Anyway! Today’s post is an extra-special one, because it features my nearly-lifelong best friend, Jeremy, who was forced agreed to join me for the latest installment of “FMotD"!!!

jeremy:
sweater: Old Navy
hoodie: Ken’s Market (not a fancypants boutique, but an actual market where his man works!)
jeans: Old Navy
sneakers: Vans
socks: Champion
watch: Casio (one of those fancy atomic watches that receives the official time via a signal from the atomic clock in Colorado!)
drink: PAID FOR, not shoplifted!

janice (being super-vampy here, btw, and trying not to laugh…):
top: byCorpus, bought on sale at Urban Outfitters
shorts: Old Navy, also bought on sale ($5!)
cardigan: Old Navy, why yes, also bought on sale
ankle boots: thrift score ($4!)
scarflette: J Crew, xmas present from Mike …from the late 90’s?? holy crap…

So, um, yes, we’re sort-of poster kids for Old Navy this round, but as Jeremy pointed out, “We’re poor.” So there you go!

Later that night, we went to Madame K’s for dinner, which is sadly closing soon, so if you live in Seattle, we recommend you get down there as soon as you’re able! It’s this amazing pizza joint, housed in what used to be a bordello back in the 1800’s! The waitresses all dress like floozies, and there are vintage bras hanging from the wall. Their specialty dessert is called “an orgasm!” Jer and I used to go there quite a bit back when I first moved here, so we’re sad to see it go.

Me, DJ’ing from Georgetown Records/Fantagraphics (we share a store space)

Last night, I had the terrific honor of DJ’ing an event at the Fantagraphics Bookstore & Gallery!!! The multi-talented artist Dame Darcy was in town, playing some sea shanties with her adorable brother Matt, and signing her latest book Gasoline, as well as copies of her long-running comic Meat Cake.

Since I was DJ’ing, I wanted to dress up for the event, and since Dame Darcy’s comics tend to be sorta gothic-y, I figured, yay, Halloween in March! My original intention was to work in this cape (yes!) I own, but unfortunately, it clashed with the grey of the dress, so at the last minute, I ditched it. I think the final result is pretty Catherine-O’Hara-ish, in the movie Beetlejuice. All I needed was a top hat and bright-red lipstick, and I coulda nailed it.

turtleneck: hand-me-down from my Aunt Shoko
dress: thrift score, originally from The Gap
boots: total thrift score, vintage 70’s, I would guess… got ‘em for FOUR BUCKS!
bubblegum: watermelon

My darling Sharlese gave the outfit a thumbs-up, but she’s my friend, so what’s she really gonna say?? I’m still a little on the fence about the final result, but there you go!

(The DJ set went well, at least! Dame Darcy actually liked it so much she came up and hugged me!)

taken in the parking lot of the fantagraphics office

So! I’m starting a new feature here at copacetic where I spotlight my outfits, but only on the days I make an effort, so trust me, this won’t be a daily feature on the site! Today’s outfit totally revolved around the vintage JCPenney sweater I found this past weekend at the thrift store. Five freakin’ dollars, hells yes. (I totally hate this picture though, because I couldn’t stop laughing. And I’m mad at my hair.)

sweater: vintage jcpenney, thrift score
skirt: thrift score
t-shirt: thrift score
boots: vintage, bought for FIFTY CENTS at an estate sale in austin, tx
scarf: a gift from my mom after a trip to peru

I think the ensemble makes me look like a high school art teacher, circa 1977. But I really liked how the proportions of the skirt and the sweater worked out. And the avocado-green color of the sweater could not be funnier, and I like how the tan scarf sorta ties things back to the tan boots. YES, I think way too hard about this crap. Which is why I thought I should maybe blog about it!

So, I realized last night, I didn’t blog at all in February! Sadly, that was a really rough month, no doubt solidifying my really-difficult decision to close copacetique down for a while.

At Tobin’s most recent vet visit, it was noted that he’s not losing weight… but he’s not gaining any either. Most likely because he’s been throwing up a lot lately. Ugh, it’s tearing me up just writing about it. He throws up pretty much everyday. We tried cutting back on his antibiotic. We tried an entirely different kind of food. We tried giving him milk thistle. Nothing is working. I feel so helpless and sad.

We’ve bumped up his feedings to TEN syringes of food a day. Three in the morning, four in the evening, three at night. This blows my mind, especially when I think of how we only gave him four a day when we first started this in January. When he throws up, we give him some time to recuperate, but then however much he vomited, we try to replenish that amount a little bit later with extra syringes of food. It’s a very pain-staking process, more so for him, of course.

As of this late-night, weary typing, we just don’t know what the next step is going to be. This “not-knowing” is hard.

Sadly, Ethel also suffered an ailment last month, sinking my heart even further, but thankfully, the medicine kicked it right outta her, and she’s doing much better!

And even more sadly… a “human member” of my family had a critical health situation last month. What’s worse is, he’s currently back in the hospital as of today. This subject is incredibly hard to talk about, so I just haven’t been talking about it much at all.

Things are very, very rough around here lately. I’m trying to keep my chin up, and all that, but it’s hard. Sorry this week’s update isn’t more positive.

As anyone who’s been following the blog knows, I’ve been really consumed with kitty-care lately. (If you haven’t, the quick summary is, my youngest kitty Tobin was diagnosed with liver cancer. His big sister, Ethel, had mammary cancer at the end of 2008, but she had the tumor removed and is recovering.)

Sadly, as a result, I haven’t been able to give copacetique the attention it deserves. So, I’ve made the very difficult decision to put copacetique on hiatus for a while. I’m sad about it, because there are LOTS of awesome things in store for the store (heh). But all those things will happen eventually, and when they do, you will be assaulted with awesomeness! I’m so excited about the collaborations I’ve got in the works, and even if the site is quiet, things are definitely shakin’ behind the scenes.

Thanks so much to everyone for understanding and for being so supportive!

After two weeks of home treatments, Tobin visited the vet again yesterday for re-testing. I thought we were doing so well with his feedings — two syringes full of food, twice a day, twice the prescribed serving the doc originally suggested! Lately when I hug him, he feels so much fuller and chunkier on his sides. I was so excited to have him weighed, I thought for sure the vet would be impressed with our progress!…

Well. Turns out Tobin lost weight.

And I got his blood results back today.

No changes. If anything… slightly worse.

I feel absolutely crushed. The vets don’t seem exactly optimistic either. On his visit yesterday, one of his doctors called him “the miracle cat,” and the other commented on how remarkable it was that he was still with us… I know they meant those words in only the most positive way (his doctors are really wonderful), but STILL. It was so disheartening.

It’s just not Tobin’s time to go, it’s just NOT. He’s still so responsive and loving and still has so much life in him. When I call him, he’ll come trotting over, and he leaps on the bed to be near me. He still flails around like a big ol’ freak when I skritch his cheeks and chin. He still wudges against me every night. One of his doctors did tell me not to let the numbers discourage me too much, because the fact that he’s so sociable, and still has energy is a good, good sign. Also, he’s still eating a lot of kibble on his own accord. This is a very good thing!

The other doc says the “fuller” feeling I was getting when I hugged him is most likely because he’s not dehydrated anymore. Which is good, but not as good as him just being FAT, which would be better. (He’s at half of what he should weigh.) So, for now, we’re going to keep doing home treatments, and up his hydration. We have to keep the poisons flushed out of his system.

There’s this internet-thing going around, this “25 Things About You” thing people keep tagging me to do… I’m very boring and don’t have anything to write about myself, so I feel like writing about my sweet boy, Tobin, instead. I know this is long, so it’s okay if no one ever reads it. I just feel like writing it tonight.

1) As I’ve mentioned, Tobin was named after artist/musician Tobin Sprout. The former Guided By Voices member has been very gracious about this honor, and with every interaction, he’s made sure to say, “Give Tobin a treat for me…” Good man!

2) Tobin was born to my ex-boyfriend’s Mom’s cat in Hurst, TX, in March of 1996. It was a pretty big litter; I seem to recall about 6-7 kittens? At first, I was trying to reach out to the shyer kitties in the litter, thinking I had enough love to bring them out of their shells. But the boyfriend immediately noticed Tobin and said, “Hey, this kitty is beating up his brothers and sisters! I think you should adopt him!”

3) Sadly, Tobin’s Mom was hit by a car not long after giving birth. It’s too sad of a story to re-tell.

4) At first, I thought Tobin was a girl, but I named him Tobin anyway. I used to call him my “kitt-ress,” which stood for “kitten princess.” I know. That’s completely barfy.

5) On his first drive to his new home, I held Tobin wrapped in a towel, and he gazed up at me so serenely the entire time. We completely bonded in that 20 minute drive, and he totally stole my heart. Yes, barfy, too.

6) I got two things that night: a kitty and an answering machine. (Hey, it was the 90’s…) When recording my outgoing message, Tobin mewed pitifully in the background… The next day, my parents called, got the machine, and immediately learned I got a cat.

7) My friend Andy was the one who told me Tobin was a boy. Andy lived with his aunt and uncle on a farm with lots of barn cats, so all it took for him was one look. “Uh, see that under his tail. Those are balls, Janice.” Oh. Thanks, Andy.

7) One time, a friend came over to listen to records, but Tobin curled up on top of the lid of the record player, and promptly began to snooze. This “friend” got pissy, “Get him off of there and put on another record!” I retorted angrily, “Hey, it’s his house, too, and he’s SLEEPING.” I never invited that guy over again. Tobin’s a smart cat.

7) Another time, someone I wasn’t very fond of came to visit me. This person was sitting on the couch, sorta turned at an angle, facing me… Tobin slinked behind the couch, leapt up… dug his claws into the sides of this person’s head!!!… landed, and then sped away. As you can tell, I still remember this vividly… and with great pride.

8) The Spring 1996 issue of copacetic zine was dedicated to Tobin, back when it was a paper zine. I call him a girl in the intro, so obviously, before Andy came over.

8) Tobin and I moved to a loft a couple years later. The stairs were carpeted and open. Tobin used to spin, and spin, and spin around the steps, just twisting his body from step to step, clawing into the carpet. It was like a one-story-high cat playground.

9) When I wanted to go upstairs, I had to take off a shoe and throw it across the room. Tobin would chase the shoe, and that was my chance to run up the stairs, leaving my ankles unscratched. If I didn’t do this, Tobin would leap through the opening in the steps and attack me. Hilarious!

10) Tobin didn’t sleep with me very much back then, I guess because I only had a twin-sized bed. But I had my guitar amp right next to the bed, and he would lay out on the top of that every night to stay near me. It was our little ritual.

11) Tobin was toilet-trained back then. It was really easy; the kit cost like $19.95 at a Petco! But no, he never learned to flush.

12) Tobin lost his toilet-training when we moved to Austin. The whole change in environment confused him too much. Oh well.

13) Tobin and his step-sister Ethel do NOT get along. They tolerate each other. But there is the occasional hissing. And the occasional chasing. Nothing too bad though.

14) Tobin totally sleeps with me now, all the time. He does this thing in bed, where he stands close to you, and then just PLUNKS himself against your body, pressing up against you with all his weight. We call this a “WUDGE,” taking its name from an onomatopoeia in a Sof’ Boy comic book.

15) Tobin’s full name is “Tobin J. Kitten,” in a homage to “Homer J. Simpson.” It’s the whole assonance thing, to use another pretentious poetry term.

16) Tobin is also called: Toblerone, Mr. T (followed by “I pity the fool who doesn’t love he,” obviously not striving for grammatical accuracy, but for the rhyme), Purr-fesor Rumble-door (yes, a Harry Potter reference), Mr. Clicky-Claws, and also, Mr. Pink Nose… It’s been very sad that his cancer has left him jaundiced, and his nose is turning more yellow.

17) Sadly, Tobin hides whenever people come over. He used to be a lot more social, but I think the move to Austin, and the introduction to another cat (Ethel) may have traumatized him a bit. But he did come out once when Jeremy was over eating pepperoni pizza. Jeremy maintains that Tobin likes pepperoni.

18) Tobin loves twist-ties. He actually will fetch them if you throw them across the room, and bring them back to you.

19) He also loves the plastic pull-tab part from a gallon of milk, and delights in scooting it across the kitchen floor. Well, I guess I should say he used to love those things, before he got too sick.

20) He used to have this bad habit of eating really, really, really fast and then barfing it up right after. We think it had to do with sharing a food dish with another cat, and worrying he wouldn’t have any food for himself or something. We would always tell him, “You ate it too fast” a’la Lisa Simpson with Stampy.

21) He is the CEO of copacetic. Cute Executive Officer.

22) He’s sadly not a lap kitty, but since he used to weigh about 18-20 pounds, maybe that was for the best. He was never fat, he’s just incredibly long with long legs and a mighty frame. If he were a human, he’d be like, 6-foot-something with broad shoulders. Just like, if Ethel were a human, she’d be like 5-foot-nothing and petite. Sadly, they currently weigh the same amount, despite their very, very different physical builds.

23) Tobin’s favorite band is the Innocence Mission. I kid you not. He purrs like a maniac when I play their CD’s. I think (and maybe I’m just flattering myself), but I think it’s because their lead singer Karen has a very childlike, soprano voice, like I do.

24) Tobin is a big, robust, manly cat, but he meows like a meek, squeaky, tiny kitten. Again, I think he’s mimicking my voice though, and sometimes he’ll even mimic my vocal patterns! Like, I’ll sing-song, “Hi-III-iii Tobin!” and he’ll sorta meow back with the same cadence! It’s the oddest, most sweetest thing! Sometimes we’ll really get going and we’ll stand there and do that back and forth for a while!

25) And I saved the most unusual fact for last: Tobin can say “hello.” He really, really can. He makes a very concerted effort to enunciate it. And then he says it over and over and over! He hasn’t said “hello” in the longest time, ever since he got sick, and I miss it terribly.

Wow. That’s totally a LOT of Tobin trivia. But it felt comforting to write about and reflect on. That’s all, and more than enough, for tonight.

My lovely friend Dixie’s blog alerted me to the fact that if you blog about a new Neko Case song, her label will donate $5 to the Best Friends Animal Sanctuary. I may have blogged about this place in the past; in fact, I’ve been wanting to spend a vacation there for the longest time! Of course, I do not know what “vacation” means. But anyway… here’s more about it from our friends at Anti-:

Celebrating its 25th anniversary in 2009, Best Friends Animal Society is one of America’s foremost animal rescue organizations. Founded in 1984, Best Friends advances nationwide animal welfare initiatives by working with shelter and rescue groups around the country. On any given day Best Friends Animal Sanctuary, the nation’s largest facility for abused, abandoned and special needs companion animals located in southwestern Utah, is home to approximately 2,000 dogs, cats, horses, rabbits, birds, and other animals. The society also publishes Best Friends magazine, the nation’s largest general interest, pet-related magazine with approximately 300,000 subscribers. For more information, visit www.bestfriends.org.

The single is called “People Got A Lotta Nerve” from Neko Case’s forthcoming album Middle Cyclone (out March 3).

(Neko’s new album is really f’in gorgeous, by the way. I was driving to the station and one of the DJ’s played it, and I was so moved by the title track, that I just sat in the car in the parking lot, tearing up. I’m pretty lame like that.)

If you wanna be part of this blog-promotion-dealie, too, visit Best Friends and Anti- to find out how!

HUGE THANK YOUS to everyone who’s been e-mailing, calling, tweeting, sending smoke signals, asking about Tobin!!!! You guys are so sweet and thoughtful, and your kindness means so much to us right now… so I thought I’d do a quick Tobin update!

This past week has been really rough. It was hard settling into a groove with Tobin, and at first, he really resented all the poking and grabbing and syringes down his throat. He hid under the bed for most of the day, and I’d have to endlessly chase him out for all his medications and feedings. The stress of the situation left me really raw and exhausted, and also activated my insomnia… yay! Thanks, brain!

But then I did a little research, we refined our technique, switched him from a pill to a liquid antibiotic, and things have been getting a lot better. Plus, I think Tobin may have needed a little time to settle back in at home. But he’s been snuggling every night, like usual (hey, good thing I’ve got insomnia so I can snuggle back!), hasn’t been struggling as much during his syringe-feeding, and has been eating more and more kibble on his own! I talked to his doctor on Friday and she said this was all really encouraging, so yay! And last night when I got home from work, he was super-talkative! He’s barely meowed all week, so to have a good ol’ fashioned conversation with him again was really heart-warming!

Right now, the plan is to continue treating him at home for another week, and then next week, I’ll take him back to the vet for re-testing. If he’s strong enough, if his red blood cell count has improved, if he’s still clotting, we could proceed with surgery… This scares me senseless though, as you can imagine. But that’s where we are.

Thanks again everyone, for caring so much. I promise to keep you updated! XOXOXOXOXO!

Tobin’s X-Rays! Click to see notes of what’s inside my kitty.

* Blog post indeed titled after a Guided By Voices song since Tobin J. Kitten was indeed named after longtime GBV member Tobin Sprout… Yes, I do realize Tobin didn’t write that particular song. But, you know what? Screw you.

So, yet again, I’m apologizing for not writing about this sooner, but when these things happen, they really do hit you so fast. This past week has been such a horrible blur, and I’ve been stumbling through it on total auto-pilot. For all I know, I may have robbed a bank earlier this week. You could show me the security camera footage and I’d be all dazed and numb, nodding, “Oh, whaddaya know. Hey, did I use the money to pay for Tobin’s vet bills?”

And that’s what has me in a total haze. Last Friday, I took Tobin to see the vet. He’d been losing a ton of weight over the past month. Funnily enough, he also became adorably (and sure, let’s face it, sometimes annoyingly) clingy. I started calling him “my obsessed boyfriend” because everywhere I turned, there he was, in my face, under my feet, wanting to know where I was last night, who I was with, and why I hadn’t called. Anyway, last Friday, they took some blood and urine samples, and launched a weekend of worrying about the results.

On Monday, we got the call that it seemed to be something concerning either his liver or pancreas, and they asked us to bring him back in for an ultrasound so they could discern which it was. On Tuesday, they shaved up his sweet fuzzy tummy (as pictured here, back in 2006), and took a closer look. We had a diagnosis by the time we picked him up: it was cancer. Again.

I just can’t believe I’m having to deal with cancer again so shortly after dealing with Ethel’s bout. I’m starting to believe this apartment complex was built on an old Indian burial ground. (Which would explain the evil neighbors, but I digress…) Maybe this was the former location of a microwave repair plant. Anyway, cancer. Yeah. Truthfully, I could hardly bring myself to talk about it at first. It just seemed so unreal. I mean, cancer? Again? I hardly told anyone about it. When Ethel got cancer, I sobbed about it to anyone who listened. (Guy on the phone: “Hey, I was just calling to request something by The Shins, lady") This time around, I kept it all inside. I didn’t want to be known as “the girl who cried cat cancer.”

[Next Morning Edit: I do want to clarify, I only kept it inside “IRL.” I only talk about Tobin with a tiny handful of people at the radio station, and I didn’t even tell my beloved Mom, aka “Obasan,” about it until Thursday. Talking about it on Twitter or Facebook has been such a much-needed outlet. THANK YOU to all of you, I am so humbled and grateful for your kindness and well-wishes.]

But really, this is different. Ethel had mammary cancer. Tobin has liver cancer. Tobin’s is way, way, WAY more serious. In fact, they’ve been unable to operate on him so far. We brought him back on Wednesday (January 7th) to remove the tumor (which is huge, by the way), and the vets found his blood wasn’t clotting. He spent the rest of the day, and Thursday at the vet, undergoing treatments and getting fluids into his system, via an IV tube into his little paw. We thought he’d be ready to go under the knife by today, and the good news is, his blood is finally clotting, but the bad news is, his red blood cell count is just too low. The tumor wins this round.

So, now Tobin is home, and we get to administer the treatments. This involves force-feeding him using a syringe. I basically take his food (a special blend with extra-calories and vitamins to re-nourish him since he’s gotten so skinny), and I stir it up with a little bit of water until it’s pretty fluid. And then we load up the syringe, hold him down, and squirt the food into his mouth. He hates this, and jerks his head around, sending splatters all over the floor, my hair, my face. It’s actually kinda funny, but the other night, after his feeding, he actually started licking up some of the splatters. I was like, “HEY, I thought you didn’t want that!” but he just ignored me. But it’s a great sign he’s actually showing interest in food again. He’s even been nibbling on some hard kibble here and there! Very exciting.

We also have to give him fluids under his skin using one of those drip bags and a very, very scary needle. Today, the nurse showed us how to give him the fluids, and when she stuck the needle into his back, I literally got weak-kneed and had to sit down. (For anyone new to the blog, I’m a huge needle-phobe. Except record needles and sewing needles, those don’t count.)

Not surprisingly, Tobin is exhausted and frayed, and has been pretty pissy tonight. He’s been hiding under the bed a lot, and he even “bit” me earlier. (It wasn’t a true bite of aggression, just a “c’mon, leave me alone” gesture.) But as I type this, he’s wudged against my side, totally dreaming. He did that cute thing where his head just slowly, slowly lowered further and further down until it hit the bed. (Like the kitten in that video Stephen Colbert shows all the time on “The Colbert Report.” Except cuter.)

So, that’s been my crappy 2009 so far. Tobin’s future is so uncertain right now. But for now, he’s happy, which makes me happy.

But anyway, one of the things I got myself for Christmas was the complete DVD collection of one of the best TV shows of all time, BBC’s “Spaced.” There are tons of awesome bonus features, like commentary from Patton Oswalt! And of course, commentary from the cast members including Mark Heap, who plays one of my TV crushes, Brian Topp, the weirdo artist who lives downstairs from the main characters Tim (Simon Pegg) and Daisy (Jessica Stevenson). I’m not really sure why he became a TV crush, I guess it’s just the whole tortured artist thing.

But the real life Mark Heap? Seems so grumpy on these commentaries. When he does talk that is, which isn’t very often… But maybe he’s just being overpowered by the energetic, loquacious trio of Pegg, Stevenson and director Edgar Wright… Plus, he keeps making grumpy remarks about puppies and kittens.

To make up for it, here’s a clip of Mark Heap from the excellent old BBC sketch show “Big Train” (also featuring Simon Pegg!) featuring adorable puppies! Take that, Mr. Heap!