I know, I know. Haven't been here in ages and now I'm skipping the country for a few weeks (despite American Airlines' best attempts to keep me stuck here in Austin.)

In the meantime, check my Flickr Stream for pictures from the road!

I know, I know. You're all, "Where the hell is she?" and yeah, so I'm like, making a game and stuff and it's *almost* done. Which means that I have no life, whatsoever. Zip. Nada. Wake up, go to work, go home, sleep. Repeat.

Oh wait - sometimes in there is crunch food. Lots of that. Which explains why now the routine has changed to: Wake up, go to work, go to trainer, go home, sleep, repeat.

The Game ships October 19th! Yay! At which point I may reappear. But in the meantime, you should go check out the awesome new web comic drawn by my awesome boyfriend at Playtime Projects. Dysfunctional puppets are always awesome.

Oh hey, I'm going to Paris and Rome next year. Anyone have suggestions on places I can't miss while I'm there?

Life goes on here at the casa. I still miss Chet damn near every single day, but all the condolences have helped.

Dante is so very, very over the new dog. Hero, however, still insists they can be friends if only Dante would just be cool about being followed everywhere around the house forever. Which, you know, Dante could maybe get used to - if it didn't also mean having his butt sniffed 24 hours a day. Dogs and cats living together. It'll never work...

Chester "Chet" Kath
April 23, 1992 - May 10, 2007

This morning, I carried Chet around the house to let him sniff goodbye to everything: the bed he's snuggled up in for thousands of nights, and where he regularly stole Keith's side of the bed right before he came in for the night... the hundreds of books he chewed the covers on... the windows he'd sun himself in (a main reason I bought this house - kitty accessible windows)... the couchback he slept on (permanently furred now, and I'm glad)... his thrones - aka our computer chairs - each with a pillow to support wherever he wanted to sleep. As I carried him (he was too weak to walk much at this point) I whispered how much I loved him, and how much everyone loved him. How much joy he brought to the people who knew him in his 15 years. How lonely we will all be without his snuggly furry softness and giant kitty heart.

And then we drove to the vet, where I cradled his head in my hands as he slipped quietly away from this world.

He was an amazing little kitty and I miss him more than I could ever imagine. And I am so grateful for that day 15 years ago when a tiny little orange kitty reached out and grabbed me with his paw as I walked past his pet store cage. I am so thankful he chose me that day - and that I got to spend nearly every day of the last 15 years with Chet at my side.

The Chetmonster had an ultrasound today, under scary vet suspicion of tumors. The happy news just came back that he is tumor-free, though he has, somehow, managed to get Crone's Disease. Which apparently isn't all that common in cats. So instead of popcorn and whole grains (not that he got either), he'll be enjoying a lovely diet of fatty foods and steroids. After spending the last few days in a panic about his health, I'm very happy that he'll be sticking around to snuggle for a while yet.

Oh, and he owes me $700.