#maybe this is nothing bc again i haven't read the last two and my sample size is admittedly pretty small

[chungledown-bimothy]

i haven't read the last couple of hunger games books, but with the release of the new one, i'm seeing a lot of really interesting meta analysis posts.

but there's one thing that bothers me about almost all of them: WHERE THE FUCK IS PEETA? why is he not in these posts comparing and contrasting the different victors from district twelve and their experiences? from what i gather, there were Circumstances around the reaping of haymitch and lucy. katniss, of course, volunteered to protect her sister. but the first book even made a point of noting that peeta didn't even have to get more entries. he was forced to participate exactly as the system was intended to work.

i think that means a Lot, especially when i'd argue that katniss absolutely would not have won without him. maybe even that damn near none of the events of the original trilogy after that first reaping would have happened without him.

so, i'm genuinely asking- where. is. peeta. mellark.

[orcelito]

Ended up not doing any schoolwork last night lol (can't really be blamed for that tho after writing an entire essay exam And prepping & giving a final presentation earlier in the day yesterday) BUT I finished my persuasion exam on time today. Unless I did terribly on it (unlikely) I probably won't take the optional final exam for this class (which would allow for the lowest of 4 exams to be dropped)(if I do well on all 3 midterms there's really no point to taking the final) WHICH MEANS I'm probably done with my persuasion classwork now

Just data governance and gender communication left. Gotta finish my part of the report today and then read 1.5 books by Monday. Gonna be reading a Lot over this weekend lmfao. I'll manage.

First tho I have my cats' vet appointment today. It Should be fine... and it reduces a lot of anxiety now that I have a car (I always felt weird taking my cats in the Lyft rides and I'd feel EXTRA weird taking Two cats. Not a concern now). It said in the email tho to bring stool samples (smth they didn't tell me on the calls??) and I've got one for Tally but I need to try to get one for June. Idk whether they Actually need it but i wanna b sure just in case. And Also after the disastrous arrival to my failed gynecology appointment on Monday, im like. Extra Cautious about being on time. So I'm gonna leave Plenty early. And maybe just bring one of the books I have to read so I have smth to do while I wait.

Which Means I have maybe an hour before I have to start getting ready to leave. Not quite enough time to really get into the data governance report, but I could potentially start it??? Feels wrong to just do Nothing with the time given how much shit I have to get done today. Also gonna email my advisor I think, if the course override request hasn't processed yet. I did manage to add a C/C++ coding class for UNIX/Linux systems to my schedule, so I have Two of the classes I need to graduate. There are spots in the front end web coding class available that works with my schedule but it's restricted by major for some reason?? Even tho I'm in that damn major???? And last I checked they hadn't approved my override request. So I'm gonna check again and if it's Still not approved I'll email my advisor like "heyyy is there anything we can do about this?" Bc there's not many other classes available that work with my schedule, accomplish the requirement of being upper level division, I haven't already taken, i have the required pre-requisites, AND that don't have some stupid major restriction on it. Like this one's basically the only one that works for the other 4, but that stupid major restriction getting in my way... and it's not like it's even in high demand 😭😭😭 the class is only half filled from what I've seen online 😭😭😭😭 just let me into ur damn class so I can graduate, God.

[fortunatelyfresco]

Rupdate (rat update) bc i have a lot of stuff to process

cw pet death if the readmore doesn't work

Found Clementine dead at the bottom of the cage last night. She looked... fine. No visible wounds, nothing twisted the wrong way. Location maybe suggested a fall, but we would have heard it. There was substrate clenched in one paw, like she'd been digging. I don't have many good pictures of her for a tribute post because she spent most of her time zooming around or (happily) nestled into hiding places. Here's a couple favorites, though. She's the blond one.

I think she might have just been older than we thought. We adopted her from a breeder who was retiring her due to her age. They rescued her, so they weren't sure either. She had no apparent health problems. I've always seen warnings that Sometimes Rats Just Die. This is our first brush with that. The timing is eerie and unfortunate only a couple days after having ʻImi put to sleep, but I don't think there's anything more to it.

Half a mind to ask the property owners about carbon monoxide monitoring bc that's the second seemingly healthy animal we've had drop dead in less than two months, but it would have killed more of the rats by now if that was the case. It's just a series of unfortunate coincidences. David's genetics were stacked against him and rats are fragile and just don't live that long.

I haven't posted much about David because it doesn't feel like he's mine to grieve, but I do miss him. I was learning how to be his friend in the way he wanted. He was hanging out with me more. So many of my pictures are just... him.

ʻImi had a mass in her stomach that the vet thought was maybe a tumor, and almost definitely inoperable. It was nice to speak to a vet who was frank and realistic about the odds without veering straight into "rats are tricky and small and i won't touch them" territory.

ʻImi was having good and bad days but it seemed like she was starting to have more bad days than good, or the bad days were getting worse. She was scrunched up in the carrier and her body was... not the right shape. I could see the vet trying to carefully guide the conversation towards euthanasia, so I brought it up first. They let me hold her. She demolished most of the treats in the carrier first. She wouldn't drink water out of a bowl but she'd lick it off my fingers. We did that for a long time while we waited for the paperwork. I didn't want her to die thirsty.

Addie's collection of reoccurring abscesses and skin problems are, the vet thinks, due to the small cyst under her arm getting reinfected over and over again. Of the three rats I brought in, he said she had the best chances of surgery fixing the problem. She's always seemed unfazed but she's a prey animal, that's what they do, so I brought her in anyway. The appointment was originally only for Bandit and ʻImi, the two emergencies, but the vets let me add a third rat. I left them a very nice review.

Bandit has a huge mass near her genitals. It started small and accompanied by discharge, and we panicked about pyometra and took her right away to a vet who looked her over, refused to test anything, and prescribed an antibiotic without weighing her.

This new vet talked to me seriously about what it might be, how to measure her quality of life, the pros and cons of surgery depending on what it actually is, and took a sample to have tested. He called me today to say he thinks it's a cyst.

I scheduled her and Addie for surgery on the same day. It's the day after we get our vaccines, so not ideal, because the mask mandate has ended here, but I asked about precautions and the vet said they're still doing curbside service and having staff wear masks. They only brought me inside last time because there was confusion about which rat was which and, reading between the lines, because he suspected we'd be euthanizing one of them.

So our remaining rats are: Bandit, Addie, Malino, Kiki, and Phantom. We are ordering more coco coir today for their digging substrate. I keep expecting to look into the cage and see someone else lying dead in the dirt. We were in the middle of a conversation when I glanced over and saw Clem lying there in the corner, too flat and too still.

I always tell people I think of the rats as a colony. As long as I have at least a couple, the colony survives. I guess this is when I find out how much I really mean that. I think it's okay to love them individually and be sad about losing them, but if it destroys me every time then I can't afford to be a rat owner. They're too fleeting for me to give my whole heart to each and every one.