Barbaric Bark

I really like dogs.

In fact, I used to be petrified of them. But I loved cats. I drew pictures of them all the time, I loved to play with my neighbors cats, my favorite stuffed animal was a cat...but that one stuffed cat was soon replaced by many, many, many stuffed animal dogs.

We adopted a young male vizsla when I was about three years old. After a few hours of screaming I guess my three year old brain decided that he wasn't so bad after all. So he became my best friend. We didn't talk, but we napped together, I read him books, I sang to him, we napped some more. Many of my earliest memories are with him. From this relationship I came to the conclusion, at three years of age, that dogs would be my favorite animal ever.

I was right.

In the back right corner of Birchwood Elemantary library, on the second shelf from the bottom, there are dog encyclopedias. Cat encyclopedias are on the bottom, but who cares about cats. I looked at the pictures. I read the blurbs about each breed. I checked the biggest encyclopedias out and took them home so I could look at them some more. To this day I cannot tell you how the Dewey Decimal System works because why would I ever need to remember how to find books if I already know where the dog ones are. I was memorizing breeds without realizing it. But finally in fifth grade I decided to take my plethora of knowledge to a professional level. I became the neighborhood dog walker.

Sure, I started out with one client. One dog, one walk, once a week.
How many dogs do I have now?
Good question.

I have 24. Not every week, but I take care of them when their owners are on vacation, or have long workdays. If I may, I can confirm that is is, in fact, a monopoly. Others have tried to take up petsitting in my neighborhood, but I just sit back and laugh as they slowly realize that the paying customers only have one phone number they care about, and it's mine.

Well, I guess I'm not that sinister about it, but I am pretty competitive. It took many years to develop my reputation and get to know people. The people I work for and the dogs I walk are extremely important to maintain relationships with. Not so much for the money, but more because I really love all the dogs in my neighborhood, and I would hate to miss an oppurtunity to hang out with them. They're a huge part of my life, as much of my time is spent with them. I've gotten to know their personalities, their routines, their quirks.

I think what I find most appealing about dogs is their communication. I hear so many dog owners complain that their dogs "don't listen". However, it is the owners that aren't listening to their dogs. Yelling at them won't work because, well, dogs don't speak english. You can learn so much more from them, and communicate so much more to them, though body language. Everything they do can be interpreted as important information they are trying to convey to you. For example, if your dog rips up pillows every day while you're at work, it's not to spite you, and getting angry won't help. The dog is just trying to show its anxiety over being left alone for so long. On the other side, the best way to communicate to your dog is to do so without words. Why does your dog seem to sense when you're sick? Does it jump in your bed and stay there until you feel better? It's not magic, they're just really good at reading your body language.

These silent conversations with dogs are imperative to building a relationship with them. Whenever I have a new client, or a new dog to walk, I always spend the first couple visits just sitting on the porch with the dog in my lap. Maybe for a few hours a day. Not saying anything, just being still and allowing them to relax. It helps me relax too.


This is Cooper (male, australian cattle dog). He's the dog equivalent of a grumpy old man but he still loves to chase around tennis balls, even if he can't see them.

I love dogs.

110%

For the past few months, I've been involved in the school musical, CATS. I am cast as a dancer, and the character I play is Rumpleteazer. The main reason I signed up to audition was to gain performing experience. Even though I have been dancing the majority of my lifetime, I was still feeling slightly anxious before shows. Im not really a "natural performer" so to speak, and I just wanted more experience to try and increase my confidence and therefore maximize the quality of my performances. What seemed like a logical explanation to engage in a learning experience turned into so much more.

I didn't expect it to be so lively, and vibrant. Some of the singers in the show have absolutely beautiful voices.  I don't sing at all, so I have almost no exposure to how choral education goes. I always thought that singing was more of a natural talent, in that those who are really good are mostly born with the ability(naive, I know). But there are so many technical aspects to it, like breathing, diction, posture, tone, etc. The more I listened in on the vocal practice, the more it started to sound like a dance class. Everyone received notes to improve upon, no matter how talented they were. There was always room for improvement, and everyone was trying their hardest to do their best.

Aside from the hard work of the cast members, there are so many people working to make the show possible. Costume and makeup volunteers, stage crew, tech supervisors. The audience applauds for the performers, but the performers applaud the volunteers.

I also didn't expect to make so many friends. Of course I already knew the other dancers from my dance studio, but the theater kids just seemed so loud and expressive. Not in a bad way, but Im not the kind of person to belt out random show tunes for fun. But everyone was super nice and inviting. As rehearsals have progressed, we have all become much closer, and we all get along really well.

As the hours count down to our first show, I can't believe how much I've enjoyed being in the musical. Just being backstage, silently standing with my back to the rough wooden supports for the set, I feel completely at ease. Performing isn't about being completely comfortable and perfect onstage. Rather, it is about a genuine desire to show the audience what you've been working on, and working together with your fellow performers to provide the audience with the best show you can muster.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UthNI8QosMY

Some people sleep in until the afternoon. 

Some people bake cookies and eat them all in one sitting. 

Some people watch staggering amounts of Law and Order SVU. 

Some people do homework.........ok not that many people. 

Some people go sledding. 

That is, if theres actually enough snow on the ground during a snow day. 

And two out of the 6,973,738,433 people on this earth wander around the woods like lost fools.  

My friend who lives down the street interrupted my dog encyclopedia browsing with a text. She wanted to walk to the sledding hill. I said okay. 

Usually its perfect for sledding. The snow covered trees on either side muffle the sounds of surrounding cars, people, and dogs. Sometime the occasional snow- shoe fanatic trudges past, careful to avoid our painstakingly pristine sledding path, complete with a ramp that will launch anyone under 150 lbs approximately two feet into the air. But today, there wasn't enough snow for ramp. There wasn't even enough snow to consider sledding as an option. 

But if your best friend wants to walk to the sledding hill, just go. Trust me, it'll be awesome. 

So we met halfway between our houses and we started off in the direction we normally go, talking about the things we normally talk about. And then the most perfect little snowflakes decided to land all over us, initiating a frantic rush to take pictures of them before they melted. 

We both exclaimed how we had never seen snowflakes so intricate and detailed as those. 

As we walked up the hill, I asked if she wanted to walk down the path that branches off of our hill, into the woods. The one we had never been down before. She said okay. 

The path went on forever, it was like an adventure. Neither one of us is particularly inclined to hiking, so it was exciting and different. 

We came to a fork in the path, along with a large, open, wooden box- like structure, and a massive pile of slabs of concrete. We pondered the likelihood of finding a dead body somewhere back there. Then we decided that we should probably take a break from Law and Order SVU. 

First we turned right, and the path took us to a road. Then we backtracked and took the path on the left side of the fork, and went deeper into the woods until the path ended. We came to a stream, which apparently wasn't completely frozen over. Although it did have some pretty neat ice patterns. 

A few soggy steps later, we came upon a mini skating rink. 

Naturally, we both became professional figure skaters for about five minutes until we decided to head home because it was freezing. 

The thing about wandering in the woods is that any sense of direction is completely and hopelessly gone. Sure, we had a path, but we didn't know where it would lead. We didn't have a plan, we just started walking. And it was quite possibly the most entertaining snow day of my entire school career. Instead of sitting in my house accomplishing nothing, I went outside. I let go. I let go of my stress, I let go of the real world, for just a moment. I forgot about the upcoming tests I would have to take. I forgot about the pressure of getting into college. I forgot about the stress of my busy schedule. I let myself become enveloped in simple things like snowflakes and ice. I let myself get excited over the thought of an "adventure, even though I wasn't even a mile away from home. My friend and I had biked through the streets of our neighborhood countless times, oblivious to what could be found beyond our own backyards. Today, we saw things we hadn't noticed before. We discovered places we had never been. It may not appeal to everyone, but my friend and I had a blast. It was so fun to just amble around the woods and discover random things. All I had to do was let go, and start walking.