It�s been a while. Miss me?

Now don�t all go clamoring for the guestbook to tell me hello.

All right. Please do.

I made it home yesterday afternoon. I spent the previous day packing up my Houston crap and driving back to Austin, only to catch a 7 a.m. flight the next day, so you can bet your ass I was sleepy.

I walked into my house, Ming leapt for me, and I fell to the couch with her suckling my hand. The poor baby cat.

It appears that I need to find myself a new cat sitter. Helga�s not cutting it.

I left my apartment merely needing a good sweeping, but I returned to quite a wreck. The cat food was all over, the litterbox had only a cup and a half of litter in it (I left about seven pounds that mysteriously got all used up in ten days), the kitties� water bowls were in the kitchen, and there was puke on my bed spread (even though I left the bedroom door closed).

I returned and grabbed the keys from Helga, only to find that she had only Hambone in her apartment. I have a suspicion based on Ming�s reaction to my return that she didn�t take Ming out of the apartment all week.

I don�t know what all went on, but it�s not going to happen again.

This morning I woke up at about the right time and stumbled to the bathroom. The kitties managed to overturn the litterbox during the night, so there was a horrible smell. I cleaned it as best I could and Lysol-ed the hell outta that room. I got ready for my shower, only to find that the hot water was out.

Mickey-fickey.

I came up to work makeup-free and dirty and showered at the gym. Thank goodness for the gym.

While getting dressed I managed to snag my pantyhose.

And then I got into work and promptly entered graphics hell.

But past that, all has been fine.

I thought about something my brother brought up this weekend. He pointed out that he�s only been alive for 6000 days and that we don�t really get too many of them. We talked about how many days we�ve pissed away being mad or upset with someone inconsequential, and how we should do more with what we�ve got.

I love when someone so much younger than me can bring up something seemingly so simple that makes me think a bunch.

I looked up stuff on the Chicago Sport and Social Club calendar today, and I�m trying to decide whether I should do a ballet/jazz fitness class or learn to rock climb. If I felt all snazzy, I�d put up a poll of some sort to see what people thought. I�m betting that ballet/jazz will win though, since I�m still thinking about how high up rock climbing takes me and how un-pretty my hands will be if I force my tush up a bunch of geological formations.

Score another one for the wuss-bag department.

Whatever I end up doing, I�m going to better take advantage of my days. We�ll see what else I come up with now that it�s generally too wet to rollerblade. There�s gotta be more than just weight lifting and pretend running in my evenings!

One roll of film from Xmas was finished off in about fifteen minutes after Branden arrived to the family shin-dig. Had I thought about it, I�d have taken my digicam with me.

All in all, the fam had a good time. There were a good number of pseudo-family members I hadn�t seen or really talked with in a long time that I got to catch up with. I saw three pregnant people, all roughly due at the same time. I got to play with my oh-so-handsome pseudo-nephew Cody, visit with pseudo-nephew Jordan who was a bundle of boyhood, and hold and hug on Branden.

Besides the babies, seeing everyone else was also nice. My immediate family really cracks my shit up. I heard about how my dad made three people throw up in WalMart. My mom mistakenly said something about �cunt power� when referencing a previous entry here. My sister showed me how she usually rough houses with Branden. My brother and I sang along to country music, finishing off our crooning with The World�s Most Annoying Noise from Dumb and Dumber.

Really. Too funny.

All right. I�ve gotta get back to graphics hell, a.k.a. work. Some crazy beotch keeps messing my shit up.

Have a good one, y�all.�