Ronon Dex, kitten fighter

We had three cats—a full house—when my friend Meghan called me one night. “I found a kitten,” she began. Her own cats were not friendly enough for her to keep it even temporarily to find it a home, and she wanted to know if we could foster him and find a home for him. I agreed to it as long as she took him to the vet...

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Indigo, a too-brief friendship

When Dan lived in his top-floor apartment in Cleveland Heights, Ohio, the downstairs neighbors were feeding a local stray cat. The cat was friendly and would come over to get pet when he saw you. When I moved up to Ohio and Dan and I moved into a house in Independence, Dan’s downstairs neighbors were also moving out. Actually, they’d moved out a few days before.

We were back getting the last few boxes of...

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Pretty Little Pixie

Pixie was an addition to a house of three existing cats. We already had Ding, Cory, and the stray we’d taken in the year before, Indigo. However one day when we were shopping at Petsmart for some food and other supplies, their animal adoption corner was full of kittens and I just had to look. In looking, one of them just cried out to me spiritually. Or...

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Cory the Cat

This is the story of Cory, one of our cats. I figured it was time to immortalize the kitties in word.

I’m not sure how old Cory is because he was a stray when I acquired him. I was moving out of an apartment in Marietta, Georgia (a suburb of Atlanta) into a house in Acworth (another suburb of Atlanta) and my ex-husband still had custody of my...

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Wedding Videos

Now that I’m about a week from my first anniversary, I’m finally remembering to post the videos from our wedding. These are all on YouTube…

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It's A Fine Day (A Juggling Video)

I created this video in 2006 to teach myself how to use video editing software—it is not by any means an impressive display of juggling. All the actual juggling is just the most basic of things—the hardest things in this video I think are a short run of Mills Mess and another short clip of Dan passing 7 clubs with me. So don’t expect to be blown away by my mindblowing juggling talent, as...

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A Juggling Romance--How Dan and Katherine Met (smaller video)

This is the video that played (partially*) before the ceremony at our wedding (though I did add some stuff later, since I had some time).

Dan and I met in 2004 at a juggling festival in Buffalo, NY. This is a retelling of that story, with some…err…artistic liberties taken. And fancy special effects. Very fancy.

Special thanks to Jack and Jeri Kalvan, Michael Karas, and the Flying Karamazov Brothers: Mark Ettinger, Rod Kimball,...

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A Juggling Romance--How Dan and Katherine Met (full-sized video)

This is the video that played (partially*) before the ceremony at our wedding (though I did add some stuff later, since I had some time).

Dan and I met in 2004 at a juggling festival in Buffalo, NY. This is a retelling of that story, with some…err…artistic liberties taken. And fancy special effects. Very fancy.

Special thanks to Jack and Jeri Kalvan, Michael Karas, and the Flying Karamazov Brothers: Mark Ettinger, Rod Kimball,...

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May 2008 Newsletter

Well it’s been a while since the last newsletter. As far as the website goes, I’ve upgraded the software I use to run it, and after working out a bug where all of the titles vanished, it seems to be quite stable. I’ve added a few features. One is a copy&paste bit at the bottom of each article on the off chance anyone wanted to link to it. Another is an additional search box at...

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September 2007 Newsletter

Well it has certainly been an eventful summer. Some of it has been good, some of it has been bad. On a personal front, I relocated from the Atlanta, Georgia suburbs to the Cleveland, Ohio suburbs with my son and the cats and all of our stuff. I’m trying to sell the house in Georgia now. We’re now renting a house together with Dan, and so far it’s going really well.

On the travel front,...

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Live Webcams

Note: while I used to have the webcam on any time I was in the room, I now turn it on mainly when I’m doing something like working on a painting. You can visit the webcam archive if you like. Please see the note at the bottom of this page regarding webcam software.

Watch the Cam:

Cam One (low bandwidth)
still image image that refreshes at 5 second intervals. These will almost always be at...

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The Candy Corn Incident

I’m not sure how old I was, but I can’t have been older than about 8 or 9. It was near Halloween and my mom, or maybe Sonia, had given me a bag of candy corn. At the time this was one of my favorite candies.

I had been given the absurd limitation of two pieces per day. Considering how tiny these are, and that most people eat them by the fistful, it was nearly...

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Taos Skiers Beware

I was 11 the Christmas my mother gave me my own pair of skis and told me she was taking me to Taos. I had never been skiing and I was very excited. I can’t remember if it was a business trip, but I think it probably was. Most of my childhood travel that didn’t involve visiting relatives involved tagging along with my mom on business.

Taos was having a bad year for snow. The...

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Misty the Wonder Horse

When I was growing up, my godmother, Barrie, had a horse named Misty. She was all white and generally very friendly. One of my earlier memories of her was being totally grossed out when she licked my hand and the spit foamed up. I’ve always been an animal lover, and horses are no exception. I loved to ride Misty when I got the chance…

Oddly, Misty sometimes had other ideas.

When I was three or...

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I Survived a State Mental Hospital

My mom talked my (now-ex)husband into committing me to the mental ward when I was 5 months pregnant. I’d gone off my medication (Lithium and Paxil) and kinda flipped out. What I needed, of course, was my medication (which I apparently refused to take, but after a few hours of TV or something I probably would have taken willingly). Then I would have calmed right down. After sitting around the ER for about 45 minutes...

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The McDonald's Gunman

Back in early ’91 when I was still just dating my husband, I used to go to the McDonald’s where he worked to hang out. I’d order some fries or a Big Mac with no meat and sit and read, and when he had a few minutes I’d chat with him, and when he went on break to eat, we’d sit and talk. This particular evening, my friend Star was with me and we were...

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Dissecting a Fetal Pig

I attended a Christian school from second grade through the first semester of seventh grade. In science at my tiny religious school, we’d been learning about plants. We’d dissected a flower, examined onion skin under a microscope… cut open lima beans… pretty simple stuff. Over winter break my mom FINALLY decided to let me go to public school. So I landed in a new school and a new science class.

This new science class...

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I Fall Down, Go Boom--a brief history of clumsiness

Ok, I was at Vail, staying at the Westin (which I hear has been bought by some other company now) with my mom. She speaks at some fancy convention there every year, and sometimes lets me come along). So it’s snowy and cold out, and we’ve had a great day skiing (mmmm… gotta love the Vista Bahn) and we decide to go down and sit in the jaccuzi. It’s an outdoor one, and they have...

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Dog Bite

This is one of my oldest vivid memories…

When I was almost three years old, I was in Connecticut visiting my grandparents. I was with my grandmother at a friend’s house when a little dog came wandering in. It was a Dachshund… a weiner dog. Apparently I decided to feed him a cracker. I remember bending over and handing him something, and I remember him lunging for my face. I also remember seeing something in...

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Disowned?

From the time I was a little girl I had a close relationship with my godmother, Barrie. She lived with Kathleen, and they were lovers. I didn’t really catch on to this until some time around the beginning of high school, but that is my problem.

I loved Barrie and Kathleen like family. I considered them to BE family. Growing up I often spent weekends at their place out in the foothills, taking long baths...

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Fire!

Back in my early 20s, when I worked as a topless dancer, I was on stage doing my set, had finished stripping down to thigh high 4” heel boots and a thong when I began to notice that the usual smoky haze was a little peculiar. It got worse, and then suddenly my song cut off abruptly. The DJ got on the mic and said, very calmly, that everyone had to get up and leave...

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Cast of Characters

Just to help keep things straight, the cast of characters appearing in my various tales…

Me, OpalCat/Katherine, born February 11, 1972 in Tucson, Arizona, currently living in Massachusetts, about a half-hour west of Boston. Married in 1991 at age 19, which lasted 15 years; remarried in 2009 at 37.

Dominic, my son, born September 15, 1995.

Dan, my husband, born February 22, 1977; originally from Atlanta, Georgia, who attended podiatry school in Cleveland, OH, and with whom I...

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Bucket Brigade

While watching the Smurfs one morning, I saw the Smurfs form a bucket brigade to put out a fire. This reminded me of something from junior high. My history teacher was really big on hands-on activities. For example, we all went out and learned how to split wood one day. One time we had a field trip where the girls went to his house (where he told us dirty jokes!!) and baked bread. The boys...

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Remembering Challenger

Ever been to Spaceport, USA? It’s the tourist section of Kennedy Space Center. My dad lived about 20-30 minutes from it, so I’ve been many times. I bet it was packed this week, as John Glenn returned to space, aboard the Space Shuttle Discovery.

I didn’t watch the coverage of the launch this time. I can’t really watch shuttle launches...

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Personal Statistics and Such

As promised, more info than you want to know. I’ll break it down all scientific-like…

Geek Code (?)

-----BEGIN GEEK CODE BLOCK-----
Version: 3.12
GFA d--(+) s--: a C+++$ UL>++ P+ L+ E- W+++$ N+ !o K? w+(---) !O M--()@ V-- PS++ PE-@ Y? PGP t+ 5+ X++ R tv+@ b+++ DI+@ D--- G e++>+++ h---- r+++ x++++
------END GEEK CODE BLOCK------

Not a geek? de-Geek my code
code updated Sept 14, 2009 due to changes...

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My Boring Life Story

I grew up in the southwest, in the city of Tucson, Arizona. I hated it. I don’t like the heat, and Tucson summers are HOT. 110 or 115 is a common high temperature for a day anywhere from June to August, and it is often over 100 starting in March through October. I suffered through a day in Phoenix that was 122. The winters can’t really be called winters. They aren’t cold....

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Who is OpalCat?

I am a thirtysomething* remarried mother of one. I live in the suburbs west of Boston, Massachusetts with my son, Dominic, and three cats, Cory, Pixie, and Ronon. I was married in 1991, but separated in January of 2005 and my divorce was finalized at the beginning of November of 2006. Fortunately, we’re still good friends.

I am now remarried (

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Theory of Relativity

Well, of Relatives anyway. Ok there really isn’t a theory associated with my relatives, either, but here is a quick run-down of the members of my family and a rough timeline of relevant stuff.

My primary family member is my little boy, Dominic, (born September 15, 1995), and there are also my cats, Ding and Cory.

When I was still a baby, my parents parted ways. My mother has never remarried and is a...

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Terms of Endearment: The Evolution of Nicknames

When my ex-husband and I were dating we were obscenely sweet and cutsie.

We had the typical nicknames for each other at first…“sweetie” being predomenant.

Somehow we ended up applying the suffix -opotamus (as in hippo…) to words. Namely, “sweetapotomus” instead of “sweetie”. (Naturally “hippo” must be a type of “potamus”, right?) Any descriptive word could be used (and sometimes twisted) into the suffix. For example, if I was cooking, I was a “fixopotamus of...

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My Big List O Pet Peeves

We all have them. Things that just grate on us. Sometimes they are rational, other times they are a bit silly. Some of them bother us a lot, some of them only tickle a little at our irritation. Some make our blood boil, some make us roll our eyes. Whatever level, whatever reasons for existing, I also have mine. And here they are.

• People’s “driving” in the Boston area. They call it driving… but I’m...

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The Maxipad Incident

I was in 8th grade, living with my dad in Florida. This was the year they invented maxipads with “wings” but earlier in the year. As those of you who have used the “pre-wing” pads know, the old ones leaked. No matter what. The first drop of blood to touch them would almost always make a beeline for one or both sides and make a break for freedom.

And so I would always wrap toilet paper...

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Runaway

When I was 17 years old, at the beginning of the summer between my junior and senior years in high school, I ran away from home. (I’m 31 now, at the time I’m writing this, and I still stand by my decision. It was the culmination of 17 years worth of stuff going on… maybe I’ll write about the “final straw” sometime, but not now.)

I had a car… it was a hand-me-down from my...

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Opal's Natal Chart

February 11, 1972, 5:02 PM, Tucson, Arizona, Interpretation: Ferociously proud and somewhat vain, you like to be impressive and to be seen as…

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Mother in Law

My mother in law is a scary woman. First off, she’s a raging alcoholic. She had a liver transplant in the late ’80s and she still drinks. This is on top of the fistfuls of medication she has to take.

Shortly before my husband and I married, we drove up to Michigan to visit her and her husband. She was mostly nice until she got drunk. I remember standing in the kitchen, listening as she...

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Behold, a Dominic Is Born

I went into labor at 2:17am on Wednesday morning, September 13, 1995. This was almost 2 weeks before my predicted “due date” of 09-25. At 3pm on Thursday I went to my OB/GYN (a regular appointment, scheduled weeks in advance) and she did a sonogram to see if I was ready to be admitted into the hospital. …

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February 2001 Newsletter

Wow, February! This is one of my favorite months of the year. Why? because it’s the month that contains MY BIRTHDAY!! WOOHOO! That’s right… I’ll be 29 on the 11th of this month. I got the robotic camera mount a couple of weeks ago but we haven’t set it up yet. We aren’t going to set it up until we get the living room cleaned up. At the moment, we’re all a bit...

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January 2001 Newsletter

Greetings to all, and I hope you had a good holiday season, whichever holidays you celebrate. If you happened to not celebrate any holidays, for pete’s sake, MAKE SOME UP! They’re far too much fun to live without :) My suggestion is to make sure it involves lots of food and presents :)

Well 2000 is over and the bug didn’t eat me. Not that I thought it would. My son started school, and...

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