another day off

yep, another day when i'm free to sit on my butt and do nothing, while the rest of the world participates in the rat race. it's almost nice to have absolutely nothing going on - for the first hour or two. i'm re-watching the first season of alias (again). and i caught some cannibal: the musical, before a mungo nap. it's ridiculously hot and humid for san diego. yes i do realize that there are many areas hotter and muggier, but that doesn't mean i'm used to it. anyway:
i had an adventure a few nights ago - a guy who calls me weekly about his cat has upgraded to daily since she had nine kittens (yes i said nine). he needs advice and directions and whatnot for supplemental feedings. so i had him go to his local vet for supplies and formula and such. then he calls because he and his wife are going out of town for the weekend and can i swing by and do some bottle-feeding. well, being a sucker for babies, i said of course, even though the dude lives in oceanside, which takes a good half hour to drive to. so he left me a hidden key and said they'd be leaving friday evening. i decided to go by late friday night to scope out the situation and decide how often i would need to/want to be feeding. so i find the place, find the key, put it in the lock, and ... nothing. it won't turn. i wiggle it, twist harder, all that stuff. no go. so i walk around the house and try the back door. the key won't even go in this one. so i try the front again. i'm there for at least 15 minutes trying, and thinking this is so stupid, i did not drive all the way out here in the middle of the night to get locked out... when a car pulls up, and a lady i don't know gets out of it with the guy whose house this is. i approached the guy, introduced myself (we've only met over the phone through the feral cat coalition) and handed him the key. then the woman asks what i am doing at their house this late. it turns out she is his wife i've never met, and who he DID NOT TELL HE HAD ASKED ME TO COME BY!!! that's right, she had no idea that some stranger was going to have a key to her house to come in and feed kittens. i'm glad now that the key didn't work because then she would have found me in her house instead of just on the porch. i tried to help the guy out and not let her see the key and play it like i was "just stopping by to see if i could help" but, i'm not sure how well it worked at that time of night, especially considering what i was wearing (i already said it's been hot lately). i left with the distinct feeling that the dude is in a whole lot of trouble. so now he only calls me every other day, leaves a message and then when i call back he says, oh everything's fine thanks for asking, gotta go... and then yesterday i got a message that says "every time you call back, my wife is standing right there, and i can't really talk"!!!!!
and i wonder if this is a happy marriage!! i mean, i'm not sleeping with him, i'm just trying to make sure kittens don't die from malnourishment, but this sneaking around is stupid.
i mean, he was asking someone from a legitimate cat care organization for advice on how to feed kittens. nothing wrong with that... sigh
so, more adventures - ummmm, nothing lately really beats that... marie callendar's dinners are on sale... enthralling news...
oh, and it's baby season. everyone i know and their dog (and cat) who is in a situation to have a baby, is having a baby. i even got an email from an ex from years ago - yep, he and his wife are expecting. my sister is, my sister-in-law is, a friend here, a friend from washington, a guy at my work just became a dad last week, on and on. and then the inevitable "so, when are you two going to start having kids?" not "are you"... "when are you"...
the fact is, i'm starting to feel like it's not ethical to add more people to the world when so many are starving/neglected/abused, etc. i would rather adopt, or not have any kids and use the time i would have spent on say, three kids, to do some non-profit stuff to help lots of kids in need. maybe instead of a feral cat foundation i should do an abortion-alternative thing, where we can take care of teenagers who didn't know and adults who were too stupid to use birth control, and then find adoptive families for the kids. it would be like a baby shelter. i wonder if there is a group anywhere that does that? - doctors the birth moms and screens adoptive families for the kids? of course, some would argue that something like that would encourage people to make bad decisions (these are the same people who say kids should learn abstinence only), but i doubt any woman who really thinks about it would want to go the whole fattening up and then practically having her insides ripped out thing, unless she actually wanted a baby, regardless of any medical care that might be offered. so that's a thought.
anyway, my sister is having a girl. they had (per april) been calling the kid "lance corporal" - that way he has rank without ever having to go to basic training. but now it has been changed to l.c. or "elsie". i suggested "marzipan" (strongbad's girlfriend - and if you don't know who strongbad is, go to homestarrunner.com and play...) and my aaron maintains that "human torch" is not a gender-specific name. of course, he also recommends "Ptera" (short for pteradactyl) or "Ty" (tyranosaurus rex).
oh yes, and we had our first cat-peed-on-a-matress adventure the other day. it's amazing that this has never happened to me before, but anyway, i highly recommend Out brand Pet Stain and Odor Remover, because it does, in fact, remove both the stain and the odor. the matress is currently drying after the last treatment (it smelled fine, but i sprayed it down one more time, just to be sure). and then we won't have to sleep on the futon anymore - by the way, thank you jane, i had no idea we would be this grateful for your futon so soon! it's quite comfortable, so now i won't feel bad if guests need a place to sleep.
speaking of which, my brother will be here in a week to visit and go to the beach and such. of course, his plane ticket coincides with inventory at work, so i have been informed that i won't be able to have all four days off that i requested, but which two of the four are most important to me?... this is more than a one time thing. i am slowly learning that "vacation hours" are something to accumulate on one's paystub, but never actually make use of.
and i think i'm done for today.