While I'm trying to ditch the annoying tendency to talk about myself all the goddamned time, there was some Cassius "The Cat" Clay news recently that might be of more general interest (I'm basing this on the fact that someone just asked about him) that also overlaps just a bit with my personal retooling, so I'll to make a brief exception. Last Thursday night I got kind of depressed that I hadn't already been rewarded with everything I want in life after putting in a solid month or two of effort and had just about decided to give the whole thing up as a delusional waste of time. But when I leaned over to set my alarm for the next morning I noticed that the time on the clock was my lucky number (which I'll be keeping to myself, cause you don't want that sort of magical talisman to fall into the wrong hands) and at the same instant there was a thump behind me on the bed. After two months of self-exile in the kitchen Cassius had finally decided it was time to return to my carpeted half of the apartment, and he's been continuing to do so since. So I guess that all my home veterinary work combined with the tedious flea eradication has finally paid off and he's back to his normal level of healthy old age. And while I know the timing is a total coincidence, I'm going ahead and believing it's a good omen of some sort anyway and am going to give my non-cat-related efforts a while longer to start paying dividends. I figure another month or so should do it.