even though i stayed up until 12:45 in the morning, here i am awake at my regular just-before-dawn timeslot with just a hint of a headache probably from the minor sleep deficit. will i stay up or go back to bed? unknown. my wife is on her way back from connecticut, where she and her parents rang in the new year in a casino. casinos make me nauseous with their noises and lights (and the faint pee smell), so that definitely was out of the question for me. but here i am, 2009, bring it on.

“…and i don’t feel any different,” sang death cab for cutie. well, with 20 hours to go before 2009 gets here, i am ready to feel different. 2008 clearly hated my guts. i am hoping i can charm the pants of the new year in a way that just never happened in 2008.

despite my certainty that the united states will be profoundly changed within the next 365 days, and that a lot of people will learn a lot of hard lessons, i still would like to think it’s at least possible to be optimistic. here’s to hoping that things turn around, that people learn to roll with the punches, and that we all try to be a little kinder to each other, and less tolerant of unkindness in the year ahead.

i want to be thankful, really i do.

but, pneumonia. and other continuing bullshit that had seemed resolved, but ha ha, not yet, buddy.

thankful? i wish i could feel that way. 2008 has been one of the worst years of my life. and i have pneumonia. i’m not thankful, i’m fucking pissed off.

it’s been since october 9th, sorry for the lack of updates here; life has continued to be very weird and oppressive, like the universe has a grudge against my wife and i. we took our kids to a comic book convention over the weekend, which was the first fun we’ve had in some time, so even though i spent too much money, i don’t regret it. pics and details on my blog at comic book galaxy.

lots of crappy stuff going on right now that i can’t really talk about, but if you would like to send some positive vibes my way, i’d appreciate it.

and even though new york will go for obama on election day, and even though i have lost all faith in the political system, and even though it almost doesn’t matter who wins now that the dominance of the united states on the world stage is rapidly winding down — i think i’ll still go out and vote for obama next tuesday. mccain and palin have been flipping the bird to me and people who think even remotely like me for long enough that i think i owe it to myself to give them a fuck you right back.

and if mccain somehow manages to win anyway, well, everybody bent over and took it in december of 2000, and again in november of 2004. have you had enough yet, or will you actually do something about it if they steal the election again?

we’ve had some cold nights the past week, and, reluctant to turn the heat on this early in the season, i’ve been wearing a knit cap to bed to conserve body heat. damn if it doesn’t help me sleep through the night a lot better. my wife laughs at how it looks, but, you know, she’d laugh at how i look anyway, cap or no cap.

while on  my lunch break thursday, i spotted three small kittens emerging from the bushes on the edge of the parking lot of the queensbury, new york staples. they fled back into the security of the bushes as i approached, but as soon as i backed off they poked their heads out again. eventually i realized there were four of them, no more than a month or so old, and i called the spca on my cell phone and was advised that if i could grab them up, i should bring them to the local animal hospital.

a friend from work brought a can of catfood, and that got them a little braver about venturing forth, but we only ever got as close as nearly grabbing one of them, a little mostly-black one, before he leaped back into the cover of the bushes.

later that day, my wife brought more food to the scene after i told her where to find them, and she reported that the mother cat was there as well, and wary of her presence.

friday, home from work dealing with plumbers and electricians and hazmat teams (oh my), we took a break to grab lunch and my wife wanted to check on the cats again. we brought a can of food and our cat carrier that we use for our cat, chloe. putting an open can of food in the back of the carrier lured three of the kittens out of hiding while the mother cat was off by the nearby red lobster’s dumpster (ah-ha, i thought to myself, no wonder this is where they are).

we managed to get two of the kittens into the carrier (the third one bolted) as they wolfed down the can of cat food, and we drove them immediately to the nearby pet hospital as instructed by the spca. man, there were a lot of barking dogs at that hospital. i forgot how much i dislike the sound of dumb dogs barking loudly for no real reason.

my wife is concerned about the ultimate fate of the kittens we rescued, but i have to believe that with fall here and 40 degree nights a reality, they have to be better off than they would be facing an upstate new york fall and winter out there exposed to the elements, red lobster dumpster neearby or no.

tomorrow we’ll likely see if we can get the remaining kittens and their mother into the carrier and to the relative safety and security of the animal hospital. we’re told if they’re healthy (which the kittens appear to be, the mother not so much, and she in fact may very well be feral), they will be placed for adoption with a shelter in lake george.

the mother is calico, three of the kittens are various shades of orange and white, and the other one is black with some orange. they are all quite cute and look healthy to my untrained eye. i hope we did the right thing bringing in the ones we did, and i hope the others make it through tonight all right. it’s 41f degrees right now, and the forecast is calling for mid-30s. no weather to be outside all night, but bound to be much colder and more unpleasant than even that within a matter of a few weeks.

this is not the worst week of my life, but very likely it is in second place. one more kick in the teeth and i swear my head will explode like a rotten melon.

wednesday and thursday i’ll be in albany training on a new digital audio system for work. is this the most exciting thing to happen all week? just possibly, if we discount the season premiere of house.

i bought the new star trek: alternate realities dvd set; 30 bucks, but almost every episode on it is a gem. i’d like to get the time travel and captain’s log sets as well, but this is the must-have one for me.

the episodes on it that i really dig:

“mirror, mirror” (spock with a beard)
“the enemy within” (twice the kirk)
“yesterday’s enterprise” (the return of tasha yar)
“the inner light” (picard’s tragic alternate life)
“the visitor” (one of the few good ds9 episodes)
“twilight” (one of the best enterprise episodes)

30 bucks for the set at wal-mart. tried fye first but they never even got them in. their loss.

…and peanut butter on a slice of whole wheat bread. this is pretty much everything that’s going on with me at the moment.