This Week: Highlights and Lowlights
Lowlights? I think I made that up. Well anyway, you get my drift.
So it's definitely been a crazy one in these parts. One very good thing that has surprised me; I thought this warm weather was a teaser, but it seems to have become ensconced. As far ahead as I can see, we're due to remain in the upper 60's to lower 70's. I guess the average dipped so low in the winter that we don't have to go through many more cold snaps. Yes! And I heard Spring starts here tomorrow at 1:32. Not 1:30 or 1:40, but 1:32. Odd. Anyway, I'm ecstatic. This winter was hard for reasons beyond the weather, for sure.
I called my mom on Tuesday for her birthday. Nice, right? Well, I was immediately greeted with "I'm about to come down there and get you! ... I think this whole going back to school thing is just going backwards." Now I don't deny that things got really ugly there for the last four months at least. Neither will I guarantee that the craziness is over. But good grief. I'm not the only person who has ever experienced struggle and I certainly won't be the last to. I don't need to be protected like I'm 5, for crying out loud. God forbid if I don't in fact make it here, I don't think I'll be moving out into the sticks with my mom again either. There's nothing out there for me; no jobs, no services, heck hardly any people! I'd be better off trying to return to Lions Services in Charlotte, which they may or may not allow me to do, or seeing if I could get some sort of employment up here. But let's not get to that point prematurely. I'll try and keep this ship afloat first, as my chances of success would be far greater should I succeed.
I may finally be getting close to carving my niche in this apartment complex, which would definitely help everything tremendously. I met someone at the bus stop today who stays over here. She said she regularly organizes gatherings where they have burgers and beer and just hang out, and she's going to invite me to one soon. She also intends to knock on my door and come over here some time to let me see her dog, which is some sort of German Shepherd mixed with a breed I can't remember. She says she wants to train him to be a service animal. Fascinating. She offered to allow me to dogsit while she works, and will reimberse me for doing so. She said there are others who might be willing to do the same. Hmmm, interesting idea? Dogs do tend to like me, although obviously I'd better hope they don't destroy this place. Plus I'm sure I'd need to learn to pick up after them or something once they're done outside. But if folks have a little patience with me, I could surely grasp these things.
Speaking of service animals, a woman came to our class to present on her company which has diabetes assistance dogs and mobility dogs. She said training each dog costs $22000, and they charge clients on a sliding scale based on their income. The least you could pay is $4000. "We don't give them free for many reasons" she said. "The main one is that if you pay for something, you value it. We don't want people to get these animals and mistreat them. Second, it's the only way you can have a voice if something goes wrong once you get the dog home. Any training school worth its salt wouldn't give their animals away."
Now am I mistaken, or do guide dog schools usually provide their animals free of charge? I understand her point to a certain extent, although it is condescending towards dog handlers. Just because someone provides me this service, I'm not going to go and treat my dog badly. And I think if there were evidence of one doing that, he or she should just lose the privelege of working with the animals. Charging prices like that though might deny someone who really does need the service a chance to access it. I just think that the schools could have someone follow up on things, to see how both dog and handler are doing. From what I hear, it seems this is generally how guide dog schools work.
And she was totally against the idea of training the animals by oneself. "Oh it can be done, but it's extremely dangerous". I told her and the rest of the class about some of the awesome stories that I've heard regarding this, particularly from pawpower4me, and while the rest of the class found some of them amusing, she hardly wanted to even believe me. I think these folks are doing a good service, but they just need to be more open-minded with regards to how they see the individuals they are assisting. So I stand at an interesting crossroads. I hope it represents a real turn-around, but that remains to be seen.
And let's not even talk about my NCAA tournament brackets. But who could've seen that craziness coming! I was 8-8 yesterday; and am 7-5 thus far today. Tried to pick some upsets and went wrong on them! Aww, like I know anything.
Have a great weekend all, and absorb lots of sunshine.
So it's definitely been a crazy one in these parts. One very good thing that has surprised me; I thought this warm weather was a teaser, but it seems to have become ensconced. As far ahead as I can see, we're due to remain in the upper 60's to lower 70's. I guess the average dipped so low in the winter that we don't have to go through many more cold snaps. Yes! And I heard Spring starts here tomorrow at 1:32. Not 1:30 or 1:40, but 1:32. Odd. Anyway, I'm ecstatic. This winter was hard for reasons beyond the weather, for sure.
I called my mom on Tuesday for her birthday. Nice, right? Well, I was immediately greeted with "I'm about to come down there and get you! ... I think this whole going back to school thing is just going backwards." Now I don't deny that things got really ugly there for the last four months at least. Neither will I guarantee that the craziness is over. But good grief. I'm not the only person who has ever experienced struggle and I certainly won't be the last to. I don't need to be protected like I'm 5, for crying out loud. God forbid if I don't in fact make it here, I don't think I'll be moving out into the sticks with my mom again either. There's nothing out there for me; no jobs, no services, heck hardly any people! I'd be better off trying to return to Lions Services in Charlotte, which they may or may not allow me to do, or seeing if I could get some sort of employment up here. But let's not get to that point prematurely. I'll try and keep this ship afloat first, as my chances of success would be far greater should I succeed.
I may finally be getting close to carving my niche in this apartment complex, which would definitely help everything tremendously. I met someone at the bus stop today who stays over here. She said she regularly organizes gatherings where they have burgers and beer and just hang out, and she's going to invite me to one soon. She also intends to knock on my door and come over here some time to let me see her dog, which is some sort of German Shepherd mixed with a breed I can't remember. She says she wants to train him to be a service animal. Fascinating. She offered to allow me to dogsit while she works, and will reimberse me for doing so. She said there are others who might be willing to do the same. Hmmm, interesting idea? Dogs do tend to like me, although obviously I'd better hope they don't destroy this place. Plus I'm sure I'd need to learn to pick up after them or something once they're done outside. But if folks have a little patience with me, I could surely grasp these things.
Speaking of service animals, a woman came to our class to present on her company which has diabetes assistance dogs and mobility dogs. She said training each dog costs $22000, and they charge clients on a sliding scale based on their income. The least you could pay is $4000. "We don't give them free for many reasons" she said. "The main one is that if you pay for something, you value it. We don't want people to get these animals and mistreat them. Second, it's the only way you can have a voice if something goes wrong once you get the dog home. Any training school worth its salt wouldn't give their animals away."
Now am I mistaken, or do guide dog schools usually provide their animals free of charge? I understand her point to a certain extent, although it is condescending towards dog handlers. Just because someone provides me this service, I'm not going to go and treat my dog badly. And I think if there were evidence of one doing that, he or she should just lose the privelege of working with the animals. Charging prices like that though might deny someone who really does need the service a chance to access it. I just think that the schools could have someone follow up on things, to see how both dog and handler are doing. From what I hear, it seems this is generally how guide dog schools work.
And she was totally against the idea of training the animals by oneself. "Oh it can be done, but it's extremely dangerous". I told her and the rest of the class about some of the awesome stories that I've heard regarding this, particularly from pawpower4me, and while the rest of the class found some of them amusing, she hardly wanted to even believe me. I think these folks are doing a good service, but they just need to be more open-minded with regards to how they see the individuals they are assisting. So I stand at an interesting crossroads. I hope it represents a real turn-around, but that remains to be seen.
And let's not even talk about my NCAA tournament brackets. But who could've seen that craziness coming! I was 8-8 yesterday; and am 7-5 thus far today. Tried to pick some upsets and went wrong on them! Aww, like I know anything.
Have a great weekend all, and absorb lots of sunshine.