Flop-a-Set

I'm Thankful for My Less-Than-Spectacular Life

Happy Thanksgiving! As I write this in the early morning hours of Turkey Day, the one thing you have to do is think about the things for which you are thankful. Actually, I've been doing this for about a week now, as my life could be a whole lot worse than it is right now. I could be single. I could be homeless. I could not have anything to eat for holiday. I could have no way of earning an income. Although, in the big picture and on a global scale, my life is probably pretty fantastic. So, I'm thankful for a lot of little things, things that some might not consider something that's worth gratitude, but my life could be a lot worse.

bigger problems in the worldI'm Thankful that I Don't Have Television

I did just write an article about the stupidity of World Television Day, but that's not why I don't have television. I don't have television because my fiance and I were ripping it off from the cable company, until the cable company came and disconnected everyone who was ripping it off. Ever since then, we haven't bothered, and that was almost two years ago now.

It's the holiday season again, and I don't have a television to remind me about Black Friday sales, the gift of giving, and all those commercials that essentially tell me that I need to buy people expensive stuff for Christmas. It's nice not to get bombarded. It was particularly nice during the 2012 election, when I didn't have to bother with any of the political ads. I'm thankful that I won't have to deal with political ads during the upcoming 2014 midterm elections also. Granted, it would be nice to have television so I can watch Survivor when it actually airs, or the live performances of The Voice when they are live. But, those are small prices to pay to avoid commercials and to waste less time getting caught up in new shows and reruns.

I'm Thankful for My Cat Because He Almost Died

Flop-a-Set

About two weeks ago, my cat Flop-a-Set had a urinary tract blockage. He was howling on the top of his lungs, having trouble going to the bathroom, and throwing up his food. My fiance and I were going to take him to the vet first thing in the morning. Fortunately (or unfortunately, depending on how you look at it), the floodgates opened overnight and he peed in our bed. The next day, he was a completely different cat. He was no longer howling. He kept his food down. He didn't mind being pet. Although, he didn't continue to use the litter box regularly, and went in our bed the next night as well. So, we took him to the vet to figure out if he was still sick or not. My fiance and I were getting tired of the limbo, and it was clear that something was wrong and not entirely fixed.

After a vet visit, some antibiotics (which he does not like), and a new diet (which he eats, but doesn't like as much as the old food), Flop-a-Set is 100% again. He has used the litter box every time and has much more energy than ever before. He's louder. He plays a lot more and is more active when he does play. He runs around the apartment more often. He's on the new diet for life, and the antibiotics are almost done, so I am thankful that I still have a big fuzzy kitty.

I'm Thankful that I'm Never at Income Zero

Income zero is my term for not having any means of making money. Some people fall into that position and its a tough one to be in. I'm thankful that I'll never be in that position because as a freelancer and entrepreneur, I'll always have a source of income as long as I have one client paying on time. One client may not be able to pay the bills, but one client puts me in a position to get two clients. Having one client means that I'll have at least one good reference and recent work to vouch and to demonstrate my skills. Sure, my career choice is much tougher than most, as I don't make a much as I could if I got a normal job. Plus, I have to spend time marketing myself, doing my own accounting, covering business expenses, and make my own sales on top of the work that clients actually pay me to do. But, I'm thankful that I'm capable of doing all that and that I'm skilled enough in writing and marketing that people are willing to pay me to do it. I'm thankful that I am committed and courageous enough to be a freelancer.

I'm Going to Be a Blogger and Write about My Cat

new kitty When I interviewed technology evangelist Ramon Ray, he said that the did not identify himself as a blogger. Ray said that bloggers are people who sit in their pajamas and write about their cat. Well, that's exactly what I'm doing tonight. I'm going to be a "blogger", as I will spend this post in my pajamas writing about my kitty (and bother my mother at the same time. She doesn't like cats).

Last time I wrote about the kitty, he didn't have a name and we had just gotten him from Animal House Fund, the really cool no-kill cat shelter in St. Louis. It took us a few days, but we finally came up with a great poker-related name for him: Flop-a-Set Bluffy Cat BigStacks. Or, just Flop-a-Set for short. Cats need to have long names with multiple syllables, and this name suits him perfectly because he flops around a lot and he's a really big kitty.

He Tricked Us at the Shelter

Flop-a-Set

He really did! We thought he was mellow, friendly cat. We thought he had taken his chill pills and wasn't too energetic. Boy, we were wrong! Flop-a-Set makes lots and lots of noise, especially around dinner time and particularly after I get up in the morning and open the bedroom door (and sometimes when I wake up in the middle of the night and open the door. He loves me greatly.) He's mellow if my fiance and I are mellow, just working on our computers or watching a movie or something. But, we spend any significant amount of time doing something, say walking back and forth between the kitchen, or cleaning up, or getting ready in the morning, then he gets ramped up and runs back and forth throughout the apartment. He loves to play (especially with ANYTHING that dangles. This includes belts, drawstrings, and iPod ear buds).

We probably should have suspected something at the shelter, anyway. He caught our attention because I put my purse down to get to know the cats, and he came over and started playing with my purse. Then, four other cats came over and had to see what was up, and had to play with the purse too. After that, Flop-a-Set (named Murray at the shelter. It's a stupid name, so we changed it.) wasn't interested in the purse anymore and walked away. We also thought he was softer than his brother, and that he would need a little less grooming attention than his brother also (his brother was full of tangles. We weren't sure if he easily tangled, or if he hadn't been brushed recently since the shelter has over 200 cats and can't brush each of them every single day).

We Love Our Kitty!

Here's curled up behind me to take a nap. I really don't like when he does that because I'm always afraid I'm going to forget he's there and run over him with my chair. He would sleep in one of the camping chairs, but I had to put those  away to make room for my new desk and to move out the old desk. So, now he has nowhere to sleep except the floor, although he still did that from time to time when the camping chairs were up. He's never been one for the couch, the bed, or the love seat. Because he makes a lot of noise, one thing that I like to do, when he's sleeping, is see how close I can get to him before he makes noise. It's kind of mean since he wakes up with my face right in his face, and no one appreciates that, but I do it out of love and affection.

snuggling with cat