Random Thoughts and Questions

There are few things on earth as annoying as being on the verge of a good healthy sneeze and suddenly finding that you're not going to sneeze after all.

While I am basking in the delight of having a nice game of solitaire (Macs don't seem to have already loaded solitaire), I must say that this particular version is slightly intimidating. It keeps giving me little notices regarding the fact that so far I have only won 22% of the games I've played. I consider solitaire a handy thing to do if you're tired of surfing the net and have half a beer left to finish, and it's also very good for letting one's mind roam free (on account of solitaire itself is pretty mindless). Now I'm beginning to feel as if I were in some sort of competition, and that every lost game is some sort of failure on my part. This may be a flashback to my school years, where I endured quite a lot of people yammering away at me about "not working up to my potential." I thought this was pretty silly - I was working in theatre - what more did they want of me? Math? Science? Don't be ridiculous. (As it turned out, I happen to have ended up being extremely good at business math and the various bits of science involved in putting meals on the table and making sure my white wash doesn't come out any other color. I think that's quite enough.)

And the burning question of the day - well, for me, of a lot of days. What on earth becomes of the dogs? Let me explain.

As you know by now, I live in a very fashionable neighborhood. Well, there are evidently fashions in dogs as well as in shoes and sports cars and handbags. So one year every other dog on the street was an Akita, the next year we had Shar Peis, then there were Golden Retrievers, and right now it seems to be pugs and Puggles. And I want to know: What happens to the out of date dogs? It has been years since I've seen an Akita or a Shar Pei, for instance. (I don't count the various breeds of tiny yappy fluff balls because I don't consider them dogs...if you can put the thing in your pocket, it's a member of the rat family.)

Now I spend a lot of time wandering in and out of the Housing Works Thrift Shop, because a few years ago I scored a wonderful black and white tweed suit there for $8, and I keep hoping that lightning will strike twice. But they don't seem to have dogs. Is there some sort of pet store equivalent of Housing Works, do you think? Anybody knows that if something is out of date, you take it to the thrift store and get the tax write-off...and those pedigreed dogs are expensive, for heaven's sake. (Yes, I know about the ASPCA, but I don't think they end up there. You just don't get lots of pedigreed dogs at the pound.)

Or is there some Home for Out-Of-Date Dogs, somewhere in say, New Jersey? I specify New Jersey because it would seem to be an easy jaunt for New Yorkers who wanted to drop off a dog, and there's lots of nice green countryside out there (no, no, not in Newark) where you could have nice big dog runs and heated kennels for winter.

What happens to unfashionable dogs?

I worry about this...which is the clearest indication I've had yet that I should get off my adorable little bottom and get some sort of work/purpose in life. I mean, really...

Love, Wendy