Cesar Milan had a book signing at the Pasadena Borders this past week. I convinced my friend Aaron to come along with me, and she took these lovely pictures. Cesar is distracted in the one where he's signing my books because the puppy he brought along was peeing on the store carpet. Even the "Dog Whisperer" has housebreaking issues. :)
It was incredible seeing so many big-name performers at one show... and they were all pretty amazing to hear. (If you watched the show on TV or online, the sound quality doesn't equal how full and LOUD everything was in person.)
I doubt I’ll be able to make it to the free showing, but the idea of the film is interesting to me. It’s a “documentary” (in a loose sense) that focuses on materialism and over-consumption in American culture, specifically around Christmas time. This is viewed [per Wikipedia] “through the prism of activist/performance artist Bill Talen, who goes by the alias of "Reverend Billy," and his troupe of activists, whose street theater performances take the form of a church choir called "The Church of Stop Shopping," that sings anti-shopping and anti-corporate songs. The film follows Billy and his choir as they take a cross-country trip in the month prior to Christmas 2005, and spread their message against what they perceive as the evils of patronizing the retail outlets of several different large corporate chains.”
Christmas movies, Muppet Christmas Carol. Instead of overspending, Ebenezer Scrooge is a money-hoarder. He views himself as thrifty and frugal, but the world sees differently. As we know from the story, after a few time-warping ghost visitations, Scrooge gleefully gives presents to strangers, embraces relationships, and buys a feast for a needy family.Scrooge, from the window, “I’ll give you a shilling to fetch me that turkey in the window of the corner shop!”
Bean Bunny, on the street, “You mean the one as big as me? Be serious!”]
Obviously, generosity is different when you don’t expect a return. And I know we’re instructed to be “joyful givers”, but we’re also supposed to be responsible with how the money is used. So where we’re giving it matters. It’d be easy to hand a buck to the homeless panhandler on the corner and feel like we made a difference in that person’s life. Well, we did - maybe for a minute - but they’re going to continue standing on that corner everyday thereafter still. (I know – I see them there day in and out!) It would be more beneficial to give the buck(s) to organizations that really help those folks – meeting their real needs and helping them back on their feet. So though we feel like Scrooge if we refuse to give them our money at the corner, we should feel rich and privileged that we can afford to support places that are truly making a difference.
We walked down to Old Town Pasadena for dinner, frozen yogurt, and store-browsing. I meant to take pictures of our evening, but I was too into it to remember. So I just have this one of us leaving our apartment...
As some of you know, I’ve been sick for much of this week. The kind of sick where you head inexplicably fills up with mucus and your voice becomes froggy. The kind of sick where nights consist of sleep in 2-hour increments, pounding sinuses and frequent water drinking. The kind of sick where I feel guilty for waking up my husband with my nose blowing and restlessness, and I can't kiss him. I even went home early from work yesterday because I felt so miserable.
What first tipped me off to the shoplifter (since it's not usually my first assumption when I hear door alarms go off), is that she didn't stop when it started beeping. Instead, she started sprinting. I then noticed under each of her arms large, clear bottles of liquor. That's when I stopped walking, felt my mouth hang open a little in disbelief and stared at the unfolding scene. She scooted into the passenger door of an old Escort with a driver who looked panicky and hadn't even parked. She saw me staring right at her, and I tried to convey to her through my "convicting" stare that I knew what she was doing.
[Okay, so this post is mainly because I promised to post every day for one week, and it's 10 minutes before midnight on Day 6... In honor of Saturday, it's about yard sales.]Jon thought it was funny that one night I fixed myself what I called my “amazingly awesome dessert” - so he took a picture of me eating it. [Dessert details: It wasn't an extraordinary concept - just some homemade cookies with cookies and cream ice cream - can't go wrong with cream and cookies!]
Okay, who’s been watching it? That show is SO funny! I was searching Amazon to get a general idea of how much the past seasons were selling for, and then I clicked over to eBay to place some low-end bids on them. I told Jon that I fully expected NOT to win, since my bids were not much higher than the current ones. As predicted, 10 minutes later, I received an email that I'd been outbid on the combined Seasons 1 & 2. The next day, I'd already forgotten about the eBay bidding, and lo-and-behold I receive an email asking for my payment for Season 3. Oops!
One day he followed a kid home from school, but the child's mother promptly called animal control to pick the dog off her property. In the shelter cage, Charlie watched each day as families selected pets to take home with them. He also saw other dogs being taken through a different door (without families) and never coming back. He was convinced a kind family would adopt him, too. Then [and this is where the movie took a turn that caught me off-guard], the day came when Charlie was taken - back to the euthanasia room. The closing shot is of the vet with the euthanasia needle saying, "Sorry, guy, but nobody wanted you."[Post Preface: I’m not really volunteering at the L.A. Zoo anymore. It was too hard to devote an entire day of my weekend to the grunt work part of zookeeping… for free. Without the best part of getting to interact with and train the animals.]
One of the exciting opportunities I’ve had for my animal-missing side is in the world of humane society volunteering. I’m actually doing it at two different shelters.
The first is a county shelter with very little funding (as reflected in the facilities) that needed dog-walkers on Sunday morning (and that’s the ONLY time those dogs all get walked during the week). I joined about 10 other volunteers in doing this before my church on Sunday mornings. The majority of the dogs there are pit bulls, Rottweilers, chows, German shepherds, and bulldogs - all the breeds labeled as "aggressive". But I haven't met a dog there who isn't thrilled to happily slobber on and walk around with me!
The other shelter is on the opposite end of the spectrum – private, wealthy, posh, and with hundreds of volunteers. The advantage to this shelter in Pasadena is that they have opportunities for me to volunteer with their dog training programs. Those of you who’ve heard all my primate stories know that I’ve been REALLY missing this type of interaction with animals – it’s challenging and mentally stimulating for me. I haven't finished the shelter's extensive volunteer "training" process yet (by "training" I mean hours of having them give speeches to us about the value of the shelter), but I'm looking forward to getting started there.
So, yay!
I have to apologize to anyone who reads (or “read”, depending on whether you still check!) this blog. Life caught up with me over this past two months! And, considering the uncertainty and loneliness we were experiencing exactly a year ago at this time, I think it’s reassuring to see how preoccupied we are now. :)
So, what have I been up to? Nothing super blog-worthy (which I seem to count by if I have pictures of it or not), but I’ve been busy none-the-less. Beginning today, and for the next week, in order to make up for the lack of posts in the past two months, I will post something each day. (This might be stretching my ideas thin, but I didn’t want to overwhelm you with a huge “update” post.)
Here's a pic to remember what we look like...
Maybe not everyone knows what that means. Maybe instead the sign on the door of my workplace should read, "We will NOT buy or even act interested in anything you are trying to sell us. Please go away.""Look, bucko. One: There is a "no soliciting" sign on our door, and you are clearly soliciting. Two: DO NOT try to flirt with me to sell your stupid stuff because it's condescending and I'm married. Three: Clearly you have no idea what kind of business this is. We do behavioral interventions with autistic children, and we receive all our clientèle through referrals from school districts and regional centers. We don't need your advertising. and Four: I don't even like baseball! Go away!"
My Friday was pretty ho-hum yesterday. Jon and I had argued before I left for work in the morning, and then again at lunch. When I came home at 5, though, things were different. We apologized, I cried a little from relief, and then I noticed these on the table. "Those are the first apology flowers you've ever given me!" I was pleased. :)
Then I noticed a large box that had been delivered. 
Worried that I'd ordered something that I couldn't remember, I began opening the box. Inside was a milkshake maker... Very cool, but did I really order this? I pulled out the packing list - "Happy Belated Birthday, Miss Grete!" it read, "Love, Sarah." What a great gift from my awesome cousin! Of course I made a pre-dinner milkshake right away.
I walked down to the Paseo Colorado where their outdoor summer swing dancing had begun. Our friends Dave & Krissy and 
David & Maria waved us over to the dance area. We'd missed the lesson, but joined in with the basic swing step... over and over. (We decided we'd need to learn more before doing it again soon.) After strolling down the street and garnering free gelato from guys offering them outside their store, we ended up at the Pasadena City Hall. We chatted, walked some more, and then parted ways.
Jon noted on his blog, I began reading a couple pages of the 7th Harry Potter, realized I'd forgotten who characters were, and pulled out the 6th book to review the end.
Oh yeah, we also went out to eat (a rare treat!) recently at Souplantation. Jon obviously loves his greens!
On the Fourth of July, we flew to Maine! Jon noted that it's probably one of the furthest places we could've gone and still been in the U.S. :) It was for good reason, though... Jon's cousin Leslie got married!
We had a great time exploring Freeport (home to L.L.Bean headquarters and LOTS of outlet stores!). Though, bummer for me, I wasn't in a "trying on" mood in the great discounted clothing stores.
The wedding was small, beautiful, and comfortable - lots of family and friends who invited us into conversation, even though we had a hard time keeping all their names and relations straight.
