Sunday, March 6, 2011

I've been missing in action

Apologies for anyone who has been following this blog. It has been an extremely busy month! Work has been very busy and on top of that my back has been quite out of control with pain. Additionally, I came down with the flu about three weeks ago and I still have not been able to kick it.

On a positive note, a couple of cool things have happened as well. I was given a promotion at the American Independent News Network (AINN). I am now Senior Reporter for Michigan Messenger. It's a rocking cool deal.

In addition, a week ago I had an addition to my beloved family. As anyone who knows me is aware I have two amazing rat terriers, Gypsianna Rose (Gypsy) and Virgil Joshua (Virgil). A week ago, they got a new brother.

Meet Lancelot Gobbo (Gobbo). He is an American Hairless Terrier, and is now 10 weeks of age. He is incredibly intelligent, curious and super playful. While Gypsy was ostensibly OK with a puppy (I asked her if we could get a baby puppy and she was very excited about such an idea), she was not particularly keen to young Gobbo when he arrived home Sunday night.

In fact, Gypsy took three days to deign to acknowledge Gobbo's existence in the house. And she was so upset with me that for those three days, she refused to get on the sofa with me to cuddle. Generally, Virgil sleeps under the covers at my feet while she sleeps cuddled beside me under the covers. But not so with the introduction of young Gobbo. She was not happy.

However, on the third day she decided to check him out, and in doing so attempted to suckle him. Gobbo was not keen to that idea, but took it as an invitation to play. The two are now regular wrestling buddies.

On the other handle, Virgil was quick to accept Gobbo, but he is regularly irritated by the little boy's desire to play. When Gobbo is ready to sleep, and Virgil is under the covers, Gobbo will climb on his back and curl up to sleep. Virgil tolerates this. And while Virgil will wrestle with Gobbo on occasion, he prefers to watch Gypsy and Gobbo wrestle. He even goes so far is to get upset, thus unleashing a torrent of high pitched barking -- as if he is demanding the two cease and desist. This, of course, leads to Gypsy and Gobbo playing more.

So right after I picked Young Gobbo up in Battle Creek (thanks to Emily Dievendorf for accompanying me as my navigator), we took him to Preuss Pets. There we looked at various dog clothing. I have to admit I was a bit weirded out by the idea of having a dog that needed doggy clothing. However, with the help of Debbie and Kirbay Preuss, we found Gobbo the perfect jacket, a faux sheep skin jacket. I call this his "Brokeback Terrier" look after the Academy Award Winning "Brokeback Mountain." And I admit, I just can't quit him!

So where did his name come from? Lancelot Gobbo is the young clown in William Shakespeare's "The Merchant of Venice." He is a character with a fantastic monologue about the internal monologue we all have running in our heads between good and bad ideas. I used this monologue to audition for both Central Michigan University and BoarsHead Theater. Both locations accepted me -- with CMU providing me with a scholarship and BoarsHead hiring me in their intern program. I accepted the internship over more schooling. Regardless, I have alway enjoyed the character immensely as there is a common sense wisdom to his words that Shakespeare is fantastic at harnessing in many of his "fool" characters.

No comments:

Post a Comment

Comments on this blog are moderated. Profanity, offensive remars, racism, homophobia or other isms will result is denial. Spam will also get reported. HIV denialists need not apply.