In two weeks I will be thirty-three. 33. That's not an age, dammit, that's a record speed...oh, uh, well I guess I am old, if I'm babbling about records...

What do you think about this new design?

BRANDY

Brandy and I were brought together by destiny, if you will. When I met her, I was with my play-sister, Angie. We were watching "Beethoven" with my nephews Chris and Angelo. The neighborhood dopefiend came by with this tiny puppy. She was trying to sell her. I took her in my hands - she was so little - and her amber eyes just melted me. She crawled along my arm and buried her face in my side. I told the chick "you ain't getting her back".

All I had was 5 bucks, and I gave it to her. What was I doing? I lived in a studio apartment with a crochety cat and a lazy man. But I hadn't had a dog in my life since my Dalmatian, Pandora, who was with me from age 8 to 18. Angie offered to keep the dog at her house, and the boys promised to take care of her when I wasn't there.

I was sipping on a glass of Hennessey and Coca Cola. The puppy was roughly the same color as the cognac in the bottle and I thought about naming her Hennessey. The boys offered some names, but then Angie said "name her Brandy, like in that song by the Whispers." So Brandy she became. Besides, Angelo couldn't say "Hennessey" anyway.

Brandy was covered with fly-bite sores and was walking on three legs, because she'd been stepped on. She was filthy and had fleas, and her eyes were all crusty. I sent Angie's stepbrother out for some puppy chow and cleaned her up. We were trying to figure out what kind of dog she was. Chris said he knew her mother, she was a stray dog whose owners moved away and left her and she just hung out in the neighborhood (I'm sure these people have had some very bad things happen to them for doing that to their dog). This stray was an all-black Chow mix.

Brandy was a pretty reddish chestnut color, with some black markings on her face and cute little folded over ears. She had a skinny little slip of a tail and tiny white paws. The first day or so that we had her she didn't seem very playful. But once she'd gotten clean and had eaten some food, she started acting like a real puppy. Angie laid newspaper down in the bathroom and made the boys keep her in there most of the time. She's a cat person and only tolerates certain dogs. But because her boys wanted a dog so much, she decided to try to warm up to Brandy.

A few days after I bought Brandy, I took her to the vet to try to figure out how old she was. The vet estimated her age at 5 weeks; counting down from that day, five weeks ago would have been September 27th. That had been Liebschoen's birthday.

If you've ever had a German Shepherd in your family, then you know what I mean when I say that Liebschoen was my nanny. The minute my parents brought me home from the hospital, Liebschoen took it upon herself to be my guardian. She would only let my parents come near me, and a year and a half later she was the same way towards Danny. Liebschoen was a beloved part of our family so I considered it a good sign that Brandy's birthday was going to be the same as hers.

A couple weeks later I took Brandy in to get her first puppy shots. Instead of taking her back to Angie's that night, I took her home so I could monitor her. She had a fever and was quite lethargic most of the night. I had her in a little shoebox, and had to lift her head to make her drink some water. In the morning she felt better, and was bouncing around my apartment, trying to get close enough to my cat Misha to get a good smell. My boyfriend was instantly sprung on Brandy. He wouldn't let me take her back to Angie's.

I bought Brandy a crate so I could housetrain her correctly. I bought a bunch of pheremone-treated absorbent pads and had her housetrained in less than a month. But one night when she'd been living with us for about two weeks my boyfriend got tired of hearing her whine because she had to sleep by herself, in the crate next to our bed. Not only did he bring her into our bed, but the next day he taught her how to get onto the bed. She was ruined for life. I haven't gotten her off the bed yet!

Brandy is still that gorgeous, well, brandy color. She doesn't have the black markings on her face anymore; just black "eyeliner", and a thin white streak that runs between her eyes. Her ears stand up straight and make her look a lot like a fox. She has beautiful, thick tufts of hair behind her ears and her ruff is thick and white. Her belly is white, too, and her feet, which are small and dainty. Her little slip of a tail has grown into the most gorgeous chestnut and white plume, that curls over her back and gives her a definitely regal look.

My dog loves tennis balls, running in open fields, and belly rubs. She loves men and kids, but has no patience for babies or toddlers, or for other dogs. She believes that she was put on earth to chase all cats and squirrels. She kills possums. She swims like a water spaniel and herds like a border collie. She's the stuck up chick at the dog park that all the other dogs want to play with. But Brandy, diva that she is, won't give them the time of day. She's smart as a whip, and damn near quick as one, too. She's fiercely loyal and jealous. And today, she's seven years old.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY!

Wonder what Fiona is up to?

Eve: Promotions: Barrette

Discounts USA

I feel you! This is not the Bob & Katie Show!

And I'm not digging NBC's pre-recorded, edited and tricked-out coverage, either. I'm knowin who's winning from NPR before I see it on the damn TV. That ain't right...

locateme.com People Finder

I do NOT believe what just happened. I just got in a FIGHT with my neighbor. Yes, a real fight, I socked the shit out that bitch. I can't even sit here and convey to y'all all the mess that's been going on. Let's just say that I've known her since she was 13. I know her better than most people. I know damn near everybody in her family, cousins and grandmas and all. So believe me when I say that she is NOT A GOOD PERSON. She is a liar, a thief, a prostitute, and she's a bitch.

Maybe I'll find the time to write a bunch of pages about ALL the scanless shit she done pulled in the years I've known her. Maybe I'll just say fuck all semblance of propriety that I've always had for my friends and ex-friends, and just expose all her shit right here on the 'net. I haven't even blogged about her because I don't like talking shit about folx behind their backs. If I don't feel I can say it to your face, I'm not about to go telling other folx. Well after boxing her ass off my porch I just don't give a fuck and I will tell it all. Fucking bitch. She sleeps with men to get money, she's done it for years, I know the names of the men and I even know some of the financial arrangements she's made with them. I know all the shit she done done and most of it is just plain dirty, triflin, scanless.

I'm okay - she didn't get any hits in but she poked me in my eye and scratched up my chest (I washed it & put Neosporin on it, because she NEVER has soap on her sink and I know for a FACT that even though she is a CNA she don't wash her hands with soap every time she uses the bathroom, or when she's handling meat & stuff like that. I'm a slob but I ain't bout to be spreading no e. coli and shit).

She did try to put her hand around my neck, and I can honestly say I'm not too clear on what happened after that. Even if you're playing with me, if you put your hands on my neck you're getting hit. I just can't abide that for some reason. I do know that I was boxing her. I was NOT fighting like a girl. I socked her at least a few times in the head, I guess it would've been her face had she not had her face down.

I do feel bad because I spit on her back, when she was walking away from me after we'd first pushed each other around a bit (she was trying to push her way into my house). I know that shit ain't cool but I really get incensed when folx lie on me, and she was standing in my door with her hand all in my face saying a bunch of lies. She was acting all righteously indignant but yet and still being wrong as hell. It was after I spit on her that she came at my neck, I think. But fuck that. She should've known she can't kick my ass. Ain't nothin changed. I might be all obese & shit now, but if I could kick your ass back in the day I still can.

Triflin BIOTCH.

I haven't had much time to get online with Cutty busted. He needs rack & pinion work and I don't have a job right now to pay for it. I'm running around with Jayden on the bus all day trying to take care of all my errands so I don't really get 'puter time. When I do I just have time to check emails and my regular reads. It sucks not having wheels. But don't fret, Cutty will be fixed before the end of the month.

I haven't been journaling or anything. Blah. Well hey, I'm out in the sun and air and getting some exercise. And there's a plus: my abdominal deformity makes me look very pregnant - at least from the right side - so I get lots of seats offered to me on the bus. Sometimes I just say "no thank you", but if I'm tired enough I'll just say "thanks" and plop on down.

And I've been finding some cool surprises in neighborhoods I've just driven through for a few years. Along Telegraph Avenue, from around 27th street down to like 20th street, there used to be a bunch of empty businesses. Most of them, including Sears and The Wherehouse, and one of the best coffee shops around, left in the 90's. Later, when Capwell's went out of business, Sears came back to the neighborhood - but in the old Capwell's building. The old Sears Building at Telegraph and 27th is still empty (it's being rebuilt as live-work space. Thanks Mayor Brown, just what Oakland needs).

Korean family associations have bought up a lot of the empty properties in the last few years. I'd read about this, but last week was my first time actually being on that stretch of Telegraph for years. I'd been doing 30 mph down Telegraph without stopping anywhere. So when Jayden and I got of the bus and walked down the street to go pay a bill, we found some really interesting things.

I discovered a little "natural foods" store that sells essential oils for pretty cheap. They don't have a great selection, but they've got lavender and tea tree oil, which are my two most used oils. $6.95 an ounce - tea tree at Walgreens is $11 for less than an ounce. After buying the oils we went into Pusan Super, the Asian market where the big fabric store used to be.

If you don't have an Asian grocery in your area, you're definitely missing out. I've been shopping in Chinatown and "New Chinatown" (which is actually businesses owned mostly by SE Asians) for all my adult life. They've got things you just can't find in regular supermarkets. Things like Pocky, or those big bowls of "unfried" udon noodles, better than any cup o' ramen you'll find at Safeway. And in the "deli" section at Pusan (I'm not sure what it's actually called - there aren't many signs in English), they've got a great selection of Korean BBQ, kimchee, pickled veggies, marinated beef and other delicious stuff. And of course, Asian groceries are one of the few places you can find My Shaldan air freshener ("with natural Limonene!")

I bought us some noodle bowls and some Pocky for Jayden, and some grapefruit My Shaldan. We headed up Telegraph towards the bus I wanted to catch, and found a little coffee shop called Papa Buzz. It's right next to the Bing art gallery, which is a really funky, edgy, bohemian kinda gallery in what used to be two or three businesses; I don't remember now what used to be there, but I'm pretty sure there was a bar and a shoe repair shop.

Papa Buzz is tiny, with maybe two chairs and a table in the window, and a bar with tall stools running the length of the room. There is a little patio in the back, full of found items. None of the chairs match, and they're all pretty well-used. There are metal candleholders nailed to the fence, plants in cool containers, and it's very, very comfy back there. I got a caramel mocha (which was perfectly made, btw) and some juice for Jayden. We sat in the patio and I drank my coffee while Jayden ate a sandwich I'd gotten him earlier. I saw a water dish back there, and asked if a cat lived there. Come to find out the barista (do they call non-Starbucks coffee jerks that?) guy brings his dog to work a few days a week. My kind of place!

I hate not having a car - especially on a day like today, when we've got a month's worth of laundry to do and no way to get to the wash house. But I really enjoy getting back in touch with parts of my city I'd forgotten about, and finding new stuff to do.

I'm somebody! InternetBumperStickers used my suggestion!

Color Cube

This has got to be the sickest, funniest shit I've seen yet.

DEPRESSION
SUCKS
and I'm so tired of it.

I'm learning how to make forms. Check out the table to the right: I've got a link to my new survey, and a feedback form. Cool, ain't I?

I just love watching Showtime at the Apollo. It comes on at 12:30 am Monday mornings, and thanks to years of working swing shift, I'm usually up to watch it (often Jayden is, too). Tonight, there's this guy singing a Kenny Lattimore song. He can't really sing, although he does have some good note-hitting moments. I think the 6'6" chick who sang Natalie Cole is gonna win - she blew the hell out the song. But, baby singing the Kenny Lattimore song is FINE. And let's just say I don't normally go for the El Debarge look. But damn. He just really looks edible...

Okay, gotta go before Apollo Kids comes on...watch for Jayden on there in a few years! J

I keep reading in people's blogs about really cool, oddball referrers in their site stats. So what do I find when I check mine? Saturday+jobs and check+gages. Does this indicate how boring I am? I work on Saturdays and let my car run out of gas. *YAWN*