Ugliness is in the Eye of the Beholder

Last was the first night of puppy kindergarten for Isis.  We were afraid she'd be the biggest dog there, and sort of just bowl all the other puppies over, but as it turned out there were at least two other her size and energy level.  One of them I feel pretty confident is a Bernese Mountain Dog, and actually younger than Isis.  Once she got over her initial "OMG OTHER PEOPLE AND DOGS AND PEEEEEOPLE!" spaz, she did quite well.

It was interesting to see the variety of people and their dogs- and, moreover, to see what different people had named their different dogs.  I don't know... I'm one of those people who doesn't really believe in giving animals people names, so it was hard for me not to snicker at things like "Frank".  But all of the puppies were stupidly cute, and the end of class involved passing the puppies around from person to person (it's a socializing thing) and my heart just about melted from all the adorability.  I mean really.

Which brings us to this:

Yes, we've been watching Ugly Betty.  It's a great show and I love it.

After kindergarten we went to visit my Katie, so that she and her man and of course Trout could meet Isis.  I wasn't totally sure  how that was going to work out- poor Trout is a middle-aged dog who has certainly earned a quiet evening of non-harassment if he wants one, but he actually perked up and got playful with Isis- even reprimanded her when she had it coming, which I was very grateful for (she needs more animals not willing to put up with her puppy guff).  The most hilarious part of the evening was when Nathan was trying to get Isis to sit with a treat: Trout (like the good boy he is) sat and waited, and when Isis finally got around to sitting, Trout reached over with paw and smacked her down like, "Move it, kid- that treat's for me!"

Show Me Mercy

In addition to finally reading American Vampire, I also decided the time had come for me to give the Mercy Thompson books (Patricia Briggs) a try (what can I say- I'm on a paranormal kick).  I really like them so far, and you know what that means- character doodles!

That's a coyote.  Honest.

I'm blowing through them pretty quickly, but fortunately she's a prolific writer, and has more than one series.  I really admire authors that can consistently turn out good work on a schedule.  Don't get me wrong- it's impressive as hell to be able to write The Great American (1000 Page) Novel, but it takes a different skill set, I think, to be able to write Something Fun But Different year after year.  And as much as it would be awesome to be in the former category of Gods Touched, I think it's more likely that I have a shot at the latter, so long as I'm willing to settle down and work.

God Bless America...

...and her monsters.

Back to ballpoint- huzzay!

Yep, I've finally gotten around to reading American Vampire, and I'm enjoying it most thoroughly (even got Nathan to read 'em).  Nice to see vampires as monsters again- I do get a bit tired of the whole, "Oh woe is me, I want to drink people," shtick.  Especially in the universes where drinking doesn't have to lead to death.  But then again, I'm a flesh-eater, myself, sooo... Even more than that, however, I'm enjoying the creative evolutionary twist.  Mad props to people who make what's old, new again.

Wait, Pencils?

Yeah, I know, I know- you weren't totally sure I even knew how to use pencils.  But I do.  And here's proof, in the form of a concept sketch of Pippa and two other Major Characters.

Generally speaking, I don't like working with pencils because I don't like how messy they are: hence I do 98% of my sketching in ballpoint pen (and 1.99% in brush pen).  But I thought I was going to turn this into a Real Piece, so I started in pencil so I could mess with composition and proportions and the like.  I don't think it will go past this point, but I do like the sketch well enough, and so all's not lost.

Blood Will Tell

I'm getting that urge again- that Writing Urge.  Never mind the fact that I still haven't edited/rewritten the Sleeping Beauty story: the time has come to start work on the Next One.  My brain is churning with the stuff, and as such you get a doodle of the main character.  She's had a rough time of it- and it's going to get worse.

And this is after some time to heal.

Poor Pippa.  To tell you the truth, I don't know that she's going to get a classically happy ending.  At least, I haven't been able to think one up for her, yet.  But time (and multiple drafts) will tell.

Balls to the Wall, Ladies

It's Saturday, and you know what that means- Crossfit!  Woo!

Nathan stayed home to nurse Isis (turns out she has a parasite- super fun.  But hey, better than the worst-case-scenarios I'd been building in my head, which tended to involve perforated intestines and the like...) so I headed over for some personalized torture on my own.

The warmup was, again, more of what I'd personally consider a workout in and of itself (it involved something called Knees-to-Elbows), but I also noticed that I had an easier time with it than last week, so I suppose that eventually the warmup will just feel like a warmup to me.  I definitely look forward to that day.

For the WoD we did something a little different.  "Box of Doom" was scrawled on the board, and I would be lying if I didn't cop to a sinking feeling in my stomach.  I had visions of an hour spent doing box-jumps (and I'm not even sure I could do one!) (although after watching that video I really want to) but no- it was nothing so worst-case-scenario-ish as that.  Instead, Aubrey brought out a heart-decorated box and had each of us (there were three ladies) pull out a "valentine" with a workout written on it- then she wrote all three on the board, and that became our WoD.  So it could have been really, really evil, but instead it turned out to be just semi-evil:

 10 Push Ups
10 Hollow Rocks
(x2)
-----
100 Double-Unders
-----
50 Wall-Balls

Me being me, however, meant that I had to modify the workout down to my level: sit-ups instead of hollow rocks (core isn't strong enough to keep my lower back to the floor yet), and 400 normal jump rope.  And I must say- remember the other day when I said in regards to jumping rope (and I quote) "that was fun and honestly I could have done it all day"?  Yeah well I lied.  In truth of fact I can do about 75 before I decide that there are approximately one million things I'd rather be doing all day.  And of course the more tired I got, the clumsier I got, and the more time I had to spend untangling myself.  But I got through it, and then moved on to wall-ball.

Why, medicine ball?  Whhhhhyyyyy?

I was able to do about seven consecutive reps before Things began to Protest, and from there the number just got fewer and fewer, and more than once I just sat forlornly on the "don't fall ball" and clutched the medicine ball to my chest, trying to reason with it into going back down to its original 25lbs.  Somewhere around rep 30 my quads informed me that they hated me, and fully planned on quitting at a later point in the day.  They made good on that threat about five minutes after I got home, leaving me stranded at the top of some stairs, unable to get down.

RennFairest of Them All

I stayed home from work today because Isis was very sick, and needed full attention until we could get in at the vet.  Giving her full attention actually came down, primarily, to me laying on the couch with her sleeping on top of me for warmth- and while yes, puppies do sleep for most of the day, she spent the entire day either sleeping or begrudgingly be taken outside to potty.  She was not a frisky pup, and I felt bad for her.

Anyway, one is somewhat limited as to what one can get accomplished when a 23lb dog is sleeping on top of one, and thus I watched more hours of television than I necessarily care to remember.  One of the things I watched (thank you, Netflix) was a documentary on the Medici, which in its turn inspired some Renaissance-style-sketching.  Those women has some seriously enviable hairstyles.

Apparently I need servants specifically to dress my hair.  Also to clean my house, yesplease.