Well, it was bound to happen sooner or later. My money was on "sooner" once it became impossible to raise Berny the digicat's Strength index past zero. Sure enough, at 3 AM (would've been 3 PM if the clock had been set properly), the keychain started to emit a series of long, high-pitched beeps. I woke up in time to see the icon displayed on the keychain transform into an angel. In other words, game over. Berny's lifespan, from baby through senior kitty, lasted about six days.

This morning, I decided to start over with a correctly-set clock, to see how the cat fares when it and I are awake at the same hours. Hence, I now have a new digicat, a female named Phuzz. The "baby" stage lasted for about three hours; now she has matured into a youngster and she's taking a nap.

Today is an official Good Day in Phantoms-land. It's the birthday of two of my favorite people. I can't say enough good things about, or wish enough good things for, Neil Little and Ben Stafford on their respective birthdays today. :o)

And speaking of birthdays, tonight we're going to surprise my mom. Her 65th birthday was last Wednesday, and she THINKS that tonight, we're going to have a nice little dinner with her and my dad and Mark and me. She was insistent that we NOT do anything big to celebrate her birthday. So of course, my dad has planned a surprise and invited my aunts, uncles, and cousins from both sides of the family. :o) Now I know where I get my listening skills from. ;o) But my dad's right, IMO -- people only get one 65th birthday, and it's something that should be celebrated, not ignored. Dad said that she can't kill him once she gets there and everyone's already AT the restaurant. :o) Yep, this is definitely where I get my "listen carefully to instructions and then do things my way" streak, hee hee.