fancy poulty parts sold here, breasts and thighs and hearts.

A new class starts tomorrow: History of Rock Music.  If this isn't going to be interesting, I don't know what will.

We got a new futon off Craigslist.  It's funny how something so small (well, it's physically quite heavy and huge, but still) can make both of us so much happier.

Mishti may or may not be getting sick again.  I really hope she doesn't.  Poor little baby chinchilla.

I have old Suzanne Vega stuck in my head most of the time now.

My projects for now: redecorate and reorganize living room, learn JavaScript, and start drawing again.  

the places a chinchilla will go...

Well. I don't know where to begin. I don't even know if I should really begin. She's alive, and not just barely. She's almost her old self again. I owe so much to Chins & Quills. I really, really do.

We managed the bloat pretty well with the help of the second animal hospital we took her to. We had to get her out of there after a couple days, though, because it was not a chinchilla-friendly environment. Even though the bloat was much less pronounced, her breathing was in tatters. It was really painful to watch. We took her to another vet, who thought that Mishti probably had an upper respiratory infection and needed antibiotics. We didn't like the idea because she'd been on three the week before, which is what caused her massive near-fatal bloating. But when we brought her home it became more and more apparent that we needed to give it a shot. We had chloramphenicol on hand, so we gave her a dose, went to bed, and hoped for the best.

When we woke up, her breathing was normal.

And since then, it's been steady progress. We still have to feed her with a syringe because she has no appetite (probably an antibiotic side-effect), but she's gaining weight steadily and gaining energy. You have no idea how happy Kaiser and I are about this. I think elated would be an understatement. She's our baby girl, and she's going to be ok.

This whole ordeal, as well as Proud-Feather's death a few weeks ago, has been really bad for me academically. It's been much harder to concentrate and keep on-task. I already have ADD, and huge emotional ordeals on top of that make me sort of scattered. Hopefully I can get myself organized for the next two weeks, because this class is almost over and I really want to do decently in it.

I promise more future updates for my 2 readers!

bloated chinchilla

This has been the most emotional few weeks of my life thus far. Mishti is still alive, but just barely. Her hospital bill was $1300 and they didn't find anything, so they sent her home. And then at home we noticed how badly she'd bloated, so we took her to another hospital in Baltimore, which is quite a drive, and apparently she really is dying. All because of gas. All because four experienced exotic veterinarians can't tell when a chinchilla has a relatively harmless gastrointestinal condition. And look where it is now.

If you want to see all the x-rays they've taken of here, they're on Kaiser's site here. They're neat, but since I now know what's wrong, it's heartbreaking.

Kaiser and I feel so stupid. We should have caught on. We should have figured it out early. The only reason we know about this now is because of the kind members at Chins n Quills. I owe them so much. I wish I'd asked them questions so much earlier. No chinchilla should ever have to die because of gas.

I really hope our baby makes it. She means the world to me.

to add insult to injury

Our baby chinchilla, Mishti, is really sick. I don't think she'll be able to make it. I'm devastated, since we raised her from the time she was just three months old. She's not even an year old yet. This shouldn't be happening.

I don't want to eat or sleep. I just want her to get better.

hair pictures

A few pictures Kaiser took earlier:







The beautiful hair clip I'm wearing is a Flexi-8 that I just received in the mail today. I love it! I wanted to see what it looked like in my hair, but I also wanted to check out my hair color. I was a redhead for a few months until I switched over to henna, which doesn't lighten hair, and was left with two-tone red/medium brown hair. I bought a bottle of medium ash brown semi-permanent hair dye from Sally's (Ion brand, highly recommended) and now my hair is a rich, deep reddish brown.

Turns out that Penelope is really a Penelop-he. So she he is now Penelope Fred. That explains why she he was so aggressive with Proud-Feather.

Our second wedding anniversary is on Monday!

priorities, priorities

Ending an emotional week, starting fresh.

I still have to study for music theory, but here's a rough list of what my priorities are right now:

> Spending time with my family (including two newly adopted parakeets, Moon and Featherbert).

> Studying for music theory and making sure that I understand the concepts well.

> Cleaning the apartment little by little without getting distracted.

> Simplifying our possessions and finances with the ultimate goal of saving up for a down payment on a house.

> Speaking of home, slowly phasing out toxic cleaning materials and substances in our home and replacing them with natural, less polluting, and less irritating substitutes.

> Being physically active every day and taking time to combat negative body image.

> Art, maybe drawing or painting (which I stopped doing in 2002, for many reasons).

I wish I could cut down that list to be even shorter, but to me these are the essentials.

What is the deal with all barbeque sauce in the normal grocery store having high fructose corn syrup as the first ingredient? That's completely unnecessary. I seriously don't know if I could live in an area without a Trader Joe's.

Also, our second wedding anniversary is coming up! I still want a re-do for our wedding to be more about us and less about everyone else, but that's not a priority right now (ooh, I'm getting good at this!)

it comes in waves

We lost our baby boy parakeet, Proud-Feather, yesterday. I thought I was ok this morning but I'm crying again. It's especially sad because our remaining keet, Penelope, keeps looking for him and doesn't trust me. I really wanted our kids to meet Proudy. I hope that I'll feel better about his passing soon, because all this crying is giving me a permanent headache.

In other news, my priorities are all wrong, I've been listening to a lot of old Focus, and the kitchen is halfway clean.

my six children

I feel like I'm incredibly lucky to be able to have such awesome pets. They all have really distinct personalities, and all of them are kind and sweet to us. Mishti, the baby chinchilla, tends to be fussy, but she's a baby after all.

The budgies (Penelope and Proud-Feather) mostly keep to themselves. It's so sweet when they start preening and cuddling. They're very much in love, like the bunnies (Papaya Jane and Elton John) are.

And then there's Shirin, who has the super chinchilla-mansion all to herself because she doesn't want to get along with Mishti. She isn't fussy at all, but she does love getting scratches and attention.

I really love our family.

I keep flip-flopping on the issue of human babies. On one hand, I absolutely can't wait. On the other hand, is it too early to be thinking about this? That's ultimately only our decision to make, and I can't really put too much weight on other people's experiences and opinions when they haven't been and aren't in the same relationship and situation. I know I'm not big on waiting until I'm 35+, but maybe 23 is too early.

For now I have six very happy (and still pretty young!) babies. They make me happy. That's good for now.