Going from bad to (hopefully) good
Well last week was really shit. Why? Well my dog survived two strokes and was starting to make a good recovery (not a complete one but one where she could continue to have a decent quality of life) when she drowned in the pool.
We had all been watching her around the clock while she was sick, making sure someone was always home to keep an eye on her but one night everyone was distracted for fine minutes and that was all it took. My sister and I were both in our rooms watching TV (I had been watching her all morning and thought since the rest of the family was home I could take a nice break) dad was cooking dinner, and mum went to do the ironing. We sat down for dinner and someone was disappointed Gypsy (my dog) hadn't turned up at the table. Since the strokes she hadn't been very mobile but the night before she got up and sat underneath the table while we eat making us feel like we had finally got her back. Anyway, noticing her absence my dad goes to the front living room to check on her since that's where we thought she was. As soon as he says she's not there I rush out to the pool just to calm myself down. When we had our house renovated we had removed a bit of the pool fence to get some of the work done and still hadn't gotten around to it. We knew if if Gypsy fell in the pool in her weakened state she'd have no chance. I had talked about moving some pot plants in the way to block it and dad had planned to erect something the next day since he had the day off work. Anyway, I rushed out there to find her lifeless body floating by the steps. I jump in, pull her out and yell for Dad to come and my sister to go to her room. I hand her Dad her tries to perform CPR on her for about 10 minutes... but it's a lost cause. No one had heard a splash or a bark at all. The vet said it's a good chance that she could have had a fatal stroke caused by the panic of hitting the water and died painlessly. The way she was facing when I found her seemed to support that she had tried to swim to the steps.
That night I seemed to handle it the best out of the family. For some reason I found that kind of comforting. However the next three days or so I was just a complete wreck and being the worst one to handle it felt really unsettling, I thought I'd at least handle better than my sister. I think I was just in a state of shock that night and it wasn't until afterwards that the sadness actually set in. Normally its my dog that provides me with comfort when I'm sad and not having her there just sort of rubbed it in even worse (huge thanks to Jenny for being there for me on this one). It really hit me harder than any human death had. My dog never really annoyed me, never argued with me, she just always seemed to be there for me. When ever I've travelled alone its always been my dog that I miss the most and of course I miss her more than ever now.
Things do seem to be looking up at the moment though:
-Things look pretty much sorted for my trip to the US to visit friends and do a few short cinematography courses. I'll be leaving early/mid May and come back around August
-Video Dingbat (my video podcast thingy) has been doing quite well. The Diplo interview has had over 200 unique downloads and the Pivot episode has had over 60. I would have been happy with 20 (which even the Stina documentary has surpassed!). Hopefully Jens will approve the footage for his episode soon. If anyone is able to help get bands for this please do.
-I no longer work Saturdays! That means I can go out and enjoy a big Friday night!
-I've been neglecting to mention that a (very) short film of mine (called "Love") has made it into The Comedy Channel's Short Film Festival (a part of the Melbourne International Comedy Festival).
-I have Ren & Stimpy Season 1 & 2 and Aeon Flux on DVD! These shows are golden!
-I should hopefully be able to pick up Metroid Prime Hunters tomorrow! Any other DSers picked it up yet?
*d'oh Metroid Prime Hunters comes out in May not March. Damne me getting my 'M' months mixed up and assuming we'd get a game around the same time as the US*
We had all been watching her around the clock while she was sick, making sure someone was always home to keep an eye on her but one night everyone was distracted for fine minutes and that was all it took. My sister and I were both in our rooms watching TV (I had been watching her all morning and thought since the rest of the family was home I could take a nice break) dad was cooking dinner, and mum went to do the ironing. We sat down for dinner and someone was disappointed Gypsy (my dog) hadn't turned up at the table. Since the strokes she hadn't been very mobile but the night before she got up and sat underneath the table while we eat making us feel like we had finally got her back. Anyway, noticing her absence my dad goes to the front living room to check on her since that's where we thought she was. As soon as he says she's not there I rush out to the pool just to calm myself down. When we had our house renovated we had removed a bit of the pool fence to get some of the work done and still hadn't gotten around to it. We knew if if Gypsy fell in the pool in her weakened state she'd have no chance. I had talked about moving some pot plants in the way to block it and dad had planned to erect something the next day since he had the day off work. Anyway, I rushed out there to find her lifeless body floating by the steps. I jump in, pull her out and yell for Dad to come and my sister to go to her room. I hand her Dad her tries to perform CPR on her for about 10 minutes... but it's a lost cause. No one had heard a splash or a bark at all. The vet said it's a good chance that she could have had a fatal stroke caused by the panic of hitting the water and died painlessly. The way she was facing when I found her seemed to support that she had tried to swim to the steps.
That night I seemed to handle it the best out of the family. For some reason I found that kind of comforting. However the next three days or so I was just a complete wreck and being the worst one to handle it felt really unsettling, I thought I'd at least handle better than my sister. I think I was just in a state of shock that night and it wasn't until afterwards that the sadness actually set in. Normally its my dog that provides me with comfort when I'm sad and not having her there just sort of rubbed it in even worse (huge thanks to Jenny for being there for me on this one). It really hit me harder than any human death had. My dog never really annoyed me, never argued with me, she just always seemed to be there for me. When ever I've travelled alone its always been my dog that I miss the most and of course I miss her more than ever now.
Things do seem to be looking up at the moment though:
-Things look pretty much sorted for my trip to the US to visit friends and do a few short cinematography courses. I'll be leaving early/mid May and come back around August
-Video Dingbat (my video podcast thingy) has been doing quite well. The Diplo interview has had over 200 unique downloads and the Pivot episode has had over 60. I would have been happy with 20 (which even the Stina documentary has surpassed!). Hopefully Jens will approve the footage for his episode soon. If anyone is able to help get bands for this please do.
-I no longer work Saturdays! That means I can go out and enjoy a big Friday night!
-I've been neglecting to mention that a (very) short film of mine (called "Love") has made it into The Comedy Channel's Short Film Festival (a part of the Melbourne International Comedy Festival).
-I have Ren & Stimpy Season 1 & 2 and Aeon Flux on DVD! These shows are golden!
-I should hopefully be able to pick up Metroid Prime Hunters tomorrow! Any other DSers picked it up yet?
*d'oh Metroid Prime Hunters comes out in May not March. Damne me getting my 'M' months mixed up and assuming we'd get a game around the same time as the US*