Why is it Always Bad News?

I realized last night why I really hate watching the news.

TJ and I had just finished watching the premiere of Last Comic Standing when the local news came on. The top five news stories? A triple shooting, a drowning, another shooting, a murder, a house fire that caused $150,000 worth of damage. The next four stories? Another shooting, another house fire, another drowning, and a missing woman who is nine months pregnant (her family, of course, fears the worst because if they were optimistic the story probably wouldn't have gotten on the news).

Why watch the news? Honestly--they can't ever report anything good. I'm sure there were some church festivals this weekend (St. Henry being one of them) or some kick-ass family picnics somewhere for Father's day. The Florence Freedom had their "Bark in the Park" on Sunday night (take your dogs to the ballpark night). The Cincinnati Roller Girls had an All Star match Saturday night...but where were those stories?

Why is our society so violent? Because the media GLORIFIES it! It never fails--if there is one school violence thing on the news there will be at least three more within the next week. Why? Because it is a sure fire way to get attention.

Until the news decides that there are other things in this world than violence, hatred and sadness, we will never be a calm, unified, happy society. And until they decide to break up the bad news with the good news that is happening all over, I think I'll stay away from the news for a while. Why fear that which I cannot control? I would rather spend my days reflecting on all the good things that I have done and that I know others are doing.

Have a great Monday.

My Husband, the Hero!

On May 29th my computer decided to go on permanent vacation (I'm sure those of you who actually read my blog remember that--it was horrible. Lost everything, no more PC, very bad day). TJ tried gallantly to fix it but it was simply unfixable. So I had to order a new hard drive (two, actually) and wait for Dell to send the software that I needed. They sent everything quite quickly (ooohhh--alliteration) and we thought we would have my PC up and running my the first week in June.

Nope. Nothing doing, ladies and gents--it is amazing how busy things can get. TJ's dad and his step mom were in town, I went to Columbus, he went places for work, we have commitments in the evenings and, next thing you know, it was mid June and my poor computer was still sitting in my office looking soooooo sad. And I was sooooo sad, too, because I had to hook up my laptop everyday to check email and such (and that was a pain in the ass...not to mention a pain in the back since I had to hunch over the laptop every morning).

Well, we were up early yesterday morning to take the dogs to the $200 trip to the vet and TJ decided to work on my computer to get the new stuff installed. He worked for a few hours and, next thing I knew, he had my computer up, running with all the software and two brand new hard drives ready to go. He put it back in my office and I am typing on it RIGHT NOW! No more hunched over the laptop, no more hooking up wires and cords, no more slow connection--my computer is back, baby! Yippy!!!

And all because my husband is a hero. For many things, really, but, today, he is my hero because he fixed my sad PC...and made it (and me) happy once again.

Our Dogs, the Vet and Other Crazy Things

Meet Gizmo and Loki, the motivation for today's blog:

They are purebred Shiba Inus. Very few people have heard of this breed (although they are becoming more popular). Gizmo (the red one) is almost seven and Loki (the black one) is nearly five. Although they look nothing alike, I assure you they are the same breed.

TJ never wanted dogs, but a friend of his had one of these and he decided if we ever got a dog that's what we would get. So we got Gizmo. We were a bit ignorant to the whole breeder thing at the time, so we went to a place that was most likely a puppy mill (shudder) and got him. Although I know you should not buy from people who keep their dogs in inhumane conditions, I couldn't bear to leave this puppy in that place, so off we went with baby Gizmo. He was bit shaky and shy, but we thought he would grow out of it (he didn't...he is the most withdrawn dog with strangers, he hates Petsmart and he hates lots of people). When Gizmo turned two, he began having seizures--bad ones. TJ and I ended up having to take him to the emergency vet clinic one night at like 12:30. They had to keep him overnight. Our house was so quiet without him that we wondered what we would do if anything happened to him. The next morning when we picked him up they said they could find nothing wrong. I called a friend who was a certified trainer and she said to switch his food, so we did and (knock on wood) things got better.

After a while, Gizmo appeared lonely, so we got Loki. He was so tiny and cute and adventurous. He is Gizmo's polar opposite. They hated each other for some time (actually, I should say that Gizmo hated Loki--he was jealous that he was no longer the only dog...he got over it.) They became a pair and we became our own little family (as odd as it seems).

Then Gizmo started acting weird. We took him through a battery of tests and it turned out that he was allergic to dust mites (of all blasted things) so he was put on steroids and antibiotics. Fine, super. A dog on steroids. We figured it was because of where he came from and we were fine with doing whatever we had to to keep him comfortable--after all, he was our baby. Then, when Loki turned two, he started with the itchy, chewy, scratchy stuff. Guess what? Allergies--TO DUST MITES!!! You've got to be kidding me...two dogs, unrelated, allergic to the same thing. Suddenly we had two dogs on steroids and antibiotics.

The kicker? They have to be on this stuff for the rest of their lives or else they are miserable. Miserable as in Loki chews all the fur off his paws and Gizmo chews all the fur off from under his front legs. The steroids aren't bad ($9.00 for a month's supply for two dogs)...the antibiotics, however, run us close to $90.00 every two months or so. That's a lot, really, but we do it...every other month. Why? Because they are ours--we have raised them and we can't stand to see them suffer for anything. Some people may have given up by now...taken them to the pound, put them down, given them away--but we can't and we won't. Just because they are not perfectly healthy doesn't mean they aren't perfect. Gizmo is reserved and quiet, but, when he wags his tail, it makes everyone happy. Loki is wild and crazy--he will exhaust you with fetch, but he won't stop unless he collapses. Each of them is unique in their own way and our lives would be empty without them.

We knew what we were getting into when we got them, and we are in this for the long haul. It is strange that you can become so attached to something...but we have, and, no matter what, we are going to make sure that these two live a long and happy life...

No matter what the cost.

Star Wars

I am a Star Wars fan. I am proud to admit that--but let me clarify that I am a fan of the REAL Star Wars--not the new ones that came out. I have watched them, but the acting is exceptionally bad and the storylines weak at best. I see what Lucas was trying to do, but it didn't work for me--and many things don't line up with the original (for example, in Return of the Jedi, Leia mentions that she remembers her mother but she died when she was really young--in the new Star Wars, Padme dies right after giving birth to Luke and Leia, so Leia could not remember her real mother).

I digress...

I was watching Return of the Jedi this afternoon--enjoying myself, actually, since it has been so long since I have seen this one. I got a little teary when Darth Vader asks Luke to take off the mask so he can see him with his own eyes. I got a little tearier (if that is a word) when Darth says that Luke has saved him. Luke returns to the celebration and greets his sister and hugs everyone and then he looks over to see Obi Wan, Yoda and...wait...what the hell? Hayden Christensen? What the hell? He wasn't in the original...how dare they mess with the end of this classic film to match up with the inferior and infuriating prequels? Where is Sebastian Shaw? The ORIGINAL Anakin Skywalker???

Arg.

Shame on you, George Lucas--shame on you for changing your film to meet the needs of today's generation...what about the generation who grew up with Luke, Leia, Han and Chewbacca? What about those of us who revisit this film and find ourselves asking "WHAT THE HELL????"

Shame on you.

A Thousand Splendid Suns

Yesterday I finished Khaled Hosseini's second novel A Thousand Splendid Suns. It did not disappoint. I had loved his first novel The Kite Runner and was hoping that this novel would live up to those standards. It did.

This novel starts with Miriam, a bastard child of a very wealthy man in Afghanistan. She and her mother have been given a small shack on the outskirts of town to hide her existence from her father's family. Her father (Jalil) comes to visit once a week and Miriam looks forward to this each week. Miriam's mother does not believe that this relationship is healthy because she knows that Miriam will be let down in the end. One fateful birthday, things turn bad for Miriam and she suddenly fins herself married to a man she doesn't know (Rasheed). She moves away and is forced to live a life that is less than what she imagined. Her story later interweaves with Laila, and orphaned woman and her two children.

The novel spans from 1959 (when Miriam was born) to 2003 (well after the Taliban and 9-11 rocked Afghanistan and the United States). It is interesting to get the Taliban from the Afghan perspective. It is not what I expected.

It seems that Hosseini loves the theme of friendship. Evident in his first novel with the boys and this second novel with Miriam and Laila. He also weaves unwanted (or unplanned) children into both novels. His style is beautiful and he writes page turners. I finished this novel in three days and was disappointed that I finished. It was bittersweet--I'm glad that I finished, but, at the same time, I wanted more. I am thinking of picking up The Kite Runner to read again because I want to revisit that novel.

Hoseinni is, in my humble opinion, one of this era's great novelists and we can only hope that he delivers another novel as good as his first two.

True Friends Never Fade

I will be the first to admit that I lost touch with many people over the years. In fact, I have blogged about that previously. What I found this weekend, though, is that true friends never really go away.

Nicole and I were friends in high school--we were part of a trio that was inseparable. We went everywhere together. When I graduated from high school we stayed in touch and went to lunch, dinner, movies, etc. We even made an ill-fated and ridiculous trip to Richmond, Indiana to track down two guys that we had met at Kings Island the day after I graduated from high school (loooong story--maybe I'll tell you all sometime).

When she graduated from high school she went away to college. That's when the separation started. We still talked, but it wasn't as often. She came home from college from time to time and we talked, but it was different. I wasn't naive enough to believe that everything would always be the same, but I never really thought it would be all the different.

When it came time for me to get married, she was the first person I thought of to be my maid of honor. She lived up to the title, was amazing and fabulous and I thought that we would go back to almost how we used to be. And then she moved to New York and the separation became greater. I still thought of her often, but we never really talked. I missed her. Two years ago she moved to Columbus. Sure, she was closer, and we got together the day of one of my other best friend's wedding...but when she went back to Columbus she never called (and, in all honestly, neither did I). I was beginning to think that she and I grew too far apart to be friends.

But I was wrong.

Sunday was her birthday. On Wednesday of last week I got a phone call from Gini who said Nicole wanted us to drive up to Columbus to spend her birthday with her. At first I thought it was just Gini wanting company on the ride, but, when I signed onto Myspace I saw the message from Nicole inviting me up. I took the opportunity and off we went.

I got to meet her new boyfriend (who is fabulous), I got to meet her friends (also fabulous). Most importantly, I got to reconnect with her. Long after everyone went to bed, Nicole and I sat up and talked. We were up until five in the morning talking about Chris, TJ, her life, her future--everything. It was great to just spend time with her again.

Do I think everything is going to be like it was ten years ago? Hell no. Do I think we can be friends again? Yes, I do. I think that we can be new friends--and that is the best thing I can hope for.

True friends--friends who are supposed to be in your life for a long time--never really fade. They just change...and that's okay.