No, friends, I'm not crying a river, and I'm certainly not drowning the whole world. I don't usually look sad, and there aren't many photographs of me...
Okay, that's enough.
Today my landlord installed the air conditioner in my bedroom -- hallelujah, praise the Lord. I can't wait to walk into my own private Antarctica come bedtime. It has been HOT here and I'm tired of waking up five or six times in a night just because my body is wailing discomfort.
I also bought a window fan which will hopefully draw more air in through my windows. So far it seems to be working a little bit.
Manager Deborah had two black kittens for me to look at, but they were too small and needy for what I can handle right now, and way too expensive (I'd need to get them fixed, shots, and kitten food), so I comforted myself (because they're going to be killed -- argh, don't yell at me, I feel badly but this is the responsible thing to do) by going to Wal-Mart and buying a large palm plant. I brought it home and got my hands absolutely deliciously filthy in potting soil.
I put in my two-weeks' notice at Ann Taylor yesterday. I'm going to be poor as Adam for awhile but much happier with my nights and weekends wholly mine. I can't wait to spend Saturday mornings at the Farmers Market with Colette, and to take trips to the Warren Dunes on Lake Michigan, and to learn to garden, and to work around the apartment, and to read. It's going to be GREAT.
Hm, I think I can watch a movie before it's bedtime. Tomorrow I'm going to get a phone call from a good friend with whom I haven't spoken for awhile, so I'm excited. (Hey, that good friend could be you.)
12 comments:
Aargh... I'm sorry, but I have the most pathetic soft spot for kittens. Are there any no-kill animal shelters in your area? I know, I know... not responsible. I'm just not cut out for the hard truths of kitten overpopulation.
Actually that occurred to me (through a third source) this morning. I'll look into the location of the humane society.
I can't bear the thought of them dying either.
I'm all for adopting pets from animal shelters. They are such greatful animals. Our cat, Moses, was originally from a shelter. He's the best cat ever.
Enjoy your nights and weekends of freedom! I'm jealous. Joshua and I realized the other day that we totally overbooked our summer, leaving almost no weekends for our own relaxation and pleasure. :o(
So let me get this straight: First you sign off on the euthanization of two kittens because of the expenses you would incur to adopt them (all the while overjoyed about quitting a job that pays you extra money that, if you can quit, you are obviously not reliant on) and then you went and SPENT MONEY at land-raping, employee-abusing, culture-destroying Wal-Mart? I promised myself that I would stop moralizing, but it can wait till tomorrow. Why don’t you keep your job at Ann Taylor, budget as if you didn’t have it, spend the money made there on the kittens, and never shop at Wal-Mart again? In my opinion, that would be the most ethical, moral, and responsible thing for you to do. If you think I am wrong, tell me why. Otherwise, you better try to get your job back.
I'm sure you made the right decision, Sar-Bear. A potted plant, while an immediate expense, is much less of a long-term commitment. If saving animals was your goal, not having a pet, you'd have a shelter, not a home.
What kind of plant did you get? I've been meaning to get a big ol' potted plant, but until lately I was afraid Sybil would scratch all the dirt out of it. (I think she's beyond that, now.)
And the Wal*Mart near me doesn't have the best selection.
Lowe's does, though, and I spent almost an hour perusing their outdoor plant section until I realized it was all a pipe dream because I don't have a yard.
If you're looking for an interesting plant experiment, I bought this cheap wrought-iron-esque clock at Wal*Mart that has a kind of trellis-y thing below it (looks kinda Gaelic, kinda Romantic, kinda chintzy), and I installed a shelf below it on the wall, and I mean to see if I can grow some English Ivy up the clock and have my own little secret garden on a wall.
But I'm moving, so it'll have to wait until then.
*this probably should've just been a post in my own blog*
For Mr. Caler: Because I hate my job at Ann Taylor and am poor enough anyway that land-raping Wal-Mart is the cheapest option (besides, I enjoy Wal-Mart). I hope, if you're ranting about its evils, that you're one of the people lobbying to change it.
And when it comes down to it, I don't want the kittens. I am surprised at how satisfied I am for the time being to live completely alone.
For Gare-Bear: It's a majesty palm, about three feet high and growing fast. I think your trellis idea sounds splendid. And Sybil sounds precious.
I want my apartment to resemble a jungle, I think. I'll be a plant lady.
You know, there's a little bit of Jumanji in all of us, Que Sarah.
You don’t exactly lobby against Wal-Mart so much as you never patronize them. And that’s what I do – I give my business to small, local, preferably family-owned business rather than Wal-Mart. And, as for money, we all make our choices, especially those of us who don’t have very much of it. To me, the preservation of local/regional American culture and respect for the working people of America (as well as a general regard for the well-being of our national economy) is more important than maintaining some standard of living that requires “cost cutting.”
As for the kittens, I have found the point of disconnect: you think that adopting pets is about your satisfaction, whereas, in reality, it is about your responsibility to care for sentient life. See, these, like almost all big decisions in life, aren’t about what satisfies us or about what we want, they are about what we are duty-bound as ethical agents to do. So, adopting kittens isn’t about whether or not you want them, but about your responsibility to adopt them, regardless of your feelings about it. And that is what being an ethical adult (i.e. that is what life) is all about.
With all due respect to Mr. Caler (I don't want to turn this into an argument forum, things like this really should be relegated to email and not someone's journal), I couldn't get too down on Sarah for not accepting the long-term responsibility of having a pet if she's not in a place in her life (personally or economically) to be caring for one. One doesn't adopt orphans willy-nilly simply because they're there without regard to whether or not that person can provide a quality home for them. Nor should one feel burdoned to adopt a pet just because there are pets to adopt.
I'm glad to see Joshua has not lost his touch for dictating how people should run their lives and for assuming that his ethics should be everyone's ethics.
Kittens die. That's life. I would rather spend my money and energy on the homeless children with whom I work than on kittens I can't afford and wouldn't have time for, because I could really only invest in one or the other, and people are worth more than cats. I'm surprised a man who didn't seem too concerned for Terri Schiavo's situation is so adamant about my ethical responsibility to a couple of kittens.
If you have further comments about this issue, you're free to e-mail, but at this point your condescending, incomplete, and ill-founded assessment of my life and responsibilities is pissing me off, so leave them off my blog.
Well said, Sarah. And I'll just leave it at that this time. . .
As for your present lack of an air conditioner, I can entirely relate. At the moment, I am writing whole ballades on the absence of mine here in the unforgiving heat waves of Sudan. The tempuratures are so oppressive here that sometimes I wake up in the morning with my pajamas soaked through and through. It's disgusting and has made me realize what a beautiful thing air conditioning can be. More on this later! Take care!
Holy smoke, you're in Sudan?
E-mail me and tell me about it!
prettypuddleglum@yahoo.com
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