#my petses

[kiwoa]

i don't post her here often, as she *hates* cameras, but i figured for today she deserves to be shown as the brilliant star she is. happy birthday, opal!

[digi-tama-in-your-pocket]

Wow. I just got a blast from the past, I remember seeing this ad in a Toy Catalogue and going nots wanting every single one of these. It's funny how I can actually recognize several of these odd-petse now, there's Gyaoppi, Guwappi, Chuppi, Yuki Penuin, Hitorikko, The Pocket Turtle, pretty sure a few of these are the "My Baby" brand, but they certainly aren't all from the same company, so idk why they went with the whole "Vertual" branding. I need to know what some of these are, I NEED a Bat themed V-Pet really badly.

Also another thing I remember is getting the wrong message from the ad. I think the kid in the center is saying " I aint no Tamagotchi" because they're trying to present these as the "Better alternative" to Tamagotchi, but as a kid I thought he was crying because he wanted a real Tamagotchi and this ad is full of off brand V-pets instead, lol.

[kiwoa]

Jacks says hi!

Everyone stop what you're doing and look at the little muppet guy

[oca-rinn-a]

i miss her so much 😭

[joelsgreenroom]

September 2016. Mountain Language/Pinter Sketches. The play that never was. Somehwhere out there, there’s an alternate universe where Mountain Language/Pinter Sketches managed to be staged after the Fees Must Fall Protests of 2016, and the entire cast got to rest well knowing that this play’s ill fated end won’t haunt them to this day. This was an INCREDIBLE piece of theatre that only managed to have a preview in the Wits Downstairs Theatre, but eventually cancelled due to the escalating violence on campus during Fees Must Fall 2016. 

Directed by Tina Johnson, Mountain Language is a fifteen minute play written by Harold Pinter, in response to the Reagan administration’s tampering with the Venezualan government during the Cold War. The play followed the lives of  refugees in a military camp, detained for unknown reasons. I played the villainous Lieutenant, an absolutely sadistic, twisted, son of a bitch. He was the most difficult character I ever played. In every rehearsal I had to slap Sera’s backside, grope her and try to kiss her and viciously attack one of the women waiting in line. I felt so bad after every scene and made sure I didn’t hurt anyone. I remember for the tech rehearsal, I had to throw my big boot at one of the women in the line, and it flew higher than usual, hitting Buntu Petse square on the thigh. I was terrified I had hurt her but thankfully it didn’t. The pictures you see up here are of the rendition of Mountain Language. The second half of the show was comprised of sketches written sporadically by Pinter, but always performed after Mountain Language.

I wonder about this play often. I wish it would return, especially now that I’ve grown as an actor, I’d love to tackle the complex and psychological writing of Pinter. Gosh, this certainly can’t be my last Pinter play. I lived, breathed and ate this play for nearly three months. We started rehearsal’s in July and were set to premiere in September. We were directed by Tina Johnson, an absolute character of a woman. Aptly nicknamed Tiger Tina, she was old school and meticulous about what she wanted. She’s a New Yorker, and listening to her stories of theater and life was like living in a movie. She’s the sister to the late Torger Johnson, she’s worked with Michael Shannon. Wow. I worked very hard to listen to her and man did I grow as an actor. We all did. 

I was also fortunate enough to work with Mlindeli Zondi, Sera Nansubuga and Tebogo Machaba, three brilliant actors who led by example and gave me great insight in approaching character. I’ll never forget how Sera, without fail, would cry during one of the torture scenes. It was miraculous to experience.  

Mountain Language/Pinter Sketches

Directed by Tina Johnson. 

Written by Harold Pinter.

Starring Mlindeli Zondi, Sera Nansubuga, Shelby Storme Kuhn, Nokuthula Mkhwanazi, Harry Faulkner, Ivan Dos Santos, Tebogo Machaba, Nomonde Kananda, Thandi Belfort & Joel Leonard.

19th - 24th September (Cancelled after preview on the nineteenth due to protests.)

2016.

Wits Downstairs Theatre.

Johannesburg

[teagrl]

I agree with this response. Retelling yourself the story is key. That's worked for me too. Also the more you tell yourself a story the deeper and more nuanced it gets.

Another thing that works for me: a friend even if they don't beta is invaluable as a sounding board and a key motivator. Every time I'd hit a bumpy bud would guide me through possible scenarios to unfuck the plot. She petse when I need to be petted, kicks me when I need to be kicked.

I've written longfics (50- 100+k)with and without a victim friend and having one clearly makes for faster writing.

Also pare down to a central thrust/conflict/problem. No matter how much you want to deviate into "ain't it cool," I recommend a bit of reflection. Not every cool moment you want will fit in your narrative and tangents are a very easy way to get bogged down and not finish because you've lost your central point or to make your story such a mess you now hate it. This is why I used to not finish fics for a years. I wanted to fit in EVERYTHING I LOVE into one story because why not it's longfic. Not a great idea. In fact it's a terrible idea -- normal caveat that there's always exceptions.

Another thing that works for me is DRAFT FUCKING FAST. My best experiences have been just word vomiting to get to the end as fast as possible (to then suffer accordingly in editing hell but I digress). Having a draft is invaluable to a)begin posting with the guarantee of finishing even if you're editing as you go and/or b)beginning the editing process where your fic will end up closer to the one in your head (full disclosure: I'm trying not to post things without finishing them so drafting fast is *particularly* important to me). Don't worry about things being perfectly expressed, don't worry about characterization, leave gaps if you need to, the only thing that matters is FORWARD PROGRESS. In a longfic especially, halting to edit every single section is a good way to again get bogged down and overwhelmed and...not finish.

As far as keeping your motivation up:

See having a friend above.

Even without one (a friend you mesh with is gold, don't ever let them go even if you switch fandoms) remind yourself WHY you write CONSTANTLY. Just like magic, be very clear about your intention and try to keep your focus on yourself (unless you're gifting this fic, I don't recommend gifting longfic unless you and your bud are super tight, haha). A longfic can be very disappointing to write if you're focused on reception (That said you might be lucky and write for a fandom where WIPs get a lot of engagement as they run, it can vary).

I'm very much about atmosphere and mood when I'm writing so playlists help me keep connected to what interests me about a writing project's feel. Looking for images also keeps me plugged into it and also keeps me engaged.

Know that you won't always want to write but remind yourself what you love about where you're going. Like even a little bit about whatever chapter you're currently on, even if it's a chapter that doesn't have your power line.

Try to put words down even when you don't feel like it, eventually you'll hit your stride. This is writing like homework and it can be grueling, but it's effective for me, might be for someone else.

Lastly know it's a process it won't happen overnight and that's okay, but especially in longfic, value the build/the journey your character is going on, not just the key moments. Imagine how it will be at the end to reread all that amazing journey, how your key moments will shine because they've been earned. Truly no one can do it or will do it other than you!

I’m looking for any advice on doing longer fics? I wanna look to doing more and do longer things but I have a lot of difficulty. Outlines aren’t really a thing that work a lot for me and I have this itch to do something longer and was wondering what other people did for longer fics and how they keep themselves motivated to keep it up. Any advice from anyone?

--

I can't plan a fic to save my life, but I do enjoy writing multi-chaptered works. My longest is 75K, but they're usually in the 20-40K range.

The way I do it is to think of a fairly simple plot (for example, Characters A and B are best friends. They're in this situation. Events unfold to turn them into lovers.) and keep that throughline in mind. They're friends and they're going to end up in love. This is the setting.

The events that transpire to get them there might need some planning, but as long as I keep my end point in mind, the route that I take to get there can be anything at all.

I'm also really bad at taking notes about my fics, so the way I keep it all straight in my head is to just tell myself the story over and over again. I replay the story and the various scenes in my head, often deciding what happens next. Then, since I've thought about it so much, I can remember the details I need to reference in later chapters, and all of my daydreaming means that I have a solid idea of what that next scene is going to look like.

This method is almost certainly not for everyone, but it's what works for me and my brain. Let's see how other people go about it, shall we?

[arabellaflynn]

One of the little boogers (Plugh, for the record) has developed a head tilt. There are a few different things this could be, but the only fixable one is 'clogged ear', so I ordered some amoxicillin on the theory it was infected. (The differential is stuff like stroke, tumor, or torticollis. The official treatment for those is 'Tylenol for discomfort, and love your slightly-tilted rat until he expires.') The MSPCA clinic has a compounding pharmacy, in case your cat needs to violently refuse liver-flavored meds instead of generic pills, but it turns out that mail-order AmoxiDrops are the exact same sugary pink bubble gum-flavored goo I got when I had ear infections as a kid. Well, I do keep telling people the rats are basically tiny furry toddlers. I feel like a terrible monster holding an animal down and jamming a syringe in his mouth, so I've developed a much more roundabout method for medicating small spoiled critters:

Remove rat from cage.

Stuff rat into front of sweater, sweatshirt, or fleece robe.

Provide endless reassurances that rat is loved. (Note: 'Endless' in rat terms is maybe twenty minutes. Then they get bored.) Cuddle rat until he forgets this is part of the medicating process. 

Remove rat from clothing. Squirt sticky medication onto rat. Try to pick a spot where other rats are unlikely to jam their noses -- underbelly, chest, armpit, and muzzle are all good.

Reinsert rat back into a sector of his house where other rats aren't, so they don't help. Wait for rat to finish giving you dirty looks for getting glop in his fur and lick himself clean.

Feed rat something wildly inappropriate as an apology, such as a chunk of cannoli-filled cake the size of his own head.

I can't tell if he's any less tilty yet, but given how fast he lunges for the apology, at least I know he's not traumatized. 

The main impediment to this process is not the cockeyed rat. Plugh is unhappy about sticky fur, but only for a moment. No, the real obstacle is His Grace, Lord Dimwit Flathead the Excessive. Most rats could be described, with a fair amount of accuracy, as attention sponges; Flathead is more of an attention ShamWow. I feed them dinner and Flathead sees the other three rats scuttling for the food as an opportunity to run the other way and stuff himself bodily under my hand. "attenshun yay i get the most petses I WIN I WIN I WIN" That's as may be, Flathead, but given that your brothers are all up to their eyeballs in the rice bowl right now, you may wish to consider that you are not all playing the same game. There's a reason you're the least corpulent.

Flathead thinks it's downright criminal that I'm singling out one rat for hugs and annoyance twice a day, and it's not him. I am seriously considering buying a can of cake frosting so I can smash some into his flat little head whenever I put the tilted rat back in his house, just so he stops feeling so left out. He's going to get it everywhere, but at least he'll be happy. [Addendum: One of the reasons rats dislike antibiotics is that, just like humans, it tends to upset their wee little tummies. The fix is also the same, which is to add yogurt with active cultures to their diet. I tried spoon-feeding just the one rat, but that trick never works. Fortunately, Yoplait is not exactly dose-critical. I gave up and smeared peach yogurt all over everybody, then left the four of them to sort things out.]

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[kiwoa]

The only heartworm allowed in this house is a plush one - after nine months of treatment, Jackie is heartworm-free!

Her journey's been a bit different from the traditional path. For one, she's been on heartworm preventatives for a long time. The problem is that heartworm takes six months to show up on a test. She was taken in by a shelter at two months; we adopted her at seven months. Somewhere in her early puppyhood, an infected mosquito must've gotten her and the worms grew until they could finally be detected after she'd settled into her forever home with us. So takeaway #1 - always test for heartworms, even if they've been on preventatives, especially if there's a gap in their history!

For another thing, we opted to try the Moxi-Doxy protocol, a method less tested than the traditional treatment, but super promising in cases like hers, where the dog is healthy and the disease is young. The problem with Moxi-Doxy is that it takes longer than arsenical injections, so it's not a great pick if the worms are already doing damage or causing symptoms. The advantage, however, is that the restrictions and side effects are WAY fewer!

You start off with a month of Doxycycline, same as with traditional treatments. It kills a symbiotic bacteria in the worms and weakens them. This was actually the hardest part of the treatment for Jackie, as the dosage is high and is given all month, but she only had issues in the last week of it, so we were able to push through. The big difference in treatments comes after that - with Moxi-Doxy, the next (and potentially final) step is application of drops containing Moxidectin as directed for as long as it takes. For us, we put Advantage Multi on Jackie once a month.

Since the worms are being killed so much more slowly than with arsenical injections, the risk of embolism from multiple worms detaching/breaking down at once is considerably lower. We couldn't take her on any super long walks or to dog parks or other places that would raise her heart rate and keep it up for a prolonged period, but she was still allowed normal walks. She still got to play fetch. She could still wander around the house freely and thrash her toys and even have brief stints of zoomies. And there was no pain from injections or deleterious side effects - just some painless drops on her skin once a month.

There's still much to be said for the traditional method. It has a higher success rate (we were always aware that Jackie's treatment could fail and we'd end up having to start the traditional protocol after a year and a half of failed efforts) and it works much faster. I think there's a lot to be said for Moxi-Doxy as well, though, since it's a much more comfortable process. And it's always nice to have options. It's a much newer protocol and I had never heard of it until a vet suggested it could be an option for Jackie, so I figured I'd put this information out there for dog owners who might be similarly unaware. For us, at the very least, Moxi-Doxy worked without side effects and cured our Jackie in less than a year. I think that's worth telling people.

[kiwoa]

Life has been… a bit insane the past few months, and I just realized that I never introduced y’all to the newest member of my pack! Meet Jackie! She’s a bit smaller (thirty lbs) and a bit younger (turns one year old next month) than we went in looking for, but turns out? She’s exactly what we needed. 💕

[kiwoa]

Jackie likes inventing new chew toys.

[kiwoa]

the most common obstacle our roomba encounters is opal.

[kiwoa]

🎶Halloween snooow, Halloween snow!🎶

[kiwoa]

when your dog has to go to the er because she keeps vomiting, but at least the subcutaneous fluids they give her are entertaining

[kiwoa]

Benny’s taken a lot of medications over the years. At some point, he required something (I can’t even remember what) that had to be taken separately from his other pills, but also needed to be taken with a bit of food. To accomplish this, I set an alarm for 8pm every day to remind me to give him a treat and his pill; of course, Opal had to get a treat too, just to be fair. When he stopped that medication, it only seemed prudent to keep the treat practice going. You know, in case we needed it again. And because it was, well, fun! Thus for years now, at 8pm every day, my phone bubbles out “By the Seaside” and my dogs each get a cookie. Just because.

Benny passed away this morning at the (honestly, given his many issues, really impressive) age of 14. At 8pm tonight, please give your pets a treat in his honor. Maybe play them a jaunty little tune too. And if you like it? Make it a nightly tradition. I know it will be one in my household forever.

[kiwoa]

The Anti-Cruelty Society did a fundraiser where you could donate in exchange for a pet portrait by one of their employees - artistic talent not guaranteed. I donated enough to get both of my pups drawn, and y’all?

I won the fucking lottery.