Dos Cabezas

The grey sky seems alive as it roils forward, swallowing up the feeble sunshine. It threatens from afar and pushes down on the open land like a massive press; bringing everything closer and closer together until the air crackles with latent static electricity. The trees here are withered from the strain of fighting to keep their hold in the ground. They spread their sickly arms over their plotted land, neatly cordoned off from the rest of the world by rickety looking wraught iron fences. The posture is nearly defensive, gathering the brooding tombstomes into the withered bosoms of the trees. Mother Nature has not forgotten them. The city is gone, dismantled long ago and the train tracks have laid vacant for generations. The descendants of those left behind have given up their relatives as lost to history. But not nature. She keeps sentry over these souls and their decrepit resting places until they can be reclaimed...

-JLP Nov 2008

Worst Friday In A While

Today sucks shit.
Normally Fridays are exciting, as in "weee, it's the end of the work week!"
Not so today. I am the only one of my co-workers who showed up today. 3 people are off sick and the fourth is helping at the office down the block. So it is myself and the dude who'd been trained for 2 days by our OTHER TRAINEE.
You can imagine my excitement over this. I also agreed (volunteered) to work tomorrow at the Open House for the new cable store....I was SUPPOSED to go to a meeting about what is expected tomorrow around 10am this morning. Because we are so depleted with staff, I was told I would not be able to attend that meeting. However, at ab0ut 10:05am, I was given a quick 10 minute tutorial on how to use a new program.
So they have time to spare for their meeting, but not the one I need to be in. I am beyond annoyed, I am pissed off. I HATE getting up early.
ANYONE who has EVER known me will testify that I am NOT a morning person. Regardless, I have been working the 7am to 3:30pm shift. Which means I get up at 6 am and am back in bed by 6:30pm. Now that I have given up my Sat afternoon for this stupid open house no one else would do, I now also have to get up early to get there to be briefed on what everyone else was told today. I have to GET UP EARLY on my ALREADY shortened weekend because of my co-workers.
Isn't life just peachy? I get my period last night, (and I take medication because my cramps are so bad) I get locked out of the house because the roomate is oblivious and obsessed with locking the door, I have to get up early, I already feel like shit - discover no one else will be coming in! - and that I now have to get up even earlier than planned to work on my weekend.
I am going to cancel my doctors appointment for tonight because I just want to go home and break things. How come everyone else gets like 3 weeks off for mental health but the person who fantasizes daily about jumping off the bridge into the freezing Yukon River? How does that pan out exactly??? How is it that I can manange to drag my ass in here but no one else can?
This is fucking retarded.
-Jessica Leigh Nov 2008

The House hides in Me

My fingers are numb
Just these two last ones
Like they didn't quite make it in time
or have been voted off the island
of me, myself and I

I'd rather just cut them off
than send a lifeboat
let them go like the traitors they are
turncoats!

-Jessica Leigh Nov 2008

My cats are my babies. They are spoiled rotten. They have hallowe'en costumes, christmas outfits, about 4 different types of treaties and some of the best kitty food money can buy. When I go to bed at night, they jump up onto the bed and pick their spots. Generally Elton will sleep near the foot of the bed and Cece will snuggle up to my chest or back.
They occasionally forgo snuggling with me to snuggle with each other which is somewhere on the "Top 10 Cutest Things Ever" list from Forbes. They groom each other and snuggle into each other's fur, sometimes Elton will wrap his fluffy little arm around Cece to keep her from squirming away.
They are so cute that I could just poop. A great big, fuzzy and heart warming poop. They make me squeal with excitment and laugh with glee.
Is it sad that cats do this to me and people in general don't? That animals in general garner affection and warmth and humans make me crazy with frustration and anger?
If people acted more like my cats or my dogs, I would probably enjoy their company more.
Take a lesson people!!
-Jessica Leigh

Pre-Dentage

I remember the night like it was yesterday
Lord, how we laughed!
Smiley faces and green chemicals below a black line
Means you are fine to drive
Until your text comes in an hour later
I'm home in one piece
but there may or may not have been some dentage
along the way
no-one is hurt but the neighbours porch
has taken on a drunken lean
Like a sailor with one good leg to perch on.
Lord, how we laughed!

-Jessica Leigh, Nov 17/08

Hell-raiser

So what do you do with a cat that likes to push things off of shelves, dressers, etc?

Elton John, (my cat - not the singer) has been a bad kitty since he's been strong enough to push things off my old bookshelf. Indulge me, and visualize the following!
It's 4am...everything is dark and quiet. You are snuggled up in your duvet/comforter/lover and lie unsuspecting in comfort. Out of nowhere, an extremely loud crack, like the reverb of a shotgun, explodes beside your ear. You shoot up into a sitting position, your eyeballs rolling around to identify the source...and they land on an overweight, orange and white, innocent looking ball of fluff with books scattered around his little bum.
It is ungodly early and you have to be up in 2 hrs. You attempt to punush him with a firm "no!" and swat on his fuzzy little head. As soon as you lay back down, he sneaks back to the scene of the crime and pulls more books down to raise thunder beside your head.
At this point, I try to counter with something he finds equally annoying - snuggling.
I scoop him up and nuzzle the top of his little head, holding onto his suprisingly slippery and squirmy body. Finally, when he is desperate to get out of my grasp and I am desperate to get back to sleep, I release him.
However, this never seems to work and he ultimately gets back at me by pushing something breakable off the shelf. Dealing with broken glass and spilled drinks at 4:45 am was NOT part of this contract, thank you!
I have succumb to jamming him into his travel cage once he starts to act like a little bastard...
I thought cats were intelligent?? My dog knew better than to piss me off at 4 am unless it was an emergency! This seems to be some sick cat game that only Elton plays...CeCe watches from a distance, mildly amused by our back and forth antics.
So, I put it out there to my fellow cat owners---help!
-Jessica Leigh Nov 2008