An Unexpected Trip to the Vet
It was a hectic week. Somehow, we have three deadlines that need to be finished and, you know, groceries and laundry stop for no one, and it has been so difficult to even find a moment to breathe. Then, of course, Bandersnatch’s eye starts to drip. So that means a trip to the vet and some tests and some eyedrops. The good news is that it’s just an infection and she’ll be perfectly fine. The bad news is that I’m putting a drop in a cat’s eye every eight hours.
At least Bandersnatch has taken the drops much easier than I ever thought that she would. She just sits there while one of us holds her and one of us administers the drop. No growling, scratching, hissing, or drama. I was expecting at least half of a bucket of said drama. Her eye is also already clearing up, so I’m really hoping for a shorter course of antibiotics instead of a longer one.
One of My Favourite Writers
I first encountered Gary Indiana through his novels based on criminal cases, but he rapidly became one of my favourite writers. There’s something about how he puts together a sentence and hangs a phrase that I admire. I also love his blunt delivery and his willingness to treat the reader as a friend and confidant — even when the things that he is confessing are ugly and unflattering. He doesn’t talk down to the reader. He doesn’t bury things in references and obfuscation. These are his thoughts laid bare. This is his life. You can judge it how you see fit.
Personal Essays
Indiana’s personal essays, which I Can Give You Anything But Love is a collection of, have been really influential for me. Especially his writing on his childhood and his parents. Indiana describes a lost feeling that comes with being different and feeling like you’ll never be accepted. The reality of growing up with people who feel distant from you and the reality of problematic relationships with family. He made me feel less alone in some of the lowest points in my life.
Do I always agree with Indiana’s views and beliefs? Of course not. But some of his experiences definitely have a resonance that is compelling and stretches across different lives, choices, and stories.
Fragments Making a Cohesive Whole
This collection of essays is written with the air of Indiana looking back at his life and taking an inventory of sorts as he acknowledges that he is living in a time that is closer to the end than to the beginning. But while he is looking back, he still manages to make the essays feel like fragments rather than a continuous progression. Honestly, I prefer it that way. Because life in many ways does not feel continuous. We remember some moments and periods more than others. Some are more defining than others. Indiana writes how memory feels, only highlighting the crux points and the parts of his life that he carried with him long after even the consequences had faded and the pain had receded.
Next Week More Chaos
We have some plans next week that are going to be both pleasant and unpleasant and will add more than a pinch of chaos to the schedule. It used to be that I would just worry about me and my ability to be flexible when that happened. But now? I mostly worry about Wesker and if she’ll eat without us around to give her some encouragement and some playtime.
Because playtime has become essential for her puffy well-being, and I am trying my best to give her everything she could ever want. That becomes difficult when our schedules do not align with Wesker’s and life gets in the way.