Oh yeah, on the subject of my mom being awesome:

She DVRed South Park: Bigger, Longer, and Uncut. And we sat and watched it. She actually sat and watched the entire thing, and she was laughing. I don't think she'd admit it, but I think she started to see what Uncle Mike saw in it. At one point she said, "Please tell me your brother hasn't seen this movie." XD

It's friggin' COLD. I took Oliver out for his walk this morning, and he was FLYING down the sidewalk. I could practically hear his thoughts: "Shitshitshit cold mother of god get me out of here!" There are also a bunch of areas in our neighborhood covered by solid sheets of ice. The entirety of the park is iced over because the Parks department never comes out to salt or break the ice up or anything. Ever. Meant to tell Mom I bet McCarren Park is perfectly clear. McCarren's on the other side of the BQE, in Greenpoint, which is far "trendier" than our part of Willliamsburg. I have no doubt in my mind McCarren is as ice-free as they can make it. They won't be happy until someone busts their ass. They only cleaned the streets because Mom called 311 and told them that last year, the streets weren't cleaned (as always) and cars were losing control and hitting parked cars, and one of them actually slid across Lorimer Street and was lucky there was no traffic coming.

I'm developing a tolerance to cold because I have to walk Oliver, but 12 degrees? No. No thank you.

And speaking of my dog, it sucks when I'm putting my coat and stuff back on to head out to work, and he's staring up at me with a sad look in his eyes. I swear, that dog knows how to use his eyes. Mom's home this week, though, so he's not alone right now. Even if she was working, she'd be home about half an hour from now.

I also have cat shelter duty tonight, and on the way there, I'm going to return the Petmate carrier I bought from Petco. The Sherpa works better. That'll be $60 back in my pocket.

Exhaustion.

Clare and I spent twenty minutes trying to get one of the new kittens, Aggie (boy or girl? I have no idea. Boy for simplicity's sake) into his crate. He kept hiding underneath them, and whenever we'd get him out, he'd dart back under another one. We had to cover all the holes and coax him out with a broom. Then Brook got out and snarled at Clare, because Clare grabbed a cushion and slid Brook across the floor back to her side of the room, but she was easier to get back into her crate.

Anyway. Stopped by both pet grooming schools before going to the shelter and after returning the kennel to Petco. Would definitely take a loan to attend either one. Their "payment plans" basically mean pay half up front and pay the other half at the halfway point, or have a couple of weeks to pay off the entire tuition. (Which school's plan belongs to which, I can't remember.) The costs are also ridiculously close to each other, only a difference of about four bucks, so it would be a choice between which environment I like better. The New York School of Dog Grooming seems better. The ladies there were nice, if a bit disorganized. XD; But they showed me around and when I said I'd be attending at night, two of them went, "That's how I did it." You know, bills first. And I have a dog now. I could go on Saturdays, but it would take a LONG time and I wouldn't want to go just one day a week.

I'm feeling a little ridiculous lately. I feel like I should have direction and don't. It's driving me nuts. I really need to stop overanalyzing things and just GO.