Today I had to run out for a quick errand. When I got back, Jake was running up to me crying like I had been gone fifteen days instead of fifteen minutes. So I started petting him like I always do when I come home from work. Except any time I went to leave, he'd start crying again. So I ended up hanging with Jake for more time than I was actually gone.

Jenny, on the other hand, is crying more often because she doesn't like what she's being fed for her meals. Even if it's something she's yummed up many, many times before... all of a sudden it's unacceptable and so she comes into the kitchen crying at me to complain. I used to rush to find something else, but the more I did that the more often she complained. So I started ignoring her, and she'd go eat the stuff she didn't want two seconds prior. But this week when I tried that, she was not having it. She followed me out of the kitchen and hounded me until I was all "ALRIGHT! ALRIGHT! I'LL GET YOU SOMETHING ELSE!"

Which is exactly what she wanted, and she got her way. Again.

My girl is getting so cranky as she gets older. Just look at this face she made when her peace was interrupted by Jake who hopped on the bed, flopped over, then passed out...

She gave me this look for a while. And look at the judgey look she gave me when I dared to cough while she was sleeping. She woke up, twisted herself around, then glared at me...

Poor Jenny. She really is the sweetest cat you'll ever find. She just enjoys letting you know when she's annoyed.

Facebook is the craziest fucking platform. They are constantly slapping down people for stupid reason, giving them time-outs for even stupider reason, and outright banning them for the stupidest reasons you've heard... all while not doing a fucking thing to protect people who are actually being attacked or stopping advertisers who are scammers.

One of the posts I made years ago was flagged as "False Information"...

And I was like... huh. I wonder what it was that I shared? I click through and they don't tell me yet, I'm just told that independent fact checkers have flagged the post...

I click through on that and find out that it's a fucking joke as to why cats purr...

Jesus. Meanwhile politicians are posting some shit that's so fucking outrageous that it defies any kind of logic, but since Facebook isn't flagging that, their followers are thinking "Well, it must be 100% true or else Facebook would be flagging it like they do that misinformation about why cats purr!" But of course it's just because Facebook doesn't give a single fuck about truth... it's all about money. Advertisers lie? Who cares, they are paying Facebook for their ads! Politicians lie? Who cares, their followers are driving engagement which means more eyeballs on ads which means more money! It's only the random people who have almost zero monetary value to Facebook that get blocked or banned because it's not affecting the money that's rolling in.

I say this as Jake is purring next to me on the couch.

Continuing on with my recent trip to Walt Disney World... Well today's entry didn't go as planned.

What I wanted to do, just for fun, was have Adobe Photoshop's "Generative Fill" tool put Mickey Mouse ears on my cats as I continue writing about my trip to Walt Disney World. And that was going to be the entire post today. Two photos and done. What can I say, it struck me as funny.

So I drew a lasso around Jake's head and opened up the Generative AI Fill dialogue so I could ask for "Mickey Mouse ears hat...

But Adobe wasn't having it, and I got an error telling me that there was something wrong with my prompt...

No matter how I tried to get around it by using other words, Adobe AI would refuse to give me what I want and instead gave me crazy stuff like this...

I'm assuming, there was a copyright issue, because what else could it be? This is hilarious when you consider Adobe was happy to train their AI tool by stealing from a bajillion people's work. But big companies like Disney have lawsuit money, so I guess Adobe has gotta do what they gotta do.

Eventually I gave up and just did the Photoshop job myself...

I picked photos which I thought represented my cats and their reaction to having Mickey Ears on their heads. Pretty much perfect.

No thanks to Adobe Photoshop Generative Fill.

Just one more reason to loathe AI, I guess.

>Continuing on with my recent trip to Walt Disney World... I usually buy something for my cats to play with when I go on vacation.

After I got back from my trip to Disney World, I had to order a replacement Orange Bird MagicBand+, so I ordered a small plush for my cats so they had a souvenir as well. Except when I got it, the thing wasn't "small" at all. Orange Bird was as tall as my cats and maybe even a little taller! So there goes my plan where they (but mostly Jake) would be dragging him all over the house as they do with their other plushie toys.

Jenny ran back upstairs the minute she saw it. Jake, on the other hand, was curious...

He gave Orange Bird a couple sniffs. Batted at it once or twice. Then walked away...

Jake and Jenny both has been ignoring Orange Bird ever since.

Oh well. I tried.

As for myself? The souvenir I bought for me was a Grinning Loth Cat collectible tiki mug from Oga's Cantina at Galaxy's Edge...

The matte grey one from Walt Disney World Florida is not as cool as the glossy shaded brown one from Disneyland California, but I still love it.

And, as much as I'd love to set it out, I worry that it would then become another souvenir for my cats once one of them knocks it off a table or something. So it gets to be put in my glassware cabinet.

As I've mentioned, my cats have a serious case of FOMO when it comes to anything new and exciting. If one cat seems to be doing something interesting, the other will immediately come running to see what's happening.

This morning Jake was out in the catio when Fake Jake wandered by. He was beside himself. And when Fake Jake walked outside of his view, Jake came bombing into the living room and high-tailed it into the bedroom so he could keep watching him.

Jenny was sitting next to me when all this went down. She LAUNCHED off of me to run after her brother.

And scraped up my arm with her back feet while I was scratching her.

So that was fun.

Fortunately she decided to use her brother as a foot-rest instead of me tonight. And he was thrilled...

I don't know why Jenny loves sleeping with her feet up against something. Maybe she just likes to know she's not alone?

And who could blame her. It's been thundering like crazy.

Poor Jake.

He's been getting more and more agitated lately, and I'm not sure what's up. I'm going to try to get him into the vet sometime soon to see if it's anything physical. I hope that his urinary problems haven't returned after all these years. He doesn't seem to have any trouble at the litter box. Though he has started announcing when he poops.

In the meanwhile, he's got this kind of ennui thing going on at random times where he seems depressed. Or bored. Or something. Trying to engage with him is tough because all he wants to do is get petted and fall asleep...

Maybe it's because it's been too hot out for him to go out to the catio? He has been going out at night when it's cooler, but he does spend a lot of time looking out the window during the day. If he goes outside, it's just for a few minutes.

Or maybe he's just getting old and cranky like his sister.

And me.

Are you kidding me?

International cat DAY?

EVERY DAY IS INTERNATIONAL CAT DAY! Ask any cat owner! Cats demand it!

Because they're cats.

A month ago I came home from floating on the rive in absurd heat to find Jenny wouldn't come near me after I applied lotion on my sunburn. Apparently she didn't like my new smell, and would rather run away than get her nightly pets before I fall asleep.

Jake on the other hand?

Oh of course he as all over me, because no amount of smells or burning flesh was going to deter him...

last night when I got home, one of the little monsters had knocked the bottle of moisturizer on the floor of the bathroom, and I remembered thinking that it was either Jake (by accident) or Jenny (on purpose), and that I will probably have to stop leaving stuff out on the bathroom vanity.

Or leave anything out anywhere, because although my cats are really good about not pushing things onto the floor, apparently their cat nature takes over sometimes.

Or Jenny really, really hates my moisturizer.

I'm in the middle of upgrading my closet, but it's time for a break... because an all new Bullet Sunday starts... now...

   
• What is that? Let's start with the funniest thing I've seen all week...

This video short may be better than Revenge of the Sith!

   
• Super! Supacell is the Netflix series that Marvel Studios and Disney+ wish they had made. The only super-hero-television-show I've enjoyed more was Hawkeye. This show is exceptional. Where did they find these actors? I don't know that I've seen any of them before, and they're all so amazing. As if that wasn't enough, the show looks beautiful. Truly movie-quality gorgeous. Sure, the budget for the special effects isn't huge, but they make the most of what they had... and you're not looking at a shitty CGI wankfest every scene...

Absolutely worth your valuable time to watch.

   
• Ummmm! So... they're making a television series based on the book Bad Monkey which came out a full decade after the original Bad Monkey from Blogography...

I should sue! Yes! I should totally sue! Except I love Vince Vaughn, so I kinda want to see this show!

   
• Spider-Cat! Well this is awesome...

   
• Section 31! Normalize putting Michelle Yeoh in everything. Everything!

Seeing her in a deliciously evil role is too good to be true.

   
• Fake Ink! I wish to God that movie makeup crews knew how to apply realistic fake tattoos to actors. I am watching a sweet rom-com flick on Netflix called Find Me Falling, and Harry Connick Jr.'s rock star character has the absolute WORST fake ink on him. The lines are all perfectly crisp and the black ink is deepest black... like it was put on him last week. But it's tribal, which means it's at least two decades old...

Every time I saw it I was taken completely out of the film because it looks so fucking ridiculous. Do the people who make these fake tattoos know what an actual tattoo looks like?

   
• It's a Fucking Book! God forbid people be exposed to an alternative point of view. Families come in all shapes, sizes, and configurations...

Books. Like. This. Saves. Lives.

   
• TRON TRON TRON! I've been happy to see a lot of people sharing a meme with brilliant composer Wendy Carlos (debunking the idea that "trans people didn't exist five years ago when she transitioned in the early 70's) . Her TRON soundtrack still gives me chills when I think back to her groundbreaking work in electronic music. What people might not know about her is that after her first album Switched on Bach became a wild success, she was transitioning and terrified that her being credited as "Walter Carlos" on the album would cause problems... so she wore a wig and fake sideburns to appear more masculine at her public appearances...

Since then, all her albums were issued (or re-issued) with her properly credited as "Wendy Carlos." I find it horrific that society is sliding back to a time when trans persons were persecuted and ridiculed so viciously and openly. What has Wendy done to the world to deserve that except spread joy and feeling with her music? What has any trans person done to deserve this? They're just living their lives the best they can with the cards they were dealt. Just like we all are. Seek out Wendy's work. Some incredible stuff out there.

   
Hoping the last Sunday of July finds you well.

I'm trying to be smarter about my life, but I regularly fail. Take yesterday, for example. I had some vaccinations to get, and rather than getting them spaced out (the smart thing), I didn't want to take extra time off work and so I just got them all at once. Which will come as no surprise to my readers. I did my last colonoscopy without sedation so I wouldn't have to cancel an appointment that I booked afterwards. But anyway... I needed some allergy shots. I needed one of my vaccinations updated. And I wanted another COVID booster before an upcoming trip (Yeah, I know... this is #7 and I'm not dead yet! Maybe these things are safe after all! And effective because I =knock wood= haven't gotten COVID yet!). That should have been two appointments at least a week apart. But nope! I have two arms!

And what, exactly, does this have to do with Caturday?

Glad you asked!

I find that I don't use the laundry bags in my closet except to hold junk that should be elsewhere. They never get dirty laundry. I always take it downstairs with me after my morning shower. So I've decided to add another hanger bar. That way I don't have to put my clothes in two closets, they'll all fit into my one bedroom closet...

Oooooooh. Photoshop visual follows...

BUT WHAT DOES THIS HAVE TO DO WITH CATURDAY?!??

Okay... okay!

Despite feeling like I was run over thanks to stupidly getting all my shots at the same time, I decided to work on my closet before going to my class reunion. I cut the mounting board. I found the drywall studs. Then noticed that Jenny was glaring at me from the perch on the window. She was likely sleeping there and I woke her up...

But rather than vacuum up the dust, drill holes, then screw the board in place so I could add the bar... I put everything down and left.

I'll wait until after I get back and she's come downstairs for dinner.

Because as much as I would love to have my closet finished, I love my cats more. I don't intentionally upset them if I can help it... ever. And this closet thing can wait.

Happy Caturday!

The highlight of Jake and Jenny's day is when it's time to eat. Which I try to keep interesting for them by feeding them a few small meals throughout the day instead of one or two big meals. But anyway... out of the small meals they get, the two that are the most important are breakfast and dinner because that's when they get wet food.

To remind me about it, I have alarms that play on my HomePods. It's a triggering situation for my cats. They hear that alarm and start to go nuts because it signals their favorite times out of the day.

And lately I've been hyping it up for them.

The alarm goes off and I'm like "OH MY GOODNESS! OH MY DAYS! IT'S BREAKFAST TIME! JAKE! IT'S BREAKFAST TIME! WHERE'S JENNY? THERE SHE IS! JENNY, IT'S BREAKFAST TIME!!!" At first my cats were kind afraid of my ranting. But now it spurs them on. Jake will run to a scratching pad and start going to town, at which point I'll say "THAT'S RIGHT, JAKEY BEAR! TEAR THAT SHIT UP!!!

And then I run downstairs with them as they're at maximum hype.

At which point I regret my actions a little bit, because they're so hyped up that they have absolutely zero patience for me to dish up their breakfast. They want their food now!

Although... Jake and Jenny do crash hard after breakfast and dinner now...

Which means it's a lot easier for me to get some work done before heading into the office.