Dead Cats, Threading, and a Hot Tamale

I have had a rather bizarre day...

First, after recovering from the shocking and calamitous ending of Project Runway last night, I awoke this morning to a fresh start, which consisted of my sexaholic neighbors (I call them "Sid and Nancy") slamming their front door multiple times at around 7 am and stomping around in the hallway outside my apartment -- smoking cigarettes, I assume...

Fuck the neighbors, Nancy!

After soothing myself with a nice hot cup of coffee, I jumped in the shower, ironed an outfit, and hopped on my bicycle to ride to class. As I approached the corner of my grubby little street and a semi-major intersection, I noticed a black cat stretched out on the pebbles in front of a new house they've built next to my apartment complex. I thought, "Oh, what a funny place for a cat to sleep in the middle of the day!" I sort of stared at it for a minute, lazily catching the sun's rays, wondering why my bike's passing by hadn't made it stir, but then a break came in the traffic, and I headed quickly across the street.


Sleeping or dead?

I came straight home after class (a rather ridiculous 75 minute waste of time in which we watched Arabic music videos and talked about the importance of performance art) because I had to pick up my car so I could get to my eyebrow threading appointment. Upon entering my street, I looked to my left, and there was that black cat again, stretched out in the same position. This time I stopped my bike and looked closer. I could see its eyes were half open, and it was not moving at all. Yes, dead... but no blood, thank goodness. Perhaps it was poisoned?



Of course my main concern is: is it a bad omen to find a dead black cat near your doorstep mere days before Halloween? If it is, I'm screwed.


I hope I don't see this roaming outside my window at midnight...

In any case, I called animal control, and the woman told me someone would be around "tomorrow morning" to pick up the cat. I have to say, I figured someone would at least get the carcass on the same day I called. However, it's thankfully gotten a bit cooler here recently so the cat hasn't started stinking yet. I really hope it's gone by the time I head to class tomorrow at 9:30. I don't really want to see it again.

Anyway, the good news is that after I confirmed the cat death, I had an eyebrow threading appointment, which went wonderfully, and I am thrilled to have finally found a woman who does threading in Tucson! I looked high and low last year, even walking up to Indian or Pakistani women on the street and asking them if they knew of anyone who threaded in Tucson.


It looks kind of medieval, and it hurts like a bitch too, but it works great!

It was by dumb luck that I came upon this lady who I visited today. I was driving by an Indian grocery store last Saturday, and started thinking about what a horrible mess my eyebrows have been lately. So I pulled over spontaneously in hopes that someone in the store could help me out. I was sure I was wasting my time when I saw a small, balding, mustachioed Indian man stocking frozen samosas in a large freezer, but just for the hell of it, I asked him if he knew where I might be able to find a local threader. "Why yes!" he replied, "Archana (pronounced AR-chen-na) is now doing threading here in the store on Sundays and Thursdays!"


This is how it works, except usually you have to pull your upper eyelids tight with your hands so the lady can get all of the little hairs. Today she even threaded my forehead! (which of course made me wonder if I had hair growing on my forehead like Eddie Munster and that's why she was doing that...)

Anyway, long story short, my eyebrows got the royal treatment in the back of the grocery store (to be specific, in the rice section), and I look a zillion times better now. Archana has made my life here just a wee bit better.

This is getting long and blabbery now so I think I'd better go. Just one last note... I was watching Grey's Anatomy for the first time tonight and would like to state for the record that Patrick Dempsey is really attractive. He's definitely improved since the 80s...

In fact, he's a real choo-choo Charlie...