Tuesday, February 24, 2009

R.I.P Fergus McKenzie

I normally title my posts with lines from TV shows, movies, and songs, but today is different. Today is the first time in nearly 11 years I sit in my home totally and completely alone because the family dog died yesterday. I'm still of the mindset to check on Fergus when I go upstairs but you know, he's not there. No, he's not on the couch curled into a little fluffy, blonde ball. And he's not on the brown chair sprawled. And his not at my feet under the computer desk letting out noxious farts. Okay, I guess I can't honestly say I miss his farts, but I miss him damnit.

Fucking diabetes got the best of him and for the last several days his blood sugar has been dropping resulting in not eating, not peeing, and not doing anything but sleeping. Sunday night he had some shakes that I had never seen before and so Monday morning my mom called the vet and I dropped him off there around 9am. As I left work to catch a bus downtown to celebrate a birthday, my mom called to tell me she was going to the vet because in the best interest of the dog he was being put down.

Fergus was the ultimate super trooper dog. He survivied ACL surgery and gallstone surgery (that resulted in over 60 stones being removed) that left a 12 inch incision scar on his already wee belly. His internal sutures from the gallstone surgery tore out and he had to be opened up again, replacing the busted sutures with ones for dogs upwards to 100 pounds. Then his diabetes happened and he went blind practically over night. But NONE of this ever daunted the little guy from loving us simple humans. The mental and phsyical strength that dog had amazed me then and still amazes me today as I type this.

Fergus was not the first dog we've owned that has died, but it is the first time that we've had an animal put to sleep. Back in Arizona, when our dogs died I was never home for it and usually they just died of old age and just never woke up the next day. Being in the vet's office yesterday, with my mom, watching the vet gently tell us how it happens and then to watch it happen was quietly intense. I was overcome with so much sadness it really surprised me. I watched a family member die yesterday and it will forever stay with me.

Good night, sweet prince. Thank you for your love and protection.

Tuesday, February 17, 2009

"Bad guy can't win. It's a morality tale."

I took the child to a movie today. A movie's she been harrassing me to see for weeks, though it only started on Friday the 13th. Funny thing, the movie is of the same title as it's release date.

Yes, I took the child to see Friday the 13th. The dialogue wasn't totally inane, but there was a lot of boobs from the same people. It reminded me of an episode of XPlay when Adam Sessler's rattling off game titles he wants to see die. One game is about scantily clad, poorly animated women with robust breasts jumping around playing volley ball. The movie even had a scene of a topless girl water skiing, well boarding. The violence really was far less outrageous then I predicted and there was some humor that made me giggle even more so for its placement in a slasher film.

Prior to all this, we had lunch and bought cupcakes to have in the movies. When packaging up our said cupcakes, I asked the cupcake gal to box them individually so they would fit inside my purse better. And they did! Genius! So there we were, the child and I, sitting in the last row, noshing on tasty cupcakes watching a slasher flick. We whispered back and forth to each other about how one scene was from the first Friday the 13th, and how a character looked like another character from Part 2 in which he gets a machete in the head, oh and! Lookie here, this guy got it in the head too! HAHAHAHAHA! We had a blast!

And it was payday too!

Tuesday, February 03, 2009

"I was down on a frown when the messenger brought me a letter."

Sizzle Says has made my day! Yesterday she posted a list of ten things she loves that start with the letter R. She went on to describe some fabulous stuff and at the end she asked if anyone was up to the same challenge. Always wanting to be included as much as possible I went for it and Sizzle obliged! Yay us!

I got the letter N,which at first pleased me beyond the dog's tolerance for adult human giggling. But then I panicked. The letter N? Good grief!

Okay, I'm already over thinking this task because this morning upon waiting to get my morning stuff done (wake the child, feed the child, urge the child to get dressed, as well as feeding and clothing myself, make the child's lunch, take her to morning child care, dash back to work because I left with the cash box key last night) I started thinking of what to title my post, provided I was able to engage in the letter game. After I dropped McKenzie off and headed north on Market St. Neil Young came on the car stereo (I was driving my mom's car) and there you have my title. But was I going to play? YES! Thank you, Sizzle.

Ten things that start with the letter N that I love.

1. Neighborhood - I really enjoy the neighborhood we live in. It's close to the child's school and close to my work, just 20-25 minutes walking distance from downtown Ballard. The proximity to all things Seattle is very good, I'd even say we're centrally located, with easy access to 99. The house we rent is on a hillside so we have a fantastic view of the Olympic Mts.

2. Naan - Particularly the garlic naan, sometimes the spinach stuffed naan. But just in general naan. So light and fluffy yet hearty and warm. Such a good thing on its own too!

3. Naval - Specifically the child's belly button. She's got an outy inside in inny. It's so cute!

4. Nebulas - A totally sweet gathering of cosmic gases, proof the unverse is ever growing and evolving.

5. Noodles - Not pad thai noodles, no no, can't stand those, but linguini noodles fo' sho'! And Ramen noodles too. You can do a lot to a simple cup of noodles that transcends their ordinary purpose. Plus Ramen noodles come in a plethora of flavors and its cheap, which is good for this day and age.

6. Northwest - The pacific northwest has held a special place in my heart since first visiting my mom at Christmas in 1995. I stole away to Seattle from horrid, dreadful Tucson a few more times before I gave into the want and need to move here. I am SO glad my mom moved up here so I could follow. You get it all up here: rain, sun, wind, heat, chill, sea air, arid desserts. Everything! Plus I've met some fabulous people living up here who are like minded in that they are flexible, open-minded, easy going, yet smart and funny.

7. Number 9 - Myyyyy favorite and lucky number. In its purest form of just 9 this is a powerful by product of the magical number 3. Yet 19, 29, etc are just as awesome! I tend to pick numbers with 9 in the when I play lotteries. Not that this strategy has led me to a win but I like it. The Beatles song might have had something to do it with it. I'd listened to the White Album, on vinyl, a lot as a kid.

8. The Nightmare Before Christmas - This is such a brilliant and fantastic dark fairytale. Tim Burton is a child of gloominess and for that I shall always be a fan of his. To create such a lovely story about responsibility and finding yourself for a specific audience that can relate to being different moved me so when I first saw this movie 15 years ago.

9. Nerdist - Chris Hardwick is a funny, funny man. His posts are full of wit, vulgarities and violence. Okay, not so much violence but it sounded good when I typed it. I first caught Chris Hardwick on G4's Attack of the Show leading a Gadget Pron segment. He wore an argygle sweater vest with a tie. My geek heart swooned.

10. Netflix - It took me a long time to get on the bandwagon for this practical site. I'm not one to follow the hype on anything so it took a while for it to die down and then Netflix looked appealing. I am glad that I finally drank the Netflix kool aid. We've got In Bruges to watch tonight.

Okay, that was way harder then first thought of, but damn it was fun!