Trying to get back into this whole blogging thing

I guess I need to pick a topic for this blog. How about something I know? Animals. Ok.

Dogs. I have a deep seated love for Canis lupus. I can ramble on and on about them. Ask the bf.

I think I will start with brief breed profiles. I have a Beagle mix, so I'll start there.

I'm sure just about everyone has seen a Beagle and could identify one by sight. A small hound dog, they look similar to foxhounds, but they have a broader head and legs that are shorter in proportion to the body. They are generally tri-colored. (Dog tidbit. Tri-colored refers to black, tan and white dogs. Generally these dogs have white points, tan shading and a black saddle.) However, they can be two colored, with red, tan, etc., or ticked. Beagles are badass scent hounds. In studies, it takes a Beagle as little as a minute to find a mouse in a one acre field.

This is important for pet owners to know. Since they were born to track, you can't train them not to. They will always have that nose to the ground. Beagle owners who allow a Beagle to run free often end up with an injured, missing, or worse Beagle. Beagles, like all dogs, need to live inside with their family and have access to a safely fenced yard.

The lifespan of a Beagle is 12-15 years, which is normal for a dog of their size. They are healthy dogs, though they can develop hypothyroidism, or seizure disorders. These are both generally easily treated with medication.

Beagles in today's society are used as therapy dogs, utilized by the USDA to find food items being brought into the country and sometimes as service or search dogs.

I want your everything

Today has been the longest day. After getting in a fight with the boyfriend last night, I find out this guy I used to be friends with got engaged recently. He and his girlfriend have only been dating about... six months-ish. I wish I could find someone so unafraid of commitment and such. However, no such luck here. "I feel like we are married" and are some of the worst words I have ever heard.

I am just tired of everything. I have decided I am going to go to Virginia Tech for grad school. I need to get OUT of Tennessee. Tennessee is stupid and lame and full of idiot losers. Can you tell I am in a shitty mood?

I need a subject for this blog. Maybe it will be idiots I am forced to know.

Say something you know they might attack you for

2:37. At my parent's house. Triscuit is improving, so I too am improving. I can't take sick animals... I will never be able to deal with sick children.

So, when I get happy, I want to argue with people. I know, it doesn't make any sense to me either. I want to go out and find someone to argue a point with. I think it might be some strange way of me reaffirming the fact that I am good at something. Oh well.

So, in the corny spirit of Thanksgiving, I would like to list a few things I am thankful for.

1) My family. Obviously, they take a lot of crap off me and know me better than anyone else. Without my mom, dad, Laura, Stephanie and Liz, I would be nowhere today.

2.) My other family. Krislyn, Katie, Jennifer, you are my angels. I have known Krislyn since kindergarten, Katie and I met in high school I do believe, and I worked with Jennifer at the damned concession stands. Krislyn has been a major part of my life since sixth grade, and that will NEVER, EVER change. Katie and I were thrown together at a birthday party, methinks. She and I have shared some bizarre experiences (pool, anyone?), and there will be many more. Jennifer is my shopping buddy, boy-crazy, concert friend. What started out as a casual work place friendship now means the world to me. If I got married tomorrow, these three ladies would be my bridesmaids.

3.) Thomas. Oh, Thomas, Thomas, Thomas. A little over a year ago, you walked into my life and broke a chair. I don't know the exact moment when I decided I wanted to be with you, but I am so happy I made that decision. You are my friend, my shoulder to cry on, my reason to get out of bed, my one true love. I firmly believe you are my soul mate. Good looking men have walked in and out of my life in the past year, and some of them have been interested. But none are as good as you.

4.) Mark, Jonathan and Austin. I love those three! I really loved when Jonathan said we would still be friends if Thomas and I split up. I like making new friends, and I wouldn't trade Mark, Jonathan or Austin for anything. Even if Mark calls me a furry, Jonathan is penis obsessed and Austin... Wait, Austin is pretty normal... I am here if you ever need a friend.

5.) All those Thanksgiving type things. You know, house, car, job, health. I really am glad I have a job. Jobs are hard to cmoe by for college students, and though Publix gets under my skin from time to time, and I am not too terribly fond of a certain front service manager, I like my job. I am thankful that I didn't catch AIDS from my ex who apparently did crack. I am also thankful I survived that damn near suicidal period I went through.

6.) I am thankful that I am passionate about something. My something is animal welfare, and while this (quite) often is misunderstood, and I get laughed at, I truly no longer care. The Creator (I'm having relgion issues) gave me the purpose to protect and help animals, I feel it in my soul. I'm answering some higer calling by feeding my strays, taking the ones in I can, and working to change laws.

7.) At the end of the day, I am thankful that I am alive, and I have something to look forward to.

Happy Thanksgiving to everyone.

When you see my face, I hope it gives you hell

It's late. About 11:11 (kiss the clock!) to be exact. I'm at the library "working" on a lab report. Fuck lab. God, I have hated school this semester.

So, I feel a little bad for Chad at work. Chad would be my 33 year old, wannabe stalker, thing. He was really creeping me out there for a while, but now that he isn't creeping me out, I feel bad. He looks at me like a puppy that I kicked. I'm a sucker for a sad puppy, hate to say it. Who knows, maybe I judged the guy too quick. If there is one thing I am good at, it's jumping to conclusions. I think I have a touch of paranoia. Oh well. We'll just see how things go.

I am getting a tattoo. Yep. Wolf paw print. Where? I'm torn. I want it on my back, but I want to be able to cover it up, and I DO NOT want a tramp stamp. But I am really, truly doing this as soon as I get the money. It'll hurt like hell, but I think a wolf paw print is something I will always love. Hello, I'm the kid who used to howl like a wolf. I think I was a wolf in a past life.

I hope one tattoo leads to about ten. Everyone I know hates them, which makes them more appealing to me. I can annoy Stocky and Thomas until the end of time, or the end of our lives, whichever comes first.

My thoughts are disjointed and hurting my brain. Petland sells puppies that come from puppy mills. I would like to strongly discourage anyone who stumbles across this from buying a puppy from Petland. Why? Puppy mill puppies are the dog equivalent of lemon cars. The poor little guys are raised in deplorable conditions, and are sickly and often die. See http://stoppuppymills.org/ for more information.

Ok, Susan out. The brain no worky anymore. And I had so many good points to make! Ugh.

Closer

So, these two people I know got married yesterday.

I don't want to get married anymore. I love Thomas, but Jesus. What a anti-romantic. He thinks people who write their own wedding vows are stupid, and he thinks engagement rings are stupid, and on and on it goes.

I didn't want a massive wedding. I used to think I wanted to get married at Cheekwood in Nashville, in the fall. Simple, elegant, close friends and family deal. Now, I don't ever want to fool with it. It's just some stupid day where people make a big deal out of something that might never mean a damn thing. Plus, the guy I want to spend my life is treats all things romantic like they are stupid.

I love weddings, and I think I might want to be a wedding planner, but now I never want my own wedding. I know, Tennessee doesn't recognize common law marriages, so I'm screwing myself out of tax benefits or whatever, but come on. If my wedding is just going to be some laughable affair to Thomas, why bother? Stupid boys.

Like a Dog Chasing Cars

So, as some people are aware, a lady named Bernann McKinney had her beloved pit bull cloned and now has five identical puppies. This was done to the tune of $53,ooo by a South Korean company. Now then, I would first like to point out what a rescue group could do with that kind of money. Fifty-three thousand dollars would buy supplies, toys, food, all kinds of goodies for a lot of animals. It could be a significant contribution to a building fund. With that kind of money, a shelter or rescue could pay for some advertising to get their message out there. Hell, most rescues would love to have half of that some.

Now, the funny part comes in. In 1977, McKinney was accused of kidnapping and raping a Mormon missionary she went to Brigham Young with and followed to England. Joyce McKinney (Bernann admitted to going by the different name) and a male accomplice kidnapped the missionary and took him to a rented 17th century "honeymoon cottage". There, he was chained spread-eagled to the bed with several pairs of mink-lined cuffs. McKinney told a judge in the case that she loved the Mormon man so much she "would have skied naked down Mount Everest in the nude with a carnation up my nose if he had asked." First, she was redundant in her wording of that. Second, what the FUCK?

Obviously, this lady needs help. Wasting money on something stupid like pet cloning. I hope she knows that those puppies are not going to have the exact same personality as her pet "Booger". Also, clones have all kinds of health problems that aren't fully understood. Jesus, what a fruit. I hate to judge, but sometimes people just make me a little sick.

In other sickening news, I found an old MSNBC story about how in 2006 the Chinese government ordered the mass killing of some 50,000 dogs because of a rabies outbreak. Owners could either accept payment of 63 cents for killing their own pet, or they could have their dog seized and beaten to death on the spot. Dogs were being beaten to death in the streets. I really hope someone else thinks this is horrid. I think it is testimony to all the infrastructure problems in China, and the health care problems in particular.

If more emphasis were placed on rabies prevention in the form of vaccination and education, these problems would be contained. I wonder if the Chinese government would allow people to come in and talk to people about vaccination, maybe give money to the effort, get in there and actually vaccinate animals. I highly doubt it, considering they don't take good care of their own citizens. China really needs to pull their act together, get with the times and establish some animal protection laws.

I ain't got a thing to prove to you

Let's see here.... I am looking for a job, which sucks. I am in a mild fight with my boyfriend, which I can deal with. I'll get over the fact that he is negative, and he was rude this afternoon. Shit happens.

In news more boring, I am moving on Thursday! Exciting, no? I have to vote, and then I am outta here! I'll have to come home to do laundry, until I can find somewhere else to do it, but I am done with this family. I love my family, but they cause stress and hurt feelings like no other.

I have no clue how many people this reaches (yet), but I would just like to remind people to spay and neuter their pets!

Rise above this

I made an A in my American Literature class!!! I am so, so happy! Plus, I got my hair cut, and Breaking Dawn comes out tomorrow! Now, if only I could figure out when I'm going shopping. It's tax free weekend, so I gotta get in on that. I have been drooling over some clothes here and there, and everywhere will be having sales.

I went to Sonic tonight, and as I was coming home, there was a dog in the road! A tiny little dog was running around obviously lost. I stopped to help it, and it vanished. There were people across the road trying to get it, so I hope they got him when I wasn't looking. At one point there was a car in my line of vision, so I hope the dog made it OK. I hate to see animals die.

Haha, I've got my chinchilla out, letting him play, and Rocky is trying to play with him. Rocky is a twelve pound ball of love, and Triscuit is the chin's name. I love these two, and it's going to be sad to split them up when I move. :(

Well, let's see here. I guess I'm done, for now.

It's easy if you do it right

For as long as I have had the internet and been able to access the information, I have been concerned with animal welfare and animal rescue. I think we should protect wild animals and domestic animals from exploitation, and I am in the process of becoming a vegetarian and hopefully one day a vegan. I hate puppy mills, Premarin (ask and I'm happy to tell), horse racing, fur farms, and animal abusers. I cannot change that about myself. Believe me, I have tried. My family doesn't understand why I cry at the animal shelter, or the news story about the puppy mill.

My dad especially. He has called me a "fucking nutjob". I promise, that is a direct quote, straight from his mouth. I said something tonight about how four million healthy animals are put down annually and he said, "Oh no, not stats." His lack of support and understanding for his third child really bothers the hell out of me.

However, I have decided that I am not going to let it bother me anymore. I am going to volunteer with animal rescue groups until I'm out of college, and my eventual hope is to work for the HSUS and then open a no kill shelter for all types of animals in Middle Tennessee or Montana. I know that our parents are supposed to be the voices of authority or whatever, but I am so sick of him. I am tired of being hurt by the fact that my family scoffs at me. So, I am ignoring them. If Mom, Dad and Laura want to live complacently and ignore the issues around them, that is there boring choice.

I will leave you high and dry

Well, I got a blog. Yay, me. Whatever. Now I am officially a loser, right? I use blogging as a way to express my emotions, and that has really bothered some people in the past.

Random Facts time!

I once had a dog named Tarbaby that drug me about by my feet.
I love living, but sometimes I hate my life. (Don't we all.)
I try my very best not to judge people. It's hard, but I don't understand who I am to say what people should do with their lives.
I love to read, and I truly mean that.

So, I start MTSU in less than a month, and I am excited! It will be a big change from Motlow. More people, more classes, more freedom. Everyone seems to think I'll go on some crazy binge. Sure, whatever. I might go party now and then, but I enjoy having a good GPA. Sue me.

Only four more days of summer classes!