I'm Conflicted!

Lilly has been my favorite since I first heard her sing "Fixing a Hole." I was shocked to see her facing elimination tonight, and wasn't crazy about the fact that she was pitted against young Katie, whose voice has a nice, chill Amy Winehouse quality (but, since she's 16, she has none of Amy's toxic baggage).

But then, as I watched Lilly waiting for the results, she just looked kinda smug, like there was no way she wasn't coming back next week, no way she wasn't better than this Katie kid. And suddenly I didn't like her, regardless of her terrific performances, so I was glad Katie made it to the next round.

But now that Lilly has been sent home, I'm sure I will miss her.

And I think I take American Idol entirely too seriously.

Poor Mom

Her beloved cat, Lucy, died this week. My mom had to have her put to sleep. The tubby old calico was suffering from massive kidney failure.

The timing of this is cruel, because she's already dealing with the painful decline of her baby brother, my uncle. He's being dragged into court later this month to prove he's not an incompetent invalid, and I think we're resigned to the fact that he won't be able to prove any such thing.

Or maybe it's not cruel. Perhaps the double whammy makes both situations somehow easier to take. Maybe dealing with the sudden passing of lovable old Lucy distracts her from the pain of watching her kid brother unravel so publicly. Or maybe knowing she should be worrying about my uncle keeps her from dwelling on the loss of her feline friend, the one who always raced to accompany her down the hall to her bedroom and bathroom ("the other end of the house," as we kids used to refer to my parents' rooms when we still lived at home).

Do you have to be a pet lover to appreciate how suddenly lonely an everyday thing like a walk down the hall becomes when you're used to having a furry companion at your side?

Observations on the nature of time

1) I arrived at the office on time today. 9:00. And discovered nothing of import goes on here before 9:45 anyway.

2) The coin apparatus on the vending machine in the ladies' room is broken and consequently tampons are free. Sure. NOW it happens, when I no longer use tampons. This makes me feel a little sad.