From: owner-alloy-digest@smoe.org (alloy-digest) To: alloy-digest@smoe.org Subject: alloy-digest V3 #293 Reply-To: alloy@smoe.org Sender: owner-alloy-digest@smoe.org Errors-To: owner-alloy-digest@smoe.org Precedence: bulk X-To-Unsubscribe: Send mail to "alloy-digest-request@smoe.org" X-To-Unsubscribe: with "unsubscribe" as the body. alloy-digest Sunday, November 1 1998 Volume 03 : Number 293 Today's Subjects: ----------------- Alloy: To Chris [Rochelle Kirby <104040.2055@compuserve.com>] Re: Alloy: Ghost stories for Halloween? [RThurF@aol.com] Re: Alloy: Re: alloy-digest V3 #291 [TBlagg@aol.com] Alloy: Happy Birthdays... [RThurF@aol.com] Re: Alloy: Responses to TMDR's letter [RThurF@aol.com] Alloy: The Wall [RThurF@aol.com] Alloy: unsubscribe [lae2@bellsouth.net] Alloy: Sorry gang, I'm going on vacation.... [lae2@bellsouth.net] ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Fri, 30 Oct 1998 20:30:58 -0500 I saw that you have recently lost two kittens :( I wanted to share something that happened to me last year. It probably won't help lift your spirits about your kittens but that's my intention. When I was ten my mom took me to a cat breeder and let me pick out any cat I wanted. I selected a shaded silver persian who was too young for us to take at that time. When she was six weeks old we went back to the lady's house and brought home our kitten. She had sad eyes so I wanted to call her Sad-y, and this was soon changed to Sadie. When we first got her home Sadie was so scared that she hid under the bed for three days straight (honest). She didn't come out to eat or use the bathroom. The only way we got her out was to open a can of tuna and grab her when she came to eat it. Sadie was always a scaredy cat. If the wind blew she would run and hide. But she learned to trust me and was soon as loyal to me as any dog. She would run and greet me when I came home from school. She slept with me everynight. We even had a pattern: I sleep on my side and she slept on my hip. When I would roll over she would stay right where she was until she ended up on my other hip. When I was fifteen I took a six-week trip to Israel for confirmation. My mom was in charge of Sadie and wrote me several letters telling me how Sadie was doing. What she failed to mention (and it was months before she found the courage to tell me this) was that one afternoon she discovered Sadie missing. The only clue she had was an open window and a hairball on the window sill. Knowing that Sadie coughed up hairballs daily (I even had her trained to go to the litter box to cough them up there), my mom realized that Sadie had been must have fallen out the window while hacking up a hairball (yes, this is funny now, but at the time my mom was panicked). Given that we lived in San Francisco she was frantic that Sadie, a total housecat, would get hit by a car and she would have to greet me at the airport with terrible news. She and her husband, Tuli Shnitzer (I love that name! -- he's Israeli) looked for days but couldn't find her. It was a week later when Sadie showed up at the back door, a little skinny but otherwise ok. Sadie had her own ways of showing me that she loved me. When I held her in the crook of my arms (like a baby) she would rub her paw on my cheek and chin. I even have a picture of me scratching her and I swear she's smiling! I went away to school in Albuquerque, New Mexico. After I got an apartment I brought Sadie along with me. My roommate said that when I went home for a few weeks during winter break that Sadie got depressed because I was gone. I later went back to California for good and Sadie came back too. I met my future husband and the three of us moved to Ohio. Ned (my husband) said that he, too, saw Sadie depressed, when I was away for a week visiting my brother. One Saturday morning, when Sadie was 17, we woke up to see her limping. We rusher her to the vets to be told that her heart was failing and had caused a blood clot. The blood clot ended up in her front right leg, paralysing it. She felt no pain from it but the sight of her limping on that leg made me cry. I held her for an hour, crying, knowing that her time with me was almost over. The vet also said that she was extremely diabetic (caused by her failing heart). She sat in her basket and didn't get out of it for two days. She didn't eat, drink, or use the litter box. On Wednesday she actually got out of her basket and ate a little. I foolishly took this as a sign of improving health. In the middle of the night on Thursday I woke up and found that Sadie had jumped up on the bed and was sleeping on the pillow next to me, and I took that, too, as a sign of her improving health. All day Friday I told everyone at work that she was getting better. When I arrived home Friday my husband was waiting at the door. I knew immediatly that she had died. I cried till I couldn't see. We took her to the vets and let them take care of Sadie (they had her cremated and I have her ashes). A month later we found a house and bought it. We began the process of packing, never a fun job. While home from work for lunch it occured to me that Sadie's spirit might still be in the apartment and I didn't want her to stay there. I walked around calling to her, telling her that we were moving and that I wanted her to come with us to our new house. Getting no sense that she was actually there, I went back to work, and after work to school (it took me eleven years to graduate but I finally did this past August). Class ended and I returned home around 8:30. It was still winter and it was dark by then. I parked in my usual spot and began walking towards my front door. Out of the corner of my eye I caught sight of a dark shape underneath a tree. Whatever it was, it wasn't moving. Walking slowly towards it I realized it was a baby rabbit. It didn't move as I neared it and I feared it might be dead or injured. Although I had never seen a rabbit here where we lived I imagined that a neighbor's car must have hit it and it's body was flung up under this tree. Closer inspection did not reveal any signs of blood or injury, and it wasn't dead. I got closer, within an arm's length, and it just stared up at me with big, dark eyes. The eyes were alert, with no sense or look of fear or pain. The bunny was light grey, its ears tipped with black. Feeling curious and bold, I reached out and stroked its soft fur. The bunny made no effort to run away. Thinking it might be hungry I went inside my apartment to get some lettuce, all the while hoping it wouldn't hop away. It didn't. While I was inside it wandered away from the tree and closer to my front door. I set the lettuce in front of it but the bunny showed no interest in eating. The bunny showed no interest in eating. The bunny let me pet it again. I had never had an experience like this and wanted my husband to see. As I got up to get my husband the bunny hopped after me. Ned came out, not believing that a rabbit, tame or wild, would allow a total stranger to pet it. He changed his mind when he saw the bunny. Not only did the bunny let me pet it a third time, it followed us as we walked back to our front door. As we went inside we turned to look at the bunny for a last time. We never saw it again. Later that evening I realized that it was the two month anniversary of Sadie's death. I also recalled calling to her earlier that day. I honestly believe that Sadie came to say good-bye somehow in that bunny (it was even grey, like she was). Gosh, I didn't mean to get so long winded! I've wanted to write about that for some time and I got a little carried away. I guess it was a little cathartic for me, also. BTW, I now have five cats because it took that many to replace Sadie. Rochelle Powered by the happy chatterings of Sophie (cat #4) >> From: Rochelle Kirby <104040.2055@compuserve.com> Subject: Alloy: To Chris ------------------------------ Date: Sat, 31 Oct 1998 11:48:18 EST From: RThurF@aol.com Subject: Re: Alloy: Ghost stories for Halloween? In a message dated 10/30/98 10:13:06 PM Eastern Standard Time, 104040.2055@compuserve.com writes: << I totally agree with you about dreams. >> I'm glad! It's something I sincerely believe, but don't talk about much because I know a lot of people never think in those terms... and are disturbed by it. But I think it's all a part of the natural world, should not be considered 'supernatural' in any way, and that people should accept it as a part of their normal lives. I've had situations where I've been in some kind of communication with others via dreams - so many in fact, that I think it can only be explained in terms of perfectly naturally occuring phenomena. Just a few weeks ago my best friend (since we were thirteen) tried to contact me from where she now lives in Yemen, because of an intense dream she'd had about me... she phoned her mom, who phoned my mom, who was then supposed to hear from my friend's sister (it's very complicated, because my friend is now married into a strict branch of Muslim society & her husband does not permit her contact with anyone but her immediate relatives) But I never did hear back from her sister... so I don't know what the dream was! And I did love your cat story :) Pets are an extremely important part of my life too (two ferrets, but I lost two others this past winter) I could go on & on about the spiritual connection between pets & people! But I think it's obvious that the physical world is not all we have, but that there is a very detailed non-physical network existing in the background which connects everyone, and that it's a normal part of our existence. I'm not in the Bay area, but in Boston! I've never visited California in my life, but people tell me it's nice :) Dave and I want to visit some day. Robin T ------------------------------ Date: Sat, 31 Oct 1998 13:57:38 EST From: TBlagg@aol.com Subject: Re: Alloy: Re: alloy-digest V3 #291 Hey Mark, It is just possible that I have the same effect on the male variety of our species too! Now that's scary! ------------------------------ Date: Sat, 31 Oct 1998 17:03:20 EST From: RThurF@aol.com Subject: Alloy: Happy Birthdays... If I am not mistaken, I do believe we have two birthdays coming up (though I can't remember now if it's the 1st or 2nd of November)... Happy birthdays to both Elaine & Melissa!!! We'll have to write to Melissa at to wish her a happy birthday... she has had to take some time away from the list to care for injured wrists but I know she'd love to hear from everyone. However our lovely Elaine is right here at Alloy for us to lavish attention on :) Best wishes to you both & have a fantastic birthday!! Robin T ------------------------------ Date: Sat, 31 Oct 1998 19:50:10 EST From: RThurF@aol.com Subject: Re: Alloy: Responses to TMDR's letter In a message dated 10/30/98 8:36:55 PM Eastern Standard Time, 104040.2055@compuserve.com writes: << Has TMDR ever contacted Alloy previous to 10/17/98? If so, what was it regarding? >> He has very sweetly wished us all happy holidays at the end of each year thus far, not sure of the exact dates on any of these but they should be easy to find in the Archives. In the last one we discover Thomas' secret, that he is really a multidimensional being who can span the barriers of time! :) There are several others here & there, none of which I know the dates for... one of which I remember most clearly, I think it was very early this year (?) It was a few months before the film 'Titanic' was released in any case, which I thought was funny in retrospect because it's yet another complete coincidence... but I was going through one of our books one day & opened up to a page which describes how a writer named Morgan Robertson had apparently foreseen the Titanic disaster. This man wrote a novel entitled 'The Wreck of the Titan' which was published in 1898, and hit upon a great many key points which were identical to the actual Titanic's sinking 14 years later. I wondered to Alloy if this writer could possibly have been related to Thomas (the fact that Thomas' last two names are Morgan Robertson seemed like an awfully strange coincidence!) However, it turns out it is just a coincidence... to my surprise Thomas posted here, saying he is not related, but the name Morgan comes from a family friend after whom he was named - the great writer E.M. Forster! Again, I wish I could remember the dates that these posts went up, but I know it was before the film... was that in 1997, in the fall perhaps? If I weren't the poster child for the national fund for the chronically disorganized I would be a lot more help to you.. Robin T ------------------------------ Date: Sat, 31 Oct 1998 20:53:42 EST From: RThurF@aol.com Subject: Alloy: The Wall John in Tasmania just reminded us about Thomas' appearance in Roger Waters' concert performance of Pink Floyd's The Wall, in Berlin of 1990 just after the actual Berlin Wall fell. Dave and I just watched it last week (Dave for the first time... me after a span of nearly eight years) It's an incredible event which I feel very lucky to view... rarely does anyone have the chance to see art presented on such a grand scale. And Thomas got to be a part of it! When I first saw the concert televised in England I ended up missing his performance w/ Cyndi because I'd gone out of the room at the wrong moment (I remember someone there was demonstrating a British New Year's Eve ritual for me, involving the front & back door of their building... and when I got back Thomas had already been on & gone) But on seeing it several days ago, I was awestruck by the amount of stage presence he possesses. In the thirty seconds or so of his first appearance, he completely dominated that huge stage, walking out like he owned the place. I loved it!! I also marvelled greatly at his second appearance as the same character toward the end of the show. Very few people can say they've ever been suspended by bungee cords over a crowd of twenty-seven million people for any reason. I wondered if they let him keep those spindly arms & legs as souvenirs? And how on earth did he detatch himself from them after they let him down, or did someone have to come out & transport him backstage? I found myself repeatedly becoming absorbed in technical details such as this while I was watching... Thomas was incredible - I feel so proud that he took part in it. The whole event must have taken colossal amounts of effort on everyone's part... and what it must have taken to coordinate it all is beyond my comprehension. It came out beautifully. Robin T ------------------------------ Date: Sat, 31 Oct 1998 21:30:40 -0800 From: lae2@bellsouth.net Subject: Alloy: unsubscribe unsubscribe ------------------------------ Date: Sat, 31 Oct 1998 21:31:05 -0800 From: lae2@bellsouth.net Subject: Alloy: Sorry gang, I'm going on vacation.... ------------------------------ End of alloy-digest V3 #293 ***************************