Keisha and Sagwa

Background: I made up this story on the spot for Keisha last night when we went to Steak and Shake. I often like to make up stories involving Keisha and some of the characters she likes to watch on PBSKids or NickJr. One of her favorites is "Sagwa," which is about a Siamese cat that can write Chinese.

Once upon a time, when Keisha was in the third grade, she went with her Mommy and Daddy to the Meijer to get some pictures developed. When they were finished and returned to their car, Keisha looked inside and exclaimed, "Mommy! Daddy! There's a cat in our car!"

Sure enough, her Mommy and Daddy saw the cat in the car, sleeping. "It must have just slipped in the car before we closed our doors," Keisha's Daddy said.

"Can we keep it, Daddy?" Keisha asked.

"I don't know, sweetheart," her Daddy said, looking to her Mommy for her opinion.

"Hey, it looks like it's a girl cat," Keisha said.

"Why don't we call your Nana," Jennie said. "She's got a lot of experience in raising different animals."

"I'll stay here with the cat while you two go make the phone call," Keisha's Daddy said.

"I want to name her Sagwa," said Keisha.

"Okay. Come on, Keisha. Let's go call Nana," Keisha's Mommy said, reaching for Keisha's hand.

Some time later, Keisha and her Mommy returned. "Nana says that we should take it to the vet to see if she is sick and has her shots and everything," Keisha said.

"Well," said Keisha's Daddy," looking to his wife, who was smiling, "I guess we'll need to get some pet supplies, huh? Why don't you both head back into the store and get some kitty litter, a cage, some food -- you know, all that stuff. Sagwa and I will stay out here and wait for you."

"Okay, Daddy," said Keisha. "Come on, Mommy, let's go!" It was hard for her to contain her excitement.

Later, when Keisha and her Mommy came back, Keisha made sure that Sagwa was next to her as they drove home. She was very careful about setting up her cage in her bedroom. Her Daddy and Mommy instructed her about the responsibilities that came with taking care of a cat. For one thing, she would be responsible for making sure that Sagwa had food. Also, she would have to make sure the litter box was kept clean. Keisha agreed to take care of all of these things.

Daddy contacted Dr. Armstrong, the veterinarian, and made an appointment for Sagwa. Keisha went along and helped Sagwa stay comfortable while Dr. Armstrong took her temperature and gave her a shot.

The neat thing about having Sagwa was that, even though she had her own cage to sleep in, she loved sleeping on Keisha's bed. In fact, when Keisha came home from school the next day, she went to her bedroom to change out of her school clothes, and there, on her bed, curled up into a little ball, was Sagwa!

And that's the story about how Keisha met Sagwa.

WriteThis 2

Rasmus has announced that WriteThis 2 is available to download and use. For those that don't know, he has developed this as a "writer's tool for inspiration." I've used previous versions of it, and I'm looking forward to using this version.

The new tool boasts a customizable database with over 25 million exercise combinations. It also contains the functionality to open, save, print, and edit your exercises and other "rich text files".

Also, Rasmus would love for you to send him some examples of how you've used the tool.

One important thing to note: the download file is 9.73 MB, so if you do not have high-speed capability, you may want to use something like Download Accelerator Plus.

Climbing the Wrong Ladder

Donald couldn't explain why he was obsessed with getting his project done, except that it would perhaps give him a small sense of accomplishment. The project was always available for anyone to see, and he was convinced that its imperfections reflected badly upon himself as a person. He in effect got his sense of self worth from what he accomplished.

So he toiled for several nights, getting very little sleep. In the back of his mind he knew that his striving was futile, but he plowed ahead nevertheless. Perfectionism had always been a hard habit to break. The fear of failure made him anxious, and it manifested itself into self-destructive, self-mutiliating behavior. He would punish himself for being imperfect.

This intolerance in himself naturally spilled over into his relationships with others. He became intolerant with imperfections in others, too. Perhaps, he thought, if I'm going to suffer, then everyone else will.

Attention Attenuation

He tried as hard as he could, but he wasn't able to shake that song from his head. It kept chasing him around in circles. His eyes tore around the room, looking for something to get his attention, but no matter what he did, the combination of lyric, melody, and rhythm was too intoxicating.

Then he saw it: a glimpse of leopard skin fabric. But it was already too late. The new song jumped into his mind. It was as though it and the earlier one were dueling for control of his mind. The added combination of melody, lyric, and rhythm created yet a new song entirely. Somehow they complemented each other, like bread to butter.

After a few moments of struggling, he finally gave up. The song would have to run its course and leave. It would happen eventually. He resolved to try to enjoy the moment for what it was worth.