Walking to Mordor

I decided on a new New Years Resolution.  I usually have vague ones like “Be Happier” or “Be More Assertive” but I found this one a few days ago and I really love it.

(And yes I know that this gif is from The Hobbit!)

In The Lord of The Rings, the distance from Hobbiton in the Shire to Mordor to drop off that pesky ring is 2683km (or 1779 miles for the others out there).  If you walk about 7km a day, in theory you will walk that distance in a year.  This was all worked out thanks to this site.  It’s old but some of the links are still clickable if you want a look.  I can’t imagine how much work it took to figure this all out, so thank you!

I’m trying to walk my dog more.  She is an active girl and we go for one big walk a day, but I’ve noticed she is much more settled and content on those rare occasions we get to go for two walks.  So I think this will be just the thing to get me out the door for that all important second walk of the day.  I won’t be adding any of my “steps for the day at work” or anything like that, the only kilometres that will be logged are when my Fellowship of Two go out together.

PLUS, because I have to make it even more goal orientated to keep myself interested, every time I reach a major point on the “map”, there will be a food party!  Because I have always identified with those hobbits for a reason after all!  The first stop will be at The Prancing Pony at Bree… in 218km!!  Oh dear, we only did 6km today and Ally and I are a week behind to start with. 

I have tried before to read the Lord of the Rings series but didn’t make it.  And I struggled through The Hobbit which is a KIDS BOOK!  But I feel like I would get a kick out of reading more into it.  And from what I remember, Tolkein loves describing Middle Earth scenery so it’ll be cool.  And since I’m not walking the whole way (just to Mount Doom), it’s ok if it takes me a year to read the first book (and a bit).

And to finish…

Yeah I know, Sean Bean.  But these fools are going to try!

(Terrible selfie taken into the sunlight)

Start As You Mean To Go On

I think that’s excellent advice for the first day of the New Year.  I get so excited and hopeful about new beginnings.  I am one of those people who do that tradition where you fill up a mason jar with nice things that happen to you throughout the year and then you open and reminisce on the last day of the year.

This year was different.  This year I was sick.  I had barely been able to keep my eyes open at work and then when I went home, I ate chips for dinner and then went to bed at 9.  I woke up in 2015 feeling much better for having slept through the night.  But still full of a cold.

But I had plans.  And I got to spend the first day of 2015 with friends and having fun.  Doing the important things.  Illness be damned!

I drove to see my friend Danielle, who lives only about an hour away from me but that is really far away when you are both grown ups and have to schedule hang out times.  We exchanged Christmas presents.  And she got me a One Direction advent calendar (because I will always be a tween at heart) and most importantly, a Doctor Who necklace.  She made me pizza which we ate before heading to the cinema.  Unfortunately the session to see The Hobbit was all sold out but we brought a ticket for the next showing in two hours time.

So we had two hours to kill.  We went to a cafe and on the way bumped into a friend of Danielle’s who I have become friends with thanks to social media.  It was one of those weird things where you meet someone who you have never met but it’s totally cool and you act like you’ve met each other a billion times.  We hugged like old friends and her husband was a bit confused that he had no idea who his wife’s clearly very good friend was.  I explained succinctly “We’re friends from the internet”.

It was a very cool moment because we’ve tried to meet up before but the plans have always fallen through, usually at the last minute.  And as Danielle pointed out, if we had gone to the original session of The Hobbit, we wouldn’t have met her.  So that made the meeting all the sweeter.

Danielle and I went on to the cafe and talked about lots of things and resolutions.  Important things and not important things.  All the sorts of things that you can talk about with best friends.

And then we saw The Hobbit and it was far too emotional.  I keep thinking about it at points during the day and feeling the wind go out of my sails just that little bit.

I drove home far too late and hung out with my dog, who is the best.

An excellent day and I hope to have many more like that this year.

I got a dog

On the 8th October, I went down to my local RSPCA.  I took my friend Tara who is a vet that I work with.  She was going to be my voice of reason and stop me from getting carried away ie getting a Great Dane or getting an 8 week old puppy.  Spoiler alert… she failed miserably but I’m so happy she did :)

There were a few dogs that I liked the look of but nothing really stood out.  I really, really wanted to walk away with a dog.  I was going to have five days before heading back to work and that was going to give me enough time to settle the dog in- so in my mind, it had to be that particular day.

We had another walk around the pens and spoke to a volunteer who was making polite conversation.  She said that “Jules” was an absolute sweetheart and pointed at a cage that we had passed but assumed was empty.  I peered in again and a face with big eyes peeked around the corner of her kennel.  It was love at first sight and her tail wagged cautiously.

There were two other dogs that I wanted to have a look at but they are irrelevant to the story.  Jules was brought out to a nice open space to say hello but she was absolutely terrified.  It was suggested that we should maybe meet her in her pen instead.  We all went back inside and I crouched down in the corner and she went and hid behind me.  She snuggled into me while peering out from behind me at the other two people in her pen.

It was the fact that she seemed to recognise that I was her human and that I was the one that was there to protect her that sealed the deal.  And she had a fluffy beard like a wolfhound which is a breed I would love to have but can’t due to the size.

Tara murmured “You don’t think she’s too big..?” but I was getting carried away and nobody could stop me. 

As we signed the paperwork, I had a moment of “WHAT HAVE I DONE?!” but I quickly tamped that down.  When we walked her out of the animal shelter, a large guy was walking towards us.  The way the dog had an absolute panic at the sight of him confirms to me that she was mistreated. 

She continues to be incredibly nervous around people but especially around men.  I’m like “Same, girl.  Same”.  She’s a bit of an introvert and will take herself away from a crowd if she’s had enough.  But usually she isn’t found too far from me.  And I realise that this is because she has separation anxiety, something I don’t want to encourage, but I secretly love it when we meet a new person and she snuggles into me, like a toddler when forced to meet a new person.

I renamed her Ally and she is unbelievably the wrong dog for me.

Our very first selfie together!

She is the most slobbery dog the world has ever seen.  Luckily no shoestrings of slobber though.  The beard was the thing that drew me to her, the beard is now the thing that I hate.  If she’s nervous (which is quite a bit), she pants excessively and the drool collects in her beard.  If she drinks water, the excess water collects in her beard and drops all over the floor.  If she rests her head on me, there is usually leftover drool on her beard which is transferred to me.  I hate it!!

She is a young boisterous big dog.  I should probably give her two big walks a day.  With my work schedule, I can really only manage one big walk a day.  And that makes me feel incredibly guilty.  If she was a different dog, I would hire a dog walker but at this stage in her life, that is not an option as she would be absolutely terrified.

I wanted a big(ish) dog because I like to go for runs when it’s early and often dark so I’d like her for, at least the appearance of protection.  Realistically, If there is someone coming towards us that she doesn’t like the look of (ie everyone), she cowers and sometimes stops in her tracks.

Her stupid tail really hurts when it wags.  Because she always seems to be standing right next to me, I get whipped by her tail.  And it really really hurts.

She frustrates me to no end.  Like when I come home and she has chewed something to pieces.  Or when I took her outside to go to the toilet and she didn't;t do anything but then came inside and did diarrhoea all over my housemate’s white carpet.

However…

In her moments of fear, there is no aggression.  I have seen the sweetest animals turn into feral monsters because of fear.  There is none of that in my dog- and that makes me really proud of her.

She’s smart.  She doesn’t pick up any of the useful commands I try teach her, like ‘come’ and ‘heel’.  But she very quickly picked up ‘wave’, which she does with such goofy enjoyment, that I just love to make her do it.

You haven’t witnessed joy until you’ve seen her bound after a toy.  Or the lamb-like gambol that she does when we go for runs and she has to make a leap for the sidewalk.  Or the way she throws her toys (that she has lovingly nibbled all the stuffing out of) about and then pounces after them.  She has the weirdest quirkiest personality and I love getting to watch it shine.

She went and sat in the pool up to her waist by herself… just because.

The way she just oh-so-casually gets up on my bed when she knows good and well that she is only allowed up when she has been invited.  And there is no sneaking up when you are nearly 30kg big!  I’m like “Dude, I noticed”.  And the way she just rests her head on my bed when I wake up, like ‘'oh boy, you’re awake.  Hey, do you think I could get up now??”  Her tail starts wagging and the look in her eyes, you can totally tell that she’s smiling.

I went to the bathroom, and she was sleeping on her mat on the floor beside my bed.  Came back to this lady-like display.

When we’re sitting at the dinner table, she is big enough to nudge your elbow as you hold your knife and fork.  Just to remind you that she’s there… waiting… all night if she has to… in case you wanted to give her something a bit extra.

And how good she is with other dogs.  She loves bounding around and being goofy and jumping all over every dog and racing around like a loon!  And if another dog is grumpy, she just drops and rolls over on her back and goes “whatever, you’re the boss.  I’m just here to run around and have fun.  Smell ya later”

Ally and her BFF Bandit, Tara’s dog.  Dressed up in our work uniform after a big run outside.

So yes, Ally is a pain.  But she’s my pain.  And in the two months I’ve had her, she has come forward in leaps and bounds.  We went to our first obedience class today and she was a STAR!!  I know it’s because she wants to please me and make me happy, and you can’t ask for more than that in your dog.  I can’t wait to see how she turns out in the years ahead. 

To Ally’s previous owners… I don’t know your story, Ally was found as a stray.  You never came forward to collect her.  Maybe you didn’t care that she was missing, maybe you dumped her, maybe you searched and searched but never found her.  Thank you for taking care of my dog while she was a puppy.  Thank you for teaching her how to sit and shake paws.  I will always be grateful to you for taking care of my best friend for me. 

Daybook ii

Trying to get back into blogging.  It aches a little to stretch these weary muscles so let’s start out with a nice exercise stolen lovingly from a friend.

Outside my window, I live right by a train station and they are doing some form of track work.  There is a lot of machine noise interspersed with the workmen yelling to each other.  I can’t make out what they’re saying but there’s a lot of bantering and laughing.  It’s probably a good thing I can’t hear what they’re saying, actually!  The weather has finally turned into something resembling winter.  Overcast skies and temperatures requiring jeans and hoodies.  My feet are a teensy bit chilly though.

I have been listening to Grace Potter and the Nocturnals.  I just adore Grace’s voice and I love their music.  It’s kinda rock, kinda bluesy and it’s great to turn up loud.  They recently came to Australia as support act for John Mayer and I was gutted that I couldn’t see them perform as they didn’t come anywhere near my hometown.  A song I come back to again and again is this one called ‘Timekeeper’ as I love the lyrics and can 100% relate to the feelings.  Here is an acoustic version performed by Grace.

I have been wearing mainly pyjamas.  My roomie is away for a while so I have been home alone and therefore, pyjamas.  Although to be real, I still wear PJs all the time when he’s here too. 

I am thankful for animals.  They are the best.  The love they have for humans and the way they show it just makes my world go round. 

I am pondering why my upcoming holidays are causing me more stress than pleasure.  Like, I know, I know… first world problems.  But seriously, why can’t I just enjoy the thought of my holidays instead of having stress dreams. 

I am reading a biography of Caterina Sforza (written by Elizabeth Lev), who was an Italian noblewoman from the 15th century who amongst other things led her own troops into battle.  This is the first biography I have read in years and it’s a bit hard going at the moment because my brain’s just not in the zone, despite the author’s best efforts and the awesome subject matter.  So to temper that, I’m also devouring “Dragon’s Blood” by Jane Yolen.  This is about a poor boy who works in the local dragon stables where the fighter dragons are kept.  It’s a lovely read and just what I need to balance out some world history.

I am creating an Irish chicken stew with dumplings.  I am very haphazardly creating it so it’ll be interesting to see if it is as tasty as it has been in the past.  I went a bit crazy with the dumplings, as they’re obviously the best part and I added WAY more than I normally would, so we’ll see how they are!  It’s bubbling away on the stove and has been for the last few hours.  It’s making me so hungry because the house has smelled of chicken soup for hours and I haven’t been able to eat any of it!!

And since writing that… my dumplings took over and took away all the moisture.  So there is like no soup in the chicken stew.  But it still tastes good!

A picture-thought I'm sharing is of my first little plant that I planted recently.  I am surprised to find that I quite like it.  The plants are not enjoying their slow, laboured demise but hopefully I can get better at not killing them.

Reverse Bucket List

This is a cool idea that I discovered over on Amanda’s page.  It’s a great way to think about what you’ve achieved.  As explained on this other page, it can seem like a brag list, but I’m sure you guys can appreciate this idea for what it is: a list of cool things that you have ALREADY ACHIEVED!  Sometimes I spend so much time thinking worrying freaking out about the future and how much stuff I should be doing, that I forget to look back and go ‘hey, I have done a bunch of really cool stuff and that should be celebrated”

1) Met some random off the internet who turned out to be one of the best friends a girl could want

2) Visited NYC and successfully navigated it

3) Decided to move overseas by myself and actually did it

4) Met a celebrity and told them how much their stuff meant to me (<— excruciatingly embarrassing and awkward for both of us, but how many chances do you ever get to do that?!)

5) Got my vet nursing degree- guys, I don’t do science and I did it!

6) Assisted in a dog caesarean and resuscitated puppies to life



7) Saw Britney Spears in concert- front row, baby!

8) Watched something I wrote get performed onstage

9) Ran 10km

10) Participated in Hogmanay celebrations in Edinburgh

11) Watched a meteor shower

12) Made disgustingly yummy baked treats successfully

13) Went to Stonehenge

14)  Watched the Lord of the Rings trilogy in an entire day

15) Made a Queen’s Royal Guard laugh (by accident because I am a dork)

16) Worked (and danced!) in a bar on a Greek island over the course of a summer

17) Been to Disneyland

18) Wrote a letter to myself to be opened in ten years time- and I waited and read it on the correct date!

19) Completed NaNoWriMo

20) Graduated university

On a side note, I am currently compiling my ‘30 before 30’ list and it’s been really fun.  I know I’ll be doing lots of travelling in the next year or so therefore I am putting a lot of big ticket items on the list.

Meet Laddie

He is a 15 year old cat that started off life as a stray cat.  He was taken in by a man called Brian.  Brian took him in and has loved him ever since.  Brian loved Laddie a lot.  He would feed Laddie steak and he would eat lentils.  When he would bring Laddie in to our vet clinic, he would chew your ear off about how much this cat meant to him, how the cat was ‘his best mate’.

Brian died a few days ago and his niece brought Laddie in to us.  She said that Brian had told her that if anything happened to him, that we would do right by him and Laddie.  Which of course tore at our heart strings.  The niece was unfortunately unable to take Laddie back home with her and asked us to get Laddie fixed up and as ready for adoption as he could be, as she was going to have to surrender him to an animal shelter.

Whilst the animal shelter promised that they wouldn’t put Laddie to sleep, I don’t think they could 100% give their word.  It is a reality that Laddie isn’t the most rehomeable cat and it’s a sad fact of life that the space that they would give to Laddie could be given to at least two kittens who would be easily rehomed.  (Sidenote, please be responsible pet owners!!)

My boss tentatively asked if we wanted to keep him as a ‘clinic cat’.  It’s quite common practice for vet clinics to have a cat or two that just roams around.  I have been at my job for three years and pretty much those entire three years have been spent campaigning to have a clinic cat.  I nearly hugged my boss when he asked us that question!

Internet, this is Laddie.

He has lost one eye due to illness.  The other eye is very big and shows his fear.  He is very skinny.  He purrs when I stroke him but I can’t tell if it’s because he likes my touch or whether he is purring due to stress.  When you pat him, huge flakes of dry skin come to the surface of his coat, which is lank.  He is a very old man.  He walks with stiff back legs due to arthritis.  Realistically, he only has a year or two to go. 

And I want those last years to be so happy and filled with love.  Even though since working with animals, I have become jaded with the whole ‘animals know what we’re saying’ schtick- yesterday Laddie and I had a moment.   When I picked him up to give him a cuddle (which he sits through patiently), he fixed me with a stare with that one eye and he licked my nose.  I like to think he understands..

I’m basically a professional writer

A few weekends ago, I met up with Danielle to go to a workshop all about writing radio dramas.  We weren’t sure what to expect but we turned up eager and ready to learn. 

There were maybe 15 people there and we were the youngest by twenty years, if I’m being generous.  Thirty years, if I’m being honest.  Also, everyone already had a short piece that they wanted to workshop.  So I know that I definitely felt like I started off on the back foot.

I’d love to go indepth about the workshop because it was really great and I probably will at a later date.  Our favourite thing about it was that there were two actors who came along and would read snippets aloud.  It was amazing to see them perform.  There were bits that they read that looked so flat on the page that were absolutely transformed when you heard the actors speak aloud.  Also they were super cute and Danielle and I fell head over heels in love with them.  I fell particularly for Bob, who was just so rad.

Picture from Danielle

After the Saturday session, Danielle and I went back to her place, slightly panicking because we didn’t have anything to show.  I still wasn’t sure what was going to happen at the Sunday session but we knew we didn’t want to go back without at least a first draft of a short radio play.

So we spent a frantic half hour writing our pieces.  Then Danielle wanted to introduce me to ‘Primeval’, which has now become my new obsession.  I think we watched about three episodes and then we worked on our pieces for another 15 minutes before realising that we should just quit and watch some more ‘Primeval’.

Look how cute and British this cast is!!

The next day, we turn up and everyone has already printed out their pages for the actors to practice and read aloud- which we have not.  Again, we start off on the back foot.  So we eventually get out pieces printed off and we “hand them in”.

Lunch time comes around… and we decide to bail.  It’s been a long morning of listening to first drafts of plays and well, there’s Primeval to watch.  And I do need to leave fairly early because I have a long drive back.  So we make our apologies and leave.

Flash forward to the present day.  And last week, Danielle texts me to say that the organiser called her to ask for her permission for the actors to use her script that she wrote for their actors’ workshop!  So cool, right?!  Then a few days later, she texts me to say that they would like my details because they would like MY script too!!  Heheheheheh.  I basically fell over on the floor, half laughing at the ridiculousness, and half out of shock.

AND WE GOT INVITED TO THE SUNDAY PERFORMANCE OF THE ACTORS WORKSHOP SO WE MIGHT GET TO SEE OUR PLAYS PERFORMED!!!!!!!!!!!!

My piece centres on an old man.  I used Bob as my muse as he was just the best and I thought he would be awesome in the role.  AND THEN DANIELLE TOLD THE ORGANISER LADY THAT BOB WAS MY MUSE!  Apparently it took them a while to track me down because they assumed one of the older men who had attended the workshop had written it.  Nope, just that young girl in the corner. 

I just had a thought.  Maybe Bob will be at the actors’ workshop.  I will keep you updated.  CAN YOU IMAGINE IF I GOT A PICTURE WITH HIM?!