I put Penny to rest last night after suffering through a really bad seizure that left her neurologically fucked up. I took turns holding her down for four hours, hoping that her heart would give and save us the trip to an emergency vet, but it all became too much when I could hear her heart working furiously to keep her alive. I made the call to euthanize her.
On the way to the vet she lost control of her bladder and grew limp. I convinced myself that this wasn't my dog anymore, just an animal in pain. If it had been any other animal, I would have choked it to death and put it out of its misery.
When the vet injected her, I caressed her head and watched her chest stop moving. Her heart stopped, her panting ended and she finally got the rest that she absolutely deserved. My last goodbye was to sob into the scruff of her neck, breathing in her familiar scent and petting her one last time before leaving her and not looking back.

My mom removed all traces of her this morning, cleaning house of all her hairs. I miss her so much, even though there is no questioning that euthanasia was my very last gift I could give to her.

I hope she's in dog heaven, surfing to her heart's content with my grandfathers watching her and enjoying an eternal lazy summer day at the beach.

I love you, Penny. I'll see you again someday.

I just paid off over 71% of my entire credit card debt in one transaction yesterday.

Today my mom borrows my car to get to work, (after loaning her lease (!!!) to her boyfriend while his car gets fixed) lowers the window and the window falls into the car. Apparently my boss had to help her pull the window back up and lock it into place.

Now what? I have no cash to cover the $200 those thieves repairmen want to charge to fix it. I can put it on my card, but that's where those U2 tickets are going to go on Monday (which I was going to pay off in full with my next paycheck).

Can I get a break? Please? Somewhere? Anywhere???

Edit: I'm honestly thinking of wedging something between the window and the frame and just driving like that for a while until I have a free $200 sitting around to use. Blah.

On tomorrow's plate: Muse opening for U2.

Dream ticket? I think so.

Follow my twitter tomorrow (www.twitter.com/zoo_station) for photo tweets. I'll try and post one or two on LJ from the concert.

And be absolutely certain that there will be a concert recap come Sunday.

Aside from a reminder or two on facebook, I have mostly forgotten it is the 8th anniversary of the 9/11/2001.

Eight!

Time flies, although I'm sure for others, time is moving very slowly indeed.

My greatest accomplishment today (and so far the only thing I've done today also) was to fix the boss's sister's retractable dog leash. Her dumb dog chewed through it and I was determined to fix it. So, with the right tools and a hell of a lot of patience, I took the thing apart, figured out how to put it back together and retied the end piece all pretty and new-like. I have to say I did an excellent job, even going to far as to burn the knot I tied so it would stay tied FOREVER.

Yeah, that's how I roll around here.

This will either be awesome or awesome or awesome.

Either way, it's gonna be awesome.

Details to come later.

PS: I found my memory card! I'm so happy! Now I just have to finish the album on facebook. :dance:

So soon? Yes! I want to add as many as possible so that one day in the future I will have a big list to sort from.

Also, I'm bored at work and I've been here less than an hour.

( More of my favorite films )

I may come back later and post even more, but for some reason my left pinky is killing me. I will have to make a device to restrict its motion. >:[

I'm going to begin another project I will never finish.

I will consider myself a film connoisseur, not a film snob because I willingly admit to enjoying 2 of the 3 Underworld films. I'll watch almost anything. A few requisites apply: No Angelina Jolie (anymore, anyway. I've seen enough of her films. Ugh.) no paying for shitty horror flicks in theaters (simply because I hate the cheap thrills that accompany them. I don't like leaving the theater annoyed and not scared), a partial ban on Michael Cera (pending the Arrested Development film) and Jonah Hill (but he's in with all the movies I want to see, so I'm torn.)

Yeah, I hated Superbad.

( So here are a few films I love. )

Ladies, ladies, ladies! It's time for the world-famous men of the year post! (Check out last year's.) This is the time of year when I decide who have been the most outstanding men of the year. Sometimes it's not all about looks but about talent. But it's mostly about looks.

Without further hesitation, I present to you: ( The Men of 2009 )
Apologies if stuff stops loading. I'll fix the broken photos tomorrow.

See you in 2010!

This year I am making my Men of the Year™ post a community affair so I am willing to take nominations from anyone. Feel free to nominate anyone you wish. I'll put them in the post regardless if they don't win a category. Try to stay away from men that I've used before unless you really want me to use them again. There's no doubt I'm going to reuse men, but I'd rather see someone I haven't seen before. I'm a swinger like that.

Here's last year's post for you to get an idea. I don't know if I will reuse the same categories again, but they're a pretty good indication.

Comments are screened because I want it to be a surprise.

And since LJ is dying a slow and painful death feel free to direct friends of yours to this post so that they may nominate as well. I will make all Men of the Year™ posts public from now own.

If it's at all possible, I just walked in on my bird humping his standing stick. I wish I had snuck up and taken video.

My boss just asked me to smell this hole in the back room.

It smelled like a dog's anal gland, FYI.

You're welcome.

Treat the world like a head.

Hey I've started the literary_club community for our little book club. If you want to join it, you'll have to be approved because I don't want bots mucking it up for us.

I recently bought Fahrenheit 451 this weekend for $5 at Target. Yippee!

Anyway, I hope you'll join and get your friends to join. The more the merrier! Tell them we'll be lenient with time since we're busy busy people. This will be my last post regarding the subject on my journal so I don't clog it up anymore. :)

All right, here's the deal for this music meme.

Karl Pilkington is famous for his Rockbusters game where he gives out a cryptic clue (not cryptic) and you have to guess the name of the artist from that. Mine is going to be much easier, but you will also have to name the song I am referring to. The song titles have no clues. One point per song, one point per artist. The one with the most points is my new best friend.

( Rockbustaaaaaaaas! )

( It's Tuesday, it's a work day, it's time for SELECTION... DAY... MADNESS! )


I'm going to limit these to five questions every selection day because I really do run out of ideas after a while.

Coming up...

An amusing anecdote about an apostrophe, but I need the photo first.

So we got a package of jelly beans the other day with our office supplies order. I hate jellybeans. I hate all sorts of gummy candy that sticks to the roof of your mouth. I can practically feel the cavities forming.
But out of boredom I've been using some of them as mints and throwing away the "jelly" part of it. That was fine with the Strawberry Cheesecake ones, and they were really quite good.

Then for the lulz I decided to try Buttered Popcorn. Who makes something like that??

And I thought Dirt from the Harry Potter jelly beans was bad! (Which reminds me that I need to find those again so I can replace something yummy with something like vomit and get everyone pissed off.

I don't know if anyone is interested in reading my thoughts on NLOTH, but I might be in a few years time when I start hating songs that I once loved, so here we go.

( Let me put my tongue in your ear, oh yeah. )

I'm on a huge utopia/dystopia kick as of late. I guess it began when I finally got around to watching Logan's Run a few weeks back and remembering how much I liked the concept of dystopias. If you haven't seen it, I think you should. Much of it is ridiculously outdated and unintentionally funny, but at the same time sad, crazy and just a bit scary. I should probably get around to reading the book so I don't have to think about the horrible special effects (which oddly enough received special recognition from the Oscar's at the time when Star Wars was only a year later and the difference is something akin to Metropolis (Logan's) and Jurassic Park (Star Wars). Really.)
If you liked The Island but wished it wasn't so Hollywood, then Logan's Run might be for you.

Anyway, I bought The Giver (and Number the Stars, since it was also pretty cheap) last week and started reading it yesterday. I just finished it while cleaning the lab (it's possible?) and got excited about more utopia/dystopia! I have Utopia waiting for me at home, but something tells me that won't be as fun as I want it to be. I'll read it anyway, just to have it under my belt. (Although I still haven't finished The Reader, either).

I tried in vain to find my old copy of Brave New World, and I don't think I have it anymore. I remember reading the first couple of chapters for AP English and hating it immediately, but I'm willing to give it another chance.

I also need to find 1984 (have it) and Fahrenheit 451 (don't have it) to keep this theme running.

Anyway, as you can see, I had absolutely shit teachers (well most) and I never got around to reading ~the classics~ as I should have. I mean, I had to read Animal Farm on my own because all the cool kids had it in 9th grade and I was stuck with crap like, Something Wicked This Way Comes. Spoiler alert: it sucked.
I also had to read Lord of the Flies by myself too. Shit teachers.

So tell me friends, what can you recommend to me? I'm not only interested in middle/high school age appropriate books, but if there's another "classic" like the above I've missed, please direct me to it.
If it has a movie, A++. I love comparing books to films. I wish I could do that for a living!

PS - I'm going to sit down and read The Bible this year. I wish there were a literary class on The Bible I could take. It should be freaking required in school to read it for that purpose. Everything has Bible references. Even my lovely Lost is now seeping with biblical references. Loves it!

Dear President Obama,

Thank you for the extra $10 in my paycheck this week. Believe it or not, it makes all the difference for me lately.

Love,

Elizabeth

i'm not in the best of moods today. ( this doesn't help, photo inside! )

Does anyone have any good websites I can obsessively check throughout the day? Something without sound, must move quickly, not require a fee...

And now, a quick meme.
From babyomlet

Comment on this post and I'll tell you five subjects/things I associate with you. Then you post them in your LJ and elaborate.
( Juicy Details Within! )

1 - Go here.
This is the name of your band.

2 - Go here
The last four or five words of the very last quote of the page is the title of your first album. (You might have to hit "refresh" if the quote is "Life's Not The Movies" or "Shocked at in public" at the bottom - lest everyone end up with the same quotes!)

3 - Go here.
Third picture, no matter what it is, will be your album cover.

4 - Use Photoshop (or similar) to put it all together.

5 - Post it to LJ and tag the friends you want to join in.


My result! I'm in love.

---

Now to play Guitar Hero on my new PS3 until The Office begins!

I don't get to boast about things very often, so here we go:

I currently have the highest credit score I've ever had in my entire life at whopping 839!

The maximum is 850, in case you were wondering. I have like 10 days left of my free credit reporting days from WaMu before it becomes Chase. ;_;
I guess this will be my last credit check for a very long time.

Work is 30% actual work, 10% delay tactics, 5% acceptable chit-chat and 55% pretending to do work.

Seeing as how I'm going to fill my day with fun activities, I'm going to post my thoughts on the past eight years here. Deal.

Thanks for making this country suck. Fresh off the heels of a presidential impeachment, we get this debacle. It actually made me long for the days of the '60s where people would be in marches to protest war. Not soldiers, I might add.
You've been there for a third of my life. A third! You were in office when the moment that defined this century (so far) happened and you let an opportunity to unite the world slip through your fingers. You know what you've done. You know what your friends and colleagues let you do to a nation, to a people, to our principles and to each other. I wish you could have been better.

To Obama, tomorrow is your day. Tomorrow I will support you in a full honeymoon stance. Everything you do will be golden. Every hand raise, every grin, every adoration proclaimed by an onlooker will make me feel like I've hugged a teddy bear.
Not gonna lie, I may just cry.

Wednesday... you're on my list. Get to work, punk.

My recent infatuation with Michael Sheen has now ended promptly.



Why.

I APOLOGIZE!

It seems that he went to the premiere still in some character as he was playing an "eyeliner and leather clad rockstar*" in Laws of Attraction.
*I prefer my rockstars (and really, all men) to be without guyliner, unless they are MacPhisto who is already an ambisexual being.

Infatuation back on.

I just taught her how to do this not ten minutes ago and she still manages to fuck it up.

"I don't understand how you continue to mess this up. Attaching files in an email is the easiest thing in the world. You click ATTACH A FILE, then in the browser window you DOUBLE CLICK the photo that you want to upload. The photos are on your DESKTOP which requires absolutely no in depth searching.
There's even a button for ATTACH ANOTHER FILE so you can add as many as you want.

I'm tired of explaining this to you. I've been telling you how to do it at least once every couple of months since I began working at Miami Orthotics. That was in 2003. It's been six years now. You even took a class on computers. I don't know if it's that you're just not paying attention to what you're doing, or that you purposely block out the steps to do it in your mind. I'd think that putting on your shoes is a harder task to do than just sending an email attachment.

http://help.yahoo.com/l/us/yahoo/mail/original/basics/basics-41.html"

Happy new year, I guess. I don't really like this holiday, but my new years resolution that I desperately need is to land an awesome job.

Hope you all get what you want next year, whatever that may be.

I'll be leaving in a few minutes to a party where the norm is to get plastered off your head and dance. That is just soooooo me.

In case you were wondering, this is the monster that bit me.

AND my joint still fucking hurts. I can't even knock on a door with my left hand. And it's my favorite knocking hand too. :(

America's Funniest Home Videos: Montages of people being scared by someone hiding in a box who suddenly pops out.

things i don't enjoy at all: having peeps on the net jump down my throat. I made a huge mistake. Run, run!!!!!!!

( A meme I'm adding in later )

I finally went to the ER. Cellulitus, and a tetanus shot to boot. Not to mention that I had to fill out a dog bite form. Who knows what they'll do to him. The form asked if the severed head had been examined.
I don't know if I should laugh or... laugh.

I'm going to limit my typing as one of my favorite typing fingers has been rendered useless earlier today.

I wish I would have gone to my aunt's house for Thanksgiving this year. Friendly people, lots and lots of laughs, and, oh yes, a normal dog.
My uncle's house feels like a museum. There's nothing fun. A few ducks that beg for bread, a massive stereo system... that's about it. My uncle played rave music for about 2 hours. It's his favorite music. He's 53.

Prior to serving the dinner, my aunt was crossing her kitchen to pick up the tray with the turkey on it. The dog, Koki, attacked her feet and she jumped back narrowly avoiding serious bites.
This is not out of the ordinary. When people are first entering the house they are welcomed by the sound of aggressive barking and a stern warning to not even look at the dog, lest he attack you. He's bitten my cousin, my aunt, my uncle (who defends all his actions), my aunt's mother (who died last year - not due to the dog), my grandmother (who also defends the dog, and my uncle), my brother (who needed a tetanus shot afterward) and other various guests as I was told throughout the evening.

I decided to 'test' the dog to see what his aggression was all about. It wasn't a mean test, or a taunt by any means. My uncle was talking to me and the dog was on his way over to stand behind my uncle. I decided to get in between them and open my arms. I figured that the dog was territorial over my uncle especially and any sort of intervention from a third party would cause him to be pissed off. I was right. He instantly gave me what I refer to as "cut-eye." It's the instant signal that an aggressive attack is imminent. The difference between scared and aggressive is simple. Scared is a simple bite and release, unless you don't back away. Aggression is a full out attack until the dog gets the jugular.
He jumped on the couch after that and began to growl at me. I didn't move or break eye contact because that would tell him that I was weak and an easy target. I should have dominated him right there. Instead my uncle began to pet him. I told him not to do that because it was like rewarding him for being aggressive. He then began a scolding that sounded just like the compliment. "No, Kokito, nooo."

I shook my head and went on. My brother's girlfriend came over and began to taunt the dog the moment she was told he was aggressive. She finally stopped when the dog snapped at her feet and in desperation began to attack his own tail. Something he's done maaaaaany times before.

Thirty minutes later my uncle sat on the couch and the dog jumped on top of him. I sat down on the far end of the couch, clearly avoiding the dog. I began to surf the net on my phone. My aunt called my uncle from the kitchen to get a glass of water for my brother. The dog lunged at me the moment my uncle moved. He grabbed my fingers in his mouth and chomped. I grabbed his neck with my other hand and pinned him down. He rolled like a gator and I felt wetness. He had peed all over the couch. The entire family was screaming bloody murder. I noticed blood on the couch coming from his mouth. I thought he had bit himself because I didn't feel hurt.
A minute later I let go when I felt certain he wasn't going to come after me or the people around me.
My hand was full of blood, my blood. My finger looked bent.

It's not broken (I think) but it hurts like fucking hell.

Photos:
Blood warning!
These are the scratches
The punctures
It's covered in Neosporin right now and they got bloodier than they were ten minutes ago. I can barely bend my finger, it's so swollen. But I can and that means it's not broken.

The scratches fucking SUCK ASS. I'm going to have to wear long sleeves for a while or people will think I'm cutting myself.

I love my dog so much right now. <3

Why don't we eat roosters?

It's been a while since I've been to a bridal shower. What is appropriate to wear at one?

Why are women still not allowed to serve on the "front lines"? I believe they are allowed to serve in tactical missions or from an air defense standpoint, but they are still not in major combat operations.
I also read in a previous class that women in Israel used to be sent to the front lines but it disheartened the rest of the brigade to see women killed in combat. Should it still be an issue?

I have thought that the one job that is stable in this economy is a mechanic simply because people will not have the money to buy new appliances when their old ones break down. Good thought process?

Also, in this economy, the least stable business would be the business of colored/patterned shoe laces. AGREE OR DIE!!

Okay, that's all for now.

No, one more. What is more stylish, curly hair, wavy hair or straight laced hair? Which do you prefer on your own head and on others?

I want to watch the Jonestown special on CNN tonight at 9, but I don't want to miss The Office.

Oh yes, I have a DVR. All is well.

Miami, the real Miami, is completely filled with lowlifes. Surprise, surprise, they are also over the age of 50 too. I think I finally learned how to post from my phone! Yay!

Yes, yes. I'm ecstatic. For now.

I feel like I should say something eloquent to mark this moment in my life, in all our lives. It's a big stepping stone from one century to the next. As Leonard Pitts said in his weekend article, the time of Vietnam is over. The people from that generation could not let go of Vietnam and all its misgivings. That's why Vietnam always "won." It's why Bush won in 2004, it's why Clinton won in 1992. I'm not talking about the war itself, but that mentality of that generation who viewed Vietnam as the be all, end all of this country. I feel like someone from my generation, who had to learn from Vietnam from history books (arguable, but he was a kid for most of it!) who has the personal distance of one of the bleakest moments in world history is now speaking for us. The proof is the youth vote that came out in droves to support the man. We honor sacrifice, yes, but we honor peace and the promise of hope, not because a candidate says so, but because we all have it. John McCain had it in his prison cell and it saved his life.

Hope is not a bad idea to hang onto, even if seems so far away.

My boss told me that he read 52% of the 250K a year Americans voted for Obama. We all have to put our fair share in. We need to help everyone. That's not socialism, that's reality. That's what my God has told me to do. To help the poor, to help each other throughout this life.
"In all our searching, the only thing that makes the emptiness bearable is each other."
I still look at my dad in amazement when he says the economy is not the reason why I lost my job. I don't even bother correcting him. The few times I have corrected him, he's shut up on the issue, apparently understanding what I mean... or having no smart-ass response to it. He's already sent me an anti-Obama email this morning. I'm just going to delete it. I know I'm not wrong in this. I know we are not wrong in this.

For eight years I had people tell me I had to support Bush because he was my president. I scoffed at the idea of supporting him, but I quickly learned that I needed to give my president the support he needs, even if I didn't agree with him. We needed a leader on Monday, and on Tuesday, we got one. We need to support him too. We're all in this together. John McCain was right, country first. This is our country and we need to resuscitate it. People died to get here, and they still die to get here. Just last week. Our land is a lighthouse on stormy seas for all the reasons you can think of.

To the people on Facebook who have been incessantly giving a status update about where you're moving to because Obama became president... grow the fuck up. I did.

LOL

LOL, guys, LOL.

I have just been laid off.

I really can't be silent on here anymore. I've been vocal about politics pretty much everywhere else excluding my journal just so that I could avoid confrontation with various people, but fuck it. I can't.

( Political Ramblings Inside! )

( Extra, extra! Read all about it! )

^Length warning!

( Belated Selection Day )

Please keep pineapples in mind. I want the pineapple. Thanks!

The best present I received today was a win against the Pats. Good Lord, I hate the Pats. Almost as much as I hate the Jets. The only time I rooted for the Pats was after 9/11, because they and the Yankees needed to win in order to show them terrests who's boss!

So thank you, Miami Dolphins. It really did make me feel better this weekend. :)

EDIT:

Nevermind. This has to be the best present ever. I'm so glad I searched for our fight song because I would have never found this hilarious 1980's nugget.
You must watch it.



Can't. Stop. Laughing!

Ohhhh, you have no idea.

Especially on what I decided for my Halloween costume. It's going to be... *sigh* epic.

I didn't forget about nostalgia corner. I'll edit it into this entry later.

I was in math class, oblivious.

Recollection. Feel free to add on that entry if you didn't get a chance to in 2006.

You need to see this video.

First of all, what douchebags.

Second of all, of course they'd be drinking Starbucks.

Third and most humorous about this video, besides the whole incident: THAT'S WHAT YOU CALL PROTECTING THEIR IDENTITY? Someone needs to get fired.

Okay, let's pretend August 1st never happened. I was in a rush. I made up things on the spot. I didn't have a real plan for categories.

+ Now I've cleaned up the post and made it mahhvelous.

+ I reassigned catergories, like Superhero is now just plain "Hero" so I can nominate a hero of any movie.

+ I've given recommendations for all those men involved now.

+ I've made the anchorman spot a miscellaneous category. This means that next year I can pick some other arbitrary title to squeeze my new crush in.

+ I haven't changed the winners or the runner ups, but I have tried to get different photos for each one so you don't lose time. The text is more or less the same, however. But I doubt you'll be reading this entry. :P

( I'm Ready. )


^Not recommended, but fun to hear him speak Spanish for "Harsh Times".

My plan for next year is to put up a nomination box sometime in July so I don't scramble to find men to fill these spots and that way you folk get some say in it too.