Saturday Night Social: Thinking About Her (the Hacky Sack Scene From She's All That)

Shelter Cat Update!

Apologies again for last week. I had a severe migraine and didn’t post until Sunday. Here’s the link:

https://jezebel.com/1846855755

Thank you for your words of support. They are deeply appreciated. And I will have more to say at the end of this post.

On to the kittehs!

Adoptions! I knew Marcus wouldn’t be with us for long, and I was right. He went to his forever home.

And Sadie was still recovering from her emergency surgery when she was adopted! Again, not surprised. She got over her anger quickly and the sweetie took over.

And finally, the really good news. I have the pleasure of informing you that Max and Leo went to their forever home earlier this week. I always enjoyed sharing with you their friendship and affection for each other. And some hooman finally recognized how special they were.

So for a brief moment, only four of the seven rooms in the FIV/FeLV unit were occupied. A first for me! But we’ve had a couple of additions. Walter is still in hiding, but Essie here, though terrified, crouched on the bench rather than under it and watched me while I cleaned.

Logan made me the highest quality biscuits while I chatted with him. Ignore that glower - he’s as much goofball as he is suave.

Pepper didn’t stop asking until I visited his room to give him some attention. Pink assisted me in my endeavor.

Pudge Magoo is enjoying more spacious quarters.

Frank was moved upstairs to another room - no idea why. He hasn’t decided whether he likes it or not.

Baby and Buddy’s owners ran a daycare, and - this may come as a shock - they didn’t get along well with small hoomans. They’re fine with larger hoomans, though.

Bootsie (b&w), Domino (black), and Coconut (still in hiding) were being cared for by neighbors after their owners moved away. Two kitties found forever homes, while these three joined us. Domino has wasted no time acclimating and is now the Chief Demander of Attention for her unit.

Evie could care less. She knows she’ll get her share.

Blackie continues to get more curious about the world around her.

This was a real shocker. Sunshine has made no bones about her dislike for me. Nevertheless! I looked up and saw this.

So I did the old Toss Them Treats But Gradually Shorten The Distance You Toss Them Trick. And this happened.

Meanwhile, and this is related to my migraines, I’ve been putting some pieces together. I can’t tolerate even slight changes to schedule - I get overwhelmed and shut down. I will have a conversation with someone and not remember any details the moment it ends. I have complex rituals to perform basic tasks, like feeding the cats (making sure Myles gets the viralys and Marble gets the Miralax, etc). If there’s any disruption to the ritual, I can’t handle it and FREAK OUT (Mrs. Krispy fed the cats while I was laid up. When I resumed the feeding, the bags of dry were in the wrong order and the scoops were in the wrong bags).

I am a survivor of early childhood sex abuse and have suppressed all memory of it. I’ve been diagnosed with ADD, Depression, and PTSD.

I majored in Engineering Physics in college. In retrospect, in many of my higher level courses, I learned how to get a good grade by gaining a superficial understanding of the material, rather than an actual understanding. I got A’s in Calculus for three consecutive semesters without doing a single homework problem. But looking back, I don’t think I really *learned* Calculus - I learned to recognize patterns.

I’m certain that I have high-functioning autism. I’m making arrangements to get tested, but boy oh boy, this would explain a *lot*. I told my friend my suspicions and this was her response: “I’ve always thought you were. At least, I thought it when I was diagnosed.” And I was the one who made her son get tested in the first place when he was a year-and-a-half, which is also when she got her diagnosis.

Quite an epiphany to have at the age of 58.

So feel free to talk about kitties or whatever. I’ve had a lot to unpack this week!