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An Update on Luna
Dear friends, it is time to bring you all up to date on what has been happening with Luna. It’s not the best of news, but she is most definitely still with us and still the same cat we know and love.
A little over a week ago at Luna’s annual checkup, our vet found some rather concerning lumps on Luna’s belly, essentially on her nipples/mammary organs. It was pretty clear that was some sort of tumor, mammary cancer being fairly common for cats. But it wasn’t clear exactly what kind, what it’s status was, and what would be the best course of action. So last Wednesday, we went back for a biopsy, which is itself quite an ordeal. An preliminary X-ray suggested no obvious growths in her chest or lungs, which was a huge relief. So the focus stayed on the two original lumps. The biopsy procedure went well, and Luna came home that evening, albeit with a “cone of shame.”
Cone aside, she remained in relatively good spirits, and has been as sweet and affectionate as ever – she knows I need her comfort as much as she needs mine. The cone has been a source of distress for her, and she hasn’t been eating much. And she is staying near the bed, sofa or other places that we use for resting or cuddling. I have been removing the periodically and bringing her food over the resting areas, which she devours with aplomb.
We anxiously awaited results from he biopsy. And on Friday evening, we received them, and it wasn’t good. Not the worst, but not good. Basically, they are an aggressive form of feline breast cancer. They can easily be removed with surgery, but one of them may have already attacked a blood vessel, which puts lymph nodes at risk. So at this point, the situation is quite serious.
Our next step is to see the cancer specialist this next week and decide what is the appropriate course of treatment. Regular readers of this site know just how precious Luna is, and have promised both her and myself that she will get the best care I can provide and will do what it takes to give her a good quality of life. There isn’t much to do until the appointment next Wednesday except wait, spend time together, and continue with the myriad other things that are happening in my world right now. Wednesday isn’t that far away when life is so busy, but it seems like an eternity at the moment.
Please keep Luna in your thoughts and purrs.
A Great Day! #LoveWins
The map is a bit misleading, because it also should include Alaska, Hawaii, the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, and the territories. But this is a great day no matter how one looks at it. Today’s Supreme Court decision ends this particular battle and its sometimes baffling legal opposition once and for all.
The hashtag #LoveWins does feel like a bit of a cop-out in terms of the profundity of this moment. Some of the fears of the opposition are what make it momentous – we stared down traditional mores and prejudices and powerful social and religious institutions and won! But at the same time the decision and result just affirms them. Anyone who has been to a same sex wedding (at least in the U.S.) knows that it differs not at all from the variety of customs in opposite-sex weddings.
The already famous lines from today’s ruling:
No union is more profound than marriage, for it embodies the highest ideals of love, fidelity, devotion, sacrifice, and family…In forming a marital union, two people become something greater than once they were. As some of the petitioners in these cases demonstrate, marriage embodies a love that may endure even past death. It would misunderstand these men and women to say they disrespect the idea of marriage. Their plea is that they do respect it, respect it so deeply that they seek to find its fulfillment for themselves. Their hope is not to be condemned to live in loneliness, excluded from one of civilization’s oldest institutions. They ask for equal dignity in the eyes of the law. The Constitution grants them that right.
As this coincides with Pride weekend, there are going to be crowds at this famous corner of Castro and Market Streets with The Flag flies. I choose to contemplate it quietly with a photo from last week.
This was never a self-serving fight – all my relationships with marriage potential have been opposite-sex relationships – but it has nonetheless been a deeply personal one since it entered my consciousness almost 25 years ago. Now the perhaps even tougher work of getting job and health non-discrimination begins. This includes the needs of transgender folks (something which seems to at times splinter the LGBTQ movement into separate letters), and going up against the new and nasty wall of so-called “religious freedom” in getting employment protection. And there is a whole hemisphere of the planet where sexual minorities have no protections and face mortal danger.
There will also be time to enjoy the shadenfreude of the opposition on today’s ruling. But for today, we can be a little sentimental and simply say that #LoveWins.
Analog Ladies at Robotspeak, Saturday 3PM
We have covered several of the Church of the Superserge shows at Robotspeak over the past year or so. And now I will be performing in one as part of a special Analog Ladies edition. It will be an afternoon of analog synthesizer madness featuring several of instrument’s most talented women: Jill Fraser, Mint Park, Amanda Chaudhary, Miss Moist, and 7H1NG2. It’s a casual BYOB event, so if you’re in San Francisco (or anywhere on the Bay Area transit grid) and free tomorrow afternoon, please drop by Robotspeak (589 1/2 Haight Street in SF) to hear us.
I will performing on my analog modular plus Moog Theremini, and probably wearing something with a feline theme. Here is a photo of the modular as I start to set up the initial patch for tomorrow’s set.
Things will be a little less chaotic visually by show time tomorrow. Sonically, there might be some chaos, but that is completely intentional 🙂
Happy 10th Gotcha Day, Luna!
It was exactly ten years ago, June 10, 2005, that I brought Luna home from the Santa Cruz County animal shelter. And so we are celebrating her 10th “Gotcha Day” (adoption anniversary) over the next few days in style. It began the evening before with a festive meal, complete with main course, treats, and a “cocktail.”
The “cake” didn’t quite come out of the can perfectly, but as we can see that did not bother Luna at all. She devoured her special dinner with enthusiasm.
It is hard to believe that 10 years have gone by, but it is hold hard to imagine life without my special little girl. We have been through a lot together – adventures and transitions – more than be documented on these pages.
Here is her official photo from animal shelter, followed by a portrait from her first week at home.
At the time, she was 7 months old. Still a baby in many ways. Over the years, I have watched her grow into a beautiful cat. Here are just a few photos, including one of the most recent.
We are certainly looking forward to many more years and adventures together, wherever life leads us. Please join me in wishing Luna a Happy 10th Gotcha Day!
B.B. King (1925-2015)
RIP Leonard Nimoy (1931-2015)
Not surprisingly, we at CatSynth have been huge Star Trek fans, approaching the level of household religion. So we were very saddened to read about the passing of Leonard Nimoy today. His character Spock was a great hero, very distinctive, iconic and someone with whom I could empathize. But I also interested in Nimoy’s work as an accomplished art photographer, especially his 2002 book Shekhina; and his dramatic readings on Selected Shorts and elsewhere – he certainly had quite the voice. After the reading the announcement in the New York Times, I was also fascinated to learn more about his Orthodox Jewish upbringing and rediscovery of his heritage. I hope to read more about this.
Weekend Cat Blogging with Luna: Logo Portrait
Luna posed quite elegantly for this impromptu portrait. As always, she seems to match the interior design. The quintessential modern city cat.
If I can wrangle Photoshop, we might also be able to use this as Luna’s official logo portrait for our new app-development house, the CatSynth Appwerx! So far we just have CatSynth: The App, and that is all we can say at this time for a great many reasons.
RIP Mimi the Synth Cat
We received some sad news today. Our dear friend and frequent guest on CatSynth Mimì passed away this weekend. She was 19. Mimì had the best synthesizer collection of any cat we knew; and more importantly, she loved a long full life and was very much loved.
Our thoughts and condolences go out to Eric Pochesci of polynominal.com for his loss. He has put together this wonderful tribute page for Mimì. You can also see her many appearances on CatSynth here.
RIP Mimì. You will be missed.
