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Hamlet’s Happy Health Update

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Despite Hamlet’s diagnosis of Chronic Kidney Failure, it is treatable! He’s responding well to the subcutaneous fluids I began to give him yesterday. This past Friday morning Hamlet was dehydrated and not eating and I saw my vet and he taught me how to give the fluids. Hamlet’s eating again and was amazingly cool about letting me stick him with a needle. I was a bit scared to do it.

In other good news, the ER doctors were incorrect that Hamlet’s carcinoma had returned. We saw his oncologist on Tuesday and he confirmed this. I had a birthday this week and it was the worst week ever really. I am feeling better though as I can celebrate what a fighter my Hamlet is.

Hamlet’s health update

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Hamlet spent Halloween weekend in the icu at the vet. They think he has chronic renal failure. Also his carcinoma is back on his paw and in his lymph node in his leg. He seems to still be in remission from his small cell lymphoma.

Hamlet is almost 16 and I love him so dearly I can’t bear to have him suffer. I don’t know how much time we have left with my precious cat. I’m obviously losing sleep over it all. I am heartbroken.

Pat and Jamie’s New York

Friday night I attended Pat and Jamie’s New York. It is the first in a series of live talks at 92Y. Pat Kiernan and Jamie Stelter are New York City celebrities as they are the morning anchors for NY1. If you don’t live here you don’t get to watch NY1 and I am sad for you. So I will introduce them to you my lovely readers before I review their premiere of their very hilarious talk at 92Y, which I still call the 92nd Street Y, since I am a Native New Yorker.

I will begin with Jamie. I met Jamie earlier this year on the street in my neighborhood. I called out to her as if she was an old college friend. She was with her nice husband Brian, CNN’s senior media correspondent. They met on Twitter! Brian took this cute pic of us on Lefferts Blvd.

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Jamie is adorable. The New York Post dubbed her the Trans-It Girl and she wrote a novel with that title. At the talk she looked stunning in an orange lacy dress and what appeared to be Stan Smith Adidas sneakers. I love to see what she’s wearing every morning on NY1. Here’s a pic of Jamie and Pat arriving.

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Pat has been the morning anchor at NY1 since 1997. Pat is Canadian and is wry and serious and is known mostly for two things: His “In the Papers” segment and being the host of VH1’s “World Series of Pop Culture.” Pat also loves trivia and hosts monthly trivia nights in Brooklyn. Pat was one of the first people I ever followed on Twitter 6 years ago.

Every morning for about 30 seconds, Pat and Jamie banter. They have such an easy chemistry and are so funny it was inevitable that it would expand to some longer format. So Pat and Jamie decided to do a series of talks at 92Y where they banter for about 20 minutes, show funny videos and have a trivia contest, and interview guests. They even had a live theme song played by their music director Leslie Goshko.

Pat and Jamie’s banter included discussions of Pumpkin spiced everything, the New York City Marathon party which Pat hosts, the fact that neither of them drink coffee, the NY Mets-Kansas City World Series game 3 which was happening simultaneously. Pat made sure to give score updates intermittently. NY1 studios are in the Chelsea Market which is a huge tourist attraction that is sadly not huge and they both complained of the crowds as they tried to navigate home from work.

There were some cute video segments about tourists in New York. What they think of New Yorkers and what New Yorkers think of them. Then the first guest came out. It was Alan Kalter, best known for being the announcer on “Late Night with David Letterman.” He really does have that booming voice and he talked about living right near the studio and what his favorite NYC restaurants are now that he lives in Connecticut.

The second guest was the hilarious Jason Gay. He came out in a blue shark Halloween costume and completely pulled it off. Jason is a sports writer for the Wall Street Journal and has written a book called “Little Victories” out Nov. 3. He wrote a funny tweet that has been retweeted over 30,000 times. Look it up!

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The final guest was Alex Karpovsky best known at Ray in HBO’s “Girls.” Jamie loves “Girls” but Pat doesn’t. I have seen a few episodes of “Girls” but alas I’m a bit too old for it. For me it’s like reading journals from my twenties and I have no desire to relive that.

The evening concluded with a few audience Q&A’s. Jamie explained why she pronounced Van Wyck the way she does and was very adamant that we’re all pronouncing it wrong, including me. They also discussed when they go to sleep. Pat sleeps 4 hours at night and naps 2 hours during the afternoon. Jamie hits the bed early like at 7 because they get up at 3 a.m.

It was a great event and I laughed a lot. Go to PatandJamie.com to learn more, buy tickets for their next talk on Thursday, Nov. 19 and listen to their podcast.

The Blog Tour Award

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I was nominated to take part in the Blog Tour Award last week by Adele, who writes the wonderful beauty/fashion/lifestyle blog The Girl in Glasses. She is a great member of the WordPress community and I thank her for my nomination.

The Award Rules:

1. Pass the tour on to at least four other bloggers.
2. Give your nominees the rules and specify the Monday in which they should post their nomination answers.
3. Answer the four questions about your creative processes, which allows other bloggers and visitors to understand what inspires you to do what you do.
4. Compose this one-time post on a specific Monday (date TBC by your nominator).

My Answers:

1. How does your work differ from others in your genre?
My blog is currently multi-genre despite beginning as an independent music blog. I find people respond positively to my creative writing and journal posts and that encourages me to continue with those entries.

2. How does your writing/creative process work?
I come up with many draft posts of just a headline and a few words to save for later. If I’m really inspired, I will knock out a post quickly and that comprises half of my posts. Sometimes I schedule posts (thanks DesleyJane for that tip!)

3. Why do you write or create what you do?
I have always felt I write because I have to, not because I want to. For my creative/journal posts I just need to share my stories. It’s simply wonderful to get feedback but sometimes I write for me just to vent about my boyfriend or share about my cat. When I write about bands I’m trying to use my university Public Relations skills and help promote the underdog bands that deserve to be heard and whose music rocks.

4. What are you working on at the moment?
I have another blog called Portfolio and I’m trying to showcase my writing in a more structured and formal site. It might lead to a publishing deal – hey a girl can dream!

My Nominees:

Musings of a Frequent Flying Scientist
Writergurlny
Talk About Pop Music
Anchored to Sunshine
It’s a Britta Bottle

They are great bloggers and members of the WordPress community. Please check them out!

If you accept the award, then please share your Blog Tour Award post on: Mon June 15th.
Don’t forget to leave a link to your response in the comments below!

Celebrating 100 Blog Posts!

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Hello dear readers! Last night I posted my 100th blog post and I’m quite excited. I love milestones!

Despite starting jillypopmusic in 2014, I didn’t really resume blogging until I took the Blogging 101 course. The best thing about it was connecting with other wonderful bloggers.

Please check out my favorite bloggers who inspire me:
The Girl in Glasses
Musings of a Frequent Flying Scientist
Walking After Midnight
Faraday’s Candle
Jumbleskine
Atypical Italian Traveler
Writergurlny
Suzie81 Speaks
Talk About Pop Music

If you are just discovering my blog or looking for something to read or listen to, I’d like to link to some of my favorite posts. I write about many topics. There’s something for whatever suits your mood!
https://jillypopmusic.wordpress.com/2015/04/12/walking-through-forest-hills-gardens/
https://jillypopmusic.wordpress.com/2014/04/20/record-store-day-2014-the-good-the-bad-and-the-ugly/
https://jillypopmusic.wordpress.com/2015/01/14/band-spotlight-bnlx/
https://jillypopmusic.wordpress.com/2015/01/25/caleb-spotlight-on-a-young-artist/
https://jillypopmusic.wordpress.com/2015/01/07/reserved-for-rondee-my-new-favorite-band/
https://jillypopmusic.wordpress.com/2015/01/03/why-i-quit-spotify/
https://jillypopmusic.wordpress.com/2015/03/30/mad-men-the-exhibit-and-matthew-weiner-interview/

The readers of this blog mean literally the world to me! I have listed the countries/views since my blog began.
Thank you to all my readers and here’s to the next 100 posts!

Top Views by Country for all days ending 2015-06-01 (Summarized)

Country Views
United States 1,676
United Kingdom 549
Australia 139
Canada 77
United Arab Emirates 52
South Africa 29
India 28
Italy 24
Russia 24
Philippines 23
Sweden 21
Germany 17
Netherlands 12
Singapore 10
Spain 10
Pakistan 9
Japan 8
France 8
Puerto Rico 7
Indonesia 6
Switzerland 5
Czech Republic 5
Mexico 4
Ireland 4
Hungary 4
Croatia 4
Albania 4
Norway 3
Denmark 3
Panama 3
Lithuania 3
New Zealand 3
South Korea 2
Poland 2
Belgium 2
European Union 2
Thailand 2
Georgia 2
Malaysia 2
Qatar 2
Hong Kong SAR China 2
Dominican Republic 2
Taiwan 2
Greece 2
Argentina 2
Colombia 1
Austria 1
Costa Rica 1
Saudi Arabia 1
Chile 1
Vietnam 1
Bahrain 1
Sri Lanka 1
Cyprus 1
Turkey 1
Nigeria 1
Finland 1

Blogging Event – Flavor of the month – Prawn

This is a blogging event created on the blog Ohmyglai.

The flavor of the month is Prawn. My friend Connie and I went to The Frisky Oyster restaurant in Greenport, NY on Wednesday night. Connie ordered Blue Prawns. They were local and tasty!

If We Were Having Coffee

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If we were having coffee I would tell you that I’m on an emotional rollercoaster with my boyfriend and today is quite rough.

If we were having coffee I would share my excitement over my upcoming mini-break to Greenport, NY this Tuesday. I haven’t taken any kind of vacation since 2004. I love to travel. Day trips upstate, weeks in Europe, months in Australia and New Zealand. I have been very lucky to have visited and experienced so many places.

Greenport is on the North Fork of Long Island. It is the end of the winter season in this quaint resort town, so the rates are reasonable. It has art galleries, shops, restaurants, and a marina. There’s a ferry going to and from Shelter Island. I’m going for 2 nights, and my boyfriend is supposed to go with me.

If we were having coffee I would tell you that we are not getting along today at all. Yesterday we went to the gastroenterologist for him and we had a good day. I care about him a lot and he knows that. Today he says I’m cold and calculated. Nice.

If we were having coffee I would tell you that I need a break. Desperately. My cat Lucy died at the end of February and my cat Hamlet has low grade lymphoma, which we are treating with chemo and steroid meds.

If we were having coffee I would tell you that sometimes I wish we were friends and not in a relationship. I’m a great friend. I’m not the best girlfriend, I admit that. Today I am in no mood to be affectionate. My boyfriend is pissed at me for that. I tell him I can’t be everything and he doesn’t understand that.

If we were having coffee I’d tell you that I’m not going to let this ruin a day of sunny 70 degree temperatures and my outing to Strawberry Fields, in Central Park with one of my girlfriends.

Today’s post was inspired by Suzie. The ‘If We Were Having Coffee’ series was created by Part Time Monster. Everyone is invited to join in, and you are welcome to share your coffee posts on Twitter every Saturday with #WeekendCoffeeShare – hop on over and join in the fun!