It's Just A Little Pressure in My Ears

The cats are worried.

You can just see it in their eyes.  Okay, one eye.  The one eye they might open when I walk by or clear my throat or sigh deeply.

You see, I'm too quiet.  They're used to loud, frantic me.  Quiet, contemplative me makes them so nervous they can barely manage their busy days of napping, eating, and visiting the litterbox.  I don't know what it is that bothers them so.  Are they so dependent on routine that they're afraid I'm going to take to my bed and stop feeding them? Is my depression casting such a pall over the household that it makes it hard for them to concentrate on licking their butts?

In a desperate attempt to get a rise out of me, they sent the baby in to do her thing.  She started small by cuddling up to me as I sat staring at the laptop screen.  I petted her distractedly.  She walked across my keyboard, I just lifted her up and put her out of the room and shut the door.  She was persistent.  The next time I opened the door, she scampered in and hid under the bed.  Once I settled back in front of my computer, she sneaked out, leaped to the back of my chair, from there launched herself up to the top of the television and meeped until I stopped what I was doing and looked up at her.

"Yes?"  Until my dying day I will probably speak to animals as if they will respond.

She meeped again.  She doesn't know how to meow.

"Come down from there before you break your neck."  I turned back to my computer where I've been rescuing PoliTits blog posts from my rss feed.  I heard the screeching sound of claws on plastic and looked up in time to see the small cat lose her footing, tumbling through the air, taking down a framed picture, righting herself in time to land on the stack dvds perched on the top of the dvd player, sending the dvds crashing to the floor and making the last leap to the foot of our bed where she sat triumphantly licking her shoulder as if absolutely nothing had happened.

I looked from her to the path of destruction in her wake.  The picture frame's glass was broken, the dvds boxes made a colorful collage at my feet.   I leaned over to see how much glass there was to clean up and decided that I'd handle it later.

"That was graceful," I said to the cat who had curled into a ball, but continued to watch me with one eye.

I went back to work, alternately saving old posts and working on my NaNoWriMo project.  It's up to 8,100 words already.  I've realized that no matter how much I might try to plan out a novel, once I start writing, the story goes its own way.  Does it surprise anyone that I lack discipline?  I'm on Chapter Four and there are already two characters that I didn't know existed.

The cat snored softly behind me while I typed with Eric Satie playing in the background. I'd watched enough of the the post-election coverage to be sufficiently annoyed and depressed.  Reflecting my mood, the sky was a study in gray and the house seemed chilly.  Reading old blog posts felt a bit dispiriting.  I started blogging because of the political climate in 2006.  As I scrolled through the posts, it became apparent that in four years, not a lot had changed for most of us.

I clicked on the Word document that holds my new manuscript and wrote for a while before finally taking a break.  I stood and stretched.  The cat slept on.

When I went to the kitchen for more coffee, our oldest cat, Daisy, a twelve year old tortoiseshell who spends most of her day soaking up the warmth radiating from the bottom of the refrigerator, meowed before creakily pulling herself up and moving away.  Normally, I have to move her while apologizing if I want to open the fridge. Even when I apologize, she bites me.

"Thanks, Daisy."  I don't like to move her.  It seems wrong to disturb her, like harassing someone's grandma, that's how old she is.  I bent down and scratched her under chin. When I finished, she bumped my hand  with her nose then walked out of the kitchen.

I poured my coffee and headed back to the bedroom where I now do most of my writing.  When I got upstairs, I heard voices.

"So what did she do?"
"Nothing!"
"What?  She didn't scream?  She didn't stomp or threaten to spank your catbutt?"
"No.  Nothing. She didn't even get out of her chair."
"This is bad, you guys.  Really bad."
"Yeah, she's not herself."
"What are we going to do?"
"I don't know, but if she doesn't snap out of it soon, we're going to have to do something drastic."
"Hairball on the carpet?"
"Stealth poop?"
"Hide under her bed and jump on her chest at 3am?"
"Bad aim in the litterbox?"
"Oh, I know! Tip over the trashcan!"
"Listen, those are all good, but none of them will cut it.  Not this time."
"Then what?"
"I have an idea."

Things got quiet for a moment until I heard the sound of my laptop keyboard.

Just then, the floor under me creaked.  From where I stood in the hallway, I could see four cat heads turn and look in my direction.  The fifth, the one I assumed was the ringleader wasn't standing in the clump with the others.  He blinked at me from his perch on the keyboard.  The screen behind him was blank.

I stalked over to the desk.  "Did you delete my story?"

He yawned.

"You realize I have autosave, right?"

His sea foam green eyes slid over to the others.

"And I email that document to myself like the compulsive I am."

He stood and stretched, arching his back before he jumped to the floor and strolled away, his entourage following.

I sat down, clicked the mouse and and scrolled up.  The document was still there and intact.  As far as I could tell, the last words I'd typed remained unchanged.  Not ready to get back to work, I clicked on my browser.  My Facebook page was open and at the top it read:  Lisa Golden likes the Tea Party and Sarah Palin 2012.

"Tiger!  What the hell?"  I bellowed.

Right before I heard them scatter, I swear I heard one of them announce "She's back!"

Earthquake, tidal wave, tsunami, tempest in a teacup......

Do you talk to animals?  Are you feeling energized or out of breath?  Want a cat?

The Martyr Speaks. Again.

Can I just tell you that I would hate to be married to me today? Seriously, I'm a pill. And MathMan just hangs in there and hangs in there. He is the Timex watch of husbands.

I am miserable and for no damn good reason except things just aren't as hunky dory as I think they should be. Nope. I'm stewing and fretting and getting all afroth about life and when I'm like this, the best thing would be to just leave me the hell alone. But MathMan doesn't do that because he's afraid I'll carry a hose out to the garage, attach it to the tailpipe of the car and sit with the door shut revving that poor Corolla's engine one last time before becoming part of the great Gothic tale of life gone wrong in Euharlee, Georgia.

Silly guy, that's too much work. Experience demonstrates that I'd mess it up somehow. I'd have the wrong size hose or try to do the deed too soon after driving the car and burn my fingers on the still-hot tailpipe. Or I'd waste a bunch of time looking up exactly how to do it on the internet, then realize I have to pee, then find that funny Edward Gorey book next to the toilet and lose my taste for quick death, then hear the dryer buzzer and go down to fold laundry, get distracted by something on the television, sit on the sofa and fall asleep and then forget what I was up to until MathMan wakes me with a funny look on his face while he holds my neatly penned suicide note out in front of him like a talisman.

I'd surely break a fingernail or the car battery would turn out to be dead and I have to call J's daddy for a jump start. Imagine that conversation. "Mr. M, can you come over and jump my car again? The battery is dead and I need to hurry up and make it run so I can kill myself before my husband gets home....."

It's a given that something would foul things up and just like that time I went all drama queen and sped away in my car, stopping at a Jiffy Treat to drown my sorrows in an extra-thick chocolate milkshake, and then discovered that I was stuck because the stupid, ugly Ford Fairmont wouldn't start and the only person I could think of to call was the same person I was so angry at, but I called MathMan anyway to come rescue me and then, and only then did that damn car start......well, you get the picture. When I go for the drama mask, I usually end up with that somewhat sinister looking laughing mask instead. Were I try to kill myself via the running car in the closed garage trick, it would end with me calling MathMan on his cell so I could swear at him in blame because something went horribly wrong on the way to my suicide.

Besides, I don't want to hurt anyone else and suicide by carbon monoxide poisoning could cause trouble for those still living in the upstairs of the house. MathMan should know me better. I'm a no muss, no fuss kind of chick. Pills. In the bathtub with my clothes on because I'm not too keen on my own nudidity at the moment. And the tub wouldn't be filled with water or anything, but at least if I hurl or something, the mess will be much easier to clean. I suppose I could just stand in the shower, too, but what if I bump my head as I take my final slither down, leaving a nasty bruise on my noggin? Now wouldn't that be a pain in the ass for some funeral home makeup artist to have to cover up while adhering to the strict instructions I'd leave in a nicely typed in triplicate note to ensure that if there is some goony open casket thing, my make up better look as natural as it does when I apply it. (see enclosed picture)

Not that I've given it any thought. Funny thing is, as long as I can talk about it and laugh about it, it's not going to happen. It's when I'm quiet that I'm a danger to myself and others.

So what the hell is up my ass, I keep wondering. MathMan is certain that my depression is chemical. Just this morning, he correctly pointed out that if I had a headache, I'd take an Advil. True enough. But this stupid depression just hangs on and on and no matter how much talking I could do with a therapist, the fundamental issues that plague me don't go away. That's just the reality. I will still have to help support this family and be a mother and a wife and do all the grown up stuff that wears you down to a nub.

So pardon me if I'd like to step off once in a while. Take a break. Go a'travelin' for a spell. Who doesn't want that from time to time?

Recently I read a novel that just fueled my feeling of ennui mixed with the acid of worry and regret. In her story The Ten Year Nap, Meg Wolizter writes about some stereotypical Manhattanites who have chosen not to work so they can stay home with their children. Please note that I'm so over the whole work-mommy versus stay-at-home-mommy thing I could scream, but what really made me fidget while reading this book was the idea that I was reading about the angst of women who actually possessed the freedom to stay home with their children. Listen, I realize that I'm not artsy-craftsy lovey-dovey mama material, but when no one is looking, I cover my kids up in gooey mom-love. Were someone to have offered me the chance to stay home with them when they were little, I would have been all "Hell yeah, I'm staying home with them" and I would have never looked back with regret. I suppose that might be the difference between having a "promising career" as described in the novel and my job which is white collar enough (pink collar ghetto more like it), but not something for which my passion burns. It pays the bills, end of story.

Tough as it was to swallow, I slogged my way through the book. MathMan asked me a few times why I didn't just toss it aside? "Why are you still dating that book?" he asked, giving me the stink eye, "You dumped boyfriends with greater alacrity than you've been able to decide whether to stick with this book or not."

If I acknowledged him at all, it was mostly with a rude gesture and then I'd make some meager statement about time invested, blah, blah, blah. The fact is, I promised myself I'd finish reading the book because I wanted to see how it ended and when I sneaked to see if I could just wrap it up in the last couple of pages, was thwarted by the way Wolitzer dragged out the conclusion. I swear, it was like removing a jagged splinter from a wailing child's foot. At some point, I just hung on to the book and yanked the words from it. I finished it sitting in the library, forcing myself so that I could return it on time and having met my goal. So I sat and chewed the inside of my cheek and flicked the edges of the book's pages and read and stewed some more until I could walk across the library and drop the finished, if not enjoyed, book into the return slot with a satisfying plunk.

Have I mentioned I'm all about goals now? I hope not because I don't want you to hold me to that. Yet.

Anyway, completing the book gave me no satisfaction because what it really did was add to my desire to navel gaze and wonder and wish and regret about all the stupid choices I've made over my lifetime. Regret is particularly poisonous when I'm in this mood.

Then, Friday night, we had a hypnotist at the dinner event that I was responsible for planning. He was very good. I had my reservations about booking him, but I was impressed by his message and I'm convinced that some of the subjects he chose from the audience were, in fact, hypnotized. Not to mention the fact that it's pretty dang funny to see your boss "go under" and then claim later that he "never actually was hypnotized." Yeah, right. And, natch, he wants me to destroy the video that I took. Ha, I say. Ha ha ha. And no way.

The hypnotist talked about how successful people visualize what they want and remain focused as they pursue their dream. I sat, sipping my wine and savoring the Chateaubriand (I know, life isn't that rough, I know) and thought about that. I considered a conversation I'd had with our guest speaker, another motivational guy, the evening before. He asked me why I hadn't done something to make this blog a money-making venture or done more in an entrepreneurial effort to free myself from the shackles of workaday blues. (He must have been able to read the boredom and weariness on my face.)

"Why hold yourself back? You have to make your own way, no one is going to rescue you from an unhappy life......" he stated pointedly. I could have smacked him for being so spot on.

I looked around the large room at the members of the association I work for. They are all there because someone in their family decided at some point that they were going to run their own business rather than sit around and hope that some employer was going to reward them for hard work and brains. We all know that hard work and brains aren't rewarded as much as we're told they are, right?

And so here I am, alternating between droning silence and bursts of venom as I drive along I75 this morning, MathMan riding shotgun. He shifted in his seat. The whole car moved under him, his motions were that deliberate and meant, I believe, to get my attention.

"What are we going to do about the depression?" he finally asked using his firm, I've had it, Lisa, voice.

I smirked and held back from asking him which depression did he mean? Big D Depression or the little, more insidious one? I mean, I know I'm amazing and all, but I do believe that solving the big D Depression is President Obama's job and too many cooks, etc.....

See? I don't want to be serious. I don't want to go and sit and talk and tell some non-judgmental therapist about all the muck inside my head because then I might cry and blow snot bubbles and still walk out feeling utterly ridiculous for being bunged up because I have to work too many jobs and I'm tired and I want a vacation, a looooooooong vacation, and mostly I want my past back so I can fix things.

I brought the budding conversation to a screeching halt by biting MathMan's head off when he said that I needed to "find the time" to write my damn book. The book has now graduated to being "that damn book." I think of it in much the same way. So instead of talking about how I'm about to embark on a new thing that might eventually free me from having a long commute and a job that thrills me not at all, I chose to zero on what really irritated me about that statement - the idea that the reason why I don't have time is because I don't make time. Or rather - I don't have time because I waste time.

I believe that among the huffs and forced hoots, and the "oh no you didn't just go there" hair toss/eye roll, I spat out a few stinging words including magic wand and doing the impossible. So long constructive conversation between adults, hello growly silence, punctuated by heavy sighs and angry staring out the window.

But MathMan is right. I have to make the time. Right this second, we cannot afford for me to chuck my association management "career," but I can tell you this - I am going to make this new venture work so that I can be free to write and make my own way. I am sick to death of having over half of my waking hours dictated to me so that when I get home, I am so tired and distracted by all the unfinished projects that I don't feel like focusing on what matters.

Bizzy Blogger Placeholder: Dear Memphis, Please don't take this personally

So what is it that you want? LOL Cats? Well, the cats I know don't make me laugh so much lately. The stealth pooper is still at it and I'm perplexed about how to fix him. Nothing seems to work - massages, sweet nothings in his pointy, twitchy ears, tearful threats, a new natty diamond collar....nothing.

So instead I give you the song that has me dancing around my office and embarrassing myself because I forgot to close the blinds and the people coming and going in the therapists' office across the way need a good laugh anyway.

Shimmy with me, why don't you........?

I defy you to not sway.
Liars to that effect will be treated to what he keeps in the Royal Crown bag.........you heard me.