Cotton Shards: With love, Arsenic.

It's snowing outside. A lot. I was outside earlier, taking it in. It's really winter in Syracuse now.

Life seems really busy, but maybe it isn't really. I know there are things that are keeping my mind occupied.

Possum had surgery for her mammary tumor two days before Thanksgiving. It was the day I was leaving for home. I knew that either, she would make it through the surgery and I would go home happy, or I she wouldn't, and I'd go home depressed. She made it through just fine. I was so nervous for her the whole day. When I dropped her off at seven thirty in the morning, I wanted to hug her and wish her luck, but the animal care person came and whisked her away before I could. I remember thinking, "Wait. I didn't even get to say 'goodbye.'" I cried the whole way home. And then I had to make it through an exam and another class. It was lucky of me to have so many great friends here. They helped me pack and clean up so I could prepare to go home. I kept thinking "what am I going to do if Possum doesn't make it? What am I going to do about Cinder? Will she hate me?" Every time the phone vibrated, or made any noise at all, I jumped. I watched television waiting for the call, and it never came. I drummed the remote to keep my hands busy. Finally, my brother and I got into the car, and I still had no word from the vet. I couldn't wait anymore. I called them. I was prepared to hear "Sorry, she didn't make it." But they said she was recovering, and she did great in surgery. I was so relieved that I cried. hard.

When we picked her up, she was tired, depressed, and had a cone on her head. Her suture spanned her whole belly, and it was terrifying to look at. She wouldn't really eat for the first day and a half besides snacks. She wouldn't take her pain meds. I had to coat Cheerio's with it so that she would actually take it.

Then she got a rash on her neck from the collar. I called a late night hotline for advice. They said I could pad it, so I did, with felt. I was too busy the next day, so a friend took her to the vet for me to have it looked at. They gave her an antibiotic cream to help it heal, and a bigger collar that doesn't rest so tightly on her neck. The rash has healed.

She's almost done healing entirely. There are places along her sutures that are entirely closed. In a few days, she can have the collar off for good, and she can go back to living with her sister. I can't wait for that day. They're so lonely, even with the cages as close to each other as I can get them.

I should talk about Halloween.

I went to two parties for Halloween, and I dressed as Al Capone. For one party, I went down to my friend Casey's apartment in the Heights and we ate candy and snacks and drank and had a lot of fun. The other party, a bunch of us went to Shana's house, where we hung out in the graveyard and ate pizza and painted pumpkins. The second part of that party brought us down to the basement with a Stegosaurus pinata (the stegocandysaurus) that we named Mordor. It was so much fun -- a lot more fun than the Halloween Dance that was advertised around campus, I'm sure.

During Research, Mullins gave us a whole jar of brand new Capillary Tubes. They are used for spotting salt and TLC plates.

Close up.

Possum with her E-collar on. She's kind of mad at me for it.

This is the best I could get of her belly. She won't stay still for a photo of her sutures.

Ari Capone.

This is a chamber below a building in Watkins Glen. We were daring each other to go inside, and took flash photos to see if there were any serial killers inside.

This is Shana's dog, Killian (the spelling may be off). He's an Irish Wolfhound who loves snuggles and running like a crazy guy. And he really is taller than the washer behind him.