So, I’m at home today, feeling fairly crappy, studying my Herbalist stuff, mindin’ my own bidness, when Nick calls. Very quietly and calmly, he tells me that he finally got the raise that he has deserved for about 6 months now.

We’d just talked about it this morning: the work he does, the lack of money that they have offered him, what we’d do if no offer was made… Then, out of the blue, he gets called into the office and they hand him everything that he deserves: a salaried position with a $9,000 raise and every other Monday off.

What else is there to say? WOOOOOOOHOOOOOOOOO!

::does the happy dance::

:-D

Well, this weekend was great fun! We had dinner with Pat and Bexxx at their home in the suburbs. We met their lovely roomie Caroline and we look forward to hanging out with them again!

I saw the video of Johnny Cash’s version of Hurt for the first time on Saturday. I was sobbing at the end. I have rarely had any artform affect me like that video did. It is a masterpiece. It is amazing. I don’t typically watch music videos – I’m not a fan of the genre – which is why I’d not seen this one until Cash’s death. They were playing it continously on the music video channels. That rendition of Hurt and those images are still haunting me today. He could not have planned a better final video. If you have not seen it, you need to see it TODAY. I’m not kidding, it’s that powerful. RIP, Johnny, RIP.

We did nothing else of consequence this weekend. We watched the movie Frida yesterday and made a bunch of phone calls to our families. Frida was excellent. I highly recommend it. Salma Hayek’s work was outstanding.

Well, I’m off to do some errands and such. We’re out of kitty food and that is a BAD thing! :-)

Today, we went and picked up our 5Gb iPod. It’s cool, but we’re so busy trying to turn around 2 Macs for a client that we don’t have time to play with it tonite!

Nick’s web gig has become annoying. The client has been a PITA and wanted a lot more than he paid for, but now the work is done and he’s avoiding emails and payment. That asshole had BETTER pay before DragonCon or somebody’s gonna get hurt! That money is our Con money and I’ll be livid if he ‘forgets’ to pay. Fucker.

I had to take Dickens to the vet today for fluids and a B12 shot. He was very dehydrated, so he stayed all day and got 2 rounds of fluids. He seems to feel a bit better now, and that’s a good thing. I got a call from Sonya today and her cat Sam is not in much better shape than Dickens. Sam has liver disease and hyperthyroidism, but the liver problem is acute. Sonya and I are both sad about our poor old kitties.

So it goes this month: up, down, up, down. I tell ya, I’ll be lucky to manage to keep up my strength for the Con.

Today has been really, really hard. I got Dicken’s blood work back and it’s not good. Not good at all.

His kidneys are not working well. I knew he was sick, but this news has just ruined me. It’s not a matter of IF, it’s a matter of WHEN.

I’m so very sad and upset. He’s 16 and we’ve had a good run, but I didn’t want him to be ill at the end. I wanted him to go quietly in his sleep around age 20 or something. That’s just not gonna happen.

I don’t want to make the decision. I don’t want to choose his fate. If there is a higher being up there, I’m begging: please, PLEASE let him go without my intervention. Please.

I don’t know if I have the strength to take this.

He’s not that ill right now, and this won’t happen in the very near future, but it will happen. I’ll be lucky to see his 17th year. He’s been with me for my whole adult life. He’s my baby. How can I bear being without him?

I’m so very sad. My heart is heavy as a stone.