How Dare You!

Just a wee kitten on a banana bed, looking grumpy because I dared take her picture while she was napping.

No filters except for Android’s native “enhance” filter. I also cropped the photo so that my foot wouldn’t be visible. That blue thing in the lower left corner is the food plate.

That’s all for today. Did I mention that I added a post to my Penguin Scientific blog? Feel free to take a gander.


Kitten photos for Thingadailies!

Speaking of Kaiju

Tonight we watched Godzilla: King of the Monsters, which I’d been wanting to watch since it first came out in 2019. We’d seen the other movies in the rebooted Godzilla franchise: Godzilla and Kong: Skull Island, so it was inevitable that we’d see this one. Now we’re all ready to watch Kong Vs. Godzilla when that one comes out next month.

I had listened to an episode of the Our Opinions Are Correct podcast this morning which talked about kaiju movies, and which suggested that, just as the original Gojira was an allegory for the US bombing of Japan in the Second World War, these modern films can be seen as an allegory for climate change. I think this is pretty clear. Or, rather, it’s sledged into us with a sledgehammer. It’s an important message.

On the whole, I liked the movie. I think Jennifer has been less impressed with them than I have.

Speaking of kaiju, I went into the office earlier this evening to hang with the kittens and get pictures. I didn’t get very many. In fact, I only got one that I liked. It’s this one:

This is Misdemeanor poking her head into the tower track toy that they like. Sometimes they will put their whole body in, with just their butt and tail sticking out, and I really wanted that picture but alas the kittens weren’t cooperating. It’s an okay picture. Slightly blurry. The lighting in the office is difficult to work with, but I applied the native “enhance” filter that made it all look slightly less yellow. Enh. Let me know what you think.


In other news, I’ve submitted twenty-five stories this year so far. I’ve gotten eleven rejections so far: nine form rejections, and two personal. A personal rejection is nice, because it generally means it’s made it past the slush team into the hands of an editor. Still, I have fourteen outstanding. I’m aiming for one hundred rejections this year.

Okay, that’s oversimplifying things. Obviously, I want to sell stories so I can make some money off this fiction writing thing. But I got a wee bit of flack on social media; one correspondent commented that if they got that many rejections they would stop and assess their entire writing process, because it meant they were doing something wrong. I disagree with that assessment; there are a lot of stories out there, a lot of writers, and not that many well-paying markets.

Besides, I took 2020 off completely from submitting anything, reassessing my entire fiction output, and that did me no good at all. Well, I did submit one story to a writing contest, but got a standard “didn’t even make it to the next round” letter.

Shooting for 100 rejections doesn’t mean I really want to damage my ego anymore than it already is. It really means 100+ submissions, assuming that at least one of those submissions ends in a sale.

Here’s hoping.


Daily kitten pics for Thingadailies!

A wee bit of purrspective

Despite ample opportunities for kibble (see image to the left) this kitten, Filch, would have you know that he hasn’t eaten in EIGHT YEARS today! Not since noon has he received wet food, which is, in kitten years, approximately forever (give or take). When I opened the door to the office where we keep Filch and his siblings (Pilfer and Misdemeanor, for those who aren’t keeping track), there was much whining and crying going on. We have seen these kittens eat kibble, so we know they know how to do so (though the kittens dispute this; fake mews, and all) and find it yummy enough. They just don’t get to eat wet food as often as they want, which is all the time forever.

Goofy kittens.

These pictures aren’t the best pictures I’ve taken, but in my defense it’s hard to take a good picture of  a kitten who is rapidly chomping down on the few remaining molecules of wet food (Pilfer and Misdemeanor having eaten their fill already). So filters were applied.

Filch is also kind of a meanie. I separate the wet food into three piles when I put it on the floor, because we have seen Filch actually reach out a paw and growl to prevent the others from getting to the food where he is eating. Sheesh.

Meanwhile, in other news, I finally got a photograph of our new (to us) car:

Meet Clovis! It’s a 2017 Toyota Prius. The color is called “sea-foam green”. We weren’t sure when we looked at the initial photos on CarMax. Was it green? Was it blue? When CarMax did the initial inspection, they reported it as “green, with blue flecks”. But it turns out if you have your vehicle’s VIN, you can look it up on Toyota’s website and get all the specs on your car, including paint job. Which is how we found out it’s official color.

Here’s hoping no more trees drop down on our cars.


Cat pictures a day for Thingadailies!

Whiners and Diners

These three little ingrates have done nothing productive all day. They just slept in their fuzzy bed (which you can see in this picture) and occasionally whined at us when it was time to feed them. They have particular desires when it comes to feeding time. One full can of wet food, please, on a large plate so that Filch (in the middle) can eat his without growling at the others.

I took this image on my morning break when I went through the office where these guys are staying to get to the bathroom. I like that they’re all looking up at me. Mostly. I cropped the original picture by about a third and then applied Google’s built-in “Enhance” filter.


Kitten pics for Thingadailies!

So you thought…

…that I would post an entry a day with a kitten (or two) a day for the month of February? Well, so did I. But between school and work and writing and editing stories for Daikaijuzine, I found myself somewhat busy. Still, kittens will kitten, so I took a couple of pictures the other day!

This is Pilfer. I like super close-up pictures of kittens and cats for some reason, so this one (which I actually took in selfie mode because he was facing away from me — fortunately you cannot see my face) I had to keep.

And Misdemeanor! She’s very whiny. I caught her in a thoughtful moment. Who knows what she’s pondering?

I didn’t edit either picture much, aside from applying the phone’s built-in “enhance” filter. The lighting in our home library, where these pictures were taken, is pretty bad, so the filter was necessary to make the pictures tolerable. I think I’m getting better at framing the shots.

Still no pictures of the new car, I’m afraid. Every time I head out to run an errand (approximately once per week in these plague times) I think to myself, as I head out the door, that I ought to take a picture of the car. But something happens when I get to the bottom of the stairs, and the thought flies from my head. Soon, though!


Kittens for Thingadailies!

More kittens!

…And here are Wellerman (front, looking grumpy), and Shanty (rear, looking hopefully at the ceiling) seated together on a kitty sofa which we bought a couple of months ago. They’re cute, right? This is a pretty raw pic and the flash probably wasn’t necessary. I took another picture shortly after this one from a different angle, but Jennifer posted that one to the House of Floof page on Facebook and Instagram, so I think it was a good one just based on that.

In other news, we have acquired a new car. It’s a 2017 Toyota Prius, of course, and it’s a strange color that occupies that liminal space between light green and light blue (the salesperson who looked it over said it was green with blue spots). I tracked down the car to the Toyota website, and found that its “official” color is sea-foam green. We have named the car Clovis for no good reason other than because it sounded good. Pics forthcoming.

And in yet other news, this weekend is Boskone 58. Boskone is a science fiction and fantasy convention that I’ve been wanting to go to for years, but it’s in Boston in winter, which has always been such a deterrent for me. But this year, because of the covid-19 pandemic, it’s completely online. That’s super, because I get to see the panels and panelists and talks and what-not, but not-so-super because gosh darn it I really miss going to in-person conventions and meeting people at random in the hallways or at meals.

UPDATE: This little chucklehead is Pilfer. Like his siblings (Filch and Misdemeanor) he is about five weeks old, closing in on six. He’s very friendly, and has a loud purr. He’s been known to put his whole head into my mouth when I’m holding him and I yawn. I can’t help but wonder what he’s thinking. “What’s in there? So fascinating!”

That’s all for today. Tune in later, maybe even tomorrow, for more quality content.

Fuzzy Nation

This little chowderhead is Filch, and he’s about five and a half weeks old. I like this picture, because, well, I like kitten closeups. I just wish I’d gotten him to look directly at the camera. But he’s young so he moves around a LOT.

This is his sister Misdemeanor — Missy, Misty, or Miss-D for short. I think she looks kind of grumpy in this picture, don’t you? She’s not normally a grumpus, though. She was just kind of sleepy when I took this picture. Well, also the kittens had just gotten their first vaccines, and had blood drawn, and their momma cat had gone away. So yeah, I guess they had a right to be grumpy.

These two critters (and their brother Pilfer, whom I did not get a good picture of this morning) are current fosters of ours. Their momma kitty, Carmen (as in Sandiego), went back to her own home yesterday, so these three have been successfully weaned and are living wild and free on their own. I feel like it’s sad to let three kittens be on their own when their momma cat moves away, but that’s the way of cats in the world, and these three guys will be just fine.

In other news, we picked up our new (to us) car last night. We bought it online through CarMax, because we did not want to have to fuss with salespeople trying their hardest to upsell us to features we don’t want or need in a car. Heated side mirrors! Built-in GPS (which we’d never use because we have Google Maps on our phones)! Etc.! No, we knew what features we wanted, and shopped around on the CarMax website until we found the one we wanted, and arranged to buy it. We only got the one car; we’re going to try being a one-car household for awhile. Right now, we’re both working at home 100% anyway, we hardly go anywhere, and even when I am commuting to work, my commute is only six miles which takes me twenty minutes on a bad day.

CarMax did not hardsell anything to us aside from additional warranties, which we expected. So that was fine.

All in all, not a bad time was had yesterday (except, perhaps, by the kittens).


Thingadailies!

Conclave

Today’s photo is of three foster kittens holding a conclave. More accurately, two of them (Wellerman on the left, Tina on the right) having an important discussion about a piece of painter’s tape that was between them when they were interrupted by Shanty (center). It’s the sort of thing Shanty does. He’s very much an “in your face” kitty who demands attention and who wants to be in the middle of whatever is going on. So the important conclave regarding the piece of tape was interrupted by an interloper.

All three of these fosters — Wellerman, Shanty, and Tina — will be available for adoption soon from Happy Tails in Sacramento. Wellerman has Cerebellar Hypoplasia, which is a neurological condition, so he sort of wobbles when he walks. He’s definitely shyer than the other two, but he’s still a love. Tina’s shy as well, but Shanty is very friendly and loving.

Now, you may wonder where the kittens got their names. Or maybe you weren’t. I don’t know. But remember a few weeks ago when everyone was singing sea shanties? Yes, that one. Here’s the one I mean (I hesitate to share this video, because I know you’ve seen it before, but whatever):

Except, of course, this song has no mention of Tina, so her name was given to her before we got her.

Now, you may ask yourself, why is there no sea shanty about cats? Well, there is! Here you go!

Of course, when I think sea shanties, I can’t help thinking of the King of Sea Shanties. Yes, I’m talking about “Barrett’s Privateers”, performed here by Stan Rogers:

Fun fact: in the mid-1990s I had an online relationship (conducted entirely by email and telephone) with a woman from Halifax, Canada. At some point she made me a couple of mix tapes of purely Canadian music. There were a couple of Stan Rogers songs on those tapes, which is how I learned of his music.

I wonder whatever became of her.

Anyway. Yes. Cats. The picture above, of Wellerman, Shanty, and Tina is today’s Picture of the Day for Thingadailies. Enjoy!


Thingadailies!

What the duck?

Jennifer suggested, and I agreed, that my “thing” for this year’s Thingadailies should be photographs, since I’m not good at them and a couple of weeks of taking them daily should help. Of course, she meant photographs of our foster kittens, like the ones she takes for House of Floof, but I figure I can take pictures of anything I want, since any photo will help me improve. Behold the first one I took of the month:

I have no rubber duck to work with, so Seamus will have to do.

 

I call this silly stuffed penguin Seamus the Miracle Penguin. Normally he rides around with me in my car, but since my car is currently in the shop (see my last entry re: trees), he’s sitting with me while I work at home. Behind him is my work laptop, and the wallpaper image is a puffin from the Monterey Bay Aquarium. It’s a total coincidence, actually. The wallpaper image rotates through a selection of about 80 pics from the Aquarium, and this one just happened to show up while I was setting up the picture.

Seamus is a useful co-worker. Among programmers there is a method of debugging called “Rubber Ducking“, wherein you explain your code, line by line, to a rubber duck, or some other inanimate object (not sure why a rubber duck is the ISO standard here).  I have no rubber duck, but Seamus has been very helpful.

Why is Seamus the Miracle Penguin? This is a question that my family and friends have pondered for close to two decades. I myself am not entirely sure either.

Anyway. There’s your picture for the day.


Thingadailies!