Hazard (warning)!!!

This is a Surgeon General warning: taking me seriously is harmful in a multitude of ways. Do not (never ever!!!) take me seriously. I'm serious (I know there is a contradiction here), even if it might cost you your dear life: do not take me seriously. I don't take myself seriously, so follow suite and do the same (when in Rome ...). One last time: taking me seriously hurts me in ways you can't even imagine. So as a personal favor: don't take me seriously.



Thank you :-)

There's a reason why I wrote the warning, maybe I will post about it some other time ...

price of love

Most people I know will give a baffled look back when you ask them what love is. I have a good explanation, but it probably only relevant to me so I will keep it to myself. Why am I bringing up the subject of love. Has anything extraordinary happened in my life that deserves a post at 3AM? Nothing exciting or new to write about. So why am I writing about it?
Because I just came back from the vet. Schori's vet to be precise. It started earlier today when I noticed that he's not being himself and kind of squashed. When I got home neither of my dogs noticed I came back and they weren't waiting at the gate for me. Strange, but hay it's Israeli summer so they probably kept themselves in the shade at the entrance of the house. I took them out for a long walk. Schori didn't seem too enthusiastic about it, but again I thought the heat was the cause. He kept on being squashed after the walk and I started getting worried. Nothing I offered made him try and move. The only thing was when I offered to go out on another walk. I took some tennis balls with me and he was willing to play fetch for a long time so everything seemed back to normal. I went to bed and about an hour after I fell asleep I woke up because of the room's light. I checked on him again and he was squashed even more. A few minutes passed in which I tried to asses the situation. I ended up calling the vet and meeting him at the clinic. It turned out that Schori had low blood count in everything. Which means 1 of 2 things: He was poisoned. A neighbor threatened me last week, indirectly of course, that my dogs will be poisoned if I don't keep them away from the fence (literal translation), or he developed Lyme decease from a tick's bite. The vet currently thinks that it's probably case of Lyme decease more than poisoning (especially since my other dog doesn't show any symptoms of poisoning). This isn't good for me on a personal level: in trying to separate Schori in a fight with another dog he, accidentally, bit me in the leg pretty badly. I told the vet about it, but he assured me that if he does has Lyme decease he didn't pass it to me. I hope he's right.
So what is the connection to the subject? When we love someone we do things that on a normal sercomstance we would think it's crazy to do, including spending tons of money. To date Schori has cost me roughly 7000 USD in the last 6 months. A hefty price. I'm not regretting the expense even a bit. I'm actually worried that the reason for it will disappear.
Stay tuned. This isn't the end of the story, just the end of this post ...

Hilarious

I'm home sick (just a bad case of the flu :-( ) and while sitting here my dog Boni (I adopted a second dog, I'll post about it some other time) was lying somewhere in the living room. An innocent spider was crawling on the floor in her direction. At a certain point the spider reached her. She looked at it, tried to smell it and squashed it, probably by mistake. Since that moment that poor spider has been lying dead on the floor. The hilarious part of it is that it turns out that Boni is scared of spiders. Since she squashed the poor spider she has a scared look in her eyes. She moved away from where she was lying to various places in the living room a few times. She lies down trying to minimize the space she's occupying. The first thing she does in every place she chooses is to look in the spider's direction. If she sees it she gets up and looks for a new place. Until now she moved about 6-7 times: From a little bit away from the spider (her first move), to trying to hide under my computer desk (no space there), to the other side of the living room. The spot she's currently in is behind Schori (my other dog) so that Schori is blocking her view of the spider. Time to go pick up the spider from the floor.
A dog scared of spiders ... LOL :-)

countdown

The clock has started ticking ...
I just read an email that was sent from the kennel in south Florida. Schori was shipped out an hour and half ago. After 37 hours he'll land here (given that there aren't any problems en route). and I will be taking him in 39 hours from now.

I just hope I'll remember to breath between now and then ...

a compliment

People usually look at me and tell me that I'm childish. True, in my better days I'm a 6 year old kid (at best ;-) ). The sa(i)d people usually say it in a negative way. Yesterday someone actually said it as a compliment. The compliment came from someone that I, actually, take seriously: my 10 and 8.5 year old nieces ...
On the way to bring the dog (see previous post) my nieces asked their mother (my sister) who's younger: me or M. (my younger brother). My sister told them that M. was younger by 6 years. They found it hard to believe and had a hard time agreeing with the fact. Their point in the objection: I act much more young at heart than M ...

Thank you R. and T. for the compliment!!!

an oximoron

I have the following basic truth (personal belief): Doesn't matter what it is: It will have a better life and a better end if it's out of my reach. I know it's a crappy belief. I know that if we look around at the world than this basic truth would be right of 99.9% of human kind (shit, I'm like everyone else ... ;-)) This basic truth exists because I expect more than the accepted average (which is way too low) and I know that I'm usually not capable of delivering what I dim as acceptable standard ... Don't wait for me to change in any direction to try and resolve this, it's not going to happen!

About a year ago my sister decided to add a dog to the house hold (getting her to the model home: 3 kids, a dog and a cat). Being a good Samaritan she decided to take a dog she felt didn't get the good life it deserves ... She adopted a female dog that was chained 24x7 and ignored.
As any other animal that tries to adapt to its environment this dog got used to not having any freedom at all. Once she moved to my sister's house it became a somewhat wild and uncontrollable wrecking havoc in anything she had access to ...
This created strain on my sister and more than once she thought of giving up, and giving her away (as much as it would pain her and her daughters to do so). The first time I heard about the problem was when I was about I didn't have the possibility of helping, other than giving my wisdom: take the dog to a professional trainer. My sister had her doubts about the solution and reject it. A couple of months passed and my sister decided to find a new home for the dog and went to one of the places where people that want to adopt pets come to meet people that want to give away their pets. There she met a professional trainer, to whom she told the situation. He told her that with some basic training the dog can be taught and be put under control. It mostly worked and for the most part the dog calmed down.
In one of the times we talked about it I told my sister that if she would decide to give the dog away I'd be willing to adopt her, without thinking of the consequences of adopting the dog.
Eventually my sister realized that she has too many obligations on her plate and had downsize the operation. The only real thing that could taken of the plate was the dog. My sister called me and asked if my offer still stands. Backing off from an offer is never an option! So I told her: sure, but because I just moved to a new place that wasn't ready to accept a dog (just yet) it would take a couple of weeks. 3 weeks later I called my sister and told her that she can bring the dog to my place. Yesterday it happened. My sister came to visit me at my home to bring the dog over. So now I'm the proud owner of a new dog: her name is Boni, she's a mixed 2.5 year dog. Right now she's still trying to understand the sudden change that has happened to her, but she seems mostly content with the new arrangement.
I haven't given up on Schori. I still don't have him here, but if there won't be any more delays (because of paperwork) or accidents, I will (finally) be getting him this coming Wednesday :-)
It will be interesting to see if he's going to accept the fact that there's another dog around.

RIP ...

Following someone's smart suggestion (a hell lot smarter than me :-) ) ...

Got no place to go
but there's a girl waiting for me down in Mexico
She's got a bottle of tequila, a bottle of gin
And if I bring a little music I can fit right in
We've got airplane rides
We got California drowning out the window side
We've got big black cars
And we've got stories how we slept with all the movie stars
I may take a holiday in Spain
Leave my wings behind me
Drink my worries down the drain
And fly away to somewhere new
Hop on my choo-choo
I'll be your engine driver in a bunny suit
If you dress me up in pink and white
We may be just a little fuzzy 'bout it later tonight
She's my angel
She's a little better than the one that used to be with me
Cause she liked to scream at me
Man, it's a miracle that she's not living up in a tree
I may take a holiday in Spain
Leave my wings behind me
Drive this little girl insane
And fly away to someone new
Everybody's gone
They left the television screaming that the radio's on
Someone stole my shoes
But there's a couple of bananas and a bottle of booze
Oh, well happy new year's baby
We could probably fix it if we clean it up all day
Or we could simply pack our bags
And catch a plane to Barcelona 'cause this city's a drag
I may take a holiday in Spain
Leave my wings behind me
Flush my worries down the drain
And fly away to somewhere new
Take a holiday in Spain
Leave my wings behind me
Drive this little girl insane
Fly away to someone new
Fly away to someone new
Fly away to someone new


If you understand the post: Thank you. If you don't: don't come asking questions as there won't be answers ....


'nough said

Manifesto

If I had to think about what would be good manifesto to represent the unlikely pilgrim in life the following would be it:

Ladies and gentlemen of the class of '97:

Wear sunscreen.

If I could offer you only one tip for the future, sunscreen
would be it. The long-term benefits of sunscreen have been
proved by scientists, whereas the rest of my advice has no
basis more reliable than my own meandering experience. I will
dispense this advice now.

Enjoy the power and beauty of your youth. Oh, never mind.
You will not understand the power and beauty of your youth
until they've faded. But trust me, in 20 years, you'll look
back at photos of yourself and recall in a way you can't grasp
now how much possibility lay before you and how fabulous you
really looked. You are not as fat as you imagine.

Don't worry about the future. Or worry, but know that worrying
is as effective as trying to solve an algebra equation by chewing
bubble gum. The real troubles in your life are apt to be things
that never crossed your worried mind, the kind that blindside you
at 4 pm on some idle Tuesday.

Do one thing every day that scares you.

Sing.

Don't be reckless with other people's hearts. Don't put up with
people who are reckless with yours.

Floss..

Don't waste your time on jealousy. Sometimes you're ahead,
sometimes you're behind. The race is long and, in the end,
it's only with yourself.

Remember compliments you receive. Forget the insults. If you
succeed in doing this, tell me how.

Keep your old love letters. Throw away your old bank statements.

Stretch.

Don't feel guilty if you don't know what you want to do with
your life. The most interesting people I know didn't know at
22 what they wanted to do with their lives. Some of the most
interesting 40-year-olds I know still don't.

Get plenty of calcium. Be kind to your knees. You'll miss them
when they're gone.

Maybe you'll marry, maybe you won't. Maybe you'll have children,
maybe you won't. Maybe you'll divorce at 40, maybe you'll dance
the funky chicken on your 75th wedding anniversary. Whatever you
do, don't congratulate yourself too much, or berate yourself
either. Your choices are half chance. So are everybody else's.

Enjoy your body. Use it every way you can. Don't be afraid of
it or of what other people think of it. It's the greatest
instrument you'll ever own.

Dance, even if you have nowhere to do it but your living room.

Read the directions, even if you don't follow them.

Do not read beauty magazines. They will only make you feel ugly.

Get to know your parents. You never know when they'll be gone
for good. Be nice to your siblings. They're your best link to
your past and the people most likely to stick with you in the
future.

Understand that friends come and go, but with a precious few
you should hold on. Work hard to bridge the gaps in geography
and lifestyle, because the older you get, the more you need
the people who knew you when you were young.

Live in New York City once, but leave before it makes you hard.
Live in Northern California once, but leave before it makes you
soft. Travel.

Accept certain inalienable truths: Prices will rise. Politicians
will philander. You, too, will get old. And when you do, you'll
fantasize that when you were young, prices were reasonable,
politicians were noble, and children respected their elders.

Respect your elders.

Don't expect anyone else to support you. Maybe you have a trust
fund. Maybe you'll have a wealthy spouse. But you never know when
either one might run out.

Don't mess too much with your hair or by the time you're 40 it
will look 85.

Be careful whose advice you buy, but be patient with those who
supply it. Advice is a form of nostalgia. Dispensing it is a way
of fishing the past from the disposal, wiping it off, painting
over the ugly parts and recycling it for more than it's worth.

But trust me on the sunscreen.

If you think you know it, you probably do. It was turned into a popular song by Buzz Leherman. There are various stories about the origin of the speech, but the most convincing one can be found in the URL: http://urbanlegends.about.com/od/dubiousquotes/a/vonnegut_2.htm