Anything But Boring: Day 7

Last Updated on: 8th May 2023, 10:51 am

First things first. Sorry to Steve for making all those typos in the last two entries. It’s hard to write anything, let alone stuff like this, when melatonin is doing what melatonin does. I also want to apologize for the flat sound of the last entry. I could barely remember the sequence of events, never mind talking about how I felt. Thankfully, today I actually had some time in the day to start writing, so if I decide I need help sleeping again, all I’ll have to do is groggily put them in Dropbox.

So today I actually slept until 6 when my alarm went off. I must have been a more active sleeper because I heard my bed buzzing. I guess it does that when it needs to adjust the firmness of the mattress or whatever.

I got up a little groggy but shook it off. The beast pooped and it wasn’t super gross so we’re probably set. Let’s hope. Then breakfast was a tater tot scramble which was eggs and veggies all scrambled up and the tater tots sort of just get swished in it so they’re still tater tot like. It was good.

We’re starting to have a joke that every time I say “There’s a song about that,” they go “Do a shot!” Hmmm. Am I getting annoying? Must contain my song references.

They gave us a tour of the campus including the trail. That thing is glorious. At some point, I do want to walk it. It’s so peaceful.

We went to the mall and zoomed around. Apparently my moving left turns need work. But they’re working on it. We first tried some Juno and talked about escalators and technique. Then we rode up and down several escalators, and pooch and I have a pretty good rhythm. I still remember how! Did I mention just how chill he was about putting boots on? I was able to booty him up when we were at the mall. The only thing I was doing wrong was when I tighten up a boot, sometimes it turns sideways. So I twist it a little too far and it fixes itself. He walked around with his back booties on with 0 fuss. Pretty great.

Then we came back and I had a bratwurst sandwich with potato salad. I also had a bowl of carrot soup.

Before I ate, we had our progress meeting and we seemed to be on track. I showed my instructor my long list of goals and she said she’d fit them in. She also told me that I am not in fact covered in dog hair, like it isn’t all over my dark jeans. I guess he doesn’t shed as much as I thought he would. Yea! I might not have to buy a new wardrobe!

I should mention I heard his first dream woofs last night, and this morning I heard a little vocalization, half way between a whine and a moan. And he’s starting to get frisky. I haven’t totally figured him out yet, but he’s starting to like me.

After lunch, they took our pictures so they can make the ID cards. Oo oo ID cards.

Then we did clicker! I have never been that good with clicker for a few reasons. First, they always wanted me to hold the clicker in my leash and harness hand. How big do you think my hands are?! Second, they always said the clicker marks the exact moment a behavior happens. Hey, jerkbag, I’m blind. There are some things where I can tell, but others I will have to verify that it is the right spot. There is no way I can be that precise. But now they give out wrist straps, and they have redefined the precise moment it happens as the precise moment you know it happens. Ok. I can live with that. We back chained Pooch to my door, which means you click them finding the door, and then click for them targeting it from further out and so on. That was fun.

And that was it for things we’re doing today formally. The rest of the night is mine! Oh the potential!

Yes. a classmate and I walked the Oregon trail. It’s a little fenced off area that goes through the campus. It’s very peaceful. We plan to walk it every evening. Then I went to do laundry and I thought I broke everything. We had gone in earlier and I had read the Braille on the buttons so I felt reasonably confident. So I toddled the little rolling basket to what I thought was the room we went to earlier. I threw my clothes in a machine and it set off. It was then that I looked at the buttons and they didn’t have the same Braille I had seen before. Oh crap. Did I go to the wrong room? So I panicked. I texted the Residence person and had her check. I had gone to the correct room. Phew!

Tomorrow is our day off. I’m not sure what I’ll be doing with it. I could be seeing a friend, but she says she might not be feeling well. Or another classmate and I could be going to a doughnut shop or a place called “The Local Cow” and then some kind of brew pub. I don’t care about craft beers but maybe they have yummy food. Whatever happens, it will be a good day.