poorunfortunatesoul

• Duke is in his new home. It was very hard.

My cousin's sister followed me outside and, with her very limited English, expressed to me that she does not know why her sister is sending Duke away to someone we don't know. She kept saying "I am sad. I am very sad. My heart hurts. I will miss him." This sweet seventy-something woman, on the other side of a language barrier, was expressing her grief to me as I took this family pet away. I tried to communicate that I was also very sad, and that I would miss him, too, and that I made sure that Duke would be going to a very good home where he would be safe and happy.

To those who missed it: I moved in here a little over a month ago. My cousins had inherited this dog from their deceased mother, and did not wish to keep him for very much longer. Cousin #2 told me that she was going to call the local animal shelter and "give him back" (this is the shelter he was initially adopted from eight years ago) and I said no, please don't do that, let me find a good home for him. Cousin #2 is the Filipino wife of Cousin #1, my blood relative. Cousin #2's sister and brother-in-law also live with us; these two do not have much English, and while they are very kind, they are difficult for me to communicate with.

I don't know how much she understood, but I hope she doesn't blame me, and that she understands that I also regretted the necessity of rehoming him.

It is the best possible home, I am certain of it. When I went to take him today, I learned that his new mom had already invested in new bowls, a chest full of a variety of brand new toys, new bedding, handsome new leash and collar, and more. She is patient and soft and kind. She re-arranged her entire schedule to be home with Duke for a solid week, because as she says, "I don't want him to be lonely or scared in a new house." When I left, she handed me an envelope containing a card she had prepared for me. Inside was a lovely message thanking me for letting her be Duke's new mom, and promising me that she would take good care of him and make sure he never wants for love and attention. She also included a $50 gift card to Olive Garden. What? She is a wonderful woman and I am very happy with my choice. I do miss him already, though. She said I can visit periodically, at least until I move to Wisconsin.




• Blair will be here in four days! I am SO excited to see her, and to get up to some fun things around SoCal. It's a relatively short trip; she arrives Wednesday and goes home Sunday, but that's enough time to have a nice experience. We're going to Star Wars Nite on Thursday night, Disneyland on Friday, and then on Saturday I'm taking her to La Brea Tar Pits, they Greystone Mansion, and Santa Monica Pier, then the beach. Hell, maybe we'll go on a nice date to the Olive Garden at some point, courtesy of Duke's new mom.

I have a lot to do. I have to do laundry, pack my bags, bring down all our cosplay stuff so I can make repairs on a few items and wash others. Clean out my car. Take a trip to my storage unit to store some things I've lazily just kept in the trunk.Gas up the car. Re-do the pins in my Ita bag for SW Nite. Back up and delete a bunch of photos and videos from my phone to make as much space as possible; my poor phone is consistently at like 97% capacity. T.T

We've got DnD tomorrow and I work Monday, so it'll all pretty much need to get done Tuesday.




• I've gotten back into this cute, silly little browser game called Furry Paws, where you raise, train, breed, and compete your dogs. Goals are to level up, gain fame, breed the most genetically sound pups possible, and help improve the gene pools of the game world at large through selective breeding and caring for your litters. I used to play it years and years ago. The game is over 20 years old now. Back in the day I was a top player, not to brag, so starting over completely has been really hard. Still, it's just as fun as I remember. Anyone know what this game is? Anyone play? Anyone want to? If so, let me know: I've got referral codes.

Some friends and I were casually chatting, and one asked if any of us had ever read a series of books from ye olde times as kids; Goosebumps-adjacent horror for kids. Nope. Other friend asks if we've ever read a book called Wait Till Helen Comes. Also no, but I am intrigued by the premise. Turns out there's also a movie. Found said movie on Amazon and decided to give it a watch.

The credits roll, and Callum Keith Rennie's name pops up, grasps me by the shoulders, and Sparta-kicks me all the way back to the early 2000's when I first discovered Due South.

We are all connected, in the great circle of life.