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tchrist

03:00

He is developing a bit of a lion’s mane though.

Mahnax

Hehe.

I like Norwegian Forest Cats.

And my friend's cat Sophie.

tchrist

Yes, I think those are about the same as a Maine coon, and may in fact be so.

Mahnax

Whom I affectionately refer to as Sofu Tofu.

tchrist

My grandparents’ cat, now my mom’s, it a giant Maine coon.

Mahnax

I will show you a picture of Sophie. She's adorable.

tchrist

03:01

He outweighs both my kittens together.

@Mahnax Please!

Mahnax

Here she is, the darling.

tchrist

Polydactyl?

About how big?

Er. By weight.

Mahnax

@tchrist She's not too heavy, pretty average I think.

I have no idea what to estimate her weight as though.

tchrist

But for a Norwegian forest cat, she could be 15 or 20 pounds or more, right?

Rajkumar R

debilitate means to make someone weak or to make some one feel lesser / lower?

Mahnax

03:03

tchrist

Is she too big to sit on your lap?

Mahnax

@tchrist No.

She's the perfect size for a lap cat.

@tchrist I don't know if she is a Norwegian forest cat or not, actually.

tchrist

That’s nice. Lorin is too, but he’s very tiny at only 8 pounds. My mom’s cat only fits on your lap if you cross your legs the wide way, almost Indian-style, and then droops off the edge. And you need good support.

Mahnax

My math teacher's cat.

tchrist

Gosh.

Mahnax

03:05

Wearing a shirt because they had to keep him from licking his wound and the cone made him very sad.

He moped around and cried, and cried, and cried, so they asked the vet—in desperation—for an alternative.

He was quite happy to be rid of the cone and didn't mind the shirt at all.

tchrist

Oh, I see. Yes, the cone-of-shame really depresses a kitty, and telling them how regal they look in their Elizabethan collar does nothing to lift their spirits.

Randy just came in talking to me.

Obviously wants something.

Mahnax

Oh, what did he say?

tchrist

Lorin had to teach him to talk.

Mahnax

Aww.

tchrist

I think it is the come-appease-me-at-my-feeding-station talk.

It is definitely not the I-have-a-trophy talk.

Nor the I-want-to-out talk.

He just wants me to go with him somewhere. BRB.

Mahnax

03:08

Hehe. Have fun!

Cerberus

Yay cats.

Mahnax

So, how old is your boyfriend, Cerby?

Cerberus

Hah!

The scary b-word!

He was born in freaking 1990...

Mahnax

@Cerberus Woah. I could date him.

Cerberus

I know!

I'm a cradle robber.

Mahnax

03:18

Do you think this has the potential to be a serious, long-term relationship?

Cerberus

Who knows?

Mahnax

(If you don't mind my asking of course)

@Cerberus Hehe, OK.

Cerberus

We'll see.

Mahnax

Good luck!

Cerberus

I prefer not looking into the future too far.

Do you?

Mahnax

03:19

That's a good idea. Live for now and all that.

@Cerberus I like to keep the future in mind, but I don't think about it too much. I like to enjoy living now.

Cerberus

Great.

My question was intended to be a bit more specific...but of course you don't have to talk about that here and now.

Mahnax

@Cerberus Oh, you mean in regards to my current thing?

Cerberus

Yes!

Mahnax

Sure. Don't see why not!

Cerberus

OK.

So is it going steady?

No passengers have fallen off, and no icebergs?

Mahnax

03:22

Well, we're coming up on a year sometime in the summer, so steady is a pretty good word.

Cerberus

Wow!

That's good.

Mahnax

Mhm!

Cerberus

It's been that long already!

Mahnax

Yeah! Time flies.

Cerberus

Of course I would not dare even hint at a picture.

Mahnax

03:24

Hmph. Let me see.

Cerberus

Ohhh!

Mahnax

digs through blog

Cerberus

A blog, even?

Mahnax

Well, I've had a tumblr for ages now.

Cerberus

Ow.

barely knows what that is

tchrist

03:27

Back. Gosh that was a chore and a half.

Cerberus

Feeding?

tchrist

Lorin just does not want to come in after dark.

Cerberus

Ah, yes.

Perhaps he needs a GPS beacon?

tchrist

Randy is pretty easy, but Lorin gets skittish because he knows I’ve got his number.

I’ve thought of that, but they’re too heavy.

Cerberus

Hmm.

tchrist

03:28

And anyway, it’s not like I don’t know where he is.

I can see him, sitting pretty.

Cerberus

Heh.

For now.

tchrist

He just doesn’t want to be behind a closed door.

Cerberus

But what if he decides to go farther away some time in the future?

tchrist

He does do that.

He’s been sighted down on Orion Court, by birders who think he is a scourge.

Cerberus

Understandably.

tchrist

03:29

Um, that’s a coupla blocks downhill from here.

Cerberus

Right?

tchrist

Yes, well.

Cats will be cats.

Cerberus

Even with bells.

tchrist

Doesn’t seem to help.

Just lets me hear him at night prowling around my bed.

Cerberus

Perhaps a tail-bell would help.

They can't control their tails.

tchrist

03:30

I guess there was talk of trying to get a cat-leash ordinance passed. That was quashed.

Cerberus

Yeah...

tchrist

In the end, I had to pursue him with a flashlight into somebody’s front “garden”, between their wall and the street, full of shrubbery, distract him with some leaves, and then make a flying tackle.

Cerberus

Yeah, that sounds difficult.

You might not succeed next time.

Mahnax

@Cerb Gmail.

Cerberus

Yay!

tchrist

03:34

@Mahnax I swear to you, I honestly thought “gmail” for a hookup site when I first heard the name.

Mahnax

@tchrist Oh my god, Tom.

Mail, though…

tchrist

A friend of mine known for frequent hookups said to me, “Oh, I’m on gmail,” and I thought that was what it was about.

Mahnax

Oh, OK.

tchrist

See, it was the context in which I first heard it that did it.

Mahnax

Right.

tchrist

03:35

Plus it was spoken, so I took it the wrong way.

Mahnax

Hehe.

tchrist

Speaking of which, I got a text from him early yesterday, trying to get me to come to Denver for the crazy weekend, but my phone ran out of charge before I could answer, and now I can’t find it. It is somewhere in the house, dead.

Cerberus

Oh, dear!

tchrist

Oh well, my gardening-girl will doubtless regale me with tails of frenzy and frolic next week.

Mahnax

Oh dear!

Jinx.

Cerberus

03:40

Haha.

We're two old muppets.

tchrist

It’s because I’m such an endearing feller.

Cerberus

@tchrist Why not go there anyway?

@Mahnax Back atcha.

tchrist

@Cerberus What, walk around all day looking for people I knew? Yeah, I could have, I guess.

Cerberus

Oh, it is already in the past?

tchrist

Pride was yesterday.

Mostly.

Cerberus

03:41

Gay pride?

tchrist

I dunno, without a phone, I know no one.

Cerberus

Oh, well.

Next year.

tchrist

Yes, he and my gardner were trying to get me to come to Denver. She’s a DNC worker-bee.

She does recreational gardening when she isn’t calling people up or knocking on doors.

Cerberus

Is your gardener also your houseboy?

tchrist

No, gardner is female.

Grown up.

Cerberus

03:43

Ah.

tchrist

And lives in Denver. Hence the invite.

Houseboy went off to some folk festival for the weekend on the Western Slope.

Was supposed to be back. Has to work in the morning. But I have no phone.

Hm.

Mahnax

Does your houseboy live with you, then?

tchrist

I could call him from the land line, since it has his number, and ask him if he got blizzarded on the wrong side of the Continental Divide, or what.

@Mahnax Chthonically.

Mahnax

@tchrist In the basement?

tchrist

@Mahnax Of course. :)

Kid I knew from when he was a teenager, like um 15 years ago or something.

Mahnax

03:45

Hehe. So what does he do? Clean?

tchrist

I wish.

Yes, sometimes, with complaints.

Basically he’s just a boarder. But it sounds more exotic calling him a houseboy.

Mahnax

Oh, I see.

tchrist

Perhaps.

Mahnax

takes off glasses

tchrist

We’ve been to Burning Man together I think like 3 or 5 times. You get to know a person pretty well that way. Sometimes too well, of course.

Not really a companion, but sometimes keeps me from going crazy. Er.

Mahnax

03:48

Ah yes. I looked through a few of those pics, seems like an interesting time.

tchrist

And I should give him more credit.

He showed up at my house after not having contact for several years, found me in deep clinical depression / death-grief, and moved in for my own good.

Probably just as well. Sometimes you shouldn’t be alone.

Mahnax

I'm glad he's there, then.

Cerberus

Was that a few months ago?

tchrist

More than a year now.

Cerberus

Ah OK.

tchrist

03:52

I think I first met you about that time.

I wasn’t doing very well.

Cerberus

I remember a conversation.

tchrist

Yes, when I thought you were a girl because of how comforting you were to me.

How ironic.

Cerberus

Hah what?

flexes muscles I ain't no girl!

tchrist

Yes’m.

Cerberus

Ugh.

tchrist

03:54

I just assumed that a stranger who was sweet and comforting must be a girl.

Cerberus

Odd.

tchrist

Stoopid.

I’m a little jaded, I guess.

Cerberus

You knew your mythology, didn't you?

tchrist

That wasn’t it. People pick random names.

Cerberus

I suppose it is possible.

How are you now, compared to then?

tchrist

03:56

Not as bad.

No longer on antidepressants.

But life doesn’t really get better.

I stick around because I have obligations. And miles to go before I sleep.

Obligations to other people, to not let them down.

Including kittens, who are people too.

I had forgotten what it was like to be happy.

At all.

Cerberus

Those things are important.

tchrist

The kittens changed that, but it is still rare.

Cerberus

But you can be happy now, once in a while, with your kittens?

Or should I say...cats now?

tchrist

Yes. It seems so mundane.

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