10.09.03 - 6:00 p.m.

My cat is not eating. I don't know how long this has been going on, or why Dad decided to spring this news on me the day before we visit for the weekend ("I won't tell her, and then, when he dies, it will be an even bigger shock!") but Carol is going to try and take him to the vet tomorrow. Dad fears he might starve to death over the weekend otherwise. While this seems a little extreme, I worry that it might happen. Not much blubber left on the little guy, apparently.

This, after I haven't been able to eat all week courtesy of Death Flu 2003. I got myself not one, but two days off this week because of it. What a slacker I am, taking a sick day three days before I'm scheduled to have a vacation day. Fuck you, work. I still won't be in tomorrow -- I'll be shuttling my ass to Dying Steel Town, PA, to see Slowly Dying Adorable Cat, TC.

Should I grow my hair out all long layers to my shoulders and add some severe bangs instead of these wispy floppy things I have going on? Probably not. I imagine it might look pretty interesting but I'm not sure I can handle having to actually STYLE the 'do every morning. Selma Blair shag is the way to stay, I'm afraid.

Weetabix also had Death Flu 2003 this week. Only she called it Death Lung 2003, so maybe it wasn't the same strain. Mine was definitely brain- and head-based, perpetually feeling as if I'd stood up too soon. Driving to the Civ-is (CVS, or French's Discount Warehouse, if you prefer) on Tuesday morning was certainly ill-advised, but I needed some Tylenol Flu. And my slut pills.

And now I have to pack all my high-waisted acid-wash jeans and my black hooker ankle boots, because we're off to Johnstown at 10am sharp tomorrow! I must prepare for one evening at the only nice restaurant in J-town, where I could probably wear a potato sack for all that town cares about fashion, then one afternoon possibly in Pittsburgh, and possibly sitting at the god-forsaken football game, or possibly sitting at home with DC (that's Dying Cat, or NEC, for Non-Eating Cat) in protest. If such an event should occur in which I must boycott the game, I will hightail it to the $5 movie theater for a few hours. That's one good thing about dying steel town life: cheap cinema.

Cat update to come. Stay tuned.