Weekend of ups & downs
This last weekend came with its fair share of pros and cons. On the pro side, Friday evening was pretty productive from my side. I did my World of WarCraft dailies, and got my Fishing skill up another 10 points; and scanned, collated, corrected and began colouring the latest Girlz 'N' Games web comic. And, in my 2nd evening of doing ordinary things at unexpected times, I baked a chocolate cake after 10pm.
Saturday was less productive from a "working on hobbies" perspective. The bf was busy programming a video game with a friend, so I used my free day to get some shopping done. I had some loyalty reward vouchers to spend before they expired, and was desperately in need of some new jeans before I wear out my favourite pair, so I spent a good portion of my time in clothing shops. Being an annoying in-between size, I've found I have to be grateful for whatever flattering pants cut I can find, and I spent most of my time on Saturday running back and forth between the fitting rooms, literally trying ANY denims I could find.
Given the current fashion in jeans - super-low cut, skinny leg (who the fuck wears these? Reed-thin Indian girls?) - it was largely a confidence-shattering experience. However, after a few hours of repeatedly stripping off under unflattering fluorescent lights, I eventually achieved success, leaving the mall with 2 pairs of jeans and 3 tops (2 of them long-sleeve to stave off the coming Winter chill). A big thank you to Woolworths for being the only retail chain to stock in-between jean sizes!
Anyway, in the course of my shopping, I couldn't resist this T-shirt which I found in the Woolworths children's section. Geek-gasm! I know it's Marvel and not DC, but I still think it's pretty sweet. This said, there is a distinct lack of female characters on this shirt (Storm, Rogue, Elektra, Black Cat anyone?) and the number of villains included on it is ridiculous given the shirt is labelled "Marvel Heroes." Anyway, it's nice to know I can fit comfortably into the clothes of an 11-12 year old boy.
Feeling the need for spoilage after such a traumatic experience I ended up on a mini DVD-buying splurge, my first since the beginning of 2009. Scrounging around the Look & Listen bargain racks, I picked up Master & Commander: The Far Side of the World, Carrie and The Goonies. Oh, and Season 1 of the Powerpuff Girls. With his turban, purple cape and white booties Mojo Jojo has to be the funkiest looking villain ever. It turns out several Cartoon Network animated series are now available on DVD locally, including Ben 10, Dexter's Laboratory and Foster's Home for Imaginary Friends.
So, yes, Saturday was on the expensive side.
On Saturday evening we played our weekly Dungeons & Dragons session (finally cornering the big bosses as the game ended on a cliffhanger), braaied and watched the Super 14 rugby. The Sharks put on a valiant fight against the Blue Bulls but given how inconsistent our team has been during the past few months, their effort was too little too late, and honestly they didn't deserve to to go through to the semi-finals of the rugby competition because of it.
We were all set for heading home around 10pm, but then suddenly Guitar Hero for the XBox was whipped out... and we ended up staying in Hillcrest well past midnight. It was my first hands-on experience of the game, and it really is a lot of fun (once you learn to coordinate your fingers!). I could honestly see myself buying the game if I owned a 360, because Guitar Hero is that rare thing - a great party game that you can also seriously enjoy playing solo.
Sunday is where the "down" portion of the weekend comes in. I woke up to learn that my parents had rushed our beloved golden retriever Tara to the vet. Since the night before she hadn't eaten, couldn't get up and was extremely lethargic. On Sunday morning she was even worse, trembling, with completely white gums. Literally carrying her into the vet's office, my parents discovered Tara was suffering from an unusual strain of Billary, combined with severe anemia.
The vet couldn't promise anything (Billary is bad enough news that it usually kills dogs within 24 hours) but immediately set about giving Tara a blood transfusion, treating her fever and attempting to relieve the potential arthritis in her hips. The vet promised to phone us the evening to let us know how Tara was doing.
For most of the day I was fine, but then as the evening approached and I hadn't heard any news from parents, I started to get emotional. Mostly I was worried that if anything bad were to go wrong (dogs can experience hemorrhaging complications from blood transfusions) I didn't get to tell Tara goodbye, pat her and whisper that I loved her. I'd seen her lying on the kitchen floor late on Saturday evening, looking up at me with her big brown eyes and I didn't even think anything was wrong. Stuff like this really puts things into perspective; how you often take loved ones for granted in the busyness of your everyday life.
I knew there was a very good chance that we'd lose Tara this year - at 14 she is exceptionally long-lived for a golden retriever, and her back legs have been going for quite some time. I just never thought it would be like this. She's such an important part of our family, essentially the third Adams sister, always at my father's side. Every morning she tails me into the kitchen, expecting her breakfast dog biscuit.
Of course, watching the excellent I Am Legend for the second time didn't help things (Will Smith's character has a gorgeous german shepherd called Sam) and it wasn't long before I was blubbing away. Out of interest, for those of you who have seen the film you can watch the film's far more intriguing alternate ending online here.
Anyway, at 7:30 a call from the vet finally came though. Tara wasn't walking yet, but she had perked up considerably. She wouldn't eat her pellets but had wolfed down a piece of cake instead. Tara's sweet tooth shines through even in sickness! Of course you have to wonder what kind of vet dishes out cake to dogs, but who cares if it gets results? We wait for more news about Tara's progress today. Hopefully it's good.
I didn't get to the cinema this weekend to see any of the 3 movies on my High Priority List - in order: Angels & Demons, Star Trek and Zack & Miri Make a Porno. I'm hopefully going to rectify the situation this week.
I rounded off the weekend working on my web comic and watching Cloverfield again. After watching the fun, hand-held camera monster flick almost straight after I Am Legend, I decided to rename Sunday, 17 May, "Tough Luck, Manhattan Day."
Saturday was less productive from a "working on hobbies" perspective. The bf was busy programming a video game with a friend, so I used my free day to get some shopping done. I had some loyalty reward vouchers to spend before they expired, and was desperately in need of some new jeans before I wear out my favourite pair, so I spent a good portion of my time in clothing shops. Being an annoying in-between size, I've found I have to be grateful for whatever flattering pants cut I can find, and I spent most of my time on Saturday running back and forth between the fitting rooms, literally trying ANY denims I could find.
Given the current fashion in jeans - super-low cut, skinny leg (who the fuck wears these? Reed-thin Indian girls?) - it was largely a confidence-shattering experience. However, after a few hours of repeatedly stripping off under unflattering fluorescent lights, I eventually achieved success, leaving the mall with 2 pairs of jeans and 3 tops (2 of them long-sleeve to stave off the coming Winter chill). A big thank you to Woolworths for being the only retail chain to stock in-between jean sizes!
Anyway, in the course of my shopping, I couldn't resist this T-shirt which I found in the Woolworths children's section. Geek-gasm! I know it's Marvel and not DC, but I still think it's pretty sweet. This said, there is a distinct lack of female characters on this shirt (Storm, Rogue, Elektra, Black Cat anyone?) and the number of villains included on it is ridiculous given the shirt is labelled "Marvel Heroes." Anyway, it's nice to know I can fit comfortably into the clothes of an 11-12 year old boy.
Feeling the need for spoilage after such a traumatic experience I ended up on a mini DVD-buying splurge, my first since the beginning of 2009. Scrounging around the Look & Listen bargain racks, I picked up Master & Commander: The Far Side of the World, Carrie and The Goonies. Oh, and Season 1 of the Powerpuff Girls. With his turban, purple cape and white booties Mojo Jojo has to be the funkiest looking villain ever. It turns out several Cartoon Network animated series are now available on DVD locally, including Ben 10, Dexter's Laboratory and Foster's Home for Imaginary Friends.
So, yes, Saturday was on the expensive side.
On Saturday evening we played our weekly Dungeons & Dragons session (finally cornering the big bosses as the game ended on a cliffhanger), braaied and watched the Super 14 rugby. The Sharks put on a valiant fight against the Blue Bulls but given how inconsistent our team has been during the past few months, their effort was too little too late, and honestly they didn't deserve to to go through to the semi-finals of the rugby competition because of it.
We were all set for heading home around 10pm, but then suddenly Guitar Hero for the XBox was whipped out... and we ended up staying in Hillcrest well past midnight. It was my first hands-on experience of the game, and it really is a lot of fun (once you learn to coordinate your fingers!). I could honestly see myself buying the game if I owned a 360, because Guitar Hero is that rare thing - a great party game that you can also seriously enjoy playing solo.
Sunday is where the "down" portion of the weekend comes in. I woke up to learn that my parents had rushed our beloved golden retriever Tara to the vet. Since the night before she hadn't eaten, couldn't get up and was extremely lethargic. On Sunday morning she was even worse, trembling, with completely white gums. Literally carrying her into the vet's office, my parents discovered Tara was suffering from an unusual strain of Billary, combined with severe anemia.
The vet couldn't promise anything (Billary is bad enough news that it usually kills dogs within 24 hours) but immediately set about giving Tara a blood transfusion, treating her fever and attempting to relieve the potential arthritis in her hips. The vet promised to phone us the evening to let us know how Tara was doing.
For most of the day I was fine, but then as the evening approached and I hadn't heard any news from parents, I started to get emotional. Mostly I was worried that if anything bad were to go wrong (dogs can experience hemorrhaging complications from blood transfusions) I didn't get to tell Tara goodbye, pat her and whisper that I loved her. I'd seen her lying on the kitchen floor late on Saturday evening, looking up at me with her big brown eyes and I didn't even think anything was wrong. Stuff like this really puts things into perspective; how you often take loved ones for granted in the busyness of your everyday life.
I knew there was a very good chance that we'd lose Tara this year - at 14 she is exceptionally long-lived for a golden retriever, and her back legs have been going for quite some time. I just never thought it would be like this. She's such an important part of our family, essentially the third Adams sister, always at my father's side. Every morning she tails me into the kitchen, expecting her breakfast dog biscuit.
Of course, watching the excellent I Am Legend for the second time didn't help things (Will Smith's character has a gorgeous german shepherd called Sam) and it wasn't long before I was blubbing away. Out of interest, for those of you who have seen the film you can watch the film's far more intriguing alternate ending online here.
Anyway, at 7:30 a call from the vet finally came though. Tara wasn't walking yet, but she had perked up considerably. She wouldn't eat her pellets but had wolfed down a piece of cake instead. Tara's sweet tooth shines through even in sickness! Of course you have to wonder what kind of vet dishes out cake to dogs, but who cares if it gets results? We wait for more news about Tara's progress today. Hopefully it's good.
I didn't get to the cinema this weekend to see any of the 3 movies on my High Priority List - in order: Angels & Demons, Star Trek and Zack & Miri Make a Porno. I'm hopefully going to rectify the situation this week.
I rounded off the weekend working on my web comic and watching Cloverfield again. After watching the fun, hand-held camera monster flick almost straight after I Am Legend, I decided to rename Sunday, 17 May, "Tough Luck, Manhattan Day."
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