Puppy School

Once she was let off her lead and placed upon the tiled floor, Rikku instantly sizes up her opponents. To the left stands a Border Collie, licking it’s, umm… private parts, and to the right a Rottweiler, drooling heavily. Being the brave dare-dog that she is, Rikku decided to tackle the Rottweiler first. She slowly started to creep up behind it, edging closer and closer until it turned its head and looked straight at her, she suddenly starts bounding towards it, completely forgetting that she is a Silky Terrier/Chihuahua.

“Awww what a cute puppy… She’s a feisty one.”

I’ve been attended puppy school with Candy (the human friend) and Rikku (the puppy, which needs an education) because I was told that Rikku was beating up the others puppies during previous classes, and I just had to see it for myself. I was amazed, in awe, and dying of laughter when I saw that the little ball of fluff I lovingly call ‘Lady Rikku’ was beating up the other (much larger) puppies, I even had to grab her and make her have some lap-out-time because she was getting too rough.

“My, isn’t she energetic, she just keeps going and going and…”

After some talk about puppy food, the puppy school teacher went around the class asking each owner what they feed their pup, and when it was Candy’s turn to share I felt like saying “well, she’s on crack, as you can see”, but I thought that it might not have gone down well, there were innocent little puppies present.

“She’s umm… Different.”

Her legs seem to be growing at a fast pace and her body is yet to catch up, she looks a bit odd at the present time, like some strange African dog that has long legs for running and a small head for doing small head stuff. I still love her though, well, when she’s not chewing my hair.

“It’s like she has the mind of a German Shepard and the body of a Chihuahua.”

She’s the smartest dog in her puppy class… ok, I know I’m her Auntie and it’s my job to say those kinds of things… but it is true. Candy is contemplating enrolling her in agility classes after she completes puppy and doggy school and there are even talks of getting Rikku into doggy modelling/acting. She is already toilet trained, can sit, drop (Harry can’t even drop, unless of course food is involved), and is pretty close to roll over, she can also stand on Candy’s shoulders and not fall off. She’s a star, a star I tell you (but she’ll have to check into rehab if she doesn’t get that drug problem under control).

Lady Rikku

Version 2.0

Twenty.

The big 2-0.

Version 2.0.

00110010 00110000.

Yesterday I turned 20, and yesterday I was told numerous times that I am now a responsible adult, an adult that is no longer allowed to do stupid immature things, (like blowing up the garage) but I can now do stupid mature things (like blowing up the garage again, but this time recording it all and selling the tape for profit). Yesterday, I also forgot to pay my net bill (oops!), so there goes the whole responsible adult thing.

I’m not sure what I’ll be doing during the next 20 years of my life, maybe Uni, or I could travel and there is always some funky monkey circus to join and such. I do know that I’ll be sharing those years with some pretty cool friends. So I want to say thank you and I love you to everyone I know. They know who they are.

The quote of the day goes to my mother, who said, “Just think in 80 years you’ll be 100!”

Introducing Tatiana

Ladies and gentlemen, I’d like to introduce to you, Tatiana…

Tatiana

She’s a 20GB beauty full of class, style, and tunes. I’ve been spending the last few days getting to know her, and in that short time we’ve pinkie promised that we’ll never talk shit behind each others backs and always be the bestest friends for like, ever and ever, times ten.

(Yes, I know it’s weird to name my fucking iPod, but I’m also the person who names all of her computers after deceased pets. I’d like to thank Eric for giving her to me as an early birthday present.)

Black Panda Event

Panda

Last weekend I went to a friend’s wedding where the bride’s brother rocked up in a panda costume. After he hugged everyone present and took off the panda head, I inquired about the reason behind it all and it turned out that there was no “dress as a panda” printing error on his invite, and he wasn’t asked to entertain the large amounts of kiddies present while their parents got tipsy, his explanation as to why he was wearing a panda costume was simple…

He just felt like it.

[Update]

The panda lied! Today I was told the truth about the panda. Years ago, when they were both very little, my friend said to her brother (the panda) that she’d never get married and he promised to her that he’d come dressed as a panda if she did get married. The promise was kept, and he attended the wedding dressed as a panda.

I now know to never trust a bloody panda…

The Shame

I sat on my mother’s bed, in between her files from work and a pile of clothes. We were chatting about my brother’s birthday (he turned 21 yesterday) and I was trying to fix the case which his birthday present, an expensive pen, lived in. She asked me what I was doing for my birthday…

Nikita: “I’m not sure, it falls on a Monday so there’s not much to do, and everyone will be at work. Maybe go to dinner or something.”
Mum: “No, it falls on a Sunday.”
Nikita: “What?”
Mum: “I checked on the calendar when I was at your grandmother’s today.”

She got up and hunted through her work files to find a calendar, “Yes, see it says here your birthday falls on a Sunday, Sunday the 1st of August.” she said with reassurance.

I looked at her trying to keep a straight face. You see, I wasn’t born on the 1st of August, I came into the world on the 2nd of August and it wasn’t like I was born at 12:01am. Oh no, I was born at a good 8:01pm, so no “but you were so close to being born on the first” excuse could be used. You’d think since she was like, an active participant and all, that she’d remember, but no.

Nikita: “I was born on the 2nd not the 1st mum.”
Mum: “Oh, really?”
Nikita: “Yes.”
Mum: “That’s weird, your grandmother and I could have sworn you were born on the 1st.”
Nikita: “Oh my god. You have seriously forgotten the day I was born. The shame!”

I got up, threw my arms in the air and walked out of her room muttering “oh my god” and “the shame” a few more times for comedic value. Over the last few days I’ve been bringing it up randomly in conversations, mainly for laughs, but also to make her remember that I wasn’t born on the bloody 1st ever again. The shame.

Blogiversary 2.0

Two years ago today I registered the domain kitta.net and gave birth to (if you will) this site you’re at right now. It’s been a fun few years, the opportunities I’ve had, the people I’ve met, the things I’ve learnt, the amount of times people have emailed me asking “is the little red monkey like, a real monkey” have all been interesting.

Things have changed, my blog entries certainly have become much more substantial, my design has defiantly improved – to the point where I was nominated for ‘Best Designed Weblog’ – and I’m currently writing a book on the topic of blogging (a novel).

Over the last two years you’ve probably noticed that most of my entries have a sarcastic feel to them, this is because I like finding humour in things, my back injury for instance. Even though it’s painful and I have days when frustrated to the point that I want to cry, writing a funny open letter addressed to it helps ease the frustration. I’ve received emails from people (male, female, young and old) thanking me for blogging, they tell me about how they were having a bad day until they read a certain entry in my blog and it cheered them up immensely.

I started my blog because I wanted a creative outlet, a place to put the words that dance around in my head when I should be sleeping, and contrary to poplar belief I didn’t start it because I think I’m hot shit, I want attention and I’m a fucking Barbie that needs validation about my looks. Anyone who’s been with me since the start would know that.

People sometimes ask me how long I’ll keep blogging and to tell you the truth I don’t know. I blog because it’s relaxing to sit down at the end of a day and write about something I’ve seen, done or heard about. I blog because it’s fun and the day it stops being fun is the day when I’ll stop blogging (don’t worry, it’s still fun).

I want to thank Rich, who’s not only my friend that I can geek out with and talk hardware, but also the person who hosts my site. I’d also like to thank you for reading.

Run, hide, you know

I was watching The Panel tonight (or should I say last night since it is 1am), where they showed a clip of Ashley Olsen being interviewed on Rove Live. Nothing odd about that, just one of the Olsen twins doing an interview. Well, not really. During the short interview, they counted how many times she said “you know” and it ended up being about 56 times. Fifty-bloody-six times. Which is a lot of you knowing (maybe we DON’T know).

The interesting thing was it started catching on, kind of like Ebola, but instead of blood being splattered everywhere it was you knowing that made its presence felt. Even Rove (the host of Rove Live) started saying “you know” and I also noticed that the folks on The Panel, who were laughing about the amount of you knowing going on, started saying “you know” shortly after watching the clip.

My friend used to do something similar, she’d say “right” a lot, and by a lot I mean to the point where I wanted to hurt her, in the most lovingly way possible of course. So I started saying “right” all the time… “Right… are we going now? Right, let’s go then. Right.”… you get the picture. When she inquired as to why I was doing this, I told her it was to show her how fucking annoying it can be. She stopped saying right soon afterwards.

I just thought I’d share that with you, you know.

Sit, Stay, Heel

I was once told dogs can understand over two dozen words, which got me thinking, what are some of the words that Harry understands? So I’ve put together a list of words Harry seems to recognise…

  • Food – He’d personally love it if this was the only word I ever said.
  • Mat – The thing I tell him to sit on when he’s bothering me while I’m trying to cook the above word.
  • Walkies – Something we (myself and Harry) hardly ever do these day due to the fact he likes to walk me and dislocate my shoulder.
  • Outside – The cold world. Outside is somewhere he’d rather not be.
  • Couch – The warm world. A place he’d like to never move from.
  • Gwammy – My grandmother. The person who brings him yummy treats and me warm hand-knitted scarfs.
  • Din-din – That fantastic time of the day when he gets food, streamers fall, balloons appear and the whole world has a parade at this time of day. It’s din-din time.
  • Stinky – His nickname.
  • Cat – That thing that gets to sleep on couch and seems to be given food 50 times a day. To be avoided at all cost. Has sharp claws that have been known to nearly take out an eye.
  • Wheres-ya-ball – Said very quickly to hype him up. A ball hunt begins shortly after this word is said.
  • Boozy – His other nickname, normally said whenever he does that “I didn’t do it” face.
  • Bath – Something that is hardly ever done, as he is not fond of baths.

I’d like to note that there is no ‘sit, stay, heel’ or any other normal doggy words in there, he understands them alright, he just doesn’t want to do them, especially the ‘heel’ one. When I have a moment of insanity, forget the past shoulder injuries, and we do go on ‘walkies’, he seems to think ‘heel’ means “Yes, go piss on that tree, and that lamppost, and that other tree, and that letter box… Hell, piss on everything if you please.”

No cookie for me

I have a confession to make.

I’m taunting the subway guy. Yes, I know, it’s so very bad of me, but it’s just so much fun at the same time. Kind of like putting sunglasses on a dog, funny, but the dog hates it.

How am I taunting him?

Simply by entering the store with friends and not buying a fucking thing. The guy’s face seems to light up when I walk in, I’m not sure if this is because he likes me or because he just totally loves being a sandwich artist and every time the door opens it’s like christmas for him. Either way, when my friend walks up to the counter to place an order he always stands back and lets another sandwich artist serve them, it’s at this point when I walk up to the counter and the taunting begins.

He asks “How may I help you?” with a smile, I casually tell him “I’m with them” and he then looks devastated, like I just told him that I had an orgy with his best friend and brother on our wedding day. My mother thinks this is highly amusing (I get the evil taunting thing from her) and has been ordering large amounts of subway just to see me crush the poor guy’s enthusiasm.

One of these days, I’m going to surprise him and order something, like a cookie, just to give him a thrill.

An open letter to my back

Dear lower back,

Hello, how are you today? We’re having some really cold weather lately, aren’t we…?

Ok, let me get straight to the point. I know that I’ve royally fucked you up in the past by falling on you and such, and that it’s taken me a while to sort out what was wrong with you, but do you have to keep telling me about it? The chest pains a few months ago, middle back pains for the past few weeks and the headaches this week are truthful not needed. I get it.

I’ve been trying to get you fixed too, attending physiotherapy sessions and even letting friends do strange healing on you, but all you can do is complain. There’s no “thanks mate”, no sign at all that you notice, just sharp stabbing pains. All I ask for is a nice warm feeling, just to show that you care.

Anyway, I don’t understand why you’re being like this, we’ve been together for nearly 20 years this August, I’ve always treated you well by bending at the knee’s when lifting and putting heat packs on you during cold nights. Maybe you’ve forgotten about all that. It seems to me that you’re being very selfish, all the other parts of my body totally agree, even the feet. You might have noticed that the hands have completely ignored you over the past few months, they’ve had it with you, and some of the major organs are pretty close to doing the same thing.

You, my dear back, can be a total wanker some days. If you want to be like this, fine, but remember I can always take some pain killers to shut you up, even if they do make me forget my shoes and see creatures that look like water bottles during the night. I’ll so do it!

Listen, cut the crap or I’ll get a new back on eBay!

Love always,
Nikita