shaun and flickr

i’m still amazed at how many people have favorited and commented on this photo. and i didn’t even take it.

having said that, i guess this image symbolizes how we should embrace life: stick your head out the window and enjoy all that hits in you in the face.

11 May 2008 Leave a note [1]

role reversal

in attempts to get the kitties more active (and instead of just replacing the batteries in our laser pointers), naz bought a couple new cat toys while i bought yet another rubber squeaky annoyance for shaun the dog™. don’t get me wrong, seeing shaun’s reaction to a new unscathed toy is priceless. you’d think that his toybox isn’t overflowing already. nothing beats him sticking his face directly in front of mine, with nonstop squeaking. resounding giggles as his big rubbery black nose sort of morphs into a piggy nose with each squeeze of the toy in his jaw.

and bringing home the crazy yellow chicken was no different. for a small price to pay of $6, he’ll play with it for a couple hours, and then away it goes to the bottom of the toy abyss, only to be seen again in a couple months. and this time was no different. but shaun quickly had a replacement for the chicken. the cat glove with dangly strips of material and fuzzy balls and the feathers and bell on a stick.

naz got the glove out for kitty enjoyment, but they were quickly usurped by shaun’s big noggin and giant body. i laughed, thinking it was a fluke. but then the magical feather stick came out and its ringing bell snapped shaun to his feet off the couch from the living room. his gallop echoing on the hardwood floors, startling cats at play, shaun took centerstage yet again. getting in downward dog pose, poised for his own attack, he’d nip at the feathers every chance he got.

but don’t think the kitties didn’t go down without a fight. and well, the kitties rarely succumb to defeat anyway since shaun is a bit of a pansy around them. monty the cat™ always gets a few swats in, but will eventually walk away, disgusted at the big burly animal getting in the way of his fun.

04 December 2007

those eyes

i’m a sucker.

bored to tears at the freelance gig (more on that later…maybe), i decided to go for a lunchtime jaunt and get some fresh air away from the staleness in cubeland. my new gig has me set up in the general river north area, so biking here leads me down grand, westward. right past the anti-cruelty society.

passing it everyday by bike is pretty innocuous. too busy zig-zagging cars pulling out of parking garages and other normal nuisances, i can’t even get a glimpse of the doggies in the window. and it’s probably a good thing.

but feeling a bit unsettled and slightly masochistic today, my walk landed me right at the anti-cruelty doorstep. i’ve been here many times before. i know the drill. smile at the volunteers who are always so pleasant. sign the login sheet. take a deep breath. visit the doggies. (i don’t mean to discriminate, but i was a dog person first.)

why the deep breath before entering? because it breaks my heart to see all those little furry faces behind bars, so to speak. they just want to be loved. they bark so you come see them, talk to them in funny voices, and stick your nose between the bars. and sure, the sign says don’t stick your fingers in the cages, but i’m not 4. i want to touch these mutts. i want them to know that if i had a giant field and never-ending funds, i’d adopt them all in one swoop. and they could run free and play and romp, and i’d probably roll around with them and giggle incessantly. and my beloved shaun would have playmates out the wazzoo and all would be right in the world.

shaken from my reverie, i know i can’t take these pooches home. not even one. and it pains me. and one little man in particular had shaun’s eyes. he was a light brindle mutt with goofy lopsided ears and beautiful deep brown shaun eyes. i was crushed as he put his paws underneath the cage, begging to play. he’d be a suitable step brother for my baby at home.

but again, i can’t even toy with the notion of another furbaby. the apartment we live in won’t allow it. so instead, i wiped away welling tears and got the hell outta there.

like i said, i’m a sucker.

02 November 2007