i prayed what they said wasnt true. and when it became a fact, i shed the tears and prayed that you didnt hurt.

goodbye michael. now you truly are untouchable.

Current Mood: sad

YAY! I'm glad to be able to witness such history in the making!

Wish I were at Grant Park right now!

Current Mood: ecstatic

its so hard to describe the feeling of seeing a picture of your friend's happy face in the obituaries. i had to read it several times over before it finally sank in somewhat... and then i began to wonder if it was all a sick, sick joke.

goodbye min... some ten years ago, we were little girls in blue pinafores, meeting every wednesday, preparing for house practice, painting banners and all those random stuff. you were vibrant and energetic, friendly and fun. we lost touch all these years but i know you lived your life to the fullest. wherever you are now, im sure you see that so many of your friends youve left behind are going to be forever missing you, including me.

Current Mood: sad

Another shamelesss plug... have some extra BRAND NEW COACH and KATE SPADE BAGS! Help me spread the word! :-)

medium khaki carly signature with burgundy trims- i have two extra pieces of this 480SGD each

Kate Spade Griffen Tote with license plate canvas in poppy/pink- this has a cute polka-dotted lining!
goes easy over the shoulder, large enough to fit A4 files.
the third picture shows the back of the bag.
ignore fat hand!
i also have the same piece in green print and black canvas 280SGD

just drop me a note if you are interested in the bags!

Current Mood: bouncy

in packing for the move, ive been trying to sell several pieces of my ginormous bag collection.. a lot of stuff that i really hardly ever see, much less use... i dont have a massive blog circle of friends but maybe you guys can help generate great word of mouth??? :D

dark grey chanel velvet chain bag, condition 80%, sgd 700 (retail usd 900)

chanel snake skin cambon messenger, condition 90%, sgd 700 (retail usd 690)

prada leather zippered wallet, condition 100%, sgd 300 (retail usd 320)

louis vuitton mens taiga wallet in dark brown, condition 100% brand new, sgd 350 (retail usd 410)

prada large tote, condition 95%, sgd 800 (retail usd 1390)

i also have more pictures of everything if anybody is interested! any help would be awesome! :-)

Current Mood: busy

Rainbow Bridge
Just this side of heaven is a place called Rainbow Bridge.

When an animal dies that has been especially close to someone here, that pet goes to Rainbow Bridge.
There are meadows and hills for all of our special friends so they can run and play together.
There is plenty of food, water and sunshine, and our friends are warm and comfortable.

All the animals who had been ill and old are restored to health and vigor; those who were hurt or maimed are made whole and strong again, just as we remember them in our dreams of days and times gone by.
The animals are happy and content, except for one small thing; they each miss someone very special to them, who had to be left behind.

They all run and play together, but the day comes when one suddenly stops and looks into the distance. His bright eyes are intent; His eager body quivers. Suddenly he begins to run from the group, flying over the green grass, his legs carrying him faster and faster.

You have been spotted, and when you and your special friend finally meet, you cling together in joyous reunion, never to be parted again. The happy kisses rain upon your face; your hands again caress the beloved head, and you look once more into the trusting eyes of your pet, so long gone from your life but never absent from your heart.

Then you cross Rainbow Bridge together...

Current Mood: calm

when it all ended, i had so many unanswered questions. i wanted to know everything. and i still do. how did he get out? what did he do in the six hours prior to getting hit? which route did he take? how is it no one would have seen him in this densely populated neighborhood we live in? were we so close to reaching him, yet somehow missed him? exactly where on the freeway was he hit? how hard was he hit?

the next day, i got into work and was absentmindedly clicking around on the internet looking at doggy pictures, when i chanced upon a posting titled "hit and run" and realized that the guy was talking about our dog. turns out it was shad, the guy who had rescued gyoza, who posted a hit and run plea on craigslist.

HIT AND RUN (mountain view)

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Reply to: comm-437034264@craigslist.org
Date: 2007-10-01, 9:59AM PDT


We're looking for information on the driver of a black SUV that hit a dog and kept driving. We were travelling 101 North through Mountain View when we saw commotion up ahead. We slowed down to see a small dog loose on the highway, frightened and running towards traffic. I got out of our car and went after him. He was running up the entrance ramp coming off of 85 when he was hit by the SUV. It was clearly an accident, yet the driver never slowed. I didn't have time to get the license plate number because the little dog was still moving and urgently needed to be removed from the road before another vehicle hit him.

There was a lot of traffic, so I'm hoping someone else got this creep's license plate number.

We took the little dog to a 24-hour animal hospital. In addition to a fractured hip and numerous broken ribs, he appeared to have a spinal cord injury. One of the vet techs found a missing dog ad for him here on craigslist and contacted the owners, who drove over immediately. They told us his name was Gyoza, which is Japanese for "dumpling."

Unfortunately, his injuries proved too critical.

The driver who hit this little dog is responsible for his death. As I said, it appeared as though this was an accident but this driver did not stop. Wherever he was headed, it must have been important to him. But how could it have been more important than someone's life?

We're all in this world together. All of us, people and animals. We rely on each other for our continued survival. Honestly, is it asking too much to expect a little compassion?

Please. If you have any information on this hit and run driver, let us know.

Thank you.

it opened a huge floodgate as i read about how gyoza was running around, frightful and miserable. he is a very timid dog. he trembles when hes scared, and pees when he is extremely frightened. i can only imagine his fear alone and lost on the busiest freeway in the bay area. and to be hit by an SUV? even a human would not have walked away unscathed... much less a 15lb dog. i had to run downstairs to cry.

(later, some people would respond saying that there was no blame to be had on the driver. dogs should be kept away etc etc. and i have to say i agree. he was my responsibility, and as sad as i am about what happened, i would have felt the same way they felt about dogs running loose on busy roads.)

i emailed shad to say thank you. i also asked if gyoza whimpered or yelped. shad told me that:-

"Gyoza did not whimper on the drive to the hospital. He appeared to be in shock, though coherent to some degree. I was holding him and Kristin was driving. He did clearly look at her and look around. A few times, he started to move his front legs and his breathing became heavy. We both tried to comfort him as much as possible. Since he never whimpered, I think the shock kept him from feeling any pain."

i would like to imagine so, but i know gyoza. he never cries even when hurt or in pain. he just kept it all inside. i know he was just hiding it all. kristin also wrote me after, tell me to take heart that my presence was of great comfort to him. i pray that that is true. i really do.

thank you for all your kind notes. in some way this was a lot harder on us because as much as we adore animals and whole-heartedly love gyoza, we arent your animal activist, crazed 1000% pro-animal people. we didnt expect to have these feelings for our dog when we first got him. yet gyoza somehow stole our hearts and made us feel emotions we never knew we had for an animal. the intensity of it all makes it just that much harder to bear.

heres a beautiful picture of gyoza to share, taken just days after we had adopted him, had him groomed (for the first time in his life!) and smelling good. it would also have been the first and only time gyoza came to work with me.

isnt he adorable?

Current Mood: pensive

we put gyoza out in the (secure) yard this morning and each went on our way to do our own stuff. m came back and found him missing. he went out looking; i rushed back. we still couldnt find him. i placed an ad on craigslist, left my phone number and pictures of gyoza.



i walked rounds in the complex- hes not the kind to run amok and go far. i called out to him, i asked everyone we met. i inspected the yard twice over, like a criminal investigator i looked on the ground for shoe marks, checked which way the yard door swung open. there was no way gyoza could have escaped.

six hours after he first went missing, i got a phone call from an unknown number. dr brennan mckenzie called from the adobe animal hospital and let me know that they found gyoza (and found my post on craigslist). he was hit by a car, had a pelvic fracture and was in shock. im not optimistic, the doctor said.

m and i rushed over and was there in 10 minutes. i didnt know what to expect walking to the back room. i walked fast but was scared. and there he was, in the glass incubator of sorts. at first glance he looked fine save for a couple of scrapes on his legs. then i see that his mouth is hanging open a little. he always keeps his little mouth tightly shut. i see his pale pink tongue hanging out- its dry.



the people who brought him in were still there. the good samaritans, they are. hearing the eye-witness account from them was awful. he was hit on the 101 (freeway). the car sped away, we didnt get to see anything. several cars were slowing down, we thought it was one of theirs. but it wasnt, so we took him and brought him here. it was in palo alto. our dog? on the freeway? in palo alto? thats a good 5 miles away from where he 'ran away'. im still convinced he was grabbed from our yard.

the doctor lightly pinched his foot and he lifted his head and flinched, and gave the doctor the what the heck are you doing! look. the doctor said he was surprised he was reacting- before we came he was lifeless and unreactive. i had a little surge of hope. they told me tonight's stay would cost about $800-1200. if he continues to look good, tomorrow he can be transfered to a surgeon to fix his pelvic, and to further investigate if he has any internal injuries to his bladder etc etc. it looks like the cost would likely go up to several thousands.

i just kept petting him, stopping only to make way for m to pat him, or for the nurse to check on him. i gave him some kiwi kisses- nose to nose. id never done that before. i told him i wanted to buy him a cupcake if he came home. i told him that he was cute and such a good boy. that everything will be ok. i jiggled my keys at him, hoping to elicit the usual response (tail wagging, eyes brightly darting around, ready to go on his walk). nothing. i clapped my hands and called out to him, moving slightly to see if his eyes followed mine. nothing. but when i stopped petting him for a few brief moments, he would let out an audible sigh- it was his way of asking me not to stop, i thought. this happened more than a few times. he knew. he used to lick my hand to get me to keep going.

the nurse came by to put him on a urine something. i thought it would be a cup of some sort to catch his pee. but she brought out a tube and stuck it into his penis (oww.), and when it was ready, nothing but pure blood came flowing through the tubes. more than it was hard watching her stick the tube in, it was harder seeing that all gyoza was peeing was blood. it was then i decided to let him stop struggling.

when i finally made that decision, i stuck my face right to his little face and cried. i said i was sorry, so sorry for being so strict with him, for being such a disciplinarian, sorry for this, and sorry for that. to say i felt bad would be a gross understatement. i felt like dying. i never even took a picture with him after his $95 haircut, i realized. why didnt i give him all the bacon he wanted. why did i go shopping today. why didnt i hug him today. why did i never kiss him before. i couldnt stop crying. what pained me more, was that m was crying as well. id never seen m shed more than a tear. these were tears.

i watched as she came by with the syringe and injected it into him. she said something about going first to the brain, then the rest shut down. his eyes will not close, she said. she did it with not much emotion, i thought. i looked closely at him as she was administering it... he was brave. he didnt flinch, didnt move... and he didnt close his eyes.

i kissed him again after. face to face, we were. it was surreal. he looked alive, yet with those puppy eyes that are usually so alive being so still, he looked like a stuffed toy.

goodbye, gyoza. it was barely more than a month, but i love you. more than i ever thought i could. youre still with me every moment, i know.

Current Mood: sad