I have no direct knowledge of Toastmaster's, but Do remember that Buffistas falls within the "yes, this is a cult" paramters. I think it's in the FAQ.

I am down with everything but Sesame Street.

I thought I was going to have to get rid of Cosmo when I first brought her home; Gimlet was a bottlebrushed, shrieking thing for about 2-3 weeks. I kept Cosmo in the bedroom with the door closed, so they could sniff under the door. I gave Gimlet a lot of love (when she let me touch her -- she was PISSED, yo!) and then would leave the door open for 15 mins, then 1/2 hour, then an evening.

Whenever I petted one kitty, I made sure I rubbed my hands all over the scent glands by their whiskers, and then went right to the other kitty and did the same, and then back.

Cosmo's a dumb fuzzy bag of cute attention slut, and Gimlet...we got her from the shelter when she was about 2 months, and I don't know what happened to her, but she is the most skittish, easily startled cat I have ever seen. Took about 2 months and then they went from ignoring each other in different rooms, to ignoring each other in the same room, to ignoring each other on the couch.

Hostility went WAY down when I got Cosmo fixed.

They get along fine now. There's occasional hissing, patty-fights, but that's a dominance thing, and no big deal.

I googled. It's kind of like Bitches, but without powerpoint.

They are seriously pushing the line, Allyson. I've been tasked with starting one at my co, which I don't think is going to get off the ground. But if I does, I am dispensing forthwith with all the ritualistic shit.

I've known a number of people who've been involved and gotten a ton out of it and really enjoyed it. But whoo-boy, are they uberserious about some really stupid stuff.

I ended up calling my nurse-friend and describing the burn to her. She said it sounds like a first degree burn and that ice is my best recourse. I'll see her in a bit and she can double check. Then we are going to punch and kick eachother.

I had considered joining Toastmaters at one point, but the uberserious turned me off.

Well, in that case, it's like DK, too. I kid, because I love.

It's kind of like Bitches, but without powerpoint.

Bitches has PP?

AH'VE BEEN DOIN' IT RONG.

oh. i totally messed that up.

Thanks, slayeroshadow and Scrappy. I can live with it taking a few months, as long as there's a good chance it will eventually be OK. I know they'll probably never be good friends, but I would at least like to get to the point where we can leave them alone together without worrying for their safety.

Also, some jumping-on is to be expected. If it's a sudden jump or a dominating stance (grabbing the other cat by the back of the neck) then W is trying to tell C whose house it is. C may cry piteously and drmatically but it's just them working things out. However, if there is lots of stiff-legged staring and low-throated growling and hissing, then a REAL fight is in the offing and that can be dangerous.

This looked and sounded like a pretty serious attack, complete with high-pitched yowling and screaming. But I take your point, and I know that some aggression and physical altercations are normal. Mostly, I'm worried about Chesterfield getting hurt, since he is so much smaller than Worthington, so I do think we need to be a little more cautious until he can defend himself more easily. And in the meantime, we have plenty of water bottles and are not afraid to use them!

Edit: Erin, that is a huge relief to hear! And I had totally been forgetting that C. isn't even fixed yet, since he's so little, so that should make a real difference. Thank you so much for the advice!

I kinda like the idea of Bitches running a Toastmaster's thing, with PP.

Table Topics: Naked Hot People. Merkins I Have Known. The Unbearable Sadness of the Misused Semicolon.

(I googled, too.)

It would SO cutthroat and vicious! In a nice way. Our standards would be ridic high on vocabulary.

It basically sounds like Toastmaster's needs 6 people to do every month what 1 English teacher does every day.

I need a toastmasters type thing. I used to be good at public speaking. I don`t know how I talked myself into not being good at it but I want it back.