2 Black Cats?

Since August of last year I've been feeding a feral cat im my neighborhood. I wrote about it last year in this sparely updated blog.

He or she is jet black and has a clipped right ear. I was told by someone that feral cats are captured and fixed so they can't have kittens, then released back into their own neighborhood. It keeps the feral cat population down and keeps cats which can't be adopted because they are wild from being destroyed.

On a few occasions the cat came to my kitchen door and I fed it. But I looked at it and thought something was odd. The ear didn't seem to be cut. It was a black cat roughly the same size. The ear difference I thought to be because of the angle I was at or some other thing.

Nope. There's another feral cat in my neighborhood that is virtually identical. How do I know? They both came by last Saturday at supper time.

Now the first  black cat doesn't like other cats. It's pretty wary when eating. Constantly looking around waiting for an attack from another cat. Which happens sometimes from a indoor/outdoor cat in my building. But this other black cat he seems to be cool with.

So I was surprised to see 2 cats at the same time. It solved the mystery of the ear. Not a Sherlock Holmes level mystery, but something to be wondered about for a moment after I put down the metal bowl.

When the first cat was done I coaxed the other cat over to have a bite of dinner as well. I don't know where they go, if they go together or not, but they are out there struggling to survive. And in some small way I help them out.

I should set up a go fund me page to offset the $2 a week cost of my altruism! Brilliant!

What the Fuck? Politics!?!

I really don't understand politics this time around.

People seem to have lost their minds. An orange insane narcicist is leading in the GOP polls by being a total asshole. The people going to his rallies say they are angry. Seem to be angry at everything. Including decency and common sense. If they were in a bar and the drunk jackass at the end of the bar insulted their wife, called her a fat ugly dog, the man would go punch the drunk in the face. The drunk would then say he was just being politically incorrect.

That's Trump. He's the drunk asshole at the end of the bar insulting your wife. But for some reason the voting public are embracing his assholishness and saying he tells it like it is. Which is bullshit. He's just an bloviating dickweed with weird hair who is spewing his Id all over America like a porn star at a bukkake. If the angry mob would stop attacking protesters and listen... Who am I kidding? They like the show. They finally get to say all the hateful things out in public. The anti black, anti immigrant, anti other crap that makes them fear. The idea that America in the 1950s was better. Yeah, maybe if you were white and middle class.

But the funny thing about the middle class jobs that went to China and Mexico trump keeps crowing about, saying he's going to bring them back. They were in manufacturing. Cars. Appliances. Clothing. Hard goods. All those good paying union jobs were sent to Mexico and China by the companies. It was because why pay $30 an hour to make a car when it can be done in Mexico for a fraction of the labor cost. More money for the company and it's stockholders. This is the economic bottom line. The corporations are in it to make money and they are going to screw the workers more often than not.

This economic anger and frustration has given rise  to trump. Which I find shocking. If you listen to him he has no plans to do anything. It's all verbal run around. 4th grade verbal run around. His plan to defeat ISIL is a secret. So secret he doesn't even know it. His economic plan helps trump inc. Not the electorate. Throwing people off the ACA and abolishing it is going to kill, literally kill people. Because no matter how big an applause line hating Obamacare is, it actually helps people not die. And none of the GOP has a plan to replace it. Going back to the old system of insurance where a plan gets cancelled when someone gets cancer is a horrible, horrible idea.

So how do you inject decency and thoughtfulness back into the politics of today. Fuck. I don't know. I read the comment sections on facebook and various news websiites. It's vitriol and unabashed hatred. Not just for the system, the politicians you don't like, but for people. people who are exercising their right to share an opinion. And they are being attacked on a personal level.

Should we be shocked? Not really. The right wing media, Fox news and the talk radio folks like Rush have made hate fashionable.

What can be done? Hell if I know. Maybe not consider your opinion the only one which matters. Opinions are like assholes. Everyone has got one. But you don't have to be an asshole to express it or attack those who disagree with it.

The opinion, not the rectum. 

A Change In Perspective

I was working a job. It was going to be  a long 10 hour day. I was going to be walking miles and miles in a convention center hall rigging a corporate show It's a space maybe 2 times the size of a football field.

One of my jobs is very physically demanding. In all the time I've done the job I've never seen a guy in a wheel chair do the ground rigging part of it. So I was surprised. And I watched him do the job but struggle with things I've never thought of before. He had to lock the wheels of the chair so he could bend at the waist to write on the floor in chalk as we marked out the points. Otherwise he might roll away or his actions would turn the chair. He had to manage the things in his lap because he couldn't put stuff in his pockets easily.

He was young. Under 30 I think. And I made a point over the entire day I worked with him never to whine about how my feet hurt or my legs were tired from standing. It took 7 hours to mark out over 350 points on the ground. But having the guy in the wheel chair right there made me shut the fuck up.

I didn't ask what happened to him but listening to the banter with him and his co workers I learned a lot.

He was injured in a car accident of some kind. A driver hit him. I don't know if he was in a car or on a motorcycle or walking. When one of his co workers was giving him shit he started his retort with, "When I was laying on the pavement with a broken back..." That was a jarring statement to hear.

He was relatively new to the chair. I think the accident happened in the past year. This job was one of his first gigs back. He also said he can't drive. After an accident like that the state pulls your driver's license. You have to retake the driving test in the new vehicle with hand controls since you can't operate a regular car without using your feet.

Also, he had no feeling below the waist. None. So that means... He had catheters inserted into his urethra. Which means there was a bag of waste somewhere attached to that catheter. I once wore a bag with a tube on me for a play I did where I was a war veteran. It was filled with water but it definitely changes how I moved and felt. I could take it off when the play was done. He's going to be decades in that chair.

But worse than catheters, NO SEX. The equipment no longer works. That is horrifying to me. He has a girlfriend, but I don't know how the whole sex issue is worked out.

He is a good guy  with a good attitude. I could see he was frustrated at times with his situation and inability to do things, but overall he was coping well. And I did wonder what I would do in that situation. To go from able and active to being in a wheel chair.

I wonder if after his accident someone said the platitude, "God has a plan for you." Or "This happened for a reason." If someone said that to me I'd hit them. It's not a plan, it's an accident and deities shouldn't want people to become crippled. I'd be angry in that situation.

If anything, I'm changed. For how long, I don't know. But when I whine about being inconvenienced by some small thing in life, I know it could always be worse.

Donald Trump = Zaphod Beeblebrox

I was reading The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy the other day. As it introduced Zaphod Beeblebrox, I started drawing parallels with Donald Trump

Zaphod has 2 heads. The added one is considered less attractive than the original. Trump only has one head, but his hair is weird and is brought up in derisive ways by people slamming Trump.

Zaphod became Galactic President as a scam. Trump doesn't really want to be president. Not really. It's an ego driven scam being played out on America.

Zaphod was elected by low information voters. Trump's base of support is a bunch of low information supporters. Tell them the truth about the man or his businesses and business practices, and they deny it. Say  it's not true.

Zaphod as president is an infuriating and fascinating character. Trump is too.

Zaphod didn't use the prepared remarks before he stole the Heart of Gold spaceship. And the media loved it. Trump doesn't use prepared remarks. He speaks extemporaneously and goes off on tangents as the audience reacts to his speech.

Zaphod is described in the book as a "good-timer, (Crook? Quite possibly.), manic self publicist, terrible at personal relationships, often thought to be completely out to lunch.
An internet search of adjectives for Trump: Maniac, narcissist, self-promoter, arrogant, blowhard, idiot, clown, egomaniac, pompous, showman, bombastic.

So.
There you go.
Donald Trump is Zaphod Beeblebrox.
Without the good parts.

Feral Cat Mojo

                                             The cat under my building circa 2011.

The little black cat came to the short chain link fence around 5 o'clock. I'd spent the day hiding from the early September heat in my apartment. I saw him look from the neighbor's yard into the yard of my apartment. I hadn't put out any food for a couple days because of work and my schedule being weird.

Earlier in August I saw the cat in the front yard of my apartment and thought about him. Because of the drought very few people were watering like they used to, so what was he drinking? There have been 2 bowls sitting in the yard, from when someone was leaving food, I'm guessing for him, for a very long time. Since temps were over 100 for a few weeks I left the cat water. And one day I felt bad for him so I left a can of tuna out from my pantry.

This cat has been wild in my neighborhood for over 5 years. I've not thought much about him (I don't know it's gender so I'm calling it  "him.") ever, really. He's never been with people that I can tell. His manner is very  wary and careful, always looking around; ready to bolt at the first sign of danger. He passes like a shadow in the night. He used to be under my building 5 years ago, though no one knew how he gained access. I don't know where he sleeps now.

I had picked up cans of cat food and been putting it out on a semi-regular basis in the metal bowl, usually at night. I don't know where he gets his food; birds, rats, mice, bugs? It's got to be a tough life, so I thought I'd help out and give him a free meal every once in a while. Extra calories to keep living. But I've never put out the food at a certain time. Being a wild cat, he doesn't have a schedule or place or time. He just is.

When he came to the fence today I thought about it. Usually he disappears when I go out my kitchen door and doesn't return. I got a pitcher and filled it with a bit of water. I opened up  the tin of cat food I had in the pantry. It was a pate style. A big clump of wet brown something with what looked like egg? I unlocked the security door and prepared myself. Out in the rocky front lawn there are fleas. I don't know if there are a lot, but in previous excursions to the front yard, some have jumped on me and hitched a ride into my apartment. A steam cleaning of the rug and flea bombs seemed to remedied the matter, however.

I rushed out, slopped the water into the bowl and dumped the clump of cat food in the other bowl. I retreated back to my door and inspected my legs. I was quick, under 15 seconds, and no fleas had found me.

I stood at my kitchen window and watched. The cat came to the other side of the fence and looked around. I lost it behind a tree as it moved away. Then it appeared at the end of the fence in my front yard. It slowly padded toward the food scanning the area carefully. It sniffed as it got near the food bowl. The food must have been okay because it started eating immediately and looked around in between bites. He was ready to flee at the first sign of trouble. I was thinking it would throw up from eating so fast. Cats and food can be a bit weird.

Something spooked him and he ran out of view. When the coast was clear he came back and continued to eat. It finished off the whole can of food. I have put out food before, but usually after dark so I didn't know if the cat was eating it or maybe a squirrel or rat. This time I had proof the intended animal ate the food. After he finished he had a quick drink. The he walked toward my window, sat down, and groomed himself a bit. He was watching me. Did he know I was his benefactor? Did he care? Was I just some sucker to feel sorry for this hungry little cat?

I figure I'm never going to pet him. He doesn't get close enough to anything to be touched or handled. There's no collar on him so he's a wild cat. I watched him a little bit and the animal lover (sucker) in me wondered if it were possible to fix his situation. He'd been doing okay for over 5 years without me. He probably wouldn't do well if he were captured and adopted. I don't want a cat. I don't have a living situation that is conducive to pet ownership. But I like that I can help out this one cat just a bit.

Though I do wonder if I give this cat food on a semi-regular basis, is it going to fuck up his feral cat mojo? Will he become dependent on me to give him food?

What the fuck?

A guy in South Carolina shot and killed 9 people in a church. After sitting there in bible study with them! For an hour.

What an evil fucker this guy was. He also let some people live and told them to tell people about what he had done. So basically this guy will be revealed to be a loner and racist and evil and felt deeply invisible. So what  does he do to get noticed? Kills a bunch of people in a church. Because instead of doing something great, being talented, this fucker decides that killing people is the way to be noticed in this 24/7 news cycle. The news will now have this LOSER'S name in the news for 3-5 days.

I'm not going to say his name here, but you big pussy, you want to get noticed but you didn't go out in a big cinematic gunfight with the police. Now we have to watch as you sit in court and go to jail for the rest of your life.

Donald Trump, Candidate for School Yard Bully

After 4 flirtations with running for President, Donald Trump has thrown his hat into the ring for President.

It's rare to see a candidate for anything call the others running, LOSERS. Just flat out calling them losers. There is mud slinging in politics, granted. It comes with the territory. But to call someone a loser and make fun of them, it cheapens politics.

Trump is a showman. He's a huckster. Starting with his announcement, he said he sold a Chinese guy an apartment for ten (then he changed it mid thought) fifteen million dollars. On Morning Joe he said the same statement about the apartment, but the selling price had gone up to $55 million. I guess he thought $15 million didn't sound impressive enough.

His general thought is that money is the end all and be all of everything. The more money you have the more important you are. If you have no money you're a LOSER. By this definition 99% of the people in the USA are LOSERS.

Everything he does is HUGE. Or as he pronounces it, UGE. He forgets the H.

The problem with his candidacy is he will get on the debate stage and call Jeb Bush a LOSER. And what happens then? Does the network admonish him? He's already said it. Does JEB! fight back? How does that look?

You're a LOSER Jeb.

No, I'm not! That's the reply of a third grader on the playground.

There's really no good way to respond to that kind of attack on stage.
Humor? "Well, with 4 bankruptcies in your business life you seem to be the biggest loser on the stage. Are you switching to The Biggest Loser once you get out of this race?"
Attack? "You going to talk to Iran like that? Right you have a secret plan to defeat both Iran and ISIS. Elaborate on that"

Well. It might not be that hard to fight him on a debate stage. But then he would just throw bigger bombs and security would have to come in and wrestle him away.

Everything about Trump is he's the best, he's the biggest and when I hear people talk like that, constantly bragging and putting other people down,  I think they are compensating for deep insecurities and a small...