Doggy Blog

[Andx]

 

Yes, hello and welcome! This is Doggy Blog, presented by Doggy. It may be a surprise to learn though that I do in fact have a name. Yeah see that "Andx" thing? That's my name! I've been a member here on YCM for quite some time. I want to say since 2008 but I'd need to actually go check my profile to confirm that.

 

Chances are a good number of you don't know me very well. I wasn't here from March 2012 to March 2014 and I haven't been super active since returning. YCM's always been more of a social thing for me anyway. Eventually my group of friends would find some live chat thing to turn to. Currently it's skype so I'm there a lot more than I actually post here. I lurk plenty though so I've probably seen you around!

 

The purpose of this here blog has got a few parts to it. For one I'm gonna be writing about things that happen to me in real life. Shocking I know. But as I am and have been a dog online since 2010 I figure I'm going to take a funny spin on things. I'm going to write about stuff from the perspective of an intelligent dog who's functioning relatively normally in a human world and no one will seem to be bothered by it. My hopes are that the writings are funny and at times cute for people who like cute images of dogs and stuff. And writing about my days could be fun too. Keeping journals is good stuff.

 

[spoiler=Stuff About me here on YCM]

I am a dog. In real life I happen to be a bordier collie, but online i can be whatever. Crazy stuff right. Don't ask how I got good at using the computer, I'm still trying to figure it out. I wasn't always a dog online but then I became one and now I have always been and will always be one. Just how it works.

 

Now as for YCM family and other relations this gets complicated so I'll just stick to the basics. Birdie/Kazooie/Caeda is my sister. Yes a dog and a bird are siblings, just roll with it. That makes Black a brother in law and stuff. During Halloween we found out Shiki who is Cow's wife was Birdie's sister so that makes me her brother and cow's brother in law.

 

Now anything else past that family-wise gets confusing. While I am a rather independent dog I have had and do have masters and stuff. Originally it was sort of a toss up between Black and Cherry. Then it was just Cherry. Now it's still Cherry but Cow looks after me too. So I gots a few places to chill, hang out, eat food, be loved. It's good stuff. Always open to more if anyone needs some good dog company in their online life.

 

My YCM experience is mostly concentrated in Role Playing and Clubs/social stuffs. I was into custom cards initially but stopped making cards and stuff. So yeah that's me.

[/spoiler]

 

[spoiler=Some real life stuff]

So age-wise I'm 22. But only have been a dog for four years. So my age gets really confusing when i bring all that in. Still not sure if I get a human lifespan or not. Kinda hoping on it. Anyway I'm going to college right now and am a physics major. So look out for them major breakthroughs by a dog in the future and you'll know who it was.

 

I am the third of four kids, my parents have been married for like 26 years now and that's not changing any time soon. I'm a devout Christian (omg signal all of the alarms) but don't hate on people because that's lame and against what I'm taught in my church anyway. As mentioned I'm a physics major so I love science too and I think science and religion don't conflict nearly as much as most people might so I'm kind of weird like that.

 

And yeah think that's about it. Other important details will come through with the actual blog entries.

[/spoiler]

 

[spoiler=Blog Entries]

2/25/15: Entry 1

2/26/15: Entry 2

2/28/15: Entry 3

3/9/15: Entry 4

3/13/15: Entry 5

3/18/15: Entry 6

4/10/15: Entry 7

[/spoiler]

 

[spoiler=Blog Update Log]

Here I'll let you guys know as I change the structure of the first post or whatever else.

 

2/26/15: A wild logo appeared! UnendingEmpire's da best for making it for me.

[/spoiler]

 

So this is the beginning of my idea. Don't have much in the way of a schedule or plan for it worked, just know it's a little thing I wanna start doing. Hopefully it can help brighten your day a little when you read it!

[LordCowCowCowCowCowCowCowCow]

Yes! Just putting this here to mention that I'm excited to see what you come up with. :D

This should be really fun.

Good doge! *pets*

[Thar]

Oh sweet, a new blog.

 

And looking at your IRL stuff, we have a lot more in common than I thought.

[mitchermitcher]

you're quite a bloggy dog, aren't you

[Andx]

Entry 1: A College Dog

 

I figured I might start things out for real by describing the more typical everyday sorts of things I encounter here in my college life. I think it's hard to describe college to anyone but people who've been themselves. There's this mix of wanting to be really lazy, wanting to have a lot of fun and being really stressed out that kind of fluctuates as your semester goes on or as the semesters change and you get new classes.

 

Fall semester 2104 was my second in college and was really stressful. I went into college thinking I wanted to be a mechanical engineer. My thought process was something about really liking physics in high school so lets do something with that. Though so many people try to get into the program here that it's a limited enrollment major. So there's a few prerequisites you have to be near perfect in if you want to have any hope of actually getting into the real major. I was wrapping up the prereqs that semester and one in particular was a huge stressor for me. It was an engineering graphics class which taught all about various CAD modelling programs and how to make engineering drawing and stuff. While I found it interesting, it was tough and there was never a time something wasn't due. So I was always freaking out all semester long.

 

I was in a bit of a funk during all that time. I'm not sure if depression is the right word for it but something like that. I just wasn't happy. Now one of the other prereqs was a physics class and it was while I was doing one of the nine or so labs we had to do that I remembered why I even wanted to be a ME major. It was always the physics. And so I thought I had better change majors and that's what I did. Now I'm much less stressed out though it could also be that I'm mostly taking care of generals this semester. But still I'm in a happier spot now. And a part of that was due to the good friends I've come to make here since coming back to the internet and YCM and stuff. More actively chatting with them was a greater help to me than any of them ever knew since I wasn't really letting anyone in on the fact I was sorta out of sorts.

 

So moving on to the weekly grind of today. I'm currently enrolled in five classes: World Civilizations (from beginning of time to AD 1500), Biology 100, 2nd half of Calculus, Intro to Film, and 2nd half of the New Testament (yeah my school does religion classes since it's sort of run and owned by my church. BYU if anyone knows of it). It's really not that bad of a class load. Most of my homework load is reading and writing some small papers here and there. I probably shouldn't launch into a description of the struggle it is for me to read books though. But suffice to say if you think you have a hard time turning pages, imagine trying it with paws that have inflexible claws instead of fingers and no thumbs to speak of.

 

Everyday to get to class I've got to walk about ten or so minutes. I live pretty close to campus with in this apartment complex that does four guys to an apartment. My roommates are all pretty chill and stuff like that. The apartment's pretty old. It's got these cinderblock walls going and feels like it needs a bit of an update or something like that. But it's a nice place to stay location-wise. And I love getting a full human bed to myself. It's so spacious and I can just roll around on it and have a fun time being lazy. But yeah that walk is nice. There's this huge hill in the way of me and campus so that's a nice work out going up and speeds things up going down. It's probably good that it's there because I'm either busy or lazy and I forget to take myself out for walks.

 

Most of my classes are in the morning so I'm usually on campus from like 8 or 9 AM to noon each day. It's really nice to just knock my classes out and then come home, do some homework and be lazy the rest of the day. As for classes themselves I do enjoy them. The lectures are generally okay. Could do without some of the work but what are you gonna do? My professors are pretty good and don't treat me much differently than any other student which I appreciate. I'll tell ya though sometimes it's really hard to see what they're doing on the board or projector or stuff. I mean I'm not a small dog but still you humans tower over me on average. But it works out and I see the stuff I need to. It's also always cute the first few days of class. I walk in and people are generally confused. It's a strange sight, a dog walking in with a bag full of books and stuff, sitting in a desk, taking things out. Can only imagine it's even weirder to see said dog take notes somehow or other and then to even talk their language. Initially I think they think I'm some sort of service dog but I don't show up with or leave with anyone. Eventually they stop being scared and talk to me though so I've made lots of good friends!

 

After coming home I get on doing homework so I can get to the internet to check skype, ycm, play league of legends or card games with friends and other such things. Textbooks are another pain to work with I tell you. Mostly because of the trying to sell them afterwards. My mouth's about the only reliable way I've got to grab textbooks and trying to haul heavy books without leaving teeth marks in them is a tricky process and I still have to work on it. Then going to the bookstore and trying to get my money is another fun hassle when they see the various teeth marks. Shopping in general is fun. Whether it's groceries, eating out, or various bookstore purchases, things just weren't designed with dogs in mind. Not that I blame you guys or anything.

 

Think that'll about wrap up this entry. Though I will say a few more things concerning the blog. If you ever have questions for me you'd like some sort of substantial answer to I will gladly incorporate them into future entries. That way I don't have to make AMA's and you can get a better answer. Or if you have potential topic ideas or whatever go ahead and send them my way.

[Nathanael D. Striker]

>BYU

I've heard if it before since I know someone who goes there, but I haven't talked to her since high school. Also, I didn't know you were Mormon. Granted, I have an old friend who's Mormon, but I didn't know until graduation. o.o

[LordCowCowCowCowCowCowCowCow]

This was beautiful.

I'm glad talking to people has helped, and I'm glad you figured out your major and stuff quick enough. :D

I love the image of doggie wandering into clas and taking a seat.

Bite marks on texbooks are probably a no-no so I hope you found some kind of cover for them that keeps them safe.

[Thar]

Dang, man, it's a shame that you were so frustrated with the CAD assignments. I could've helped you out.

[Andx]

This was beautiful.

I'm glad talking to people has helped, and I'm glad you figured out your major and stuff quick enough. :D

I love the image of doggie wandering into clas and taking a seat.

Bite marks on texbooks are probably a no-no so I hope you found some kind of cover for them that keeps them safe.

 

Aw that's sweet of you cow. Thank you.

Good glad the dog stuff went over well. Didn't do a ton of it with this trying to describe stuffs. There'll be more funny stuff to come hopefully.

 

Dang, man, it's a shame that you were so frustrated with the CAD assignments. I could've helped you out.

 

Well I mean the actual CAD stuff was really fun. But the class was hard and it really pounded into my head that this wasn't what I wanted to be doing. I'm more the wants to understand the principles than design stuff kind of guy. So physics was always more my thing I just didn't realize it for a bit.

[Andx]

Entry 2: Weather Wimp

I was born and raised in the ever so lovely southern California. (Near LA but far enough away from it to not really feel like you were in it) And for those who are unfamiliar with the climate of said region of the USA, it's really temperate and nice. Like in the Summer you're looking at clear skies all day with temperatures in maybe the 90's on the Fahrenheit scale (roughly 32 C for those of you using Celsius). Winters see a pitiful amount of rain and usually nothing temperature-wise below 60 F/15.5 C. In general it's just sort of sunny and clear sitting around a very comfortable 75 F/24 C. Snow's practically unheard of unless you go into the mountains, the beach is like twenty minutes away, it hailed all of like twice in my eighteen years living there for like a minute total and it all melted right away, flood control channels fill up the moment you get any amount of rain and people forget how to drive if it's not bright and sunny.

 

And really as far as dogs are concerned (or at least this dog) that's just great weather. It's always a great time to run around and play outside and stuff and meet up with other dogs. People are always out and about doing things. It's just great. So of course having grown up there, like all the others, I very much became a weather wimp. A little bit of rain shuts down your life and ruins your day. And if you don't like getting your hair wet in the rain, imagine getting your entire body which is covered in fur wet. It's not fun. I have to shake a whole bunch and like wrap myself up in a bunch of towels and roll around for like an hour to dry it all out.

 

Well after high school my family moved on up to the east side of Washington State. And since then I've lived there for like a year split up into several three month intervals, I've been to college in Utah for what's now my third semester and I was in Florida for two years. And I've quickly come to realize that the weather everywhere else isn't nearly so perfect and beautiful.

 

In Washington it's always windy. Like no matter what there's at best a gentle breeze going if not a decently strong gust. Never having been one to enjoy getting haircuts or really try to style my fur in any way, getting it all blown around all the time can be kind of annoying at times. Another fun thing is that it actually snows there. It snows here too in Utah. In fact it snowed on me on my walk home from school today which served as the inspiration for today's post. I'm sure many of you are more familiar with snow than I am. I could probably count the number of times it's snowed on my in my life on two paws still. So whatever your opinions of the snow it's still got that sort of magical, run around in circles it's so exciting, effect on me.

 

Florida was the hardest on me in terms of dealing with weather. In Utah it's really dry and stuff so while chapped lips are thing it's nothing awful. But never having really lived in humidity, it was an experience. Summer was always in the 90's F with at least 80% humidity. Winter only needed to get to 60 F before the humidity chilled you to the bone. Like my fur does its job wonderfully trying to regulate my body temperature and stuff but it's still unpleasant. But oh my gosh Florida never stops raining in the summer. California's a desert, I'm used to less than ten inches of rain a year. Florida gets like forty inches of rain in about five months. And it gives you all of no warning about it raining too. The moment you feel droplets you have to know that within the next ten seconds it's going to be pouring on you for a good ten minutes at least. Needless to say I got good at getting under something quickly.

 

But yeah like I mentioned, it snowed a little bit today. You know how snow likes to stick to peoples clothes and stuff I imagine. And then because it's so cold out still it doesn't really melt right away. Then right as you step inside suddenly whatever you're wearing is all wet from all the little crystals melting away. Well that's what happened to me. Only I don't need clothing to catch it for me, my fur handles that wonderfully. So I got in and it all melted and suddenly I was wet. Never very fun to be wet, at least when you weren't intending to be.

 

So there's dog rambling about his weather experiences and how he's still a wimp in regards to them. As always feel free to say whatever, talk about your weather experiences, suggest other topics, all that jazz.

[LordCowCowCowCowCowCowCowCow]

I, too, dislike wet hair. And dislike my hair being blown around in the wind. I understand this feel very much.

Interesting to see how you feel about so many different kind of weathers, I've only ever been in Wisconsin so that's all I know. (To be fair Wisconsin has a nice variety of weather)

Curious how you'd fair up here honestly.

[Andx]

Entry 3: Doggy & Tech./Media

Well this morning I just watched The Hundred Foot Journey and while on the train of thought of movies and stuff I figured I could ramble on a little bit about my technology use and interaction with various forms of media for you. I'm sure you're curious how a dog manages to do all these things anyway so maybe this can grant you all a little insight into the magic of it all.

 

I've always liked computers and going on the internet and stuff. My family's never been into always having the newest and best phones so much as having good computers and reliable internet. It took us a while to get into the huge fancy flat screen TV thing too. And we were always a generation or so behind on video game consoles or whatever until like the Wii or something. I am proud to say that after hours of trying and struggling, i am capable of typing comfortably on most any keyboard these days despite my paws not working nearly as well for it as your hands. Though for it all to work as well as for me to operate a mouse I need to be sitting somewhere a fair bit higher than the computer being used.

 

And with similar struggles I got into gaming and operating TVs and things. One thing I've never been big into is cell phones though. I do not have a smartphone or tablet in my possession. That'd be hard stuff anyway since I'm not sure claws give off the electric signal most touch screens need to pick up these days. I've just never been very attached to phones or making calls. I got my first cell phone in high school since I was in the band and needed to be able to coordinate with my parents when I was getting back from a trip or something like that. Now I've just got a trac phone in case I need to be in contact with anyone. And it is not even close to a smartphone.

 

Along with that while I've been on YCM for a long while I don't use most other forms of social media. I have a Facebook but haven't logged into it in forever and haven't ever really enjoyed using it. Most other social media sites have yet to get me to sign up as well. So I get most of my internet interactions with people through here or skype or various online games and stuff which I've played a few of.

 

TV was a big part of my childhood that has become less pronounced. I used to love staring at the huge screens and see the pretty colors. And as my puppy brain developed a little more I started realizing there were actual shows and stories and things happening, not just pretty pictures! Who'd have thought? I watched all sorts of cartoons and things. TV in general in my family has shifted much more to live streaming through like Roku and stuff as I'm sure it's gone in many other homes. I catch bits of whatever my parents watch and stuff because while at home I'm always in the family room while using my laptop. That's how I got into Doctor Who and other things like that.

 

So I'm familiar with and use a fair bit of technology but I guess I wouldn't say I'm flooded with it? I mean the internet and the laptop is a fair bit of my life these days so if anything that's how I'm always plugged in. But I'm not constantly on my phone and haven't ever really been big into music. Speaking of which that's a funny story. When I was pretty young the cassette player broke in my family's van so we just never played music in the car until we got a new one. So without having grown up listening I simply never got into it. So I have never had an iPod or any such equivalent. I haven't downloaded music online or ever really purchased a CD for myself. I'm sure by this point most of you are thinking I'm crazy and reaching for your music playing device to comfort yourself with the thoughts that there's no such thing as a person that isn't always listening to music. Well if it helps I'll neglect to challenge your delusions any further.

 

Time for video games. Such fun. I've spent a lot of time with them. I want to say that Super Mario World on the SNES was my first video game that I ever played. I mostly grew up with the SNES, the N64 and the PS1 and had tons of stuff for each. I got really into RPGs and played a bunch of the Final Fantasy's and stuff. Other systems include: GBA/DS, PS2, PS3, Gamecube, Wii. And I think that's about where we're at at the moment. No wait I've got a PSP as well and my little sister has a 3DS. But yeah I love playing games. Figuring out how to work the controls is always an exciting new challenge but I get the hang of things pretty quickly these days. It's always great when someone sees me playing games for the first time. Most humans would never expect a dog to be capable of these sorts of things!

 

I guess the only other thing to talk about is like news and stuff. I mentioned technology and media so I guess news fits into that. I don't keep up with the news super well. It's really depressing all the time and never dwells on anything good for more than two minutes before going into all sorts of nonsense. It's all too political/ideological for me too. Maybe I just need to look harder for less biased sources. And it's not like I don't ever find out about things but watching actual news stations is not something I devote much time to anymore.

 

Well that's about all from me. If you've got any specific questions about stuff or ideas for other things feel free to say them. I will gladly try to explain how I'm able to use your fancy human things with my clumsy paws in further detail if you really want me to.

[LordCowCowCowCowCowCowCowCow]

Wow the struggle you went through in order to communicate with us, good for you doggy.

Fun to see a dogs perspective on electronics. And no music? You crazy creature you.

Pretty much agree about news stuff...well, good to know I'm not the only animal who things so!

 

I noticed you said band. How does a dog do band?

[Andx]

I noticed you said band. How does a dog do band?

 

This... is an excellent question. One that certainly doesn't get any easier to answer when I tell you that I first played Clarinet and then switched to the Oboe. Paws certainly don't cover all the necessary finger holes and I don't think most instruments were meant to be bitten down on with purely pointy teeth. So uhhh you may just have to trust me on this one that I did do it and did manage to work out.

 

Marching band was easy though! Cuz I didn't march. I was in the pit that stays up front and does all the extra percussion stuff. So I got to bang things. I totally wasn't the band mascot in any way!

[Andx]

Entry 4: Internet Family

So this is something I touched on in the opening post but as it's been like a week since I last blogged stuff and I wasn't coming up with much better ideas, I've decided to talk about the peoples on the internet I have the little internet family thing going on with! These are some of my favorite-est peoples and animals ever so it'll probably get really mushy and silly and stuff. It might also confuse you endlessly which is okay. I don't always understand it super well myself.

 

I should probably start with my master first or she might hurt me. You know Cherry... well probably anyway. She made her comeback hard to miss and old people who were active in clubs back in the day knew her pretty well too. I first saw Cherry back when she was named Zeonark here in the first club war RP. I knew like nothing of her other than she and everyone else in the war had it out for Shadow Zero. Eventually in my time of clubs and stuff I saw this one club that seemed fun and exciting but I was almost hesitant to join it. After chatting with my good friend Black, since he was in it, I decided to join the Absolute Powerforce. The first one I think. I forget how many times that thread's been remade. Conveniently I had begun being a dog like a few days before joining and Cherry instantly recognized my avi as Repede from the Tales series.

 

Over just chatting and interacting and eventually dueling on various websites and things I started really getting to know my master. I can't really say when exactly she became my master but she did and it's been quite the ride since then. She's really loving and funny and crazy and sort of has a god complex and likes booze (she'll say she doesn't have a problem though) and used to like murdering and raping everything that moved (she doesn't do that so much anymore thankfully). Now it's like the same old master but chilled out, smarter, a little more calm about things and stuff. I act a lot like a normal dog when it comes to her, getting really excited when I see her, bugging her all the time to play with me, getting treats and petting. It's da best. If you don't know the joy of having a great friend who feeds you, cleans you, plays with you, snuggles with you, and even rubs your belly then you're missing out on a great delight of life. Granted I understand if some of that is awkward for humans.

 

Then we have my birdie-sis! I love Caeda a whole bunch. Best online sibling you could ask for. And no you can't have her! She's my birdiesis! I'll bark at you if you try something! Anyway my possessiveness aside, Birdie has been a great friend and person to chat with. Our conversations are always of the silliest caliber and she's so nice and sweet and likes to hug. Hugging is nice. I never knew just how rough she had things until the recent-ish past so it amazes me she was always so nice and happy before. She'll never agree with me but she's a really strong person for making it through what she has and continuing to help others around her have a bit happier of a day. She's brightened mine a ton of times and deserves to be happy. And it's also really handy having a sibling that can fly. All sorts of shenanigans you can get up to with that, especially for an energetic doggy like me!

 

Black's birdie-sis's hubby so I guess that makes us brothers in law or however you pluralize that thing. Black was my best-est friend on YCM for quite a long time. And from that I guess when I became a dog he was like my first master or something like that. Unfortunately I wasn't a very good dog to him at one point and things kinda took a bad turn in terms of our friendship. Things aren't so bad anymore though but we haven't chatted a whole lot. But he and birdie-sis are each other's biggest supports and sources of happiness so I hope it all works out for them!

 

This last Halloween was quite the ride for those of us who remember it. On a side note I didn't go trick-or-treating because no one ever takes me seriously when they see a dog on their door step. That and I think they'd feel bad giving me chocolate. But anyway yeah the whole monster masquerade thing happened. And in that it was randomly revealed that Shiki the vampire girl was actually birdiesis's sister! And by extension I was her brother. And as Cherry was busy in those days Shiki and her hubby Lord Cowcow took me into their home. So Cow's also a brother-in-law for me. And he's super nice. He's super loving and kind and loves hugging, which is nice because I like being hugged. I don't see much of Shiki but it helps that she's kind of Aix. And Aix is a big meanie to me so there's that too. Cow's a very responsible person and such. Now that Cherry's not derping around doing I don't know what I have two places to call home and do stuff at! So that's exciting.

 

And that's about as complicated as I make the internet family thing for myself. I know Aix is related to practically everyone here but I don't know how so I don't bother going into that. While not family I have a special sense of kinship with the other dogs here on YCM. Other than like Rai and Thar I'm not sure who all that includes.

 

So there's me saying nice things about the people and stuff. I love them a lot as well as all the other good friends I've made out there in this crazy place we call the internet. 

[LordCowCowCowCowCowCowCowCow]

That was honestly really beautiful doggie. ^^ And happy to have you part of the family. :D

[Andx]

Entry 5: Food Stuff, Yum

 

At my birdie-sis's recommendation, I have determined to talk about food. And by this I mean the things I eat, the things I cook, meals I like, meals I don't like, my non-existent food allergies and all that sort of fun stuff. I'm sure you like food too though I apologize if you don't. Hopefully you get hungry reading stuff, guess we'll see how well I can talk about things.

 

I should just start by saying that the stuff you humans call "dog food" is fine and all but man the crap you give yourselves is so much better. As such I mostly eat your foods because they tastes so much better. Those of you who have dogs are probably accustomed to them being very interested in whatever you're eating. Well it's cuz dog food isn't as nice and fatty and sugary and delicious. I'm amazed I'm not fat from the stuff humans eat though.

 

So yeah I've eaten human foods most of my life. I was always a bit of a picky pup as I hear many human children are. Dinner usually consisted of macaroni and cheese or spaghetti or some sort of sammich and then my mom would make something else for her and my dad. Well eventually she decided two meals was too much work for one mama dog to handle so she just started feeding us the dinner she'd make for her and dad. And it went over mostly okay. Veggies were never a favorite of mine and depending on the thing I'd have a hard time eating dinner.

 

I'm happy to report I'm much less picky now. I like trying out new foods and dishes and things and I even sort of enjoy veggies! Meat's great though. I love beef and chicken but some of my favorite stuff ever is seafood. I don't remember when but I had shrimp once have loved it ever since it whatever form it takes in a dish. Similarly crab is pretty awesome and I've had lobster on occasion. Though seafood is often a bit too expensive for me or my family to be enjoying too regularly.

 

As for dinner my family always eats it together whenever we can. We all take turns cooking and stuff so I know my way around the kitchen. I'm not always super coordinated since counters are so tall and my paws aren't super graceful with utensils and such meant for humans. But I manage to wing my way through things. But yeah we have some trends and stuff. Like one night a week tends to be a pasta night, another's a soup night, another's a fish night, and we play around with recipes to some extent. Mostly my dad and me though. We're the explorers of food in the family.

 

So I need to go off on a little tangent here for a moment. I was in Florida from March 2012 to March 2014 and in part of that I spent a lot of time around Haitian people. And oh my goodness if you haven't had Haitian food you're missing out on some amazing stuff. When a Haitian cooks a meal, for one it takes all day, but the smell is powerful and fills the home. And it's always a really appealing smell. (unless they're cooking fish. I don't know how but they aren't too amazing at fish) And then you eat the food and it's full of all the flavors you could smell in the air. It's amazing. They made me love beans and rice of all things. They have so many sauces and things with the meats and veggies. I really want some but I'd be hard pressed to find a Haitian in the middle of Utah.

 

Right back to food with my family. I've always been a cereal eater for the mornings. I have a big bag of some knock off cinnamon toast crunch right here in my dorm that I eat for breakfast every morning. It's nice getting to just stick my face into a bowl of cereal in the morning. Pouring things can get a bit complicated but basically I get the bowl like under the milk in the fridge and let gravity help me out a bit. Doesn't always go over well and then I have to clean stuff and that's just as awkward. Anyway for lunch I've often eaten sammiches of some form. PB&J for the longest time growing up but more recently I prefer deli meats and stuff, usually turkey.

 

I love all forms of desserts that I've encountered so far. Ice cream is probably my favorite thing ever. I could eat ice cream all day. I'd be really sick afterwards but I'd enjoy it while in the process of eating. I love minty stuff and cookies and cream the most probably. I'm generally a minimalist in terms of toppings on the stuff. Right up there with ice cream is a good cheesecake. Would love to have some right now but again I'm a poor college dog and that doesn't fit into the budget too terribly well.

 

As far as foods I don't like well there's not a lot that come to mind. But there is one thing I can rant about. I hate pickles. Like I just don't like them at all. I'll have them taken off anything at any fast food place. Because just taking them off doesn't work. They get their gross pickle taste all over everything even when they're not there anymore. I try my best to keep pickles out of my life. Granted I might actually enjoy them now. I forget when I decided I didn't like them but it's been a while and I'm more open to more tastes and stuff. But for now my bias remains in place. No pickles for this dog.

 

Now as for what to treat me with when you want to reward me I've gotten quite the mix of things. A lot of people will try various meats. Bacon works best, I find it hard to control myself when offered bacon to do something. Cherry's been giving me honey buns of late and those things are ridiculously amazing for cheapo snack cakes. So that works pretty well. Food's like the best way to associate things as good in a dog's mind. And while I like to think I'm above such conditioning I don't think I am entirely.

 

But yeah I really love eating food. And remarkably I'm not obese despite this love of food. A little overweight yeah, but nothing bad. Food's so amazing and I will always enjoy eating it. Feel free to discuss your food preferences too. As always I'm open to topic ideas and stuff.

 

Happy eating everyone!

[LordCowCowCowCowCowCowCowCow]

Okay your family dinner time sounds like a lovely experiance. Don't get that often myself but it's cool to know the doggie gets it.

Me and Shiki should plan something for you

Cinnamon toast crunch is a wonderous gift to the world and it's the greatest cereal in the world, hands down.

 

Edit: OH  MY GOSH JUST SAW THE LOGO THING AND IT IS PERFECT

[Nathanael D. Striker]

Anyway you can talk about me*shot*

[Andx]

Okay your family dinner time sounds like a lovely experiance. Don't get that often myself but it's cool to know the doggie gets it.

Me and Shiki should plan something for you

Cinnamon toast crunch is a wonderous gift to the world and it's the greatest cereal in the world, hands down.

 

Edit: OH  MY GOSH JUST SAW THE LOGO THING AND IT IS PERFECT

 

It has been a real blessing in my life. Every day my family gets to sit down together and just talk about things. Whether it was stuff that happened or whatever conversation led to. Really helped make me close to them.

Oooooo, that sounds exciting.

 

Anyway you can talk about me*shot*

 

Ha, silly striker. I'd talk about you but there wouldn't be enough to say to warrant a whole blog entry on it. Cuz I wouldn't want to bring up past stuff and be mean and I've hardly interacted with you of late.

[Nathanael D. Striker]

Looks like we need to interact more. D:
Would you IM Skype a Duck?

[LordCowCowCowCowCowCowCowCow]

I have a request. I would like to know how doggie does daily chores. And why doggie needs to do these things.

Such as laundry and dishes.

[Andx]

Entry 6: Everyday Doggy

It was requested of me to discuss the various chores I engage in, how I do them, and why I need to in some instances. For those of you who did not see this suggestion, see the above post by the nice cow. It's a good topic though, full of excellent questions and admittedly sometimes embarrassing for me because I'm not great at doing some of the things. But I'm gonna dive into it anyway, ramble a little bit and see what we get.

 

So every week I do some laundry. And the first thought I'm sure you're thinking is "Oh so doggy wears clothes then?" and the answer to that is no! I do not do such things. Dogs don't really care about that stuff and I'm still not sure why you people do. But then your fur only covers the top of your heads so I guess that is kind of embarrassing. Initially though I was super curious about this laundry stuff. I'd always hear people talking about it and I've been in and near laundry rooms and there's all sorts of interesting smells and noises. So I did some and now I do laundry for my master. She wouldn't remember if I didn't anyway so it's good that I do. I get all the clothes in a nice big laundry bag and drag it over to the machines by grabbing it with my mouth as I do with most things I grab. When I get up on my hind legs I can see into the machines and after a lot of strenuous lifting with my neck i manage to get the bag up there too and sort of dump it out. Detergent's a little easier cuz I can just tip bottles of liquid stuff while holding it in my mouth. Quarters are really hard to handle though and it's quite the game I play to put each one in. Eventually it does all get done and I've even gotten good at not getting my spit all over clean clothes when I take them out!

 

Cow also specifically mentioned dishes and here is where I sort of make things easy on myself. Despite knowing and speaking human pretty well and going to college and stuff, I don't think I'm all that much superior to other dogs. A bowl works for me just as well as any other dog. So I got a nice thick plastic bowl so I don't break it when I drop it for food and another for whatever I wanna drink, usually water though. Now I do have other utensils and stuff to cook with but it all just goes in the bowl. I do wash the one bowl however. Thankfully dishwashers are pretty low to the ground and easy to open and stuff. And usually someone else will start it so I don't worry about that too much.

 

...I don't really wanna talk about vacuuming. I-it's not that I can't do it I just... okay I'll say it, it's really scary. It makes loud noises and moves towards you and tries to eat your feet! It's a monster that steals everything off the floor and throws it into a weird spinny chamber! But people just use them all the time like they're nothing. I don't know how you can be so brave about it. I like my paws too much to trust them around those things. Even thinking of the vacuum makes me want to go have sad doggy snuggles with someone.

 

Moving on to happier thoughts, shopping is another thing I do every week! I got this cool bag thingy on wheels that has this handle that humans would normally use to lug stuff around without having to lift. Well I improvise a bit and get the handle attached to my collar so I can pull stuff around without having to be awkward about it. Initially the grocery stores are sort of confused when I come looking to buy stuff. But after struggling to get things off shelves and stuff they usually come help me out. After a while they know me well enough that I just show up with a list of what I want and someone goes and helps me get the stuff! Do recall that I make and eat human food so it's not a whole lot different than the shopping you do... maybe a little more meat intensive though. The sight of a dog walking down the street to get his groceries home is pretty well known now so it's kinda funny.

 

Bathing's another thing. I guess I get washed more often than the usual dog. My master doesn't like shedding very much so that helps keep that down. Normally she'll give me a bath like any other master and dog would do. Lots of soap and rubbing and rinsing and stuff. It's a fun time! Of course sometimes when I gotta go fast on stuff I'll brave the shower myself and figure out how to get clean and dry or something. It's still a work in progress but I'm getting pretty okay at it. Soap tastes really gross though. Don't know if you knew that. But now you do so you don't have to go try it yourself.

 

As for general cleaning I can do scrubbing and wiping stuff off pretty well. But when it like comes to spraying chemicals and cleaners and stuff I'm really awkward. I don't really wanna use my mouth to spray things in case I get some in there so I gotta try and use two paws and while squeezing the trigger thingies works out well enough, aiming is pretty tough. So in general if someone else can spray the stuff I can clean up effectively. You might ask why I shouldn't just be like any other dog and not do the stuff but I like clean stuff. I'm just super lazy about cleaning so things are always a bit cluttered and messy around me.

 

I'm trying to think of other chores and things I could talk about but am mostly drawing a blank. Don't let this discussion fool you, I still spend most of my time derping around online or with games or snuggling with people. But there are things a dog's gotta do. And when this dog's gotta do things, he does them... mostly. I mean I could bring up my horrible procrastination habits when it comes to school but that's best saved for another discussion.

[LordCowCowCowCowCowCowCowCow]

Who was the silly person who suggested a crazy thing like this? Sheesh...

Can confirm, vacuums are scary. Though my dog is more afraid of the toaster than the vacuum.

Always a fun read. ^^

[Andx]

Entry 7: Do you know dogs?

 

Hey, hi, hello, woof, yes this is doggy. It's been for days since I last blogged at thing here so I figured I should finally get around to remedying that before it actually ends up being a full month since the last entry. It was suggested to me that I tell people things about dogs that are either misconceptions or not well known and stuff like that so here we go.

 

First off, what's your favorite color? And to this you'll probably ask me why it matters as being a dog makes me color blind. But you would be mistaken in saying this as I am in fact not color blind!

 

Warning: Incoming science talk. Nothing super technical but please skip if you don't want to learn.

 

So while I don't know entirely how the eye works I figure I need to explain a little bit of it. Light enters your eyes through the nice little opening in it and strikes the retina in the back. The retina is full of little structures that help it pick up light in terms of intensity but also color. These structures known as cones are what help create the sensation of color in the mind. They come in three varieties, those sensitive to red wavelengths, green wavelengths and blue wavelengths. When the proper wavelengths strike your cones they send the signal for a color to your brain which is what actually produces the images for you. Any color you see other than red, blue or green is simply a mixture of these three types of cones reacting in different amounts.

 

So what's this got to do with dogs and colorblindness? Well us dogs do have cones in our eyes meaning we do in fact perceive color. But where humans have all three types of cones in their eyes, dogs only have two. This limits what colors I can perceive and how I perceive what you see. So in essence, imagine everything you see as red turns a dark brown, everything you see green yellow or orange appearing yellowish, anything that looks blue-green is gray, and everything that's purple looks blue. If you've got that in your head you know what it's like to be a dog and perceive color.

 

It may interest you to know that you humans may see color better than me and my kind but we see better in the dark. Just more food for thought I suppose.

 

Right so another thing you may know about is that special spot on dogs. You know, you pet them there and their back legs start twitching out? It's funny to see and one might be inclined to think the dog is really enjoying it so the leg twitching is the dog getting really happy and stuff. What's actually happening is you're triggering a reflex in the dog. And if you've ever had your reflexes tested, it's not exactly fun or exciting to have your body move without you meaning it to. So while you think it's funny, your dog may not be enjoying having that spot scratched as much as it might appear to.

 

I don't wanna go on too long today with this. Would have to look more into things myself to post longer. I suppose there something I could say about uh... certain lovey dovey things and dogs but we're supposed to be a kids site here and uhhhh yeah we're not gonna go there.

 

Anyway hopefully I'll be back in full force for a little while now, whatever that means. I'll try not to go almost a month before the next entry anyway. As always feel free to suggest topics of discussion or whatever. I don't even know how many of you care about this so to those of you reading thanks and I hope it's entertaining.