I spent an hour on the phone tonight to see if I have a Tiki in my stars. Mittens has been so lonesome without someone else to play with that no matter how much attention I give him, he craves more. Apparently, Tiki is a popular cat as I'm not the only person who applied to adopt her, but the Rescue House person said that so far, I'm the most reasonable applicant. Heh. I think they may be getting some odd requests for her because she's a black cat with orange eyes. Very mysterious-looking!

With any luck, I should be able to pick her up this weekend. My fingers are crossed! She and Mittens will need to get along and it'll take some adjusting for he has had the apartment all to himself, but I think he'll enjoy having a companion cat that's still playful and friendly.

Photos from Scotland! Well, Long Beach. Also, there is a separate album of "whale watching" photos, although I probably should have called it "sea lion watching" since we saw many more of the latter.

Yesterday I went with Kevin and Candice to see the Queen Mary, upon which the Long Beach Scottish festival is held. On our way up, it rained mightily and we crept up the freeway. The emergency broadcast beeps started sounding and Kevin and I glance at the radio, both wondering where the "this is a test" preface had gone.

Apparently, it was not a test. The weather was fierce and mighty thunderstorms marched eastward to perhaps drop tornadoes on the heads of unwary Temeculites. Head for the indoors! said the announcer. It was quite exciting; I do not recall ever actually hearing the emergency broadcast tone without expecting it (as in when I lived in Oklahoma, where tornadoes dropped all over the place and one always had the radio on just in case).

The festival was festive. We shopped some, I met Candice's mom, Kevin and I were accosted by a real imported Scotsperson (we could tell by his teeth) who commented on our utilikilts. The nice thing is it didn't rain much while we were at the festival, for the thunderstorms were heading eastward. On the way home, we listened to the radio to see if a tornado had picked up a house or a cow or something, but no. Although, mind you, I wouldn't want anything bad to have happened, but it was disappointing that nothing had happened at all. All that build up for nothing.

My husband is filing for divorce. Thoughtful of him not to email me until after my birthday to tell me.

I've been debating in my mind what to post today. Part of me wants to put up my romantic ghost story because it's my blog so there :) But tis a long story and I hate to put anyone out. Another part of me wants to put up one of my romantic poems, which I don't think I have up anywhere...but that would require me to look for the hardcopy, since a digital one doesn't exist for this particular piece. Maybe another day. Valentine's Day just seems like a day for romance and poetry, doesn't it?

It's also for some really wonderful friends and good, good people. Broos is slipping his father some sedatives for supper then sneaking back out to go to dinner with me, John and Michelle. Michelle spent her day trying to find a place where four people could go to dinner tonight. They want to make sure I'm not alone tonight, which is so incredibly kind and good it ... it just makes me wonder what horrible thing John is up to that he's going to all this trouble :D Hehehe!

I made a birthday cake for myself yesterday and brought in 3/4 of it to share with Broos...and gave a piece out here, and a piece out there...next thing you know there's only enough for Broos and his dad when John comes rushing up (and lord knows how he even found out I'd made cake) asking whether I had a slice for him, too. Which I didn't...so I have just cause to worry what's in store for me now!

Matt found some Seattle's Chocolates for me since he knows I love chocolate and Seattle. He's an all right kind of guy for someone who kidnapped the stuffed sheep I hurled at him earlier today for something that I can't remember what the cause of it was but I'm sure it was his fault.

The folks at our Starbucks gave me my latte on the house, which ended up being funny since I think Matt was going to pay for my drink but hadn't enough cash on hand so I ended up buying his.

May your day also have been filled with good, kind people who make you smile!

So, Steph is up to her usual tricks, eh? I summon strength from my sick bed to answer the call...

1. Total amount of music files on your computer: Nothing :/ I deleted the music that came with the XPS and usually don't use my PC for music. I have a radio for that. Aieee, a dinosaur!

2. The last CD you bought was: October Road by James Taylor

3. What is the song you last listened to before reading this message? 360 by The Humble Brothers. Hehehe

4. Write down 5 songs you often listen to or that mean a lot to you:
a. If You Love Me by Brownstone (on the Living Out Loud soundtrack). The whole soundtrack is really good, but this is my favorite song on it. See if you can listen to this song without wanting to get up and shake your groove thang!

b. Here With You by Cecilio and Kapono. I associate this song with my first kiss, although I didn't hear it until after the fact...but I was with the same guy at the time, sitting in his car, so that counts, right?

c. Sexual Healing by Marvin Gaye. And it's good for me... :)

d. Tintinnabulum by Adiemus. I listened to this CD over and over while writing rooms for HX. I think because there's no real words, it's not distracting to hear while working. I took it to the office to play while we were in our crunch last fall as well. Miriam Stockley has quite the voice!

e. The song Billy Boyd sings in The Return of the King. Every time I hear it or see that section of the movie, I can't help but think, "This is what war really is." And then I get all riled up at Dubya. But gee, Billy Boyd's sure cute, isn't he? I'd do him. :D

What three people am I passing this baton to and why?
My sister, who can't resist and by the time I finish this has probably already done this. Lynn, who's always good to me :) and Broos, whom I wish to challenge (but I am not the little goddess that Steph is, so he'll just shake his head at me and call me a goober). Corey! Grab Broos' baton and okidokido him!

Yay! Ovation is showing Antiques Roadshow UK. I've missed being near Canada, which showed it on CBC every day. Since moving to the other end of I-5, I've been too far away to catch any Canadian stations :)

It's a very relaxing program, although I'm somewhat surprised to note that the programs being shown are pretty much the same ones that were shown on CBC. The surprise is that the show's been on the air for well over 20 years, but what's showing is from 2001. What happened to the rest of the years, I wonder? Is this the only year that was exported?

I spent a very quiet weekend. Grocery shopping, Sims 2, laundry. I glanced at my box of tax forms, but I need to go pick up some California tax forms and I haven't been up to the challenge. Normally I do my taxes online, but since this is my first time paying state tax in gee...nearly 25 years!...I want to do it on paper first to get a feel for it. Except, you know, it's math. :/ I hate math.

So, masculine readers, skip this post :)

The other day I happened to glance at the non-stick-to-it paper on an adhesive feminine product (hehehe) and noticed that along with the instructions on its use ("This Side Down!" -- which seems pretty obvious, but I'll bet the gazillionaire who didn't read the instructions and later went on to invent the Brazilian wax is probably responsible for the inclusion of these instructions), the paper included some "Tips for living." To show how dumbfounded I was by this discovery, I paused to actually read them.

Which is probably what the feminine product company was hoping, but still. It was the most peculiar place to list things like getting sleep, drinking plenty of water and taking time out for oneself. I wonder if they were sued for something ("I use your product and it sucked all the water right out of me! I couldn't sleep!") and that's why they included these helpful hints. Who knows?