Ramblings of a wondering soul

This past weekend actually marked the one year anniversary from one of the most pivotal moments of my life. I've learned more about myself and others in the past year than I ever thought I wanted or needed to know. Most people would probably assume my experience on the Appalachian Trail would fall into this category, and it does to some extent, but the physical and emotional challenges I met on the trail were miniscule in comparison, truly an insain concept.

I go through life with energy and passion but what many may not realize it that I am also fairly lazy when it comes to reflecting upon my relationships with others. I experience life as it comes and participate as I can. It is not that I dont care if I piss someone off, I do, but I dont take the time to appreciate those whom I care about. I have an independant facade that fools just about everyone. I don't share much of myself with others, I never used to have much to share. Now it is a different story but what I have learned is to shrink even further into my cocoon. Now I have a reason not to trust.

I've learned that first impressions make a difference and never trust what you see. My feet have learned to run; I run far and cycle fast, it clears my mind. My hands have learned to play guitar; I have to make my own music now, I dont have anyone to play for but myself. My heart has learned to hurt in places I never imagined possible, and the meaning of love. My mind has learned not to fall in love again, there's no place to go but down. I've learned not let down my guard, ever.

Inever before understood why friends would get so caught up in relationships and break ups. Thru high school it all seemed so superficial (exept for two and they are happily married as if from a story book). In college there were all kinds. I found myself in my first real relationship. In short, I fell in love. But we were still kids so I didnt really pay attention to what was going on. It was fun and exciting, daring and sensual but still didnt make sense. I grew up, got dull, and forgot I was in love. To fathom what my life was like 5 years before that pivotal moment meant nothing to me.

laughing @ ur neighbors

Within 15 hours I went through 2 1/2 cars. pajero #1 doesn't start, the starter broke earlier in the week, but the fun part is the clutch went too. Im talking like pumping 5-6 times hardly helped. So that was exciting because it began while I was out on the peninsula at 2 saturday night. John and I were moving speakers......we shattered the back window, oops. So, I was amaizingly able to make it all the way back to the house way up on the mountain and then stalled the very last time I had to shift to back up in the yard. So it seems logical to use pajero #2 to pull pajero #1 back up the slope so it can roll back out to start again. It wont start either.... and it wont give me the key back so I am forced to leave it sitting there in aux so the battery was then totally drained by morning. Fabulous. Now sunday comes around and Im stranded on the mountain with 6 dogs and the "Dude" Im house sitting for flys in at 3. john finally comes to the rescue at 2pm. So i pick up my samurai, it thankfully starts, great. I pick up "Dude" at the aport. he is of course expecting his truck to be there but instead I have to explain why he has no cars, and a busted window. He left the island with 2 working pajeros and returns to 0 and some broken glass, but the dog is fabulous which is the important thing. I drive all the way up the mountain and my car is now blowing blue smoke and very not happy. i have no choice but to toss the last of the dogs and my stuff in the back and we limp back down the mountain to find out my radiator cracked and I just drove up a mountain with NO coolant. At this point I am thrilled, I was moments away from destroying my engine for all I knew. Finishing up dropping all the dogs back at their respective houses, Im at john's telling him my tale of wo and one of his dogs pisses on my foot. At this point I very much need a drink and it's the night before school starts..... a school night. What did I do? Ziggy's. Definitly.

my roommates have (now unhappy) "dude" in class and he wasted no time in telling the entire class about his rediculous situation. they could hardly restrain themselves knowing exactly who managed to do all of this in not more than 15 hours. yes, the assistant dean wants my head on a platter. the interresting part is that the window is the only thing I actually broke. Everything else was an unfortunate series of events and the window was the icing on the cake.

my brother's first question was: seriously?
his second was: so do you still go to school there?

in the end I was amused so I thought Id share =-)

Mush

Two meanings seem to apply at this particular moment. A description of my brain as well as the encouragement to go faster, as is a dog team. Final exams make sense form an academic point of view but end up having a far greater consequence then simply assessing a student's learned knowledge. They ensure that you never forget you are in grad school and your last memory of the semester is dull and humbling. Being on a tropical island certainly helps the situation but in some ways it makes the contrast more apparent. I have seen 84 and sunny for eight months and will be going home to winter. I missed spring, summer, and fall. I know that's just the way the ball bounces but my perception of a home to go back to is slowly fading. I've been living in so many different places since high school that I have less and less to go back to. It is no longer a perfect little picture of close memories and friends. The friends have moved to every corner of the globe and the memories are fading.

Food Coma

Thanksgiving is not an actual holiday here on St. Kitts. It hardly feels like a holiday at all because we haven't skipped a beat in school. Classes pushed on as we are all preparing for finals ahead. Next week the beatings commence. Instead of a single day of thanks, we have turned this holiday into a week of feasts. Tuesday was a dinner hosted by Banfield as corporate bribery scheme that was well worth the drive across town. Wednesday I made a point to not restrain my Nutella consumption. And today was an incredible pot luck that could not be beat. I believe my glandular stomach has actually remained fully distended for a total of 72 hours. This is truly a feat only surpassed by my award winning accomplishments on the Appalachian Trail. In fact, that was a favorite part of mine. Having the ability to consume and entire pizza without seriously challenging my cardiac sphincter is really something to be proud of in some social circles.

Oscar the foster pup has been adopted, YAY!! A Ross Grad saw him on the internet and a current student will be flying him to the states for Xmas. He has really become a great kid. I'm sure he will miss his partner in crime (Charlie) but you can't beat a forever home from Santa!

time flies when you're having fun

Life goes on despite no blog updates. Rest assured I have news of my adventures.


Charlie is growing and slowly getting stronger. He weighed in @ 3.03 kg 6 weeks ago. Now he is 5.7kg and still very scrawny. I had very little idea of how old he was but now his adult K9s are coming in so my little dude is 5 months. Looks like he is going to stay pocket sized! I even got a pet for my pet. PAWS is the student rescue group on campus/St. Kitts and I soon became a foster home. Oscar is a Ridgeback mix. At 11 weeks he is almost twice the weight of Charlie and will probably end up being 50 or 60 pounds. They have a grand time chasing and wrestling with each other as puppies do. These pups are up for any adventure and did the volcano expedition this past weekend. The day was nothing less than perfect as there is nothing greater than being in the woods with your pooch!

Every new place has its own little hitch-hikers. My first was a rather benign little fungus called Tinea versicolor. It is a mild skin fungus with tropical preferences that does nothing more than make tanned skin look something like a Dalmatian with reversed light/dark.

My second hitch-hiker was a virus that overstayed its welcome quite a bit. Dengue Fever is transmitted by a particularly sly mosquito that seems to be living in my back yard. Im not normally a fan of mosquitoes thanks to a trip on the Green River but I also tend to live harmoniously with critters as long as they don't reach swarm-like proportions. Someone asked me when and where I got bit and I laughed. How the heck should I know exactly which one was the culprit. Should I ask it before it bites? Anyway, a trip to the Emergency Room in a 3rd world country was not exactly my idea of a fun cultural experience. After my release the fever and pain continued for over a week. In total I missed almost 2 weeks of classes. Ugg. Ross encouraged me to go home and start the semester over in January. In typical Laura fashion I decided I have to at least try and finish out the semester. It is still not clear if I will be able to pull this off. As always, time will tell =-)

Hurricane Omar was a fun change. Every day with 85 and sunny gets a little old. I never quite realized how wonderful changing weather actually is. Perfect sun is great on vacation but in practice it is incredibly dull and boring. So to have a storm in our midst was exciting. Everyone began their day as normal knowing there was a little mischief in the area and by lunch time they announced the hurricane status. By sun down every house was boarded up, gas turned off, and ready for the power and phones to be turned off. Not may hurricanes pass by this little island but it certainly seemed like everyone knew what to do. No frantic rushing to the grocery store, hardware store, or gas station. It was amusing to see it handled better than any hurricane landfall in the US. It never actually hit us but the next morning there were traffic jams all over the island because every car that could be driven was being used to check out the damage. Very funny.

The Gay-Lympic Games

http://saskiavet.blogspot.com/2008/10/gaylick-lympic-games-hasheese-for.html

do enjoy. I'd like to point out that the video at the end of Sas' entry is me kicking butt in the Noodle (aka Caber) Toss. The palm tree blocks your view of my exceptional form and balance but you can simply imagine my unparalleled grace. I have the blue noodle and am dressed in the rainbow kilt and sash.

Charlie

This is Charlie. A four legged heap of scabs, fleas, worms, and dirt. We spotted him on the side of the road far from anywhere. (Normally I use any excuse not to pick up strays because otherwise I'd have a hundred dogs by now.) He was so emaciated, dehydrated, and anemic that he could only crawl in fear. He collapsed on the floor of my jeep and hardly looked at us the whole way home. Considering how loud and bumpy the ride was we actually checked to see if he was still breathing. He makes for a great palpation subject for anatomy, every bony prominence is readily visible from afar and any doubt of the elusive "floating rib" is gone.

We are still doing the "looking for an owner" routine and are not exactly hopeful. By the rules we have to give the owner 2 weeks to find the dog. But, in a case of extreme neglect, could anyone actually just give the dog back? Here there are no cruelty laws and the cultural attitude toward dogs is a far cry from what we are used to in the U.S. Thankfully, with Ross' presence this is slowly changing. Free spay/neuter surgery is preventing many unwanted litters and it is noticeably decreasing the number of dogs hit on the road.

Charlie is turning out to be an OK kid. I'm hoping the student rescue group will be able to find him a foster home. With his energy slowly returning more puppy antics are cropping up each day. I make a lousy playmate for a 3 kg pup so I hope we can find someone his own size soon =-)