IT'S TOO DARN HOT. Also We Saw The Doubleclicks!

They say pets all start to resemble their owners, and I'm definitely seeing a resemblance to Suki this week:

 

Yep, two fluffy lumps, that's us. :p 

(She was midway through chasing her ball when she just... flopped.)

I'd like to blame the heat... so yeah, let's do that.

 John's been dealing with A/C repair on all fronts this week: the car A/C went out, our house A/C is gasping along, and then we discovered our rental's A/C has a giant hole chewed through it from the local wildlife. (Which was actually a happy discovery, since we thought the whole unit was kaput. A hole we can fix! A hole can be filled! YAY HOLES!)

(::WINK::)

(::snerk::)

It's been nearly 100 degrees for over a week now, so every time I set foot outside I start wailing like a rusty siren and demanding smoothies and a moving truck, in that order. "WE ARE MOVING TO MAINE RIGHT NOW.  Right after a Blimey Limey."

(Also me, when contemplating moving.)

John managed to stem my grousing the other day with some goodies from the P.O. box:

My friend and FOE Carrie sent me this awesome metal Stay Puft as a belated birthday gift. I didn't even know this guy existed!

I immediately ran to rearrange my shelf to make room for him. LOOK AT MAH BEAUTIFUL BABIES.

(John took issue with Zero being in there. "That's Stay Puft's dog. Obviously.")

Then Brooke - the master who made my rainbow skirt - sent along a whole box of goodies. This was the stand-out, though:

WHAAAAAT. Amazing.

I also got some sweet cards and hand drawn fan art and things, because y'all are amazing and somehow always know just when I need a boost. I don't show everything here, but I keep and treasure every one of your cards and letters - so thank you.

I can't remember if I mentioned it before, but John and I painted the outside of our rental house a few weeks ago, along with a few siding repairs and new fencing. We ordered new shutters, too, which arrived this week:

I realize this photo is awful, but I wasn't willing to stand outside for more than 30 seconds to take it. Ha!

My other highlight of late (besides editing MegaCon photos, which I'm still loving), was seeing The Doubleclicks at Orlando's awesomest geek pub, The Cloak & Blaster!

 

The idea of ANY live concert makes me want to back away in terror, but The Doubleclicks are different. Their music is simple and sweet and absolutely must - MUST - be experienced in person. Their records and videos don't do them justice!

Plus they sing about everything you can relate to: Geek stuff and awkward stuff and feeling like you don't belong and preferring cats to people and also how to be OK with yourself and know you're still a badass. They made me cry twice and laugh with sheer joy most of the rest of the time.

Here's a few snippets I posted to my Story from the concert:

And here's the song they opened with, which had a "dance move" of putting your hands on your head like cat ears and flapping them around:

Again, this is SO MUCH BETTER LIVE. So if you get a chance to see Laser and Aubrey in person, drive any distance, cross any river, just go. And bring all your friends. (I brought two friends who'd never heard of the group before, and by the end of the night they'd bought every album and half the merch booth. Bahaha!)

Did I mention they're on tour again later this month?

If you do go tell them Jen sent you. They won't know who that is, but you and I will know, and that's enough. :D

Also shout-out to The Cloak & Blaster for hosting them:

This is the menu. It's hilarious. (Hit the link up there to see what the pub itself looks like!)

If you're down this way on vacation and have a day to spare, definitely check this place out. It's pretty far from Disney, but they have something like 300 different board games you can play during your meal, and the staff is lovely. Oh! AND TRY THE DARK MARK. I rarely drink, but that thing is amaaaaaazing. (It's a milk stout mixed with root beer. Nomz.)

In Kitty News, Eva is keeping a close watch on all the squirrels outside:

Mad Eye would be proud.

And both girls are still loving their Quidditch Tower:

They stay up there when I'm in the room on my treadmill desk, then later we all move to the office, where Eva has decided my fragile plastic inbox is THE place to be:

She also gives Suki her afternoon bath here. It's both adorable and distracting as the aforementioned inbox cracks and pops under her weight, sigh.

*****

Every month, if I'm very lucky, I only get one Dementor day. That's the day when all the joy in everything I love is sucked away, and all I feel is a kind of gray fog.

If I'm not so lucky, I get a few of those days. That's when I start to get scared. When I start to question if they'll ever end, if I'll ever feel joy again. I've often said that depression is more terrifying than anxiety for me, because at least anxiety leaves me with my drive, with my will to live and fight for a better day. But depression? Depression takes everything. I'm in awe of the people, the warriors, who fight this fog every day.

All that to say, today was my Dementor day - I can only hope my only one this month. I've found it sometimes helps to "reset" by binging a show or taking an extra long nap. Just something to let my brain zone out for a bit, and hopefully snap out of the fog. Amazingly that worked today, and after a long snooze on the couch I woke up and - as if a switch had flipped somewhere - I wanted to write this post. I wanted to go play a video game. I wanted to eat something and wash my face and go give John a hug. I wanted things again. 

Just that realization made me a little teary with gratitude. I never want to take these wants for granted. I never want to brush aside someone's feelings when they get trapped in the fog, too.

I don't really have a point beyond this: be gentle with yourselves today. If you're in the fog, know that the sun is still out here, and someday you will - you WILL - want things again. Take it on faith. Hang on to these words, even if you can't believe them right now. 

And if possible, go binge a show, take a nap, and maybe play a video game.

Hey, shooting Splicers with electro bolts can be cathartic.

Just watch out for the bathrooms. And any basement with flickering lights, ha.

Have a great weekend, gang. (Would you kindly?) I love you all 3,000!