Monday 15 April 2013

I want to, I do

I want to blog so much, but I've got too much uni work - dammit ANU.
Not even so much work like "I shall blog to procrastinate!" but so much work like "I have two exams next week, neither of which I have started studying for, a group presentation on Wednesday I haven't finished writing, and a group presentation in two week I haven't even really looked at so yeah, soz guys."

But in good news, this evening I saved a dog.
There's been probably 5-10 times in the last few years when I've been driving around with Ben and we've seen a dog wandering. Most of the times, the dog has been near its house, but I've still gone in and told the owner, because they should know their dog can get out.
One time, I chased a dog for like, 6 blocks because it ran way when I tried to help it and I wanted to make sure it didn't get run over.
Twice, including tonight, we've saved a dog near a busy road where the dog's house obviously wasn't nearby, and taken it to the pound. The pound have these holding cages, where you can take dogs out of hours and lock them there for the night. We always take a blanket for the puppy to snuggle into, and the pound has water for the dogs.
Tonight, we saved a little terrier. And I mean really saved. We were driving along Cooma St, in Queanbeyan, and there was a tiny dog running across the road, and two people standing on the other side. We pulled over, mostly to avoid hitting the dog but also because it looked like the two people needed a hand. I got out of the car and tried to call the dog over to me, but he (I don't actually know - I'm just guessing) was a bit frightened and ran across the road again, back to the other side. He was looking back at me, and would have come within about 20cm of being hit by a car that made no effort to slow or swerve, although the dog was so small the driver may not have seen it. Once safely (just) on the other side, the dog had a sniff at me, and was a bit suspicious because I smelled like my dog. Then something happened that freaked the puppy out, and he tried to run away. I grabbed him, knowing that if I didn't he would be too scared and go off running again. Because he was already frightened, he barked and tried to bite me, but I managed to get him in my arms and held him like a baby and he calmed down a bit. He licked my hands and my face.
I told the other people who had been trying to help that we would take him to the pound, so Ben and I and the dog got back in the car, stopped in briefly at my house to pick up a blanket, then went to the pound.
It's pretty awful at the pound. The dogs watch you helplessly as your drive away or lock them in the cage, and you don't know what's going to happen to them. But we put him in a cage with the blanket, which we made all snuggly for him, and there was a big bucket of water. He didn't drink anything while I was there though. I sat with him in the cage for a few minutes, trying to settle him down and make him feel better. He felt scared, and was shaking. He didn't really settle. We eventually had to leave though, and he stood at the door to the cage and watched us walk away with sad, bright eyes.
Then, Ben was driving home after dropping me home, and he saw a guy who looked like he was looking for something. Ben pulled over, and this guy owned the dog. When Ben mentioned we'd dropped him at the pound, the guy seemed to think that meant the dog might get put down or something, but Ben explained that the have overnight holding cages.
I haven't heard anything from the guy, though I left my phone number. But I'm happy that the dog found his owner.
And there was one time I saved a dog and got half of $20 and got to miss maths. Best day ever!

Hey, apparently I did have time for a blog.

Monday 8 April 2013

Oh, fancy pants!

Guess who just got offered a permanent position at my work?
THIS GIRL.
Lady.
Woman.
Apparently, calling women (above a certain age, I assume) 'girl' is infantalising an therefore sexist, because we don't call men 'boys' past a certain age. Or something.
But I'll talk about THAT tomorrow, because that is a whole other kettle of fishies.
This blog title just got a lot more relevant because I just got some new pants, between titling the blog and posting. They're not fancy by ohmygod they are so comfortable.
Anyway, top stroy today is that the place I've been working at sporadically since November 2011, temping here and there in holidays and during term, doing reception and admin-y bits, has just offered me an official job with them!
I've been temping through Hays this whole time, and while that's had some awesome perks, like being able to say "I'm the best temp in Chiswick!" (and that's about all), it's also been really unstable and a bit hard to organise, because I'm meant to do everything through Hays, but have such a good relationship with where I actually do the working things that I just tell them directly.
So I have to decide if I want to be casual or permanent part-time but either way eeeeeeeeeee!
I'm probably more excited than I should be, given that it's not like I got a new job or anything - it will be exactly the same work.
The real difference is now that I will be an official employee, I won't have to pay for my own meal at the work Christmas lunch. Booyah.

Though tbh, all this pales in comparison to these freaking pants. Kmart, I take back any word I have ever uttered against you. Have all my money in exchange for a never-ending supply of these pants, and tiny pillow pet keyrings, please and thank you and goodnight.
x

Sunday 7 April 2013

I think we should all just admit it's not happening and move on.

I will try and write a bit though.
Except for right now, because it's 1am, my bffffffffff is visiting from Melbs, and I just watched the LAST episode of the Lizzie Bennet Diaries and am somewhat of an emotional wreck.
Well, only a little bit.
But today I mastered (I use that term loosely) the cup song from Pitch Perfect.
I've been able to do just the cup bit for yearsssssss, but now I can sing the song with it too.
And by "sing the song with it", I mean I can make the noises out of my mouth when they're meant to be made. They don't necessarily sound any good in any way at all.
So no, you'll probably never see any evidence of it, but just know that it prrrrrrrrobably makes me more accomplished than you.
And will drastically improve my quality of life long term.
Except for tonight, when I won't be sleeping because this goddamn song is SO STUCK IN MY HEAD.
But I'm basically Anna Kendrick, which gives me the right to be sassy and dismissive about Twilight (because I was previously very limited in my ability to do this ...) and wear excessive amounts of eyeliner, which I think we can all agree is something I have never been guilty of previously, and have them look attractive and just a touch badass.

GOODNIGHT.

Thursday 4 April 2013

Well, that was successful.

I lasted a day. A day of BEDA. After missing the first day.
My life is a constant success story.
So now we're changing things up; from this moment on, this will be known as BLoDiA. Blog Lots of Days in April. Which is objectively a terrible name but we're rolling with it because I'm already doing so appallingly.
I redesigned my blog. P. cool, huh?
I'm trying to find a new photo to replace the skulls (though I do like the skulls), but I can't find anything except many, many pictures of my face. I was considering making you a side-bar collage of my face in various locations but like, I feel like that might be bordering on obsessively self-involved and creepy?

Anyway, I was hoping to have a story to tell you. I don't.
Ah! Thank you, boyfriend!

I shall blog about my puppy.
Artemis is like, I wanna say 8 months old? She is a Kelpie, mostly, and we got her from puppy foster care. There's a picture of her a couple of posts back.
She is super playful. She would play non-stop if she could, and tries pretty hard to most of the time.
When we first got her, she liked tug-of-war but we made the mistake many puppy owners (including ourselves, with our previous puppy) have made before us: teaching her fetch.
If there's something else Arty likes to do other than fetch, I don't know about it. And neither does she.
It doesn't matter whether you're watching TV, eating breakfast, in the shower, sleeping. You are expected to throw the ball/rope/squeaky toy immediately. I have woken up with slobbery tennis balls in my bed. Sexahhhhh.
As anyone who has tried to train a puppy to fetch may have noticed, they're not particularly adept at dropping the ball. But we taught Arty that when we say "mine", she's to drop the toy or let go of the rope if we're playing tug-of-war. She's super good at this, because she is smart and lovely.
She also jumps to catch the toy. She did a full flip the other night, long ways. She's so dedicated to catching it, and so excited to play, that when you're about to throw it, her back legs quiver in excitement.
She cries when we leave. She cries and howls and barks and is so sad. It breaks my heart, to the point where often I won't go out on the weekends, if it means leaving her alone, because I can't stand to listen to her cry as I close the door behind me.
She is so happy when we come home. Her ears go flat against her head (which they do whenever she's really happy or contrite) and she jumps up on you and prances around, entirely stoked that you're home. Her prancing is hilarious.
She howls at sirens.
Her best doggy friend is Ben's dog Meg. They've got to the point now where they recognise each other's name. Like, if I say "Meg" at home and Arty hears, she'll drop her toy, look at me excitedly, then run to the front door. When we get to the door of Meg's house, Arty is so excited not just her tails wags - her whole back half wags. Then we let her off the leash and Arty runs inside and Meg spares a lick for my hand before chasing after Arty into the backyard where they'll chase each other around for hours. We can even get them to tug-of-war with each other. Also, despite both of them being girls, and both being desexed, Meg tried to hump Arty once, so that was pretty funny.
We're trying to get Arty to be a bit more cuddly, and it's working - though most people don't get to see it. Around too many people, she's just way too excited. But in the mornings and evening in particular, when she's really sleepy, you can sit with her for ages cuddling. As long as you let her lick your hands (face) while you do.
She sleeps inside.
Heaps of people seem to think Artemis is a bad name. It's not, don't worry.
That's my dog.

Tuesday 2 April 2013

Meow

"BEDA?" she whispers, tentatively.
"You're a day late," says the harsh voice of reason and logic.
Well, close enough. They're still making April Fools jokes in America (Exhibit A) so I figure I'm pretty safe.
To start, and to help get me through the month of April and all the blogging and assessment it is sure to contain, here is a list of things I'm looking forward to over the next while.

  • Courtney coming to visit this weekend!
  • My birthday party
  • The jumping castle at my birthday party
  • Going to see Sir David Attenborough
  • Finding out if I get to be a LeakyCon volunteer
  • Finishing the semester
  • Never having to do bio psych ever again ...
  • ... hopefully
  • Going to Americaaaaaaaa
  • Going to LeakyCon
  • Meeting the Lizzie Bennet Diaries cast at LeakyCon
  • The new Jane Austen web series replacing the Lizzie Bennet Diaries
  • Being a beautiful bridesmaid at my aunt's wedding
  • My aunt getting weddinged
  • Seeing Twisted, the new Starkid musical, in Chicago
  • Going to Mexico
  • Going on long plane flights
  • Coming back from my trip to my tax return
  • Planning maybe to go to Japan/Southeast Asia during the summer
  • Getting birthday presents
  • Being alive *crosses fingers* *touches wood*
  • Being about to make myself a cup of tea
  • Getting to read my book while I wait for mum to pick me up from work
  • Working and earning teh $$$
  • Getting desperate trying to think of more things, and still thinking of some pretty good ones
  • Going home to my puppy
  • and kitty
  • and rabbit
  • Seeing Warm Bodies next weekend
  • Also, seriously, LeakyCon
  • EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE
  • BEDA? I think.
  • Game of Thrones, ooooooh Game of Thrones
I think that'll do. 

Also, if you're new here, BEDA = Blog Every Day in April. It's a thing. Be prepared for some missed days when I forget, some midnight blog posts, some weird and vaguely hysterical posts, some posts that say nothing of importance because BEDA sucks all my creativity and stories away quicker than I can produce them. It'll be a long road, my friends, but we'll trek through it together.
Though not really, because I'm the one writing these and it takes me like, at least half an hour while you spend ten minutes reading it, think "Oooooh, was that worth it?" and close the window. But hey. Tha's cool. No big.