learning lessons

Phillis is learning that all the good stuff is not allowed.
Eating human body parts.
Eating things human wear on those body parts.
Even if they don't currently wear them.
Eating furniture.
Eating stuff that lies on furniture.
Eating stuff humans eat.
Even if they are not currently eating from them.

Life is hard when you're a dog.

Also, Titus the cat has discovered a new game Phillis finds only partly amusing.
The game involves the flower beds in front of the house. Dogs are not allowed to go there. Cats - well, have you ever tried to teach a cat not to go somewhere where there are hiding places and mice?
So. Titus will walk by Phillis so she will go after him.
Then he will jump into the flower bed, waiting for her to follow.
If she does, I have to go after her, which amused the two of them.
However, if I am sick and tired of plucking a ten kilogram dog out of the flower bed, I'll take her back upstairs.
Spoilsport, me.

( family news )

My Mom just came back from consoling some parish that will lose their pastor sometime in 2007 and then will have to share with another parish. That scares them, and as my Mom is on the board who planned this and also is the person who will always go and be nice to people, they asked her to come and tell them everything is going to be alright.
Dad spent the evening with the people of our... uhm... LEO fails me, they only have a forum thread that offers ''Local Conservation Society'' - a club or society or whatever that wants to keep alive the history of a town and that sort of thing. Anyway, Mom and Dad and I are members in that society and they had their end of the year party today. I didn't feel like going and I am only member in name anyway as I am never here. Mom wasn't even home so Dad went alone, telling me he did not want to go at all. (to be exact, he said he wants to do it like the bear wants to dance.) This didn't keep him from staying there for three hours.
Oh well, I guess there were free drinks.
So now all the family's back and can take care of the dog.
If it is a dog at all. I strongly suspect we've been tricked and have bought a rodent instead.

( kind of work-related realisation )

( My name is Bond, James Bond )

I forgot to mention...

Tomorrow is the huge annual alumni meeting of my school.
I'll go, because I basically always go when I'm here for it.

However, I feel a bit ambivalent about it.
I go there to see the teachers. But there have been huge changes since I left school 5 years ago. Teachers have retired and now only come to the meetings as "alumni" themselves. New teachers are there who don't know me. Which annoys me because I was somewhat notorious among the teachers while I was there.
The teachers I know have changed a lot. And that is weird because the world is not supposed to change while I'm not looking, dammit!

I don't go there to see the classmates. There will likely not be a lot of my classmates anyway. Usually, it takes about ten years for people to think it worthwhile to come to the meetings.
And the day I will look forward to meeting my classmates there is the day I can walk in there, fantastically dressed, surrounded by my close friends, with one or more guys worshipping at my feet.
And then I'd go in and greet them kindly, smile at their huge eyes and open mouths and leave with one more bill settled.