The Intergalactic Cowboy

Local authorities caught a nine week old kitten suggestively dancing in the home of a local musician / day trader recently. Also found in the house was a portable phonograph with two 45 rpm vinyl records that had both been played on the phonograph. The records contained recordings of “96 Tears” by Question Mark and the Mysterians, as well as ” Wooly Bully” by Sam the Sham and the Pharoahs. The authorities were unclear as to whether the kitten was dancing The Cha Cha, The Watusi or the Froog. Although these dances are not technically against the law, a Baptist comminity such as this can not allow this act to go unpunished. As punishment, the kitten was placed in a room with a one year old cat, who does not like kittens.
More details will be reported as they become available.
I.C.

I have had little success in getting Suvy to accept our new roomate Ashley. The internet articles say to seperate the cats whenever they fight, but not to punish them. They are to eventually get accustomed to each others’ smell and accept each other. I knew that bringing Ashley inside the house would be the worst affront that we could ever deliver to Suvy, but we just couldn’t let this tiny kitten stay outside all night forever.
The way that it works is that I let Suvy outside at about 7 a.m. Ashley and my mom get up at 8 a.m. Today, Ashley asked to go outside and I took her out for a supervised visit. Suvy walked up; arched her back; and hissed at her. I then attempted to communicate with both of them. I patted Suvy on the head saying ‘Suvy’ and then patted Ashley on the head saying ‘Ashley.’ I then patted Suvy saying ‘good kitty’ and patted Ashley saying ‘good kitty.’ Suvy then took a relaxed posture on the ground as if she understood that I was pointing out each other’s basic goodness. Then the kitten ran toward Suvy in an aggressive manner and Suvy raised her right arm with her claws out and swiped at Ashley. I picked Ashley up and brought her inside. Later, this same drama re-inacted itself whenever I took Ashley outside. All that I know to do is to slowly let these two learn to accept each others’ presence and to put them in seperate areas when they fight. Supposedly this strategy eventually leads to a common acceptance of each other.
With loving patience,
I.C.

Ashley !!!!!
Ashly !!!!!

The new unnamed intergalactic kitten is slowly becoming accustomed to her new property. She basically lives in the day lillies on the south side of the property. This is where Suvy lived during her first day here. The new kitten finally let me pet her, but does not like being picked up. It has not spent a night in the house yet. Fortunately, the approaching tropical storm in Florida will not produce the four inches of rain that was previously expected. I do hope to get the kitten inside the house by the time the storm does get here on Friday.
Suvy continues to play out her role as jealous girlfriend, but seems to get some kind of perverse satisfaction from her new, little yard mate. Although Suvy does arch her back and hiss at the kitten at least once a day, the kitten initially backs down, but then starts walking toward Suvy while mewing. Suvy then backs up and moves away. The kitten then starts running toward Suvy and chases Suvy into the bushes ! So, it would seem that Suvy herself is a little scared of the kitten, even though Suvy is three times as big.
I hope to get a photo of this fiesty little feline up here soon.
With care,
I.C.

Today is my fourth day of treatment with the steroid medication Prednisolone. Steroids have a terribly bad reputation as being dangerous and unhealthy drugs. I would like to share my insights on this matter. I have been prescribed these medications in the past for bronchitis and for inflamed ligaments in the feet and ankles. This prescription is now being used to treat inflamed ligaments as well as pinched nerves in the back and neck.
I have experienced “steroid rage” before; the irrational anger that results as a side effect of this class of drugs. Fortunately, my anger manifested itself as verbal anger rather than physical anger. The reason for this is that these drugs, as do many others, change a patient’s brain chemistry and consequently their perception of the world. On Thursday and Friday, my mind was focused onto a rather negative and hostile slice of the total life experience. I was focused on the offensive aspect of everything that anyone said to me. It was as if my entire life experience on those days involved encountering one a-hole remark after another. I retorted with a few a-hole remarks that seemed totally justified to me at the time. The whole world seemed like a battle between me and everyone else. The truth was that the whole world was not that way; only the world that the Prednisolone but me into. Some people get trapped in the world of offensiveness for reasons other than for being prescribed drugs.
Depressed individuals have a similar situation to deal with. They, for one reason or another, deal with a world in which all news is pessimistic and negative. The depressive individual exists in a world of sadness and hopelessness, which will never change, or at least it seems that way. Depression can be triggered by drug side effects and by life experiences, both current and past.
It would be incorrect to say that offensiveness and depressiveness do not exist in the world as a whole. They do exist, but these two negative worlds are just two slices of the whole pie of life perception and experience. There are slices of joy and bliss, for instance. To get stuck in the worlds of joy and bliss would make earning a living in a capitalistic society impossible, and some people actually do get stuck in these worlds. The idea is to experience these worlds with an attitude of perspective and to know that these individual worlds are not the totality of reality. The idea is to transcend them and view them as the partial realities that they are.
The world is not completely full of offensive people; steroids just make you focus in on that.
The world is not completely full of sadness and hopelessness, depression just makes you focus in on that.
Did I transcend the situation on Thursday and Friday ? Regretably, no. But today I did and I would like to get better at doing so. Forgiving myself in this incidence is the key to forgiving others that have spat out their rage at me. Forgiving myself for being depressed in the past is the key to giving other depressives hope; hope that the bad times always end, just like the good times do. Forgiving people involves transcending the lower worlds that cause people to do destructive things. Forgiveness is not easy and when it happens it does not last forever. At least not for me it doesn’t yet.
I have more kitten news that I will tell you all later,
I.C.

Well it happened again ladies and gentlemen. A new kitten has shown up in the bushes of this property. I heard it crying on Wednesday afternoon and saw its sillouette in the shadows under a fig tree. Later that night I could hear it crying in the darkness of the back lot. So, I went looking for it with a flashlight. I never found it or even saw what color it was. The next morning, Suvy and I went for a walk in the back lot. No sign of kitten. Suvy started meowing at an unusually loud volume and I heard the kitten cry. I followed the mews until I finally saw a two month old grey and black kitten, sitting on a mound of grass clippings in the row of large bushes between me and my back door neighbor. As I exclaimed delight at finally finding this kitten, Suvy growled and pounced on it ! Suvy chased it into our side neighbor’s yard. I grabbed Suvy and scolded her while she scratched and bit me. I put Suvy into the house as quickly as I could.
This kind of jealousy and sibling rivalry is common with cats. I have downloaded a couple of internet articles on how to handle this situation. The kitten is now living in the day lillies on the south side of this property. She has not let me pet her, but has eaten the cat food that I have put out for her. This morning as I put out the food, Suvy walked up with a suspicious look on her face that said, ” exactly what’s going on here ?” Fortunately, I have been able to keep Suvy from attacking this defenseless little creature any more. At least I think that I have. Who knows what goes on behind my back.
More later,
I.C.

I visited the orthopoedist today about the unusual pains that I have been experiencing in the feet, shoulder and back. He quickly diagnosed pinched nerves in the neck and back. He was kind enough to prescribe me some steroids to take for a week. But don’t worry about me exhibiting any steroid rages; I only have to take SIX of the pills tomorrow…. The doctor also recommended no heavy physical exertion until my appointment with him next week. Although many people with jobs that require heavy lifting would enjoy this doctor’s orders, I will miss my trips to the health club and the mowing of my mom’s embankment.
It is ironic that the price of crude oil would decrease by thirty dollars a barrel during this period of Nigerian civil war riots and Russian invasions of Georgia. I may have heard this incorrectly but someone said that 30% of the worlds oil gets transported through the pipeline that runs from the Black Sea, through Georgia, to the Caspian Sea. One disasterous bomb could shut this pipeline down. My heart goes out to all the people and Crafty Guitarists from the country of Georgia. I really don’t understand this invasion at all. Couldn’t Russia have simply sent troops to the breakaway republic rather than the sovereign nation ? But then again, as an American, couldn’t the U.S. have simply not invaded Iraq ? American does not have a lot of leverage in this situation.
The ligaments in my feet are hurting as well,
I.C
p.s. I just found out that the pipeline through Georgia only supplies one percent of the worlds oil, rather that the 33% that I mentioned last night. One percent is still a significant amount, nonetheless.

Today, Citigroup was coerced by the Securities and Exchange Commission to buy back a few million dollars worth of Auction Rate Securities. These securites were sold to customers as being liquid investment vehicles, that could be sold by the customer at any time, whenever the customer needed the cash; almost like a money market account. Well, the customers have been calling Citigroup and Citigroup has been telling them that the securities can only be sold if there is a buyer willing to buy them. It has almost been as if the customers’ money has been put into a lockbox for eternity. The SEC got wind of this and put pressure on Citigroup to buy back the securities held hostage. The SEC then met with Bank of America, who were telling their customers the same thing as Citigroup. Bank of America has now agreed to buy back the ARSs that they sold to investors. Late this afternoon, Merrill Lynch volunteered to buy back their ARSs, without being coerced by the SEC. How caring of them… There may be more repurcussions from this scandal tomorrow and over the weekend.
And don’t forget about the Subprime Mortgage Crisis. California has hundreds of homes in forclosure from mortgage defaulters who were given mortgages without proof of income and no down payment. Scores of these homes have swimming pools in their backyards. These swimming pools are breeding the breed of mosquito that is capable of carrying the West Nile Virus. So now, in these ghost town desert subdivisions, there are swarms of virulent, blood sucking hellions, attacking every warm blooded mammal in site ! Nature does seem to have a sense of poetic justice doesn’t she.
You bet your arses,
I.C.

The other night I dreamed that I was at a Guitar Craft seminar with a friend of mine who has been a rather staunch critic of Guitar Craft and my involvment in it. In the dream he had a surprisingly positive attitude about the course, which was taking place in a facility that bore a similarity to an old American elementary school. We were sitting at a long, wooden dinner table and he was expressing excitment about the direction that the course might take next. I told him to wait and to listen to what Robert said during the discussion part of the meal. I should add that it was a good dream.
The U.S. stock market has been overreacting to some financial reports and underreacting to other financial reports. On Friday morning, the employment report showed that fewer jobs were lost during the month of July. The market should have gapped up, but didn’t. I can only make significant money if the market reacts rationally.
Also recently the U.S. Congress (or was it the Federal Reserve Bank ?) agreed to provide the FDMC and FNMA with enough money to remain financially solvent. It is as if the government gave these two mortgage facilitators a new credit card with no interest charged and no limit as to how much they can charge on the card. When I say that they government is loaning them the money, it is really the taxpayers that are doing the loaning. Although allowing these two organizations go under would have added to the housing crisis in the United States, these two organizations are funded by stockholders who willingly invested in these companies with the understanding that there was risk involved. I do not think that the taxpayers of this country should be required to bail out the stockholders of any company that sells shares of its own stock. The impending bankruptcy of these companies is not the fault of the taxpayers. It is as if these companies want to be capitalists when the going is good, yet be socialists when they mismanage their own business.
A couple of days ago, presidential candidate Barrack Obama announced that he would be willing to allow a controlled amount of additional oil drilling on the continental shelf of the U.S. This is a complete turnaround on his previous position of no new drilling. Although I myself have mixed feelings on this issue, I know a lot of leftist, animal rights activists who might be enraged to the point of not voting for him on this issue.
An American anthrax scientist committed suicide this week, rather than to stand trial for the anthrax deaths of five people here. The scientist’s therapist has come forward with some startling news about him. In therapy, this scientist confessed plans of exposing people to anthrax to see if the antidote was effective in keeping them alive. Not only did he confess this to her in private sessions, he even confessed it in group therapy sessions ! Most group therapy sessions are attended by people who want to talk about their problems within a supportive circle and get sympathetic help from the others in the circle. Tell me, how would you like to be in a circle with a member who laid out detailed plans of exposing his victims to anthrax. The therapist felt the need to swear out a restraining order against her client.
With astonishment,
I.C.