image credit - I would say me, however Geronimo begs to differ because he feels he should receive all of the credit for this because he is, of course, a cat!
"Cats are dangerous companions for writers because cat watching is a near-perfect method of writing avoidance."
~Dan Greenburg~
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The standoff between Geronimo and I lasted for more than 5 minutes. I, of course, lost. Geronimo would have you believe it is because he is cat, I am mere human. Whatever. At least he doesn't make a jackass out of himself and try to pounce on his own reflection in the granite counters. That would be Princess Godiva. That cat is going to drive us all completely batshit insane. She is everything that you want a kitten to be for about two minutes. After that it becomes annoying, painful, irritating, frustrating, aggravating, and infuriating!
We no longer use CFL bulbs in our lamps because of Godiva and how often she climbs on the lamps and then knocks them over. People, these are brand new lamps that were a gift. Of course she can't destroy the old lamps that wouldn't even fetch a dollar a piece at a garage sale. If she were to tip a lamp and break the CFL bulb we'd have to call the EPA to get someone out here to clean up the breakage (due to the mercury in the bulbs) and that goddamned cat isn't worth it.
She sleeps in the fruit basket. Is it any wonder I don't want to eat any of the 40lbs of apples we recently picked?
She drinks out of the toilet and then dips her tail in the water just to piss me off. I know she sits in the corner and laughs at me as I follow the trail of water throughout the house in an attempt to dry it.
She is constantly on the counters and in the sink. One of these days I'm turning the sprayer on her. I will! Or not. I'm not sure I want to clean the mess.
She gets into boxes, bags, swim and gym bags and anything else she can. If I end up accidentally taking a kitten in with me to the Y the next time I go swimming, I will not be responsible for the mayhem that ensues.
She sleeps on the edge of the top of the stairs. I'm certain this is an attempt to trip us as we attempt to go down the stairs or come up them.
I am not even ashamed to admit that she's the first cat I've ever not liked. Seriously. I do not like her. Gareth calls her the "spiky ball of fury" and there's a good reason for that. People, I am not exaggerating when I say that if Satan had a cat, it would be Godiva. Hell, it probably is Godiva. Or, alternatively, she could just be possessed...but what are my chances of getting a priest in to exorcise my cat? Yeah, that's what I thought.
Meaghan says that she's certain, if we were to shave Godiva bald, we'd find a "666" tattooed somewhere on her body. At this point I'm not likely to disagree.
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So, have any of you been following the Blogger/TSA drama? I was asked this morning where I weighed in on it and to be honest, I don't know. I have had very limited interaction with the blogger in question who claimed that the TSA took her baby. We've commented a couple of times, reciprocally on each others blogs. I think there may have even been a brief Twitter exchange here or there, but I can't honestly say I know Nic. TSA refuted her claims and then Nic further refuted TSA's refutation. I don't know what to believe. I've read both posts of Nic's and I've read the TSA's statements and response and watched the standard size video and the enlarged video that were posted. I don't know. I just don't know whose version of the story I am inclined to side with.
Two things do come to mind after having spent enough time trying to dig through all of this. One...I will say is that I'm a little ashamed of how the collective blogosphere has "piled on" when it comes to this. There has been so much finger pointing, name calling (some of it really vile and quite crass!), and general mud-slinging that it makes ALL OF US look like a playground full of bullies. Two...what's up with people getting their self-righteous on by bagging on someone with an already admitted anxiety/mental health issue? Nic has written about some of these issues before and since when is it OK, after she mentions having popped a Xanax that she keeps in her pocket for situations like this, to start denigrating her character because she has a serious anxiety issue? I'm not going to bother linking to the people that have called her out on this because frankly, it makes me sick. I'm one of these "mental health midgets" walking around with a Xanax in my own pocket and I think it's deplorable that this part of her character is being so viciously maligned.
No, it does not mean I am condoning her, if it's proven that she fabricated the entire thing. And yes I will admit that there are some things that she put out there, especially tweets about wanting to make money off of the situation, that could tilt someone towards believing this was more than just a misunderstanding between her and the TSA. Having said that though, this has become much more than her allegations about something that happened during TSA security screening at the airport and the TSA refuting her story.
This is about how we all react once things like this hit the Internet - how we as mothers, parents, friends and sisters, are so quick to judge a situation before all sides have been presented and then pick apart the parties and shine a light on our inadequacies, shortfalls and health issues - mental or otherwise. It's about acting like a bunch of bullies. Mommy-bloggers are already called on the carpet for allegedly "exploiting our children for profit" and to behave as some of us have after this incident, collectively shows us all in a very poor light.
Again, honestly at this point in time, I don't have an opinion either way. I think there's a lot we haven't heard yet, and quite possibly the TSA video doesn't show everything. I also know that in the midst of a severe panic attack, everything in the peripheral is muted and darkened and things that seem real to one who suffers a panic attack might not be exactly as they are for those who remain outside the bubble of fear, panic and extreme anxiety that women like myself, and Nic suffer. I'm not saying this might be the reason why her version of the story differs so greatly from what appears on the video footage that the TSA provided when trying to disprove Nic's claims, I'm just putting it out there. If you've never had a severe panic attack, then it's hard to understand what happens and how terrifying your world - right in the eye of the hurricane that is a panic attack, is like.
The irony about this entire thing? If it's proven that Nic fabricated this thing, it shows mommy-bloggers in a crappy light and if it's proven that TSA left out some of the video or that Nic's extreme panic attack altered her version of reality to the point where she wasn't acutely aware of where her child was, then it still shows mommy-bloggers in a bad light because of all the piling-on and name calling we've done.
In a society where people like the Heene family ( Balloon boy anyone? I WANT THOSE TWO HOURS OF MY LIFE BACK!) can take advantage of the world's collective curiosity and emotion, we don't need bloggers showing that we're no better - by virtue of our actions or words.
Don't forget, during the entire month of October, to support the fight against breast cancer, Barking Mad is in the pink! For every comment left on each post, we'll donate a certain amount to Susan G. Komen for the Cure®. Read more about it here!
