Something

December is almost here and Im trying to get my fill of Christmas spirit before I scuttle off to Europe. Im lucky enough to be spending a couple weeks in Italy and Im pretty excited about that.
Finally things are getting settled in my apartment. Ive moved back into my place and its really nice. I got a new paintjob and a new carpet. With any luck I can keep clutter and junk down to a minimum. Right now Japanese teahouse is the motiff Im going for. Though I think the cats liked it better with all the clutter, but for now, theyre getting more comfy since the furniture is going back to where it was (at least some of it is). Ive managed to pair it down to the bare essentials. There was quite a lot of junk just taking up space. Now its become a wonderful place to live instead of just a storehouse for my stuff.

Nothing

My apartment and home is fast becoming a big nothing. Theres been a crubling peeiling, water damaged wall next to my bed for longer than I can remember and its finally being fixed by the management. The entire main room is being repainted and recarpeted and I have to completely evacuate the room. There are a couple interesting points staring me in the face today. Both points are about the importance of stuff. Firstly to me, and secondly to my cats. Im piling all nonessential stuff into my moms garage. But what is essential stuff? Well Im starting with the least important things, like old magazines, toy laser guns, my collection of audio cassettes, a 3 foot tall godzilla toy etc, and moving on to medium important things like old paintings, drawings, and all the old cameras my father left me. As I pair it down more and more, I keep thinking about what I could really live without. If god forbid, my mothers house burned down, would I miss any of that stuff? Though Im sure Id have greater concerns than for my stuff if somehting like that happened. I guess when you break it down, the most important stuff of my life is not really objects so much as relationships. I could live without my stuff. But I think Id be pretty lost without any loving connections, with people or pets. And that brings me to my second point. The importance of stuff to pets. My cats, Wind and Cloud are not happy kitties right now. Their world is being slowly dismantled. As the main room empties out they have fewer places to go and fewer things to sit on. With almost no potential targets for catattack, they are getting bored. Pets are special in that they have neither the same needs of wild animals nor the needs of people. Kitties need lots of petting , food, water, and lots of little nooks and crannies to investigate. Its a kitties job to investigate those places for the sake of all the rest of us who have neither the time , inkling or ability to see whats behind the computer desk, or up on the top shelf of the closet. Its a kitties job to test out all the potential napping places in a home. Well I guess Im sorta stopping them from doing their jobs. But it cant be helped. Ive explained this to them as best as I can but that doesnt make it any easier for them. With a little luck it will all be finished and back to normal within a week. Hopefully the big nothing that is my home right now will be a nice something once again.