Xeyli’s Newest Ramblings of Nonsense

Actually, visit to the Café is imminent.  I just browsed "The Daily Dish" which is a blog on the HonoluluAdvertiser.com, and the photos and review of some of the food items are great.

Here's a screenshot of what I want to try that was listed on The Dish:

Show us a photograph from a wedding.
Submitted by Connie.

I'll show more than one.  I love photography.

I completely forgot about posting.

Boo!:

• parasites.  they are cramping our style here.  my friend's kids want to see Puka, but I won't let them until she gets closer to being parasite-free.  I let adults see her, but make sure to keep a bottle of Wet Ones handy, just to be on the safe side.
  
• not having inspiration.  I haven't opened up my sketch book in a month, maybe more.  I haven't been inspired to do anything.  I don't like this.  I want to be able to pick up and draw whatever.  it doesn't happen.
• haven't been to the gym in over a week.  since getting Puka, I've been bringing her to work, keeping he company and making sure she's doing okay.  plus, I have to give her eye ointment twice a day (although we've been slacking a little on this, but I keep up as best I can).  I miss going to the gym.  I'm gonna start up next week for sure, when I start leaving Puka at home.
• gas prices.
• cost of living in Hawai'i.
• constant reminders that I will never get to live anywhere but here.  Pearl Harbor is celebrating its 100th anniversary.  It is now being considered somewhat of a "national treasure" and so they will be doing upgrades and such...  so it just reminds me of how stable Pearl Harbor is, compared to Puget Sound or San Diego.  I'll never get to move.
  
• unresponsive property managers and maintenance crew.  Last week, I went to the restroom, and one of the toilets was clogged.  I went to use the other one, and a lady came in and flushed the clogged toilet... causing it to overflow.  The water started spilling all over the floor and I had to lift up one leg to avoid it.  yuck.  I called the property manager to get the maintenance guy out to fix it.  I had to LEAVE A VOICE MAIL FOR HER.  and you know what?  I don't think they have mopped the floor yet.  I think it air-dried and they didn't clean up the floor, because there are still little bits of toilet paper near the drain on the floor.  double yuck.
  

Yay!:

• kitty getting bigger and keeping very active.  Puka naps a lot, like all cats, but she runs around and pounces her toys and our feet and crumpled pieces of paper... she's a lot of fun.
• getting my teeth cleaned by the oral hygienist.  I love the feeling of freshly cleaned teeth.
• Indian food.  I took my mom and brother (his birthday is May 12) to Maharani for dinner on Sunday night.  Luckily we got there early enough to avoid standing in line (they don't take reservations).  I forgot to take pictures... oh well, I guess I'll just have to go again!
• word games.  I like word games.
• my boss.  he's a really laid back guy who understands that, when there isn't any work going on, there isn't any work going on.
• getting ready for parties.  we're having a going away party for my boss on Friday night, at the assistant manager's house.  Saturday, there's a party out in Hawai'i Kai.  We also have a Rock Band Party for the end of the month.
• sleeping in.  I slept 'til 11:30 on Sunday.  it was nice.
• spending money AND helping someone at the same time.  we've decided to use part of our stimulus package to buy my boss' television.  it's a big screen tv and he's selling it for less than what he paid for it, even though he's only had it for about 5 months.  I was hoping to get it for a little less than that, but I think he's a little cheap and doesn't realize used items don't hold their value like they should.  oh well.. it's helping him out.
  

My baby:

or my brother's baby:

hard to choose.

What's the best thing about your mom?

I have finally reached the point where I can joke around with her.  When I was younger (I'm still young, shut up), she was always strict, because my dad didn't want to ever be the bad cop.  She also took a different approach in raising me.  My two older brothers grew up to be very dependent on her (always ask for her what they should do about this and that, ummm not moving out of the house, etc.), and so she tried to NOT do as much for me as she did for them.  I originally took that as neglect.  Come on... 10 years old and not understanding what it would take to be independent.  y'know?  so now, I think I'm better off because I feel a lot more independent than my brothers are.  She also likes to be able to vent her frustrations with me (which are mainly dealing with my dad, and so she can't vent them to him [not that he is much for talking anyway?]).  we have a much better relationship now.

I've been bringing Puka to work with me this week, making sure she's getting accustomed to us.  She likes to sit on my foot and nap.  weird.  right now, she's small enough to do that.

Last night was her first sulfer bath for the ringworm.  The vet said to sponge it onto her and let it air dry with a hair dryer.  I haven't owned a hair dryer in probably 10 years... so I bought a cheap, travel-sized one at the corporate devil.

The sulfer bath was pretty nasty... but at least it was a natural smell, instead of an intense chemical smell.  Puka was struggling at first, yet still purring away.  She started getting used to it... then she started shivering from being wet.  we had to let the solution sit on her for a few minutes (10 minutes, from what the foster lady told me), then pat her down with a paper towel and blow dry her.  She was scared of the hair dryer, at first, but then started to calm down as it dried off her fur.

I haven't tried to smell her after being dried, but her fur doesn't look discolored anymore.  hopefully we got enough solution on her.  We have to do this once a week for at least four weeks, possibly six.  what fun.

Well, I think we have finally come up with a name for the new kitty.  Her name is Puka.  Puka is Hawaiian for "Hole," meaning she's already causing a hole in my pocket.

I took Puka to the vet yesterday, and found out she has THREE different parasites in her system, plus the goopy eye thing.  Altogether, the vet visit cost me $150.  I have to take her back next week, which will probably cost me another $60 (this is just my guess, but I could be wrong and the follow-up visit might not cost anything).

For those who may not want to know details of her condition, please turn away.  This might be TMI for you.

She has ringworm, which is a parasite that can be transmitted to other animals, including humans.  Most adult humans have a strong enough immune system to avoid getting it, but children are more likely to get it.  Thankfully no children here, but we do have Bela, and he might get it... so we're trying to avoid having the two of them out and about at the same time.  She also has coccidia, which is a microscopic parasite in the intestinal tract.  This can be transmitted through contact of infected feces, so the best way to prevent spreading this is to keep the litter box clean at all times.  She also has tapeworms.  This one will be taken care of later on, when she gets a little older.  According to the vet, Puka is younger than what we were told, probably 4.5-5 weeks instead of 6-7 weeks.  I guess she's not quite old enough to get the tapeworm medication, so we'll be taking care of the other crap first.

I have ointment for her eye, liquid gel medicine for coccidia, liquid gel antimicrobial treatment (to boost her immune system for any other problems she might have), and a medicated dip for the ringworm.  Medicated dip?  We haven't done this one yet... going to do this tonight.  It's a sulfer-based medicine that is diluted with water and will be sponged onto Puka's entire body, and paintbrushed onto her face area.  There's a spot on her nose where the ringworm discoloring is visible, so we must make sure to treat that area.  Sulfer-based... yay... we're gonna have a stinky kitty.  We have to dip her once a week, for anywhere between 4-6 weeks.  oh fun.

Someone had told me to give up on her and get another cat.  What?  that's like adopting a child and then saying, "oh, this one is broken, take it back and get a new one."  at least that's how I feel, anyway.  At the time, I didn't know how the foster lady got her kittens... until I was already interested in adopting Puka.  The foster lady and her boyfriend trap feral kittens and raise them and adopt them out to people.  It's a good way to control the feral cat population, but at the same time, you have no clue what illnesses they might have.  I guess she does all her own medicating, rather than taking them to the vet to do check-ups.  I was under the impression she took them to the vet when they got old enough for it, but perhaps I misunderstood.  In any case, Puka is our responsibility now, and it's gonna be quite a journey the next couple of months.

I Loathe:

• poor spelling/grammar/punctuation/etc.  it's one of my biggest pet peeves.  I'm also not very fond of the txt talk... the UR 4 ME O RLY 2NITE.  if you get text messages from me, they will almost always be full words, no abbreviations or acronyms (although some chat acronyms and abbreviations I do use...).  I can get annoying like that.
• veterinarian prices.  I'm going to take the "Boo Boo" to see the vet later today, and I KNOW they are going to charge me a kidney for the visit.  since she MIGHT have worms, and they aren't sure yet, the vet tech was already talking about "we'll do some tests, and then send it up to the mainland for more tests..." blah blah blah... yeah, I'll have to hold off on larger purchases for now.
• having to get to work earlier than usual.  The owner of the company said, "we'll come down there sometime soon to check up on things and see what we can do to help and improve."  He didn't say WHEN exactly... so he could appear at any time this week or next.  Need to make sure we're all here from the beginning of our Hours of Operations.
• having to teach "Boo Boo" to use the litter box.  She pees in there, but she doesn't always poop in there.  She tends to poop under the table in the kitchen, hidden away.  Maybe that's where she went at the foster house...  the foster lady should've already taken care of this litter box problem.  I've never had to teach a kitten where or how to poop, so I have no idea what to do.  I hope she starts understanding it on her own.
  
• waiting.  I hate waiting in all its forms.  I hate waiting for a vacation to start, hate waiting to find out what happens to Doctor Who in the next episode, hate wondering whether I'll get the full stimulus package amount (I know they have a calculator, but I keep forgetting to pull up my tax info at home and checking it), hate waiting for the work day to end, etc.
  

I Love:

• taking silly photos of kitty.  She's such cute little thing.  Everytime she's in a cute position, I want to take a picture.  There have been a couple of times when Mike has caught her trying to eat Bela's food.  Bela's food is bigger than she is, and she's trying to eat it!  I haven't seen it yet, or else there would be a photo of it.
• having a nice barbecue birthday party for friends.  Kristie's birthday party at Kaka'ako Beach Park was really nice.  I'm glad she liked her gifts.
• Netflix.  I rent movies AND can view certain movies online.  I watched the first season of Dexter, which I enjoyed.  Quite a good storyline, for an American series.
  
• getting approval for a somewhat large purchase.  I asked Mike if I could buy a new knife, specifically a Kyocera HIP (Hot Isostatic Pressed) ceramic Santoku knife. 
  

  Kyocera_KT-140-HIP-D_Santoku
  it's a high density ceramic blade with a damascus-like design on it.  Ceramic blades won't brown vegetables and fruits, and stay sharper for much longer than steel.  I'm also going to order the ceramic peeler they have.  I'm going to wait for payday next week (or if we get our stimulus package on the 9th?) before making this purchase.
• watching kittens practice their pouncing.  You know what I mean?  When they crouch down low, shake their butt, and then dash over to what they want to pounce.  it's hilarious.
• salsa.  not the dance, the food.  yum.
  

We picked up "Boo Boo" on Saturday evening, after Kristie's birthday party.  We figure it'd give us a little more time to get to know her, and Mike took this weekend off, so even better.

Weighing in at 3/4lb., this heavyweight is quite the adventurous, active little thing.  She's quite friendly (hand-raised from 2 weeks old) and very playful.  Talks a lot.

The first meeting of the dork dog Bela and "Boo Boo" went better than expected.  I was afraid Bela would growl at her and try to show her who's boss... but Bela already knows that the cats are boss in this household (they always have been).  "Boo Boo" was the one who hissed at Bela, and almost swiped her claw on his nose, too.  They're getting along better now, though Bela needs to watch where he steps; he's been close to trampling her a few times.

Not only is she getting along fine with us, she has already checked out the dork gear (aka Rock Band drum set).  She's gonna kick some metal ass soon enough.

She MIGHT have worms, but we're not sure.  It could be flea larvae and a bad case of constipation (she hasn't pooped today at all, and only pooped once yesterday at about 11am).  She also has a goopy right eye... been wiping it down as best I can.  I might be taking her to the vet tomorrow, to get everything checked out.

I want to send the mom-in-law something for Mother's Day.  Mike and I are both avid procrastinators, and we always forget to send a card and sometimes even forget to CALL.  So... I was going to order something on 1-800-flowers.com.

Those of you who know me (who most of you will not respond in time for me to order the flowers today), you know I don't care for flowers.  I think cut flowers are a waste of money.  They just end up dying in a week, sometimes less.  With that in mind, I was thinking of getting a potted plant.