| |
|
|
| 12:54am 22/11/2009 |
| |
mood:  happy
|
I got my seramas! They were expensive for chickens, but they're really cute and sweet and friendly! They have such great personalities, and they're beautiful, too. Unfortunately, my taking photos of them was interrupted by a certain silly little corgi trying to stick her nose in their butts constantly (>___>;) so these pictures are nothing special, but for now they will have to suffice! As a note, my three are not as small as serama can get (though Charming weighs only 10 oz, so she's quite small), and they also don't have the crazy show-type position that you'll see if you look up the breed. I'm actually quite happy with this, because if they're too small they're infertile and I doubt they live as long, and the show position, while it is flashy, looked a bit too unnatural for my tastes.
( Serama chickens! Also featuring Honey's nose, birch trees, and Hooch! )
Today was nice! I spent part of the day at the AnimalSave thrift store with Bosco, the puppy we're trying to find a home for (he is such a wonderful little guy! I grow more attached to him every time I see him), and then I spent this evening at the AnimalSave Santa Paws Auction, which was a lot of fun. I bought a nice basket of dog grooming supplies, a book, and some other miscellaneous stuff, and then won a whole basket of dog toys, too. I spread the dog toys everywhere, but Hana is in her "BORDER COLLIE FRUSTRATION" mode and keeps trying to tear the toys up, so I removed most of them and put them on the fridge.
Just a bit of advice for everyone to take or leave. If you're ever in a crummy mood, feeling sorry for yourself, or stuck feeling sad for no apparent reason, I think one of the best ways to get out of that is to go volunteer for charity. Anything you'd like to do--go walk dogs or cuddle cats at your local shelter, go talk to or perform for the elderly at a convalescent home, donate a bunch of stuff to a thrift store supporting your favorite cause, serve soup to the homeless, etc. I've been in a great mood lately so it doesn't really apply at the moment, but I've noticed if I'm in a bad mood and go out and spend a day or more helping someone else, human or animal, I never feel it was a waste of time and I always feel much better after. Just something to think about. It really does feel good to spend your time in such a way that makes someone else's life better or easier.
On another note, LOL, my dogs are being so high maintenance at the moment! Hana keeps barking for some unknown reason, Honey keeps putting her nose on my keyboard and looking at me pitifully, and Hooch...well, he's just off chewing his bone and being good. I guess the female dogs are being high maintenance right now, anyway. I'll go take them out again soon, hopefully that will solve the problem. Maybe.
Probably going to do that "getting to know each other better" meme that's been going around lately, but a bit later. Tomorrow, we're having early Thanksgiving with my mom's side of the family, so that'll be nice! On actual Thanksgiving, we're going to the bay area to visit my dad's side of the family probably.
Oh, and finished my 50k! I'm too lazy to keep going, though, at least for now. .___.; |
|
| |
|
Read 15 - Post |
| |
| |
|
|
| 01:26am 20/11/2009 |
| |
mood:  busy
|
I wrote an e-mail to Yamada-san just now expressing how much I loved Lagann-hen, thanking him for working hard on it, and thanking him again for letting me visit GAINAX, giving me nice gifts, and so on. I hope it's not too embarrassingly unintelligible with me switching between English and possibly incorrect Japanese! ;A; Regardless, I think he'll get what I'm trying to say with my uses of both English and Japanese versions of awesome, amazing, incredible, etc. XD
Let's see here! Tomorrow (AKA today but I haven't gone to bed yet so I don't consider it today) I need to call about volunteering for the Santa Paws auction, write a review of Lagann-hen, finish my NaNo, possibly go about town and sell more things before picking up the seramas, do a sales post, and...yeah. That should keep me occupied all day.
I think I'm in one of those periods of time where I write in my LiveJournal constantly for no apparent reason. |
|
| |
|
Read 1 - Post |
| |
| |
|
|
| 04:57pm 19/11/2009 |
| |
mood:  okay
|
I've been selling things off so I can afford to get the three seramas I picked out tomorrow. I have a good chunk of what they cost down now, so that's good, but still need to do more sales before I have the cost of them squared away! For the record, they don't cost a ton or anything (way cheaper than ordering them online from breeders in other states), but enough that, in my broke state, I do have to scramble and make some sacrifices to afford them. It'll be worth it, though--they're so adorable and will be fun to deal with! I even want to bring them places with me for the fun of it. I may try my hand at breeding them, too, and if I succeed in this plan I can keep the best few of the clutch and possibly sell the rest. I should try to get an incubator sometime in the future--that would lead to all kinds of poultry fun! :D
I wish jobs were easier to find right now. :/ I have to admit, I think I'd prefer having a regular job to doing sales for a few different reasons. Though regardless, I do have tons of Pokémon stuff to get out of here before I stop doing sales for now--anything I don't manage to sell in the next couple of weeks will be going to Ebay, because I could use the room. I do need to submit more applications to vet clinics as soon as things calm down a bit, seeing as I'm busy today, tomorrow, Saturday, and Sunday. Looking forward to next week, as there are only two days of class. |
|
| |
|
Read 10 - Post |
| |
| Drill, heavens, etc. |
|
|
| 01:45am 19/11/2009 |
| |
mood:  ecstatic
|
THANK YOU to everyone who encouraged me to go to the movie--I am SO, SO, SO glad that I did! It was incredible and epic and amazing and I LOVED all the new scenes and additions! It was definitely worth every minute of the six hours of driving total in order to see it.
I would write more intelligent thoughts on it and note things about the movie, but it's 1:33 AM now and I'm a bit tired from all the driving.
I really need to write Yamada-san an e-mail telling him how much I adored it. ;; At one point in the documentary about the making of the Gurren Lagann movies, he was sleeping on a cot in the studio, LOL, and I need to let him know that his hard work and the hard work of all of the GAINAX staff really paid off in a big way.
It's odd, but it seems like the more I see Gurren Lagann, the more deeply I'm affected by it. I actually started crying a bit on the way home because I was so moved. Gurren Lagann has had not only a huge internal effect on me, but has also led me to a lot of wonderful, wonderful experiences I never thought I'd be able to have.
There's a certain fight scene--the FINAL fight scene--in the movie, and I actually got to flip through the hand-drawn frames of that whole scene. 8D I feel amazing every time I think of that! And seeing Shokotan in concert/being on her blog, being on the GAINAX blog, visiting GAINAX studios in general, all the fun convention experiences with GAINAX staff... Good times. ♥ I feel like, in part, my Japan trip this summer was helped by Gurren Lagann--I took on that philosophy where I decided I was going to go, everything else be damned, and there was nothing in the world that was going to stop me. And nothing did.
Anyway, blah, I wish I could write a whole huge essay on how much I adore the series and how I've been affected by it, but like I said...long day, need to go rest and do brainless things!
Man, though. I love this series so much. I can't even say how much. |
|
| |
|
Read 7 - Post |
| |
| |
|
|
| 12:32am 18/11/2009 |
| |
mood:  weird
|
Today was kind of...odd. I spent all day being excited about the seramas, and then when I went by mom's to pick up Honey before leaving for Auburn, mom got terribly mad at me because I want to get more chickens, and so on and so forth. (Getting my mom mad = unleashing not just one angry rant, but many angry rants in one! It's never "just" the issue at hand, and usually the issue at hand is the least issue, oddly enough.) Eventually decided that I was just going to see the seramas regardless and took off.
The lady and her son who have the seramas are SO sweet. ;A; ♥ They're total animal people like me, so we spent over two hours swapping animal stories and having a good time. I'm interested in three of their birds, named Prince (rooster), Charming (hen), and Splash (hen), and probably, hopefully planning on picking them up on Friday. They're super cute! Charming, the smallest of the three, weighs a mere 10 oz. I may actually just keep them in the coop except when it's too cold for them to be out there, but we'll see--depends if the other birds pick on them too much. Really, though, they're just a little smaller than my Old English hens, so I think they should be fine.
Planning on probably going to the Gurren Lagann second movie tomorrow in San Francisco. I feel crazy for doing so, as it's six hours of driving total (...hmmm, maybe I should crash with some of my San Francisco friends or relatives and head back to my area in the morning?), but I really want to see it in theaters! Especially because I got to touch parts of that movie in sketch form at studio GAINAX, and I have such a massive love for Gurren Lagann. I guess we'll have to see, but that's what I'm planning on doing, anyway!
I'm at 47k on my novel, but I just don't have the energy to work on writing it tonight! I'll see if I can hammer that 3k out tomorrow morning before class, and if not my goal is to have the 50k finished by the 20th.
I'm in a weird mood at the moment. I can't decide whether I want to sleep or engage in completely pointless activities (ie, reorganizing picture folders, StumbleUpon, etc) until I fall asleep. |
|
| |
|
Read 2 - Post |
| |
| RETURN OF THE CHICKEN GEEK |
|
|
| 12:03pm 17/11/2009 |
| |
mood:  crazy
|
So, last night I obsessively hunted for seramas online for hours and was disappointed that I couldn't find any nearby. I started seriously considering having some shipped to me, which is expensive and a big hassle.
This morning, I go on to Craigslist and search "serama" and first thing that comes up aside from my ad is seramas for sale in Auburn (about a half-hour away). JSHFDKJSFHSKJFHSHF BRB, FREAKING OUT. Talk about perfect timing! They look so beautiful, too--exactly the sorts of birds I want!
So want to get one rooster and two or three hens, or two pairs. Want so bad. I already e-mailed and called, and if possible I may go see them tonight after class if I can. FFF so excited! I hope this works out! Pleeeease don't let anyone get them before I do! ;; |
|
| |
|
Read 6 - Post |
| |
| Project: Serama chickens! |
|
|
| 12:12am 17/11/2009 |
| |
mood:  excited
|
Hmmm, after doing some research on all the animals I mentioned in the entry, for now I think the only thing I'm going to focus on for now (besides the rooster for my flock) is finding some seramas! Seramas are the smallest breed of chicken in the world, and in addition to being bred to be very small, they are also bred for personality--to be very affectionate, friendly, and love people. :D
I really want a trio of seramas (two hens, one rooster) to keep as indoor pets, as it sounds like they're exactly the sort of critter I'm looking for. Unusual, sweet and easy to handle, tiny, fairly hardy, can be housed indoors, poultry, legal, and they just sound awesome in general. The problem is that they're difficult to find, so I have to try to hunt some down eventually! There's a site where a lot of the seramas seem to originate, but it's $100-250 a pair, plus $50 shipping, and none of them are even available at the moment to begin with. D: So expensive for tiny chickens!
If I do manage to get a hold of some, I'm definitely going to have them as total, beloved house pets. Including like, bringing them places with me and whatnot. XD (Oh, the reactions I'll get!)
For now, I don't think chinchillas or goats or doves are the sorts of critters I'm after, though of course that could easily change at some point in the future.
I still do want some chukar for my coop in the spring, though, and I would definitely like to get some button quail and bantam ducks whenever I have space/time/energy for those animals. |
|
| |
|
Post |
| |
| RIP, Yami, and Kristin knows not to act on all her impulses, but likes to think about it! |
|
|
| 09:14pm 16/11/2009 |
| |
mood:  curious
|
My Black Japanese rooster Yamikarasu passed away last night. :( I will miss him--he was a part of our family for ten years, since he was only two days old. He was the last of my original three bantams I got--Dovey, Yamikarasu, and Houou. He was such a beautiful rooster, and while he certainly had his fierce moments, he overall was a great rooster and protected his hens well, tolerated us humans, and he had a memorable, funny, little high-pitched crow. It will be so strange not having him around... No need to really offer sympathies. While I am certainly saddened by losing him and will miss his presence in the coop, I also know he lived a good, long life and had everything a rooster could ask for. There's not much more I could wish for him. I suspected he might be going downhill, as he began looking "droopy" a few months ago.
Look at how pretty he was:
Rest in peace, my Yami rooster. ♥ You will be missed, and never forgotten.
I am now beginning a hunt for a new rooster. Finding free roosters is no problem, but the thing is that I promised myself when he passed away I would get a rooster of a breed I really like. This way, if the rooster fathers chicks with any of my hens, he'll create some interesting and beautiful crossbreeds. I'm a chicken snob, so this search could take a while! I may go to Yuba City to see this one guy's poultry collection, though--I'll e-mail him and see if he might have any roosters of breeds I'd love to get. I would love a bantam phoenix, a sumatra, or...well, I'll have to go through my chicken breed encyclopedias again in search of a breed I want.
I'm really into getting serama chickens at some point (the smallest breed of chicken) and button quail, but I would have to figure out housing for them because they're too small to be in the coop with everyone else. I'm still thinking of getting chukar in the spring, too, to add to the coop. Just three or four, probably. I would LOVE to get some bantam ducks at some point (little tiny ducks--squee!), but again, I'm not sure where I would house them right now. XD
![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif) lineaalba has unintentionally gotten me all into searching for interesting exotic animals I could keep in California. Unfortunately, just about everything interesting is illegal here, aside from awesome pheasants (which I want so badly) that I can't get because we'd have to build another large coop and that's super expensive. :( I'm intrigued by chinchillas and might be interested in getting one or a pair, but I'm debating, as I would need a large cage and the temperature limitations make me a little nervous. I've wanted a chinchilla for a long time, but I will only get chinchillas if I REALLY get to a point where I feel sure I want one and have done all my research/am comfortable with what they require for a happy life.
My mom says no more animals (she always says no more animals), but I can't help but look around and do research on different animals at least! I just love looking at different species and reading all about them. I'm also thinking about pygmy goats, though then we'd have to build an enclosure or figure out a way to house them. Or doves! I love doves.
I don't know, basically I'm just looking up all kinds of different animals to amuse myself at the moment, though if I find an animal I really feel fits my lifestyle, I may end up with something or another in a few weeks or months or whatever. I can't help it--I'm just one of those people who is so interested in animals that I like to experience having all kinds of different species. Of course, I know to stop when I reach a maximum amount that I can care for while still keeping their quality of life very high. For instance, I know that having another dog right now would be too much for me and my family.
I DO get to search for a rooster definitely, so that will help keep me occupied and control my obsessive pet-searching tendencies.
I find more and more that poultry and gamebirds are what I keep going back to as far as "oddball" pets go. I really, really enjoy raising them, spending time with them, learning about them, and so on. There are so many different varieties of poultry and gamebirds, many of which are incredibly gorgeous and amazing, and some species of poultry make such great pets and are quite friendly and tame, but are also fairly low maintenance. I like that my chickens, ducks, and guinea fowl are fun to handle and don't mind being handled, but if I don't have time to handle them or decide not to for whatever reason, they don't mind not being handled either! They're happy either way, and because I have a large enough coop and let them out to wander the yard a few times a week, I don't feel guilty about keeping them "caged". My whole flock of chickens, guinea fowl, and ducks is about twenty minutes of work a day, with occasionally more than that when the coop needs cleaning or I have to add leaves to stop it from getting too muddy. Poultry are just so nice! When I own property, I'm definitely going to have poultry and gamebird keeping as a major hobby. A very large chicken coop or a few chicken coops so I can keep all the breeds I want, some separate enclosures for different types of pheasants, quail, and other weird birds like that, and so on. Also, a fennec fox and my lovely Honey, and I'm sure other critters that I end up with, and I will be happy as can be.
We're getting another horse soon, a two-year-old thoroughbred named Taxman. I think mom is fostering him for now, but plans on probably adopting him. I'll take pictures of him (as well as our other horse, Rivi) when he comes. While I love horses, they're more my mom's thing than mine, but I still like to spend time with our horses, give them carrots, and take pictures of them. Our thoroughbred gelding Rivi is so pretty!
On a non-animal note (I am forcing myself to stop rambling about animals for now), I am 45k into my NaNo, and planning on getting another 2-3k tonight! I will probably have my 50k finished tomorrow. :O |
|
| |
|
Read 8 - Post |
| |
| |
|
|
| 11:15pm 13/11/2009 |
| |
mood:  grumpy
|
Happy Friday the 13th, everyone!
I've been in a grumpy mood all day over minor things and/or nothing at all. ;3; I suspect it may have to do with the fact that I didn't sleep well last night (Hooch was barking, the corgis kept rearranging themselves around me, I was obsessively taking them out every few hours for some unknown reason...?) and then I hardly ate for the earlier part of the day. There were little things that were out of sorts, but nothing major enough to justify this grumpy mood. It's starting to subside a bit, and I suspect that if I sleep well tonight it'll be gone, though.
I don't feel like writing, but I do feel like getting to 40k tonight, so I will likely force said ~3k out of myself before crashing. I also really need to get on ordering bubble wrappers (like, tomorrow if possible), and then I guess I'll just hold sales sometime in the next few days and warn everyone that things won't be shipped until the bubble wrappers arrive. I'll figure things out. There is going to be sooo much cheap stuff--I hope it sells well! I'm totally willing to negotiate to get this stuff out of here. It's taking up too much space! ;; If it doesn't sell in the next week after I post it, it's all going to Ebay.
FINALLY got my hands on an Umbreon chou get! And the rest of the set, too, for a not-so-horrifying $23. I should be able to make some of that back, considering I'm only keeping a few of them (Umby, Eevee, Chikorita, and maybe Espeon. Though I suspect I'll cave on Espeon and sell her. ^^;). I'm really glad I managed to find it finally before the prices start skyrocketing, as they inevitably do on Eeveelution (and especially Umbreon) stuff.
I need to work on getting Gin's package together! She and I are doing a trade for my big Poképark Pikachu Pokédoll, and while he's ready, I have some other stuff to gather up and/or create before I can send it off. :3 I am sure the shipping to Japan on this big guy is going to be rather unpleasant, but oh well! Some of the shipping costs will be going towards the set of Eeveelution canvas plush when that pre-order comes up, so all is well on that front.
Iii...can't think of anything else to say. Honestly, I kind of wish I could just sit around for the next few days and watch Law and Order endlessly, but of course, I'm pretty darn sure that's my sleeplessness talking. XD Tomorrow I'm taking care of the animals at Mom's in the morning (as Mom is currently out of town with Hana, Hooch is at dad's with Honey and I, and the other animals need to be cared for), volunteering with AnimalSave again, and after that...I'm not sure what I'm doing yet. If anyone wants to hang out tomorrow after 4 PM, let me know! |
|
| |
|
Read 4 - Post |
| |
| |
|
|
| 12:57am 13/11/2009 |
| |
mood: excited
|
TURNING. OFF. COMPUTER. BEFORE I EXPLODE ABOUT EEVEELUTION CANVAS PLUSH.
AUGHHHHHH SO CUTE!
All I know is that I'd better get on ordering myself some bubble wrappers and get doing some clearance sales on the remaining Pokésales stuff in my room--STAT!
Okay, self. You need to chill out about the plushies. Just. Take a deep breath. Get excited and go crazy when you order them, and then again when you get them in the mail. 1 AM is not the time to be spazzing about this and feeling as though you are going to explode.
You know, maybe, just MAYBE, I will be content with just collecting 3D items of Umbreon from now on, or at least until all these Umby-related releases slow down seriously. It's worth a try. I do not know if I have the restraint, though.
Also, 36,693 words, mofos. |
|
| |
|
Read 1 - Post |
| |
| |
|
|
| 10:20pm 10/11/2009 |
| |
mood:  chipper
|
Oooh, those of you who are having trouble with your NaNos or want some writing inspiration, this is kind of fascinating: http://www.distractionbeast.com/brainstormer.swf
Gives a lot of interesting possibilities to go off of. 8D I'm already getting plotbunnies, though I should quit pressing that Random button because I already have a story I'm working on. >___>
Not much to say about today, as it was rather uninteresting. I'm up to 26,701 words right now in NaNo, and planning on doing more writing today! I'm having trouble getting myself not to write 3k a day now, ahaha, otherwise I feel like I'm slacking and getting behind, even though I'm way ahead of schedule. XD Crazy author is craaazy.
I really want to finish the Umbreon plush I'm adding details to by paint, but I keep getting distracted by StumbleUpon and NaNoWriMo.
I need to remember that I have a Sociology test to study for on Thursday! Must not allow myself to forget! |
|
| |
|
Read 6 - Post |
| |
| |
|
|
| 11:46pm 09/11/2009 |
| |
mood: okay
|
I caved and got a Twitter account. I doubt I'll use it a whole lot, but it's more for following people who I don't get to hear from much on LJ or other places. I'm PacificPikachu as always--please add me if you'd like! I promise not to totally spam you with updates probably. We'll see how long it takes me to get bored of Twitter, as I tend to drop sites I become obsessed with once they lose their novelty to me, haha. LJ has been the most everlasting of the sites I visit, and I don't think that will change any time soon, if at all.
Hmmm, not much to say. A lazy day. Did abstract photomanipulations of Honey in my Photoshop class today, and they turned out looking...slightly drug-induced! 8D LOL. My class is going to be so tired of seeing pictures of my dog by the time the semester ends, as every project thusfar has involved her as a primary subject.
More Umbreon merch announced! A little nervous about getting it, as it's a chupa-chups figure and those can be a bit hard to get. I still haven't been able to get my hands on the chou get. ;; Hopefully soon! As I've said before, I get immensely frustrated being an Umbreon collector at times because it can be so financially difficult and because I'm so competitive that every time an item shows up that I don't have I get stressed about it, but for some reason (probably just my love of Umbreon), I simply cannot stop myself. ;0; Have lots of other Pokémon things I need to figure out how to afford, too. I need to just get things together and have a sales post so I can pay for things! |
|
| |
|
Read 13 - Post |
| |
| |
|
|
| 07:02pm 08/11/2009 |
| |
mood:  sleepy
|
CORGI FAIRE WAS AWESOME! *3* So many corgis--at least around two hundred, I think, if not more! I was surprised that mine were probably the smallest adult corgis there--I knew that they're small, but this really emphasized how tiny they are for corgis! I got lots of compliments on them, and tons of people asking how old they are under the assumption that they're puppies. One lady was telling me that Honey is a classic, old-fashioned corgi, which was cool to hear. Apparently, they used to breed corgis with less white on the face or no white on the face, darker red, and an extremely foxy face, all of which are attributes Honey has. There were several corgi puppies around, too, and of course they were incredibly adorable. I enjoyed seeing the variation of corgis, as far as size, colors, markings, coat types, and so on, and there is something awesome and surreal about looking around and seeing corgis wherever you look. The corgi costume contest was amazing and hilarious! So many corgis in fantastic costumes. Honey and Hooch participated in corgi limbo. They didn't win because their leashes knocked down the limbo pole, but it was fun anyway.
I bought some little corgi items there--a few t-shirts, a plate that has art of a corgi puppy on it, a magnet, a book, a dog shirt that is a bit too big for Honey, some free corgi magazines, and I won a really cute corgi pillow in the raffle! I didn't even spend much money, as a table was selling things for really, really cheap. Anyway, it was great fun. During the event, there was a field just outside the building where it was held and everyone including myself would go to the field and let the corgis free to run around and play with each other.
I am ashamed to say I was so distracted by all the corgis that I never got to taking pictures, but I assure you there were TONS of people with cameras and I will post their pictures instead once I find uploads of them! :D
To make a great day even better, after that I stopped at Toys'R'Us and got an Arceus, and Toys'R'Us also had the Flareon, Jolteon, and Glaceon figures I've been wanting. :D One of each, and naturally I grabbed them all.
Now I'm super sleepy and debating whether or not to take a nap for an hour or two... Leaning towards taking one because if I don't I suspect I'll do nothing but lie around and not want to write. After that, I have NaNo to work on! I'm still quite ahead, though--I broke 20k last night!
Of course, now that it's NaNo I want to watch a bunch of anime, but if I watch a bunch of anime I'll feel guilty that I'm not spending the time on NaNo instead, so the anime watching will perhaps have to wait until December, or at least until I finish my 50k.
This weekend has been lots of fun! A great write-in on Friday evening, helping with AnimalSave yesterday and seeing This Is It (which I was quite impressed by), and Corgi Faire and TRU today! |
|
| |
|
Read 5 - Post |
| |
| |
|
|
| 04:51pm 05/11/2009 |
| |
mood:  good
|
Currently at 12k in my novel, with plans to reach 14-15k by tonight! Running nicely a bit ahead of schedule. Really, it's going quite well. I have no idea what the quality of my writing is like (I suspect not great, and I refuse to read back what I've written for this reason), but who cares? The plot is progressing, characters are talking, things are happening, all is well in NaNoLand. I've been hammering out my average of 2-3k per day in an hour or two, sometimes three if I'm super lazy and do things between, which isn't bad at all. I'm really looking forward to the Nevada County write-in tomorrow evening!
Actually, I'm looking forward to this weekend in general. :D Tomorrow I'll probably write part of the day and take the dogs to the dog park, and then I have a write-in. Saturday I'm helping AnimalSave at an adoption event, which will be fun, as well as bathing and grooming the corgis for the rest of the day. Sunday is the CORGI FAIRE, which is going to be insanely amazing. I plan on taking tons of pictures, and I may try to make a last minute costume for one or both of the corgis, as there is a costume contest there. 8D
I'm at school right now between classes. Two more to go. Thankfully, the weather is amazing right now, with big, dark clouds that look beautiful with the beginning of the sunset, and it's cool but not quite actually cold. Still have four more hours of class, but I'll make it through, even if it means doodling the whole way through them. Art has been so boring lately, ugh, with a lecturer who keeps talking about perspective drawing in great depth. This would be interesting, but he's an architect and, to be completely honest, my interest in doing perspective drawings of buildings and boxes and whatnot is pretty much nil, and that's all he talks about. :/
Need to get back off to class~ |
|
| |
|
Post |
| |
| |
|
|
| 12:35am 03/11/2009 |
| |
mood: sleepy
|
Yaoi-Con was absolutely fantastic this year! So much fun, seriously, and tons of brilliantly hilarious moments that I will never forget. 8D I am amazed that I still managed to get in a decent wordcount (1800+) while at the con, even though I had to sandwich such a feat between events. I'll write a little summary of the con when I have a bit more time! It was definitely an awesome time. My only regret was that I didn't end up with much time at all to spend with astrokittie, toggy, xel_ko, and even ensuing (despite the fact that she roomed with me, haha, and we had a great time when we did hang out!), but...ah, there's always next con. Maybe someday I'll actually have a con where I'm not busy for once and can really just hang out with friends and goof off. I'm not complaining at all, though, as I had so much fun at all the events.
NaNo is going decent so far! My novel does need a title, though--the working title is Blackwater Mountain, but it really needs something better than that. Hopefully I'll think of something soon. Maybe I'll probe people for titles at the next write-in, or on the forums. The story itself is a little "Eh," thusfar (just because it's always a little "Eh," at first while I get into the groove), but at least I'm getting into the storyline a bit faster than usual instead of spending more than half of my wordcount setting things up. My character seems like she's going to be more interactive than last year's, so that's a plus, too. I'm at 5,016 words so far, so I've already exceed the wordcount for Day Three. Going to try to get to 8k or so by the end of Day Three, just because. It's fun being ahead! :D
Princess is actually doing pretty decently now. It's still just a matter of time, but she could make it another month or so fairly easily, I think. I mean, we'll see, she could go downhill any time, but still. We give her lactated ringer solution every day subcutaneously and force feed her (she eats a bit on her own, too, though), and she is very spirited and yowls and scratches and attempts to bite, so she's still got fight in her. She likes to lie in the sun and seems quite comfortable, really. So, it's certainly very sad and upsetting that at some time in the not-so-distant future I will have to say goodbye to her, but in the meantime? Things are not terrible, and she has a good quality of life.
I'm still a bit tired eve though I napped for a few hours today, so off to bed with me~ |
|
| |
|
Read 4 - Post |
| |
| |
|
|
| 11:41am 31/10/2009 |
| |
mood: happy
|
I'm at YAOI-CON! And in room 2069, no less!
Things are pretty awesome. :D |
|
| |
|
Read 5 - Post |
| |
| |
|
|
| 06:58pm 27/10/2009 |
| |
mood:  gloomy
|
The guinea pig--who I never did properly name, as I was going to wait until I got her a friend and name them paired names--passed away while I was at class. Not unexpected, but certainly sad. Rest in peace, piggie. She was so pretty and sweet, and it's saddening to lose her like this. I haven't the faintest still how she got sick or what kind of illness it might have been. :( That's the end of owning guinea pigs for now. I'm definitely going to miss having them... They're so wonderful and sweet and cute, but I just don't want to risk more cycles of tragedy. I've had bad luck with guinea pigs the last few years despite my best efforts, and it's time to just step back from guinea pigs. Somewhere down the road I'm sure I'll own guinea pigs again, but for now I'm going to put all the guinea pig supplies away so I'm not tempted. It's not worth risking more heartbreak right now.
Been gloomy most of the day about Princess. It's just hard to think about losing her. Like I said, I'm trying to keep my attitude positive mostly, but...you know, it's still a sad situation.
Okay, unless Princess's situation changes for the worst, I'm not going to write more about the depressing pet situation for now. I'm determined to have an absolutely awesome time this weekend and, in the meantime, just take good care of Princess and enjoy spending time with her.
Thanks to everyone who has offered their sympathies. I really appreciate it. ;; Losing one animal and getting a dire diagnosis on another in twenty-four hours is rough. |
|
| |
|
|
| |
| |
|
|
| 12:03pm 27/10/2009 |
| |
mood:  thoughtful
|
So, Princess went to the vet today. It is renal failure, like I expected, which is not good--but also not as bad as it could be. From now on, she gets 200 cc of water subcutaneously every day and half a tablet of Pepsid AC, and anything she'll eat is all hers. She could make it a few months, or a lot less, depending on how well she eats and how quickly it progresses. I'm guessing it will be, more realistically, a few weeks if that. She's only five and a half pounds now. Nonetheless, I'm happy to have time with her, and I will cherish it--no matter if it's a few days or a few months. I'm just glad I didn't have to put her down today and that she has more time in her. She was pretty pissed off at the vet's office, which to me means she still has some fight left.
I don't think the guinea pig is going to make it. She might, but I don't think so. She hasn't improved much. I'm going to give her some doxycycline just in case. Anything is worth trying now. I'm filling up a bottle with warm water every few hours for her to cuddle next to, so at least she can be somewhat comfortable. I'm still hoping, even though her chances aren't good at this point.
Things aren't wonderful, with one very sick cat and one possibly dying guinea pig, but I'm doing my best to keep a good attitude, not fall into despair, and to simply remain excited about Yaoi-Con and NaNo and life in general regardless of what happens. Unfortunately, this is just a part of having lots of animals. At any given time, there's a decent chance that someone will be sick or hurting or dying, and, while I do certainly mourn and get upset, I also have to be thankful for all the healthy animals I have and be proud that I am trying my hardest to give them the best, longest possible lives I can. |
|
| |
|
Read 20 - Post |
| |
| |
|
|
| 06:03am 27/10/2009 |
| |
mood:  sad
|
This very well might be the end for Princess.
Princess is my fifteen-year-old cat. I got her from the Nevada County Shelter as a kitten when I was six years old. I had always dreamed of having a cat, and my parents had promised me that I could get a kitten when we moved from Santa Rosa to Nevada City. She is the oldest of our living animals, and she has been through so much with me.
She has been steadily losing weight for a long time. Now she's like a walking skeleton, even though we give her canned food daily like the vet recommended. She was active and happy and even would go outside for an hour or so, until about two days ago, when I think she stopped eating and drinking. I'm not entirely sure--we noticed today that she's been sluggish the last two days, and now as I've observed her I've noticed that she's very dehydrated as well as terribly thin. I tried giving her water with a 1 cc syringe orally, but she threw up the water I gave her. I sat in the room and petted her for a while and she purred and purred, but eventually began to growl and wanted me to leave her alone. I'm respecting her wishes and leaving her alone for now. I want to stay close to her, to sleep with her and cuddle with her, but she just gets angry if I try, so I might as well just leave her alone because that's how she seems most comfortable.
We'll take her to the vet sometime this morning. No matter what happens, I won't regret how it turns out--she has had a long, happy life, and I will make a decision based off of her quality of life. She does not deserve to suffer. Of course, if this is the end, I will miss her terribly, but I also know her life has been good.
I suspect she may have renal failure, based off of her symptoms. Apparently with renal failure, there is a chance that when she is rehydrated regularly subcutaneously, she may be able to live for a while longer (months), but we'll see what the vet recommends. I don't mind giving her subcutaneous hydration if the vet thinks she still has enough quality of life to keep going...
Anyway, I'm going to go sleep for a few hours. We'll see what happens later.
 |
|
| |
|
|
| |
|
|
calm
