Kat Johnston

Tag: hubby

  • Sketch: I’m late, I’m late, for a very important date.

    Kat Johnston sketch: What happens when you have this up on your screen? Answer: your husband, turning around to say ‘is there something you want to tell me, Kat?’

    I was sitting here sketching this little picture today, after which I scanned it into this lovely little computer (his name is Poe, by the way – the computer, not the bunny, that is). As I was scanning it in, I was checking out Facebook, to see if anything significant had happened within, ohh, the last 2 hours. Something had (sorta), as a friend posted up pictures of his daughter’s baptism.

    I turned to my husband, quite casually, and said ‘My love… you know, I still find it weird to see some of the people I grew up with already with children… not so much that it isn’t something I didn’t see them doing, just that time passes quick – it seems like only yesterday my friend and I were sitting on a playground after watching a movie, and sipping at a couple of coffees…’

    Suddenly my scanning finished, and up pops the picture – the one included in this post. My darling hubby raised his eyebrows, eyes narrowing as he hmmmed. ‘Is there something you want to tell me, darling?’

    Why, I had not even thought of that! But what choice did I have? Lets face it, this was a golden opportunity. I started stroking my belly, cooing and crooning like a ninny. I could almost hear the grinding of gears, the indrawn breath as someone’s life comes to a close from all that was known before. That lasted about, ohhh, 30 seconds before I peek up with a twinkle in my eye. ‘Hell no. Actually, I was referring to Alice, yet again… that said, I can just see this as a greeting card…’

    So, just in case any of you read any deeper than ‘bunny with a sign’, no, I’m not pregnant. Thank god. No offence to those who have children, want children and endorse the joys of possessing, uhh, children, but I am so not ready for that. I haven’t grown up myself yet!

  • Sketch: Box kitteh sez ‘I iz live nao? Wheee! Kibble Plz?’

    Kat Johnston: Box kitteh… Is she alive? Is she dead? You’ll only know if you ignore the ‘do not disturb’ sticker!

    Lord I am tired tonight… and I’m not even entirely sure why. I guess that some days are just long, and when they are, they bear down on you, making you feel worn and weary. That aside though, I’m very happy with my sketch today! A little while back, I did a picture with a scrawled cat… it was the last thing drawn on the sketch and honestly, my favourite part of it. So today, I had another peek at that sketch and thought, ‘yup… I’m going to try this again.’

    I did-so, and today’s picture is the result. It is by little wonder that my picture reminds me so much of my darling Lolita, a little tortie cross who is one of two apples of my eyes. Penny, being the other, is not currently pictured.

    You see, each night before he goes to bed, my dutiful husband does a round of the house. He makes sure that the doors are locked, that the air-conditioning is off (if indeed it were on on the first place), and so on and so forth. One of the other things he does is check to make sure that both cats are around and safe. We have indoor-only cats, and although there is very little chance that they have somehow performed the great escape, it never hurts to check.

    One evening, he does his regular rounds, calling out to the cats to make sure that they are safe and secure like the rest of us. ‘Lolita!’ he calls, ‘Lolita, baby-girl, where are you?’

    This goes on for a couple of minutes… then a couple more. After which, he comes racing down the stairs. ‘I can’t find Lolita!’ he cries, his eyes wide and gripped by a certain paternal fear. ‘Come help me look!’

    Thus, I join the search. From high to low, from top to bottom, in every perceivable nook and cranny we search to discover the missing feline. She had me quite as mystified as she did James. With a rising panic I realize that it does indeed seem that our magnificent moggy had finally discovered a special secret way known only to cats to teleport from one part of the room to another, but further, how to do it to the outside.

    How would she survive? She had no opposable thumbs, no pre-prepared sachets of food designed ‘for pet consumption only’ strapped to her bluish back. She had, of course, wrestled a gecko or two in her day, but that was nothing when put beside the territorial neighbourhood tom.

    With a sigh of resignation and no small measure of puzzlement, we were almost ready to admit our defeat. Our cat had somehow escaped, despite all odds of both means, opportunity and brain-matter. ‘One last time,’ murmurs James. The search begun anew.

    A bare few minutes later, I hear an exuberant cry. ‘She’s in here! I found her! Come look!’ he bellows, motioning frantically, as I approach the downstairs door. There, curled in the bottom of one tall box, lay our cat, quite content to nap while all around her we scramble in search of her. She had not only jumped into the box – she’d pulled the lid closed after her, effectively sealing her off from view in a place we would not think to look. I mean, we know she liked boxes… we just weren’t quite sure she was smart enough to work out how to put up her own little ‘do not disturb’ sign!

    If you’re curious about the title of today’s post, and don’t get it straight away, perhaps you haven’t heard of Schrodiinger’s cat? Go check it out. It’ll boggle your miiiind.

  • Sketch: Rattie under a lantern… and blogging rocks.

    Kat Johnston Sketch: It’s a rattie. It’s under a lantern. He’s cute!

    Ok, first off, the sketch today. It is a little rushed, a little hurried: my husband’s birthday was yesterday, and today has been officially charged as one for recovery. That said, the party went off well, and everyone seemed to like the little pacman cupcakes I baked. They were fun!

    It certainly doesn’t help that I’ve had a nasty case of the flu for the past few days, either. It has truly just knocked me down, to the point where I was laying on the cool tiled surface of the kitchen floor, moaning pathetically with my arm upraised as if in a last, desperate attempt to cling to life. It was not a pretty sight. Luckily it seems to have only been a short bout – it should clear up within the next few days.

    I did not get the position I was interviewing for… I think I tanked on the interview! I had a horrid case of mind-blank, where all thoughts flee in the face of any sort of question. Damn the infernal terror that is the mind-blank. That said, I’m glad that I even got that far, and there is always next year. In the meantime, if anyone knows of an awesome arts-related position open somewhere, you know I’m the gal for it!

    Now, onto the ‘blogging rocks’ part of my title for today’s post. You may recall that just a couple of days ago I made a few comments regarding Karl de Waal’s artwork, ‘Quilt for Melanie’, which is featured as part of the Temperature 2 exhibition at the Museum of Brisbane. I don’t know how he made his way to my site, but I actually got a response from him regarding his work! You cannot imagine the smile on my face when I clicked to open it.

    I’m kinda a recluse: I find it a bit hard to get out and about and socialize in the arts scene, simply because it is all a little intimidating to me. Blogging, and getting involved online, I have to say, has been one of the better moves that I have made. To actually get a response from an artist after talking about them here… well… now that’s just something brilliant. The digital age… who’da thunk it?

  • Sketch: See? Sketching -is- good for you!

    Kat Johnston: Random sketching -is- good for you. I told you so. You didn’t believe me, but its true!

    Aha! Many seem to look at me dubiously when I proclaim that I am better focused in classes due to my sketching, seeing it instead as a certain sign of my unattentiveness. However, as I have surely mentioned before (though I won’t dig out the post now, seeing as it is after midnight), I think that sketching actually helps me focus better. Its a zen-like thing – you sketch, letting your mind wander a little in one place, while the rest of it works at absorbing whatever it is you are meant to be absorbing on that particular day.

    My hubby called shennanigans. He thought that it was just a lot of hokey, and that I was pulling his leg. Well, this morning he sent me a link to this little article which proclaims the same. Yay! Now I apparently have science to back up my wonderful theories. I’m glad someone got around to trying to prove it. I wonder if I inspired them?

    So, in honor of this particular article, I dredged up one of the pages of one of my writing books, which I’ve dragged along to a lecture or two. This is a class… though I am entirely unable to recall which one. It was a while ago, after all. It features my gorgeous hung bunny, which I think hasn’t been properly introduced here in its original form until now. Yes, there’s the bunny in the moon (featuring the same bunny), but this was the way he was originally imagined, though not the first sketch of him, I assure you. My hung bunny rocks.

    Alrighty ya’ll, I think I’d best get to bed before I stay up all night! Throw some congrats my way… I got an interview! Yayyyy!

  • So long and thanks for all the fish.

    Kat Johnston Sketch – just another quick little sketch to fill in the time… see! A sketch today! Not a photo from SL!

    Look, look, a sketch! Not a picture from Second Life showing my 1337 SL jewelry making skills. Another random title to do with fish… I don’t get it, but I like it anyway. Yay for fish. Fish are good. Even Babelfish.

    No real rhyme or reason behind the picture today, other than the fact that I had both black and red biros sitting in front of me saying ‘you need to do a sketch today: go on, be a rebel, use both of us… at once!’ So I did, and this little lady is the result. I’m actually thinking that perhaps the title of this post is in reference to her? Not so much because she might have a secret fetish for Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy and more to do with the fact that she’s now been turned into a bloodthirsty (yet still adorable) vampire.

    Vampires apparently have no need to eat… and perhaps she used to love fish and chips so much that she ate it for dinner every night. Or maybe she had a rare disease that required her to eat gigantic amounts of fish to balance out some vitamin deficiency and she really actually hates fish, so being bitten and turned into a vampire corrects that issue since she’s no longer… well… alive. Vampires have no need for fish. She’s just being ironic. Who knows… it’s fun to ponder though, isn’t it?

    On a related note (this may just go to explain why my mind is skipping here and there and I am raving like a lunatic), I had a nap yesterday afternoon which threw everything out of kilter and resulted in me being awake the entire night long. I dragged myself up to bed soon after daybreak and laid down as the hubby was getting ready for work. You know you love your husband (or you are exceedingly lazy) when he pulls the blind open, putting you in the path of direct, glarey sunlight first thing in the morning and then goes ‘huh… I’ll try a stake next time’… and it doesn’t result in giving him the noogeying of a lifetime.

    I’m so tired today… but to avoid another vamp-night, I think I’d best just suck it up (pun sorta intended) and stay awake for the rest of the day. Wish me luck. Those blankets are looking mighty tempting right now.

    Edit: Just for those interested… after writing this post, I came across an interesting article talking about the role of vampires and the undead in current popular media offerings here and thought I might come back and add it in. Rather interesting!