Missing my Furry Alarm Clock

I realized something today...
Among the many things I miss about Gibbet...
I do rather miss the alarm clock nature she had within her.

I woke up today thinking it was Saturday. I went back to sleep.
Gibbet somehow knew when I was supposed to be up and on what days I needed to be up.
She would very rarely bother me on a Saturday or Sunday...
but if I stayed in bed on Monday-Friday... she would wake me up.
Usually it would involve licking my nose until my eyes opened, then she would scamper off to the side of the bed and go back to sleep.

I don't know how she knew, but she knew.
I miss her.

I guess now I need to find an alarm clock that goes off only on weekdays like my old phone did. That way, if it goes off... I will know it is a weekday and not go back to sleep.

The Little Shrine

Well, I decided to create a small shrine for Gibbet. I don't really have a good reason for this, it is just something I felt like doing since I had some extra stuff lying around.
We had a bunch of old solar-charged landscaping lights in the garage. We pulled them out of the yard when Katrina was coming and never put them back.
Of course, all of the batteries were completely depleted. Luckily, they were NiCD, so they were able to take a charge again... most of them.... the ones that were not damaged.
Unfortunately, when I decided to set them up, there was no where near enough time for me to charge them up before the sun went down, so I put some brand new batteries in a couple of them for the first night. I replaced them early the next morning because ... well... they were Alkaline, and you cannot recharge those. I used some work lights to try to super charge several of the lights. It actually worked. I think I got the batteries pretty well charged.
So.. I know this seems cheesy... but I used to always have some sort of little night light for Gibbet. Now she still has one.
The lights shall charge their batteries every day in the sunlight, and bright up her gravesite each evening....
until my parents decide to take the lights away and use them for the walkway again.
The only thing I am concerned with is that there is a lot of shade in that region during various times of day, but it should still be OK.
As of yet, the grave has not gone unbrightened.
Whoo hoo.

Yeah, I know. Pathetic, right?
Oh well.

I was flipping through the pictures in my phone and found this. Remember her? Yeah, it's awfully blurry...blame my phone.

Wingless Wonders

Well, I figured I should probably post some pics of the fairies without wings... so people would perhaps start getting the idea that they aren't actually fairies.
Though, it is fun to dream, isn't it?

Random Smile

Alrighty.... So I am not completely down in the dumps.
I did very much enjoy my time with the ACM guys playing Miniature Golf at Funtasia.
I had a good time.

Tonight I shall spend some time with the PFCrew.
I think that will do me some good.

But... I was just watching a commercial.
Well, I heard it, then I turned to watch it based on what I heard.
It was a Sara Lee Bread commercial.
It was playing the "Happy Happy Joy Joy" song from Ren and Stimpy.

I thought that was hilarious.

Life has lots of little surprises to cheer people up.
Hurray, Life!

Beating Myself Up

I know it is not healthy for the mind to delve on things in the past.
You know... like choices you made that you regret, but you cannot change it now.

Well... I am not regretting my decision regarding Gibbet. The doctor told me she recommended putting Gibbet to sleep. She told me that it would not be fair to Gibbet to really even attempt treatment because her chances of surviving at all were extremely grim.

I made my decision based on this information and the X-Rays I had seen. She looked like she was in bad shape. But... I fear perhaps I was a tad rash. I did not take any good time to think about what was happening.

In retrospect, I feel like this was a very bad decision. Gibbet has always been a good fighter, and I cannot help but wonder if she would have been able to fight this too.
I know I should not be thinking like this, but I cannot help it.

I miss Gibbet.

What do I do now?
Grrrr.

Gibbet's permanent resting place.

Elrond

Well, I do not like to do these types of things very often... but I saw one in Skrubby's blog...
and I decided... "what the hey?"

The Legend

She was the most unique ferret anyone I knew had ever seen. Even the vet had never seen a ferret so wild.
She had unknown origins. There was no record of her birth. She had no markings from any breeders. She was a complete mystery.
She was the best pet I have ever had. She was very violent, though. This made her quite interesting. She dominated her territory. Any creature that trespassed on her territory had to answer to her. She would typically send them running off crying.
When she was not on her territory, she still dominated. She would scare off any animal that came near her. She never ran off from a fight. She always won. She was very protective.
Since I was on her territory, I belonged to her. She would attack anything that came near me. She was my best friend.

She seemed to live a happy life. She did not play with any of the normal toys ferrets would usually like, though... she did very much enjoy plastic bags. That was about it. I loved playing with her. She would make the cutest noises.

She used to ve chubby. She was very healthy. Even still... that would not stop her from running around and playing.

If I had known months ago that she had cancer, I would have tried to get her treated... even though there is not a good chance of survival. The cancer ate through her tiny little body very quickly. Sadly, it made it to her lungs before the cancer was even diagnosed.
I knew something was wrong when she wouldn't eat a raisin.
She did not have the strength to eat. She tried to pick up her food, but she couldn't chew it.
I gave her some nutrical, but that did not help her much. She was on her way out.

I cried when the doctor recommended putting her to sleep. It was the first time since I was about 4 that I can ever remember crying in front of people. I spent a few minutes with her as they were preparing things. She looked to be in a lot of pain. She was struggling for every breath. I went through a lot of tissues.

She arrived at the vet's office in a blue pet carrier. She left in a brown cardboard box.

Today, I prepared her for her burial. I held her in my hands one last time. What I knew of her life flashed before my eyes. She was very cold. I had never felt her cold before. I could barely hold back the tears. I will no longer be able to see her scampering through my house. It was a difficult moment for me.

I placed her inside of her little drying sack. It was the most comfortable thing I could think of to put her in. I then tied it up and sealed it inside of a ZipLock-style bag. I then put that inside of the bag the vet had placed her in, then sealed that up inside of another ZipLock bag. I placed everything inside of the box and sealed it up as well as I could. I thought about painting over it with like a plastic coating, but I did not have anything available.
I then wrapped the box in a trash bag, then wrapped that inside another trash bag.

I went outside to start digging a grave for her. As soon as my shovel hit the dirt... the bottom fell out of the sky. I tried to stay out there a few more minutes, but I just couldn't. I was out there long enough to pick a different spot for her, though. The spot I start digging had tons of roots. The second spot did too, but I decided to stick with it.
I originally wanted to bury her outside my window. Unfortunately, a gas line runs along that spot and I am not exactly how far away from the house it is. That just seemed dangerous.

It was the hardest hole I have ever had to dig. Both because of all the blasted roots, and I kept thinking about how I was never going to see my precious Gibbet again. I don't think I will ever find another ferret like her.
I loved her so very much.

I placed her at the bottom, then I paused for a few moments to just... reflect.
I then started the process of filling the hole. I patted down the dirt every few scoops so that it would be very difficult for another animal to try to dig her up. I then marked the spot with a piece of a concrete block. I may eventually create some little shrine or tombstone for her in that spot.

Alas, the task is complete. I must now move on. The memory of Gibbet lives on.
I can no longer say that my bedroom is guarded by a cute, yet vicious attack ferret.

I will miss you, my precious Gibbie-Gibbet.

September 22, 2006

To everything there is a season, and a time to every purpose under Heaven.

Gibbet made it to that great big play pen in the sky. This is my favorite pic. She is snuggled up against my leg. I will miss her a lot.

Farewell, my precious Gibbet. I will miss you.

Gibbet has cancer.

An Agonizing Monday

Well, from what I can gather, I caught a minor case of food poisoning from Krystal's.
My stomach ached all Sunday night. I was unable to sleep.
Monday, I felt very ill, and I was extremely tired.
I decided to ask my boss if I could go home.
I did go home.
...
Before I could get in my door, that Krystal burger decided it was time to vacate my stomach.
After four very very violent abdominal convulsions, I felt much better.
I went inside and brushed my teeth and gargled.
I then headed back to work.
However... I was still extremely tired.
So...my efficiency level was a tad low.

Around lunch time, I decided to just head outside to warm up some because I was very cold.
I knew I did not have enough time to go home, since I had already used half my lunch break that morning, so I just went to my truck and rested for a bit.

I then went back to my desk and painfully made it through the rest of the day.
Painfully? Yes. My abs were in horrible pain, so any time I coughed or laughed...it hurt...
a lot.

So... anyway. That was my day.
Not necessarily the worst day ever, but definitely not one of the best days.

Fantasyville

Well, I finally got this picture from Misty.
It turned out really blurry, but it is still a great pic.

I also got some other pics, but here is my favorite.



I am starting to wonder if this is all just a wonderful dream.

Best Before End

Alrighty... So I have this candy bar here.
It was meant to be sold outside of the USA. It is a Nestle Lion bar.
I notice when looking at the packaging that they have placed a sticker on the back to display the nutritional information. Being of a curious nature, I HAD to peel off the sticker to see what was underneath.
Pretty much nothing useful, except the UPC label and the expiration date.

You know how you will often see words like "Best Before..." or "Best By..." or some variation? Usually those are followed by some form of..... date.

Well, this particular bar stated "Best Before End".

Me... not knowing when "End" is ever going to come, I figure... Hey, it's BOUND to still be good.
I eat it. No problems.
Still... it seems interesting.
When is "End" anyway?

Loss of Initiative

After my last post, I told myself...
"Hey, I should scan in some pics."
So I did. I picked up one of the stacks of photos, set a relatively good dimension on the scanning window... and just scanned away.
I got all of the pics from that stack scanned.
Then, I ran a batch in Photoshop to save them all.

....

It didn't work. It just closed all my files without saving them.
I was quite pissed.
It is events like this that cause me to lose my initiative.
That was time wasted. I shall perhaps try again another day, but right now... screw it.

Alrighty. That is all.

Misty c. 2001

Well, I finally got my scanner working, so...
I figured I would post this pic I found of the Fairy I met from 5 years ago.

Perhaps, now that I have my scanner working, I can scan in some random pics every so often.

I know of at least one person that would be interested in seeing some.

If I actually start posting lots of files, I will most likely post them on my actual site. It's been a little lonely recently. I need to put something on it. Having a photo gallery would do it some good, I think. Right now, the only thing on there is the placeholder I created a few weeks ago.

Oh well, I guess that ends my post for now.

Goodness

Alrighty...
I found them. I finally found them
Cow Tales.
I have not been able to find them in any stores for at least the last year.
Christy took me to the World Market this past Saturday.
They sell Cow Tales.
I love these things.
Ever had one?
It's a long strand of caramel with a creamy center. It's awesomely good.

Also... I found a new candy...
"Haribo Happy-Cola"
gummi candies that taste like warm, flat coke.
It's good. For real.
You guys should try this stuff. It is splentastic.

That is all.

Previous Encounter

Today I decided to go through some old pictures to see if I could find any worthwhile (of me) to put online somewhere. I figured my Facebook photo album was a little lacking, it needed something "new".
Well... I was scanning through some of my old Dragon*CON pics when I noticed a familiar face. Sorry, I would post it now, but I do not have an electronic form of the pic, and my scanner is broken, so I shall just have to describe what is in the picture.

Misty.

Yeah, apparently I "met" Misty 5 years ago at Dragon*CON 2001. Though, we did not speak then. I just saw a cute girl in a fairy costume and asked to take her picture. She won the hall costume contest for "Most Popular Female".

Heh. Well, I thought it was interesting, but I guess that is just me.
Yeah, it is probably just me.

Well... I do not have a clever ending to this post, so... umm... goodbye.

Sume kapulino

Sanc tu steri di belios far karn...
sai strute ler ver ka.
Iy jeroi pak sume hap. Vei flur sai tu.
A theri vo goi starn kip hep ficiour ghoti flem.
...
Ta meos iopnt, oeplep ilwi arelies htat itsh suijist a chunb fo bish rigeb.

Ew lalsh ese.

Flying Spaghetti Monster

Ok...
So, While I was at Dragon*CON, I crashed a pirate party. I felt weird being there since I was not dressed as a pirate, but my friends had been invited to it, and none of them were dressed as pirates, so I tagged along.

While I was there, I saw a woman dressed up as spaghetti and meatballs.
I pointed her out.
My friend said, "No way!!! It's the Flying Spaghetti Monster!"
He then begged to be blessed by the monster's noodle.
And the Monster obliged.

Of course.. I was confused. I asked, "What's the Flying Spaghetti Monster?"
"You don't know about the Flying Spaghetti Monster!?"
"No."
"Look it up."

So I did.

After reading up on it, now I understand why the Monster was hanging out with Pirates too.

I decided to post about this because I had forgotten about it...then remembered it while watching the video about Hank that Doug posted in response to the Mattress.
So, yeah.

Supreme Mattress of the Universe

Occasionally I question things in the realm of spirituality and Christianity.
I was raised Christian.
I still technically hold that to be true.
I mean... for real... there has GOT to be some mighty power out there.

However... sadly, I think I am becoming more and more of a Deist.
Not exactly a Deist, though.
I think God likes to poke fun sometimes and play around...
so God is not necessarily out of the picture.

I was chatting with a friend about something, and at some point I used the word "God". She stated that she does not believe in God.
I mentioned that I believe God exists, but not sure what purpose that God serves.
I mentioned that I believe that there is some supreme Master of the Universe.
She concurred that perhaps this is true...
but that it might actually be the Supreme Mistress of the Universe.
At first I said that this would imply that there was a male involved somewhere. Then, I thought about it for a second... and admitted that this term could work too...

Then, the thought of what Gender the Supreme Being is came into question.
"What do we call 'it' ?"

To avoid confusion, I just said we should call it the Mattress.
She agreed. She believes in the Supreme Mattress.

Alrighty. So then the idea that we had just formed a religion came up...
She did not like this idea.
So... I said that she would not have to pay any money to be a part of it.
"Are you sure it is a religion."
To which I replied...

"YES. The Supreme Mattress bestowes Love and Kindness to all, and asks for nothing in return."

So.... there you have it.

The Supreme Mattress of the Universe.

It rules over all. It does not involve itself in the everyday lives of humans, but it can if it wants to.

.....

Disclaimer: Please do not take this seriously and think that this is actually a religion.... Wait until tax-exempt status is granted.

Sadness

I made a decision earlier today to not go to PickleFish tonight.
I did not want to get everyone sick.
I woke up at about 8pm... and I felt like crap....
both because I literally feel like crap...
but also because I think this is the first time I have intentionally missed PF since I started going.

So sad.

Well.... tomorrow marks the one week anniversary of when I started to come down with the cold.
Perhaps it will just.... vanish by morning.
One can hope, eh?
I shall hope so.

Traffic Spike

A quick glance at my traffic statistics for my blogs shows that for Tuesday and Wednesday, the traffic on my blog increased nearly 1000 - 2000%.
I figure there are two factors that could be contributing to this.
Either lots of people just love looking at Kari Byron.... which is true...
or...
as my statistics show...
It seems people just enjoy reading embarrassing personal information about someone else's lack of a love life.
Then again... maybe lots of people just like looking at pictures of fairies.
Who knows?

Oh well.
I just thought it was interesting.
My normal traffic is between 2-4 people a day....
Tuesday and Wednesday it was between 30 and 40.
Stats for Thursday seem to be quite above average too.

Hurray for embarrassing information!!

Insanity

Alrighty...
Judging from most everyone's reaction to my story about Sunday night at Dragon*CON, it seems that I must just be crazy.
"No guy in his right mind would wait until he was 24 to kiss a girl."

You are absolutely right.

What part of "flibbertigibbet" did you not understand?

Apparently I am crazy. I have never persued physical relationships. I do not really have a good reason why. I guess it may have mainly been my strong religious upbringing, away from which I am currently growing some.

I have enjoyed my life. No major quarrels. No major RL issues. No "wife aggro". Things are swell. I have now tried something new. Well, I cannot really say I tried it. I was thrust into it, and I enjoyed it. Perhaps I will use this as a major stepping stone to new things. I do not know.

Yes, the story was true.
Yes, I am crazy.
Got it?
Good.

Alrighty.

NO, cBot, I do not have Mono.
Sheesh.
Can't a guy get a cold the same time as his first kiss and not get Mono?

The cold is slowly fading. It began Friday, Kiss was Sunday.
Cause and Effect fails there.

Ok now. I think this is probably one of the most unorganized posts ever.
Time to say goodbye to the blog for now.

Goodbye, Blog. Catch ya later.

El Flibbertigibbet.

Dragon*CON 2006

I am back from Dragon*CON 2006.
I had a wonderful time this year. I took lots of pictures. I saw some shows. I hung out with new people.
I could delve into details of what all went on at Dragon*CON this year,
but... it is all pretty much a blur when I take into consideration what happened to me Sunday night.

I met a couple of fairies in line for the Masquerade. Yes, I know they were not really fairies, but they played the parts well. We talked about all sorts of randomness.
I found out one of them is an EverQuest fan, while the other one plays a Horde character on World of Warcraft.
After the Masquerade, they invited me to meet them at the Drum Circle later on. It was due to be starting soon, but they were doing a Masquerade Photo-OP in the area where the drum circle was supposed to be... so it was going to be delayed.
I went to the Photo-OP and took some pics. The girls went out to take pictures of randomness.

Ok... so I had the date set, unexpectedly.

I knew I could not dance on my own, so I got some help from some friends of mine that I knew could give me the ability to not care that I cannot dance. Yeah, that's right, Ms. Vanilla Vodka and Dr. Pepper. The Dr. Pepper was not necessarily a part of the plan, I just knew I needed some alcohol to give me a buzz.
I took a shot of Vanilla Vodka with Miranda, then I took a shot of Vanilla Vodka mixed with Dr. Pepper, then I got Miranda to make me a mixed drink of the two. This was about 3 times as much alcohol as it would normally take to give me a buzz.
I was feeling pretty good.

OK, so I head over to the Hyatt to meet the girls. I think my buddies were a little angry that I did not head out with them to "Guys Night Out".
Screw them, I had dates.

I hit the Hyatt, and I see the girls heading into a concert area. I meet up with them. We sit for a moment trying to figure out who on Earth is playing. Then, they ask me if the Drum Circle is running yet. I tell them it should be... so we head that way.

We pass another concert area. This band is called "Godhead". We opt to pass on this for now and head to the Drum Circle.

Misty takes off her wings and pulls me into the dancing area.
Nicole just sits and watches. She is a shy one like me.

Then, Nicole decides she wants to see Godhead. So...... we go.
We go in, and the music is actually not all that bad.
While we were there, some guy tried to hit on Nicole...
so I was basically the Horny Jerk Repellant for the two fairies.
It worked nicely. It felt nice to be a date, an escort, AND a protector.

Then, the concert was over. We head out and wander around for a bit. In the same area where they had the Godhead concert is where they were going to be performing the Rocky Horror Picture Show like they do every year. The fairies decided they wanted to go check it out. One had never seen it, and one had only seen bits and pieces.

Problem: Technical Difficulties. They have so many problems with the equipment, that people start getting pissed off and leaving. Nicole headed to the bathroom. I snuggled up with Misty for a bit. We talk for a bit about what other events might be going on that we could go see until they start the show.

That's when it happened....
I was looking at the stage and the screens when I hear Misty say, "I know what we could do to pass the time."
Assuming this is just a normal part of our current conversation, I turn to her and ask, "What?"
Only... I was greeted with a wonderfully timed and set-up kiss.

Ok... You know those movies where some dork, nerd, geek, spaz, or otherwise uncool member of society dreams about a certain hot girl all the time... then at some point in the movie she gives him a big kiss and walks away? Remember how that guy looked afterward?

Yeah... That was me. I had a total "Deer Caught in Headlights" reaction to it.
This, my friends, was my first kiss.
I had no clue what to do. I was just frozen in position for several moments.
Then... the kiss ended.
I did not know how to react.
I just remember saying.
"Wow, that was unexpected."
Then we went back to what we were doing before, where I was basically just keeping her warm.

The show wound up not starting until after we left the room.
We (both fairies and I) just walked around for a while, hanging out...trying to find stuff to do.
It eventually got really late, and then they realized how late it was. They needed to be heading out early in the morning, so it came time to escort them back to their hotel.
We traded contact info, then headed toward the Hilton.

We hit the Marriott first, where we decided to take a detour and visit the highest floor. It was quite romantic to see the view, but there was some drunk guy there...
he was quite annoying.
"Say man.... How does a guy like that get two beautiful girls like you, anyway?"
I try to ignore him, so do the girls.

We then head back down to the lobby and over to the Hilton.
We hug and part ways.

That was my night.
9 hours spent hanging out with beautiful fairies.
Hurray, Dragon*CON

Envy me, Fanboys.

One milestone passed... Details shall follow upon my return...maybe.