*WARNING*  This post is full of ME POUTING!!!  Don’t say you weren’t cautioned before you read it!

Bad luck comes in more than threes, apparently … either that, or Karma can’t count.  Or maybe Karma is getting all sophisticated and is slotting my bad luck into categories rather than single events.  Or maybe I asked for too much good vibedness from the universe for my doggies and it boomeranged back some shit.  Whatever’s going on here, it’s not very good for me.

IOW, the sun is shining everywhere but on me.  Harumph.

It’s not raining, it’s pouring.

The world is KICKING MY ASS!!

Are you ready for the latest?

So I’m driving home yesterday afternoon along the highway.  It’s my “Friday.”  I leave early on my “Fridays” so I can get to class on time.  I’m cruising along in not-quite rush hour traffic enjoying some tunes when all of a sudden my radio signal disappears.  I’m all “WTF?” and look at my dashboard – speedometer, lights, temperature gauge – all gone.  Huh?  I step on the gas, nothing really happens.  Oh shit.  So I pull over into a little turn out on the side of the highway and turn off the truck.  Try to start it again – nuthin’.  Double shit.

Call BCAA for some roadside assistance – oh dear, let that lapse last year when I bought this hunk of crap SUV.  Renew that to the tune of $120.00.  They come along and tow my truck to the nearest garage where they tell me my alternator died.  ”And unfortunately for you, we have to take the whole front axle off to get at it to replace it, because it’s a FORD, and Fords are evil.”  $580.00 and three hours of mindlessly wandering Ikea, it being the only store around, later, I have missed class but have a running vehicle again.

This is what’s now known as The $700 ‘Friday’  That Ruined My Life.”

Seriously?  Hot on the heels of $700 worth of vet bills that I barely squeaked through my bank account?  I’m living on clear broth and noodles until payday so my dogs can eat and I get this handed to me?  Is this really happening?

Bad luck, bad luck, whatcha gonna do?  Whatcha gonna do when it comes for you?

The irony here is that the vet bills ate up all the money I had put aside for Regionals this year.  Regionals is on the Island in June and in an exciting turn of events, Nationals is also on the Island in August.  I’d been really looking forward to running Tweed in Regionals, doing really well (because he’s been a hot damn to run this last year) and then hopefully doing really well at Nationals too, since we almost never get to go to Nationals (it moves all around the country and is generally too far away for me to attend) and ending Tweed’s agility career with one helluva bang.  I mean, he is about to turn 12, this would have been his last shot at Nationals, since while he IS GOING TO LIVE FOREVER

(are you listening to this directive TWEED??)

*ahem* While he is going to live forever, obviously, he is also going to be really, incredibly, old the next time a Nationals comes our way.

So spending all my competition money on vet bills was a bit of a bummer and I’ve been sorta turning that over in my head for the last week or so, and then I thought “I know, I’ll ask my super smart fan base for some fund-raising ideas.”  I was thinking, like, more photoshoots now that the weather is getting better, maybe a studio day, maybe selling some prints or what have you … not looking for charity, just looking for some good ideas from some wise peeps o’ mine.  I mean, Tweed is already entered, so I figured one last kick at the can couldn’t hurt to try and get the cash together in time to party it up at Regionals for the last time ever.  Even though the stack of unexpected vet bills were a drag, I was optimistic that I could pull it together, and felt pretty much like this:

I DON’T FEEL LIKE THAT NOW!!!

Oh brother … looks like she’s gonna blow.  Are you afraid?  I’m afraid.

Run away!  Run away!

WAAAAHHHHHHH!!  Leave me alone, bad luck!!

I know this isn’t the end of the world.  I know there are people who have it way worse than me right now.  I know there will be other Regionals, and maybe even Nationals, with other dogs.  Maybe even Spring one day … she’s a smart cookie and we’ve started learning the 2X2s this week.  She’s catching on quick!

And Dexter, of course, has potential up the wazoo.  Sometimes the wazoo is exactly where I want to punch him, but we’re slowly becoming a team, and I know one day he’ll be fantastic.

And of course the WooTWoo are stellar agility dogs …. just kidding.

But there’s just something about that groove with my old man dog that I really wanted to pay respect to by taking him out of the game on a high note.  We’ve worked so hard to get where we are – that poor dog put up with so much crap handling and instruction from me over the years, and he patiently waited until I got it together and could run him like a real partner.  It’s been a long journey, he deserved a big ass party when we finally reached our destination, you know?

Yeah, cuz it was f*ckin’ exhausting!

(he gets his potty mouth from me.  *pride*)

And I know I should count the blessings I have.  Here are 6 of them, for example:

But I’m still really disappointed :(

And broke!  I’m still looking for some ideas to raise some cash, cuz I owe my mum’s credit card $700.00 worth of bad luck!  So post ‘em if you got ‘em (ideas, I mean).

I have a few things I am going to try to sell online.  Not my camera gear, never fear!

But maybe a dog or two …

WHAAAAAAAT?