This Is My Life.

[greenstorm]

Well. I haven't been very independent lately, but I've been enjoying myself nonetheless. I went to Hellboy with 'them' and recognised explicitly that i have a huge appreciation for comic-book sensibility, especially that cartoon sort of moral dilemma/dark loneliness/huge powers/we're different because we're alone thing going on. I think that in some ways comic book stuff like that serves as the abstract art of storytelling.

My rat babies are growing like crazy, which is wonderful. :) I looked at the local (Vancouver Island) rattery page again, and they have new babies up. I'm thinking, well, three wouldn't be that much more than two... *sigh* They've got one named Myth, which seems like a sign... *sigh* ...but no impulsiveness right now, I think. Perhaps in a little while. I do love those I have, and training them's definitely some work.

The garden's mostly being done by the Juggler over there -- due to the new system (which I like so far) I don't tend to 'hang out' over there much, and so most of my time is focused and therefore not private gardening time. I don't feel any pressure to change that yet, though I expect at some point I'll start going to visit the garden instead of people. We'll see how that works with this shift I'm making to more alone-time with people. I worry about running out of time, or treading on their time with each other, but that can of course be resolved as it becomes a problem or beforehand with communication.

Our sofas are gone, replaced by the futon, so we now have to sort of sleeping venues in the apartment. This may simplify things.

Now I need a big hammock stand and/or a cooshy basket chair, because the futon's a pretty sit-upright sort of furniture and I never sit upright.

There were a bunch of movies previewed that I want to see, specifically I, Robot (I will close my eyes through the credits so I won't associate it with Asimov's stuff, then I'll enjoy the booms) and something about some guy bent on vengeance where he blows things up to kill John Travolta. I like things blowing up.

There is also a movie called 'White Chicks' which is probably the movie which I least want to see in the world. Not sure how these particular previews were supposed to be targetted, but they seems to be a bit scattered.

Also, I need to get a bunch of plaster-hangers, to stick some things up on the wall. We'll be here for a bit for sure now, not moving, so might as well settle in.

Take care.

Comments

[wik.livejournal.com]

Any movie that kills John Travolta is an alright movie in my book.

[greenstorm.livejournal.com]

I like John Travolta. I think it's John Travolta?

[babboo.livejournal.com]

I looked at the local (Vancouver Island) rattery page again, and they have new babies up. I'm thinking, well, three wouldn't be that much more than two... *sigh*

This is an important concept. I have heard it called "ferret-math" (as applied to ferrets, who are much fun as pets), but can be applied to any cute, squishable animal that you want more of. :)

Sadly, combining ferret-math and rat-math is destined to failure, with the rats losing. :(

[greenstorm.livejournal.com]

It can also be applied to roleplay, wherein one ends up with seventy characters and no time to develop or play them fully, but somehow when applied to living creatures is a little more important to get right. Yes, I do know what you mean.

Do you have ferrets?

Fuzzy ferrets

[babboo.livejournal.com]

I used to. My ex was very much a pet collector. Unfortunately (in my opinion) she didn't do it very responsibly. She would glom onto the pet-of-month. As such, she went through about 5 dogs, 5 guinea pigs, 2 ferrets, and two birds in an 8 year period. None of these pets ever stayed for too long. It was sad.

But the ferrets were the best, I think. I could imagine having the "speedbumps" again if I ever get a house. They are the most fun after giving them a bath. They go kinda crazy for a while. :)

Re: Fuzzy ferrets

[greenstorm.livejournal.com]

Eek, yeah. That's no good. Pet ownership to me is a primary relationship sort of thing -- I don't enter into it if I don't have the time/attention/finances, and it's something I balance the rest of my life around for the most part (I'll take a day or two off socialising with them per month, but that's it). It's also something I really attach to *sigh*. I wish rats had longer lifespans.

Did she go through them consecutively? All at once? Eee. Eee! I'm not very comfortable with the idea of 'disposable pets'.

I think if you met some friendly rats you'd prefer them to ferrets. ;) I knew some people who had ferrets for a few years (that is, I knew them for a few years, they may have had the ferrets longer) and I remember them as enthusiastic and friendly but not too bright. Smelly, too.

I'm all excited because if my babies get big enough I can walk them in a ferret harnass -- though if they come when I call, they shouldn't need any sort of physical restraint in most venues. They're very young and rambunctious, though, and their attention spans in new environments are somewhat limited. They'll forget they're coming to me halfway here. :)

Re: Fuzzy ferrets

[babboo.livejournal.com]

You are a good pet Mom. :)

The dogs were consecutive. I don't think she had more than one at a time while I was with her, although she did have multiples before I was with her. The guinea pigs and ferrets and birds were substitutes during times when we lived in non-dog-friendly places.

I like rats too, but I also don't like the short lifespan and I am less a fan of being peed on. Ferrets are easily toilet-trained. And they are "meatier" and I like goofy animals. I found that the smell never really bothered me, but mine were descented. Makes a big difference.

I am looking forward to seeing your babies when they get bigger. Rats are much fun to have wandering all over you. And they are very smart too, once they get a bit older. They sound like perfect pets for you.

Re: Fuzzy ferrets

[greenstorm.livejournal.com]

They're always bigger. They'll be bigger tomorrow than they are today. They're growing so fast! They're not really babies anymore, and soon they'll be Grownup Rats. :)

Of all the pets to go through quickly, I think dogs would be the worst. With most pets you could maybe cadge your mind around to thinking, well, they'll be well taken care of and all that, but dogs bond so strongly. I miss Sally and Sammy still, the two dogs I grew up with. That's the kind of commitment I know I can't make right now. My life isn't steady enough.

Do you have any pets at all right now? Do any pets have you? :)

Re: Fuzzy ferrets

[babboo.livejournal.com]

Yeah, she had a definite cycle of getting the dogs when she was low in an emotional cycle and ditching them when she was high on the cycle. Despite her love of the dogs and the fact that she was very responsible when she had them, overall, I think she shouldn't have any.

Personally I am not a dog person. I dunno if my years with my ex cured me of that. ;) I like cats better and ferrets and birds.

I currently have two budgies, named The Reverend Pickle (the green one) and Pansy (the purple one). They have their filght feathers so they often do loops around the room, usually with Pickle leading and Pansy obsessively following Pickle. I think Pickle likes to get away from Pansy now and then.

They both sit on us and garble language in our ears. Pickle has picked up a lot of words, but mixes them in strange combinations. We have let him watch too much TV. :)

Re: Fuzzy ferrets

[greenstorm.livejournal.com]

I can see how that would work, with the cycle. That might even be a factor in my stuff right now, though I intend to let this enrich all my stuff as opposed to taking it and then leaving it when I 'don't need' it anymore. Sadly, I'm familiar with the way it works, but in a different context -- I've used flirting/human 'pets' who had attention for me on my lows before, I think. I try not to do that anymore. Now I use livejournal. :>

Do the budgies bond with you? can they snuggle in any way? What kind of interaction do you get? What sort of intellectual interaction, if you understand the question?

Re: Fuzzy ferrets

[babboo.livejournal.com]

Yeah, it is different with pets. I really like how you think of them as relationships. That shows me how committed you are to them and that is cool. :)

It's also cool that you have seen how the pets thing relates to you in other ways. Insight is good. :)

Pickle used to snuggle with us more. My ex and I got him to be a birdie buddy for the (small) parrot we had, ostensibly because she realized that she wasn't willing to spend a lot of time with the parrot and felt bad about him not getting enough attention. When she moved out, she took the parrot, but didn't want Pickle.

That was when Pickle was very snuggly with me and Dee. And I think his vocabulary was bigger, or maybe slightly more composed/clearly spoken. Since us getting Pansy, he has bonded less to us.

Snuggly in this case means burrowing into hair for warmth, preening us, rubbing cheeks up against our fingers.

What kind of interaction do you get? What sort of intellectual interaction, if you understand the question?

Hmmmm, I think this means are we loved? I think so. They seem to like hanging out with us and playing with us. And we are challenged by finding ways to outsmart them when it is time for them to go back into the cage and they don't wanna. :)

On second thought, I probably don't understand the question. :)

Re: Fuzzy ferrets

[greenstorm.livejournal.com]

I guess what I was wondering is, do they interact with you as a living thinking being, or are you just another object in the environment to them?

A dog, for instance, definitely reacts to a person as a person, something different from the other 'things' out there.

I *think* the rats know I'm a person, though I'm not sure they associate, say, my feet with *me*. I get the feeling that, oh, a fish often sees you (fingers in the tank, water changes) as an environmental occurrance, rather than a being.

That is neat about the birds. They just don't attract me as pets, oddly (well, I'm a pretty picky pet person in some ways) but it's very interesting to think of having an interaction with a non-mammalian pet. Radical and strange, or something. :)

Re: Fuzzy ferrets

[babboo.livejournal.com]

I guess what I was wondering is, do they interact with you as a living thinking being, or are you just another object in the environment to them?

Hmmm, interesting question. The brain of a bird is hard to figure out. I think that they know I am not just furniture. They know Ifeed them, that I let them out to fly. I think that single birds certainly bond to humans as flock members, less so when there is more than one bird in the cage.

Funny story about feet...the parrot my ex and I had was named Charlie. He had a strange reaction for large toes. He would always want to attack them. Cover the foot in a sock and he had no issue. Take off the sock and look out. He only ever was offended by certain toes. Mine were fine. My ex's father...Charlie hated those toes.

It is interesting that many people don't like birds, because they are too "alien". Which probably means not fuzzy. In the non-mamalian category, I forgot to mention my ex also had a large aquarium. :) The fish were sorta fun, but a lot of work.

The ultimate pet, the house hippo. Have you ever seem that commercial on TV? I can imagine that in the future there will be all sorts of genetically modified pets (or at least more modified than we have now), some of them extremely wierd.

Re: Fuzzy ferrets

[greenstorm.livejournal.com]

Dude, don't you sleep? :>

Have you read the recent Savage Love column? I guess second-most-recent now.

It's the scaly legs and scaled eyes that do it for me.

I do like fish, but they're in a different class of pet. The only commitment you need to give them is environment, not socialisation.

House hippo? nooo... I have seen no commercials. I did read a science fiction story about mini genetically engineered elephants for pets, though.

Re: Fuzzy ferrets

[babboo.livejournal.com]

Sleep?!? What do I need sleep for!?!? Sleep is for wimps!!! :-)

Yeeeeeeeeeeees, I did read that Savage Love. I giggled. Charlie did a bit of that, but the budgies don't seem inclined. I *have* noticed that when they get excited their feet get very hot. And when you wiggle your finger just right in front of them, they bob up and down and their pupils get really small.

Yup, fish are a different dimension. i should look at Mouses more.

Check out the link for the house hippo ad... http://www.mediasmart.org.uk/kids/adverts/media_smart_ad.html

[estrellada.livejournal.com]

Dood, comic books, if nothing else, contain a great number of modern archetypes.
Hero, sidekick, double-crossing dame, evil villan, earnest yet inefficient 'authority', the anti-hero, the good girl, the 'kid'....

This makes me wanna read the x-men.

[greenstorm.livejournal.com]

I'm still looking for someone to see the two X-men movies with. I don't actually like reading comic books, interestingly.

OH!

[estrellada.livejournal.com]

ME ME ME ME! I like them! come over and we will either borrow _locke's copies or rent them and watch them over and over and...okay maybe just once.

Re: OH!

[greenstorm.livejournal.com]

Youyouyouyou!

Let's do that, then. I may have one of Wednesday and Friday night free, or there's the week after starting on Monday. (I wish your place was just a little closer, cause then I could head over after my late nights or before my early mornings)

Re: OH!

[estrellada.livejournal.com]

Friday night would be best for me, I'm being interviewed on the radio Wednesday...Monday's also good..._locke will prolly be joing us, as he is gonna be over those nights...

[estrellada.livejournal.com]

Oh, and check out the '2nd Hand Furniture Store", right across the cut from the Skytrain Stations. It's also across the street from the VanEast. I got my queen-sized mattess and boxspring, (only used one season at the Harrison Hotel) with a free delivery and roller-frame (which I later ditched) for 200$. (This was 4-5 years ago, granted...) but it usually has good stuff.

[greenstorm.livejournal.com]

I'll look, thanks.

I still love that icon.

[estrellada.livejournal.com]

*bounce bounce*