...wash down chips and salsa with French rosé champagne. (I can hear y'all gagging out there...).

Tonight, while en route home on the bike, the *other* metal bracket holding the *other* saddlebag to the bike...snapped. I was dragging bag and laptop behind my motorcycle at 50 mph again.

I managed to pull over at the Hwy 520 bridge mid-span, and realized that since I had only the one bag, I was no longer carrying the bungee netting that I usually carry. I started going through my backpack, looking for anything I could use to jury-rig the saddlebag and get home.

Let's see...purse...workout clothes...running shoes...

OMG, shoes. With laces. Which I promptly unlaced, and used to tie the saddlebag back to the frame, so I could make it home.

The laptop still boots, but it remains to be seen whether I'll be able to get a DVD in and out of the drive any more.

Yay! Uber-sexy Kevin Kent is returning to Teatro Zinzanni!! This Thursday through October-ish. Anyone want to come with?

http://dreams.zinzanni.org/cast.htm

Yoinked from imp_of_satan and joelledirty

( Meme is long, behind the cut )

Yoinked from imp_of_satan and joelledirty

HOME
Where do you live: Seattle
Favorite art: Erotic
Sheets: Egyptian linen high thread count
Coffee-maker: Clearly wasn't designed by locals; you can't fit enough beans in the auto-grinder to make a decently strong pot.
Car: MR2 with brand spankin' new tires.
Pets: Just 1, sadly.
Favorite flowers: Roses
Favorite neighborhood restaurant: Tilth
Favorite cocktail: Stoli's Kamikaze or French Rose Champagne
Favorite Happy Hour: Too damn busy
Favorite dessert: Anything creamy or chocolatey.

INSPIRATIONS
Favorite color: Royal blue.
Favorite discovery: Any new way to push buttons that result in greater endorphine highs.
Who inspires you: Tough female leaders.
Necessary extravagance: Champagne.
Favorite place in the world: The coasts of Western Ireland, Southern England, and Oregon. The Oregon Outback. And Paris.

My sweet old 18-year-old kitty is gone now.

( Details behind the cut )

I have an 18-year-old female kitty named Asterix--sweetest, cutest little thing, who showed up on my doorstep back in college at about 1 year old. She's been with me through career change, moves, boyfriends, family deaths. Now it's looking like her time is coming.

She's been diabetic for the last couple of years, and now her kidneys are shutting down (CRF, Chronic Renal Failure). Daily now, I give her 100 ML of sub-q fluids (needle), Pepcid (twice daily, by mouth), Metronidizol for Irritable Bowel Disease (a pill), and an insulin shot. Weekly, she gets B12 shots. She's still alert and bright-eyed, loves to be petted, and stomps on the piano keys at 3 a.m. But she doesn't eat much any more, and she's dreadfully thin.

I know her time is close, and I'm hoping against hope that she will pass in her sleep. But I'm staring down the euthanasia decision (again - had to put down another beloved friend a few years back), and it's not any easier than it was last time.

I was supposed to be out of town this weekend for my S.O.'s cousin's graduation. But bless his heart, my sweetie told me that he's fine with me staying at home with my pet who has been with me for 17 years (and that the family will be fine with it too), and spending time to...well, just be with her. He understands. I love him so.

I went on a long-planned flight with a co-worker who has a Cessna 150. He gave me some impromptu instruction, and then gave me the controls several times. That was a first experience for me, and very exciting. We flew West from Boeing Field out past Bremerton (I was flying at this point), and then eventually out over Greys Harbor. We then turned south and flew over Willapa Bay and down to the mouth of the Columbia River. Then back up the coast, flying very low (I got to buzz the beach!), back over Greys Harbor, and landed at the Hoquiam airstrip for a quick bite to eat at the diner there. On the way back, we hit some turbulence that made me nervous, so I handed the controls back over. There was a ton of traffic over Seattle, since every pilot in the area seemed to be wanting to fly today (a warm, sunny, clear day, go figure). :-)

DAMN, that was fun! Again, again! (Oooo, drat...here comes another expensive hobby...).

(Footnote: tonight, I MC'd, DJ'd, and performed three numbers in a dance show that my Troupe put on in North Bend. After getting up early to fly all day, then DJ'ing, MC'ing, etc. all evening, I'm about to collapse--quite literally--into bed).