Lenten Ventin'

Hey, it's not my religion or my tradition, but what the heck. I'll do something for Lent, too. All my pals seem to be doing it. OK, so, like three people whose blogs I read are doing it.

What will I do? I will vent about something EVERY day of Lent! What fun! And hey, I'll probably offend people, too. So let me say, even if the thing I vent about closely resembles you, if you read this, I love you and think your foibles are cute.

Today I get to do two things. One for yesterday and one for today.

So, Lenten Ventin' for Wednesday: I am incredibly effing tired of filling out employment applications that feature duplicate information that I have to re-type many times or re-write by hand. I honestly think that one of the ways they prepare you for the tedium of State jobs is by making the application process as mind-numbing as possible, and sprinkling in little surprise requirements in small print.

The photo below of a much younger Beccano proves that an alpaca is endlessly fascinating, as opposed to the subject of the next Lenten Ventin'.....

Lenten Ventin' for Thursday: Why do bloggers, especially ones who knit, think we want to look at photos of their kitty cats every single day? No matter how incredibly cute or talented a cat is, every single one of them has exactly one "Look." Cats don't have expressions. They just stare at you, occasionally yawning or yowling. Yes, they sit or lie in different positions, but there are only approximately 7 of those for each cat: standing facing the human, standing showing its butt, sitting staring vacantly, sitting while licking its parts, lying in a ball, lying stretched out (on an inappropriate surface or a person), lying cutely in some container. That's a week of photos, 8 days if you include a precious close-up, 9 if it eats something cutely. So I just want to say, to cat owners, "Dear Friends, your kitty is real cute. I looked at it that first day I read your blog, but after that I skim the precious cat photos. Please also include other stuff. I can look at balls of yarn all day!"

Note: I feel the same about dogs, though they have more expressions. Even I realize that every picture of my dogs looks pretty similar. So, I try to limit them. They're just way more endlessly fascinating when barking, snorting, farting, and barfing on things in person. Gosh, I actually DO like pets. I think my bird is real cute right now, tweeting away and hanging upside down in her cage, and chewing frantically on her cuttlebone.



Ah, that felt good. Now I have a reason other than reading Craigslist job ads and seeing my precious Lee-n-kids to wake up every morning!