsized music gear, somehow the other three made this giant desk go away, and suddenly the room doesn't feel cramped any more. Lots of piles of things are gone. It's practically liveable in here, but I got glared at when I suggested I could just stay here now.
No way would I have gotten this far on my own, probably ever. Part of why I didn't want to let the place go was not wanting to face all that stuff. Now, it feels manageable. Still a lot to do, but the kitchen is organized and the living room doesn't suck, and that's huge. Everyone's been immensely, incredibly helpful, in a way that buying them Indian food doesn't begin to make up for. This coming weekend, might go down and look at furniture. Going to replace almost all of mine.
I'll probably give notice when I move in early May (timing not determined due to painting), and have a month to finish with this place, but I'm not planning to play music in it once I move, now. If it doesn't fit in the new place, it's going into storage or getting sold or given away.
Car:
It's been 5000 miles and four months including all of winter, so I think I can safely say this worked out well. Parking it out in the snow didn't seem to hurt it any, and I bought it for enjoyment, not to have something to obsess over the condition of.
Cons:
Some music gear and desired cat furniture doesn't fit in it.
Only Keri can fit in the back seat without looking extremely sad.
Easily ripped seats if there's a 65 pound amp I'm trying to wedge into the back seat. Solution: sold the amp, wasn't really right for me anyway.
The transmission is a little grumpy below about 40 degrees, but that clears up after a bad shift or two.
Pros:
I probably don't need to list these. But one unexpected bit of fun is when other people drive it. I've at least driven other sports cars (if way less powerful and in terrible shape), but it's a lot of fun watching people who otherwise wouldn't have a reason to drive one try it out.
Useless Gypsy Cats:
The boy cat comes out many times a day and is a good kitty. The girl cat is entirely ridiculous and keeps hiding. Tonight there was a bit more progress: I found her behind the sofa, we stared at each other a bit, I tossed a cat treat behind the sofa, she kind of shrank away and I left her alone. Five minutes later, I hear crunching noises, and after that she does a new thing: she went upstairs in plain sight. Went fast, and around behind the desk so she didn't have to get too near me, but this is the first time she's come out on her own. Maybe she didn't know I was there, but there weren't a lot of places for me to be where she wouldn't have been seen. I think she just decided she could probably dash upstairs in plain sight without getting eaten.
Some people think they need names. So far, I and others have come up with:
Ira & Irma, the original names (not my fault)
Beavis & Butt-cat
Walnut (same name for both, refers to brain size, usually used after she runs away from food)
Marshall & Eden (Jessica wanted to name them after amps)
UGC 1 & UGC 2 (Useless Gypsy Cats)
Django & Cynthia (actual gypsies, sort of: Django Reinhardt, jazz guitarist and major inspiration for Sabbath's guitarist due to similar hand injuries, and a minor superhero named Gypsy)
I originally wanted to name him Gabriel, but that's faded now. He's pretty much Silly Black & White Cat ("Hi, silly! Come here, silly!") to me now. I'm not much for naming animals. She tends to get called Silly Grey. I don't know much about her otherwise, because she's always hiding. I don't really like giving American first names to pets, but foreign ones might work. There are probably lots of names I'd like and just don't think of. Elise, maybe, after the only City of Heroes character of mine that ever got even a first name, or Eve (Eden, coincidentally), the character she was based on, both with powers of darkness. Seems like they ought to be named after something, anyway. Burma & Shave?
So much for the waffling. I was converged upon by Jessica, Urs, and Kate, and the drums are all packed up and ready to go away. Tim took away all the mic stands. I sold the stands the PA speakers lived on. Also packed away most of the guitars into cases, all of the pedals and cables, and none of the amps are connected at the moment. Think music might be acoustic up here for a while, unless I get stuff out and plug it back in.
While Tim and I were out selling off spare and downsized music gear, somehow the other three made this giant desk go away, and suddenly the room doesn't feel cramped any more. Lots of piles of things are gone. It's practically liveable in here, but I got glared at when I suggested I could just stay here now.
No way would I have gotten this far on my own, probably ever. Part of why I didn't want to let the place go was not wanting to face all that stuff. Now, it feels manageable. Still a lot to do, but the kitchen is organized and the living room doesn't suck, and that's huge. Everyone's been immensely, incredibly helpful, in a way that buying them Indian food doesn't begin to make up for. This coming weekend, might go down and look at furniture. Going to replace almost all of mine.
I'll probably give notice when I move in early May (timing not determined due to painting), and have a month to finish with this place, but I'm not planning to play music in it once I move, now. If it doesn't fit in the new place, it's going into storage or getting sold or given away.
Car:
It's been 5000 miles and four months including all of winter, so I think I can safely say this worked out well. Parking it out in the snow didn't seem to hurt it any, and I bought it for enjoyment, not to have something to obsess over the condition of.
Cons:
Some music gear and desired cat furniture doesn't fit in it.
Only Keri can fit in the back seat without looking extremely sad.
Easily ripped seats if there's a 65 pound amp I'm trying to wedge into the back seat. Solution: sold the amp, wasn't really right for me anyway.
The transmission is a little grumpy below about 40 degrees, but that clears up after a bad shift or two.
Pros:
I probably don't need to list these. But one unexpected bit of fun is when other people drive it. I've at least driven other sports cars (if way less powerful and in terrible shape), but it's a lot of fun watching people who otherwise wouldn't have a reason to drive one try it out.
Useless Gypsy Cats:
The boy cat comes out many times a day and is a good kitty. The girl cat is entirely ridiculous and keeps hiding. Tonight there was a bit more progress: I found her behind the sofa, we stared at each other a bit, I tossed a cat treat behind the sofa, she kind of shrank away and I left her alone. Five minutes later, I hear crunching noises, and after that she does a new thing: she went upstairs in plain sight. Went fast, and around behind the desk so she didn't have to get too near me, but this is the first time she's come out on her own. Maybe she didn't know I was there, but there weren't a lot of places for me to be where she wouldn't have been seen. I think she just decided she could probably dash upstairs in plain sight without getting eaten.
Some people think they need names. So far, I and others have come up with:
Ira & Irma, the original names (not my fault)
Beavis & Butt-cat
Walnut (same name for both, refers to brain size, usually used after she runs away from food)
Marshall & Eden (Jessica wanted to name them after amps)
UGC 1 & UGC 2 (Useless Gypsy Cats)
Django & Cynthia (actual gypsies, sort of: Django Reinhardt, jazz guitarist and major inspiration for Sabbath's guitarist due to similar hand injuries, and a minor superhero named Gypsy)
I originally wanted to name him Gabriel, but that's faded now. He's pretty much Silly Black & White Cat ("Hi, silly! Come here, silly!") to me now. I'm not much for naming animals. She tends to get called Silly Grey. I don't know much about her otherwise, because she's always hiding. I don't really like giving American first names to pets, but foreign ones might work. There are probably lots of names I'd like and just don't think of. Elise, maybe, after the only City of Heroes character of mine that ever got even a first name, or Eve (Eden, coincidentally), the character she was based on, both with powers of darkness. Seems like they ought to be named after something, anyway. Burma & Shave?