Vomit Comet

It’s Sunday again. Thank God. My knee is crying a lot less today, so that’s a good sign. It’s still not perfect, but it’s a lot better. I forgot to mention that poor Amy hurt something else yesterday. She was relieving Dynamo out in this park area, and he got excited about another dog and made her dislocate her thumb. That woman gets a medal too, she popped it back into place.

Man I swear there’s no rest for the wicked. I woke up at 3 in the morning in an absolute panic. I mean it felt like I had questions that were pressing and if I didn’t ask them the next day, I’d never get them answered. I’ve been having this problem where I don’t get all of Trixie’s poopy presents and they have to scoop up leftovers. this made me panic. Plus I got that stupid worry that I was missing spots on her when I groom. I also haven’t tried the flexi lead yet, I haven’t tried her in a crate in case I need one and I wanted to be clear on what I should do if some other bozo in a car does the thing he did on Tuesday again. I just suddenly felt this extreme dip in confidence, which set off serious alarm bells in my head because when I left with Babs, I wasn’t feeling confident. Then, after going to the bathroom, I could calm myself down enough to go back to sleep by saying these are diferent concerns and I feel pretty safe with her in the street, a lot more sure of myself than I did when I left Ottawa. I told myself to go back to sleep and ask Jessica in the morning. I got some more sleep, and swallowed my pride and asked Jessica all the questions in the morning. I looked like a blubbering fool, she probably thought I was a wacko. Hopefully not. All I could think was “Does this classify me as mentally unstable because I seem to be tearing up over trivial little questions?” But she didn’t seem too upset that I was feeling like a dork. She told me she’d rather I ask now than go home with unanswered questions. She told me she’d help me more to make sure I knew how to do speed control with the woofer. I’m getting it, but it’s by no means perfect, and I’m going to have to steady her down so I can find doors, etc. It was really weird to have such a wave of panic wash over me. I thought I wouldn’t have that since I’d already gone through the Babs stuff, but I guess her flash of panic was over totally different things. I was worried about where I was going to put her food, whether I’d be able to handle it all, all that jazz. This is more about unresolved questions. Funny how no matter how many times you do something, you probably get the same bits of worry. Or maybe that’s just a me thing.

So finally Trixie pooped and we could get a sample for the vets. It even looked not as soft. Ok then. Whatever that was.

Man Autumn can sleep through anything. She snores away while Trixie plays with her bone, while Clyde plays the organ, while I write over here.

Today I plan to do laundry, perhaps read the rest of the guide to Sylvia, Jill and Carmen and maybe play a bit on the computer and take Trixie to the paddock. Other than that, sweet dick all. I might get out the Lewis Black book and start reading it. That would force me to lay down.

My knee is weird. If I work it too much, it screams, but after long periods of inactivity, it complains too. Damned if I do, damned if I don’t. Right now the pain is a lot less. Please don’t let me hurt myself anymore.

Poor Amy. Some power does not want her to get a guide dog, but she persists on without stopping.

It sounds like Bus 1 is getting to be a pretty cool place. I guess Al, the quiet mouse, has started talking about sex, Bernard teases Frank mercilessly and Frank laughs at him, and then there’s Amy who just never stops making people laugh. We were laughing the other day because they were talking about dogfoods, and Eukanuba, and Frank called it Nuka-Euba. I looked over at Amy and said, “What has Frank got against Euba’s, he wants to nuke a euba?” Then she’s laughing and trying not to get caught. So they’re always talking about all the new words like snop and anpissitation and now nuka-euba.

Man I was hungry. I had seconds. There have been few times where I’ve had seconds, but this morning was one of them. I’m tired, I wonder if I can nap.

Ok that was creepy. As I was sleeping, I heard the ladies from dorm services come in and change our towels and garbage, and then we heard a knock and then feet walking slowly and methodically around the room. I called out to the feet, but no one answered. Then they left and Autumn never saw them. Um, how weird. Do we have a ghost?

I forgot to mention we met our first nincompoop while doing guide work. We were doing sidewalkless, which is hard, and some rude asshole yells, “Those dogs must be new, they’re not getting it, ha ha ha ha ha!” Ooo! If there’s a sure-fire way to make my blood boil, that’s it. Idiots.

I should go check on my laundry. Then I just have to run the beast in the grassy paddock, please don’t let me step in shit, and then read the other half of the freelance guide to Carmen, Sylvia and Jill. And Carmen’s trying to come up with a new line for Frank’s new dog. Listen, chicky, the song is now dead.

On a side-note, Frank is all googoo over his new dog. It’s really weird to watch.

Raaaar! Trixie is Giardia positive *again!* So now we need a stronger medication to cure it. I think this time, when the medication is done, I’ll ask if we can send a sample over to make sure that she’s clear. I want this Giardia thing cured before I come home! Let me say it again, raaaar! I’m sure it will resolve, I just wish I wasn’t like 6 days from going home still dealing with Giardia.

Now I think I’ll bug Sylvia and Carmen about the freelance guide. I feel guilty that I have it in my room. It should be back in its rightful place. I only stole it because I was reading it to them.

I don’t know what happened with Henry, he never showed up for lunch.

Ok, checking laundry, it wasn’t dry last time, let’s hope it is now.

Yea laundry’s done, and I ran her in the paddock. We ran until she started chomping on grass. Did I mention I have to give her two medications to zap the Giardia? Ug damn infections.

We ran them in the paddock, now she’s snoring. I don’t think my trip to the paddock did wonders for my knee though. I forgot about all the uneven spots in the ground. So I kept tripping and on my way back, since I was just heeling her, I slipped off the curb. I didn’t fall, just jolted everything, *again*. Hope for the best. I think if I wear the knee brace during workouts, I should be fine. Then I can relax at home.

Dinner tonight is some kind of black bean chili. Lunch was fajitas, and they were good. The dessert was pumpkin pie.

Oh, Craig headed back to Toronto. I hear it’s cold there this weekend, the poor soul. God I hope I won’t freeze my ass off when I come home next weekend. Just think about this. This time next weekend, which is 8:30 Eastern, I’ll be back home. Mom and dad will probably still be with me, helping me out with a few things, but I’ll be home, back to my own schedule, back to my own life. I will have survived, and I will have my Trixie-beast at home..and the really hard stuff begins. Keeping her training up, teaching her my home stuff, falling into a nice rhythm.

I’m not looking forward to graduation, I think it’ll be heart-wrenching. They take the dog from you, the puppy raiser holds it and hands it over to you. And then the tears will start flowing. If a little girl raised it, some of them are raised by highschool kids and their families, I’ll feel like I’m stealing candy from a baby. I know it was all explained to them, but I’ll feel like the embodyment of the evil end of puppy raising, where the slave-driver takes the dog away. I hope my beast doesn’t misbehave and need correction. I’ll feel like such a cruel person.

It’s almost time for dinner and I’m not hungry. Arg. I think after dinner I’ll read a book. I think this has been the first truly relaxing Sunday I’ve had. The first Sunday was relaxing but I was still getting onto the rhythm of things and there were more things going on. Last Sunday was just a zoo. This Sunday was very laid back which was good. I just get the distinct sense my knee isn’t any better.

Man Autumn’s good at catching catnaps. Almost as good as puppies are.

So my evening is going to be slow and easy. Read a book, water the puppy, continue reading, relieve the puppy, read until I fall asleep. Cool? Cool.

Well, I ended up playing with my adorable pile of fun. Then Autumn and I decided we had to practice the airplane seat, which is a good idea, since I’m going to have to wrestle with her when I get on the plane early in the morning on Sunday. Ug. I have to get her on first, get her to lay down, shove her little tushy under the seat in front of me, get in and squiggle her further. Then, I decided I wanted to see what she’d be like in a crate, in case I needed one. Oy. We had to put the collar up so we had more control and practically ram her in there. But I’m sure some kibble and a cong would sweeten the deal. then we put booties on her to see what size would fit best. We’re not sure. The medium ones seem too small but the large ones seem too floppy. She says take her to the store to get them. Fine with me. I’m sure she thought I was nuts. Now I’m going to bed. The last insanity awaits.

It’s Saturday. I didn’t sleep very well, and apparently neither did my Trixie-poo. Every time I woke up, I’d hear her moving. When I got up, she was cheerful as ever. But after feeding, when I took her out to relieve, she had diarrhea. So they may need to take another poop sample. The poor baby just kept going and going and going. They say it’s probably just stress that’s doing this to her. Back on the WD we go. Arg. I can’t need two foods when I get home. Grrr! They say it’s nothing I could have done, but you know me and my worries.

This morning is additional sidewalkless or country roads or a freelance route, or in my case, rest time for my poor knee. Then it’s lunch time on GDB’s dime. I think we’re going to this Chinese food place. Mmm Chinese food. Hope they don’t think Trixie is the meal. I’m sorry, that was really really mean. Then this afternoon, if I’m feeling up to it, I’m going to do the bus to lounge. Then I think we’re done for the day, phew. Next week is going to be uber insane, so I have to be up for it. Breakfast sounds good, breakfast borito. Mmm. Then lunch will be at the Chinese food place. Then dinner is prime rib or some salad thing. Mmm prime rib. And the dessert is a bit of a mystery, all it says is it’s Hawaiian delight. I’ll bet it has pineapple in it. Mmm.

It’s really freaky that next Saturday it will be time to graduate. I’m at the last week. Then everything will reach a fever pitch. We’ll have to pack everything up, know what you are and are not supposed to pack. Then I will fall down and relax.

I heard some evil news yesterday. I heard that it’s snowing back home! Steve, say it isn’t so! Well actually tell me the truth. I got an email from one of the places where I volunteer that said, “Hey guys, anyone wanna build a snowman?” I almost cried right in the computer room. Nooo! Snooooow!

Damn I’m hungry. I hope I got this leg brace right. It keeps sliding ever so slightly. If I don’t have the utmost confidence in it, I’m going to see the nurse to make sure it’s good and tight. I think I got it now. Come on, ring the chimes, ring them ring them ring them! I wanna eat eat eat! MmmChinese food! God I’m all over the place today.

Sniffle sniffle. Because I’m staying in, I had to get the nurse to pick me up some lunch so all I’m getting is a turkey sandwich and a pop. I was really looking forward to Chinese food. Sniffle. Oh well, I’ll get take-out on another day.

What a weird morning. I went to the computer room and played around for a while, and then I came back here, played with Trixie and laid down for a bit. Poor Trixie doesn’t know what’s up. She’s restless on her tie-down. I wanted to take her to relieve but because of the diarrhea and them needing to get a sample, I didn’t want to take her out alone. Erggy. I’ve finally heard her bark. That was weird. I was sleeping and the nurse brought me the sandwich, and she barked and barked and barked. I told her to be quiet and I had to come over and give her a little correction. Mmm this sandwich doesn’t look half bad.

Well that was interesting. I went to relieve her and the relieving door locked behind me! So there I was trying to figure out how I was going to get back in. I eventually got in when the buses came back. How embarrassing. At least it wasn’t my fault. The door was supposed to be unlocked. Some dog kept barking. I guess it was one of the instructor’s dogs.

They’re definitely leaning towards me taking the afternoon off. It’s probably a good idea. I think I’ll take this restless one to the paddock and let her run run run. She’s so restless because we didn’t do any workouts.

Apparently I should be glad I missed lunch. Carmen was really rude to the people at the Chinese restaurant and Frank kept trying, and failing, to speak all kinds of Chinese dialects. Oh Frank.

So I’m going to go to the 1:30 meeting and then take her to the paddock so she can get some energy out. My knee feels well enough to get her to the paddock but I’m glad I’m not doing routes.

Oh boy. They’re getting Frank to switch dogs. What the hell? It’s not the dog’s fault that Frank can’t do it, it’s Frank’s fault. Maybe they’re just covering their ass, trying this one last thing, and then that’s it. Poor Frank.

I still haven’t run her in the paddock because I was worried they’d lock me out again. Now I’m worried that it’s too close to relieving time and she’ll leave a present in the paddock. I think I’ll relieve her after doggy grub time, then I’ll take her to the paddock. I think I’ve got it. Let’s hope so. Oh I also wanted an instructor to look at one of her toenails. It’s got a bit of a hangnail and I don’t want her to chew it off and make it infected. I finally caught where she gnaws on her nails and I see why now.

Well, I guess she chewed off the hang naily thing, because when I asked about it, it was gone. When she finally pooped, it was too late to take a sample. Arg Trix. Just poop in the morning.

Man, we’re droppin’ like flies! Jill severely bruised her foot. It seemed like it was broken by the way she fell, and she’s now wheeling around in a wheelchair because she has to stay off it. And poor Sylvia fell in the paddock the other day. Is it normal to have so many classmates get wounded, or are we just a bunch of fragile wimps?

Frank got his new dog, Meg. He’s acting really weird about the change of dogs. He’s talking like the PR person or someone’s lawyer talks to reporters, saying things like “I have no comment, I have no comment.” He kept saying “What happens to Anton is up to the school to decide. He just didn’t suit as a guide dog. I must now focus on my new dog.” I wonder if this is their last attempt to help Frank, and if this doesn’t work out, bye-bye Frank. I don’t know. He doesn’t seem to be doing very well. Everyone’s wondering how he’s going to cope.

Autumn and I took our woofers into the paddock, we heard Beauty’s menacing bark, and Autumn got her foot plastered in poop. She was so mad and so disgusted. It was hillarious.

All that’s left is relieving, then we all get a day off. I plan to do laundry and not much else. Laundry and all things doggy, and rest my leg. I’ll take her to the grassy paddock again, make up for the times I didn’t this week. But now that I think about it, I took her Monday, then Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday and Friday my knee hurt so that makes me feel less guilty about it.

Man I can tell I’m getting tired. I’m getting up later and later, showering at different times, all that jazz. I collapsed into bed, but I didn’t sleep too well. I tried to elevate my leg by putting it on my extra blanket and pillow, but I guess I didn’t lie too still when I slept. So I’d wake up and it was no longer elevated. Apparently I’m limping pretty badly, so badly that Amy can see it. That’s impressive. And the scariest part of that is I’m limping that badly when I’m just walking without the dog. I don’t think this ice thing is working. It hurts when I put it on. I wonder if heat would have been better.

Today we do a lot of sidewalkless travel, so places where there’s no sidewalk. Then we have lunch, almond chicken something or taco salad and dinner is shrimp and sausage gumbo. Mmm. Dessert is Strawberry pie. Mmm. Then this afternoon after lunch, Bus 1 gets their vet consultations and Carmen, Sylvia and I are going to get lost, er, go to the gift shop and get our stuff ordered. Then we all relieve and head out for sidewalkless.

Man, things are coming apart at the seams. Amy and Jill don’t seem to be getting along, there are few people that Amy would want to keep in touch with, and Frank is getting lost more and more. He was down by my room looking for the library. My room is nowhere near the library. He must be stellor on street corners because he sure has trouble inside. Al says, “I’m ready to get home!” and he’s got tons of patience.

I had to get rescued this morning. I went into the exercise room, got an ice pack, and then Lee came into the room and shut a door. Suddenly feeling a wee bit panicked, thinking she’d shut the exercise room door, I went for the nearest exit, but that wasn’t where I came in from. There’s this problem where retrains smack into us with their dogs, so I was just desperately trying to avoid dogs and got all disoriented. Eventually, Clyde, the sweet organ-player that he is, set me back on the right track. Weirdness there.

This morning they jacked with the obstacle course. They put in an overhead clearance, or something you could bonk your head off of. Here, it’s a bunch of foam rods that don’t hurt and make a lot of noise. So if the dog shows it to you, you say good girl and tap it and then say forward and duck under it. So now I’m going to have to stick my probe foot, the left foot, out, and stick my hand out and look around, all the while hoping my woofer isn’t just up to no good. Then, after a long delay when Frank wasn’t there, we headed out to do country roads. Their technique was stay on the left side of a country road because traffic is more likely to see you on the left. To see if you’re drifting, halt and make a left turn and check your edge. When a car comes down the road, you do the same so you’re out of the way. I made it with minimal pain in the knee, even though my damn knee still hurts and I have to steady steady steady her down. She was real sniffy, and the slower she is, the sniffier she gets. Erg. Heal, you stupid knee.

We’ll get our pictures soon! Heehee! Pictures via email, here we come. Hopefully I’ll be able to get one uploaded to the blog. Heehee, Trixie, you’ll be famous. Ok the chimes are insistently ringing.

Lunch was good, and the pie was awesome. Then Carmen, Sylvia and I went over to the gift shop and that was pure chaos. Too many dogs, dogs and people and no room to move and poor lighting so whatever vision some people had was useless. It took forever to get our orders, but it’s done and I have my stuff bought, complete with Italian charm for my bracelet.

God my room is a mess. Stuff is just wherever I set it. Nothing really has a home. My knee hurts like a son of a bitch but I don’t know what to do about it. Part of me says go see Katherine, but part of me thinks she won’t be able to do anything for me, that what I really need is rest, which I can’t have. They say I can have the morning off tomorrow, which will come in handy. Then tomorrow afternoon is another bus to lounge. After that, I think I can fall down until Monday pretty much aside from doing laundry.

I’m so exhausted. I want to take Trixie to the paddock, but my knee hurts and just the idea of trying to keep her steady and get to the paddock and back is just too much. Plus she’s conked out on her tiedown. I feel like such a gimp. It’s making me worry that I won’t be able to hack the last week of training if this knee doesn’t get better. I don’t know how Amy hacked it with her gimpy ankle. Gotta get through tomorrow. Then I can keal. Just tomorrow afternoon. I’m skipping the morning. I feel sick. Please don’t let this develop into anything bad. Oh please oh please oh please.

I’m officially a limpy gimpy. They gave me a knee brace. I’m taking tomorrow off, or at least tomorrow morning. Probably the whole day. If I don’t, I might be going home a cripple. I don’t know if I’ll make it to the computer tonight, have to take it easy.

Here I am, sitting here with my leg up with ice on my stupid knee. I’ve stripped my bed because it’s Thursday and that’s what you do on Thursdays. This morning we go to the busiest part of San Francisco and they try and get us killed, er, test our dogs around subway platforms. This afternoon is freelancing and some people are telling me I shouldn’t go, but I’ve only done 1 real freelance so far, 2 if you count the morning trip to the coffee shop. I skipped yesterday afternoon’s freelance, I feel like I should earn another skip. God damn it I forgot to brush her teeth last night. with all this icing and crap I forgot to do it. Alrighty, I should go to breakfast.

Breakfast was good. Then we went to San Francisco and were in the financial district. I forgot to mention that a bit after David left, Jen called me into the office. I was very scared, but the reason she wanted me to come into the office was because she needs to videotape a session with a student to get her license officially. So today we got videotaped. Little goofhead decided to misbehave. I put the gental leader on her and she was trying to rub it off. But the rest of the walk went ok except she screwed up a couple crossings and we had to rework them. It’s really terrifying when you’re in the street and the instructor yells stop! Oh my god!

My knee still hurts and the sudden jerks that come with doggy-movement don’t help. I got her steadied down to a decent speed, but when we’re in the relieving circle and she starts jerking around in circles, oh my god the pain! I’m icing it whenever I can, but ouch ooch eech ouch! Plus it’s worse whenever I’ve been on the bus for a while.

So in the morning we rode the MUNI whatever that stands for…it’s like a subway. They made me do this thing where the platform was off to the left and I told her to go left and see what she’d do. She turned me 180, but certainly not left. This is because they’re trained to not let you go near the platform when a train is not there.

This afternoon was a freelance route. Because the meatloaf didn’t sound good to a couple people, we decided to go to this pizza joint. It went pretty well, actually it’s been the best route so far. I took a long time to get there because of my stupid knee, but oh well. Darcy, one of the retrain instructors, pretended to be a stranger who wanted to pet Trixie. I think I passed the test though.

I had the funniest conversation with a stranger at a corner. She’s trying to tell me the light is green and asking if I want help. I said no, I knew it was green, thank you. She asked me, as we were crossing the street, “How do you know the light is green?” So I’m explaining traffic and all that stuff as we’re crossing the street. O and M on the fly.

So I get back and my knee hurts and I have to make the bed, etc. but now that’s done. I’m just going to water her, clean her big dish and check my email, I think I’ll leave her on tiedown for that just to give my knee a rest. Oh, I also have to ice my knee and read the other half of the freelance guide. Yea nothing going on this evening.

Oh, Redboy Pizza is friggin’ expensive. 4 bucks a slice! Ouch! And I heard from the technology lady. She’s passing my resume onto Human Resources. Hope for me!

That was an interesting evening. It wasn’t the guy from 9/11 there, so I didn’t go. Jen helped me with my gift shop order form and I got to tell her what I thought of this whole gift shop setup and how mad I was that the lady asked me what the person would look like. Hello? Blind! So then I asked to talk to Jen about the gift shop and how to get there to drop off the form. She took me into the library to look at the map. Now, keep in mind that this map is tall and I am not, so to see the whole thing I had to stand on a chair and this map is on the wall, so to the casual observer, it looks like I’m molesting the wall. Then Jen helped us find the braille freelance guide. It wasn’t in the library, it was in the Day room. So I swiped it and took it to Carmen and Sylvia’s room and Carmen, Sylvia, Jill, Amy and I sat down to read it because neither Carmen nor Sylvia nor Jill were braille readers and they weren’t computer literate. I still have it and I’m going to read more to them on the bus as we drive to San Francisco this morning. Yep, we’re going to Chestnut Street and taking city buses. Then this afternoon we do freelancing and somehow bus 2 which is my bus gets vet consultation. Oh, speaking of vet consultations, I found a mark on Trixie’s nose and asked about it and Jen went click click click and found the mark in her medical file and said it was some kind of pimple and it’s resolved. I asked about the lip-chewing and she said no worries, it’s all good, that’s just the way her lip rests. So anyway after the afternoon of chaos, we get to have *another* route, a night route. Eekers. We’re going to be exhausted. And I realized that with all the chaos that happened yesterday, I left my flash-reader and card in the lounge. Oh, Autumn and I talked things out and I think things are good now, I said I sure didn’t mean to say that she didn’t need to be here. I think we’re good now. We’ll see.

Oh yeah, Autumn made up a new word, anpissitate. One day she tried to say anticipate and that came out, so we started joking that anpissitating was when the dogs thought it was time to relieve. Snopping and anpissitating. Alrighty then.

I guess Dynamo’s not doing as well as we thought. He’s still having a hard time. And I get the sense that some people are having trouble or reservations about reporting how they’re feeling because they’re afraid they’ll get kicked out. That’s apparently why Meredeth walked back to the bus, because she was afraid they’d kick her out. I feel ill that people actually feel this way. They certainly don’t make me feel this way. Ok breakfast time.

Breakfast was funny. Craig asked for hot, hot, hot, hot coffee like he always does because he doesn’t like the coffee on the table. We were teasing him and said he’d better be careful or they’d put a little extra in his food, but Frank misunderstood me and thought I said they’ll put a little electrode in and then started talking about inhibiting thoughts in the frontal lobe or something, and we laughed and laughed and laughed. Then Craig asked Nita, one of the ladies who serves food, what he should say to a philipino girl to make her all warm and happy and Nita said, “Philipinas are nice. They’ll take care of you, clean for you, cook for you, but if you’re not nice to them, they’ll kick your butt.” We all just laughed and laughed and laughed.

Then we went to San Francisco and walked around Chestnut Street and she weaved and deaked me through all kinds of things, and tried to sniff a lot of stuff. I almost put the gental leader on her.

My knee really hurts today,I think I may visit the nurse…just ran after Trixie because she decided it would be a fine idea to chase down some chihuahuas. But she came to me. She’s a sweetheart.

I’m sad, but it had to happen. I went to the nurses and told them what happened and they told me I had to take the afternoon off to ice my knee. They even wanted me to reschedule the vet consultation, but I went anyway. I found out why she licks her belly. She had a couple skin infections. I got the official word that those little bumps around some of her other nipples are pseudo-nipples. She had a couple ear infections, a couple runny eye thingies going on, I think that was about it. So now I’m sitting here with my knee elevated, sad because I want to be out there, but whenever we have sudden stops and starts, I start to limp, so that’s no good. Stupid knee. This is really annoying because this was when things were getting really intense. And I was gonna go to Coldstone this afternoon god damn it! I read the whole freelance guide. Now I just have to decide what places I want to visit. God it sucks being out of commission, but they really want me to ice it. Should groom puppy.

That was a little scary. We heard that Sylvia got hoofed to the Urgent Care clinic because her blood pressure skyrocketed. We were afraid she’d get kicked out of the class, but they just gave her some blood pressure medication and that was the end of it. I know there’s fear that you’ll get hoofed, but this is just so weird. The nurse wanted me to go back for more ibuprofen but she appears to be nowhere to be found. She’s probably still with Sylvia.

Night route over. It went pretty well. Trixie-doodles did perfectly. I screwed up a little, but nothing huge. My knee was not pleased with me that I did the night route. Please stop hurting damn it! Please please please! I have to take the ice pack back to the exercise room. When will I have time to ice it tomorrow? Let’s plan this out. I wake up, shower and do all the jazz with the puppy. quarter to 7 I could ice it until 7. Then I could take it off, go to breakfast, come back and re-ice it until 8. Then screw icing until whenever we get back from San Fran. I could ice it again when I get back from afternoon goodness. I have to have it 15 minutes on, 45 minutes off. Catherine is a scary nurse. I can’t tell if she’s mad or patient half the time. She was so cross with me when I came in with the screwed up knee.

I got my flash reader back. Woopsers for leaving it there but glad I got it back. Going to bed now.

I hate my body. I woke up at 2 a.m. and couldn’t get back to sleep. I listened to all the remaining lectures except for 2 just to try and get myself back to sleep, so I was awake for 2 or so hours. Arg.

What’s happening today? Let’s check the schedule again, because I can’t remember it from earlier. day room at 8 about escalators,obedience on campus, going to Northgate Mall to do escalators and grocery store. Afternoon we talk about problem-ssolving and then we do freelance. Mmm…coldstone creamery. What’s the food? fried eggs and english muffins for breakfast, some kind of veggy sandwich or chicken caesar for lunch, and dinner is beef stew or some turkey salad and lemon bars for dessert. Mmm. Five minutes until grub time.

We went to Safeway and they showed us how to do grocery shopping with the puppy. If you’re having someone pull the cart, you heel her and stuff. If you’re pulling the cart, you can work her. That could be interesting.

Then we went to the mall. I didn’t do the escalators because they say you have to do it once a week at least to keep it alive. But now I’m thinking I should have done it because if I get this job, I might have to do escalators if I have to go into Toronto and learn any subway stuff. So maybe I should do it. I don’t know. But I’m nervous and I’m afraid that’ll transfer to the dog. They say there’s always an alternative. I don’t know. I don’t know what to do. the retrains all say I should do it. Ug decisions. I just don’t want to get her little pawsy wawsies caught on the escalator teeth. I don’t want to get them cut.

She was awesome in the mall. She likes the movie theatre though. Hmmm I wonder why. Must smell good. We went up the stairs. She’s a real stealth sniffer. She can sniff and sometimes I don’t even feel it.

The afternoon was a whole different story. Oy yoy yoy. We went out to do freelancing which is where we all choose our own destinations, but I didn’t understand the way they put it. I didn’t know if the second group had to wait until the first group was all back or what. So we were all confused, and after the first group all left, we sent Frank out to the curb. We told him there should be someone stationed out there at the curb and to ask them if we’re all supposed to head out, then come back in and tell us what the plan is. Frank just went out and kept on truckin’;. Way to go messenger frank. So we all took off not sure if we were supposed to go or not. Autumn said, well why don’t we just start walking. I said Autumn, you can see more than me, so if you’re comfortable with that, then you go ahead. But in this town I don’t know, I’d like to know if there are instructors watching in case I cross a street wrong or try to cross a street that doesn’t continue, etc. I didn’t mean anything more than, I’m not comfortable with that because I don’t know this place uber well. Well Autumn decided to take it that I meant that she didn’t have a right to be here because she could see more than me or something. I don’t know. She asked me about it. I just said well dued you’re going to see more than me, so you probably would feel more comfortable just setting off.

Then I went on the walk, thinking it was over. I decided to do the basic route and then hit this bagel shop a few doors past the lounge just to see how hard it would be to get Trixie to pass the lounge. The basic route was going swimmingly until I got back to Fourth and e street. I crossed E, then I turned to cross Fourth and said forward. Just then, a left-turner came straight at us. Trixie backed away from the car like a little trooper, but then she turned 180 degrees and plopped me back at the down-curb. I knew it was wrong, but my choices were defy her in the street and potentially die, or land on the down-curb and sort it out later. I almost fell into E street as I tripped over a light post and then stood facing E and looking very upset. I dropped the handle and told her to sit and someone came. She said I shouldn’t have let her turn me around, but she said it’s ok now. She walked me across the street and then we made our left turn. Then I got to the bagel shop and could have cared less about the bagels. I couldn’t even get her in the door. She has real trouble with over here commands, the command to make her switch sides when the door opens toward her and to the left. Apparently they’ve only done it a couple times before. Huh?

I bought a bagel. Maybe I’ll eat it eventually.

I got back to the lounge and sat and tried to eat my bagel, but felt too sick to stomach it. I went to the bathroom, and when I came back, the room fell silent the way it used to when we’d be talking about David. The only difference was David would hear about our problems with him and they would continue. Autumn had one problem with me, I thought we’d addressed it, and then she had to go and cry to the whole group. Ok, I don’t care if you’re tired. So am I. And if you don’t have the balls to come to me if you still have a problem, I don’t have time for you. Go ahead and pout. I’ll talk to you tonight about that silent spot in the lounge. you will hear about it. Hell the whole bus asked me what I said to Autumn. Right now she’s refusing to talk to me, and I’m writing here because we don’t have time to have a confrontation right now. But oy yoy yoy I’m pissed. She has no spine. I admit I won’t say anything to some people, but at least when I’ve talked to someone about something, I won’t then go and bitch at everyone else if they said I’m sorry. I said I didn’t mean to be mad. I just said look if you want to run wild through the streets of San Rafael, you go ahead because you can see better where you’re going and probably could save yourself some hastles without an instructor.

Ok it’s almost time for dinner. I hope I can eat.

On a funny note, I taught Mike a new word. He’d never heard of Jonesing. I said that I bring Trixie out to relieve before feeding, but sometimes it feels like she’s just jonesin’ for food and doesn’t really do anything. He said what’s jonesin’? I said it was like if you just needed drugs or had a craving for something. He was like what? Ok? Jen finally laughed at him and told him she was surprised he didn’t know what jonesin’ was. he said he liked me because I laughed at all his jokes.

Alright I’m in a bit of a better mood. I think I’m going to get Trixie’s bone and put it away. Then after dinner there’s an optional lecture on development or PR or whatever, and I’d skip it except I hear it’s the dude who was in the World Trade Centre with his woofer on 9/11 and his woofer got him out. So I just have to meet this guy. Then I need to visit Jen and ask her to fill out the gift shop form, fix it anyway. I want to ask Jen then about this rough spot I found on Trixie’s nose and this weird thing I found on the left side of her mouth. It looks like she’s perpetually chewing on her mouth. It’s probably nothing, but I’m gonna ask anyway. Then relieve and resolve this shit with Autumn. Relieve, resolve, retire to bed. Wish there was an r word for slip into a sleep coma until tomorrow morning at 5:45. Anybody got any ideas?

I think that’s the first meal I haven’t been a fan of. Beef Stew, meh. I think it’s less because of the beef stew and more because of the way I’m feeling.

I had a scary moment. I walked into the dining room and heard “Smash!” Then I heard Frank yell something in spanish. So I thought he broke his mug or something. So I froze cause I didn’t want Trixie to step in glass. But it was all good, it was in the kitchen.

I have just under 20 minutes before I should water the puppy and then go down and meet that guy who made it out of the World Trade Centre because of his woofer. Should I go bug Jen about that form and ask her about Trixie’s nose and lips now? I think she was on the phone and helping Meredeth with Sedgey. Poor Sedgey now has an ear infection so needs his ears done with a cream twice a day. Meredeth grumbles but isn’t really outwardly upset. I think it’s eating her up though now that I saw her come back to the bus with a blown out knee and not say a word.

Speaking of knees that hurt, mine does. Ever since I had that crazy crossing thing happen, I walk funny and I have to go slower. It’s not uber painful, just enough to make me limp.

Monday again. I fell asleep quickly last night. I woke up this morning and went to feed and relieve, and relieve she did! She pooped and when I tried to pick up the poop, I missed some! Arg! Then she pooped again! Note to self, always grab 2 bags.

Breakfast is waffles, fruit and yogourt, lunch is some kind of shrimp pasta, mmm, and dinner is ribs! Double mmm!

Today is going to be busy. This morning we go to the Albert building, some kind of business zone, and do stairs and elevators and stuff. Then this afternoon it’s City Hall. More building work. And this morning, half of us have to do obedience in the kennels! That is going to be hell! High collar corrections, here we come. Then we have a lecture tonight. Plus gotta clean ears. so much to do. This week is gonna be long.

Breakfast was good, waffles and fruit and yogourt and fruit. Then we went from the bus to the Albert building which wasn’t far and then we did stairs and the elevator. Stairs was easy. the elevator, my silly babe found the stairs instead of the elevators. Then we got to do a freelance route! How cool! 3 of us went to the coffee shop down at the corner of Fourth and B once you cross B. my little bum was sniffy. Note to self: when taking Trixie into restaurants, use gental leader.

Oh yeah, I forgot to mention her crappy beginning of obedience in the kennels. We went into the kennels and she was just nuts, looking this way and that way. I had to give her two high collars and the gental leader. Then she shaped up. Then she sat and lay and stayed and heeled. I was glad to get out of the kennels.

So then we came back after the freelance route and she peed and all, but we met some puppy distraction and ho boy. But we got through it.

I’m a little upset. Carmen says that Sylvia was sitting beside Autumn when I got the news about the resume and she said Autumn looked jealous. I remember she didn’t say anything. I don’t know what to believe. Whatever, it’s two weeks and all of this is over.

Why do I always feel so fat after lunch? I do, without fail.

Man you have to be so careful at the gift shop. They tried to charge Autumn regular price for the items rather than student price. So watch your receipts. I don’t think they meant to, I just think they’re not very competent. The people who work there don’t even know who the trainers are and it seemed too much for them to take a note and wait for the order form to come in and change something. Ug slight annoyance.

So relieving, then to City hall, then I assume more freelancing, then come home and collapse after relieving and feeding and watering and all that jolly good joy. then dinner and a lecture about dealing with guide dog in community, and then relieve and fall down. Must remember to clean her ears tonight, and I’ve still gotta run her in the paddock. Man I’ll miss that paddock when I get home. To just let her loose in there and not worry about a thing. And I still have to groom her later. I guess that’s when I’ll clean her ears.

The afternoon was fun. We did our first tandom walk. Adam, who I forgot to mention subs in for Mike on Mondays, went out with Carmen and I. The way it works is one of us leads and when we get to the corner the leader reads the traffic, and when we get to the other side the other person leads so no dog just dumbly follows. It’s pretty cool.

Oh, before we went on our afternoon strolls, they told us all that our dogs were doing more diving for food and stuff like that and we all had to be more vigilant. Ouch. They told us that was normal because we doubted ourselves so we didn’t react quick enough. I didn’t think I’d go through that again, but I guess I did.

On our route down to City hall, my little bum stole some kibble off the sidewalk. I didn’t even feel it because we were just climing an up-curb so her head already felt like it was down. So arg! Other than that, she was good.

We’re having a rough day for illnesses. Sylvia felt ill and Meredeth blew out her knee on a walk. She deserves a medal for strength or bravery or something because instead of asking for the nursemobile to take her back, she limped back to the bus. That woman is awesome. I’d be crying for mamma.

I need to run Trixie in the grass paddock stil. I’m not completely confident about my way there, but I’m almost willing to try it. Come out at relieving circle doors, turn right, pass the dip that signals the doors to the retrain wing, keep going a ways and turn right, go a cross a bridge…and after that I get a little shaky. I know on the way there Trixie will make the perfect path, it’s just the way back that worries me. I have some time and I’m thinking about trying it, but she seemed really hot out there on the walk so I’m not sure if gallopping in a paddock is what she’s up for. Damn I don’t know what to do. They say they need this every day, and who am I to deprive her of doggy time?

We went to the paddock and she did a lot of sniffing but not much gallopping. That’s ok though since she can’t do a lot of sniffing elsewhere.

She’s all confused because I took her fleece away to wash it. She’s used to no fleece meaning food is on the way, but it certainly is not since she just got fed. Then I crossed her up even more because I took her dish, but only to wash it. Ha ha puppy, keepin’ you on your toes.

I have to write something down because it’s bugging the hell out of me. Bug bug bugging me! Ok, Autumn knows what she can and cannot eat. Nuts are among the things she cannot eat. Today, we get frozen bananas covered in chocolate. So it’s this big banana-half on a stick and it’s covered in chocolate and these lumpy rough things which I assume are nuts. I eat it and think, hmm I wonder if those are nuts. Hope Autumn notices. I talk to her after and ask were they nuts? I’m thinking she would have asked someone if they were nuts before merrily chomping it down. She says, “I don’t know, I wondered if they were nuts but then I thought oh they’re probably just crumbly chocolate things. You should have told me there were nuts in it.” I beg your pardon Miss Autumn? I’m supposed to tell you, a grown woman, what you should and should not eat before you use your own brain to determine whether or not you ask the question? I understand thinking that frozen bananas covered in chocolate wouldn’t have nuts in them, but as soon as you see them, you ask, or you decide that maybe this dessert isn’t for you and pass it up! You don’t just gobble it down and hope for the best. Fool! No more sympathy for her. Fool! Complete and utter fool!

Oh, something funny happened when I went to take the fleece down to the washer. I collided with Henry, his hands hitting me right at boob-level. The poor man. I think he was so embarrassed. Henry’s so meek and mild.

Alright, dinner, lecture, grooming and ear-cleaning, relieving, falling down go snore snore. Got it.

Ok that was kind of an intimidating lecture. I’m glad they do it, I mean I wasn’t prepared for the spotlight that was going to hit me when I got Babs, but they really point out all the things the public gets weird about and all the worst things your dog could end up doing. Then they showed this video that Hotels get about service animals and it was so threatening. It was like, “you have to let them in or they’ll sue. This was the funniest quote. “Service animals only go to the bathroom on command, so it is impossible that they’ll have an accident in your room.” Impossible? Ask the TD Canada Trust how impossible it is for a service animal to have an accident. It was my fault that Babs left a present in the bank, but it does happen. Accidents happen.

Her ears are clean. I’ll groom her in the morning because her fur still feels like flee goop. But her teeth are brushed and the fleece is washed. She’s probably upset that it doesn’t have her scent as strong, but whatever. Now crashing.

It’s Sunday again. Where is this inhuman energy coming from? My laundry is already in the dryer. The top right dryer sucks and we have to let the dorm staff know. The bottom right dryer never stops drying and the top right dryer doesn’t dry worth a damn.

Well, I got my clothes, but I’m missing a sock. Hopefully I find it before I leave. I decided to skip the massage thing,Autumn went so I’ll ask her how it was. I’ll groom her instead, and then I’ll go to the computers and then eat lunch and then I’ll go to Fisherman’s Warf which I don’t really care about, but oh well. I’ll get to know Jill real well I guess since we’re the only ones going. It’ll be weird to leave without the dog. We can’t take them off campus because our training’s not done, so the instructors will take them out to relieve.

Before I left for lunch, Autumn and I took our woofers to the paddock and Trixie got to go first this time.

Tired. Fisherman’s Warf was ok, but nothing special. I didn’t really give a crap about Fisherman’s Warf and apparently the only reason we ended up there was because Bernard thought it was a place to go fishing, And he didn’t even go with us. Two nice ladies picked us up and were pretty cool I must say. One wanted to find the ice cream place and kept saying “I smell ice cream!” They kept stopping to take pictures for Jill so she’d have lots on her disposable camera. They even took a picture of the Golden Gate bridge as we drove over it. I picked up a couple things, a t-shirt for myself, and Steve, I got you a little something, although now I’m afraid you’ll be mad that I got this. That’ll have you guessing for a while.

We stopped at a chocolate store and I got a piece of chocolate, it was ok. I’m supposed to try some kind of chocolate that I can’t even hope to spell. Something that starts with a G. It sounds like Gear-a-deli Square. Yep, I’m a loser and can’t spell it. Anybody had any? Is it any good?

God it was uber crowded. When we were in the souvenir shop, we were trying to get past some people and we bumped into a guy. Immediately he started yelling, “Did you just push me? Hey, that girl just pushed me!” I thought there was going to be a brawl in the souvenir shop among the mugs and shirts. Then the lady told me he was decked out in pink, from hair to shoes. Ok, wellcome to Than Franthithco.

It was really weird to leave Trixie for that much time. She was so happy to see me that it felt like she was going to rip her tiedown out of the wall. The two ladies saw her and thought she was so cool. Then we ran out to relieve after feeding and ran like mad to a presentation from the gift shop. It was kind of annoying because some things are only available online which is dumb because some people don’t do the net thing, and they didn’t have some of the stuff that I know they are supposed to have. What the hell? But they made sure to bring all the expensive clothing.

Then we had supper and after that I learned how to put flea goop on her back. Not too hard. I was expecting it to be messier. I just have to remember not to groom her for at least 24 hours.

I found my sock! Yea, lost is found!

Now Autumn’s being nice and reading me the freelance guide. The braille one we can’t find, but she printed out the one off the computer so that’s cool. I’m going to have to remember to start bringing money. I have to remember to pick up some stain-remover because they don’t have any here! I spilled hot chocolate on my shirt so if it didn’t come clean, I’ll need it.

People have been having rough encounters with poop. Jill accidentally knelt in some, Amy trailed Dynamo’s leash through, and Bernard gags when he picks it up. It’s really funny to hear a big black man gag. I’m so easily amused.

Think I’ll be snoring soon.