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Sunday, October 31, 2010

Samhain and the Pallas Cat

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!
(Somebody just discovered the change font section!)

Love, Aquatic Cousin 2 and Aquatic Pal Val



Also Love, Aquatic Cousin One and her wire hanger.



Bonus love from the Pallas Cats!

I mean, pretty much this is how we're all feeling today:

Officially owners of the greatest bitch face in the animal kingdom.

What were YOU for Halloween? Tell us in the comments! We'll be nursing our hangovers in the dark, without pants.

-AC2

Tuesday, October 19, 2010

If you could so kindly move please ma'am, you are obstructing my path of forward motion


From the desk of AC2 (which she has finally cleaned somewhat)



This amused me (AC2) way too much. Bad Cat has a Christmas Wish List and all that's on it is a Roomba.


Also possibly a mastiff to swipe at, but I'm sure I'll also do.

Another thing I am way too amused by:


You should really think about bookmarking this magnificent page of gifs. You're welcome.


-AC2

Thursday, October 14, 2010

I bet they all read a lot of Fitzgerald.


From the kitchen table of AC2, Sparker.





I got a makeover, you guys!

Which for some reason, I cannot enlarge. But no matter. Because:

You can have one too!


I'm hoping this will help attract my second One True Love (OTL) Chris2, whom I met poolside in Florida. He's a Jersey Cop, but without a "situation" or tan at all. There was a Jersey Cop convention at this particular hotel I had the good fortune to be staying in. AC1 was wildly jealous when I told her about it, but less so when she realized he only had a man necklace and I didn't see a single person with Pauly D's Mortal Kombat hair.

A girl can dream, though. A girl can dream.

In his blue gardens men and girls came and went like moths among the whisperings and the champagne and the stars.
-F. Scott Fitzgerald

I bet the people who work at the Gatsby salon on Jerseylicious are terribly fond of Fitzgerald's writing.

-AC2

Monday, October 4, 2010

Sunday, October 3, 2010

On Birthdays and Water.



From the couch of AC2, Sparker.



I am still not entirely sure where September went, but I do know that I cannot wish it back no matter how fervently I try. As I try not to go into spasms of panic over the fact that it's now October (employment! thesis!), I figure I should thank all of you across The Great Internets who helped me with my Charity: Water September Campaign. On the last day, I was close --!



An excerpt from the Charity: Water Log (Blog)- they highlighted me on my birthday : )

It says "Sarah's turning 25: Her mission statement is short and sweet: 'You know you would've at least bought me a beer for my birthday. . .so buy this kid some clean water instead." We love it. She's $700 strong towards her $1000 goal."

But alas, I thought the campaign ended at midnight on the 30th, not midnight on the 29th so I did not all-out campaign as I should have. The end result though, was $816 raised towards clean drinking water for the Bayaka people of the Central African Republic. That's enough for 8 families, 40 people.

I might be unemployed and quickly running out of money, but I still have my own apartment with hot and cold water a mere turn of the tap away. 'Clean' has never been a question for me, my entire life. Neither has 'safe'. I look at the Photo of the Day (Oct 1st) on their blog and I'm happy I could be some small part of that. Thank you to everyone who helped make my donation possible- and there's always next year : )

From the Charity: Water Log: A boy in Tekeiplay, Liberia, grins at his village’s hand-dug well. His old water source, before the charity: water well was built, was a 25-minute walk away and the water gave his village chronic stomach problems. (photo: Mo Scarpelli)

Water changes everything for children – click here to learn more.

Everyone who donated should receive a tax receipt by email, and when the project in the C.A.R. is finished in 12-18 months, you'll receive coordinates and photos. 100% of the money you donated goes directly to the project- the private backers of charity: water make this possible.

-AC2

Saturday, October 2, 2010

Failure.



From the couch of AC2, Sparker.




I- AC2- am a huge Harry Potter nerd/fan/dork/however you want to say it. I think J.K. Rowling is a magnificent writer and I love the world that she built and that she believes, like Madeline L'Engle*- that children can deal with the dark and heavy and the hard questions because they are as much a part of life as the happiness and magic; indeed experiencing one can only strengthen the regard we have for the other.

Naturally I had to try and find Rowling's interview with Oprah that aired today and the internets did not disappoint me (Leaky Cauldron FTW!). What surprised me is that in my natural state of procrastination, I should find just the words that made me want to stay- not on track- but to do better than I have been by far. (It's amazing just how demoralizing unemployment is, friends, I will say that.)

"Failure. Failure. It's so important; it doesn't get spoken about enough- we speak about success all the time. But you know- I do not know any- I haven't met- and I've been so fortunate to have met extraordinary people through Harry Potter-and not one of them didn't have their failure, their more than one failure- and it's the ability to resist- to resist failure in may ways, or use failure that often leads to the greatest success, isn't it? So yeah. Failure.

I've often met people who- who um, are terrified- you know, in a straight jacket of their own making because they'd rather do anything than fail, they don't want to try for fear of failing. Well that's the rock bottom thing- rock bottom wasn't fun. At all. I'm not going to romanticize rock bottom. But- it was liberating. What did I have to lose?"

There is power in that freedom. I have a hard time with the fear of Doing Things Wrong (I think this is a trait common in anyone who likes to please people or has ever been accused of being a "goody two-shoes") and that brings in quite a scope for failure. It's why I love being friends with people like Lauren Carter, who push me out of my boundaries and get me to try things I might never have done on my own otherwise. I am more of a perfectionist than I am willing to admit, even to myself. (This becomes a funny contradiction when I'll, say, let cleaning go for longer than I should because I don't have time to clean it perfectly. That's weird, I know.)

So while I'm not starving and it's probable I'll find some sort of job before I get evicted (and therefore I'm not, you know, digging up the scuba gear that originally dubbed us the Aquatic Cousins in order to explore the water table under rock bottom), I have quite a long way before I get anywhere near where I'd like to be- where I've probably unconsciously expected I'd be- at this point in my life. Whether that's actually a "failure" or not will always be judged differently by All Who Can Be Called Them.

I think I will listen to Ms. Rowling for a while. She seems to have done rather well for herself.

P.S. Oprah are you hiring?!

-AC2

*There's a quote from Madeline L'Engle that I love also: "You have to write the book that wants to be written. And if the book will be too difficult for grown-ups, then you write it for children."

I have a huge love for YA (young-adult) lit and I can't believe how overlooked it is. Twilight is not an exception because Twilight is horribly written- I'm happy if it acts as a gateway to reading better books, though. Try His Dark Materials or The Hunger Games. Those books will sit with you long after you have read them. . . and might even make you think a little differently. That, in my mind, is what a good book should do.