Wednesday, 7 April 1999
Self discipline
Last week was Michael's birthday. He is seven (people) years old now, somewhat aloof but relatively free of neurosis. Except for his rainstorm neurosis. When it rains or even thunders, he is nowhere to be found. He has hidey holes in places we haven't discovered yet. In the old house, he would manage to somehow get up under the kitchen cabinets. When the storms passed, we would be able to see his nose sticking out of a small hole in the corner, a hole much too small for him to enter or exit.
It started when he was a young, virile tomcat. His preference was to roam around the neighborhood and come home when he was hungry. It was common for him to be away for the whole day and night, but he usually came home in the mornings and would wait for signs of life inside -- then start his demanding meowing at the door to let us know the master was home.
"Mom, how long has it been since you've seen Michael?" "Come to think of it, a few days, at least." Every morning, I'd go outside and do my Michael kitty call expecting him to pop out from behind a nearby bush, but it just didn't happen. Eventually, we declared him officially missing, suspected he had found himself another home and went into mourning. After another week or so, we gave away his belongings, his toys, his dish, his bed, his cat food, cat box and cat litter.
That spring, we had days of thunderstorms and torrential rains, so much so that even I was beginning to get tired of it. Finally, there was a bright clear morning and I heard Michael's unmistakable siamese-like voice at the door, demanding entry. If it weren't for his voice, I wouldn't have recognized him. He was so dirty that he appeared to be a solid colored dark gray cat. But, the king had returned. He is a benevolent and loving ruler -- except we can't find him during storms and we can't rub his tummy. He unleashes all sorts of fury if you stroke his tummy.
John Bailey of Journal of a writing man fame has decided to try publishing a new ezine called Over the gate. Looks like a fun thing so I've decided to try to contribute some stuff.
At first, I was going to send him a short story, but I've been corresponding with a girl named Lara who recently gave birth (emergency c-section) to a very premature little girl named Savannah. My heart goes out to her and her ordeal so I'm thinking of sending John a premature baby story (with a happy ending) instead.
My sister-in-law, Mary, keeps writing to me asking for help with some of her web development stuff. Although she is an artist and sculptor, she had no experience with html, etc. when she took her latest job as a graphics designer. Now she has started working with cut and paste Java Script. Some of her stuff doesn't work the way she wants it to, so she has written to me for help. (After all, I ~am~ a programmer, so I should know everything.) I know nothing of Java Script, except for what is intuitive, so I'll be going to the library to get some references. I'd like to learn something about it anyway.
Now, in addition to the job search (um . .well, I ~should~ be job searching), helping Jason with his schoolwork (um . . well, I ~should~, etc), doing the homemaker thing (see above (..)), writing an on-line journal, gardening, and other misc. projects, I've decided to take on story writing and learning Java Script. I guess I'm going to have to start practicing self-discipline in order to accomplish all of the things I want to do. Self discipline is not one of my strong points.
