My dog the white bullet

The weather is gorgeous. It's in the mid-70s, sunny, nice breeze. Perfect for sitting on the porch and enjoying a beverage. So that's what my dog and I did. After trimming her nails and giving her a good brush (time to shed that winter coat...ye GODS why aren't you BALD??), Aussie and I sat down on the steps to watch the neighborhood kids run/bike/roll up and down the street. And I had my beverage in a nice little cooler sleeve so it didn't get warm. I even brought out an old dog bed so Aussie didn't have to lay on the cement.

So we were enjoying ourselves, our feet and her nose in the sun, when suddenly Aussie became a white bullet that shot past my shoulder and off the porch down the steps to the sidewalk at the speed of light. My first thought: "where's the damn cat??!" followed closely by "squirrel??!" and a very loud verbal "SHIT!!"

It wasn't a cat. Nor was it a squirrel.

It was a chihuahua. A chihuahua being walked by a very large (maybe 6 feet tall) athletic looking man. Who proceeded to scoop his chihuahua up to protect it from my white bullet of a freak dog who's tail was now wagging faster than reality allows. The very nice yet very large athletic man was afraid Aussie was going to eat his chihuahua.

Aussie just wanted to make friends. I can convince her to ignore the cats (street cats who would kick her ass given half a chance) and even stay put for the squirrels, but not for another dog who could potentially be her friend. Given the remote possibility of making friends with another dog Aussie ignores all commands and will become a white bullet flying over my shoulder. My dog the social butterfly.

And all of this apparently occurred for the amusement of my neighbors. Who laughed heartily as I dragged Aussie back onto the porch and gave her a good lecture. Because anyone that knows my dog knows that the only thing you can do is reason with her. She doesn't respond to "commands" unless they are in complete sentences. No joke. I think my neighbors are now convinced I'm quite possibly insane.

I'm so glad my dog and I can be a source of entertainment for the neighborhood.

Day off

I took a day off from the world today. I didn't talk to anyone, see anyone, or interact with the outside world. I didn't even read my e-mail messages or send an e-mail until the very end of the day. The only creature I talked to was Aussie.

You know what, I really needed it.

I've been running full throttle for a few weeks now, and hadn't really had a whole lot of down time. There are several additional investigations regarding my identity theft, which is emotionally taxing having to tell my story over and over again to various investigators and insurance companies. I thought it was over when my credit report was wiped clean, but apparently I was wrong. There's a lot going on at work. I've been teaching some workshop-type sessions to a total of 70+ people, and I have another set of them this week, on top of my regular duties and in addition to the other various projects, of course. None of this is bad, it just means adding another ball to the ones I'm already juggling. And it's all good stuff, there's just a lot of it right now (when it rains it pours, right?). I had company last weekend, but that meant I was busy all weekend. I love company, but it means doing a lot and going lots of places, and it tends to be intense (emotionally and by being busy) since they're only visiting for a few days and you try to pack what would normally be months of stuff into 36 hours. I'm so glad my friend was here, but I was exhausted going into my work-intense week, and I know she's felt the same way (happy to have seen each other, but exhausted).

I could feel myself approaching "stop the world I want to get off RIGHT NOW."

So I listened to myself for once and took some time. I slept late. I took care of some household chores I hadn't had time to do. I organized my office (which desperately needed it). I relaxed and watched some bad TV (America's Next Top Model, baby). I read all the funny April Fool's Day jokes people pulled (GMail paper cracked me up!). I feel no guilt about doing this, because it's either take the day off, or I'll have a breakdown later. Inevitably, if I don't get enough downtime mentally, eventually my body physically has a breakdown and I end up with forced time off by getting sick. I don't like being sick. So every now and then, when I feel myself getting overwhelmed and cranky about mundane things, I try to listen to myself and take it as a sign that I need a day off from the world to recharge.

Today was that day. I took the day off from the world. And it was wonderful.