Update to “Feline Genital Mutilation”

NeoVegan has what in the trunk of her car?

For those of you who have not yet read “Feline Genital Mutilation”, here’s basically what it was about…

The Be Your Own Boss Kit

We all need to feel useful, don’t we? One of the things that validates us is having a good job and that’s why being unemployed is so stressful, even if finances are not an immediate concern. If you know someone who’s out of work and want to really stick it to them and don’t mind hitting below the belt, start talking about their employment situation. I know how devastating it can be because I was once on the receiving end of the dreaded “Job Talk”.

Feline Genital Mutilation

Here’s a shot of “Felix” (I think it’s a “he”… it looks fairly butch but I have never had the opportunity to play peek-a-boo with its toilet area so I cannot be positive). He used to hang around my backyard giving me dirty looks while he peed on my Greek oregano but I haven’t seen him in a while. I don’t know what happened to him. Honestly.

I generally like animals but the arrogant guy in the photo above repeatedly turned his nose up at my attempts to make friends with him. Because of his insults I used to do little things to annoy him, like make noises to cause his cat ear automatic tracking reflex to kick in when he was trying to make me notice how completely he was ignoring me. Anyways, I once mentioned to someone that I thought it would be a funny, funny prank if I were to trap Felix, ship him off to Sweden for a quick sex change operation, and then, after an appropriate convalescence (his, not mine), release him back into the neighbourhood wearing a collar engraved with the feminine version of his name (Felicia) and maybe a couple of frilly pink ribbons attached to him somewhere. This would not only be a lovely trick to play on old Felix but also on Felix’s human family who would be left wondering where Felix had been for the past month or two, who bought the collar for Him, and where Felix’s reproductive gadget went.

What I Did on My Christmas Vacation

Every year the residents of this St. Catharines, Ontario road go all-out with the Christmas decorations. The street’s actual name is Rio Lane but it will always be Griswald Avenue to me.

I know what you must be thinking… “We’re into June and HoaiPhai is just getting around to doing his Christmas post-game show. He must have had one hell of a vacation!” The short answer to that question, which if you were paying attention you would have realized wasn’t even a question in the first place, is “yes and no”.

Gone are the days when I’d go to a New Year’s Eve party and sometime around the middle of February wake up in a ditch penniless and hungover with a new crop of cold sores and my pants on backwards. This Christmas wasn’t one for the record books in that sense but, hey, I only got two extra days off work this year.

What I Did on My Staycation: Part I

Ahh… it’s so nice to get a little time off work!

For those of you just joining us, this is the second part (even though the title says “Part I” — the real first part was “The Prologue”) of my nine-day staycation tale! Don’t worry, what I mean to say is that the staycation was nine days in duration and not that it will take you nine days to read this post. It is, however, a fairly lengthy post so you might want to take a sick day off work on Monday if you don’t make it all the way through this weekend.

In a nutshell, my wife’s sister, her sister’s husband, and their granddaughter came from Korea and stay with us for five days. There… you’re pretty much up to speed but should you want to get completely up-to-date, check out “What I Did on My Staycation: The Prologue“, a fairly quick read.

What I Did on My Staycation: The Prologue

This weekend will mark the beginning of my nine-day staycation! Just in case you’ve never heard this word before, “staycation” is a portmanteau of “stay” and “vacation”… you stay at home for your vacation. Get it?

I’m really looking forward to this for two reasons. First, this will be the first time off from work I’ve taken since 2009 — no vacations, no sick days, no statutory holidays (except I had four days off last Christmas, two of which were my regular weekend days off anyway), and lots of overtime. Some weeks in addition to my regular 40 hours I’ve filled in for others who went on vacation or left the company before management found someone to replace them. I also work weird hours so my staycation will mean that for nine glorious days I’ll be able to eat and sleep at regular times with my wife, who is also taking a little staycation time off from her job.

Weekly Photo Challenge: Together

Mr. and Mrs. Goldfinch eating dinner out together.

“Together” can mean many things but I won’t bore you with too many words… I’ll save that for another post.