Well, the day started beautifully...

...but the end kinda sucked. Actually, it really sucked.

Alex and I spent the morning being lazy and playing on our computers. That was fun. Even playing on separate computers can be social when both computers are on the same table and you're less than three feet away from each other. I get to listen to his video games if I want to, and if I don't, I put on my headphones and pump up the tunes. It's a nice situation.

After a while, we decided we needed to do something productive, so we got dressed and went out to start my driving lessons. Since this car is an automatic (rather than the manual shifters that Alex prefers), it's a lot easier to learn and I'm a lot less nervous. Today's driving lesson was short, but it went really well. I need to learn to stay in the right lane (even in a parking lot), but I can make turns fairly well and the car is wonderfully responsive. I didn't run into anything, either! Go, me! We're hoping to do this more often than we have been...teaching me to drive was one of our "projects" for the summer, and summer's almost gone...

After our driving lesson, we killed time for a while, and then went to tea with Jonathan, our friend who's going to China to study for a year. His sister teaches English there--I hope he'll be okay. He doesn't speak the language yet, but I'm sure he'll learn really fast. It was kinda sad to say goodbye to him, but he'll be back for vacations and stuff. I hope and pray that this is the best choice for him.

In any case, the tea party was fun. There were people there that I hadn't seen in a long time, so it was nice to catch up a little bit. I also got to talk to Jon's sister and find out how things work in China. I wish I could go shopping there.

After Jon's party, Alex and I went to my parents' house to go to dance practice with them...and then the day stopped being fun. My mom told me that she and dad are thinking and praying about putting my cat to sleep. Not taking him to the Humane Society or anything, mind you. Just putting him down. He's not sick. Apparently, my mom has never liked him that much, and she only put up with him for my sake. I wish she would have told me that before, so I would at least have known how she felt. I basically gave all rights to Zypo (my cat) to my parents when I moved out, because I thought he'd do better staying with them. I didn't think he'd take the move well, and besides that, Alex and I had Loki, and I didn't think they'd get along. Zypo is really happy being a lone cat...he's gotten crankier since Mom brought Spooky home. Don't get me wrong; I like Spooky and everything, but Zypo's my cat, at least emotionally.

In any case, when I handed Zypo over to my parents, I thought that it was in case of a medical emergency--you know, like if he got out of the house and got hit by a car and the only way he'd live would be to put him on life support. My mom thinks he's vicious. I don't. He's cranky and nasty sometimes, yes, but I've learned to handle him. Alex has pointed out that I've learned to handle him because I had more motivation.

I guess I feel kinda...betrayed. I've never been this mad at my mom before, but I think part of that is that I just didn't understand how she felt about Zypo. Then I get this feeling like I spoiled him too much, or I didn't do enough to make him behave, but you try making a cat behave. And my mom spoiled him just as much as I did.

I don't want to blame my mom. She and Zypo have never gotten along as well as Zypo and I have, and Zypo has sliced her pretty badly a couple of times. She shouldn't have to put up with a cat that she doesn't like and she didn't pick out. But I don't want Zypo to just die either, just because he's not as personable as other cats. I'm going to offer to take him to the Humane Society and pay the fee to do so myself, promising to warn them that Zypo does best on his own in an adult household with no kids (I doubt he'd get along well with young ones). I think Mom's worried most about Mariana, the exchange student from Brazil who is coming to live with them in a few days/weeks. Mariana doesn't know about Zypo, and Mom expressed the worry that Zypo might savage someone and instigate a lawsuit. I, personally, don't think he's half that bad, but I don't live with him anymore. I just want him to go somewhere where he'll be loved, and I think taking him to the Humane Society will give him more of a chance for that. He's a pretty healthy cat for his age...Alex and I figured that he's about eight years old now.

Alex is worried that, when it comes down to it, I'll have a hard time saying good-bye to Zypo. I'd rather have a hard time saying good-bye than not be able to say it at all. He's my buddy, my pal. He's slept with me when I was sick. He's cuddled with me when I was scared. He's been a reassuring weight on my legs when I was worried about something. He's also been an irritating demon-cat occasionally and terrified my friends just by whining at them, but he's got...personality. *teary smile* I don't want to just write him off, and I don't want other people to, either. I want him to have a chance. I wish I had a friend to give him to, but all of my friends either have other pets or can't have pets. *sighs*

So, needless to say, I'm depressed about that. I didn't realize how attached I was to him until my mom gave me the news. In any case, I've asked her to think and pray about it for this week...I'll probably give her a call tomorrow and offer to take him in myself if she really wants to get rid of him. To the Humane Society, I mean. I will never take him into the vet to have him put down, not when he's perfectly healthy and could make someone else happy. I refuse to give up on him that way. He's still my cat, and my friend.

So, after that news (and I am glad that Mom at least told me that she and dad were thinking about it, not just told me after they'd done it), we all went to see if dance practice was happening. We wound up hanging out outside the church for half an hour, and nobody else showed up. Since we wanted to go out and do something together, we went shopping...and I got even more depressed. According to Victoria's Secret, I wear a size 6 jean. We went to Factory 2 U, and their 5/6 jeans didn't even fit over my hips. I felt like a whale. Alex was very sweet, though. He told me that the jeans were probably mis-sized and, while I could probably stand to lose some weight (he didn't say that part, because he knew I was already upset), I was definitely not a whale. He was wonderful all evening, hugging me often and making sure I was okay. Of course, I wasn't, but he was very attentive, all the same. *huggles husband*

So, after the jeans problem, I talked to some of my previous fellow employees at F-2-U. It seems that store policy has just kept going downhill since I left. I'm glad I got out while the getting was good. Nobody who works there wants to work there, and all the employees get treated like crap. That company seriously needs to work on its business policies! Of course, I knew that when I was working there.

Well, I feel like eating a pint of triple-chocolate ice cream, but I had a huge scone with Devon cream and strawberry jam at the tea party, so I probably shouldn't. Besides, we don't have any chocolate ice cream in the house. *sigh* High-fat comfort food, I miss thee. I suppose I'll just make Alex cuddle me lots tonight instead.