As most folks that read this know, I work at the local animal shelter. Whilst working there on Monday, I discovered that two dogs that were very difficult to adopt out (Hilton the lab/chow and Marigold the Jack Russel terrier) were returned. Now, these guys are great dogs, honestly. They're really very sweet, so long as Hilton is taken out regularly so that he isn't lifting his leg against your antique furniture. I feel especially sorry for poor Marigold, though. Apparently her ex-owners dumped her this nasty animal shelter and left here there for TWO WEEKS, and she caught this bad case of kennel cough while she was there. So now Marigold's back with us sick and unhappy. She seemed to remember me and my mom, though. Hilton was returned because hs ex-people couldn't handle so many dogs... So now we have to get Hilton and Marigold back to good health, make sure they're adoptable again, and find them homes again. Krutz.
Poor Mari's case just makes me lose yet more faith in the human race.
Current Mood: Tired
Random Useless Fact of the Day: "Series of Unfortunate Events" is out on DVD, w00t!
Wednesday, April 27, 2005
Sunday, April 24, 2005
And so it Goes, and so it Goes
Yeah. Billy Joel lyrics. Rawkin'.
But anyway, life around here these past few days has been hectic, to say the least. A couple of days ago, I was woken up much earlier than I would've liked (which has been happening ever since my dad got a new scale and stuck it in my sister's room) by people running around and talking. This doesn't usually happen, considering that when Dad's still around in the morning no one else is up. It turns out that Dad had received a phone call from my grandmother (who lives two and a half hours away from us) that her eye was swollen and red. So, that meant that grandma had to come up here, bunk across the hall from me (meaning that I have to share the bathroom that I've grown possessive of ever since Amy went to college), and that I had to clean my sister's room. Talk about sucky, having to clean up a room that isn't even yours. Ah well.
Well, my grandma's going to have to have surgery on her eyelid, meaning that she'll be here for a month, probably. In the meantime, we've been trying to convince her to move closer to us, since it's a real pain to drive for five hours to pick her up for a few days during holiday season and for her to get any help from my family. So my parents, after many misgivings, found an apartment we think she likes. If grandma doesn't, then... Too bad. They've already got the rent started. She's moving ASAP. Hallelujah. This means that we can see her and check up on her a lot more often, and is a lot easier on the family in the long run. No more having to bunk in my room during the holidays, yay! (Plus the apple pies are in much better reach, hehe. Ain't nobody beatin' my gramma's homemade apple pie. Except possibly her coconut cream...) Point is, it's a much better arrangement for everyone. Seriously.
Kickboxing is still something I enjoy. So what if I wake up sore? I discovered what abs are! They're the ones that hurt! *cough* It's really fun, and is a good way to exercise. Plus, if anyone tries to misbehave then I'll break their legs. I'm not tall enough to kick their jaws to the other side of their heads. It's only a four-week class, though, and my mom hasn't found any other classes in the area, I don't think. Thus, I might get to take karate! :D Now that's what would be awesome.
The one big mystery right now is my friend's big secret. I'm not sure, but I bet he's engaged. I mean, if the senior minister at church knows but no one else does... And I have informants that say he's been hanging out with some girl. Right now all I can do is speculate. Heh.
My dad says that my youth minister had better watch out or I'll mention him here. So here I go: Hey Dave! Here's your honorable mention! Happy?! *ahem*
Current Mood: Tired but accomplished.
Random Useless Fact of the Day: Got a new songbook the other day. Josh Groban, w00t! It's orange! That way I can't lose it no matter how hard I try.
But anyway, life around here these past few days has been hectic, to say the least. A couple of days ago, I was woken up much earlier than I would've liked (which has been happening ever since my dad got a new scale and stuck it in my sister's room) by people running around and talking. This doesn't usually happen, considering that when Dad's still around in the morning no one else is up. It turns out that Dad had received a phone call from my grandmother (who lives two and a half hours away from us) that her eye was swollen and red. So, that meant that grandma had to come up here, bunk across the hall from me (meaning that I have to share the bathroom that I've grown possessive of ever since Amy went to college), and that I had to clean my sister's room. Talk about sucky, having to clean up a room that isn't even yours. Ah well.
Well, my grandma's going to have to have surgery on her eyelid, meaning that she'll be here for a month, probably. In the meantime, we've been trying to convince her to move closer to us, since it's a real pain to drive for five hours to pick her up for a few days during holiday season and for her to get any help from my family. So my parents, after many misgivings, found an apartment we think she likes. If grandma doesn't, then... Too bad. They've already got the rent started. She's moving ASAP. Hallelujah. This means that we can see her and check up on her a lot more often, and is a lot easier on the family in the long run. No more having to bunk in my room during the holidays, yay! (Plus the apple pies are in much better reach, hehe. Ain't nobody beatin' my gramma's homemade apple pie. Except possibly her coconut cream...) Point is, it's a much better arrangement for everyone. Seriously.
Kickboxing is still something I enjoy. So what if I wake up sore? I discovered what abs are! They're the ones that hurt! *cough* It's really fun, and is a good way to exercise. Plus, if anyone tries to misbehave then I'll break their legs. I'm not tall enough to kick their jaws to the other side of their heads. It's only a four-week class, though, and my mom hasn't found any other classes in the area, I don't think. Thus, I might get to take karate! :D Now that's what would be awesome.
The one big mystery right now is my friend's big secret. I'm not sure, but I bet he's engaged. I mean, if the senior minister at church knows but no one else does... And I have informants that say he's been hanging out with some girl. Right now all I can do is speculate. Heh.
My dad says that my youth minister had better watch out or I'll mention him here. So here I go: Hey Dave! Here's your honorable mention! Happy?! *ahem*
Current Mood: Tired but accomplished.
Random Useless Fact of the Day: Got a new songbook the other day. Josh Groban, w00t! It's orange! That way I can't lose it no matter how hard I try.
Sunday, April 17, 2005
Of Dog Shows and Kickboxing
I'll report on the kickboxing first just so I can get it out of the way. For one, I'm still kind of sore from the class Thursday night. But you know what? It's worth it. The instructor seems nice, and the kickboxing is actually really fun. I'm just looking forward to not being sore once I get used to it. Waking up in the morning and having your legs crumple isn't that great.
What's with the dog shows, you ask? Well, my Bible Bowl team needed money for the hotel rooms we'll be staying in this summer at our National Tournament. We're not allowed to sell anything (which I'm really kind of glad for; I hate waltzing up to strangers and asking them to buy stuff). So my mom got this email, saying that this dog agility show needed people to help work the rings, so the entire team (and then some) was all signed up.
Result? We're a lot richer than when we started out and we want to do it again. And again. Enough to finance the whole trip, perhaps. It's that cool. For those of you who don't know what dog agility is, I suggest Google-ing it because right now I can't be bothered to post links. (so nyeah.) But anyway, it was a great time for all of us on the team. The judges were pretty nice, especially one judge that let me scribe for him. Scribing is pretty much keeping an eye on the judge and writing down the hand signals he uses to say if the dog has refused an obstacle, failed, etc. I'm surprised he let me do that, considering that scribing is usually an executive task and isn't handed out to kids. Aside from the scribing, I was a pole setter (setting up jumps, putting bars back if the dog knocked them down, that sort of thing), a sheet runner (taking score sheets up to the appropriate personnel), and a leash runner (taking leashes from one end of the course to the other). It was quite a working thing, so now my brain is mush from concentrating so hard for the entire weekend. (For which reason my mom said to go and do something mindless. So here I am.)
Current Mood: Tired
Random Useless Fact of the Day: I must be an inspiration to my family, as my mother has made a blog. You can find it here.
What's with the dog shows, you ask? Well, my Bible Bowl team needed money for the hotel rooms we'll be staying in this summer at our National Tournament. We're not allowed to sell anything (which I'm really kind of glad for; I hate waltzing up to strangers and asking them to buy stuff). So my mom got this email, saying that this dog agility show needed people to help work the rings, so the entire team (and then some) was all signed up.
Result? We're a lot richer than when we started out and we want to do it again. And again. Enough to finance the whole trip, perhaps. It's that cool. For those of you who don't know what dog agility is, I suggest Google-ing it because right now I can't be bothered to post links. (so nyeah.) But anyway, it was a great time for all of us on the team. The judges were pretty nice, especially one judge that let me scribe for him. Scribing is pretty much keeping an eye on the judge and writing down the hand signals he uses to say if the dog has refused an obstacle, failed, etc. I'm surprised he let me do that, considering that scribing is usually an executive task and isn't handed out to kids. Aside from the scribing, I was a pole setter (setting up jumps, putting bars back if the dog knocked them down, that sort of thing), a sheet runner (taking score sheets up to the appropriate personnel), and a leash runner (taking leashes from one end of the course to the other). It was quite a working thing, so now my brain is mush from concentrating so hard for the entire weekend. (For which reason my mom said to go and do something mindless. So here I am.)
Current Mood: Tired
Random Useless Fact of the Day: I must be an inspiration to my family, as my mother has made a blog. You can find it here.
Tuesday, April 12, 2005
I Get the Point
Everywhere I turn today, it seems like I'm faced with another picture of the dead pope. Seriously, those photos look Photoshopped, simply because after a few days dead a body doesn't look too good. But anyway... Pope's dead. We know. Next?
I'm still really excited about the kickboxing thing. I'm not sure why I am, because when it comes to sportsy-type things I never really wanted to join in. Maybe it's because it doesn't involve basketballs smacking me in the skull. Instead it's kick and punches, yay.
My beloved dog, Beans, gets to go into the vet again tomorrow. This time she's getting a liver panel, just to check and see if those enzymes have returned to normal. What's the deal with liver enzymes, you ask? A lot. One of 'em gets out of whack, and it's bye bye doggie. Luckily, Beans seems to be getting along quite well after being put on thyroid medication.
Got to go to quartet practice tonight... Let's see if I actually remember the harmony I'm supposed to do.
So yeah, that's the news from me.
Current Mood: Brainy
Random Useless fact of the Day: Thomas Edison electrocuted small animals just to prove Nikola Tesla wrong. That's just cruel.
I'm still really excited about the kickboxing thing. I'm not sure why I am, because when it comes to sportsy-type things I never really wanted to join in. Maybe it's because it doesn't involve basketballs smacking me in the skull. Instead it's kick and punches, yay.
My beloved dog, Beans, gets to go into the vet again tomorrow. This time she's getting a liver panel, just to check and see if those enzymes have returned to normal. What's the deal with liver enzymes, you ask? A lot. One of 'em gets out of whack, and it's bye bye doggie. Luckily, Beans seems to be getting along quite well after being put on thyroid medication.
Got to go to quartet practice tonight... Let's see if I actually remember the harmony I'm supposed to do.
So yeah, that's the news from me.
Current Mood: Brainy
Random Useless fact of the Day: Thomas Edison electrocuted small animals just to prove Nikola Tesla wrong. That's just cruel.
Sunday, April 10, 2005
Of Small Choirs and Kickboxing
Well, not a whole lot about the kickboxing will be said yet. I haven't started the class. But come Thursday, I'll have a report up on that. Yes, I am, in fact, taking up kickboxing. It sounded fun.
You know what's ironic? It's being taught to junior high and high school students at CHURCH. Hmm. So much for the non-violence approach to persecution. Ah, well.
Chosen, my "choir" (yes, there is a reason for the quotation marks) is as small as ever. I doubt that, in the history of Chosen, it has been this small. Tonight's attendance? Six. Total. Two boys, two altos that didn't know what they were doing, and two sopranos. It could've been worse. Last week I was the only soprano. You know something's up when there are only six people in what used to be, like, a 40-strong choir. Seriously, Chosen used to be huge, as did Visions of Praise, the elementary school choir before fifth and sixth graders get their own group. That being the case, I'm used to singing with gigantic groups of people. Having to abruptly switch from 40 to 15 people was quite a change for me. I guess I'll have to get used to it if I want to do Extreme next year... They're even smaller, if that's possible. Oy.
Current Mood: Content
Random Useless Fact of the Day: Dude, it has been beautiful around here lately. Seriously. The weather is almost never this nice. Ever. So yeah. Better enjoy it while it's still here, because it'll probably change pretty quick.
EDIT: I changed the background again, in case you didn't notice.
You know what's ironic? It's being taught to junior high and high school students at CHURCH. Hmm. So much for the non-violence approach to persecution. Ah, well.
Chosen, my "choir" (yes, there is a reason for the quotation marks) is as small as ever. I doubt that, in the history of Chosen, it has been this small. Tonight's attendance? Six. Total. Two boys, two altos that didn't know what they were doing, and two sopranos. It could've been worse. Last week I was the only soprano. You know something's up when there are only six people in what used to be, like, a 40-strong choir. Seriously, Chosen used to be huge, as did Visions of Praise, the elementary school choir before fifth and sixth graders get their own group. That being the case, I'm used to singing with gigantic groups of people. Having to abruptly switch from 40 to 15 people was quite a change for me. I guess I'll have to get used to it if I want to do Extreme next year... They're even smaller, if that's possible. Oy.
Current Mood: Content
Random Useless Fact of the Day: Dude, it has been beautiful around here lately. Seriously. The weather is almost never this nice. Ever. So yeah. Better enjoy it while it's still here, because it'll probably change pretty quick.
EDIT: I changed the background again, in case you didn't notice.
Tuesday, April 05, 2005
And so it Begins...
As my brother Phil once said to me as I was eating breakfast:
"Today is a good day, a very special day. Do you know what it is?"
"No."
*Insert the cover of the sports section here. And I don't mean the stuff about basketball.*
"The start of baseball season."
"Wohoo!" And so pretty much the entire city rejoices.
Current Mood: Excited
Random Useless Fact of the Day: And what else is coming up soon? Something that only a weather geek looks forward to- tornado season. Why am I so interested in stuff that can kill me?
"Today is a good day, a very special day. Do you know what it is?"
"No."
*Insert the cover of the sports section here. And I don't mean the stuff about basketball.*
"The start of baseball season."
"Wohoo!" And so pretty much the entire city rejoices.
Current Mood: Excited
Random Useless Fact of the Day: And what else is coming up soon? Something that only a weather geek looks forward to- tornado season. Why am I so interested in stuff that can kill me?
Sunday, April 03, 2005
The Great Weekend of a Wannabe Superstar
And Bible Bowl finally seems to be looking up. Yes, my team was finally kicked down to the lower bracket after many months of abuse from all of the high school teams. And so everyone rejoiced. A couple of my teammates wouldn't believe me when I told them... Guess they learned their lesson. Results? We brought home my team's first trophy of the year. It's a rental kind of a thing, but who cares!? It's a trophy! It's shiny and blue and busted our tails trying to win it. So there. Five out of nine people placed on the Top Brain test, meaning that (yet again) we got Dairy Queen today's practice. So my weekend rocked.
House groups was pretty interesting tonight. The current discussion was on the lies that the media so frequently feeds to children and teens. Tyler showed us a video on violence and suicide in today's music, video games, movies, and television shows. Some of the music and movies really grossed me out. I mean, take the band Slipknot. There were a few snippets of a music video, and a few song lyrics. Their looks freaked me out so much that I wondered how people can possibly endure that sort of thing. I mean, dude! They say the F word pretty much every other line, and have songs about killing and raping women and shooting and killing... And what's so strange? These artists have wives and kids. They wouldn't let their own kids listen to some of the stuff they produce, and yet they market it to teens.
Hypocrites.
There was a story about this 14-year-old kid who was depressed because of that type of music. He took a hunting rifle, loaded it, proceeded to kill his mother and younger brothers, and then he shot himself in the head. It's those kinds of things, like teens and kids listening to that kind of music, playing those games and watching those movies and then becoming so depressed and twisted that they kill themselves or someone else, that really make me scared for my generation.
In another note... If my mom gets the job she's been going after, I might be able to go to Christian high school. I don't know if I would, but the idea is sort of appealing to me. I'll have to think long and hard on it before I make any real decisions. But maybe going to an actual school wouldn't be too bad. Huh.
Current Mood: Still appalled
Random Useless Fact of the Day: That darn trophy has to be returned next month, sigh...
House groups was pretty interesting tonight. The current discussion was on the lies that the media so frequently feeds to children and teens. Tyler showed us a video on violence and suicide in today's music, video games, movies, and television shows. Some of the music and movies really grossed me out. I mean, take the band Slipknot. There were a few snippets of a music video, and a few song lyrics. Their looks freaked me out so much that I wondered how people can possibly endure that sort of thing. I mean, dude! They say the F word pretty much every other line, and have songs about killing and raping women and shooting and killing... And what's so strange? These artists have wives and kids. They wouldn't let their own kids listen to some of the stuff they produce, and yet they market it to teens.
Hypocrites.
There was a story about this 14-year-old kid who was depressed because of that type of music. He took a hunting rifle, loaded it, proceeded to kill his mother and younger brothers, and then he shot himself in the head. It's those kinds of things, like teens and kids listening to that kind of music, playing those games and watching those movies and then becoming so depressed and twisted that they kill themselves or someone else, that really make me scared for my generation.
In another note... If my mom gets the job she's been going after, I might be able to go to Christian high school. I don't know if I would, but the idea is sort of appealing to me. I'll have to think long and hard on it before I make any real decisions. But maybe going to an actual school wouldn't be too bad. Huh.
Current Mood: Still appalled
Random Useless Fact of the Day: That darn trophy has to be returned next month, sigh...
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