Homer's Odyssey

I first heard about this book while I was at the Publishing Institute at the University of Denver two summers ago and have wanted to read it ever since. Last month, I finally borrowed it from my friend Jenny. Since I'm going to give it back to her when I see her this weekend, I thought I'd go ahead and take this rainy afternoon opportunity to write about it!

Homer's Odyssey: 

A Fearless Feline Tale, or How I Learned 

About Love and Life with A Blind Wonder Cat

by Gwen Cooper

Homer's Odyssey is a memoir about Gwen Cooper, but it's really a story about her kitten Homer.

When Gwen was in her twenties, she was contacted by her local vet about maybe adopting this kitten that had been abandoned at her clinic. The four-week-old kitten had had a virulent eye infection that required the vet to surgically remove both of his eyes, and his family had decided they couldn't handle taking care of him.

When the vet told Gwen about the kitten, she warned her that he would probably never really amount to much. They warned her that he would, in short, be an underachiever.

He was anything but. Without his sight, Homer's other senses sharpened dramatically. He could leap five feet in the air and catch a fly, he could scale seven-foot bookshelves with ease, he could case and memorize a new floor plan in minutes. He was a wonder cat.

What followed was an amazing adventure that would take Gwen, Homer, and her two other cats, Vashti and Scarlett, from their home in Florida to NYC. Together they would survive an attempted break-in, 9/11, boyfriends, sickness, and all sorts of other things. Through it all, Homer's unfailing sense of curiosity and adventure never failed to entertain and comfort.

Homer's Odyssey is not just a book for cat people. Sure, I loved reading about all of Homer's crazy antics because he reminds me so much of Little Kitty (aka Skits), and his love of being scratched and petted (which sends Homer into "veritable convulsions of delight") which reminds me so forcibly of Frisk, and when Gwen describes the interactions between her three cats, it reminds me of when Snickers was a kitten and how she used to terrorize Frisky and Figaro. 

But I think that anyone would love this book because the story is so good and because it helps you remember that miracles are still possible.

Read it! I know you'll love Homer just as much as I did.

Can't Get Enough?

Check out these other pet friendly memoirs...

Grayson by Lynne Cox — seventeen-year-old Lynn Cox was almost finished her training session in the California ocean (she's a big swimmer and at the time this happened, had already swum the English Channel twice) when she felt something strange in about the water. It turned out to be an eighteen-foot baby gray whale who had lost it's mother. Rather than risk the whale swimming towards the shore and beaching itself, Lynne took it upon herself to keep swimming with the whale (named Grayson) until he could be reunited with his mom. This 176 page memoir is a quick read, but a great story about facing insurmountable odds and beating them. 

Wesley the Owl by Stacey O'Brien — a highly informative and enjoyable memoir about a woman who adopts and raises a baby owl. Very similar to Homer's Odyssey.

It's Starting!

Well my journey my not be a thousand miles, but starting this summer/fall, I guess you could say that l'll be on a journey to the rest of my life.

Today I got a big envelope in the mail from GW! It wasn't the official "you've been accepted" one, but it was a quite hefty informational packet for new graduate students, so I guess my deferment worked and I'll really be going back to school this fall.

I'm terrified.

But so excited.

Dancin' Through the Pages

Last, last weekend (well Friday and Saturday actually) my ballet studio held its spring recital. This year, instead of doing a full length ballet, we did a themed recital with lots of different dances all based on the theme "Dancin' Through the Pages." So, each dance represented a book, like Don Quixote, Cinderella, Sleeping Beauty, Little Miss. Muffet, or Guess How Much I Love You. The only exception was our "big girl" piece, which was called "The Classics Revisited" and not really based on anything.

"The Classics Revisited" was actually really cool. It was an almost 15 minute, three movement piece, done to Pachelbel's Canon, the third movement to Bach's Brandenburg Concerto No. 3, and Black Violin's Brandenburg (a crazy hip-hopized version of Brandenburg No. 3's second movement). See the videos below for the soundtrack. I apologize in advance for Brandenburg's crazy music video. 

  Pachelbel's Canon                                   Brandenburg No. 3 Mvt. 3

 

Brandenburg

Anyway, it was really cool. And we got to wear pretty costumes.

My other role in the recital was as Little Miss. Muffet. I got to wear a killer wig. (literally killer... I (and everyone else who got to witness the epic event) almost died from laughter the first time I tried to wear that thing. It was crazy. And it almost flew off my head while I was turning. But a slight haircut and several (hundred) well placed bobby pins later and it was much more wearable.

My spider was pretty darn adorable too.

When There Are No Words...

via

On Saturday, two friends of mine lost their father.

I cannot even begin to pretend to imagine what their family is going through, but I can, and will, continue to keep them in my thoughts and send my love in their direction. Please do the same.

IT'S FIXED!!!!

That's right folks! That there vehicle isn't an apparition, a figment of my imagination, or some other poor soul's car.

IT'S MINE!

And it's all better.... that is, until the next squirrel decides to chew on another hose.

Good thing we have one or two squirrel worthy guns in this house and my brother's about to come home from college. [insert evil cackling laugh here]

Happy Momma's Day!

Every blade of grass may have one angel, but I have so many more...
Thank you Momma, Grammy, Grandmommy, and my aunts for being my angels. 

I love you all ♥

Ailey = Amazing.

On Monday evening about 20 girls from my ballet school and I, along with a few parent chaperone/drivers, and our teachers, trapised (well drove actually) down to Lexington to see Ailey II perform at Washington and Lee University.

Needless to say it was beyond amazing. Here are a few highlights from what we saw.

Revelations is probably one of the most iconic pieces from the Alvin Ailey repertory.

This is a video from the Ailey website with highlights from Revelations.

Another cool piece we saw was one called Takademe.

This is another highlight video from that.

Lessons Learned

Well, losing my wisdom teeth didn't make me dumber after all!

In fact, I think it made me smarter... here are just a few of the things I've learned about myself and the outside world in the past week.

Health Related Pearls of Wisdom (Teeth)   HA!

1. I'm allergic to penicillin. While this discovery is a good one, I didn't figure out that the penicillin was what was making me super nauseous and dizzy until four days after I started taking it.
2. While anorexia is a disease that I'm not advocating in any way, shape, or form... not eating (read: not being able to keep anything down, liquid or solid) for four days, thanks to the aforementioned penicillin allergy, did have it's benefits... I lost 7 pounds. It was almost as good a weight loss regimen as when I had the stomach flu before Christmas.
3. I'm finally glad I never had braces. It was painful enough when my teeth were readjusting to the new space in my mouth and moving around on their own... I can't even imagine how uncomfortable it would be to have metal bands constantly adjusting where your teeth are positioned in your mouth.
4. I swear that the loss of my wisdom teeth wrecked havoc with my sinuses. My doctor said I was crazy, but I found that taking pseudoephedrine along with my Advil helped to keep the slow aching pain in my lower left jaw and the feeling that my chin was separating from the rest of my face at bay.
5. Tights filled with ice bags and reheat-able hot/cold packs are a godsend. I kept two bags of ice tied to my face all day Thursday in my super useful Incredibles tights (see embarrassing picture, above, taken by my mother). Then for the next 5 or 6 days I kept my hot pack clamped firmly to my lower jaw to melt away the aches and pains.

Car Related Pearls

1. Squirrels are not cute. They eat cars. I no longer have a problem with my brother's crazy desires to shoot and cook them.
2. When you are having car trouble and are taking your car to the shop, DO NOT FILL THE GAS TANK BEFORE YOU DROP IT OFF. I made that silly mistake only to find out that the problem with my car could only be solved by replacing the gas tank. Losing less than 2 gallons of gas would have been a whole lot less upsetting than 12.
3. Toyota's are awesome cars... except for the fact that most of their parts are made in Japan. Thanks to the recent environmental disasters in that country, Toyota car part manufacturing there is at a virtual standstill... not a huge deal unless you NEED A NEW GAS TANK. (The parts lady said that she couldn't even fathom when my tank would be in... Awesome.)
4. It's really depressing to continue paying off a loan on a car you can't drive.
5. Good thing I still have the Buick.