Tigers!

Say you're at the circus, enjoying the show, when you decide it's time to hit the bathroom. You walk into the restroom and find yourself looking into the face of a real, live tiger. That's exactly what happened to a Kansas woman recently. http://news.yahoo.com/kan-woman-meets-circus-tiger-bathroom-171537184.html.
This incident has made me evaluate how I can make my own trips to the bathroom safer. After all, who knows when you'll step into the restroom (or your classroom or a parking garage, etc.) to find a tiger (or bear or zombie, etc.). So from now on, I will always carry a five-pound beef roast with me wherever I go. Before I step into any room, I crack the door open first and chuck in the meat. That way, if there's a hungry carnivore waiting on the other side, he/she/it will be distracted when I enter the room. It seems like a wise precaution, now that we're living in a world where tigers can be lurking in any bathroom.
Be safe out there!

Book promotion!

One of the (many) things I fret about is that I'm not doing enough to promote my books. Some writers seem like they're born for publicity, while others are pretty shy about tooting their own horns. I'm a shy tooter, so promotional activities are a challenge. But the cool thing is that sometimes it's possible to get someone else to do my tooting for me.

I co-wrote a book with my aunt, the psychic advisor Louise Helene. It's called I SAW YOUR FUTURE AND HE'S NOT IT, and it's full of love and relationship advice taken from the consultations my aunt has had with her clients. The book is funny and entertaining and offers excellent advice. And I'm not just tooting here.

Well, Louise Helene has been invited to be a guest on a few upcoming radio shows where she'll be talking about the book and maybe taking calls from listeners who have love and relationship questions. Following is a list of the upcoming shows. I hope you can stop by and listen. You'll definitely enjoy yourself and you might pick up some ideas for improving your love life.

- Guest on local Canadian radio show Passion on CJAD-AM in Montreal. It's scheduled for April 18th from 9:30 - 10:00 p.m. Central/10:30-11:00 p.m. Eastern.
- Guest on online radio show The Psychic Partners on May 13th from 5:30-6:00 p.m. Central/6:30-7:00 p.m. Eastern.
- Guest on online radio show Mystical Cruise Ship on Friday June 21 from 7:00-8:00 p.m. Central/8:00-9:00 p.m. Eastern.

Goodbye to Daxter

My cat Daxter had to be put to sleep today due to a liver tumor. I'm beating myself up about how much more I should have done to save him and how I should have taken him to the vet sooner when he started losing weight. As you know by reading this blog, half my life is spent fretting, worrying, and feeling anxious, but this is so much worse because there's an acute loss at the center of it. This is so much worse because Daxter's gone.

For a creature that only weighed ten pounds, Daxter had a huge personality that permeated our whole house and family. You couldn't take out the butter dish without slicing off a little taste for him, and I swear he could HEAR cream cheese when I brought it home from the grocery store. We had to buy him a collar with a bell so he wouldn't catch birds, but he still tried. Last summer, he chased a baby fox through our backyard, his bell jingling all the way.

My son found Daxter in the parking lot by his old karate school 10 years ago. He was a sick, scrawny kitten of about 6 months old. When I took him to our vet the next day, they asked me if I wanted to spend the time and money to get him healthy because he was a "fixer-upper." So we fixed him up, and we shared our lives with him for the better part of a decade.

Today I'm mourning my sweet little Daxter. He should have had a lot more years to chase foxes and mooch cream cheese. He should have been able to move to Georgia with us when we relocate in June. I wonder what he would have thought of an armadillo.

Rest in peace, Daxter. You're loved and missed, now and forever.