Tag Archives: pets

Personal Blog

The dog for me?

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I may have found my dog.

Most of you know that about a year ago, I resolved that I needed a dog in my life, and started volunteering at the animal shelter. This was both to get experience with dogs, and to hopefully find *my* dog should he or she show up.

This is Minnow…

http://tinyurl.com/cuenre

I’ve been working with Minnow a lot on my shelter visits lately, and he is a dear heart and a fast learner. He still has manners to work on, but for some reason, I find I have fallen in love with him among all the dogs I’ve worked with. I didn’t realize it until I came in one day and he wasn’t in his kennel. Normally when dogs or cats I’m fond of have been adopted, I react with “hooray!” But when I thought Minnow had been adopted, my reaction was sadness, alas!

It turns out he was just offsite for the day.

I never thought I’d ever want a male pit bull mix. I always figured I’d fall in love with a bigger, leaner, softer dog (like Brenna). But I am stricken by this pup!

The biggest obstacle between me and this dog is purely self confidence. My family never owned dogs, and so for some reason I have this mindset that owning a dog is something that I am incapable of doing, something beyond my possible realm of experience. I know this is silly, but it’s a real fear.

If a stray cat wandered in, I would have no hesitation in taking him in, knowing exactly how to care for a cat and make a cat a member of my family. But a dog, that’s different! What if I don’t know how to own a dog??

And then all the questioning factors come in..
Do I have enough money to support adding a dog to my family?
What if I end up having to move to California after school? Is it too soon for relocating the dog too?
Will I have the proper time to devote to the dog?

What if what if what if.

Logic grown up Lisa knows that she can handle all of these things, and emotional Lisa longs for the companionship of a dog. It’s weird self-doubting Lisa who thinks “maybe now is not the right time, maybe you should wait…”

But what if it ISN’T the right time??

Sigh.

Personal Blog

Puppies and Owls

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Two posts in one day? Madness! Nevertheless, it’s been a busy day and there is much to post about.

Today Maria did a massive cleaning of her apartment in preparation for the arrival of The Shredding Tears on Tuesday, so I offered to puppy-sit for a few hours.

I also wanted to try out Brenna’s new dog backpack that Maria got for her recently. She performed wonderfully in it! Brenna is a very sensitive pup and gets embarrassed easily, so there was some concern that she would be too embarrassed at wearing the backpack to be able to use it. However, she seemed unconcerned with it, and if anything she seemed approving of doing some work. I packed her up with water and toys and a towel to sit on and we went on a walk through one of the trails in Cherokee Park. Since she was concentrating on the backpack she did not tug on her leash, and heeled without even being asked. Many people passed us, and she did not show any signs of being embarrassed around other people. We went on a long walk and I gave her lots of praise and treats when it was over. Brenna seemed quite pleased with herself. I think the dog backpack is going to work out!

After the park we went to my parents’ place. We were sitting in the back yard when a great big barred owl swooped down and landed on the branch of a tiny tree just a few feet from us. We all watched in awe (birds of prey are sooooooo cool! Especially up close!). The owl payed us no mind besides the occasional glance in each of our directions. Eventually it flew up to a higher branch and began hooting for its mate, who responded a ways off. They exchanged calls for several minutes. Brenna was mesmerized. Eventually the mate swooped down into the yard as well, and then the two flew off in the other direction.

I suppose living in downtown Louisville has made the owls unconcerned with humans, so they were content to carry on their owly business within a few yards of my family. All the better for us to observe, I say!

Personal Blog

Updates and such

Why do the funniest damned things always happen to Stephen?

Thanks everyone for birthday wishes! It was a brilliant birthday full of fun.

I got to puppy-sit for Brendan and Maria for the beginning of the week. Brenna and I had tons of fun, and Brendan needs to take and post more pictures of her! She is the cutest, and we only have pictures of her up from when she was a little puppy, and also that time we threw her in the pool a lot.

In other news, I get to go to Folsom, California next week, but it is for training for work. I will likely only see the hotel room and the training classroom the whole week, bleeeh. My boss, however, did let me install WoW on a work laptop such that I may preserve my sanity during a week of learning huge, complicated pieces of new software.

Games and Game Development, Personal Blog

Chicago

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First of all, thank you guys so much for your congratulations, it really means a lot to me! I feel all warm and squishy inside knowing I have so much support.

In other news, Scott and I went to Chicago this weekend to visit D Flo, and it was tons of fun. We got to meet Ezzie, who is D Flo’s little Maltese puppy. She is a fluff ball of playfulness and love, and has reshaped my previously bad experience with Maltese. D Flo needs to video her and post for all to see.

On Friday, Scott and I went to the Museum of Science and Industry. It was tons of fun, though Scott had his hopes raised because Body Worlds 2 was on our map. However, it doesn’t open until next week. Hopes crushed! We still had lots of fun at the museum, and we saw a cool Omnimax about Deep Sea Volcanoes.

That night we went to see D Flo in a sketch Comedy show at Donny’s Skybox at Second City. The show was written by the Second City Conservatory writing students, and was quite entertaining. D Flo remains the funniest man I know.

On Saturday we went to the Shedd Aquarium. We saw the sharks and the rays and the dolphin show, the belugas, the sea dragons, and so on. I love aquariums, but it tempted me to run out and buy another betta, which I can’t do right now. Sadness! That night we ate out to celebrate my grad schoolness, and I got to see Squirt, who I haven’t gotten to hang out with in aaaaaaaaaaaaages. Yay Squirt!

The rest of the trip was all Guitar Hero and Mario Party, but I am very happy I was able to see D Flo. Yay Chicago!

Personal Blog

Ow ow ow

Last night I was playing with Brenna (specifically, we were playing “OMG let’s run to that side of the room OMG QUICK RUN BACK TO THE OTHER SIDE! *repeat*”) when my toe got caught in my pant leg as I was stepping down.

Now I have a gimp toe, on top of everything else. One does not fully appreciate the importance of the second toe in everyday tasks, like walking, until said toe has been injured.

I’m hoping it will heal up quickly, because I want to be in tip-top shape for my visit with D Flo in Chicago this weekend, as I imagine walking will be a critical part of whatever we do. Woo!

Personal Blog

The end of the fish dynasty

Anne was kind enough to adopt Ottobot. I am very happy that he is in a new home that I’m sure will be a good one. (Btw, Anne, I just realized that I forgot to pack those algae wafers I had! I can bring them when I’m down there on the 17th).

That being taken care of, I have now packed away all my fish-keeping goods in a crate. It hasn’t really made me feel any better. I don’t know if I’m ready to rush off for a new pet, or if I should just stick to tending my garden for awhile. I’m not really sure what would be best for me.

Meanwhile, if anybody in the area is rearin to start an aquarium (which I do recommend, fish-keeping is wonderful! I just need a rest from it right now), I have plenty of things to lend!

Please let me know if you are interested in some of the following:
1 5-gallon mini-bow tank (with lighted lid)
1 2-gallon critter carrier
1 1-gallon tank (with lighted lid and undergravel filter/airstone bubbler)
1 1/2-gallon tank (good for hospital purposes or temporary housing only)
2 Whisper filters (1 has a low flow setting)
Cotton carbon whisper filter cartridges
1 100 watt aquarium heater
1 50 watt aquarium heater
2 tank thermometers
a plethora of fish medications (ick, fungus, parasite, velvet, maracyn-2)
a plethora of water treatment items (stress coat, melafix, aquarium salt, algae control substances, water chemistry test kit)
1 net
various decorations and hidey holes (including coral castles, small terracotta pots, and silk plants)
lots of glass beads and river stones
2 gravel vaccuums
1 tank divider
various foods (betta pellets, freeze-dried bloodworms, generic flake food)
1 acrylic tank scrubber (with long handle)

Plus, I’d help you set up your aquarium and help you stock it and help you if your fish ever got sick! I…just don’t want to be the mother.

Let me know

Personal Blog

Anyone in need of aquarium tenant?

I was building up to write a big long post about Nancy sometime after her death, and with my grandmother’s death so shortly afterwards, it seems unusual and possibly callous to post about a fish. Oh well.

McKinley, the betta that Ken gave me as a Christmas present to cheer me after Mr. Laguna’s death, has died today. He was the last in a long chain of fish deaths over the past few months. I am mostly sad that I had him such a short time, I feel like it’s some lack in mothering skills that led to his short life span, but perhaps that’s being unfair.

I am taking a break from fish-keeping. As much as I am delighted by bettas, I need a pet with a little longer of a maximum lifespan at this point in my life. Maybe a turtle. Cari’s turtle gave me a bit of a look into the sort of interesting and spunky personality a turtle can have. My apartment’s strict no-mammal policy limits me otherwise.

I suppose I am being slightly unfair, for there is one fish left. It is little Ottobot, the Otocinclus catfish. He’s a maintenance fish, and is tiny and swift and usually hides, only coming out to rasp away the algae. He is full grown and barely an inch. A lone maintenance fish in a 5 gallon tank does not seem an appropriate life, and I do not want to get any new fish for the tank. I really just want to take down this tank altogether.

Would anyone be interested in adopting a little otocinclus catfish? He is a very hard worker and needs a good home. Surely someone out there near me has an aquarium that could use a good rasper. Much better than plecos, I might add, because those things grow to be like a foot long. Ottobot is a good fish, you’ll never get a peep out of him.

Anyone?

Games and Game Development, Personal Blog

2005 Review

Year-end Review:

I must admit, 2005 started off pretty grim. I was unhappy up north and disappointed in theatre as a whole. I was miserable doing something I loved. After juggling over whether to stick it through or call it quits, I decided that it was the best course of action to end things at Long Wharf and head back home to initiate plan B, which meant ceasing the dating of Carleton as well. It was a hard time.

There were some highlights to ease the rough edges, though. A visiting trip to New York, ending my internship on a decently-run play, and confirming my adventure to Japan that would happen later in the year. My birthday was a pleasant one with the Coffrins, through which I acquired my GameCube, which has been a wonderful addition to my console repertoire.

My sacrifice for Lent of 2005 was irrational fear. Every time I felt the fear creeping in, I pushed through it and did whatever was causing it. This led to several good things, one of which was visiting Steph, and thus strengthening a friendship. I am very happy to know Steph better, and I hope to continue the trend!

The emotional blow of coming home from Connecticut was softened by welcoming arms of friends and family. The spring months were rough, though. I was job-hunting in addition to freelance web work, and anyone who’s ever been in the jobhunting phase knows how it can run you into the ground. I recall healing sleep at Brendan and Maria’s for not being able to sleep at my own home.

But there were plenty of good times to balance it all out. Playing Nobilis was a wonderful creative outlet. I got to foster mom two wonderfully loveable ratties. I started working with Will on ARG! Productions stuff. I strengthened small acquaintenceships into blossoming friendships, and got over timid fears to turn people into huggable buddies: Wheeler, Will, Ian, Yale.

The year swelled up to a high point with three events: Acquiring a job, going to visit Andrew in Japan, and moving out of the house into my own place. The Japan trip is like a dream now, and I still haven’t gotten all the pictures up from it. It was a magical place.

More lows and highs. Fish, my beloved pet, passed on that summer. On the other hand, there was much to be done with animating and learning and working on the JamJams trailer. Ken was back and Wheeler got to visit. Having an income through a job I enjoyed was a tremendous relief, but at the same time the mysterious illness crept in and took its toll on me.

Adventuring to Atlanta to play with new friends, discovering my knack for cooking, Tuesday night basketball, visits from D Flo–all wonderful. Weird emotional burdens, the loss of Mr. Laguna—not so much.

The year ended off in the best possible way. Christmastime was refreshing, especially among friends. New Year’s itself was a positive time–I got to spend time with the people I love the most, and we rang in the new year with Guillotine, The Great Dalmuti, Donkey Konga, Mario Party, and Munchkin. I am so very blessed to have such wonderful people in my life.

It has been up and down, yes? But I try so very hard to be grateful for the wonderful things I have. There continues to be things inside of me that I have to work out, but perhaps this year I will stop being a dragon who thinks she is a rabbit, because the rabbit hole is too small.

Year of the dog, that’s my year!

Personal Blog

Mr. Laguna

It’s been a whole year since I started my newsbruiser journal, woo! I contemplated celebrating the anniversary by changing the timing of my year-end review, but I’ll hold off. A lot could happen in a month and a half, yes?

Mr. Laguna is sick. I nursed him back to health from some bloating issues, and then all of a sudden there was a really rapid onset of finrot and fungus. Back to the hospital tank he goes. He looks absolutely miserable–he always had the habit of biting his own tail, so the pretty crowntail fins you see in the picture never lasted very long, but otherwise he’d been fairly spunky.

Mr. Laguna will always remind me of how people in a place where I just never quite fit in strove so desperately to make me feel at home. I’ve been intending to write to the Long Wharf folks to say hello and give them a rundown of how things are going for me, but I would hate for my contact to be in the form that something has happened to the beloved former office fish.

Mrs. Laguna spends most of her time in the wrong side of the big tank, swimming up and down and back and forth to try to find a breach in the glass wall that will allow her to cross over into the hospital tank where Mr. Laguna resides.

Spaz and Ottobot seem oblivious, as catfish tend to seem, though I found that yesterday when Mr. Laguna was still in the big tank and I discovered him being sick, he was laying on the floor of the coral castle, and Spaz was laying next to him. (I’ll keep an eye on Spaz to make sure he didn’t catch anything)

Update:
I should have known better that this sounded like a preemptive eulogy. Mr. Laguna died today.