A Break From the Vacation…
I know I have a bunch of vacation photos and videos to get up on here, but today I just don’t feel like it. I’m excited and a little freaked out with the two things I brought home today with me.
First… I took a bunch of books to Simon, the local used book guy on Sunday but he didn’t have much I wanted to read in stock at the restaurant that sells his stuff. Luckily I asked him if he had anything by a few authors, and they just happen to be the ones he has a lot of at his house. Since he doesn’t have a real shop here, he can only fill the shelves with some of what he has, and, just like me, he likes to have a lot of the good stuff at his house. So, he gave me the directions to his place (which is in the middle of nowhere) and I got to attack the shelves. It’s a good thing I only brought a little money with me (on top of the credit he gave me for the other novels) or I would have come home with way too much. Oh… wait… I think I already did!
New books cost a fortune in Taiwan so if you can get them from Simon, it’s a much better deal. I’m hooked on Gabriel Garcia Marquez and wanted more, but even his novellas are expensive. I did pick up two of his books in India, since they are cheap there, but didn’t want to lug too many books around with me which we were traveling. When I got back I was kicking myself for not buying them, but then along came Simon.
I also wanted to read some more Philip K. Dick, and again, he had more than enough for even the hardest to please Sci-Fi fan (which I am not). So… what did I get? Well…
Paycheck and Other Short Stories – Philip K. Dick
Flow My Tears, The Policeman Said – Philip K. Dick
The Man in the High Castle – Philip K. Dick
Of Love and Other Demons – Gabriel Garcia Marquez
The Story of a Shipwrecked Sailor – Marquez
No One Writes to the Colonel – Marquez
Leaf Storm – Marquez
Welcome to the Monkey House – Kurt Vonnegut
Hocus Pocus – Vonnegut
The Elephant Vanishes – Haruki Murakami
Platform – Michel Houellebecq
The I want to read and will take it next time stack I made is about ten times the length of that list. So much to read and so many authors I have wanted to read, or have read and want to read more of. I put back Neil Gaimen for the Houellebecq book as Simon guaranteed I will want to keep it in my collection after reading it and not want to give it away. He knows his books and he usually gives me stuff I really like, so I have to trust him on this one.
The second thing I came home with tonight… Mouthy.
If you remember, Mouthy was the cat who took six months to catch at the bridge, who then got really sick. Well, we took her in for treatment about the middle of May with Baby, and Baby got to go back a few weeks later. Mouthy, until today, was still in a cage at the holding center with a very bad eye. We thought that her eye was just dripping from the cold, but it was actually cut pretty deep, maybe by herself while she was sick. She had drops and was getting better just before I left, but she got scratched again and now it’s worse.
She visited the vet today and her eye has now been sewn shut in order to let it heal. She also has a cone on her neck so she can’t get at it. I just couldn’t leave here there… she recognized me right away, even after all this time, and I know she trusts me more than most people since I have been visiting and feeding her since she was a kitten, so she’s here on the balcony where Elmo lived for a while. She’s already a little more active than Elmo, but she is a street cat and she is trying to figure out if she is safe here or not.
I want to see her go to a permanent home after she heals up, but I don’t now if it is best. She’s not wild, but she’s not a housecat either. I’m sure she would be fine either way, but I don’t know what is best. She’s been off the street for over three months now and more used to people. A home would give her a safer, longer life, but she is still wild at heart and maybe going back to her crew would be better for her. I don’t know… she’s only been here a few hours and I am already wrestling with what could and should be done with her. I’m also trying to make sure she can’t get the screens out of the windows and escape from the balcony. It’s a long way down for my little conehead.
Have I mentioned the wonderful anti-malaria pills they gave me for going to Southeast Asia? You have to take them for two weeks before and four weeks after being in the infected areas. Sounds good to make sure that you are okay, but the side effects of these pills makes me wish I just got malaria and dealt with that instead. I can just put a check beside almost every side effect listed for ‘got it’ and compare with others. I took another one tonight which means tomorrow is going to be one hell of a day. I wish I could call in ‘over-medicated’, but that won’t work. The worst thing about the pills though… I didn’t get bit by a mosquito. Not even once! they don’t bite me anymore. I stopped getting mosquito bites about two years back, so really, do I need these side effects just to be safe?
Okay, gonna go check on Mouthy, read a little of one of my new books and fall asleep before the side effects kick in. I just hope Mouthy doesn’t live up to her name the whole night long… she has to sleep sometime. Doesn’t she…
Comments (1)
It’s better to take the pill before going to bed, and try to sleep more after… And try not to fly the next morning… I felt like hell last week!!!