the ordinary lives of a boy, a girl, and a dog

2012-01-29T23:23:00.001-06:00

Aaron and I's polymer clay creations! I concentrated on perfecting the macaron, which is a charm I've always wanted. I'm not sure I've perfected it enough yet, but I'm getting really bored with them. Meh.
That's basically what we did this weekend.

Future possibilities: trying my own version of mac&cheese, popsicles, and ice cream cones.

Random thoughts:
One of the few ways I can still tell I'm allergic to cats is that when I kiss B.P. on the mouth, my lips start stinging and swelling up where they touched him. This cracks me up, and I don't care that it makes me seem like a crazy cat lady. I kiss all my animals on the mouth, except fishie and hermity crab.

I love Parks and Recreation! Ben is super cute. We've been watching Season 3 on Netflix, and it's totally addicting.

I wish I could go back in time and be Anne of Green Gables. Life was so simple then.

2012-01-26T21:00:00.002-06:00

I knew that of all the car companies out there, Honda would understand what I'm feeling!

My list:
1. Stay at a pod hotel in Japan.
2. See the northern lights (they even got that right!!).
3. Become a millionaire.

I'm sure that once I achieve #3, I'll be ready to pop out a little one. Just one though, don't want to get too crazy!

2012-01-23T01:13:00.002-06:00

My current nail polish! Inspired by the Louis Vuitton Vernis Rayures collection:

And I don't know why the nail polish picture has to be me holding the nail polish container, that's just how it's done by fashion bloggers the world over...

Sent from my Nokia N8

2012-01-17T19:03:00.001-06:00

This is Dwight at the doggy dermatologist getting his allergy test. I gave Dwight his first allergy shot on Saturday. The three years I spent at med school seem totally worth it when I can trust myself with minor medical things like this.

Sent from my Nokia N8

2011-12-22T14:54:00.002-06:00

I recently read through Aaron's old blog, and it made me realize how important it is to keep up with blogging. His made me laugh so much and reminded me of happenings that I'd totally forgotten...which adds to my recent fear that I'm forgetting a lot more things than usual. Maybe it's stress, maybe it's age (after all, I did find six short white hairs the night before my 28th birthday), maybe it'll all come back to me (I hope), but for right now, when I try to remember certain things, it feels like reaching into the dark and touching nothing but mist and fuzziness. Which is very disturbing because my memory has always been one of the things I felt I could depend on.

There are a couple of things I should get down on virtual paper before I forget (the creepshow lady we saw at Mockingbird Station who gave both Aaron and I the Fear, for one), but somehow, I'm just not in the right mood for now.

So I'll leave you with the thought that Dwight loves the sun. Whenever it's sunny outside, he begs to go lay out in the sun like some daisy-duke wearing teenage girl. And then he lays on the ground with his eyes mostly closed, in bliss.

2011-08-31T07:54:00.002-05:00

I wish there was a pill I could take to make me feel better about being at work right now. I don't think I've really understood people who take antidepressants until now. I usually don't really like taking pills, not even over the counter stuff like Tylenol, but if it could make me feel better at this point, I would take it in a second.

The problem is homesickness--it's a thousand times easier to go to work or school when your homelife sucks. Work or school becomes a way to get out of your bad situation, and enjoy a few hours of peace and dependability. But I have a warm sleepy dog, a warm sleepy cat, and a comfy bed at home waiting for me right now, and even though you may think this is a minor complaint due to laziness, I am so sick about being at work right now, I feel nauseous.

The problem is the atmosphere here sucks. It's humid in my room, and there's roaches that like to pop up in random places. There's also a huge industrial air conditioning unit that makes a constant loud background hum that I can't think over. And the building is so old and industrial looking, I feel like I am in jail.

Thinking about this school feels like pinpricks in my brain.

When oh when will my three day weekend come? Technically it's in 3 days but it feels like an eternity. This must be what hell is like--the promise of relief that never comes.

2011-04-18T08:39:00.002-05:00

I am feeling strangely elated today. I don't quite trust it because nothing is really new today, so it must be hormonal or something. I don't trust happiness I can't control...but I do appreciate it. (Thank you, body, for making me hormonally happy today instead of hormonally depressed!)

Well maybe I am happy because I am wearing french braid pigtails today, and it is fun! And because last night, Aaron asked me if I wanted to keep my fortune cookie fortune that somehow ended up in his wallet, and I said no. But today, I found it slipped into the zipper pouch on my keys, and it felt like such a hopeful message:
"There is nothing lost or wasted in this life."

My to-do list is ridiculous today: schedule a dr's appt so I can keep getting my bc supply, call my alt cert program to see if they count for the lifetime learning tax credit (yes, I do things at the last minute), write out lesson plans for this week to turn into admin, that I will barely follow (because things change everyday! How am I supposed to plan for the whole week?!), and plan a TAKS review to do on Wednesday for the 9-11 graders.

Even that list can't bring me down today though, because hormones are invincible. They'll go away when they feel like going away, and they do not feel like going away right now. I know, because I am so wired right now.

On a different note, I have been coveting this past week.
("How do we covet, Clarice? Do we seek out things to covet? No! We covet what we see every day." -Hannibal Lecter)
And I surf purse forum everyday, and thus I covet. Many, many things. Which is dangerous, because if you give a lunatic a salary, there is no end to the damage they can do. HAHAHAHahahahaha

2011-04-14T15:30:00.002-05:00

I spent 2 hours last night (pretty much all my free time) painting my nails mint green. It looks...interesting with my brown skin, but what's bothering me most is the fact that they just don't look professional! Why!!! Stupid nail polish on stupid cuticles.

I'm going to take it all off and do it again tonight. Oh, and next time I'm going to try leopard print nails. I wish I could dye Aaron's hair leopard print (with celery stix and hair dye) but unfortunately, it would not be work appropriate.
I actually don't even like animal print mostly but leopard print hair/nails just seems so interesting.

I wonder what it's like not to be a perfectionist. Actually I am far from a perfectionist about most things, but I definitely am about my nails. I spoiled myself going to get a manicure w/ my sister over spring break and now I want my nails perfect all the time. Too bad, cause I am totally unwilling to pay that much again for a temporary procedure. So I have been collecting tools to be able to do my nails at home.

This post is so inane...3 paragraphs about nail polish.

2011-03-29T10:08:00.004-05:00

So exhausted.

On one hand, it's the last 2 months of school, and only one real month, because AP tests are in early May, and after that, there isn't much to do in 2 of my 3 classes. There'll only be Pre-AP classes to prepare for after that. Which is going to be awesome.
On the other hand, I'm on a tight schedule for AP Biology, and we're currently on Plants, which I know absolutely nothing about, so it takes me about 2 hours to prepare for each 25 minute lecture. Totally lame. I get home from work, have dinner, slack off while dreading the work I need to do, eventually go over as much as I can, go to sleep, and then get up and get to work at 7 am, just to do it all over again. I hate it when work overcomes my life! I absolutely hate and resent it, and I get really angry. I have no sense of ambition or desire for a career at all. Unfortunately I also have no desire to be a stay at home mom, so that route is closed to me too. But whatever, we're done with plants on Thursday, and I'm taking Monday off because AP and Pre-AP Bio will both be testing. So, the torture will be over fairly soon.
The other thing is, I have training two days this week till 7 pm, and two days next week. If you didn't know, teacher training is super boring and useless, so basically, I will be there in body but not in mind.

It's weeks like this that make me want to get a tattoo, buy a new Louis, and move to Mexico. I don't know why society has locked us into this lifestyle. We were not meant to live this way! Why should we have kids, just to send them into slavery? And yes, it is slavery, because money is just money, and it doesn't really do anything except imprison most people more firmly in society's convoluted net.

Think about it--we go to school for 13+ years, worrying the whole time about the "permanent record," which no one even cares to look at once you're out of school. After school, the only thing left to do according to society is:
1. Get a job, preferably a Career.
2. Buy a house and car
3. Get married.
4. Have kids.
5. Die
Every single one of these things traps us more and more in the net of society. How? Let me show you.

Job > Desire to succeed and be promoted > Job stress > Impulse purchasing and Overeating to combat stress (or alcoholism, infidelity with coworkers, anger management issues) > Money spent on diets, gyms, and previously mentioned impulse purchasing (or rehab, divorce, anger management) > Eventual promotion and raise > More Job stress and responsibility > buy a house and car > now you're in debt > now you need another promotion and raise > more job stress > lather, rinse, repeat...

The higher up you get in your Career, the worse it is, and the more you are mired in society's diabolical little plan for you. If you're lucky, you retire and survive on Social Security. If you're not lucky, you die in debt and pass the debt onto your kids.

Getting married and having kids are just extra bonuses so you can feel even more stressed out because you have to work to keep your kids in American Eagle jeans, and to keep your spouse in their fancy car and house, while also feeling guilty about spending too much time at work, and not enough time at home with your family.

It's a conspiracy to keep us too busy worrying about inconsequential things like our Career (which obviously is not inconsequential thing to most individuals) to make trouble by coming up with novel ideas.

(I.E. teacher lay offs--that is all anyone at work can talk about these days...)

In order to avoid it, you have to 1. be willing to see your job as the inconsequential thing that it really is, and 2. be willing to lay aside material goods enough to save up money so that it helps you maintain freedom rather than trapping you. And if you have kids, that's most likely close to impossible.

I'm struggling at least one of these steps currently. I'll let you know if I succeed.

2011-03-21T09:52:00.002-05:00

It's Monday, and Spring break is officially over...
Sadly, I didn't post anything about it beginning, but rest assured, that post would have been ecstatic.

The Sunday blues are always the worst after a longer than usual break, and yesterday was no different. But we tried our hardest to keep it at bay by going to Dinosaur Valley National Park to see the fossilized dinosaur tracks, which was really fun.
We took Dwight, and he was great! He acted like the quintessential perfect dog--scaled rocks and forded rivers like a true dog of the wild, while taking in stride golf carts (which usually freak him out), small children, and other dogs. I was so proud. His allergies are still acting up, but they seem to be getting a little better, because I think we finally have figured out how to avoid his food allergens at least.

I just can't wait to get home. Ever since med school, I dread everything, even if it's not very dreadworthy. Mondays aren't so bad, I like my job for the most part, but for some reason the dread on Sundays is just totally unavoidable. If there was a way to buy happiness and contentment, I would pay any amount. Even just to get my old self back. I used to feel ok about most things before med school.

2011-02-16T10:03:00.002-06:00

It's now 70 degrees again in Dallas, and cold weather is nowhere to be seen in the forecast! Good, cause if it ain't bringing a snow day, I have no need for the cold weather. I've been wondering lately if I have seasonal affective disorder (SAD) lately, because I am so much happier now that the weather is warmer! (I don't really think I have seasonal affective disorder, because I think it's a crock, and it's even more hilarious that it's abbreviation is SAD. Actually, I think it's a normal human reaction to be affected by the weather. Only humans, who have separated themselves from nature to such an extent, would call being affected by the weather a disorder.)

But in any case, I am way happier in the warmer weather, and all I want to do is lay in my backyard on the hammock all day, and read. Preferably with my dog! Oh, I just can't wait till Spring Break and Summer, when I can live in shorts, flipflops and tshirts.

2011-02-07T09:54:00.002-06:00

Somehow, despite knowing all along that I would have to return to work at some point, I am boondoggled to be back. My brain is in shock and can barely function under the strain of talking to people other than Aaron, Dwight, and BP. Yes, the latter two do count as people! Only in the good ways, not in the bad ways.

On one hand, I should be quite envious of people who seem so happy to be back and see all their work friends again, but on the other hand, I can't seem to get the energy up to do so. All I feel is an overwhelming sense of bewilderment--how can talking to some people ever compare to laying comfortably in bed, under thick, warm comforters, with a creature on each side of me keeping me warm as I read a badly written gothic novel and watch movies like The Town and Dinner for Schmucks? Yes, everything I did during my 4 day long break was encompassed in the previous run-on sentence.

I also decided (or rather, reaffirmed) the fact that in an alternate universe, in which I don't overthink every little thing, I would have a half sleeve tattoo and smoke American Spirits. I have an amazing idea for a half sleeve that I just can't stop thinking about. Unfortunatly, I also can't stop thinking about Hepatitis C and metal-based ink collecting in my lymph nodes...and my mom crying herself to sleep because of her hoodlum child. But in any case, my idea is--a depiction of the scene in Jane Eyre right before Jane and Mr. Rochester meet. Thornfield Hall looms in the distance, and Jane sits on a bench at the side of the road. Mr. Rochester, on horseback, and his dog (like a mythical Gytrash) running ahead, toward Jane. I even know exactly who I would want to do it.
So the dilemna is, if a half sleeve would increase my quality of life, should I mind that it may or may not decrease my quantity?

2011-01-31T09:56:00.002-06:00

Today's topic will be: What gets you through your day at work?

I once read a very old book about dog training that said, when you see a dog standing on a sidewalk seemingly guarding his owner's briefcase, it's actually that the owner left the briefcase to guard the dog. Because a dog is more likely to stay where you told him/her to if you leave something that is yours to anchor the dog there. Of course, nowadays, no one leaves their dog somewhere without a leash, so it's a dated reference. But my circuitous point is that I have certain things that I use to anchor myself at work until I can go home.

One of these things is my bright orange water bottle. The color cheers me up, and it ensures that I will not feel crappy and dehydrated from talking all day. Another is my engagement/wedding rings, because sparkly things cheer me up, esp. when they remind me of Aaron. And also my ipod, with which I can sneak-read harry potter all day.

I don't remember dreading each day this much when I was working at Harcourt. But then again, there I had no job stress. Oh, to go back to making copies all day.

2010-12-17T11:12:00.003-06:00

The thought of waking up tomorrow, with my only responsibility being to cuddle my doggie, is absolutely divine!

I am going to paint my nails black glitter and I get to wear my most sloppy outfits for 2 weeks!!!

2010-12-03T07:33:00.004-06:00

Hello peeps!

It's Friday morning and I don't feel like going to work just yet to face this very last day of the week. We're heading to Austin tonight for a graduation. We got Dwight a new, bigger crate because we haven't been crating him for about a year now, but he needs one for when he's left alone in the hotel room. Crates are expensive! It makes me nauseous to think about how much profit they made from selling me that crate. How expensive can a flimsy plastic resin box be to manufacture?
In any case, hopefully it will set my mind at ease about leaving him in a hotel room, which always freaks him out.

Last night, I got him a new shirt from American Apparel, because he grew out of his last one. I'm not psyched about the color, but our requirements was that it had to be 2xl, and be a dark color so it hides stains and shedded black hairs.

Dwight's been shivering even inside the house these days, and my old hoodie that I cut for him is just not cutting it. He keeps tripping on the end of it.

No dog-unrelated news today, except that I don't wanna go to work. Boo.

Edit: Work is going fine! Just 3/4 of an actual class left and it's all downhill from here. Also, I just noticed that that AA shirt for Dwight is in Slytherin colors! My brain is on Harry Potter because I'm making wands with my Advisory class this week.

2010-11-29T09:10:00.002-06:00

Going back to work after a week-long break is so painful. I can only imagine how bad it will be after Christmas break...which starts in 3 weeks!!! It is the only thing keeping me going today.

I started dreading coming back to work Saturday night, in my sleep. I kept having stress dreams about deciding to call in sick Monday morning and then not being able to because they couldn't find a sub, and then another dream about not knowing how to fill in a census questionnaire. I don't know why I had a stress dream about my census job when it was the easiest job in the world.

Then last night while I was sleeping, I was thinking about what I was going to do today with my classes. Blerg.

On a happier note, Aaron and I are going to go on a short road trip over Christmas! We might take Dwight and Big Poppa! Wee!

2010-11-15T11:56:00.001-06:00

Man, who knew kids get so grumpy when they are made to do work in school?! Grr. If only I could sit back and count mitotic cells as an assignment...

2010-11-09T12:33:00.004-06:00

What up homies!

I took yesterday (Monday) off because
1. I had to work on Saturday...Took my AP Biology kids to their AP Test Prep Session at another high school.
2. Mondays are C days, which means that I see all my classes for 45 minutes each. So, if I skip a Monday, everyone is still on schedule, and no class is a whole class period ahead of another.
3. I could not have continued another day without taking a 3 day weekend.

So, the upside is, this week is a 4 day week (holla!), and I only have to get through this week and the next till Thanksgiving Break.
The downside is, I am super depressed today, and out of practice keeping my "workface" on. My workface consists of the following: pretending I am a figure of authority to 14-18 year olds, and pretending that I am an appropriate person, not one who is prone to talking like a sailor or letting out bodily noises at inopportune times at all. Not at all!

In any case, all of these factors make today seem interminable. And I can't make myself be as productive as I need to be. I just keep thinking about how much I want to take a trip to Orlando, FL this Christmas Break to go to the Harry Potter Theme Park. It is definitely one of my major life goals.

Oh, and I must tell you about Saturday, when I took my girls to the Prep Session.
I was told that I had to go to the Prep Session with the girls, and that I could not send them without going myself. But once I got there, there was nothing to do. I believe I was supposed to be doing something helpful, but I don't know what that was supposed to be. So, I spent my time hiding from other teachers in hopes of not being finagled into doing something helpful.

At one point, I snuck out behind the cafeteria, sat behind a wall to hide myself, and just contemplated the trees. It felt strangely like those wonderful UIL Competition days in high school, when we had to do our competitions, and then chill for the rest of the day, burning contraband incense matches and taking walks in the woods. (Elissa & Rachel: Remember??)

Anyways, sometimes I feel like the only professional-aged person who has failed to gain professional-aged morals. In fact, I feel like my work morals have only decreased since graduating college.

In fact, after sitting a while behind the wall, I decided I might as well skip till the end of the day, when I had to make sure my girls had a ride home, and so I called Aaron, and we went to Sonic to hang out till the end of the day. It was amazing. I finally got the chance to skip school with a hot guy!

This is a super disjointed post. Eh, I can't be bothered to improve it, till later at least.

2010-11-04T11:14:00.002-05:00

In response to Aaron B's question, I miss my census job because it was the perfect mix of inactivity, human interaction, and money. When I was working for the census, I would get up in the morning (not too early, because no one else working for the census wanted to wake up too early), drive to Whole Foods to meet my work group, hang out and talk for a while, and get some questionnaires to do. I'd get them done in a short amount of time, clock in my hours, and be done. I miss my hours of daylight at home, lounging and enjoying my time with the creatures. And I had found a group of kindred spirits in my census group--people who do not view work as the most important part of their lives, and thus, were very interesting people.

Teaching is fairly rewarding and interesting, but it's eating my soul, because I do not have enough time to do the things that really matter to me (i.e. improving and culturing my mind through reading and movies, as well as doing my god-given vocation, which is hanging out with my boy, dog, and kitty.)

On the other hand, I am learning science so much better now than I ever did in medical school. And I'm getting paid to learn it, rather than paying some bloated institution to teach it to me.

2010-10-27T07:41:00.000-05:00

I really miss my census job.

2010-09-30T18:58:00.000-05:00

Possibly the cutest kitten video I've ever seen.

2010-09-24T07:28:00.002-05:00

The mix that randomly played this morning on my way to work was too amazing not to document.

1. Girl Right Next to Me - Goo Goo Dolls
2. My Life to Live - Lars Frederickson and the Bastards
3. Daylight Outro Remix - Matt & Kim
4. Losing Touch - The Killers

That, plus my starbux coffee, breakfast of hostess powdered donuts, and the fact that it is FRIDAY! should make this an amazing day.

2010-08-23T13:28:00.003-05:00

Last night, Aaron and I followed a random car off I-75, just to see where he ended up. I was having my routine Sunday night depression, and started wishing I had somewhere to be, as it seemed all the other cars on the highway did. So, we decided to follow a white Honda to see where it was going. Strangely, he got off on our exit. Then, he took us on a winding route. Aaron conjectured that he was going to end up just taking us to his house/apt/living abode, and I hoped for a much more mysterious and exciting destination. In the end, we ended up about 2 blocks away from our house, and he parked in the parking lot behind Black Eyed Pea, either because he worked the night shift somewhere near there, or he was gonna party down on Cedar Springs, or because he wanted a late dinner. So, I guess we didn't learn much, but what is the likelihood that the exact car we decided to follow would end up getting off I-75 at our exit, and basically take us home?

Dwight looks like a baby puppy without his collar. The coating on his collar hardware wore off, and he had an allergic reaction to the nickel...or the brass, we're not sure. So we're gonna have to order some stainless steel hardware and re-hardware his collar. But first we're waiting for his neck to heal and stop leaking. Yuck. Oh, the things I do for this dog.

I had a dream last night that a bright pink kitten showed up at our doorstep. But when I touched her fur, crowds of fleas and mites could be seen running from my hand. So Aaron and I gave her a bath in Dawn soap, and the pink washed off to reveal mostly white with orange tabby patches. I was disappointed because I was hoping the pink was a rare genetic mutation.

The end, for now.

2010-08-22T02:03:00.003-05:00

How many movies does Repo Men rip off? At least 4 obvious ones...
1. Old Boy
2. Pulp Fiction
3. Vanilla Sky
4. granted this is not a movie...but, a Corona commercial.

2010-07-29T11:05:00.003-05:00

In the past year or so, I've begun having a certain recurring dream. Not exactly the same dream every time, but a recurring theme that twists into different situations every time. It always has to do with suddenly remembering that I have forgotten about a certain animal in a certain cage or aquarium, and realizing I haven't fed them in a very long time, and then being afraid to look, lest I see something awful inside, like a rotting body or something.

Last night's version was that I suddenly realized that I had forgotten about two additional animals living in the hermit crab's cage. One, a dark mouse, and the other, I'm not sure, some other rodent. There was the typical dread at looking into the cage, and I seem to remember that once I did, I saw the dark mouse, in bad shape, clinging to his water bottle on the side of the cage. I felt so guilty.

I guess that's the result of having so many animals. Especially when we still had the gerbils, there was so much upkeep that I felt like I was always falling behind on something. It also doesn't help that the hermit crab cage is now exactly where the gerbils' cage was, so maybe that's part of why I thought there should be two more rodents in the cage. I'm sure Billy and Lars have gone on to their heavenly rest, but my mind is still haunted in a very ordinary way by the confusion of space and time.

Also, I found a dead wild mouse in our backyard yesterday, still soft. Poison? Or murdered by B.P.? My guess is poisoned, since he was still soft and B.P. had been inside overnight, and the mouse seemed untouched, but it's always possible B.P. thought I deserved a treat for being so nice to him... : )

2010-05-21T16:11:00.003-05:00

Aaron and I have been trying to find discount Scarborough Faire tickets on craigslist (it's Dallas's version of the Renaissance Festival). Here is the email we just sent to a guy selling his two tickets for $30.

Subject: scarborough fair tickets‏
From: Aaron Yarbrough (a*****@hotmail.com)
Sent: Fri 5/21/10 4:10 PM
To: t*****@hotmail.com

Hello milord,
Might you consent to let these illustrious tickets go for $24?

I can meet you on my steed at any location in the Dallas area.

Many thanks, good sir, and I look humbly forward to your reply forthwith.

Sir Aaron

If I got this email, I would totally take the $6 loss just to see what kind of freaks came to pick the tickets up. Lol!

2010-04-22T16:04:00.001-05:00

2010-04-22T14:30:00.009-05:00

I love playing escape games. Sometime during my hellish time in med school, I decided it might be fun to be able to make my own escape games. So I got Flash CS3 and got started. Try out my very first escape game below!

It's not anywhere near as complicated as most escape games I've played. But I'm proud that I was able to learn enough Actionscripting to be able to do anything at all.
A more complicated and more by-the-books escape game is coming soon, just as soon as Aaron tests it out for me first.

If you want to play a more professional escape game, here's a link to my favorite.

2010-04-06T23:50:00.001-05:00

This video is my comedic relief for the night.

I originally thought this song was by Jason Mraz, because it sounds so much like him. But it's actually Train. It's getting major radio play in Dallas, and I thought it was pretty cheesy--for one thing, who wants to be called "sister" by someone who claims to think you're hot? But after watching the vid, it's quickly becoming an earworm.

Check out the dance moves at 1:00 and 2:08. So awkward! So cheesy! But yet so endearing!

Also, just as a bonus, check out the Dwight look-a-like at 1:47.

2010-03-20T20:46:00.002-05:00

I've been pretty lucky lately.

First, I got a job. A temporary one, but to me, that's better than a permanent one for now, since I've been having commitment issues regarding my career for the past year. I'm working for the census, helping people who don't speak English well fill out their census forms. I had three days of training that bored me out of my mind, but in those three days I met some interesting people and made some much-needed money, so I guess I can't complain. I do anyways though, because it's what I do best.

Second, we found an amazing home for my first ever foster puppy. Well actually, I should say that my second bit of luck was that I got my first ever foster puppy. Just a couple weeks ago, I was telling Aaron, "I wish someone would lose their puppy so I could find it and play with it for a few days before giving it back." Well, I got my wish--Andi and Jeff found a puppy they couldn't keep, and so we took care of him for a couple days and tried to find him a home.

Here he is:

I got super attached! I didn't mean to--I didn't even name him because I knew I would get too attached. But it was amazing carrying his soft, flexible little puppy body around, and so of course, I loved him almost too much to give him up.

We ended up finding him an amazing home on Craigslist. I was very nervous about giving him to a stranger, since we've had some not-so-great experiences from unreliable people on Craigslist, but we did as much screening as we could, and found a great owner for him. I've already gotten multiple emails from the guy after the adoption, updating me on Jeremy's (foster puppy's new name) puppy shots, and training. We even have a neuter appointment scheduled already.

Third, B.P. got himself into some trouble last week on one of his solitary wanders. He must've gotten his back foot stuck on something, because he didn't come home until 4 am, and he was shaking and his back foot was swollen and had cuts on it. I'm guessing he got his foot stuck and couldn't get free, and had to wrench it out by force. He's healed up for the most part now, but we're not so sure about letting him back out. I'll probably sew up a harness for him and see if he'll be satisfied with walks. (I have to sew the harness because he's the size of a small pug, but dog harnesses are too thick and heavy for him to be happy with.)

This whole situation probably doesn't seem lucky to you, but it is, because we got him back. He so easily could have just never made it home. I wonder how many of his 9 lives he's used up by now--he's avoided any and all disease despite being a stray cat for so many years, and now this...

So, I have felt pretty lucky lately, though I will say that getting back into having something I have to go to every day (i.e. a job or school) really makes me wonder why anyone even bothers. Now there aren't enough hours in the day for me to live like I want to, but if I don't work, I can't really live like I want to either. Life seems so perverse at times.

2010-02-17T14:06:00.002-06:00

I came out of the shower today to see Dwight laying outside the bathroom door waiting for me, and kitty laying on the towel outside the shower waiting for me. And as I brushed my teeth, B.P. started licking my leg with his sandpaper tongue.

Just a normal occurence for any pet owner, but it is nice to feel loved by creatures.

2010-02-16T01:27:00.002-06:00

Lately I've been feeling sad, frustrated, and extremely misanthropic. In fact, I think 'misanthrope' is my current favorite word, because it describes my current personality so well. And maybe not just my current personality...

Last night, we had pizza at Eno's with Andi and Jeff after spending the day helping them rid their yard of all the limbs that had fallen due to the recent snow. While there, we started talking about cartoons. Jeff's theory is that shows that were once popular with kids would always be popular, because kids don't have a whole lot of mental baggage--if Teletubbies appealed to some part of the primal child brain in 2001, the show will continue to appeal to kids in 2050. The only difference is whether parents will feel the show is appropriate/fashionable for their kid to watch in 2050. Talking about this made me realize how few kids' shows I actually watched as a child. I remember liking most of Sesame Street (most everything but those yip-yip characters), Mr. Rogers, and Pee-Wee Herman (esp. the opening sequence). Later on, I really liked Mighty Max and Bobby's World. But I hated Looney Tunes, Animaniacs, and all those kids' shows that were supposed to be funny. Because I hated the characters--I found them annoying and unfunny. This causes me to suspect that my misanthropic tendencies existed from a very early age. I mean, what kid dislikes Bugs Bunny?

In reference to my current state of mind, I mostly blame it on too much internet-ing. People are too ready to speak their mind while remaining hidden behind a computer screen, and spending too much time reading the raw, unfiltered thoughts of thousands of Americans is bound to make anyone hate the world. I do feel, however, that these unfiltered thoughts (because of the sheer volume of like-minded comments) represent something of the nebulous, ephemeral thing we call 'society.'

And there's nothing like reading these unfiltered thoughts to remind me of how much I don't fit in.

I hate feeling like an 'other.' I hate not agreeing with 95% of people who are in the same situation as I am in. It not only makes me feel frustrated with myself for being myself, but it also makes me feel frustrated with the rest of the world for being so incomprehensible.

I suppose I am at odds with everything around me.

Although I did have a fairly stimulating conversation with my dental hygienist today during my teeth cleaning...

2010-02-11T02:55:00.002-06:00

I once made a joking comment during a medical school child psychology class that I planned on potty training my possible future kids like I potty trained my dog--15 minutes after eating or playing, take them to the toilet, and reward proper defecation! If they hadn't learned to sit up by themselves yet, I would hold them up to the toilet. I was chastised and told that I would scar my children mentally by expecting so much of them...apparently, according to medical professionals, attempts to potty train can't occur without serious damage to the self esteem until 2.5 years of age.

I really was joking at the time, mostly. Just like I'm mostly joking when I say I will use a spray bottle to discipline my toddler... ;) Though it does seem quite ridiculous to have to change disgusting baby diapers for 2.5 years of my adult life...and that's if you only want one kid!

But tonight, I was surfing around the internet, and came upon this website about "elimination communication." Apparently, this method was brought to the industrialized West by a woman who spent a lot of time in India in the 70s and 80s, and who noticed that Indian women carried their naked babies on their backs all day, and yet were rarely defecated on by their offspring. Somehow, they could tell when their infants had to go to the bathroom (very young babies that can't talk or sign yet) and would then hold them over a toilet. The method is all about observing your baby and recognizing the signs of an imminent pee or poop. Genius! It is like potty training a dog!

I feel positively vindicated.

2010-01-08T03:52:00.001-06:00

Up late reading The Turn of the Screw--my first Henry James! Creepy
voices and whistling outside are freaking me out.

2010-01-08T02:00:00.004-06:00

It is way too freaking cold to go outside...I think I will stay in and cuddle w/ the animals tomorrow. It's not even an enjoyable, drink hot chocolate, and wear cute winter clothes cold. It's a desperately grip your scarf to your face and scream in relief when you finally get into your car cold.

I am so ready for summer.

The most exciting thing that has happened to me this week is getting a warm fleece jacket. Oh, and making a pretty good bowl of homemade chili.

2009-12-30T01:41:00.012-06:00

Blogging to you from my new computer, who I've jokingly christened "Edward."
(If you don't know what that is in reference to, you don't know me very well...)
My old one's battery died, and then the mouse started going, so we sorta decided not to put any more money into it. I miss my old compy sometimes, but I also have gotten quite emotionally attached to my new one, so it's a toss up.

I haven't blogged for real in a very long time, mostly because I've been fairly down about the tellable parts of my life, though I've also been fairly happy about the not-so-tellable parts of my life. Like, how much can one say about how cute one's dog is, or how incredible one's husband is? In any case, I guess there just hasn't been much to say.

So, I am still unemployed, and still very torn about that--I don't know if I like not doing much during the day, but I also don't know if working would be better. And I change my mind multiple times a day about what kind of job I want.
Enough about that.

For Christmas, I went down to Galveston to visit my sister and her new apartment by the beach. Here's some pictures of Dwight and I at the beach!

He was great at the beach! I was able to let him run off-leash because there weren't any people around, and he came to me when I called him every time. And he got in the ocean, which I was really surprised about since he hates water and is basically a coward about everything. It was really fun to watch him be a normal dog for once.
Although, he did cut his paw slightly on a shell and bled all over my sheets at Monica's place before I noticed. Boy, was that a bitch to pre-wash. There were at least 25 little blood spots. It was absolutely miserable.

Since Aaron had to work in Dallas until the day before Christmas Eve, he came down to Houston Wednesday night. Things we did during our Christmas break in Houston:
--saw Avatar with Aaron's dad. I loved it, even though the 3-d glasses gave me a super headache during the first half of the film.
--walked Dwight with Clover, my dad's dog. They got along super well, because Clover's a very calm, dominant dog, so they sniffed noses and butts properly, and then respected each other's space.
--had Christmas lunch at Aaron's uncle's house with his mom and grandparents. The food was absolutely amazing, and I've been craving roast w/ horseradish sauce ever since.
--spent Christmas night with my family down in Galveston at my sister's place. Ate another Christmas meal. This one included of creamed corn, which my arteries will be paying for when I'm 60. The recipe consisted of 2 cans of corn, a whole stick of butter, and a whole 8 oz stick of cream cheese. Disgusting! But oh so delicious. I came back to Dallas and tried to replicate it after halving the butter and cheese, but it just doesn't taste as good. I don't think I'll have the original stuff again though, as I might not survive it.
--hung out with Elissa, Aaron B., and Rachel at Elissa's mom's house the day after Christmas. Cache (Elissa's lab mix) and Dwight got to meet each other. This was a bit more...exciting, as they sorta riled each other up. I got to hear Dwight's new chihuahua bark, which he did while playing with Cache.
Side note: While there, Elissa asked whether Dwight had ever bitten another dog or human, so I just want to re-iterate(!!) that no, he has not ever bitten dog, human, cat, or any other thing that's not his food or treats, or the tips of my fingers as I handed him a treat. He chases cats outside but then play bows when he catches up to them (though scaring them in the process, I'm sure), and is submissive with Big Poppa, our cat. In addition, he was bit by a schnauzer once, and did not retaliate, just stood there with his ears back. If he bit a dog ever, he wouldn't ever get to play with another dog and if he bit a human, he would probably get put down. I feel bad for him sometimes, because we have to put so much pressure on him to be well behaved just because of the way he looks. I understand it, because of his breed reputation, but it still sucks.
--had lunch at Katz's with a friend, which was a double bonus because I got to catch up with him, *and* eat a whole order of fried pickles by myself.

Okay, here's some videos I wanted to show you guys.

Dwight and Aaron playing. Dwight sometimes gets in these moods where he wants to lay his paw on our hands. Halfway through, Dwight gets smart and uses both paws.

Beach footage.

More beach footage--I'm trying to get Dwight to chase the seagulls but he's totally oblivious, and keeps running in front of me and then stopping, thus tripping me up. He finally gets it though.

My mom feeding Dwight and Monica french fries. I was really surprised to see my mom doing this, because she hates the soft feeling of animals, especially their mouths. Notice how she tries to give the longest ones to Dwight.

2009-12-02T12:37:00.003-06:00

We just took Big Poppa to the vet, and he tested negative for FIV, Feline leukemia, and heartworms! I am so relieved, because we haven't been taking him to the vet because we were afraid of stressing him out and aggravating the feline leukemia, which we assumed he had, since Tupac, who he hung around with, died of it.

^^What a convoluted sentence.

Anyways, yipee!!

2009-11-29T22:03:00.001-06:00

I am re-obsessed with Twilight. I saw New Moon a week ago, and I just finished reading New Moon through Breaking Dawn again. Starting on Twilight again.

Why oh why am I mentally 12 years old?

Oh hell, if it lets me lust after the likes of Edward Cullen, I'm resigned to it.

My christmas present is ridiculously Twilight-inspired, too. yay!

2009-11-24T14:35:00.002-06:00

My poor blog readers...(all 2 of you)...you must think I have abandoned you. Which, in a way, I have, since my life consists of very little of interest. Unless you would like daily updates on the escapades of Dwight and B.P., which I could go on and on about, but I doubt you would find that interesting. In addition, the "o" button on my laptop is now sticking, thus making it quite hard to write about anything with an "o" in it. Good thing Dwight's name doesn't contain one.

I really just logged on today to tell you to look at this post on CuteOverload.

But I suppose I should do some sort of update. Let's see...

Dwight and I have been battling a patch of ringworm on his belly. (Yeah, gross! Now you get a sense of my day-to-day life.) So we have a routine twice a day--I roll him over onto his side, saying something silly like, "Let's see it! Let's see it!" and then I clean the patch off with some hydrogen peroxide and then rub in a ton of Lotrimin. Thankfully, none of us humans have contracted this deadly disease yet, since it took me literally 2 years to get rid of it the last time I got it (from a shelter dog).
But the thing that makes this story more interesting, is the fact that now, whenever Dwight sees the cotton ball bag, he turns on his side and lifts up his leg so I can do what I need to do. It's hilarious, because unlike other dogs, Dwight doesn't roll over easily for some reason, so getting into position on his side to show me his belly is quite an endeavor for him. I think he likes the quality belly rubbing time, though he's never been one for actual belly rubs. Wierd, right?

Does anyone have any suggestions on fixing ringworm in dogs? We haven't taken him to the vet for it yet, since it seems to be responding to the lotrimin, but we will if it spreads.

Other things on the animal front:
1. B.P. is a love as always. We've got him a collar because there's this guy across the way who also feeds ferals and I think he might let B.P. into his house sometimes, and if he does, I want him to know that B.P. is already owned by us, and not a stray to take in. (Which, how would you not know, seeing how fat he is getting...I guess he's making up for the lean times.)
In any case, B.P. is very good about the collar and keeps it on the whole time he is outside. It's really cute hearing the tag jingle as he runs toward us.

2. Billy the gerbil, who lost his brother Lars a couple of months ago, got really sick for a while. His eyes started getting bigger and bigger, and I was really worried for a weekend. Then, his eyes went back to normal, but looked cloudy. I thought he was over whatever it was. Then, the next weekend, he started gushing blood from his eyes. It was the most horrifying thing I have ever witnessed. Aaron and I were freaking because we couldn't decide whether to take him to the vet or not, since all our experience with taking small animals to the vet is that it stresses them out so much they die soon after (or on the examining table, as per Monica and Jordan's poor guinea pig, Bob). So we let Billy try to get better on his own. He kept trying to rub his face in his sand bath to stop the bleeding, so we took it out and gave him some flour, which supposedly has styptic powers. But it didn't work, and seemed to make it worse, so we took it out. He eventually stopped bleeding, though it started and stopped twice that weekend. Now, he is pretty quiet, but does move around to eat and drink, and he'll take treats from me. In fact, while he was gushing blood and dripping it everywhere, he was still eating! Anyways, gerbils are the hardiest rodents, so hopefully he will recover a bit more.

Ok well, I gotta go. While writing this post, I am slowly eating the mediocre potato salad I made last night, and Dwight is whining at me because he wants some.

2009-11-07T03:21:00.002-06:00

It's 3 am and I'm home alone!

Aaron is gone for the weekend unexpectedly, and I feel like a 14 year old left to my own devices. Currently I am sprawled across the bed, bathed in the blue light of the computer screen, with Dwight curled up next to me. Two seconds before I started this post, I was mouth breathing (unintentionally, due to my sinus infection that is mostly better now) and looking up random flickr photos.

All I ate today was a sub sandwich from Jimmy Johns, some popcorn, and a bite of fruit loops. I am way too used to being taken care of...if Aaron is around, he will get me food if I am feeling too weak (or lazy) to get out of the house. And if he is around, it feels less futile to scrounge up appropriate food for two rather than just me. Lucky that Dwight's kibble is easy to prepare!
And then I spent all day finishing up a book about dragons and catching up on TV. What the heck will I do tomorrow? Probably more of the same.

Dwight got his new collar in today! He looks very handsome in it. The new smell is getting to me though.

2009-10-30T02:00:00.001-05:00

as per Aaron: 'Mockery is the greatest form of flattery, Jenny'. That, apparently, is his excuse for mocking me until I told him he was being annoying.

2009-10-24T04:22:00.001-05:00

The mind is a terrible thing. Mine plagues me. Tonight, it started out slyly, by reminding me of humiliating moments in my life that make me want to gouge my brains out when I think of them. Just when I thought I had succeeded in forgetting them. Nothing earth shattering, just things I wish I'd never said or gaseous expulsions I wish I could have been warned about by my traitor body before they actually expulsed. But now, as I lay in bed, my mind takes a deleterious turn, and forces me to think of all the saddest things that could happen. Just when I thought that being in Austin for the weekend had cured my insomnia temporarily...
Yep, this is a pretty typical blog post for 4 am.

2009-10-18T21:02:00.001-05:00

Monica, Lump (her cat), and Jordan are in Dallas this weekend for the Shootout. My weekend has consisted of eating out at restaurants (yipee!), bookstores, and watching Lump, who is currently in heat, present herself to Dwight at every opportunity. She also presents to humans, furniture, and especially shoes. She was a bottle baby, so she's a little confused.

2009-10-16T03:25:00.001-05:00

Mobile blogging! Ah, what innovation insomnia brings...

2009-09-14T11:52:00.001-05:00

I'm back from a weekend in Houston! I spent Sunday morning with Aaron doing yard work for his mom--we were to remove a "bush," which once I saw it, it was really small tree-sized, so I think it was a bit misleading to call it a bush. I imagined a waist-high, soft-branched thing, but really it was pretty big. Taller than me. In any case, we got it out eventually, but I ache in places I didn't even know existed. And there's more "bush"-removing planned for Christmas. Delightful.
Actually it was sorta fun to be outside and getting my workout, and I was fed really well this weekend.

What I'm up to these days:
1. Working on finding a job, but also feeling really anxious about talking to new people in order to do it.
2. Watching Desperate Housewives on netflix on demand.
3. Selling off some unnecessary stuff.
4. Cleaning! I basically haven't done any major cleaning in this place for 3 years...so I have some catching up to do.
5. Re-reading The Other End of the Leash, to refresh my dog knowledge.

2009-08-30T01:12:00.000-05:00

Last night in St. Cloud. It seems hard to believe that tomorrow night, I won't see Cache running gleefully down the stairs and hallway at bedtime, excited about sharing the bed, and that there won't be any more late night Desperate Housewives watching with Elissa for a long time. This is what happens when you take on someone else's life--you get comfortable in it, and you don't realize how much you're going to miss the everyday occurrences till you have to leave. I'll miss my messy little basement room.
I can't believe that with all the technological advances of the modern age, we don't yet have instantaneous transporters.

On the other hand, I will be seeing my boy and my dog soon (and my cat, gerbil, hermit crab and fishie), so there's something to be happy about.

On a happier note, Elissa and I taught Cache to play dead! I must remember to take a video of him doing it before I go.

2009-08-28T21:38:00.000-05:00

Yay! I'm happy because I'm going to be having some cashflow in the next week or two...
Aaron is doing a Craigslist deal for me in Dallas on one of my bags I don't want anymore, and I got a really great upgrade phone from AT&T that I can sell on Craigslist as well, since I already have a phone I love. The income from the bag will be able to cover a shirt I bought here that I've been feeling a bit guilty about, and the phone...well let's just say,

A&E Boots, here I come!

I figure since I'm currently unemployed, the least I can do is cover my frivolous purchases the best I can.

2009-08-27T11:13:00.000-05:00

Having been in St. Cloud for a while, in addition to hanging out with Elissa, which I haven't really gotten to do since college (three years ago!), I've also gotten a chance to get to know Cache, her dog. Cache is the first dog I've gotten close to other than Dwight. It's fairly difficult to get to know most people's dogs in the way that their owners know them--and because of this, other people's dogs pretty much end up just seeming like dogs. Nothing special, just some creature who exists in someone else's house.

But with Cache, it's different. Not only have I fed and pottied him more than a couple times, he's also my sleeping buddy, since the cats get to sleep with Aaron B. and Elissa. So I've come to discover the way Cache gives "hugs" on the couch by putting his front paws around your lap, and then slowly collapses so that his torso is in your lap, and then twists upside down so that his tongue hangs out and his chest is in the perfect place for a nice scratch. And the way he takes advantage of any weakness in the morning--if he sees me open my eyes just once, he will not rest until we are up and out of bed, on the way to potty and preferably food as well.

In getting to know Cache, I've been surprised at seeing how easily everything seems to go for him. First, it was the fluid way his joints moved as he walked, in contrast to Dwight's stiffer-legged gait. Cache seems as indestructible as I had always thought all dogs were before I got Dwight. He is perfectly fine to be grabbed by his scruff, thrown around in rough play, and to slip around on the hardwood floor. Second, on his first ever trip to the dog park, Cache seemed to immediately grasp how to communicate with other dogs. Whereas Dwight at first seemed to only understand vocal communication--if a dog barked at him, no matter how small the dog was, he would back down; otherwise, he would continue chewing and licking another dog's ears even if the other dog's hackles were standing up. Finally, Cache takes negative reinforcement fairly well--his ego seeming quite as indestructible as everything else about him. Dwight, on the other hand, kennels himself if I happen to raise my voice.

In the end, these difference don't matter much in the scheme of things. Having Cache as a comparison has merely helped me to understand how much of Dwight is dog-ness, and how much of him is pure Dwight-ness.

But on more contemplative days, I can't help but to notice how Cache's differences from Dwight seem to mirror the differences between Elissa's life and mine. Elissa's life in St. Cloud is ordered--things stay where they belong, and the kitchen table is rarely, if ever, obscured with unfinished projects and scrap paper. She has things to do and a schedule on which to do them...and she follows this schedule for the most part. After three years of med school, I've gotten used to eating when I feel like it and taking my fun wherever and whenever I can get it, even if it means driving around a dead city at 4 am in the morning. I believe it was similar for Elissa while she was finishing her master's degree just a couple of months ago. But her life now includes a sunlit house with a deck, a huge, kelly green yard, and a dog who seems to encapsulate the order and all-american-ness of it all.

And so, on these days, I wonder: if I find a dream job, and move into my dream house, will Dwight magically stop limping forever and become a perfectly healthy dog, to mirror my perfectly healthy life? I suppose one can always hope.

2009-08-25T11:32:00.000-05:00

Currently blogging to you from Elissa's couch in St. Augusta, Minnesota! Cache, Elissa and Aaron B.'s dog, is laying on the carpet in front of me making a huge mess chewing up his rope/tire toy, and I have a view of the deck and bird feeder outside from where I sit. I am in love with their deck, despite the fact that I have not spent much time on it. I can just envision myself sitting on the deck on a comfy chair to drink some sort of hot liquid and read a book every morning. Of course, I have not done so, but I could very much envision myself doing so....

On that note--why are drinking hot liquids considered such a posh, grown-up thing to do? I see people my age hanging out at coffeehouses all the time, sipping an indescript hot liquid from a cardboard cup that closely resembles a baby's sippy cup, and then either tapping away on a laptop or reading a book, and looking very satisfied with their lives, and how they turned out.
This makes me wonder if Aaron's strong aversion to hot liquids of any kind (though he will lift his ban occasionally for tomato basil soup from Le Madeleine) is connected to his equally strong aversion to "growing up."
His theory is that people grow up and turn into stodgy adults by first pretending to be an adult, until they forget how it was before they started pretending. So we keep ourselves young by letting ourselves do what we feel like, when we feel like, as much as possible. And I defend Aaron's right to wear his pants at whatever level he chooses, and his right to let his beard get as long as he wants it to on the weekends to his mother, who I sometimes think, wishes she had Bill Gates as a son...with or without the money, she just wants the sweater vests and pants at belly button level.

Signing out--I am off to rot my brain by reading Cosmo magazine, which I bought yesterday at the grocery store on impulse.

2009-07-29T13:26:00.000-05:00

Haha, Kitty just jumped up on the couch to cuddle with me, but landed on a junkmail ad thing that was left on the couch and jumped about half a foot in the air. When he landed he acted as if nothing happened, and walked over to start kneading on me. I love having a cat in the house!

2009-07-27T13:27:00.000-05:00

Back from a much-stressed-about weekend trip to Houston!
I was really dreading the trip due to having to leave B.P. outside all weekend to fend for himself, since he only uses the litterbox sporadically. This is usually ok, since he just asks to go outside when he needs to go, thus freeing us from litterbox cleaning duties, but it also prevents him from staying inside when we need to go on trips.
It felt so good last night to be going to sleep in my own bed knowing that B.P. was safely sleeping in his usual chair. He's been especially lovey today as well, which is nice as cuddling with kitties is especially cozy on a rainy day.

In other news, I have finally sold off all my school books, and bought Aaron's combined b-day/anniversary present with the proceeds, with a bit left over.

I feel really sluggish today, and I fear the writing in this post is suffering. Better log off for now...

On to a lazy day of reading Harry Potter and waiting for a package that probably will not arrive today.

2009-06-18T11:04:00.000-05:00

Yesterday, Aaron and I had a conversation (while walking from the car to Target to get Father's Day cards) about the line in the Bible about not worrying too much because if God takes care of birds, then of course he will take care of you. Here's the actual verse:

Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is life not more important than food and the body more important than clothes? Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life.
Matthew 6:25-27 New International Version

I've always thought about this quote a lot, whenever I get a bit overwrought about things I have no control over. Which is a lot of things.
So I was telling Aaron yesterday that it bothered me a lot to see sick birds around, eating dirty pesto pasta from some crushed plastic container, or even dead ones that seem to have just dropped dead while flying and fell from the sky. He reasoned that God would be taking care of the birds if humans, with our free will, hadn't messed with the ecosystem, which makes sense. But it still bothered me.

And then today as I was driving home from class, I saw a bird diving and gliding in front of my car at a red light. I didn't think much of it until I noticed a moth flying in front of it. The bird was really beautiful, flying after the moth, it went in for the kill a few times and missed, but it never lost sight of the moth. And finally, before the light turned green, the bird caught it and flew off to eat. I didn't realize until I was driving away how much the event applied to my conversation with Aaron earlier.

It doesn't really change the fact that birds can have a really bad time of it, but I thought it was a reaffirming coincidence.

2009-06-09T10:08:00.001-05:00

At the Union. In Austin! Whoop.

I'm sitting outside taking a break from studying. So I'm watching 30 Rock, the episode where Liz is going corporate. Seeing her success really cheers me up because it's almost like I'm watching myself succeed. There are a million reasons why I am Liz Lemon. Shall I enumerate the ways?

1. She loves food!
2. She is awkward!
3. She says things like, "You can eat my poo!"

This comparison cheers me up considerably because I was walking on campus to get to the Union today, and started feeling quite old. But then I thought, "Well, Liz is 37, and she is still awesome," and felt much better.

2009-05-27T09:55:00.000-05:00

Have you seen this trailer? I went to see Terminator Salvation on Monday, and when I saw this trailer, I immediately wished that I was seeing Surrogates instead. It may be Bruce Willis' best movie since 12 Monkeys (which I saw on the UT movie channel in the dorms at least three times).

Terminator, on the other hand, was ok. It seemed more like an episode in a long series than an actual definitive sequel. Maybe because they were trying to hard to keep it open-ended so they can make more sequels and thus, more $$.

This past weekend, my mom and sister came up to visit, along with my sister's 2 week old bottle baby kitten, currently named "Lump." See her picture on my flickr, or here!

We went to Scarborough Faire on Sunday, which is the Renaissance Festival near Dallas, and I was quite tempted to go again Monday. Aaron and I were able to get 4 tickets for $40 online right before we went, so we saved about 50%. While there, the four of us ate two spinach pochettes, a sausage on a stick, a baked potato with the works (which apparently includes a single broccoli stalk garnish), two orders of fried pickles, and a meatball pochette. I think that's it... Oh wait, also Aaron and I shared a strawberry italian ice on an orange half, and we all shared two bottles of RC cola. The wonders that met our eyes at the festival included smoke bubbles, birds of prey, and a pewter creature vendor who asked me, "Young Lady, where did you get those sunglasses?", and then informed me that they were looking for a pair of green aviators.

Aaron has said two funny things lately by accident (and probably countless funny things on purpose...but those don't count).

First, as we were doing the Scarborough Faire ticket exchange at a gas station, Aaron asked the guy (a middle-aged guy with piercing blue eyes in spite of his brown hair) how he won them (at a dance contest) pondered the tickets and said, "They look pretty legit..." Looking hurt, the guy replied, with slight indignance, "They are." Pretty hilarious, since Aaron meant for it to be an internal conversation, but it slipped out.
>>Then later in the car, we wondered whether the man would have been willing to give us a little display of his dancin' skills that he won the dance contest with, to prove the tickets were for real. Such indignity for just $40, doing a jig at a Valero gas station.<<

And then yesterday, we went to On The Border, and when the host asked us whether we wanted to sit inside or outside, Aaron asked, "If it starts to rain, can we come inside?" The host just said, "Sure!" But it cracked me up, because what are they going to do, bar the doors?

2009-05-14T10:36:00.000-05:00

hehe Dwight just did something awesome.
He loves to play with my elastic hair bands and I caught him picking one off the window ledge at the head of our bed. I told him, "No, don't do that" and sounded very disapproving. So he dropped it, but it landed on my pillow, instead of on the ledge--then, he nudged it with his nose until it was right back where it was before he touched it.

My dog might be the smartest creature that ever walked the earth. Actually, that's not true, he can be quite dense about many things, which is why I was so surprised at this turn of events.

2009-05-12T18:05:00.001-05:00

Ha, ok, I am at work, and I just happened to think about this following video, and could not hold back a laugh.

Also, this one is pretty funny too:

And this

See more here.

My favorite thing is how the kitty lifts his head and closes his eyes at the end. The comedy is twofold:
1. He looks like he is blissed out on his keyboard music
2. He is wearing a shirt and some human has his hands stuck up in the shirt, moving kitty's arms around, and kitty acts like he is just getting a good petting.

2009-05-07T08:55:00.001-05:00

While driving home from work just now (no class today, just study time), I saw a basset hound with a faded blue collar on accosting random strangers down the street. I typically don't stop for stray dogs anymore because Aaron and I can never get them to come to us, they just run away from us, fast. But since this one seemed to be walking up to homeless people, I figured his standards weren't that high, and since he had a collar on and was friendly, perhaps he was lost. So I stopped, and saw him run into an auto mechanic shop where a guy was working. I asked the guy if that was his dog, and he said yes. Satisfied that I had attempted to do my duty towards all dogkind, I started walking away, when the dog ran back out and followed me. I petted him for a little while, and after that, he started to follow me down the street while nipping at my calves and thighs to try to get me to pay attention to him. The guy tried to get him to come, but every time the guy got close, the dog would mischievously dart away. Finally, I had to call him over and catch his collar and lead him back so the guy could hold onto him.
I wish we could go back in time when a dog could chill unleashed when his/her human was working outside. Dwight has far too much leash time and not enough free time, and thus, has not had the opportunity to develop his problem solving skills. (If this seems like a jump in reasoning, read Merle, The Adventures of a Free Thinking Dog.) Not to say that the basset hound seemed to be smarter than Dwight, but I wish Dwight could have time to figure things out for himself. For example, when he's on leash and Big Poppa (the cat) starts running past him during one of his playful moods, Dwight gets really excited and wants to chase. But at 3 am, when he's off leash for a potty break before bed, he stays away from kitty, because he knows he will get bitch slapped otherwise. I think it's cause he thinks we think for him when he's on leash, so he doesn't have to think for himself.
On the other hand though, this basset hound was skinny, and starved for attention. On coming home and finding Dwight curled up on his excessively cushy bed, I felt lucky that Aaron and I have the means to provide for him in the way that we do. But I also felt a little sad that he has such a sheltered, city dog life. If only we lived in the country with more safe, open spaces, he could have the best of both worlds.

On another note regarding Dwight and the cat, whenever we take Dwight for a walk to the yard, Big Poppa follows us--Dwight on leash, BP off. Sometimes I feel like the Pied Piper of animals. Anyways, a couple of days ago, we went, and Dwight was really hyper. When we got to the yard (Dwight's designated hyper area), Dwight saw BP and charged at him. Every time he would get close to the cat, he would play bow, make a circle around him, and then run away. I think he finally succeeded in scaring BP, because BP got up and nonchalantly (as cats will be, even if they are scared shitless) walked outside of the fence. Perhaps Dwight remembered playing w/ the neighbors dogs in that yard and thought we had brought BP along as a playmate? In any case, I think BP was surprised to see Dwight acting like a normal dog for once.

To round off this post about Dwight, here's a song that Aaron and I came up with as we were going to sleep last night--sung to the tune of Kookaburra...
"Dwighter-baby sleeps on the big warm bed,
Comfy he is, all warm and fed,
Sleep! Dwighter-baby, sleep,
Dwighter-baby Gay your life must be!"

Sometimes I feel like Aaron and I are 7 year olds at a sleepover.

2009-05-06T02:11:00.001-05:00

Guess what? I won a bag from a contest that I entered 3 weeks ago online! I guess to continue, I must explain that I happen to frequent the "purseforum," a place where well-off handbag lovers from around the world post about their purchases and the minute details of each season's bags. On one of my idiosyncratic visits to this forum, I saw the particular bag that I just won on a certain celeb who I may or may not have a girl crush on, and loved it, especially the way, as Aaron said, "She carries that bag like it didn't cost $600." In fact, it probably didn't cost $600 for her...and now, it won't cost $600 for me either!
It's only the second contest I entered on that forum, because I only enter when it's a bag I actually want.

I'm super excited about receiving it. Obviously.

When I told my parents, I first talked to my mom.
Mom: Oh! So what's it like inside?
J: Well, it's zebra print, and I don't really like that, but--
Mom: I mean pockets! That's what's really important.
J: Oh, well it has one outside pocket and one inside pocket.
Mom: .....Why is it so expensive then?
Haha, my mom is so funny, she has been searching for a tote for ages with lots of pockets in it. The requirements are: lots of internal pockets for organization, and it must not look like the bag of someone who would carry an amount of cash worth robbing. My mom stopped carrying purses ever since she got robbed once when I was four in the parking lot of the public library, and is just now wanting a bag to carry. I found her one from Brooklyn Industries that would be perfect, but she doesn't like the colors, and thinks it's too expensive.

Then, I talked to my dad.
Dad: I hear you won a very expensive bag. Why is it so expensive?
J: I don't know...I guess because of brand name.
Dad: What color is it?
J: Brown...
Dad: Well that's a pretty normal color! I'm just trying to figure out why it's so expensive! (laughs) Well, you wouldn't have paid $600 for it anyway, I'm sure.

Which I wouldn't. But that wouldn't stop me from lusting after it, and other, out-of-my-price-range bags. But score! Now I don't have to lust. Or at least, it will be a fulfilled lust. Haha starting to sound a bit gross.

2009-05-02T10:56:00.000-05:00

Sorry for the long pause, tests are crazy and I just haven't been in the mood to post. Things that have happened in the interim: I had to go get a tetanus shot and Tb test about 3 weeks ago. That night after working at the library, I came home to discover that Aaron had set up the (excessively nice) tent we got as a wedding present and haven't gotten a chance to use yet, in our living room. Complete with rain sounds playing on his laptop and a glow stick that I got to crack myself! It was amazing. So we camped out that night with Dwight, who had to figure out how to get in and out of the tent.
The next morning, I woke up with a fever, did my short shift at the library from 7-8:30 am, and went home and slept for the rest of the day. I assumed it was a reaction to the tetanus shot, and that I would feel better the next day. But I didn't get better--I still had a fever on Thursday, and when it went away, I had a terrible cough, sore throat, etc. I don't know what happened. Maybe I was patient 0 for the swine flu in Dallas. Probably not. I did have all the symptoms except 2, though.
Needless to say, I ended up spending a lot of time during the day sleeping in the tent with Dwight while recovering, and it was really hard to study for that block's test. Perhaps I will start calling that tent my yellow fever tent.

On to other things...
Aaron's cell broke on Wednesday, after 4 years of faithful service. It dates back to the year when I was finishing my last year of college, and he was in LA. Since we were able to get on Aaron's dad's family plan, we were able to talk on the phone pretty constantly. It got to the point that we would fall asleep on the phone on weekends, and so to combat the possible radiation issues, we first got headsets, and then realized we needed to get a phone w/ really good speakerphone. So we ended up both splurging on the Sony Ericssons, which was the first phones we had that weren't free from Cingular or $20 on ebay.
I recently upgraded to a Nokia smartphone so I can have ebooks on it, and had pretty much forgotten how much I loved my Sony phone when I got it. Aaron on the other hand, still loved his and vowed that he would use it till it died. Which it did on Wednesday. We were able to find a newer model Sony Ericsson phone for him on Craigslist, and drove out to get it on Thursday.
The funny thing is, the back of the new phone is made of the same unique material as the casing of the Sony Ericsson, and this, combined with the shiny newness of the phone, reminds me of how it was when I picked up my SE (at a corner convenience store meet-up, from a college kid who somehow had 5 of these phones for sale on ebay), went home to my now much-missed Austin apartment, and marveled at its beauty and function for hours on end.
I am so tempted to save up and buy a matching phone for myself, but I don't know if I'm enamored with the phone, or the memory of how life used to be in Austin. I feel like I've been trying to buy myself out of misery basically all year...thank god it's almost over.

2009-04-17T11:56:00.001-05:00

Dwight just got up on the bed with me, chilled for a while, and then got up abruptly with the air of just having thought of something, then jumped off, got his antler, and jumped back on the bed to chew. I love that he has his own schedule for his day: after lunch, lay at attention at foot of bed to protect Mom from the thunderstorm, while chewing on my antler so I won't get bored. If there weren't a thunderstorm going on, I suspect he would be cuddled up beside me in a ball, napping.

2009-04-14T07:49:00.001-05:00

I don't think I've ever blogged about a dream but this one last night was a doozy.

In the dream, I could feel a ringworm on my neck behind my ear--not just the scaly redness that ringworm is in reality, but what ringworm sounds like: a bumpy, hard raised ring. But my whole neck felt numb, and I kept asking Aaron, "How bad is it? How many do I have?" And he looked really scared when he told me it was the whole right side of my neck.

Ugh. Scary.

2009-04-12T23:24:00.000-05:00

By the way, there is this guy at the library computers near me that has a compulsive sniffing thing. He has been here all night and it's driving me crazy.

2009-04-12T21:21:00.000-05:00

I'm reading next week's lectures while I'm stuck here working at the library, and I just have to say--I can't stand it when people who have graduate degrees (M.D., PhD), and are therefore supposed to have a certain amount of intelligence, don't know or care about the proper use of punctuation, or the correct way to spell everyday words.

Find the spelling mistake in the following:
"Extension of sclerosis into subacutis and deep fascia results in bound down skin, i.e. the skin looses its normal mobility..."

The guy spells "loses" like my loser boyfriend in high school did. And my loser boyfriend had to drop out of school and take his GED to get his high school degree.
Gah!!

I am not ashamed to say that I made an angry slash mark through the extra "o".

2009-04-03T07:51:00.000-05:00

Last night, Aaron and I stopped at Central Market to get some more raw pumpkin seeds to feed the gerbils, and I picked up a bottle of Frank's Hot Sauce for $.99 that I've been wanting ever since I saw a certain ramen recipe online. So I was finally able to have bomb ass Prison Pad Thai, which ended up being delicious, and made me really happy because the whole time, I was thinking that I was eating exactly what some faceless guy (devo), at Marion County Prison in Oregon may have eaten sometime in the past two weeks.

2009-03-26T16:38:00.001-05:00

Amazing! Oh and watch for my phone!

2009-02-26T13:39:00.000-06:00

I'm back from my depressive break! As of yesterday, actually. By depressive break, I mean the one and a half week period in which I did little more than sleep about 16 hours a day and read while taking painfully hot baths. The fact that I was reading Revolutionary Road did not help my mood, either. It's a great book, but painful in its cynical truthfulness. So obviously, I fell off the wagon for this block (Neurology), but I am quickly and desperately climbing my way back on.

Other books I read last week/early this week:
The Glass Castle by Jeannette Walls--a memoir about a successful writer for MSNBC who was brought up by nomadic parents in neglectful circumstances. I loved this book because I was at once enthralled by the adventure and romance of her childhood, and appalled that parents could be so selfish and immature.
The Good Good Pig by Sy Montgomery--a true story about a pig named Christopher Hogwood who is one of the few farm pigs that have been allowed to live out a happy life. This book cheered me up considerably! Except of course, Christopher Hogwood dies in the end at a ripe old age of 11...or 12.

Things that are on my mind right now: Should I quit school now, before the OSCE exams after spring break? Or wait till later so I can ostensibly take a year off before making the final break?
The OSCE exams are when I will have to perform a physical exam on 10 different standardized patients in 3 hours, while being spied upon by cameras who will grade my performance. Basically, my worst nightmare. I would rather do almost anything than do physical exams. The mere thought of it makes my vision staticky and my head dizzy. The invasion of personal space is just too much to handle.
But I would feel even more like a failure if I quit now instead of later...

The stress of these past weeks have increased my social fears, and I am currently at the point where I can't stand to feel anyone looking at me. I just had to go down to the cafeteria during lunch hour to get food, and the crowd of people was too much.

When will this be over? I can't go on.

Something I actually enjoyed while studying today: this picture of what people with migraines sometimes see before they get a migraine.

2009-02-25T10:36:00.000-06:00

This website is hilarious.

2009-02-20T07:37:00.001-06:00

addendum to last post:
Though even if I did have kids, I don't think I would be one of those parents. I'd probably just strap the kid on my back and do whatever I felt like doing. Aaron and I'd be the parents that other people look sideways at, with their school age children up on a school night at a midnight movie, or shopping at a 24 hr Walmart or something.

Having said that, a couple of weeks ago, Aaron and I were eating dinner at Sal's, the best pizza place in Dallas. This lady and her three kids ranging from 6 months to about 5 sat down right next to us, despite the fact that there were empty tables all over the restaurant, since it was early for dinner. At one point, she turned to us and said over the racket of her kids, "I know, we're the best birth control in the world, huh...obviously I didn't pay enough attention to birth control...just kidding." She seemed truly frustrated with the whole situation. And it's not like she seemed like some ghetto lady who just couldn't keep up with her birth control, she was the typical Dallas-ite soccer mom, who seemed like she would drive a 4Runner and buy her clothes from JCrew.
Later, she said to her kids, "Maybe, if we get home early enough, we can all bathe tonight!"

See, that's what happens when you have kids. Lowered expectations for your own life, which then translate into unfairly high expectations for your kids.

2009-02-20T07:27:00.000-06:00

"We had date nights on Thursdays or Fridays, I can't remember. So we'd leave early, linger over dinner, and get back early so we could get [our child] to bed, since she had school in the morning...The babysitter would get there at 5, and leave at 7, 7:30. Sometimes we'd just go grocery shopping without the kid."

I'm working at the library and eavesdropping on the conversation of two women--the one who said the above was trying to convince the other to have another child before she gets too much older. And then, the conversation sidetracked to the above quote, where she describes what her life was like when her kids were younger.

The hopelessness of her situation strikes fear into my heart. The bright spot of my whole week after having a kid is a two hour block once a week to grocery shop in peace? Hmm. No thanks. I really don't understand the popularity of procreation. Is biology so all-powerful?

2009-02-19T03:00:00.001-06:00

Poor Aaron, he is sick...Poor me, I am sick. We went to bed at 10 pm only to wake up at 1 am to drink chicken noodle soup and orange juice. Now I can't sleep and I've spent the last hour looking at photos on flickr tagged with the word "sick."

Right now I am really missing elementary school cafeteria lunches, everything in its proper compartment on the plastic tray.

2009-02-02T01:11:00.000-06:00

Am currently procrastinating by looking at the millions of "What's in your bag" photos on Flickr. So I was just clicking along, and thought absentmindedly, "Oh, look at these people who carry a toothbrush and sometimes even toothpaste with them everywhere they go! I wish I had the desire to be so hygienic." And then, after a couple of other pictures, I thought, "What's with all these people who carry their sunglasses in their purses without cases?! What if they get scratched?" And then I realized I care more about my sunglasses than my teeth. Messed up.

New Doppelganger Pair Discovered!

2009-01-31T23:44:00.000-06:00

A little known fact--I have a thing about doppelgangers. Harry Connick, Jr and Jeff Goldblum, I can barely tell them apart. I don't know if it's because I'm Asian and so all white people look the same to me or what.

When I saw the previews for a history of violence, I thought it was gonna be something like Secret Window, Secret Garden, where the main character has multiple personalities or something. Why? Because Ed Harris and Viggo Mortensen are the same person, basically.

For heaven's sake, which is which? I'm not going to tell you, because it doesn't matter. They're the same. And I just saw another movie they starred in together, Appaloosa. They play best friends who ride around the west keeping the peace. Or was it twins who ride around keeping the peace?....I'm not sure.

For Monica

2009-01-28T23:31:00.001-06:00

Why do I find Justin Timberlake so much more attractive now??

2009-01-16T07:13:00.000-06:00

We have a new cat! Rather, one of the ferals has promoted himself to the status of housecat. It's Tupac, and a couple of weeks ago, he started meowing to come inside the house in the evenings. I figured it was because he was cold, and so he got to come inside a bit to be cuddled by Aaron or even occasionally, me, despite my allergies. He would fall asleep in a lap immediately. And drool.
Then we went to Taiwan for 2 weeks, and I think the balance of power shifted in the backyard from Tupac to Big Poppa, who took over the kitty hideaway that Tupac always used to stay in. So when we got back, Tupac started meowing to get in at all hours of the day and night. And so, he is now inside almost all the time. He never wants to leave, even when it's nice weather outside. He even has a litter box now, which he makes a royal mess of, desperately trying to cover his poop. But he uses it, and that's the most important thing! It probably doesn't help that it's the tiny kitten-sized litter box we had for the fosters.

What about my allergies, you say? Well, it helps that Tupac knows his place (for now) and listens when he's told to keep off the couch. He just lays on this blanket we had laying in the corner waiting to be washed, and kneads it. And the blanket is the color of dough, so it is very fitting.

I really wish I'd given him a better name than Tupac, if he is going to be our real housecat now...I was trying not to get attached to the ferals, and thus gave them all half-joking rapper names.
It's cool that his coloring is similar to Dwight's--black mostly, w/ white on his chest. He doesn't have white on his face or feet though.

2009-01-08T08:12:00.000-06:00

Currently working at the library. There are workers building a scaffolding just outside in order to change the lightbulbs on the second floor. The racket is unbelievable. But how I wish I could be one of those workers, balancing on a metal scaffolding, with my day's goal being the changing of a lightbulb.

It's only been 4 days since getting back from vacation, and I am already really really down about everything. It's like if you offered someone in a terrible situation a 2 week vacation where they could do whatever they wanted, the catch being that they would then have to return to their terrible situation, now a hundred times worse in comparison. I was going to say Auschwitz, but I thought that might seem a bit extreme. To you, not to me.

edit: okay, a bit extreme even to me, but really not by much.

2008-12-16T08:11:00.000-06:00

Hello from the library!
I am feeling chipper this morning because Aaron and Dwight made a lot of room on my side of the bed last night and I got some good sleep.

So here I am at work, surfing one of those forums I told you about, and there's a thread that asks whether the current economy is affecting people's designer bag purchases. And here is what one of them said:

No, but the quality of Balenciaga has caused me to slow way down. Also I have been spending it on other things like showing my Tibetan Spaniel, Tim Cotterill bronze frogs, etc. However I just saw how much we lost the past 3 months due to the market *GULP* so maybe time to stop shopping and just enjoy going to the beach, on the boat, out to dinner etc. for a while.
Hope all those people that bought houses they could not afford and that we are now paying the price think twice next time. It's really a no brainer. If you make less than 50K a year, a 400K house is probably not a good idea. Gotta love good ole Fannie and Freddie.

Holy crapola! Tim Cotterill bronze frogs? Oh yes, good choice...and then put down people who make less than 50 K a year and buy an expensive house! I mean, not that buying a 400K house is a smart decision, but at least it provides shelter, which is more than can be said of her purchases. You try living on that salary and still pay off your boat!
And let me just say that, yes, I have fallen down the rabbit hole a bit, but thank god I don't know what Tim Cotterill bronze frogs are. I am not old enough to start collecting random nick nacks that are useless except to drive my future kids crazy when they have to clean up my "estate."

By the way, the guy that I am working with today (online tie guy) winked at me yesterday as I checked out a study room, and just bought me a donut and called me honey. And since he has a mustache that curls at the ends, and I believe, a wife, I find it all oddly charming.

2008-12-16T01:58:00.000-06:00

While looking for my cardy uggs (boy is that a story to tell), I noticed that Oprah had them listed as one of her Top 10 Favorite things of 2008. The fact that I know anything at all about Oprah sickens me, because all I need to know is that she likes to take literary classics like Gabriel Garcia Marquez and act like she's "discovered" them for America. Sadly, (for America), she probably has for many people. Also, the only person who graces the cover of O magazine is...you guessed it, herself! (What other magazine does that???) And basically, she wants to rule the world.

Have you noticed the increased tinge of bitterness that now pervades my blog posts? I used to be happily cynical, now I feel like I am just angry cynical. I don't believe in a thing in the world except the people I know and love (which are few and far between...you know me), books, and creatures, and it has turned me into someone I don't quite recognize.
Shall I tell you more about it? Because I have quite a few embarrassing things to confess--I guess we could call them mental crutches, though they all really just revolve around one thing--shopping. It has become a problem. Not so much a money problem, but a mental problem. It bothers me that if I don't have something I am obsessed with buying or something on the way to me in the mail, I am bored with life and don't know what to do with myself. I actually started working again at the library to support my addiction, so that I can buy the occasional unnecessary item without affecting our budget.
In addition to shopping, I have all of a sudden become obsessed with fashion forums. Why?? I don't have any clue. I all of a sudden know who people such as Kim Kardashian and Ashley Tisdale are, and have opinions on how they dress. It's truly driving me insane. It's such a meaningless pursuit.
The thing is, clothes/shoes/bags are things that I can take an hour out of my life, go to the mall, and buy, that I can then carry around with me while I go through my boring days to keep me cozy and a modicum of entertained. Everything else takes too long--reading books, watching movies, going to the park, etc. These are all outings that I feel too guilty to take hours out of my day to do. And it is driving me absolutely insane.

If you can tell, I really really need this vacation.

In any case, I thought I should have a Top 10 Favorite Things of 2008 post as well. That's what I started out meaning to do, but now I'm too pissed to even do it. Maybe later. My brain feels like there's a fungus in it itching to get out. Oh wait, that fungus is med school.

2008-12-14T18:14:00.000-06:00

I am at school catching up on lectures, and can I just say that I think Dr. A.R.D.N., M.D. is a smug bastard...not have rodents as pets my arse.

Grr. I am in a very bad mood because I am at school.

2008-12-10T07:10:00.000-06:00

To say that I am not a morning person is like saying Jeffrey Dahmer was a bit antisocial...but the hot chocolate I was two minutes late to work for is helping my mood a lot.

It doesn't help to think about the sad $12 that I am making for waking up this early, especially since it is about 30 degrees outside.

2008-12-07T18:26:00.000-06:00

I love mousies! Even ones that eat the cereal in your cupboard.

2008-12-01T14:48:00.000-06:00

Currently working at the library, and the guy working with me is looking at buying ties online. Yup, it gets pretty boring here.

2008-11-25T13:36:00.001-06:00

I'm skipping class right now because I left during my lunch hour for a cd buying date--the new Killers cd, w/ Jen S. And then we went to Panera bread for lunch and I got back to campus late and hate walking into class late, so I decided I would just skip the hour.
I listened to the first 4 songs only on the way here--track 1 was good, track 2, eh...track 3 amazing! track 4 great but with strange sax solos that are reminiscent of cheesy disco. We'll see, though, because I initially hated Sam's Town for being so bombastic, but now, it's one of my favorite cds of all time. Brandon Flowers' voice is sexy as usual.

Aaron and I went to Houston this weekend to get Dwight used to Aaron's dad's place since that is where he will be staying for 10 days while we are in Taiwan. Dwight didn't like the fact that he could not get up on the couch to sit next to us at all, and by the last night there, he had taken to sitting up facing us on the couch and laying his head in our laps with his eyes closed. He seemed like the saddest dog in the world. But when he goes next time, we will be sure to bring his chair and his dog bed so he won't feel so restless.
The good news is, I feel quite secure leaving Dwight with A's dad, because there is very little chance that Dwight will get lost, at least.

I will be very glad when this school day is over because tomorrow's classes should be easy, and then the weekend begins. eek! I need this. Bad.

Something I realized this weekend, that I probably already knew, is that white people like to hug a lot. To the point that it might be considered borderline rude if you do not hug them. I'm not really used to this, and despite the fact that modern Americans (probably bc most of them are white) believe that part of being a good parent is showing your child a lot of physical love, I only remember being hugged twice in my life by my dad, and once by my mom. I will probably be the same way, since I have this phobia of the warm soft feeling of human skin. It's not so bad once you're doing it (hugging, that is) but I find it hard to make the initial plunge. It just seems so personal. The only person who I rarely have a problem hugging is Aaron. And of course, animals of all shapes and sizes. But anyways, I have learned that the key to keeping Aaron's mom happy is to offer to hug her a lot, which is a small price to pay. Quite a good discovery.

Yes, I am weirder than most. Can't help it, really.

2008-11-19T08:32:00.000-06:00

Supposed to be studying (or better, sleeping) at this time of morning, but here is a link to some excessively!! cute lab pups that are purebred but have wierd coloring. My faves are the brindled ones, and the ones w/ a band or random splotch of black on them like an inkstain. Delightful!

Winter mornings are the bane of my existence unless I am cuddled up in bed w/ boy or dog.

2008-11-17T14:56:00.001-06:00

I hate waking up early and thus having to drink coffee and thus being unnaturally present in spirit and talkative to random people, because once I get home, I inevitably feel like I have said a dozen tiny wrong things and then must think about them for a long, useless time.
That's what happened today, but I am home now, and am looking forward to Aaron getting home from work so we can continue Season 3 of the X files a bit, before I have to go to a friend's place and have her teach me how to read EKGs.

Lately I have been thinking a lot about Bully, this PS2 game I played two years back. It's wierd how much this game means to me--I first played it during my first year here, and I spent hours on it wishing I could live in the little town that the game takes place in and just ride my bike around and do tricks (which of course was quite easy in the game) and collect blue rubber bands. And I was enamored with my character, who I painstakingly customized. This is what he looked like:

And incidentally, this or a version of this has been what I've been wearing for the past 2 weeks.

I call it my teamster outfit. And when I want to channel my character especially, I wear a green sweater that is quite like the one he has on in the pic. If I could do a 'hawk and dye the tips red too, I would.

2008-11-16T00:58:00.000-06:00

Aaron just called one of my annoyed groans a "primordial groan." The groan occurred because he forgot to leave the keyring full of store discount cards in the car, and instead brought it home, where we will surely forget it the next time we need to go to Kroger's.

I have been reading a book called Go Go Girls of the Apocalypse that I got from the library at the same time as my Stephen King books (which I loved. Reading new Stephen King books is like hearing the voice of a familiar person after a long absence.) Go Go Girls of the Apocalypse, however, sort of sucks. I feel like I should have known it would by the catchy, overly-marketable title. But I didn't know. I think the problem is I expected it to describe a dark apocalypse, but the author is pretty upbeat about everything even when describing murders and rapes. I can almost imagine him sitting in front of his computer drinking a whiskey sour and giggling into his hand whenever he writes a paragraph he considers especially tongue-in-cheek. He just thinks he is a little too clever. Too bad he has mostly 5 star ratings on Amazon. Grr.

Aaron and I saw a well-dressed lady at Petsmart today with a really well-muscled female pit mix on a choke chain. We took notice of her because from the way she looked, she did not look like the type of person to own a pit at all. We caught her in the pet clothes aisle putting a hoodie on her dog to see if she should buy it. After she adjusted the hood around the dog's head, she gently took the dog's chin in her hand and looked earnestly in to her eyes, as if she were asking the dog, "Do you like eet?" Since I later saw her trying out another dog jacket, I assume the dog told her, "Thanks mama, but I'm not so sure about eet."
I loved seeing a pit be so spoiled. Other than Dwight, that is.

Other things I have enjoyed this weekend:
1. Rock Star party at a friend's place
2. Going to the salvation army to pick up a comforter for our winter feral cat hideout. Now that the ferals are in the backyard constantly, we weatherproofed a crate for them to stay warm in.

In other dog news, Aaron's dad's dog Lucy passed this last week. It's sad to think about someone having to come home to an empty house after getting used to being greeted by a wet nosicle every day for the past 12 years. R.I.P Lucy

2008-11-03T12:39:00.000-06:00

Aaron & I rearranged the place again this weekend. I was starting to feel claustrophobic, and we needed more space. So we basically moved everything back to how it used to be except that our new poang ikea chair is where Dwight's crate used to be and Dwight's crate is now on the other side of the sofa.
The first night after the rearrange, when A told Dwight to go to bed, Dwight went over to the poang chair and looked around, like, "Well, I know this configuration of furniture, and this is where my bed should be!" Because that was where his crate was when he first came to live with us almost 2 years ago, and that was where it stayed for about a year. And he still remembered! Bizarre.

I had a great weekend. I had sushi with another Jennifer on Saturday, and it was great--the company and the food.
On Saturday, A & I went to Ikea to eat and browse this time, to make up for our blitzkreig shopping on Tuesday night when we purchased our poang chair (I should have been studying but couldn't make myself, so we figured we might as well do something out of the ordinary, and we've been looking to get a reading nook chair for a while.)
But by the time we decided we would go, it was 8:00 pm and Ikea closes at 9. And it takes about 40 minutes to get there. But, in those 20 minutes before closing, we decided between the poang chair and a considerably more expensive chair that happened to be in the As-Is department and was about $500 cheaper than usual, and also picked up a new slipcover for our couch from the as-is dept for $10. We are efficient shoppers.

I also have a theory about an Avril Lavigne song, but I will lay it out in another post.

halloween!

2008-11-02T23:35:00.000-06:00

More at my flickr site.

2008-10-31T13:42:00.000-05:00

Me and Dwight just went and had lunch at Jimmy John's! I had a free sub coupon, and I figured it would be Jimmy John's's birthday present to me. Dwight waited for me outside while I ordered my sandwich, and then sat next to me while I ate. He was super good and calm, even when a guy and his golden retriever came and sat at the table right next to us. It helped that I had a delicious meaty sandwich for him to focus on, I think.

I got an awesome birthday package from my sister yesterday, containing:
-tragic royalty playing cards: the royalty cards look zombie-ish in a Tim Burton way, and they glow under black light. overkill of cool.
-two glitter nail polishes (!!)
-two pairs of aerie underwear
-fun dip: every time I think about fun dip, I think of the scene in freaks&geeks when millie is eating fun dip while waiting for the school bus in the morning, and desario comes along in his trans-am (?) and double dips with his finger.
-25 free itunes songs that she got from ACL
-and...I'm sure I'm missing something, but I will add a picture of it later.

And from Aaron, who I made give me my present at midnight last night, got me a western looking leather belt with my name engraved on the back in cool font. It looks awesome and Killers-ish.

Random Gifts that the universe gave me:
1. The Killers tix for Dallas go on sale tomorrow morning.
2. My JImmy John's free sub card made its way to my desk just this week.
3. My tracking number started working today for my T&D bag, so it's just a matter of time till I get it!!
4. The library had, in its new books section, the new book by Stephen King.
5. I got a really nice and unexpected smile and "Good Luck" today from a friend in class before the test, which cheered me up.
6. When Aaron and I went to Ikea on Tuesday, we found a couch cover for our couch in the As Is area for only $10. Regularly, it's $200-300! Needless to say, we got it.

And I finished a test today, so the weekend is mine to spend however I want. I went to the library straight after the test and got 5 fat books to read, and it feels so luxurious to look at them.

I am not even going to worry about how I did on that test, and this is the last time I'll think about it for the next 72 hours, at least. It is just too hard to tell how I did on these tests.

Perhaps...studio movie grill and changeling tonight?

a whole day of entertaining myself

2008-10-26T01:15:00.000-05:00

Aaron is at a friend's wedding today, which I had to skip in order to study. I didn't realize until last night (he left this morning) that I might not get that much studying done anyways, since I would have to deal with the dog all day.

dealing with the dog =
1. sitting on the floor, happily studying on the coffee table. feel wet nose encroaching upon arm. see flashcards and papers fall to ground, having been pushed by wet nose.
2. now, forced to sit on couch with said dog pressed tightly against my thigh, try to balance textbooks and notebooks precariously. have mini heart-attack as dog suddenly leaps up and barks in panic at voices outside.
3. watch dog, finally sleeping peacefully, start feeling quite tired, curl up next to dog and take a 3 hour nap.
4. repeat.

So, to prevent this much-feared chain of events, I set out to tire the dog out. Studied in the morning in bed. He did whine for 30 minutes but then went back to sleep and gave me a blissful 2 hours of uninterrupted study time. Get up, get dressed, play with him in yard for 15 minutes until the edge wears off. Come home, pick up keys, etc., stop at McDonald's for lunch, then dog park to wear him out so he will sleep for rest of day. Yell at him at dog park for eating throw up and drinking muddy puddle water. The problem was, the process of tiring him out tired me out as well.

Of course, it is all worth it to have my little old man-dog as my constant companion. I took him with me to Pizza Hut, even, to pick up my dinner--mac and cheese tuscani pasta with bacon. I go all out when Aaron's not here, obviously.

Oh and I just chewed a piece of gum that really upset my stomach. grumblegrumble.

2008-10-16T11:45:00.000-05:00

Can I just say...I think this chimp might be my soul mate. This is exactly how I like to hold Dwight!

Ah, primates and our need for ventral-to-ventral contact.

2008-10-13T12:59:00.000-05:00

I've noticed that since school started, all of my posts have been about school. This really must stop.

One political/mere observation thing. I have seen a lot of SUVs on the road these days with McCain stickers...which is to be expected, seeing as it's Dallas. Quite a bit more colorful, however, is the couple I saw while Aaron and I were *edit: driving around in Austin with my sister and Jordan*, sitting in their front yard with a McCain 2008 sign and another sign that proclaimed that Democrats are "Socialests". Very sad. If I were so serious about my opinion that I would make such a statement in such a public venue (they were right next to the highway...well they were that day, who knows where they'll park their trailer tomorrow?) I would do a dictionary check on those words I'm not quite sure of the spelling on.
This is partly in response to Jordan's newest post.

Yesterday we took Dwight on a walk in the West Village as part of our "socialize Dwight better" campaign. I'm glad to report he is losing his fear of railings and learning to further control his urge to pull on the leash.
We had one rocker-ish lady croon "Sweet baby" as we walked by (I enjoy people ogling my dog more than I enjoyed it when hispanic guys would yell similar things to me from their hoopties and make kissie noises).
Dwight also met this middle-aged Indian guy who was walking with his wife. I was happy about this because we were standing off to the side of the sidewalk, with Dwight in a sit to let a bunch of people pass. At first when I saw them coming toward us, I thought the couple seemed a little leery of Dwight, but as the guy passed him he said "pitbull" in an affectionate voice and sort of petted Dwight, and then stopped to ask us Dwight's name and got licked by Dwight. It was cute, and I like it when people surprise me in a good way.
We also saw a huge harlequin great dane leashless crossing the street with his/her owner. It was nerve wracking because I felt like at any moment this horse sized dog could come bounding over and freak Dwight out. I don't think he's ever met a great dane.
Oh! and last thing about the dog, I promise, we went to the dog park this weekend as well and Dwight met another pitbull, and they licked each other in the mouth incessantly. Must be a pit thing. Dwight does this to all other dogs, and the only dogs that have seemed to like it and even returned the favor have been pits or pit mixes.

Finally, Aaron promised in his blog that I would relate to you the details of our fight with the neighbors. I wasn't planning on doing it because it was making me sick to my stomach every time I thought about it, but I feel better about it now, so I will relate to you the conversation in script form, as precisely as possible.

Scene: Aaron and I in our house on a Saturday night. I am upstairs. I hear some racket outside and Aaron go out the front door. Dwight and I wait anxiously at the front door, wondering what is going on. Aaron comes back inside.

J: What's going on?
A: I heard some footsteps running by outside, so I went out there to see what was going on. It's those guys in the corner, chasing away the cats. I saw one of them disappear into their house, and heard him say, "That was fun."
J: Wha--

Aaron walks outside again, I turn off the living room light so I can properly spy out of our front window. I see the man who we will hereby call "The Asshole" coming out of his house with his white fluffy dog. He mumbles something at Aaron and walks away. Aaron flicks him off as he walks away, but his back is turned so he doesn't see.
Aaron comes back in.

A: It was that guy, the asshole.
J: Well, shouldn't we just go out there and tell them that the cats are neutered?
A: I don't know...should we?

I storm out, see the Asshole's partner, who we will hereby call the Fatty even though he is not so fat, just fatter than his partner the Asshole, and that is what Aaron has been calling him.

J (normal voice but with anger barely reigned in): Hi, I just wanted to let you know that those cats are neutered, so if they cause any problems, please just let us know and we will take care of it.
F: Ok. We know all about kittico and all that, and I know you and your husband are upset, and my partner would be the first to apologize.
J: Ok, well I just wanted to let you know. (makes move to walk away)
F: Well I know you're upset right now, but my name is Fatty and my partner's name is Asshole. We've lived here about as long as you have, and I guess we have never really talked.

editor's note: I had small-talked to Asshole a couple times, and had just said hello to both of them earlier that day. Also, we witnessed them having a loud fight in the courtyard a few weekends ago, in which one of them was apparently making the other one move out.

J: Ok.
F: And your name is?
J: Jennifer
F: And your husband's name?
J: Aaron

Asshole walks up, back from walking his dog.

AH (in loud, drunk, obnoxious voice): Um, what is going on here? Are they angry at me for chasing away some stray cats?!
J: I was just telling your partner here that those cats are neutered and part of a feral colony, which is legal in Dallas.
AH: Oh we know all about Kittico! But I looked it up on the internet, and Kittico is all about catching them, neutering them, and dropping them off somewhere AWAY from here.

editor's not: no, it's not. Kittico's website expressly tells people not to drop off cats elsewhere.

J: No, it's not. (looks confused)

Anyways, it goes on from there...here are a few choice excerps:

ONE
F: I mean, I get the granola...No offense to you guys, I mean, I used to work at Whole Foods.
J: What are you talking about, I don't even shop at Whole Foods.
AH: Oh bless your little heart, bless your little heart.
A: What does Whole Foods have anything to do with what we're talking about, we're talking about the cats, and you are busy stereotyping us.
F: I mean, you guys have a sticker saying Fast food kills on your window.

editor's note: the sticker is from a movie promotion, has a hamburger with fangs and says, "Eat fast, die young." Obviously, something totally up Aaron's alley...we eat fast food all the time as anyone who actually knows us can attest.

A: That's a movie promotional item!

TWO
F: You guys have never come around and communicated with anyone about these cats being neutered.
J: Well, I had no idea that anyone had a problem with them, seeing as no one has come to let us know. I didn't think anyone would have a problem with being nice to animals! (editor's note: I know, I sound like a 12 yr old. This is what they reduced me to.)
F: Well, you live long enough around gay guys and you'll realize that everyone's got a problem.
A&J: Oh, so now you want us to stereotype gay people and believe that they all hate animals?!
F: (pointing to a bunch of different ppl's doors) They're not gay, they're not gay, and we've talked to all of them and they all have a problem with you feeding those cats.

editor's note: I have never seen F&AH talk to anyone in the complex, and we are always out and about. We have talked to their neighbors, Mike and Joe, who actually took in two of the strays who used to be owned by a hispanic family who abandoned them when they moved. Mike and Joe are the ones who probably told F&AH about Kittico in the first place. Oh, and Mike said they were assholes.

F: LIsten, we are all really upset right now, but once he calms down, my partner will be the first to apologize about chasing the cats.
AH: No I will not, let me just say one thing, I will continue to chase STRAY cats away.

Grr. Anyways, this script form is tiring me out. Basically, the only thing they could come up with is that they let their cat outside, and don't want their cat to get diseases and fleas and ticks from our strays. I was like, if you're worried about your cat, you can keep him inside. And there's fleas and ticks just on the ground. And the cats are neutered so they're not going to fight their cat and thus, will not give the cat any diseases.
I mean, in my opinion, if you think your housecat needs to be outside sometimes to have a better life, then you have to deal with the risks of it being outside. It could get hit by a car, or any number of things. Everyone else cannot change their habits just to protect your cat, who is your responsibility. Anyways, there's a leash law for cats and dogs, and an exception for feral colonies.
Anyways, we moved the kitties' feeding place into the backyard and cut a little hole in the fence for them to get in and out. I am adding a door today, to make the hole as discreet as possible. We would have done this a long time ago if anyone had had the balls to come and tell us they had a problem with the cats.

I sort of hoped the guy would make it a habit of running off the cats, so one Saturday night I could string up some steel wire close to the ground and trip his animal-hating ass. It's not so much that he's mean to the cats, it's that he thinks he has the right to run back and forth in front of our doorway and make a racket and be a general jackass.
But he has not chased the cats again, despite vowing to.

Ok, now I'm worked up again, I will go make some flashcards to calm down.

Things I'm looking forward to:
1. My NBF package, which should arrive this or next week.
2. Camera Aaron's dad is getting for Aaron

2008-09-30T04:40:00.000-05:00

Waking up at this hour is so unholy.

2008-09-29T08:19:00.000-05:00

Oh I forgot to mention that I am really in need of a night of drunken debauchery. Really really in need.

Tequila, heal my wounds.

2008-09-29T08:12:00.000-05:00

I have started many a post in the last week, and not been able to finish them.

But just a quick post now, to tell you of my phlebotomy orientation this morning at 6 am. We had to practice taking blood on each other, which I totally do not agree with. And I apparently had good reason to not agree with it, because my turn at being drawn by someone else ended in a spray of blood that made it at least a foot from my arm. The girl even got it in her hair. I just squeaked a bit in surprise, concentrated on not fainting, and told her I didn't have any wierd diseases, so not to worry. She looked at me as if she didn't believe me.

So, I had a great morning. And I'm going to love the next week, with shifts from 5-8am until Friday.

My life sucks. Yours?

On a brighter note, I should know by Wednesday when my new bag should arrive, and Aaron and I bought Dwight a new collar w/ skulls and bones stamped on it from etsy.com, and it should arrive this week as well. Retail therapy may be wrong, but it gives me something to look forward to other than the miserable school experience.

2008-09-16T02:53:00.000-05:00

Oh what a week I've had.
It's really all my own doing, due to being so burned out after my tests on tuesday and wednesday that I did not immediately start studying again on thursday and friday. So by the weekend I was behind and by the middle of the week last week I was hopelessly behind. I am showing all the symptoms of depressive syndrome. I sleep late, wake up late, and then four hours later, am so tired I need a two hour nap. And I seriously can't stand to even look at anyone other than Aaron and Dwight. I can't concentrate!!
This is how it was at the worst of first year, and I'm only four weeks in to this year.
Grr. I am determined to catch up though.
The only bright spot in my day today was that the dwight-toys I ordered off Amazon using my coinstar giftcard came in the mail. A kong wubba, and two orbee balls--the standard globe ball and a glow in the dark one. Score!

Now if only my mysterious NBF purchase would arrive. I really must tell you about that sometime.

2008-09-09T23:12:00.000-05:00

Did you know that it is possible to get a dog hair splinter? Aaron came in from walking the dog and said he had a dog hair splinter and I totally did not believe him until I got it out myself and it was a hair!
Then I googled it. Apparently, hair splinters are more common than one would think.

Here is a link to a case report of a diabetic woman who had a hair splinter and didn't even know it: http://thefootblog.org/2006/11/16/foreign-body-hair-abscess-of-the-foot-a-case-report/

It caused an abscess. Don't forget to look at the pictures!

2008-09-04T15:37:00.000-05:00

I've had a super crazy week, because I had two tests, two days in a row.
So, I've been keeping up, like I promised myself I would, which consists of reading the lecture before going to class, and then writing out a summary of the lecture after class. Then, I memorize the summaries before the test. This system has basically reduced my free time to about 2 hours and 30 minutes each day. It totally sucks. But if I keep up, then I don't have the dread in the back of my mind that I'm behind and might fail the test during times when I actually get to have fun. Which really ruins any fun that might have been had.
So this past weekend was the weekend before my two tests (immunology and pharmacology). On Friday, I took off from studying, and Aaron and I went to Appleby's to try their all-you-can-eat meals. Aaron had a chicken fingers meal and I ended up forgoing the all-you-can-eat and had mini burgers. Funny thing is, they must have had some sort of training in regards to this all-you-can-eat promotion, because they had a system down. The first helping, they would bring the chicken fingers and dipping sauce with a side of cole slaw and some french fries. The second helping they cut out the cole slaw and just brought chicken fingers and fries and dipping sauce. The third helping, they didn't bring any dipping sauce, only chicken and fries. Shady, right? And then we came home and watched a movie from Blockbuster and stayed up really late, because I was not willing to end my no-study day.
Saturday, we woke up at 3 p.m. Ridiculous. I couldn't stomach the thought of starting to study the minute I woke up, so I convinced Aaron to go to a Shoe Pavilion clearance to possibly look at some shoes. Just as we were about to leave, we got a call from Andi and Jeff inviting us to dinner and to go to an art show put on by some kids from the school where Jeff teaches. So we ended up doing that. We went to the Bishop Arts District, which sounds much more artsy than it is, or at least it sounds much larger than it really is. It's about two blocks of independent stores--a store that sells soda from all around the world, an organic pet store that had no good toys for Dwight at all, and a bunch of cafes and restaurants. We ate at a tapas cafe and had really good fried goat cheese, crochettes, and chicken in sherry sauce. Yum. But the waiter was a little condescending and obviously wanted us to order more so his tip would be larger.
Needless to say, I got basically zero studying done Saturday. Which I reasoned with myself was ok, since I had already done so much studying I would've gotten an A in any college class.
Sunday and Monday, I studied, but it was a struggle. I started getting sick on Monday, and I took the Immuno test on Tuesday morning after two hours of sleep the night before and with a sore throat and stuffed up sinuses. Then, I went home and took a nap, and then went to dinner w/ Aaron at Central Market. Well, he had Central Market macaroni and cheese, and I had Panda Express from across the street--fried rice, orange chicken, and egg flower soup (following the feed a cold, starve a fever adage.) After dinner, I started studying for Pharmacology. I took the test Wednesday morning at 8 am, still sick, and with only 2 hours of sleep the night before again. I felt like shit.

Anyways, I got my grades back today. 76 on my immuno test (which I spent 30+ hours in total studying). That is 7 points below average. 83 on my pharm test, which I spent 5 hours studying. 10 points above average.
There is just no telling on these tests. It is ridiculous.
All I can say is, at least I passed. I do not understand people who worry about getting an A.

I am really craving some tapas right now.
And I am still sick.

And I can't wait for my package to come in. A designer-inspired Balenciaga motorcycle bag. After this, I am quitting. I never thought I would love handbags so much, much less designer ones.

2008-08-28T22:38:00.000-05:00

Today I found a hard round turd in Dwight's crate. I had let him out for the morning, and was studying downstairs while he annoyed the heck out of me by nosing all of my pens off the table, whining, and ringing the bell in an attempt to get me to take him on his morning walk. This was all normal. But I noticed he kept walking into his crate and sniffing the back of it, whining, and then walking back out. I figured maybe he threw up in the middle of the night and was looking for remnants to re-eat. (I know, it's gross, but in the beginning I would clean out his cage every time he threw up by hosing out his blankets in the backyard, and he would spend the rest of the day ringing the bell, asking to be let out in the backyard to re-consume the disgusting chunks in the backyard grass. So I just decided to make it easier on both of us and let him clean up after himself. Dogs in the wild do it...why not.)
But he seemed so disturbed by whatever was in the back of his crate, that I finally got up to see what was bothering him. I look into the cave of his crate, and see a small mass in the back of it. Piece of chewed blanket? Rubber tire? Luckily, I go to the kitchen to grab a paper towel before getting it out, and then realized it was a turd. A hard turd with little teeth marks on it like he tried to get rid of the evidence. I go out to the dumpster to throw it out, and when I got back, he seemed really grateful. Like, he sat down on the couch next to me and licked my arm really hard, for a really long time. He usually is not so affectionate when it is just me and him, for some reason he only feels relaxed enough to cuddle when we are all home, maybe because I am so stressed in the mornings thinking of everything I have to do before I leave the house, which stresses him out too. So I think he really was grateful that I took care of his accident for him.

Anyways, that was a really long exposition on Dwight's turd. But, such is the content of my day. Unless you would like to hear about sitting in class and dozing off, and chewing gum, and drawing on margins, and dozing off...

At this very moment, I would love to go to a comfy, dark bar, with a good amount of other people in it, and drink a gin and juice. With my fakie spy bag. That bag adds such spice to life.

2008-08-25T19:23:00.000-05:00

I have been spending a lot of time browsing flickr lately. It's interesting to search certain words and see various people's interpretations of those words. Like, type in 'comfy' and you will find people in hoodies, or dogs on couches. Or 'bedside table' and see what people have on their bedside tables. Or 'purse' and see what people carry in their purses.
It is quite satisfying, and I feel like I am able to vicariously live a thousand moments in different places.

I have recently upgraded to a new (to me) cell phone that I got from craigslist. It was a super deal, only $60. I knew I was probably going to get a pretty good deal when Aaron and I walked up to the Starbucks where we were meeting, and there were two women sitting in front, with a Fendi Spy sitting on the table next to them. I'm assuming it was a realy Fendi, seeing as if it weren't they would have set it on the floor. Only real Fendis get table treatment.

2008-08-20T21:52:00.000-05:00

Dwight loving on Zillah, Andi and Jeff's cat.

Speaking of which, Dwight found us a dollar bill the other day. It was laying off to the side of the sidewalk where we were walking him, and he started sniffing at it. I thought it was a wild mushroom or poop (both of which he likes to eat) and so started pulling him away. But then I noticed it was a dollar. He must've been smelling the millions of hands it's had been held by in its lifetime. So I told him "Good dog!" and waved it in front of his nose so he would be sure to point out more if he ever came upon one again.

By the way, I just added the picture of my tube sock bike on a previous post, but I waited too long, and now the post is not on the first page anymore. So here's a link to the post if you're curious.