11-hour sleep

I went to bed at midnight last night. Woke up nearly at midday! That's to be expected when you stay awake for so long. I actually feel pretty fantastic having done that. It definitely doesn't feel like I went a full day without sleeping! Maybe I should do that more often, who knows? Maybe that was a good choice out of the ones I made the past few days.

It would be pretty radical to choose not to sleep every day. There isn't even a good reason to do it except that I can. Isn't it unhealthy, anyway? I'll think more about it, and I'm not set on staying up tonight. Could go either way. I might be feeling effects after all, because I forgot to put the proper permalink on my last message and some Blogger stupidness won't let me put the right one on this message either. I wish I could automate the permalinking on Blogger as I like it, or have not such a permanent link and be able to change it if I mess up, but that's one of the few things I can't do here.

The dogs were a topic that deserved its own message, but there are other little things that I'd like to share right now. One of those things is that my grandma found a little device the other day. It looks like the quesadilla maker, but its inside is deep and flat and the device is really quite small. Whatever the cooker's intended purpose is, it is great for toasting sandwiches! I put together a sandwich yesterday, popped it in the powered little thing, and closed the lid. After a few minutes, I opened the cooker up to find the bread toasted and the contents nice and warm. And, of course, the sandwich was delicious! Thinking about it makes me want to make another this instant.

However, I have another bread-encased meal in mind. We have been getting bolio loafs lately and I haven't bothered to eat many. It's a bit of a hassle to slice and fill them, and a whole loaf is bigger than what I should be eating anyway. I've been watching an anime named Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann and it's got a lot to do with drills. The shape of a drill reminded me of half of a bolio. Half of a bolio reminded me of bread bowls. And thus I came at my next meal idea: cut the bolio in half, push open a cavity in the bolio, and stuff the bolio with whatever! I chose cheese and beans as my filling. I stuck the bolio in the toaster oven, wedging it upright in the grill. It got burnt at the top, but it didn't fall over or spill in any way, it was easy to hold, and it was yummy. I'll use that other half when I'm finished writing here, heat it at a lower temperature, and use shredded cheese instead of string cheese. I feel like I should give this meal a name, to differentiate it from a stuffed full-size bolio.

I was considering calling it Tengen Toppa. That translates to pierce the heavens. I feel like my meal isn't worthy of such a name, though, even if it is in reference to the anime. Could just call it a drill, but is it conical enough to be worthy of such a name? Anyway, I finished watching Gurren Lagann today. It is fantabulous! And now I understand that one of the first jokes made in Lucky Star was a reference to Gurren Lagann. The joke was hilarious on its own, but it's even funnier knowing that the punchline was a reference to an actual anime. The Lucky Star anime is only 7 days older than Gurren Lagann, actually; they aired at the same time. That must have been absolutely hilarious for viewers who watched as the series were first aired! I almost feel like I missed out 8 years ago, but hey, better late than never.

I'll write about Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann tomorrow. This is an anime definitely worth publicly recommending. I would have written about it today, but there were too many other things that I wanted to say. Guess that bit of silence did me some good, made me want to open up again! I'm refreshed and pretty happy. I hope you're feeling well too!

Dog updates

I have three adorable little dogs. That statement is more for my supporters than for you. You know my dogs very well, two boys and a girl. I'm going to keep even them anonymous on here. Anyway, stuff has been up with the dogs lately, and I certainly think you'd like to hear about it.

First of all, our little girl isn't feeling so well. Yesterday her lower jaw was completely matted in gooey saliva. When given a treat, she would take it into her mouth but not chew, dropping it back out of her mouth covered in slobber. I washed her head and cut her chin fur short. The fur on her chin looks better short, but the reason for cutting it was so that it'd be easier to clean the drool off. We had no idea what's keeping the poor girl from keeping her mouth shut and from eating. Today I'm told that she had bled from her mouth while I was asleep. That finally prompted my mom to take her, accompanied by my brother, to the vet.

Apparently a cut on the inside of the doggy's mouth was the cause of all this. We and the vet are hoping that her gums aren't infected, but I think her inability to keep her mouth shut means her gums are inflamed and that's a sign of infection. It's a good sign, though, that she isn't drooling as much today. She isn't eating solids, however. I gave her a bath when she came back from the vet. The boys found their way into the bathroom and started sniffing her, even though I turned the water on their faces. The older one actually jumped in with her, so I gave him a bath too. Silly dog.

Speaking of that dog, look what he did to me this evening.

My stepdad was getting some serious growls when trying to take burrs out of that boy's paw. As I'm more respected by those dogs than anyone else in the house, I decided to give it a try. More growls from the impudent dog, plus teeth-baring, and finally the attack. It's not the first time he's bitten me. Partially out of the knowledge that moving your hand worsens a bite and partly to show him how little his biting affected me, I held my hand still until he let go. My mom and stepdad tried to make some point about leaving the dogs alone, but I was half expecting him to bite me anyway so I didn't care at all.

After sternly delivering reprimanding words to the pup, I left to wash my hands. Then I returned to removing the burrs. This time, he stayed relatively quiet. He didn't give me any more trouble. The reason he thinks he's got a place to growl and attack is because my mom and stepdad give him that place. When he doesn't want to be touched or moved, and he starts to bare his fangs, they just back off. With domesticated animals it seems that you have to stand your ground. They won't respect you if they can scare you. That dog takes effort.

The third dog is doing just fine. The boys are very concerned for our girl, and of course this one's way of showing it is by licking her incessantly. Sometimes she's been in the mood to spook him off though. You should see him when she growls at him. When the other boy growls at him, he approaches slowly and fearlessly, growling back. When the girl growls, he jumps back a foot. He's too concerned to run away but too spooked to get near, so he makes quick hops around interrupted by his intense staring at her. That furball gets so intensely jerked around when he feels two different ways about something. The dog even whines with indecision and fear. Can't blame him, you know how scary the little girl looks when she bares her teeth. Scarier than the boys, to be sure.

Well, that's how they're doing. I'm not horrible myself, just my skin hurts a bit from the bites. I'm sure the puppies would be very happy to see you walk through the door again. Someday you'll let them jump on your legs again, won't you?