Getting back from San Francisco was not terribly pleasant, as we found out at the SFO airport that our flight (already scheduled to get us back to Seattle around 10:00 p.m.) was delayed by an hour. Once we landed, I then discovered that this delay put me in downtown Seattle right as 70,000 people left a U2 concert. >___________> With the clusterfuck this caused for public transit, I didn't get home until nearly 2:00 in the morning. >_<

But! On the bright side, I had a ratzeo with me, because he bused all the way down to the airport to meet me and then bused all the way (aaaaaallll the way) back with me. That made me feel good. ♥

And then all the cats in the neighborhood turned out to greet me! Well, not really. XD But as we were walking back from the bus stop (we were too late getting out of downtown to catch any of our usual buses, so we had to take another one that dropped us off a little less than a mile away from home), a small cat ran into the street to say hello. He was a gorgeous little blue point shorthair who clearly thought of strange humans as sources of petting rather than fear ... Unfortunately, he was also very clearly unneutered. :/ I don't know if he was a stray or not, because he was in good shape and so friendly, plus the apartment building he ran out from had what looked like buckets of litter in the yard. So it's possible he's being taken care of by humans who are letting him run around outside without a collar and intact. >_< At least he looked healthy, but I really wish it hadn't been 2:00 in the morning and I could've called someone to pick him up.

Then ratzeo and I got back to our apartment building, and as we were crossing the courtyard I saw Drannor in the window of our office, looking down at us. I waved and called up to him, and he meowed back, loudly, several times in a row. And, okay, that doesn't sound like a big deal - but Drannor does not meow. He, even moreso than Kershach, is a cat who murrbles and grunts, but he does not meow to chat. He saves his plaintive, unmusical meow for one thing: a single, whiny burst of "hey!" when I'm serving his dinner kibble and I don't put the bowl down fast enough for him. So hearing him cry "hey! hey! hey!" over and over down at me made me really wooby. ;____; (And yes, I know, that means I'm as important to my cat as kibble. XD)

And then he followed me around until I went to bed, and the morning after. Every time I moved he showed up to lounge just a few feet away, making sure I didn't leave his sight. ♥

On the other hand, Kershach greeted me, as he has done every time I've been gone for a few days, with consummate Cat Cool. He walked up to me and let me pet him, but didn't immediately roll over for belly rubs or anything needy like that. He only just happened to flop over at one point, several minutes later, not too close but not too far from me, and waited to see what I would do. (I, of course, rubbed his belly.)

The next day I also ran into the neighborhood overlord, a giant orange tabby with seven toes on each paw, who is as friendly as anything. I hadn't seen him in a few weeks, so it felt like he was welcoming me home, too. XD

We had some really nice weather on Sunday, and it got pretty warm in the apartment. One of the cats' favorite spots is my desk, which is in front of a sunny window and is *cough* covered entirely by two plush cat beds. Since it was so warm, though, they sometimes lounged underneath the desk, in the shade.

ratzeo reported the following scene: Both Kershach and Drannor were under the desk together, lying in a yin yang shape with their heads next to the other's back feet. Drannor was tenderly grooming Kershach's back paws ... while his back feet were tenderly kicking Kershach in the face.

Drannor's such a good older brother. XD

ratzeo and I were cuddling Drannor on the bed, and I brought Kershach into the room so he wouldn't feel left out. He came over to Drannor, they touched noses, and then Kershach started grooming Drannor's face and Drannor started grooming Kershach's face back.

aaaaah ♥

Kershach had an adorable bout of the kitten crazies tonight, stalking and pouncing and wrestling with (and sometimes running away from) just about all of his toys. It was awfully cute, though unfortunately I didn't really catch the best parts on camera.

But I'm still an obsessive kitty mom with a camera, so I have new pictures posted.

( Choice selections below )

( And, of course, videos )

1. My co-worker brought in a giant tupperware full of hand-picked strawberries (which is still only a fraction of the 36 pounds she picked!). Delicious.

2. ratzeo sent me a home video of him running down the side of a mountain in Montana. (Truly, I am the luckiest girlfriend in the world. :P) I was even happier than I would have guessed at being able to see his face, even in a small window on my computer.

3. ratzeo also gave me a good kick in the pants to help me get out of the funk I've been in. I already knew myself that I've been over-stressing and under-enjoying, but he both knows me well enough to recognize patterns I miss in my own behavior, and also ... well, he's way more chill than I am. The combination is deadly to depression. ;D

4. My current desktop.

5. Going to see WALL-E this weekend with redbird and nekokoban!

I'm not the only one who thinks that, am I?

1. Yesterday's geeky morning was followed by today's geeky morning, wherein ratzeo and I spent the bus ride theorizing about Warmakers. 8D

2. The Open Source Boob WTFuckery has been countered with the Open Source Women Back Each Other Up Program, joined by the Gentlemen's Auxiliary.

3. I'm wearing "La Belle Dame Sans Merci" today. The reviews promised a floral scent with a sharp, cold edge. What I'm getting is a pretty floral that's definitely not gentle, but, alas, not the edge I was looking for. Still, it's quite lovely, so I like it a lot. But this means that my search continues for a perfect BPAL scent for Sae. 8D

4. This. Yeah.

5. Progress on The Macho Paradox goes slowly, but steadily. (Rather than beat myself up on the low number of pages I've read, I will focus on the good: that I've been making consistent progress on a theory - however light - book for the first time in months.) My next NWSA research book, Black Sexual Politics, arrived at my house this morning, and The Cult of True Victimhood shipped out today.