Orla

A chonky black and white cat lying in the doorway of a mini-house on the first tier of a tall grey cat tree. A pompom is dangling above his left ear. He's trying to look tough and unbothered but he should know by now that I know he's a big ole grumpy wuss and I love him all the more for it.

Despite his chonkyboi concerns, and after several days of concerned investigation, Smudge has learned that he does indeed fit (on all the beds and platforms and in the little houses) on the new, bigger cat tree.
So here he proudly sits, a smug Smudgey.

They are both a little mad at me for removing the old dilapidated tree (which I now have to disassemble for disposal) but hopefully they'll get over it. Smudge really does not like change, bless him.

Spent a couple hours finally putting together the new (taller with more beds) cat tree and Kaliyo loves it. Smudge, on the other hand seems to be skeered of it. He has required many pets and to be reassured that he is a big brave boy, and even then he sat on it for ~three~ seconds before fleeing.

A chonky black and white cat lying in an armchair with his front paws casually off to one side and his tail wrapped around himself. He's looking at something off to the right of the camera with an extremely interested expression and perked up ears.

Smudge is very interested in what you have to say and would like to subscribe to your newsletter.

10 years ago I put on my regular clothes for Halloween and won a costume contest for dressing up as “The Target Boy’s Department.”

The cover of the ebook of This Inevitable Ruin by Matt Dinniman featuring several people and creatures (Carl, Imani, Mongo and Rend are most visible) running from an explosion. There's a tall tower in the background with a dragon flying beside it. Samantha the demi-god in a disembodied sex doll head (long story) is in the foreground with her chin resting on the author's first name.

Happy Monday! I'm on a comfort reading kick so finally started book 7 of Dungeon Crawler Carl: This Inevitable Ruin. Pathos, silliness, action and heart. Sure what more could you want?

The next door neighbour has been doing some shite to the exterior of his house that involves a droning power tool for several hours every day for the last few days and I'm about at my limit for patience and tolerance. Hopefully he finishes whatever the hell it is today.

That's right, jogger, you run, I'll stay back and be a heavy lump of delay to the attackers. Live well, friend.

Almost halfway through an ARC of Mona Awad's "We Love You, Bunny" and enjoying the snark of it all. It's very funny so far in a Heathers meets The Secret History kind of way (much like "Bunny" was).

I've been eyerolling at (and unsubbed from) Babish since he had the cheek to put out a video about the Ram-don in Parasite after Maangchi had already released one. I mean, c'mon dude.

A colloquial Swedish word for giving a confident answer to something you know nothing about is killgissa, or “guy-guessing.” Conversely, the lesser-known word tjejveta (meaning “girl-knowing”) can describe elucidating (shelucidating?) on a topic you have expertise in.

No punching from me, just a sigh plus eye roll, and ofc I walked away. Really hope they retired that line quickly.

Worst line someone ever tried with me: "Do you have any STI's I should know about?" That was their opening line. So easily shot down. Then they asked if I had a light because apparently being shot down with "I don't see how that'd ever be relevant to you" wasn't clear enough.

CW: suicide

This is absolutely horrifying and OpenAI should be sued into the ground

I'm reading Moderation by Elaine Castillo. It's funnier than you'd expect but also v grim, which is very true to real life Trust & Safety work. Also some nice sociological critique in there.

One of the underrated aspects of Letterboxd is finding the person who is your opposite when it comes to taste in movies: they hate it; you'll likely enjoy it (and vice-versa)

A small white cat sitting tall on the back of an armchair in front of some overfilled bookcases. She looks a little scruffy because she was behind the armchair checking on the lower shelves before she climbed up there.

Now that she's grown past her shred all the things phase, Kaliyo has developed an interest in guarding the bookshelves. Amos would be proud. #cats

Somebody should have warned me not to watch Fréwaka before bedtime on a weeknight. Holy shit but it's scary, in a genuinely unsettling kind of way. (Also, if you watch it, don't skip the credits!)

by age 50 you should have:

* a list of nemeses, sorted in alphabetical order and decade of grudge
* dedicated space in your pantry for bowel-related home remedies
* a collection of folding hand fans, scattered between bags and each room of your house
* house plants that don't give you sass

A bowl of tonkatsu ramen with cha siu pork, and ramen eggs, plus some veggies and nori and sesame sprinkles.

Oh yeah, I made the ramen. It's fucking delicious! (Also lol at that one shiny egg yolk, it was not brilliant white IRL)

A fat orange cat, looking scornfully over his left shoulder at someone off-camera in front of a TV displaying an image of Garfield. Someone had placed a pan of lasagna next to him.

“Am I a joke to you, Susan?”

Making overnight bone broth is now an annual occasion somehow, if not for ramen then for phở. I should really do it more often but alas, I am lazy.

Had 2 really disappointing restaurant ramen experiences in the past couple of weeks, so I'm making chashu pork to marinade overnight (also some ramen eggs) and getting the broth started. If it all comes together, I'll have a lovely dinner to look forward to tomorrow. If not, well I'll have tried.

TFW you boot up a game you're excited for and it tells you that you need a controller, but you have no idea where the hell the Minecraft piggy Xbox controller you last used in 2021 is so you sigh and install something else instead.

Up early to watch King of Drag before work, and heartbroken to see 2 of my faves go home. The eliminations in this show are so hard, I love all the kings. #kingofdrag

Cooling mats are absolutely the best cat purchases I've made. Lovely to see Smudge sprawled out on his this morning. Kaliyo's cool spot is on top of a suitcase in the bedroom. She may be hoping to hitch a ride to somewhere with air conditioning

I am supposed to go to one more movie tonight but it's in screen 3 of the Pálás which is up several flights of stairs and at the very top of the concrete building. It should be nice and cool but wasn't when I was in there earlier. I am already part-melted, so gonna skip it.

Apparently the cats miss me when I'm at the movies. Brief trip home earlier to give them lunch and Kaliyo came all the way down the stairs to ask me where the fuck I'd been, sniff me suspiciously, and then headbutt my ankle.

I'm going to 14 films at the Film Fleadh this week, which is good bc apparently the last film I watched was on June 23. Movie-watching suffering for TV series watching and book-reading.

I spent a pointless amount of time trying to figure out if there was a difference between when he uses scare quotes or all caps, then I realized even trying to make sense of any of it was folly on my part.