Author: Stacy Horn

Mother of GOD, I need to be sedated.  Last week I ordered stackable bins to use as litterboxes, (the minimum order was three).  Yesterday I lugged them all to UPS because I decided they wouldn’t do.  At this point I’ve paid for shipping both ways.

Today they peed next to the latest new box I was trying so I went to the Container Store to look for yet another solution. I’m sure you know what’s coming.  The ones that come the closest to the right dimensions are the very same stackable bins I just returned. I’ve now spent three times what I would have paid.

Before I went out I moved the litterbox to the hallway, in case location was an issue.  I get back and one of the cats had already peed next to the box.  It’s kinda good news because it means I could move the litterbox back to the bathroom, except the hallway was easier to clean up.

The cats are back in the bedroom now, high five-ing each other and cracking up I’m sure. Here is the new set up.  Go ahead Buddy.  Drive me right over the edge. I know you want to.

The covered box didn’t work. Someone simply peed next to it. Thank GOD for the suggestion of the pads, because at least it was easy to clean up and I didn’t cry.

But I realized this means nothing will work. If I get a box with tall sides whoever is doing this (I’ve never caught them in the act) will just pee next to that too. I’m not sure what to do now. I’m going to get a big box from the container store anyway, and I’m also going to try putting the box in a new place (the hall) to see it that makes a difference.

I did talk to the vet and I’m going to have to try to catch both their urine for testing.

Well, I didn’t like that big covered box, so at least I can stop using that.  Christ. Just slap the “crazy cat lady” label on me and be done with it.

Other things not going well: still not liking the new book proposal.  Have to go back to the radiologist for an ultrasound because they found a mass.  It’s probably nothing, they say, but still.

I do not love how the new book proposal is going.  Worse, I pulled out a novel I wrote twenty years ago, read the first paragraph and it’s better than anything I’ve ever written since.  What happened to me?  I really didn’t need to read that.  But I plan to read the whole thing.  There’s something that I was trying to capture that I want to try to capture again.

Here’s some kids playing with robots in Washington Square Park yesterday, as part of … yeah, the World Science Festival.

I was blocked by construction from getting the same angle, but it’s pretty close!  I love Bigelow’s, truly love them, but it’s not the most economical place in the village.  But here it is then (undated):

And now.  The big change is the El (elevated subway) is gone.  And the introduction of color gives it a little bit of a “Dorothy landing in Oz” effect.

8th Street, looking west from McDougall then:

And now.  It was bleak then, it’s even bleaker now.

The panel I went to last night, Infinite Worlds: A Journey through Parallel Universes, was so interesting it was painful.  At my age, and with zero background in math and science I will always be limited in my understanding of these and a katrillion (infinite) other ideas.  I’m sure I have only the shallowest understanding.  I understand the metaphor of the thing and not the thing itself. I want a life do-over. This time I’ll pay attention in science class. Sigh.

A brief description of the panel from the program:  “The multiverse hypothesis, suggesting that our universe is but one of perhaps infinitely many, speaks to the very nature of reality. Join physicist Brian Greene, cosmologists Alan Guth and Andrei Linde, and philosopher Nick Bostrom as they discuss and debate this controversial implication of forefront research and explore its potential for redefining the cosmic order.”

The audience was mostly young people, and parents, so the good news is they made science exciting to people who still have time.  But for me, I was in agony last night trying to reconcile myself to what I can realistically do with the time I have left.  I want to write a book about all this, but realistically, I imagine these guys would feel that with my complete and total lack of science education that perhaps I’m not the person for the job.  Ha.  So yeah.  Probably not what I can do.

I did go up to Andrei Linde afterwards, who is officially the most charming and charismatic man on the planet. It wasn’t just me, the whole crowd adored him. Everyone on the panel was magnetic, I couldn’t take my eyes off them and could have listened to them forever.

Christ.  What can I do in my time left??  Meanwhile, on my way to the panel I passed these people singing about Jesus in Washington Square Park.  There was something, I don’t know, nicer about them than the usual people who come to NYC to sing to us about Jesus.  We applauded them. I’m guessing most of the people applauding them were atheists (I’m agnostic) but I applauded them because I like singing and because I feel the need to counteract at every opportunity the idea that we must hate those we disagree with.

But also because the girl I highlight in the second photo looked so sweet, shy and vulnerable.  I wanted to buck her up.  Wait a minute.  I’m projecting, aren’t I?  I’m the one who needs bucking up. You and me, girl in the unfortunate brown outfit!