Lexxy Fancypants

Happy one year anniversary of your adoption, Nostalgia!



Sadly, that is the only good cat news I have right now. Well, that, and she's being adorable next to me on an ottoman while I chill on the couch in the A/C. Anyway, this cat, augh. She is lucky I adore her.

( State of the Cat )

Sometimes it only takes a little thing to make everything okay again.



In other Nostalgia news:

It will be the best garden EVER.

( Spring is here, spring is here! I think the most wonderful time of the year is the spring, I do, don't you? 'Course you do. )

Also, last night involved the most amazing chat with the most amazing people that lasted until, no lie, 6am. And then I got up at 7 for school. We watched Nuts draw, and Pell and I made a tentacle comm, and I think we talked about Primus' genitals, and then there was Skywarp in a tentacled strap-on and it was amazing and now I am going to sleep FOREVER.

Nostalgia is too thin. The worry is making me sick. I need to get off my lazy ass and put up a sale post so I can afford the vet.

OKAY SO EVERYTHING WENT AWESOME AND MY CAT IS THE BEST CAT. They didn't have to sedate her, her X-rays are lovely, she is the cutest cat ever. They don't have the means to scan their X-rays but the very nice vet took a photo and will email it to me.

So the word is, she has three fused lumbar vertebrae and scoliosis in two directions. Her funny walk is really due to the scoliosis pushing her hips down and tilting them to the right, which causes her to splay her legs and dip down on the right side. Her hips and legs look awesome, as does the rest of her spine - everything is just in those three vertebrae, and possibly a tiny bit of deformation of the pelvis where they attach. Plus, you know, the teeny tiny tail. XD It's so teeny! She's got like half a dozen itsy bitsy tail bones. Also her ribcage is made of such slender bones ahhhhh so cute ♥ I got to see her little bladder and lungs and everything. Such a good healthy girl ♥

So basically the verdict is: as you were! XD She's fine, she's not in pain, and I'll start tossing some glucosamine supplements into her wet food. The vet doesn't expect they'll be terribly useful for axial issues rather than lateral issues (and oh god I understand what that means) but they can't hurt, and they'll probably help her legs deal with compensating for her spine. So basically all is well and my ridiculous levels of anxiety were for nothing. XD Just the way I like it.

Edit: Now with pictures!

This post is basically a look into my anxiety-ridden head. Just fyi.

( Possibly triggery mental health stuff. D: )

When I am having a really goddamn rough time and wondering is any of this fucking worth it I go through my pictures of Nostalgia.



I love this picture. Her first night home... She had finally crashed, and I was still shivering from oh my god she's in my house. She was so tiny, so bony, so frail and wobbly.



She was so freaked out by every single noise. When the neighbors opened their garage door I wanted to kill them. XD But every time she started to freeze and panic, I said softly, "It's alright, Nostalgia." And she blinked at me and relaxed. She had to be touching me at all times that night and the next day.



She still prefers to be touching me - she'll lay her head on my hand, curl up on my chest, lean against my leg, reach out with her paw to touch my cheek...

I love her so much.

I don't think I've told you all one of the cute things Nostalgia does - sometimes she'll crawl under the blankets, not to explore but to curl up against me and sleep. Usually against my leg where I can pet her, but right now she's in the tent my raised knee is making, her soft back against one foot and her paws stretched out against the other. Earlier she was licking the sole of my foot. She is unbearably cute.

She also uses my hand as a pillow whenever she can, and licks me as much as is physically possible. And she greets me at the door every single day when I come home from school. I love this cat beyond words. ♥ Even when she chews my computer charger.

Deep Thoughts: Is the gotta-pee dance universal? Most body language with a complex or specific meaning isn't universal - come-here in Japan is different than come-here in America, OK-sign can mean something good or something obscene, eye-contact as polite listening vs. avoiding eye contact as polite listening, etc. etc. But stuff like smiling is universal. So I wonder if the pee-dance is universal. DEEP THOUGHTS.

Actual Deep Thoughts: Okay so this is now totally my headcanon, no lie, I was driving home tonight and trying to see in the dark (I can't, for the record), when I realized - okay, movie!Scorponok and G1!cassettes are symbionts, right? One of their notable characteristics is forming part of their host's alt form (Scorponok becomes an engine and some other bits, the cassettes become, well, cassettes). And I realized - those big sentient cities like Metroplex? Totally symbionts. Seriously, when Primus transforms, what do they do? Transform with him. They're clearly capable of getting up and going somewhere (Autobot City, anyone?) and they're their own people, but they belong with Cybertron.

and then my brain went to interesting places about symbionts as people and their level of sentience and classes of Cybertronian people and it was amazing *_*

Nostalgia's second adventure outside today! We started out in the back, where she'd been before, and she was much more willing to walk around and respond to the leash. She's such a good girl. She was very interested in everything but not nearly as HOMG as last time. Then we went to the front yard, just to the porch steps, and she sniffed about a two-foot radius in front of the steps and then worked her way up the porch and back into the house. XD Scaredy-cat. She did panic a little when a car drove by for the first time, but she bolted back to me so that was okay. She did flop over twice when she wanted to go somewhere and I kept a firm pull on the leash to keep her back, but that lasted maybe five seconds before she was up and sniffing again. Operation: Walk The Cat is going well. :3 I am very glad I started her with the harness while she was still in kittenhood, though. This would be going very badly if it were entirely unfamiliar. Mostly she seems to just really hate the weight of the leash's clip.

Operation: Study For The Big Test Tomorrow is not going so well. I should, uh. Get on that.

So, I talk to my family about fannish stuff. They know I write fanfic, they know I write slash, they know I'm really into giant robots and have probably figured out I write giant robot slash. It's cool. We don't really talk about the slash part because they just don't get it, but I do talk about my writing. I told Dad a lot about this last story, and I was telling him today about the reader reactions I've been getting, and he asked if he could read it. So... I said yes. He won't get it, I think, because fanfic only works because of our shared backgrounds and knowledge. We know who Sideswipe is, we care about him, we know he's somehow brother/twin to Sunstreaker. We love the Elite Trine and their back-handed affection. We know who the missing jet is and why it hurts so much that he's gone. We know that Prowl is the logical officer who doesn't do well with interpersonal relationships. An outsider, a non-fan, does not know these things. There's your big divide, the reason we're mocked when an outsider reads a fic. They don't get it, can't get it, because they don't have that established setting.

So... I know Dad won't get why it's a powerful story. He won't feel sad. He's not emotionally invested in these people - he has no reason to be. But that's okay.

In completely unrelated news, Velocisquirrel is back! She's in good shape and just as fearless as ever. Nostalgia has never met her before, so this was very exciting! Velocisquirrel is the only squirrel that can jump onto my windowsill and eat the seeds I scatter there. Nostalgia always, always pounces at the window when any bird lands there. I didn't get video of her repeated and incessant pouncing, but I did get her utter confusion:

So last night the power went out for a few hours - probably some dipstick hitting a pole. OH NOES THE GROUND IS DAMP. Anyway, this wasn't such a bad thing - instead of dicking around on the Internet, I lit some candles in the living room and played with Nostalgia. We have a box full of packing peanuts, you see. :3 Much fun was had diving headfirst into it and fishing out individual peanuts. And then once she settled down I read a book.

Nostalgia is pretty much full-grown now. Her face looks adult, and I can pet her head with my whole hand instead of a finger or two. There's been no change in her gait, but I think this month I will finally have saved enough for x-rays. Frankly I'm used to the way she walks now. She certainly doesn't know there's anything funny about it. We race madly around the house together, pausing at specific points to consult on a change of direction. Sometimes one of us leads, sometimes the other, but we both slide madly for the hairpin turn in the living room. XD Sometimes she tries to sideswipe my feet - cheater!

The divorce is going well - I should get the papers in the mail soon. This will probably be the most good-natured divorce ever. We are planning Facebook shenanigans. It will be hysterical. XD Yeah, I can't explain our relationship at all. But he did tell me to get any medical stuff done while I still have essentially free health care, and he's right - and I think maybe Tricare will cover allergy testing. At least their site says they do. Which means nothing, really, but I should at least make some kind of appointment with someone. A dietician? I kinda want to talk about all my food issues, so that would make sense. :\ Red meat intolerance is a strange thing for sure.;ppppppppppppppppppppppppppppp

Nostalgia says hi. XD