Monday, October 29, 2007

Add it to the list

I've discovered that I have another odd interest:
DRAG SHOWS ARE AWESOME! :P

















I went to a Halloween themed drag show and had a really great time. It was so fun!

Sunday, October 28, 2007

Ferret Scare

Right before heading out to go grocery shopping, I went into the ferret room to say hi to the kids and feed them some dinner. After serving up a nice cup of kibble, I proceeded to nudge each ferret to let them know that their food was awaiting them.

Mischief wasn't very responsive at all. She looked almost dead.
I noticed she had caught one of her nails on her blanket and wasn't able to get up... and she was way dehydrated. She was so limp and dazed... I knew she'd die soon if I didn't do something. So I tried to feed her some calorie supplement and water with a syringe, but she was too weak to take it. I wrapped her up in one of my shirts and headed to work. On a Sunday afternoon, it was the only place that I could take her.

After a large amount of subcutaneous fluids (which she quickly absorbed like a little sponge), and a little bit of time, she was back to herself. Had I not taken her to the hospital, she would have died.

It's just amazing how fragile life can be if you aren't careful.

Thursday, October 25, 2007

Computer Crashes and Bulldog Love

I've been MIA for a few days now as my computer crashed on me and I haven't been able to get online. I feel like I've been in a cave. My computer is still non functional but I am hoping that it will work as soon as one of Mark's brilliant friends takes a look at it. I am fortunate that a friend of mine basically gave me her unstable laptop... "If you can get it to work, it's yours!" It's a fairly new Toshiba that threatens you with imminent doom every time you start it up. But that's okay, because I like living on the edge. Oh yeah.

I'm online and I've managed to catch up on all my unread Google Reader posts. I feel so good.

In other news, I LOVE MY JOB. LOVE IT. I can't believe that I worked for so long doing things that I didn't love. You spend too much time at work to not like it. Granted, my feet hurt and sometimes I want to take a nap... but that's the extent of it. I don't dread the next day and the days are just flying by.
I looooove these dogs. All the dogs are great, but I've found that have a total bias towards English bulldogs. Sometimes the dogs stay for 20 minutes, sometimes they stay for 2 weeks. Either way, I'm happy to see them go, even though I love giving them smoochies the entire time they're in the hospital.





I'm going to bed because I'm responsible and because I've gotten my Internet fix for the evening. Hooray for my dependence on technology! :P

Saturday, October 20, 2007

Happy Birthday

You'd be 73 today. It's hard to imagine you being that old... but then again, you never acted your age anyway, ya old fart.

I wish you could go back to making me laugh instead of making me cry. I miss you.

Monday, October 15, 2007

New Job

I started my new job today as a vet tech. I love it.

It's tough. You have to go from "awww I love animals! they are so cute!" to "this dog has no chance and we need to hurry up and euthanize it."

My morning started off with a 12 year old white chow mix that had been hit by a car. Since I had only been there fifteen minutes and I didn't know where anything was, I was basically stuck standing there, watching this dog pant heavily and let out a few whimpers. I can't really describe the feeling that I got when I saw the x-ray; his spinal cord was broken at a 90 degree angle and there was absolutely no hope. It was a sort of a helpless feeling coupled with the urge to go back in time and change the course of events that morning. The owners authorized the euthanasia and opted not to be present and to not have the ashes returned to them. I understand that everyone is different, but I couldn't help but feel a sense of abandonment. But then again, they did bring the dog in in the first place, so it was unfair to assume that they didn't care.
I held his paw while they euthanized him. It was so fast. Although it makes me sad to think about it, it was incredibly relieving to see his body suffer so terribly and then just stop in a matter of seconds. I closed his eyes when no one was looking and gave him a little scratch behind the ears. And that was it. He was placed in a black bag and I took him back to the crematorium.

It was business as usual.

So it's pretty apparent that I am a total softy. I felt a tear when I was walking back from the crematorium, but there wasn't time to be sad because there was another emergency case arriving. All this before 9am.

I've already found a mentor among the techs and I can tell that we will be getting along very well. I'm a bit overwhelmed by the things that I need to learn, but I feel so comfortable in that environment. Finally, a job that fits. It's like searching for that perfect pair of pants and finally finding them. And then getting paid to wear them. Oh yes.

I'm exhausted, my feet hurt and I want to just go to bed now.
I can't wait for tomorrow.

Saturday, October 13, 2007

Let it be known...

Mark just drunk dialed me for the first time ever. Awwwwwwww! It was actually really cute and sweet. hooray!
So being the wonderful girlfriend that I am, I directed him to call 1-800-734-0880, where he could leave a message that gets posted on drunkdial.org, the "official drunk dialing site." It was pretty hilarious. I recommend all of you to put this number in your contacts list and to also make sure that your friends have it as well.

Thursday, October 11, 2007

Thursday Thirteen


I already received a call back from the animal hospital to start Monday... so along that theme, here are 13 pets that I've had:

1. Bonita the Cat - Technically, this was my mom's cat, but she's the first pet I remember having. She disappeared after my mother died. My grandmother (think old-school, die-hard, Mexican seventh day Adventist) always said that this cat cried real tears and meowed all night after my mother's death. This makes me laugh only because it is one of 1,000 things that my grandmother swears by, and I think are just a little exaggerated.

2. Daisy the Cat - This cat lasted until I was 6. She got stuck in the garage door a few times and managed to survive without a trip to the vet, and I was fed the explanation that cats have nine lives. She "ran away" and I regret never asking my father what really happened to that cat.

(I'm looking outside to the animal cemetery in the backyard to try and remember who's next)

3. Snow the Rat - This little white rat sat on my shoulder and in my pocket all the time. I took her to the street fair every weekend and we were great friends. I was 7 or so. And as a good pet owner, I even rented a male rat from the pet shop so that she could have a "honeymoon". The ensuing screaming and clawing coming from the cage made me never want to have a honeymoon. When she died (not from that! just old age) my father made her a Corian casket and I had a funeral for her and buried her in the backyard, to be exhumed a few months later. Doesn't every kid want to see what decomposition does??

4. A rabbit. I don't remember her name.
My neighbor has tons of rabbits in hutch in his backyard. Then he has a barbecue/pool party. Then the rabbits are gone, save a few. The day I put those events together was the day I ran over there and picked one out as a pet. She was pretty feral, but I was just happy to have saved her. She ended up being pregnant and had two tiny pink bunnies, one of which she squished. The surviving bunny was...

5. Honeybunny - The cutest bunny ever. Then again, HoneyBunny took snow's place as a fixture in my pocket at the street fair. I even had that little bunny leash trained. You have to picture me, in my tie die nightmare outfit, walking a tiny bunny on a leash in the middle of a street fair. Let me help you imagine this:

I soon became a bunny enthusiast and built my own rabbit hutch in the back yard. I dug trenches and put up chicken wire. I went next door and adopted a big black and white, virile male rabbit and put everyone together. A week later, they all died. I think he was sick. Or perhaps, a murder suicide.

6. Turtle the Turtle - I still have this guy. I bought him at an outdoor market in Guadalajara, sent him right through the x-rays at security, and hopped on a plane with him. He's quadrupled in size and I expect him to be around for quite a while. He's awesome.




7. Mrs. Socks the Dog- Right around my tenth birthday I got a puppy from some distant relative. I walked up to the litter and picked the cutest little tail-less puppy. I looked at her white little paws and deemed her Socks and we have been friends ever since. She's more human than dog and has a great sense of humor. You can usually find her napping on my living room table. I hope she can stick around for a few more good years.




8. Joe the Iguana - He was my 11th birthday present. I was way too young to have a reptile. I didn't know enough about reptile care so he died 3 years later from calcium deposits on his kidneys. The vet pointed this out to me by squeezing Joe's sides and causing him silently grimace in pain... like a silent scream. Then he put him to sleep. I'll never forget that Vet's insensitivity. It was after this that I became really obsessed with knowing the proper care for my pets in order to make sure they have the best life possible. There is far too high of a price to pay for not knowing.

9. Alamander the Salamander - I saw this adorable thing at WalMart in the fish department. I didn't know what it was but it was so cute. The inexperienced girl in that department explained, "Someone told me they grow legs or something." I dismissed that notion and brought my little creature home. Sure enough, his little antler things came off and he sprouted legs. I gave him some land in his tank and he was as happy as could be. Amazed with my little amphibian, I went out and purchased..

10. Becky the Salamander - My two salamanders lived for a good seven years. I want to have a few more at some point in the future. They're so darn cute! They're great observation kind of pets... not really fond of being held. You just feed them and keep their habitat nice and sometimes they'll flash you a little salamander smile.


11. Two Rats - They were left at my house by my little sister's mother (we share the same father, not the same mother) when they were installing tile in her home and then she "forgot" to pick them up. The reality was that my sister wasn't taking care of them (because by having animals, she was automatically supposed to be responsible instead of it being a learned trait) and so her mother was tired of the smell and having to feed them. So she half-assed pawned them over to me (way to go setting an example for your child! tired of animals? give your problems to someone else!) They lived for a good while until I noticed one lying motionless in the cage. Upon closer inspection, I noticed her head was missing. I quickly learned that rats are scavengers, and what was once a cage mate becomes food after they die. At first I was appalled... but then I realized that they are pretty damn efficient critters. The smell of death would probably attract predators, so eating fallen friends makes sense. Right? Anyway, Cannibalina out-lived her dinner pal by a few months.

12. The Ferrets - Over the course of one year, I accumulated 5 ferrets. First it was Charlotte and Mischief from a shelter in Phoenix. Then Buddy and Hazel from a lady in LA. Then Ricky from a shelter in Las Vegas. Buddy is now dearly departed, but I still have the other four to drive me crazy and hide all my things. Ricky is Deaf, and Charlotte is blind. So once in a while I hear terrified shrieks coming from their room... Ricky's trying to play with Charlotte, who can't see him and is trying to tell him she's in no mood to play - and he can't hear her.


13. Diego the Doberman - At around age 19 I put my maternal urges to rest by having a puppy. He's been my protector and best buddy ever since, and he keeps Mrs. Socks young. He makes late night runs to the ATM (or anywhere, really) really fun.


I think I might be an animal lover.

Whooop!

The interview went as well as it possibly could. I'm excited. Diego has his paws crossed!

Wednesday, October 10, 2007

Road Trip Preface

I took a road trip with my little sister this weekend. Originally it was going to be a three person trip, but my friend Robert wasn't able to come with us AT THE LAST MINUTE. Of course, that's what he does, so I can't act too surprised. Or be upset. Robert is my best gay guy friend so he's off the hook this time.

Overall, the trip was amazing. We took a ton of pictures so I'll wait until I get them onto my computer before talking about every little part of the trip.

My father and I would take month long road trips across the country every few summers. I didn't really understand the importance of it at the time and I didn't understand that most kids didn't have the same opportunities to see what I got to see. We hit every historical place, drove across Canada, and spent some really memorable times together. It made history class so much more fun because I had been to the places I was learning about. So although I've lived in this town my entire life, I do have an understanding of what it's like in other places... and so I'm not afraid to set up roots somewhere else.

It was important to me to be able to pass that same tradition onto my sister. It may have only been a 3 day weekend, but it still was great and beneficial for her. She met new people, saw new places, and hopefully learned a few things. Not just tangible things, but also little things like speaking up when people ask you questions and that it's okay to show your emotions on the outside and not scowl all the time, and for god's sake STOP ROLLING YOUR EYES AT ME. I had to constantly remind myself that she's 13. A teenager. Yuck.

My first job interview is tomorrow at an animal hospital. It's a 24/7 hospital, so I'm thinking I'm twice as likely to get hired because they are open twice as longer than other hospitals... right??

I'm looking forward to posting the road trip pictures as soon as I get them! :D :D

Monday, October 1, 2007

You just have to believe

For those that doubt the power of prayer:
A new Sonic's drive thru has been built less than a mile away from my house, and it's the only Sonic's within an 80 mile radius.

I could WALK there with Diego. I'm excited.