I noticed it had been a while since I posted. And I basically left people hanging on a dark note there.
Catz, catz, catz!
A frequent refrain in our household. Usually mine.
Anyway, Lilith has actually improved. We can’t afford chemotherapy for her (it sounds nasty, but reportedly cats respond to chemo much better than humans do), so we went with more conventional medication. Shortly after I posted my lament of woe-squared, we got some prescriptions for her, an antibiotic and a steroid, that are supposed to boost her immune system.
We chop the pills to the right dosages and fit them together into gelatin capsules. That way, we only have to ram one big pill down her gullet while she’s spitting and clawing her way out. We got used to her being so weak, offering no resistance. Now we wrap her up in a thick towel. The minor — but many — bites and scratches snapped us back to reality. Bactine: the sweet nectar of success.
Well, that and seeing her. Her coat and her eyes shine. She talks more than ever, not so much “meow” as squeak, cranky squeak, and terrified squeal! She jumps around like crazy, bumping our legs, bounding across the apartment, maintaining her regular security patrols, and watching birds from the window sill with laser light intensity. In short, she’s acting like a kitten again.
But sometimes she lets out a loud violent sneeze. And it’s enough to stop my heart for a second.
I keep thinking about a line from Blade Runner, probably the most important one: “It’s too bad she won’t live! But then again, who does?”
LJ Uber-drama
I’m sure everyone else has heard about this by now. Certainly lots of blog postings out there. Some of them are even useful.
I’m not going to get into all the back-and-forth, the horribly translated Russian interviews with the Powers That Be, the yay’s or nays (deliberate word choice) regarding the big boycott on Good Friday, or any of that. My understanding of the whole thing boils down to a few simple things:
- LJ intends to close up the no-cost, ad-free Basic Account level.
- They didn’t intend to let anyone know about it.
- They were also caught censoring user interests, rendering them invisible on key listings.
- They have now fostered a hostile relationship with their customers — and their content — for several months.
- There’s no sign that it’s going to stop.
On the first point… sad, I guess. But it happens. It’s a business. They have to make money, yadda yadda. That’s a fair complaint. If they had just said so, and not resorted to item number two, people would grump, but eventually deal. Look at DeadJournal. I bitched, but I moved on. And they’re still around.
But it’s the last three items that give me and Jamie pause. And how many times has LJ gone to war with its customers over content — two times? three? — in the current management’s first 100 days at the helm?
Content issues are a big deal for us. It’s not just a hobby for us. This is our business. We have to make money too. We do an audiodrama show that’s clearly, loudly, proudly not for everybody. How long will it be before LJ has a problem with us?
We’re really busy now. We don’t need this kind of grief now. I’m working on several scripts, some of the Willamette Radio Workshop, some for Afterhell. I’m mixing a new episode fast as I can, when I’m not writing, collapsing from fatigue, fielding family emergencies, or trying to medicate cats. Deadlines are looming close behind.
So we’re left with two choices. Pray that LiveJournal never comes after us. Or take Afterhell off of LiveJournal ourselves.
We’re preparing to move the Afterhell blog.
I’ll be cross-posting this elsewhere.