42 Dreams of Arizona Bay

I love cats. What’s better than just a cat? Two cats? Three cats? Yeah.

So when YouTube can bring me laughs and multiple cats, the world is good.

I present Funny Cats Fighter Jets, from the guy who did the Engineer’s Guide to Cats.

The longer version (which is pretty long, and honestly, I think the best part is the fighter jets part) is political. I don’t normally get political on this blog, for reasons known to my friends. However, I can safely endorse Ginger for Cat President, at the very least, as none of my cats have expressed an interest. Plus, none of my cats are tolerant enough to be filmed while flying.

Finally, if you haven’t seen the original Engineer’s Guide to Cats, just stop whatever you’re doing right now, and spend 7 minutes of your life laughing hard.

“When you have three cats, you start to get to be that guy, who has all those cats.”

Maybe at another time, gray skies would be a herald of sadness, of winter blues.

But today, I’m happy to see that the sky outside is dark and gray, and that it has been raining since last night, just after I got off work.

Rain is a beautiful thing, after having been absent for so many months.

California desperately needs the rain, and I always miss it too. Even if we’re about to enter the supposed rainy season that is fall and winter here.

Looking out the window makes me want to just get back into bed and cuddle with the kitties. And I just might do it.

Four years ago, I was starting a new life in a new land. I started blogging.

My dad and I crossed the country. I was learning a new job. I was spreading my wings.

And here I am now. California-ized like any proper wimp. Cold has a different meaning for me. I know too much about real estate, water and agriculture.

I’ve learned a lot about photography because I’ve been spoiled by my proximity to the mountains and national parks.

Getting fresh fruit from people’s back yards is definitely a treat. Where else can you get free lemons and oranges?

It seems such a short time ago that I moved out here, and now such a long time too.

I’m in my third place in Fresno. My cat lineup has changed. I’m looking for a job that will take me to another town.

I love Fresno and its warts in a way that many people would never admit to. It will be hard for me to leave a place where I’ve done so much learning and growing. I’m eager to leave, but on the other hand, I don’t want to leave yet.

I loved exploring when I first got here. Now I just sort of sit in my cave. It’s not that there’s nothing to do; it’s just I have no one to do it with.

Sometimes I wish one or more of my cats would like to ride in the car with me. I want one of my cats to be like a dog, to like following me everywhere. To go on walks. Because I am lonely. I may be turning into the cat lady again. I talk to them about nonsense. I spoil them rotten. I let two of them trap me into sleeping for almost three extra hours today.

I also contemplate my next birthday alone, much like my first birthday here, where no one but me knew that I was one year older.

I think this year, I will treat myself to a nice dinner somewhere and play video games all day. Or maybe buy a new outfit.

Part of the problem with aging is that your birthday gets less important, or is supposed to. But for me, I still get the little thrill of turning the calendar over to November, knowing that my birthday will be here in a few weeks. But now that I’m older, it’s not supposed to be a big deal. There might come a point where I no longer want to admit my age. I certainly regret the passing of some of the years.

But I’m always grateful to look back at myself and know that I’m growing in wisdom and experience. As long as I can keep growing, learning and exploring, I’m never going to be old.

Antisocial, but not old.

Yay! My credit card is paid off again for a few days, until I have to buy my plane ticket home, which will be hopefully very soon. And even then, I expect to pay off at least a bit of the plane ticket bill right away.

Is it wrong that I laughed when I saw someone drove the wrong way down a one-way street yesterday? First I honked at him, hoping he’d figure it out. Maybe the oncoming traffic helped him figure it out too. But I didn’t hear a crash, so it must’ve ended well. I hope the driver felt like a real idiot.

Anyway, I guess he’s a good argument for why you should always look both ways when turning on to a one-way street.

Speaking of driving, California drivers just suck. Last week, I was 10-12 car lengths behind the light and therefore was just sorta in the middle of the right lane. I knew I would turn eventually, but that it did me no good to huddle up to the right of the lane and try to drive up. That’s dangerous. Nor did I pull all the way over to the left. It’s just one lane, right?

Well, even if a lane is marked as only one lane, when you have California drivers, you have insane people who want as many lanes as it takes to get them to their goal. A woman behind me gesticulated and honked angrily. Then, because she didn’t have enough room to go around me, she actually drove on part of the sidewalk. Not only is that illegal, but it’s dangerous, not just to pedestrians, but also to your car. Did I mention that we were nowhere near the light, but merely stopped in anticipation of one day being able to go?

I hope she got where she was going a whole 30 seconds faster. Congratulations.

In keeping with my intermittent fascination for shopping carts, I bring you this:

Originally seen on Neatorama.

I try to stay out of big debt. My credit card balance stays pretty low. I rarely use it and just pay down the debt. When I do use it, it is for big ticket items such as my computer or a plane ticket.

And finally, within this last week, I paid my credit card off.

Temporarily.

First of all, this isn’t really the first time this has happened, but usually, something bad or unexpected happens which forces me to use it again.

Second of all, it’s not really paid off.

I paid the exact amount that was currently posted to my account, $177, but the charge for fixing my freezer, $225 had yet to appear as having been charged.

So for a brief time, I could consider myself paid up. Even though I knew it was just a matter of timing. So I didn’t feel relieved, but sort of resigned and irritated by another $225 that I suppose I could have paid off then and there too. But I didn’t.

I’m in a financial situation now where I expect to be moving soon, and so I need to keep the cushion in my checking and savings for a deposit and the cost of moving, not to mention to help make up the sort of shortfall expected between the mortgage and what can be charged for rent on this condo.

So if I took that $225 and put it on the credit card, I’d undoubtedly have some sort of crisis.

Instead, I plan to slam another good amount on it next week when I get paid. So in theory, I could have it paid off soon. If I wasn’t planning to buy a plane ticket to go home soon. Each time I go home, it gets more expensive. The first trip I took home, it cost less than $400. This time, it could easily reach $750. And I’ve only been gone for four years.

It never ends. Debt, we were told until just recently, was very good. It keeps the economy moving, until it doesn’t.

I also find myself burdened with a condo that is worth much less than what the mortgage was for. Many people are losing their homes to foreclosures, but I’m too conscientious. I pay my bills. I can make this work. It’s perfectly fine. Eventually the market will get better.

So even if I paid off my credit card, it would make no difference. There’s the house, the American dream turned to American debt burden.