Plus and Minuses

It's the time of year to think about the best of, the worst of, and the in-between.  Some are deeply personal, some more general.

1) The most profound moments: having my two Old Ladies, the last of the original six mutant poms, leave me together, in a space of a week. 

Miracle was special because she shouldn't even have survived her first week. She had trouble breathing because of fluid in her lungs, but I spent the whole night 14 years ago willing her to leave and telling her she didn't want me to see my first puppy leave me.  I think she took me to heart because 14 years later, she waited till I was in DC before she left me.  I was supposed to call the vet at 3:30pm to tell them what to do.  I was really, really upset, as you could imagine, but tried to be stoic about it. 

At 3:20, I picked up my phone, and while making a call to my sitter to tell her, the phone went dead.  It turned itself off.  Twice.  I realize that many would explain this away as coincidence, but I truly believe that was Miracle's way of saying goodbye.  Because, you see, when I did call the vet later, he told me Miracle's heart stopped around 3:22pm.

My other Old Lady, Temper, didn't always get along with her sister.  The love-hate relationship was all about sibling rivalry, but deep down, she loved Miracle, always grooming her and lying down beside her when she didn't feel well.

Temper was always the strong one.  Like her mom, I never knew when she was hurting because she always acted as if everything was fine with her.  So, when Mira left, she seemed normal, and then, a week later, she left me to join her and the rest of my mutant poms. 

I was left bereft, even though I was happy they had both lived long, good lives, mostly without pain.  And as you can see, 10 months later, I'm still processing this grief, even though I have the newest addition, Demon Dog, to make my life noisy again.

So, minus two beloved furpoms, plus one.

Demon Dog is a joy and a terror.  He is my first black pom; with a white bib, socks, and a small streak on his head, he looked like Pepe Le Pew, so I named him Pepe Le PomPom.  But really, he is Demon Dog--sweet but absolutely devilish. Big for a pom, he's a perfect mutant pom for me.

Plus -- re-roofing jobs.  Now that there aren't any new houses being built in my area, roofing jobs are hard to get.  Re-roofing takes a lot of time and energy.

Minus -- a toll on my writing.  Re-roofing takes getting used to and my old body and mind are protesting, but what to do? I have to pay the bills. So, I'm still struggling to balance the need to survive vs the happy writing that once was.  It's a challenge that I hope to win in 2011.

Plus -- I'm actually making progress cleaning the study and getting those fantasy shelves done! You just wait and see.

Minus -- I can't find a cheap bracket that is six inches instead of the standard eight wide.  Six is perfect for both mass market paperback as well as trade size; eight leaves room for double stacking or dust.

Plus -- I have two projects out on NY editors desk.

Minus -- I have received no YES to Diamond and T's story yet.  Yes, I know I can go ebook and self-pubbed but I wanted to try traditional ways with them first.  Yes, I know, I'm stubborn.

Plus -- I've cooked more Malaysian and Asian dishes because I've more time (when I was too tired to write but needed an outlet).

Minus -- I've put on pounds.  Lotsa pounds.

Plus --  Read more!  My favorite books this year are:

3) Silver Borne by Patricia Briggs
2) Magic Bleeds by Ilona Andrews
1) Last Night's Scandal by Loretta Chase (which is the surprise best book of the year for me)

Minus -- lost a few romantic suspense authors whose books/series have been dropped. Read fewer romantic suspense.

Plus -- making plans to find other income. Well, duh, economy....

Minus -- three jobs might truly take all my writing time.  We'll see.

Plus -- health was excellent through 2010.

Minus -- health insurance went up.  Bah.

Plus -- My readers still like me enough to email me ;-).

Minus -- I get nervous explaining to them why VOne isn't ready.

Plus -- I found many of my highschool and college friends from decades ago on FB.

Minus -- Argh.  That made me feel old.  Where did the time go?

Plus -- I saved enough money to get that new air-conditioner/heat system by end of year, like I'd promised myself.

Minus -- Almost had a heart attack writing that check, LOL.

Plus -- I learn how to take care of a baby squirrel.

Minus -- Well, there aren't any minuses to this, except that I've probably spent more money this Christmas on nuts and veges than I've planned!  I'm just thankful she survived the hawk, the cold, the dehydration, and my not-so-knowledgeable care.

So, these are my quickie end-of-year thoughts.  Do you have any plus or minus you want to share with me?  Maybe a best book or a disappointment?

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I'm Pregnant!

It's April's Fool Day. Fallen for any big joke today yet?

;-)

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I'm reading Patricia Brigg's newest Mercy Thompson book, Silver Borne. The story's a wonderful ride and I can't put it down long enough to feed the furbabies. Poor hungry furbabies.

What is your current read?

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American Idol has become American Midol this season. Everyone on has PMS. Outside of maybe two, the WTFery singing makes me question, "These are the best 12 of the thousands that auditioned?!"

But, I'm totally entertained by Tim Urban, a young man with a Donny Osmond hairdo, who sort of looks like him, but without the famous teeth or the singing ability. Of all the top-40 hits to pick, one week, he chose Anita Baker's Sweet Love. Imagine me going for Barbra Streisand's Evergreen. In front of 20 million viewers. Oh yeah. He did not disappoint. Muzak R&B, with desperate/despairing puppy eyes. I had to dig out my Anita Baker to cleanse my brain afterwards. Let's hope he tackles Streisand.

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Have you guys seen the commercial of Old Spice Guy on the Backward Horse? You know, Viking Dude (my UF) has Greek roots (don't ask, it's sort of complicated). I wanted him to meet some mythological Greek magical beings and have planned a centaur. But every time I've attempted to write that scene, the centaur comes out sounding like Old Spice Guy, which totally destroys the scene because it isn't supposed to be funny. Sigh. Maybe I'll have to make him funny.

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I thought these GEEK-A-WEEK trading cards very funny. It's a project by mad-talented cartoonist Len Paralta.

John Scalzi was the one who pointed me to the project through his blog. If you click on his name, you'll see that he's Week 4's Geek of the Week and he looks fierce. You should read the back of the cards too.

Wouldn't it be grand if romance authors get trading cards too? It'd be awesome sauce to see La Nora depicted as The Queen or something, and the back of the card would have WWND as the favorite chant. And for "famous mean thing" (all great authors should have a mean thing they've done) would be "boiling helpless puppies." Yeah. That'd be snarky evil comparison with Jennifer Crusie's card (The Professor), which would have "drives over grandmas" for her "mean thing." Or Sherrilyn Kenyon's Card (The Demon Huntress), which would have "I go swan-hunting for my hat." Heeheehee. I could go on but I'm already in enough trouble.

All references above, btw, are from Romancelandia inside...uh...jokes.

But still, wouldn't that set of cards sell like hot man tittie covers at the romance book fairs?

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On And Off Topic About Physical & Media Interaction, or, Not As Serious As Title Sounds

I know some of you have been worried that my posts have been far and few these past few weeks. Many thanks to the peeps who emailed or phoned, making sure I'm okay. You're all so wonderful!

I'm doing okay, just suffering a bit from malaise. I can't explain my exact feelings; it's just sort of bleagh because of the ill health and loss of furbabies. It takes more adjustment than you'd think because my babies aren't human, so their not being here shouldn't affect me like it should.

But they did. It's not just missing them, because I understand that part, having sent my mutant poms to the Rainbow Ridge before.

I guess it's because I spent two years taking care of them in every way possible. So, when I jumped out of bed at 5am so they get their medication, even though I'm not a 5am gal, and realized there is no reason to do that any more, my heart twists a little. Or, when I look at the clock at various times of the day so I could rush home in between jobs to give them their heart meds, and realize I don't have any reason to rush home, there is an empty feeling. Or, even shopping for food--I go twice a week, and on what I called Meat Day at the end of the week, when the supermarket has meat on sale because I cook special recipes for my kidney dogs--and realized I don't have to this week because my freezer still have two weeks' worth of meat...I don't know...it's as if I realized I've spent two years working my schedule around the two Old Ladies and didn't know it.

So, I'm trying to be normal but it's tough. I wrote on Facebook how sad it was when I turned off the central heating in the back porch for the first time in 14 years. I built that room for the mutant poms and now they aren't there any more.

Not that I don't have Lilah and Jiggle Low, but they sleep under my bed, so that's an entirely different future set of grieving moments, I'm sure ;-P. The Mutant Poms loved that porch. They have a huge Mamasan chair that they lay on and they used to jump off and careened towards the doggie door to go outside when they see a squirrel on the tree through the big porch windows. That room is dark at night now and I can't stand it.

Anyway, I didn't want to spend blog entry after blog entry telling you about my grieving process. How embarrassingly boring! I just want to assure y'all that I'm fine, though, just a bit quiet for the moment. I'm mostly worried because my writing mojo had disappeared since my illness and I. NEED. TO. WRITE. Where be the Muse?

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Segue to Related Stuff

It's just not me. Bad Puppy Jiggle Low is out of sorts too. Before, he had a harem of ladies, you see, and when Lilah went into heat and he felt the male pain of being rejected, he would just wander off to the two Old Ladies and get some attention. They let him go after them since they were fixed and they enjoyed his silliness.

Now, imagine a dog without his harem except for the One who Rejects him. He's never bothered me with his lustful little ways before but now? He whines. He wakes me up at night because he has blue balls. Oh yeah, you may laugh but have you ever heard a dog crying about that and licking your face pitifully as if you had the solution. "Oh no, my pretty darling," said I, half-asleep at 3am, "get thee off my bed and go chase Lilah. Go on, be a man."

And it's not a soft whine. It's this long, piteous back-of-the-throat, "I'm so in need" kind of whine. Pause. Repeat. I swear he even hiccupped a few minutes. My boy wants to get laid bad.

Lilah, meanwhile, stubbornly says no. Hey, I'm a 21st century romance writer. No bodice-ripping allowed ;-).

So today, the Bad Puppy has seduction on his mind. Not only is he whining and begging, he's actually bringing her treats. How like a man to try presents. I'm mightily amused by this new tactic.

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Yet another segue to a related topic

On another very popular blog, the post of the day is about electronic books replacing printed (or dead tree, as some are calling them) books as library. The post disagrees with a news article bemoaning the death of tradition, of perusing someone's library to get an idea what the person is like and argues that a virtual library is just the same. Readers just need to adjust, that's all, the writer posits, and besides, the missing physical library doesn't really show the real self because mostly, some people buy books either during different reading phases or if they wanted to show off their literary snobbery. Also, there are just so much one could find out about a person in different ways: go to their virtual library (like Goodreads), or Facebook and ck out their friends, or read their blogs or interact with their buddies on Twitter.

Which had me thinking (ouch!) and my train of thought wasn't really connected to this particular post and that's why I didn't post over there.

I think, the intimacy of our knowledge of people around us via the virtual world is not quite the same as the tactile thing. For example, if I'm friends with a person but never went to his home but have seen pics of it on his blog, visitied his Facebook, checked out his list of favorite movies, even googled a bit about him to see his other opinions on other people's territory, do I really know him? Yeah, sure, a part of him is there, but we all know the face we put out there for the public isn't quite the same as the personal face we show our intimate friends, right? Or has society evolved so much that the public and personal personas have merged?

I'm not talking about teens. Teens love to share, I get that, and yeah, what they show on their social media is what they probably are, unfiltered. I'm hopeful that they'd grow up to be discerning individuals, ones who know that sharing everything online isn't appropriate sometimes.

I'm talking about people like us, who straddle the two worlds of pre- and post- Internet Information. To be honest, I don't really have a Goodreads library because I'm not very good at keeping up and organizing stuff. My physical library is a lazy person's way of showing what I've read and want to read, and my love for the physical book is its ability to catch my eye while in a pile. A book in e-format would never catch my eye the same way because once it's in there, it's in there, which in a way, might save me money because like my taped VHS (yes, VHS!) shows, they'll forever sit in some space, forgotten till some fine day when I happen to peruse the list and find it (AND STILL NOT READ IT). That's why I stopped taping shows after a while, and probably that's why I never buy ebooks that I won't read immediately. Because they're out of sight.

So, I'm all for having electronic shelves to save space, but I'm not convinced that it's good for the human interaction part of human evolution. I see people so absorbed on their I-Phone, I-Whatever, twittering away at movies (WHILE THE SHOW IS ON), ignoring their dates/friends, or playing computer games/watching Youtube (yes, I'm guilty of this too) and wasting hours away. They even have virtual pets, for gad's sakes, ones that die if you don't feed them. If there is ever a case of six degrees of separation....

One of my girlfriends was just complaining to me, sadly, that her teenage son and daughter, just turned 18, who were very, very close to her, TEXTED her a "happy birthday, mom" instead of calling her. Or buying her presents. This is from a family in which every birthday had always been celebrated with much pomp and affair. She wasn't happy and even though she mentioned this to the two kids, they told her that it's what everyone does and didn't mean to hurt her feelings. MY feelings were hurt on my friend's behalf! But kids are blind, I get that, and self-absorbed.

But tell me, how many of you have just sent off electronic cards to your friends the past few years, mass emailing e-cards on Christmas? And if you think that's just the way things are, here's another question, DO YOU ACTUALLY CLICK ON EVERY OF THESE CARD LINKS? Or do you just acknowledge the sender and click delete?

I very, very seldom send e-cards because I know I don't open them. I know the other person would much prefer either a phone call or even a personal email. I guess I'm missing the pretty Christmas cards that I used to get to decorate my small Christmas corner. This past year, I received maybe five cards, two of which are from my vet and dentist. I used to get at least two dozen. I'm not complaining, just noting how social media has changed human interaction. The virtual card is useless to me, but yes, yes, it's good not to waste paper, etc. etc. Likewise, my virtual pet (which is very sexy) is useless to my Bad Puppy because he can't smell her or get to know her like a real dog.

I guess I just want to get to know a human like a real human. Which doesn't mean I want to sniff his/her butt. Reading that person's online webpage, his Shelfari, his opinions, and looking at his pics is personal, but yet, still very detached. It's like me investigating the person, instead of going, "Hey, neat stuff. What the hell is it?" and joke from there.

And no, I'm not ignoring the irony that I'm blogging this ;-) and of course, you only know the Virtual Me. Most of you, anyway. Those of you who have followed this blog for a while certainly know quite a bit about me (the sweetness, the ethereal gentleness, the ability to just bring a smile with my brilliant wit...no?!!!!). I'm, as always, humbled and astounded that you guys like me enough to stay around or maybe it's just the Sexy Veges Pics?

My point? Umm. Social media/virtual shelves is not the same as the Real Thing. And to tie it back to the ebook topic, I say, just come to a Big Signing, with hundreds of authors sitting behind their books. Now compare it to a Virtual Signing, when an author is in a remote place somewhere, signing an electronic signature, which you print out for your book or esave as part of your ebook file. Same interaction, but not personal. At all.

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Getting My Normal Back

I must be getting better. I'm eating again. And food actually tastes. Plus, it's so good to hear my speaking voice again, which disappeared for almost a week! I mean, no singing on the roof!

But the chest congestion continues like the Eveready Bunny. This flu/virus/whatever is the worst I've ever had since the one in 1988. Oh yeah, you'd remember a flu that made you sneeze non-stop for 24 hours.

Now if only I could get my energy back. I've been sleeping like no, I don't wake up pretty like Sleeping Beauty. I wake up croaking and coughing, with scary bags under my eyes, the kind that make me more like Sleeping Toad. It's depressing to be ill and look it.

But. Like I said. I must be getting better; I'm complaining and whining again. A week ago, I was so weak from the stomach virus I couldn't even mope. I mean, I couldn't even look at chocolate! Shocking, right!? Being that sick robs me of all thought, leaving only a lump of a Jenn, shuffling around trying to make it through the day.

Anyway, the last few days, I've been trying to get my normal back, even cleaning up in spurts (hmm, maybe I'm not well still...cleaning?!!). Found some "mysterious" boxes in a corner of a closet while making room to put away the accumulated stuff that always grow by themselves, so of course I opened them, expecting junk and pleasantly surprised by some cool finds:

1) a short story I wrote for a Dr. Daniel Keyes (Flowers of Algernon, The Minds of Billy Milligan) writing class. I haven't thought about this story in decades. Dr. Keyes taught me so much about the craft and he was the one who encouraged me to continue writing fiction. Now after rereading the piece, and in spite of its flaws, it's a quite an interesting read. Should I post it and embarrass myself? Hmm. Not a romance, but could be, if slightly rewritten....

2) some old newspaper clippings of my dad from Malaysia. I'd wanted to frame them for my wall a long while back and then forgot where I put them. Ha, found them.

3) an illustrated hardcover of the 21st Century Super Soldier written in the early 90s. Hmm. I guess I had ideas about my plots even way back then. The book is fun to read because I get to see whether any of their predictions came to pass. There were some cool gear described and drawn back then that kind of looked like some of the gear being used in modern high-tech warfare today.

4) an illustrated magazine of Princess Di's wedding day to Prince Charles. Yikes. That's ancient.

5) a little piggy bank filled with coins. I'm contemplating breaking it because I need the money now. Maybe it's gold coins! Ha.

Sometimes, I don't regret being a pack rat. I get to surprise myself, and in some way, make myself happy during some down times.

What about you? Have you ever been pleasantly surprised by some old "stuff" that you rediscovered in the attic or closet?

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Facts

Factoid #1

Remember my post on How To Become An Uber Male Virgin? In it, I found three famous but deceased male virgins through Google and a very interesting article about a group of women who have chosen to be "males" in their society. I also lamented that there weren't any male virgins alive to be found (tongue-in-cheek), not on Google, anyway.

Well. Not any more. A male virgin has bravely commented on that post and proclaimed himself the oldest virgin. However, I don't know him (his profile wasn't shared) and wished he would write a longer comment. So, Daniel, do speak to us again!

Factoid #2

If you're interested in how much a NYT Bestselling author makes and what her royalty sheets look like, multi-published author Lynn Viehl has generously shared this information with readers. Like the uber male virgin article, Ms. Viehl's revelation isn't what you think.

Also, I want to add that making the NYT and USAToday lists is all about timing. An author might sell 100,000 copies of her book and still doesn't make the big lists. On the other hand, an author's book sales might bomb and still get to boast "NYT Bestselling author" on their next book jacket. How so? Basically by the fact that the Big Lists look at sales numbers from the first two weeks, and nothing after. That's why authors are always begging their readers to not buy their coming books till the street date; the numbers game is very, very important for their next book negotiation.

Other factors are weighed too, of course, but we're just taking a glimpse at the NYT and USAToday promise of fame and fortune.

Factoid #3

Squirrels are evil dog tormentors. If you have never seen a squirrel hanging upside down on a branch and giving your dogs the finger while eating some nuts, driving your canine friends frantic and causing the Homeowners Association Bitches (HOABit TM) in your neighborhood to start typing a complaint, then you obviously have not met Squirrelisis Sciurus Floridameanies.

Factoid #4

No, I'm not afraid of driving my Lexus (Toyota) ;-).

So, do you have any factoids for me today?

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A Quick Reflection on 2009

It wasn't great but it also wasn't as bad as I thought it would be.

Writing-wise, I did manage to have three books out, although one is a self-pub. The self-pub, btw, has made more money than the ebook to Samhain so far, but that's probably because it's been out almost a year whereas Virtually Hers has just been out 2 months. Still, I'm very pleased with the self-publishing experiment. It does prove that, with some knowledge and a good story, an author with readers can sell her books beyond her usual 100 copies spread out among friends and family. Now, if I can write one book a month....that would be enough to pay the mortgage ;-)...maybe.

It's definitely an improvement from last year's frozen status. Talking about frozen, yeah, roofing has picked up some too, so I'm actually making an income instead of living off my savings, whew. I'm very, very relieved about that.

Like I said, the year hasn't given me everything I'd hoped for, but I had many blessings:

1) Virtually Hers finally out, Virtually One contracted and on the way
2) My health (yes, the roof incident!)
3) Print version of my books.
4) Good friends who are supportive and generous
5) More roofing jobs
6) My Two Grand Old Furbabies' health--this is actually my most fervent wish, as everyday with them happy, healthy and eating (and no emergency vet bills!) is a gift to me.

What are your reflections on your year?

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So Many Chores!

I'm running around trying to get all my chores done before I drive the adventurous trail to D.C. for RWA on Sunday. I'm so looking forward to this trip, but I also worry about my furbabies, especially the two older ones who need their meds and special diets, etc. And of course, Bad Puppy is going to destroy something while I'm gone, no doubt about that! The only one I know will be okay is Sweet Lilah, who is easygoing and is a sweetheart. If I could take Bad Puppy with me, I would! He's such a spoilt possessive momma's boy, I'm already looking around at my piles of books with trepidation.

I started outlining certain scenes for Virtually One, the third book. I'm excited and want to talk about Jed and Helen. What questions do you have from Book One, Virtually His (I know, it's been a while and you might not remember) that you're looking forward to in Virtually Hers? Maybe I can give you hints? ;-) Maybe I can expand on certain scenes that had been on your mind. Maybe you think you know a secret I was hinting....ahem.

I've been thinking up ways to get y'all back into the story--points of discussion, fun facts, even background stories. Any suggestions? I do know that I'll have more excerpts available when the publishing date is closer. Some of you have read the first few chapters already, and hopefully will come out to attest that the first 100 pages are plenty, PLENTY hot because a certain virtual relationship is going to explode as it becomes more physical ;-).

So, let's hear what you're curious about in Virtually Hers. I'll have some fun giving you hints.

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Here's one of my Christmas presents. It's BOCHOX. It says on the package:

Relief from the symptons of wrinkles and crow's feet without ever entering the dermatologist's office. Simply break off the desired dosage and consume; you'll quickly be overcome by stress-relieving endorphins and no longer be concerned in the slighest about wrinkles.

Yeah! I'm going to consume the whole bar in one sitting and wouldn't I look and feel great then!

Speaking of feeling, I went shopping today and FELT the little Acer 8.9" purty little notebook on sale at Best Buy. Oh, it FELT so mineminemine, but I didn't succumb to the temptation, even at $300. It was such a gorgeous blue color too and I swear it had my name blinking on the screen. I had to be led away by my friend. Gently.

The thing is, it didn't come with any word processing program, and if I have to buy an external CD to load my own WORD on, that would cost another $100. So, yeah, it's not really, really $300. More like $450. But I felt it and it felt and looked like one of those eye make-up boxes we used to buy when we were young, you know, the ones with 500 shades. Maybe I'm just attracted to cute pearly colored boxes. Hmm.

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Thank you for those who have bought Big Bad Wolf already! I sold ten units yesterday, with two international orders that I need to fill.

Still waiting for Amazon to put up my page. Then I'll really be in business ;-). Meanwhile, want some Bochox?

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Monday Is All About Running Around

This headline in my local newspaper cracked me up today:

ARE YOU LIVING DANGEROUSLY? MORE PEOPLE DRIVING WITHOUT SEATBELTS.

Hahahahahahahha.

Half-million bikers in my town, most of them without helmets, almost 100 percent have alcohol in their blood system, and it's those folks without seatbelts living dangerously?

Heh heh heh heh heh.

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I'm watching the trailer for 10,000B.C. ? Yo. People then had better teeth and bodies than present day dudes, or what? I guess, we can't have big flabby dudes running around in their furry underwear (without bouncing), climbing giant pyramid-like structures (without panting), and trying to outrun the bad guys (without sweating profusely). The whole CGI trailer--not one ugly BC dude, man.

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Are you watching the new TV series premiere, New Amsterdam, coming on tomorrow? Immortal cop, looking for his twue love to break the "blessing" of not ever dying. I heard it's full of snarky comments and the trailers for the show looked interesting.

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Question of the week: How did I end up with two English papers to type for Ranger Buddy? Oh yeah...he can't type. Sigh.

Why do you think YOU end up doing some of your boys' (young and older) stuff? Is it the maternity complex in us? The nurture factor?

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Time, WriterSpace, and Cat Hair

Sorry I haven't been posting on the other blogs more frequently. I know you all love Intermundia very much, checking it almost everyday. The personal life has suddenly been consumed by lots of extra work, including doing the chores of two people.

Quoting my favorite book, Animal Farm, the old horse mutters, "I will work harder..."

;-P

Give me a few days to get used to my new schedule. Sigh. There will be no more fun till after Christmas, I tell you.

However, we're still CHATTING ON THURSDAY 9PM

Instructions: Go to http://www.writerspace.com/
On top, you will see a link to the chatrooms.
Click on it, and you will see three rooms: Readers, Chatters, and Authors. I'll be in the Authors' Forum, unless someone is already scheduled there. Then I'll be in one of the other rooms. You will see an update HERE.

If you haven't been to Writerspace before, try going there now and look at the page and click on the link to familiarize.

Can't wait to talk to y'all!

And now, for the love of sweet plastic baby Jesus stuck in a field of Christmas lights, do not buy these for Christmas presents. Your cats will hate you. Forever and ever:

Kitty Wigs (Courtesy of John Scalzi, the author who feeds me all I know about obscure scary stuff)

Sample pics:

:::dies laughing:::

Poor kitty cats. Those wigs aren't cheap either.

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