playing possum

So it only counts as a sabbatical if I begin posting regularly again, right? Good thing my life is full of inspiring twists and turns. For example, it seems I have a new mammal in my life. It all started Friday night as I heard a noise beside my chair. I looked down expecting Ratty Catty and found this baby opossum instead. Cute, right? Always lacking a decent flashlight, I used the camera's flash to keep track of his movements.

Monkey was my assistant in the slow motion hunt. I am so grateful that he didn't start a fight with this thing under my bed.

As it turns out, I think the opossum would've left sooner if I weren't taking his photo. Despite the paparazzi, he seemed to have found his way to the open door. It wasn't until this evening, when I saw my laundry basket had sprouted a tail, that I realized I never actually saw him leave the premises. I'm still pretty sure he did leave, actually, or the cats would've been home a lot more today. (I always know there is a visitor in the house when the boys take shifts watching a certain room or corner...) So if he did leave, it's even cuter / more disturbing that he was back again tonight.

Chasing him with the camera once again, I insisted that he did not want to be an "indooropossuminChicagowithMama" and this time I made sure he left.



Just like all the rat tailed creatures who come my way, he left me a present on the carpet. Broken as I am, I felt worse about scaring the pee out of him than I did about having to clean it up. I wasn't sure if Nature's Miracle would work on opossum odors, so I didn't bother using any. Let's face it, it's not like it really works on cat smells anyway. Given the other atrocities I've removed from the carpet recently, this little spot was a breeze. Still, I am so looking forward to not having carpets.

About that. Friday, being eventful as it was, I found out that not only do I not have carpets in my new apartment, I don't actually have an apartment - at least not right away. I knew it wasn't good when my landlord started out our phone conversation by asking me if I had a place to stay when I came to Chicago... The renovation of my unit was delayed, it seems, by a decree from the gas company, which demanded improvements to the gaslines for the entire building. It should be ready by the second week of September, he says, but I get there on the 3rd. So now I'm supposed to move in to another unit in a different building and my landlord will pay to move my stuff into my real place later. I'm far from thrilled about moving twice in two weeks, but I still think my apartment will be worth the wait. And though I know it will freak them out, I almost think the double move could work to my advantage with the kitties. I wasn't really looking forward to having the christen my new place with their bladders. It might be too much to ask, but I'm hoping they get all the pee out of their system at the temporary place. More likely, they'll pee on both places with equal enthusiasm. Joy.

In other Friday news, my brother gave notice at his job - finally. He's been fantasizing about it for a while and I think he will be the happier for it. My mom would've preferred that he found a job before he quit his job, but that's not exactly how we roll in this family. So instead she is getting a puppy. Cuz that totally makes sense. Actually, it does make sense, because she'd like to have a dog but she's not home enough to take care of one. This is no longer a problem, now that she has an unemployed housemate, or a "remonster" as Erik and I called the unemployed Kevin when he lived under our roof, in homage, of course, to the Aqua Teen Hunger Force - season 2, episode 11. And, because I worked so hard to find it, here's a clip from his television debut:

Anyway, I had other sibling news on Friday but I am strictly forbidden from blogging about it. I'm not forbidden, however, from blogging about not blogging about it, or at least I'm not explicitly forbidden. How's that for some convoluted future-lawyer logic? It will make a great story someday (cuz lord knows said sibling can't keep his / her own secrets...), but until then, suffice it to say I was grateful for being trusted with the knowledge and the laughter it inspired.

Oh, and because I totally saw it coming and because I'm so happy with my school choice (and my yummy scholarship), I was not at all crushed to be officially rejected from Harvard on Thursday. In fact, with all the Friday excitement, I nearly forgot it happened.

Friday was also the day a dear friend of mine went under the knife for some exploratory boob biopsying. We'll know on Tuesday if the coast is clear, but in the meanwhile she reports that she is fine and dandy, though her chest hurts like hell. An interesting side effect of the probing, however, is that her offended boob is suddenly perky as all get out, so she's trying to figure out how to market the procedure (like booby botox), though she doesn't recommend it.

I wish that was my only friend / cancer update, but another dear friend is going under the knife next week. He's got skin cancer and so far it's not melanoma, but they've got to check each site individually. So next week it's all about his ear, and, apparently, regardless of which sort of cancer it is, he's most likely going to lose his ear - entirely. He seems in pretty good spirits about it, considering. For one thing, he's much taller than the rest of the world, so no one can really see his ears anyway. Besides, he's a collector of fractional creatures. He's got, I think, three three-legged cats, one of which has poop problems not quite like OC's but arguably equally disgusting... (Like my sister, he works in a vet clinic - so the cats are an occupational hazard.) Still, I was probly pushing it when I decided to get him a Vincent Van Gogh action figure to celebrate. (And though I found it a wee bit cheaper than at Archie McPhee's, I linked to their site cuz I love love love them...)

Which reminds me, oh my god have I been revenge spending. I think it is finally out of my system, and, really, it could've been worse, but still. Did I really need a Darth Vader flash drive instead of a regular flash drive at half the price? For that matter, did I need a flash drive at all? And the couch, for the cats, the same cats who have made sure I can't have a couch at all, really, I needed that? Actually, it is quite cute. And I slept on it, for days. But still, they're just going to pee on it, I know, but I can pretend they won't. And I sure as hell won't be unpacking it until the pee-fest seems to have ended... Anyway, I also bought some clothes, which is silly since I am moving to one of the best shopping cities in our country, but whatever, and a few assorted other goodies (covers for my phone and my ipod, for example). At least I didn't buy the Darth Vader breathing device, which would go nicely with the light saber I picked up at Comic-Con. And I haven't (yet) bought an expensive hand crafted ergonomic desk, though I haven't committed to the $50 crappy desk at Staples, either. If I had any actual cash, I'd just pick up a desk from Craigslist, but I have so much more available credit than I have cash... which is a bad thing, I know.

Anyway, that's enough news for one week. Time to get back to packing (I'm on a roll at last...) or back to bed, whichever.