Ode to Hurley the Hamster

Oh, noble beast
so small and furry,
like lightning quick
from me you'd scurry.

Your tiny feet
and tiny hands,
ran swiftly 'cross
apartment land.

You never bit,
you only growled,
and bared your teeth,
perhaps, and scowled.

But still you were
my favorite pet
and one I won't
easily forget.

Your panda stripes
Your chubby cheeks
and when you climbed
your wheel it squeaked.

And so as now
I fondly think
of how your face
looked when you'd eat,

I miss you so
my hamster friend
and hope to meet
you once again.


It would seem that hamsters like Hurley are now impossible to find in the greater Milwaukee area. Trust me. I've tried. If anyone knows of where to get just a regular ol' hamster, not a small/dwarf one, fill me in. I'm in need of a new one.

PS: RIP in Hurley.

Dear February,

I hate to break it to you, but I think you may have a Napoleon complex. You may be the shortest month, but you certainly are packing a punch. Like the famed French figurehead, you may have started off well, but your rein of terror was quickly felt. You began so nicely, too, it's hard to believe that such a little month would have such a big bite.

Your first week started off so nicely. I had a much needed haircut (and it turned out well!!) and made a new friend in the process. I had spas booked. I was looking forward to helping write the script for the Ward Roadshow. And I had plenty of time to all of those nagging things done like taxes and laundry...or so I thought.

Imagine, dear February, my dismay when things started going awry. Spas cancelled. Having creative differences with people at the Roadshow planning committee resulted in being booted from said committee. Friendships were tested. Some passed, but some failed. Our water heater broke. The basement flooded. Our stove and fridge sat in the dining room for 3 days. We ran out of food (well not really, but out of food I wanted to eat). I attracted several other passive-aggressive people. And then the office manager told me I had to move from my nice, light, roomy cubicle to a smaller, dusty, dark cubicle. And then I tried to compensate by replacing my beloved Hurley (RIP) with a new hamster, only to find out that no pet store around here carries regular hamsters.

So now, in your third week, please cut me some slack. Please find some way to be kind for the rest of the month. Open your cold, wintry heart and let some sunshine in. But if for some reason you can't, let it be known: I will not be broken. If you won't back down, neither will I.

Sincerely,

Megan

Not the Racing Type

Today while watching the snowboarding thing where 4 of them race down the course at the same time (I don't know what it's really called) I realized something. I am not the racing type. At least, not the snowboard racing type. Or skiing. Or anything involving hills and snow or ice. Every time they win, they have to go again. That's enough to make me want to lose just so I don't have to go down the stupid hill a second, third, fourth, etc time. It's safe to say that if I were to ever compete in the Winter Olympics, it would definitely have to be something like curling. Or maybe cross country skiing. Very little hills and less falling down in those sports. Which Winter Olympic sport would you compete in?

PS:

Yes, I drew the new blog header. What do you think?

Valentine's Poll:

Valentine's Day is this Sunday, and I don't have anything for Spencer. We historically haven't made a big deal about this holiday, so it's not like this is unusual. I'd like to do something nice and get him something he'd like, but the only thing I can think of is about 47", high-def, and waaaay out of my price range. So here's the question: What's a good gift for a guy who's hard to buy for? Leave a comment below with your suggestions.

Dreams

I tend to have very vivid, often weird dreams. They have intricate plots, colors, and sometimes it's hard to want to get up because I'm enjoying the dream so much I just want to stay there and live out the fantasy. Most of the time, I can sort of figure out why I dreamt something because I can trace it back to some event within the last week. Other times, I just have no clue.

Spencer and I have gotten into a bad habit in the last few weeks. We've been staying up later and later on Fridays and Saturdays since we don't have to get up Saturday or Sunday morning. These are the mornings that I most clearly remember my dreams. The past two weekends I've had particularly memorable dreams and I enjoyed them so much I thought I'd share.

Two weeks ago I dreamt that Spencer and I were out at BYU dating (just like we did in real life). For some reason, things weren't progressing along as quickly as I wanted and I was getting fed up with him. So, when my mom called and asked if I would marry the neighbor boy I said something along the lines of, "sure! why not?" and was suddenly experiencing a wedding. Now, the neighbor boy is real. He lived next door, was home schooled, and really does exist. I think he may even be single, but that's beside the point. I didn't really know him growing up, probably said all of 2 words to him, never had a crush on him, and haven't thought of him probably since he lived next door and I was still living there. The wedding ceremony was unusual and had a lot of weird rituals in it that I don't remember, but I think that part traces back to the fact that we are from different religions. The house we had it in was gorgeous, as was the food, but my dress was not the most attractive. Oh well. The weirdest part comes next though: After we had been married we were sitting together on a bed discussing our future life, but for some reason Spencer was also there. Because it was essentially an arranged marriage, we didn't really know each other. The neighbor boy then proceeded to tell me all of the things about my life that were going to have to change. For instance, he wouldn't kiss me because he didn't know me, he worked as a checker at WalMart, and since we were married I would be required to convert to his religion which required the women to have lots of babies, stay home, and never wear make-up. After each revelation, Spencer would say, " Well, that's gonna be a problem," which was totally unhelpful and totally what Spencer would say in that situation. The thing about this dream was that it was so totally life-like I woke up really confused and really irritated at Spencer for not making a bigger effort to prevent me from being stuck with the neighbor boy.

Last week, my dream was less plausible and more fantastic. I was at a gorgeous resort in the Mediterranean Sea studding ethics with some friends from high school and a few teacher/colleagues from my current bioethics program. We were going on these really grand adventures and seeing all kinds of wonderful villages and natural formations (which has nothing to do with ethics) and had headed back to the resort for the day to get some writing done. My friend from high school was cliff diving in the green-blue pool of water surrounding the hotel so I decided to join her. As I was wading though the shallow end of the pool, I brushed up against the cutest alien duck. It exploded into a huge, monstrous duck which was apparently a defense mechanism (kind of like a blow fish). After that I was trying to avoid the alien ducks, but one spotted me and turned itself into a duck-spear and started attacking me. That's the point where I woke up. It wasn't scary, it was really just comical. I much watch too much Syfy to be dreaming of crazy, exploding/attacking ducks!

So there you go. Two weird dreams in two weeks. I will never look at ducks or think of the neighbor boy in the same way again. I wonder what next weekend will bring.

Thanks!

Thank you to all have commented recently on the blog. Truly, it was the highlight of my day to log on and see them all. Happy reading!

Dear London... I Miss You, Please Bring Me Back

Standing on the Millennium Bridge overlooking the Thames River. This bridge was featured in the most recent Harry Potter movie. Sadly, it was falling down.

Going to St. Paul's Cathedral--one of my favorites!

London Bridge is NOT falling down, falling down!

A view of Parliament from across the river.

Are We There Yet?

This photo was taken last March at the Tower of London. Doesn't he look handsome? :)