Exactly one year ago today, I brought a shy, quiet little dog I named Gracie home from the Pasadena Humane Society. They told me she was 10 months to a year old when I got here. While I think she was closer to 10 months and probably won't be two for a little while yet, we decided to officially call August 28th her birthday so she won't feel "different" from the other dogs by only having a "happy adoption day." Wally told me that, even though it's Wednesday, he doesn't mind if I use the blog today for a retrospective for Grace.

First, though, I thought I'd try to list all the things she has destroyed over the past year:

• Not one but TWO firewire drives
• The drapes in my old condo
• The blinds in my old condo
• The carpet, all the way down to the subfloor, in the condo
• Two dog crates
• At least 4-5 pairs of shoes, not all of them mine
• One "indestructable" rubber dog toy (she ate it)
• Baseball hats
• All my spare towels
• The pedals on my old exercize bike
• Three power cords (while they were plugged in)
• An area rug
• A jump rope
  
• Countless sprinkler heads

When I brought her home, Wally didn't know what to think, but she fell in love with him right away....

And promptly started following him around everywhere...


She stole his favorite chair...


And Wally soon began trying to plot how to make her go away...


Grace had really bad separation anxiety, and Wally seemed very happy every time she got in trouble for destroying something:


Grace especially didn't like being in her crate...


Soon enough Wally, like everyone else, was won over by her cuteness...


And the two became fast friends...


Even Kraut, who hated puppies, came to enjoy playing with Grace...


She loved the beach in L.A.... (so many smells!)


But now she loves the lake in Texas...


Most of all, more than anything, she loves her mommy...

Happy Birthday Gracie!

First off, Happy Wally Wednesday! Here is a photo of Wally helping me practice with the light meter on my camera by balancing off his white color.


It's been so long since I've blogged, I hardly know where to start. I see the last thing I wrote about was taking the math placement exam. You'll all be happy to hear I passed. In fact, I did so well, I placed into Pre-Calculus. I about had a heart attack until I discovered I don't actually have to TAKE pre-calc. It's actually a long story about the exam because I had to take it at the University, when I was actually slated to attend community college this fall. To make a very long, complicated story short, I aced the exam at the university, but the community college wouldn't accept my score. They made me take their very, very different exam...which I flunked. What the hell? So I couldn't even take math at the CC. I'd like to just point out that I've had nothing but awful experiences thus far with Tarrant County Community College and vowed that, even though I would have to pay out of state tuition in the Spring, I wouldn't return to the community college no matter what - because they suck so bad. I applied for Financial Aid for the spring at University of Texas, Arlington (UTA) - and was awarded a loan for both Fall and Spring. Confusing, I know. Ultimately, I decided the community college could go screw itself, and I am now enrolled for the fall at UTA.

Another important thing that's happened - I got laid off from my job. The production company I've been working for has had a ton of shows get cancelled over the past year and have been laying both editors and writers off left and right for months now. I found out a couple of weeks ago, and next Friday is my last official date. It's probably a blessing in disguise. I was beginning to not be very happy there. Other than the fact that I'm ineligible for unemployment, and out income just dropped by about 55%, I think things will work out ok. Charles and I are both fairly frugal people and will adjust to the much MUCH lower income. I'm also taking advantage of the lack of work by going back to school full time. I'd originally planned on only taking one or two classes, but with the Stafford Loan I got, I have to be enrolled full time, so 12 semester hours, here I come.

School starts next week and I'm incredibly overwhelmed by it. I was once a straight A student in a world long ago and far, far away. Now, I'm enrolled in two upper divisional English classes and just realized yesterday that I can't even remember how to write a term paper. I have this horrible fear that I'll fail - but then I think of all the dumb ass people I know who actually have degrees and figure if they can get one, so can I.

On a final note, my 20 year high school reunion was last weekend. I was running around for days visiting classmates galore, and even had time to meet up with my old 2nd grade teacher to say hello. Here's a photo of me and two of my best friends, Tammy and Diane. I've known Diane since I was about 7, and Tammy since 12. It was great to see everyone.

As many of you know, I've been cramming for a math placement exam. I've always had a problem with word problems. Not the basic ones, but the complex ones. In the study guide I'm using, the chapters on word problems always says, "Remember, the reason we use math word problems is these are questions that arise in day to day life." That sentence is then followed by a question that goes something like, "If a star is 5.85 x 10 to the 8th power away, and light moves at 9.75 x 10 to the 6th power meters a second, how long..." Screw you, word problems and study guide. Outside of NASA, who would ever need to know the answer to that question? And assuming you ARE a rocket scientist of some sort, I highly doubt you're scribbling figures in a notebook, trying in vain to convert kilometers to meters with a pencil and eraser. You've got computers!

Other than work and studying, I've been taking my continuing education digital photography class at one of the local colleges. Somewhat fun, and I'm finally learning how to use the camera. I've also been watching Season 1 of The Wire (just finished) and re-watching Season 1 of Californication (on Netflix streaming to my TV) so I can be ready when the Season 2 DVDs are released at the end of this month. What's everyone else doing?