Blarg. Damned brainmeats.

Happy new critter news in the next post (and there's plenty!). This is just the semi-daily weather report on the inside of my head.

From IM with NL this morning:
Crappy night/morning. Weird stressy depressing dreams. Feeling kind of depressed and bleak and self-hatey. Blah.
Slept for crap. Constantly alternating between sticky-hot and too cold. Not sure why.
But, have audiobook, and movies, and on my way to farkas and the west side market on my way to work.

(on whether I know why I'm feeling depressed right now):
Hard to figure causality with my depression, especially short-term. Am I depressed because x y and z are on my mind, or am I obsessing about them because I'm depressed? Am I depressed because I'm tired and worn out, or the reverse? When it's a longer-term pattern it's often clearer when it's biochemical vs situational, but in the moment it can be hard to judge which is going on.

(on whether there's anything to do to help):
Just needed to say it, mostly. I'm planning distractions to improve my mood.

Listening to an Audible interview with Lemony Snicket to cheer me up.
it's working pretty well. And I have Hogfather to put on in the background at work.

Happy new critter news!

I need a Spike icon. Should take pics. (that's Tarma and Ringo in my icon)

Spike is a gigantic brown tabby with a little stub tail, about eight or nine years old. He's ridiculously smart and trouble-making and exploratory, and when we fostered him the summer we moved I absolutely fell in love. We had him, Lucy, and Riley for about six months, and kept Riley permanently (previous owner was paring down from 9 cats to 2). Lucy and Spike went back home, but at the time I asked that if he ever needed a home again, that we be given right of first refusal. Sad circumstances have led to that, so we were contacted with the offer to have him back as a part of our household permanently. I jumped at the chance.

So Spike arrived Wednesday afternoon, complete with a giant bag of supplies. I was ridiculously excited; I'm so thrilled to have him again!

We were debating how well cats/dogs retain memory of previous environments, but I'd say he's retained at least a basic sense of familiarity. When we first took him in two years ago it was weeks before we really started to see him confidently wandering around the house (it was such a problem that we _twice_ started making "missing cat" signs for the neighborhood -- his hiding place turned out to be incredibly sneaky). This time it was about six hours before he came out of his hiding spot and started exploring. He's still got a touch of new environs timidity, but only a touch. He's sniffed at the dogs, tolerated Ringo's ever-present curiosity and Cat's occasional hisses (Riley and X have mostly ignored him), and overall been his usual affectionate, mouthy, exploratory self. He's already figured out how to open the cat food storage cabinet, although it was in the midst of being oblivious to the giant bowl of cat food on the shelf above it, so that was kind of funny. As expected, Ringo is following him around like a little brother, much like Ringo does with Riley. I think they'll all do well together.

All in all, everything's going really well with his re-introduction, and proceeding faster and much more smoothly than I'd expected, especially in terms of the cat introductions (which often involve days of hissing and sorting out hierarchy in new introductions). Despite having been gone for a year and a half (if I'm counting right), he's settled right back in. Yay!

Also, it's worth noting that Ringo's additional affection toward me since I lost Mushroom hasn't tapered off at all. I really do think it has to do with not being marked as her territory anymore. I almost never mention her, I know, but she's still very much on my mind these days. Anyway, I'm very much appreciating that about Ringo. Also, I've been enjoying the personality similarities between Ringo and Morph, whom I also still miss. Morph was a very silly, cuddly boy as well. So Spike and Ringo are reminding me of Mushroom and Morph (the two cats I had since college that I've lost in the past couple of years), but in good and happy ways. Riley and X are primarily attached to Caleb, and Cat is Grafton's. I've been doing my best to woo the ever-distractable Ringo, and will be doing the same with Spike, but I'm definitely already feeling less cat-lonely.

Anyone feel like chatting tonight? (also a question about Virgin Mobile)

So, turns out I'll be here at work 'til 7am (EST). Third shift person's out, and I offered to cover in exchange for not coming in for my normal shift tomorrow afternoon. Pleasantly enough, this means I'll get to watch the Doctor Who finale live, instead of spending hours at work steadfastly avoiding spoilers. Also, it's a nice chance to help my boss/coworkers out; since I take so much FMLA I try to balance it out by being as helpful as I can when I am here, covering holidays and emergencies like tonight and such. And since I went through Farkas Pastries and West Side Market today, I have a plethora of goodies to get me through the night.

Third shift is obscenely quiet. Anyone who'd like a chance to chat and who'll still be up, it'd be a good time to catch me on GIM (sarah.whitman.young). I have a bit of project work to fiddle with, but not a huge amount, and I'll likely be bored and struggling to stay awake. If you'd like to catch me on some other IM service, send me an email or comment here or in FB, and I can generally make that happen.

Also, after years of generosity, Dad's finally asked us kids to pay our own way on the cell phones, so I'm looking at a replacement plan. I want an Android this time 'round, and I'm looking for an unlimited plan. Because I have pathetically bad credit, and because I don't think I want a long-term contract anyway, I'm looking at the pay-as-you-go services. Right now I'm looking at the Virgin Mobile $45/mo plan, which has unlimited data/text, and 1200 phone minutes. Anyone have feedback or recommendations/warnings in that regard? What about in terms of affordable Android phones? Anything you particularly love or loathe?