Abu has caught "kennel cough" which is like a common cold for dogs. Most housedogs don't get it because they're isolated from other dogs, but because we spend a lot of time at a well populated dog park, and because it's going around, Abu is home sick.

What, you may ask, do you do with a dog who has a cough? The same thing you do with a child. You go to the drugstore and get Benylin Children's Formula, only to discover that you can't get it down her throat. So you go back to the drugstore and pick up a medicine dropper to squirt the cough syrup down her throat. Then you feel terrible for your poor sick dependant, and you give her something sweet and yummy. In Abu's case, this is a spoonful of honey. Then you yoink your roommate's humidifier and keep it running as much as possible.

The worst part is that we can't go back to the park until she's no longer contagious, and we may have to miss our first day of grade two. As it turns out, my daily walk in the park with the other dogs' parents has become quite an addiction. I feel so cut off from the world.

Abu seems to be getting better. Her coughing fits are shorter and tend to only come in the morning. I'm glad, it's terrible to hear a dog cough.

In other news I won a beer fridge in a raffle that one of my coworkers was selling tickets for. It's a fantastic fridge, black and stainless steel, and it's perfect beside my couch. It has a freezer compartment, crisper, can dispenser, and I plan to get a fish and put it on top.

Now I will go and buy food for my new fridge.

I just watched the movie "I Am David" and it made me cry.... twice. I remember reading the book in school, and I recall enjoying it, but I didn't realize that just two years ago they made a movie. The main character was brilliantly cast, a better actor at 11 or whatever age he is than most of the punks making movies these days.

For those of you who don't know, I am David is the story of a young boy who escapes from a stalinist labour camp and tries to make his way across Europe to safety. I think I shall look up the book and read it again, for good measure. You should too, or watch the movie. It's written by Anne Holmes.

I picked up my guitar yesterday for the first time in months and promptly wrote a song. At least I'm writing something, right? Abu doesn't appreciate my sudden obsession with that noisy red contraption, or the computer, for that matter. If I must be ignoring her, it ought to be on the couch, watching movies, dropping popcorn on the floor for her to vaccuum.

Now I've got to finish the laundry. Goodnight