Oh where to start on this one. A lot of people think being an only child is messed up, pretty much guaranteeing either a spoiled free loader or a manically depressed sociopath depending upon who you ask.

I am an only child.

I am...

1. Spoiled. Oh boy am I spoiled. I freely admit this. However, I am neither rotten nor a brat. Though I am spoiled, I appreciate what is given to me by my loving parents and family. I do not feel that I am entitled to money/object/whatever simply because I exist. I do not feel that because my parents took care of me that I own them. I love and appreciate my parents and know that I am not worthy of their bountiful gifts.
2. A private person. And never was this brought more drastically to my attention than touring the British Isles with Matt and Aaron. Staying in those Hostels, never having a single moment of privacy, even having to use public restrooms and SHOWERS, was extremely hard for me. It eventually took a bit of a toll on my sanity. I am less equipped to deal with that kind of situation than say a person with many siblings. I need my quiet space. I need a private fucking SHOWER. I can take it for a bit, but then I gotta have my space. I do that with Matt too. There are just some nights where I come home and I just want to be alone. It has nothing to do with him, it is just me being me.
3. Messed up in some ways. Who isn't? You? Fuck you liar!
4. Shy. I have dealt with shyness all of my life. But this doesn't stem from being an only child, it stems from being an outcast at school and being a perfectionist to the point of it being a hinderance sometimes, and from having very nearly no confidence and self esteem. I have taken steps to combat this over the years. I took debate mainly for the extemporaneous speaking portion. Now it is all I can do to give a how to lecture on bowling and not somehow link sticking your head in the ball return to nuclear war. Ironically I have less stage fright about giving a speech than I do about going up to a stranger and asking for the time. I tried to combat this by getting into the customer service industry. Makes sense right, exposure to more people and being forced to talk to them should get you over your shyness. No. What it did was put me in a position to be cowed down and throw under the bus time and time again. It taught me that people are douche bags and need to eat shit and die. Well that is not a very healthy attitude is it? lol. But it's not from being an only child! *couchwalmartcough*

I am NOT

1. A manically depressed sociopath. PUH-LEASE! Do you really think that having an older brother that will torture you and a younger sister that is Gods Gift to Earth makes you less messed up than me? You who has to do crazy and or stupid things to get your parents attention. You who will never measure up, or is considered the last hope of the family, or is invisible, you think you were better off than me? I'm not saying that having siblings is automatically horrible but here is what I did NOT have to contend with: Well when your brother/sister was your age, they...(insert something that makes you feel lousy): Your brother/sister is so (something usually having to do with appearance and or grades), why can't you be more like them?: Well your brother/sister did (something bad) again, if you do any of that you will get DOUBLE the punishment!: Your younger brother/sister breaks something and blames you for it. WILL YOU STOP TOUCHING ME!! Things of that nature. I think I'm better off without that stuff. That kind of nonsense is enough to drive someone to madness. Not coming home to a quiet and stable household where the rules make sense, you are blamed only for what you actually did, no one bullies or picks on you, and you are judged based solely on your own merit/deeds.
2. A recluse. While I did spend a paragraph going on about how important my privacy is to me, it is important to note that I am not a recluse. I do enjoy being out with people very much! Nothing makes me happier than to gather my friends up in a group and have a good time. That being said some people accuse only children of having few friends. Well, let me pause for a moment and define something for you. A friend is someone who you are close with, can tell just about anything to, trust with secerets, will go out of your way to help/be around. An acquaintance is someone you know OF, you may even exchange superficial pleasantries with them on occasion, but you don't really care about them. Not REALY. You can have tons of acquaintances, but I have more FRIENDS than you. Or maybe not, maybe you do have more actual friends than me. Who cares? It's not a race, there is no contest (also a bad part about having siblings is being overly competitive), you have the number of friends that you are comfortable with, that your lifestyle at the time can handle. 
3. Some artsey fartsey emo fag that talks about death and wears all black and thinks life is nothing but pain until you die, while at the same time living in my plush suburban home with a nice family and nothing to actually complain about. I like to rant on here, this is so, but when I leave this computer, that is it. I'm done. I go and live a happy life. I smile and have fun and take joy in all around me. Some days I feel a bit emo, but I have never had any kind of disorder where I cut myself or hurt myself or anything like that. Why? Because I had a stable and loving family. Why? I think it is BECAUSE I was an only child! A controversial theory, I know, but one that I firmly believe in. Many experts say that the key to emotional stability as an adult is stability as a child. Children are themselves instability incarnate. Chaos embodied. Does it not stand to reason that having more than one of these beings of pure anarchy would only amplify the situation! Not that I believe that all that happens to a person as an adult, the choices they make, should be blamed on the parents and the home life. Not at all in fact. But there is an influence. That influence must be acknowledged, and if negative OVERCOME. NOT used as an excuse.

Cody's summary: Only children rock, the other kids are just jealous. lol

What can I say, it was a heck of a lot of fun, and it was kinda short. I guess time just flies when you're having fun. Brigina gave us some cute gifts, she is so creative. You just mention an idea to her such as having a Trilogy Tuesday and bam bam bam she is rattling off ideas for the menue based on Renaissancey/Lord of the Ringsey theme. I envy that kind of creativity. Naseem was fun too. It is always good to talk to her. They got to see my house and my kitties and my Mattie. I didn't get to play as much the hostess this time. Saturday we were supposed to go to the store and get things for me to cook, and get the house in order. For whatever reason both Matt and I slept till 4pm and I still didn't want to wake up. I could have been happy just skipping Saturday all together and sleeping all that day. Did wind up going to the store that night, and got a fantastic tent. It is absolutely huge, Travis should be able to stand straight in this thing. Hopefully we can go camping in the near future. We pretty much have all of the non-perrishable supplies we need. Now all we need is a good group of friends to go camping with. Matt and I can, and probably will, go campling alone sometime, but with friends it is more fun. We just enjoy yall's company. I love having guests, I wish we would have them more often.

So, poor Grendal had to go to the vet yesterday. Despite various flea treatments he was absolutely infested. You could see the dirt and the sores, it was horrible and we couldn't figure out why the meds we were giving him weren't working. So we decided to go to the professionals. Matt had to take him alone since I was working, apparently I missed my wonderful kitty going from tame tabby to terrible tiger. It all started when Grendal caught sight of a cat that frequents the vet office. Another cat? This can not be, get out of here asshole! After much hissing and growling Matt got Grendal to calm down a bit while they were waiting to go in. So they are taken into the vet examination room and they see how bad off he is. They want to test for worms. To do that you use a fecal loop, a loop thing that they insert into his...uh...kitty bootie...to collect a sample and look for evidence of said worms. This not only lets them know if there are any at all, but it also lets them know what kind so that they can prescribe the proper meds. Apparently this did NOT go over with Grendal very well. Matt said that that cat gripped the side of the table with his front paws and had this look of terror/rage on his face that was all too human. Then he went ape shit and drove the vet and her tech out of the room. They decided that no sample was needed, they would just give him a general dewormer just in case. Then they needed blood work, to test for feline AIDS, feline leukemia, and some other thing. They put a towel over him to maybe calm him down but at least keep his claws away from everyone. He still managed to get in some good blows and cause such a fuss that they decided to knock him out. They managed to give him the shot and run away. While he was succumbing to the drugs Matt thought it was very funny. He just swayed back and forth in place, and his head just got lower and lower to the ground, until finally his face was planted in the floor. Matt went to pick him up and apparently his legs stuck straight out like one of those goats that when you scare them they flop over on their backs with their legs in the air. They got their blood sample and a temperature. I had worried that he has had a fever, and I was correct. They said that cats sometimes get fevers for no reason, but they would give him a general antibiotic just in case. They put the goooood flea meds on him and most of the fleas should be dead by now. When I came home yesterday I found Grendal still in his carrier, still recovering from his visit. That cat looked abused and violated, he was not happy. But, after some time to recover and much petting and loving, he seems to be getting over his trip to the vet just fine. Thankfully Titus doesn't have fleas nearly so bad, we will put the meds on him and that should be sufficient.

So that was Grendals vet adventure.