I exist!

Long time no chat, I know.

Yet again, I'm not in the best frame of mind to really say much, but I shall update nonetheless.

Before anyone else asks: Yes, I have rats now. Do NOT ask me about them. We've been in a fight with the breeder for the two weeks since we've brought them home. Things are not going well, to put it mildly. So please - don't get overly excited and jumpy and hyper and ask how I'm liking the rats. I'm not.

Now, that being said, I do not hold it against the poor girls that they weren't socialized. They do have a sweet temperment and they are drop dead gorgeous. But they cannot / will not be held. I can't pet them, hold them, play with them, bribe them, anything. They see someone and run away. It takes a while but one CAN coax them into being little beggars that stand at the door, even if you can't hold them. You close the door and they cling to it (one would assume that means they weren't done playing/eating/whatever yet...) You walk out the room to, say, answer the phone. You return a minute later - they act like they've never seen you before in their lives. They race away to the farthest corner possible and shake and tremble and hide. The process starts over.

There. That was a brief rundown. Do NOT give me advice on this. Do NOT try to be helpful. Don't say something like 'well, if you work with them, won't they be fine?' Answer: no. We've tried this before. At this age, they're near impossible to adequetly socialize. If they're people rats, you can train them to do a million things at this age. But they need to trust us. Trust cannot be learned that much at this age. So please. PLEASE. Don't try to be helpful. I can guarantee that I've either thought it, tried it, considered it, etc.

Now that I've clarified the question that I'm getting and not wanting, let's move on to other topics.

Just returned from an overnight venture to C-bus. Friday dad and I went up to the Ohio State Fair. Spent all day there. I milked a cow and saw some cute pigs. Or, if you asked dad, I milked a pig. Mom wanted to know how that went over... so do I. I don't remember milking any pigs... Dad said that he was getting in trouble for being too verbose at work, so he said he got rid of all unnecessary words - and thus, got rid of the word 'cow' and 'saw some' leaving 'milked a pig' in the thought's stead. We saw some gorgeous horses, but unfortunately the horse shows hadn't started yet or had just finished, leaving few horses there. Saw several sheep and pigs - the fair boar was huge! Bigger than most ponies I've known. I wouldn't want to cross him... his bottom teeth were as big as my fingers. Saw a calf, who was sweet as anything. So sweet. Had some fresh ice cream, and various fair foods.

Stayed the night in Dublin, then got up the next morning to head off to Dublin's Irish Festival. I'm rather sad that I did not get to make use of the jacuzzi or the pool at the hotel. I'd really looked forward to it - I was too beat to do anything but sleep. I got my bread bowl with stew in it at the festival - usually I must wait until Renfest. This year, Renfest came early. ;) The festival was awesome, and different than Dayton's or Cincinnati's. This had a lot of booths, reenactments, etc, and not just music. Not that I mind just music, but it was nice to have lots of STUFF to look at as well. It had seven music stages spread out amongst the booths. I fell in love with an Irish Wolfhound. Oh man she was gorgeous. We watched the Tannahill Weavers (great Scottish group, been around for 30+ years), saw various other bands, and just kinda meandered about. We got back home around 1 am. Unfortunately, I fell asleep in the car within five minutes of our journey home. Thankfully dad was there driving, else I'd have had to get a hotel in C-bus again for that night. Absolutely beaten. I came home at 1 am, and slept till at least 3pm on Sunday, and that was when I got up only because I was awoken to go watch Wall-E.

Speaking of which, that was a bit of a letdown. I'd hoped for a better movie than that. I mean, it was cute and all, and Wall-E and Eve were adorable, but I was just overall not impressed. Bummer.

I guess I should cover Dayton as well. Dad and I went up for that Celtic fest as well, and there were some awesome groups I found. Slide and Scythian were both spectacular. Slide is from Ireland, and Scythian is from DC area. Of the two, I'm thinking more people that read this would prefer Scythian. It was a bit rock, a bit celtic, a bit gypsy, a bit funky. And I will admit, some of reason I liked them was simply watching them on stage. Talk about an energetic performance!

So that's that. Still job searching, still trying my hardest to socialize the rats, and so forth.

I apologize for such a long rant, but that is my update. Take it as you will.

Below are some videos I found on YouTube. I do not claim that any of you will like any of them, but watch/listen if you'd like.


Scythian - Tammlin (it cut out one of the best parts of the song, like the jumping around, but oh well...)




Scythian - not sure of the song, but fun humor clip




Tannahill Weavers - (not sure which song this is at the moment...)




Slide - Just So Far Away