Update: Friday 25 Oct

Hi! I'm writing an essay. Tomorrow I will be writing an essay, and yesterday I was writing an essay. It has to be 4000 words, so I am going to try to squeeze out 1000 words per day and have it done Sunday. Honestly, I was going to try to write it all yesterday but after about a thousand words I couldn't take it anymore.

I'm listening to Christmas music. I wish I wasn't. It's only October. I kind of love Christmas music. I'm pretty sure this is around the time I started listening to it last year too. I do what I want.

I forgot to mention to my gerber daisy here that it is autumn. It gave me a pretty flower, and there are 4 more buds coming up. Keep going, daisy plant, you can do it! It's the happiest of my plants right now. Even though, in that picture, you can clearly see the leaf that Azazel chomped on. It's full of holes.

Speaking of the monsters, Ian and Amber went to London for the weekend, so I get to feed monsters for a few days—Ian and Amber took the bus like I did, except they took the day bus. I can't imagine why anyone would want to sit on a bus during the day for 10 hours when they have the option to do that at night and not waste daylight hours. Oh well, not my vacation, not my problem.

The monsters in the flesh. I had cheese, they wanted it. These cats are notorious beggars of food. If you even take one step in the direction of the kitchen, they come running. Then they stand under foot and meow at you if you don't give them food. I blame Ian. He gives them the juice from his tuna/salmon cans, he gives them his bowls and plates to lick out when he finishes eating, he gives them unlimited dry cat food plus a giant spoonful of wet cat food daily. I don't think the dry food and wet food are a problem. If he only gave them wet food once a day and nothing else, they would only expect it once a day and they'd probably leave us alone. Instead they are constantly begging and constantly thinking they are starving. Another case where they are not my cats, not my problem. Ian can feed his cats however he pleases. But he really shouldn't be surprised when they are begging for food all day long…

I'm not sure if I already mentioned it here, I bought a new bike at the beginning of the month. My mom wanted to know about my new bike, and I don't really know what to say about it. It's a pretty simple, common bike… And while I realize that it's not nearly as common in the US as it is here, it's still not really anything special. I'm pretty sure it's what they call here an "omafiets" which means grandma bike. I don't know how to explain that, it's shaped kind of like this. It has a bell on the handlebar, but nearly every bike around here has a bell on the handlebar. I never use my bell, some people use their bells way too much in my opinion. It doesn't have hand brakes, the brakes are on the pedals—something I haven't experienced since I was very little, but again it's pretty common here. I've gotten used to it already. It also came fitted with a ring lock, which is a ring that is attached to the frame above the back tire and loops through the tire. You can open the loop to unlock it. Kind of like this. That's also common here. I have that lock and also a separate chain lock so that I can chain my bike to something instead of only locking it to itself. What else is there to know about it? It has lights, of course. The back light is battery-operated, the front light is Angie-powered. It has a little thing that rests on the tire so that when the tire rolls, it generates enough electricity for the light. My bike is nothing special. But I do love my bike. Mainly because it takes me 45 minutes to walk to school and only 15 to cycle. I'm a bike-riding pro. And no, I don't wear a helmet. Sorry Mom. And I'm not going to. Again, sorry Mom. I wouldn't even know where to buy an adult-size helmet that wasn't an overpriced racing helmet. Nobody wears helmets, so stores don't carry them.

If it's any consolation, I rarely ride where there are cars thanks to an excess of bike paths/sidewalks, and when I ride through a city center I am more of a danger to pedestrians than they are to me. I ran into someone the other day, I felt really bad, but I'll probably never see him again so I guess it doesn't matter. Something was up with my chain, I was looking at my feet while cycling instead of looking where I was going… I only hit his arm, and only with the side of the handlebar, but… Poor guy.

I think that's all I have to say. I haven't written in a while, so there you go. Nice big update.

Update: Wednesday 2 Oct

Yesterday when I got home this lovely note was on the door to the living room.

So I suppose I have a new cat. I guess it was only a matter of time. Gaddafi went to Belgium to live out the rest of his cancer-ridden life with Ian's parents, but unfortunately two days after he arrived one of the construction workers building their new kitchen left a door open. Gaddafi took off and hasn't been seen since.

Ian doesn't like Theory. He doesn't like Theory because Theory is not as "perfect" as Gaddafi was. It really ticks me off. Sometimes Theory does something that is very cat-like behavior and Ian will punish him. For being a cat. What, you left your food unattended and the cat started eating it? Yes, throw him across the room then. He will definitely understand that. Ian and Amber typically give the cats their bowls to lick out when they have finished eating. If you condition the cat to like/want people food, of course he is going to eat from your bowl when you leave it unattended. The other day, Theory tried to jump on top of the dragon cage, which is where he sits all the time, and he accidentally knocked something off because it was in his way. Ian grabbed him by the neck and threw him, yelling at him that he was a stupid cat. Yes, because the cat did it on purpose and that is going to teach him to not accidentally knock things over. So naturally, since Ian doesn't like Theory and his baby is gone, he brings home a new cat.

Azazel is the cutest cat ever. He looks like he probably has some British shorthair in him. He has that shape, and the right color eyes. Even though his hair is short, it's super fluffy, which means he is very soft. He is black but when the light hits him right you can see gray stripes on his legs, neck and belly. Ian got him from a couple in Leiden who lived in a small flat and had a dog. The cat didn't get along with the dog, and they claimed he was miserable because he couldn't go outside. He has only been here for less than 24 hours and it is evident to me that this cat doesn't need to go outside to be happy, he just needs space to run around and things to play with. He was pretty frightened of us to begin with, he would arch his back and run away when we came near, but now he doesn't care. He still runs from us, but that's because he's being playful. Once we start petting him, he flicks his tail and circles around for more pets.


Theory is pretty unhappy right now. Azazel loves Theory and tries to follow him everywhere and Theory will not stand for that at all. He had it rough with Gaddafi around because in the last year or so Gaddafi got really hissy at Theory when he came around. Ian and Amber assumed it was because of the cancer—before, the two cats would sleep together and stuff. Now he's been Gaddafi-free and stress-free for a couple weeks, and then an energetic new kitten shows up. I think he's just trying to show Azazel his place, which is fine. Ian tried to smack Theory away when he was giving the new cat a warning meow for coming to close, and I told him off for it. Theory wasn't doing anything wrong, and they're cats. They know how to sort things out themselves. I can tell from the way he is meowing at the other cat that it is just a warning, and he does swat at him too but Azazel knows exactly what that means because he gives Theory a bit more space now. Ian should give the cats a little more credit, they can handle it on their own.

Anyway, when I'm on my computer I always sit in the same spot on the couch, and Theory and Gaddafi always knew where to find me. If I wasn't in my spot, they'd sit in my spot and wait for me. It seems that Azazel has already figured this out too. Right now he is sleeping beside me—he doesn't seem like much of a lap-cat like Theory and Gaddafi. That'll probably be disappointing to Ian because Gaddafi was super cuddly.