Friday, March 14, 2008

Hallelujah...

Happy Pi Day, everyone!

May you recite your digits to the amazement of all your friends, without fear of persecution or pie-throwing.

Wednesday, March 12, 2008

Four calling birds, three calling birds, two calling birds, and a calling bird in a calling bird...

Thank you all for your lovely comments regarding my last post, both on and offline.  You're all incredibly sweet.  I'm so lucky to have you all as family.

On to more cheery things...

I have Christmas music in my head.  Not just any Christmas music, but the Twelve Days of Christmas.  Except, as you can tell from my title, it's all just morphed into a song about calling birds.  So much so, that I have this modified version stuck in my head, and have been walking around the apartment singing it.

On the fifth day of Christms, my true love gave to me...
Five calllling birds.
Four calling birds.
Three calling birds.
Two calling birds.
And a calling bird in a calling bird.

This brings me to my next point.  What is a calling bird, anyway?  And would having five of them really be a good idea?  It sounds like it would be really loud.  I mean, having four hamsters gets a little loud sometimes, especially when they're tussling with each other.  That's right, tussling.  And that's while half of them are in a separate cage.  (We made two new additions, oddly, the same day Sam died, though before she actually died.  Samus and Ripley.)

Now, if you'll excuse me, I will wrap up the post of nonsense, and get back to working on my homework.

Saturday, March 8, 2008

It's a sad day in Bike Town...

Sam died this evening.

I knew it was going to happen, as, when we let them out to play in their new hamster playpen, she looked distinctly...weak.

Her body was frail, she had trouble walking, she looked emaciated, and she looked, well, she looked like she was at death's door.

She still ran up and down my arm, and between my two hands, but it was like a ball of fluff.  She was so light.  Even for a dwarf hamster.  She wasn't fluffy, she kept falling on her back and struggling to get up, she looked so sick.

I quarantined her in the upstairs part of the cage when we put the hammies back in.  Gave her some food and water, a part of a paper towel tube to crawl through, some bedding...attached the loop to that side, so she'd have some room to move around if she wanted to.

And that's where I found her curled up at around 20:30.  Somehow, I knew, even before detaching the loop.  She wasn't moving.  Her little chest wasn't going up and down.

The tears started to well up even as I detached the loop.  Reached inside.  No warmth.  No pulse.  Stiff.  Eyes coated white.  My poor little Sammy.

At least she's no longer in pain.

May she rest in peace.

Saturday, March 1, 2008

When you're alone and life is making you lonely...

I've been up since 5 this morning.  No, there's nothing wrong.  I just couldn't sleep.  So, I worked on a bit of proofreading for Distributed Proofreaders.  By a bit of proofreading, I of course mean about 86 pages worth.  Proofing is apparently like crack for natural-born editors.  I joined that site not 3 days ago, and I've already proofread 197 pages.  I need 300 in total, and to have been a member of the site for 3 weeks, before I can become a proofer in the next round.

I see the 300 as being no problem, as I'm only 103 away, and it's been 3 days.  Of course, by the same token, I'm 103 away and it's only been 3 days.  *attempts to wait patiently*