Moonflower's Reflections

(I know this is old, but it's so funny, I can't help post it again.)

1. Thou shalt not jump onto the keyboard when thy human is on the computer.

2. Thou shalt not unroll all of the toilet paper off the roll.

3. Thou shalt not project hairballs from the top of the refrigerator.

4. Thou shalt not sit in front of the television as if thou art invisible.

5. Thou shalt not jump onto thy sleeping human’s bladder at 3 a.m.

6. Thou shalt not reset thy human’s alarm clock by walking on it.

7. Thou shalt not trip thy humans, even if they are walking too slowly.

8. Thou shalt not push open the bathroom door when there are guests in thy house.

9. Thou shalt not jump on the toilet seat just as thy human is sitting down.

10. Thou shalt attempt to show remorse when being scolded.

I'm in love - again. This time it's not my iPod Shuffle (but I still love that). It's a dog. This weekend I went to a dog show. Just like the last time it was cloudy and at some point during the day it rained, but this time I also got to see the dog breed I'd been wanting to see in real life since I was a child. The Bolognese.

Carl_larsson_bolo2

We caught sight of a little white dog and I had a feeling I'd come to the right people. Just in case, I asked and I was right. I had met my first Bolognese. It was a nine-month-old male puppy. He was adorable, and what was more, he seemed to return my feelings. The girl who was holding him pushed him into my arms saying it was a good idea for him to learn to accept being touched by other people. And there I was, in love again. He kissed me and showed me in every way that he liked me a lot, as only very young creatures can. This doesn't mean I love lhasa apsos any less, that wouldn't be possible. I just have another love in my life.

Stalker cat

Stalker cat

Stalker cat

I think I have a stalker.:) My sister and I were walking back from the store. We'd bought a few things, among others, cat food, and it seems this little cutie knew that from a distance. She (I think it was a she, though she was quite big, but definitely young), saw us, ran through a hole in the fence, and came to say hello. Once the ice was broken, she sniffed the shopping bag, and began to tag along. We were quite concerned that something would happen to her. She crossed streets and just followed us. Two other people walked by and wanted to say hello, but she only had eyes for us. Me really. When she noticed that we had noticed, she began to get coy. She wasn't following us. No way. She was just checking things out. Removing a thorn that had become stuck in her paw. Climbing a tree. Finally, when we got to the cemetary, she really stopped and turned back. It was a relief. We didn't want her to get hurt. But I have a feeling that she'll come and say hello again, the next time we pass by.

Today when we went to the store to do some shopping - it's a holiday today, so among other things we had to get something nice for this evening - we saw a cute field spaniel puppy. He was brown and playful and had this really endearing way of looking at you. Of course, just like all spaniels he was wagging his tail. Unfortunately, his owner was extremely strict with him. She couldn't seem to tolerate any expression of joy. Why get such a sweet breed, if you intend to crush his zest for life? It made me sad. Poor puppy, all he wanted was to have some fun. 

Today, my sister and I created a new microcommunity. It's a sort of personal Twitter. The members post short status update messages, just like on Twitter, but this is a community - in this case one especially about veganism, animal rights and similar issues.

You're welcome to come in and take a look:

Tabernus - The Green Cafe

Why won't the digital tv companies offer packages you can pay extra for, so you get only the channels you actually want? Not like today, when they offer 'packages' containing one or two channels you want, and several you don't want and will never watch.

I definitely feel that it's a good business model. No doubt lots of people will want to pay not to have to get all the worthless channels. I've never understood why the companies insist on offering tv channels (where they desperately try to cram commercials down our throats), but no one really want to watch. Is that really profitable?

If I could afford to, I'd cancel my tv subscription and buy DVD boxes instead, but unfortunately that's not possible right now. Besides, my mom wants to watch all the news shows, so I guess it's impossible anyway. Not until I can finally move away from here, but I'm guessing that's not going to happen until I'm going to be buried (and not even then will I escape this vile little town).

Another idea I had was just broadcasting sports on one channel - The Sports Channel - possibly with news in between - and remove all the sports from the other channels. But I'm guessing that's something only my sister and I out of all the people in the world, would appreciate.

That’s what I’m looking for. I don’t fit in here. Almost everything turns out exactly opposite to what I want. It’s getting really hard to take.

By now, everyone must have read about the 13-year-old dad in the UK. When I first heard about it, I didn't pay much attention, but after a while, you could read about it in practically every paper. I realized that 'everyone' or at least politicians, reporters and other 'experts' find this 'sad', 'tragic' and 'appalling'.

It made me a bit angry. Sure, having your kids start a family at that age, isn't what any responsible parent would want, I think that goes without saying. However, when you consider how many parents twice these kids' ages neglect, abuse and even kill their kids, doesn't it put the whole thing into a different perspective?

I definitely don't want to defend starting families at this age, that's not what I'm saying, but it's already a fact. Two children have had a child of their own. It's over and done with. Now it's time to make sure this baby gets a good start, and that both young parents have a reasonable future, and on the other hand to keep an eye on other teenagers, so this doesn't happen again any time soon.

From what I read, though the kids can't know what they're getting into, they do seem to have given it quite a lot of thought. The fifteen-year-old mom's been vetted by social services and found satisfactory as a parent. Her parents and the dad's parents are behind them. Let's give them a break. I don't think they'll do much worse than your average young families, and maybe even better than some of the worst specimens. Besides, I don't think even a forty-year-old knows exactly what it will be like to become a parent. The only way you can find out for sure, is to try it.

I happen to know that in the UK there's been much debate about women waiting too long to start families. There's been call for a change of some kind (in what way, hasn't been clearly defined) so that women are able to have children at an acceptable age (to whom, I wonder). Now, admittedly, these two are a little younger than the age perceived as 'ideal' by the family police (my word), but after all, who has the right to judge?

Sure, if you wait until you're forty, you might risk not being able to have a child. That's tragic, to the woman in question, but it's hardly something the rest of society needs to put their collective nose into. If you become pregnant before say, twenty or so, you might risk not being able to get an education and a good job (but then, who gets good jobs, these days?), but again, I'd say that's more to do with you and your family, than society, or the people with opinions about everything.

I heard about a 21-year-old, who had a good job and a boyfriend (that she was living with), who also had a good job, with a home of their own, and this young woman was still told off by the medical staff for being 'irresponsible' enough to start a family at that age. Hello?

What's my point with this? Simply that some things are private. Let them stay private, as long as no one gets hurt. Mind your own business. That's all.

Apparently, microblogging is getting more and more popular these days. As far as I can tell, the theory behind it is that people are busy, they don't have time to sit down and write a long blog post. In a way, that makes sense. On the other hand, who says you need to blog ten times a day? A while back I read about some people doing 'slow blogging' - quality blogging, not quanity. That too, makes sense.

Being the sad, lonely misfit that I am, I don't have that much to say, when it comes to 'what are you doing?'. If I were to really microblog, it would be mainly things like 'I'm sitting here at the computer' 'Just got back from a walk', 'Had dinner. It was delicious'. Boring. Pathetic.

That reminds me of an even newer thing - nanoblogging. One word at a time. Brilliant? Trendy? Cool? Poetic? Maybe, but pretentious and snobbish are words that spring to mind. Meaningless too. In my book. But maybe it's something you get used to.

All this hasn't stopped me from getting no fewer than five (I think) microblogs (not nanoblogs) and I'm doing my best to keep up. At least I will, as long as it feels fun.

What do you think? Should I give nanoblogging a chance too? Here is a nanoblog site (I haven't tried it but I found it when I did a Dogpile search.