Quick update

So… It’s been a while.

I moved, got my own place now, one of my guinea-pigs got severly ill and had to be humanely euthanized eventually. I got a dwarf hamster and a new castrated male g-pig 3 weeks ago as company for my two girls, one of which was diagnosed with a tumor in her uterus and it’s inoperable and doesn’t look very friendly, so who knows how long she’ll still be alive. And we just had a damn hot summer, a very long very hot summer. It was bad.

Now, what happened manga-wise in this time? We got a whole bunch of new 10 Dance chapters, which I very much approve of. Those two are just too sexy for my own good, even though the past chapters have been lacking spices a little bit. It does seem as if both of them are comming to terms with it and it starts developing into something you could call a relationship of some sorts, which is great. We got kisses. Kisses are good. Shinya in beast mode is even better. Someone seriously doesn’t want 3rd place, he’s out for the crown and I can’t wait to see him kill this competition.

What else? Skip Beat had a tiny bit of progress for once, I was just hoping for a little bit more on the romance front, specifically between Ren and Kyoko. At least Kyoko got the part, but I can’t get over the fact that we still don’t know what Ren got her for white’s day and Kyoko is actually very very much despressed, because she still believes she’s only one who didn’t get anything and that’s freaking cruel. And now there’s the love triangle thingy with these other two actresses… yeah, as if. It’s been established ages ago that Ren is in love with Kyoko and vice versa, but why not add some more drama so we can stretch it out more? Great idea, right? Right? RIGHT?

Ballroom e Youkoso has successfully finished it’s anime run and successfully avoided publishing a single new chapter. Unfortunately this seems to be due to the heath problems of the manga-ka, which was also the reason for the previous rather long hiatus of this manga. I’m honestly concerned about her, it seems to be bad… Let’s hope she makes a full recovery. I mean, it’s unfortunate for the manga, but her health comes first. I do approve of the the very strong TataraxChii vibes in the last episodes of the anime. Chii-chan is best girl and Tatara better keeps her, because sure as hell he won’t find a better one.

Daiya no Ace Act II finally has Sawamura actually looking like he might become the ace. Finally. Have we ever seen so much praise for him in-universe? I don’t know. However, since Furuya is now back, it’s going to be a little bit more rocky, but I still have my hopes up. Especially since this is pretty much his last chance to be the ace in a battery with Miyuki, who’s the reason he came to Seido to begin with. I stand by my word it completely defies the purpose if Sawamura becomes ace after Miyuki left. There’s no point if Sawamura doesn’t become the ace in a battery with Miyuki. It has to be Miyuki. I know I’m a bit of a Miyuki-fangirl and Okumura is an interesting catcher… he ain’t no Miyuki, though. And before anyone asks: yes, I may or may not have read quite a few too many Misawa fanfictions. I highly recommend anything by Kittebasu on Ao3.

Otoyomegatari is going very strong, as expected, even though I’m missing Amir and Karluk, but I’m keeping my hopes up they’ll be back. I think it’s quite cute Mr Smith has found love and a wonderful soon-to-be-bride. I can’t believe this manga has been running for 10 years now, that’s crazy. I’ve been following it for such a long time now, I remember it was still fairly new when I started. Mori Kaoru is one of the best out there in my opinion.

I’m very much disappointed there hasn’t been anything new Yuri on Ice, because I miss my cute gay babies so much. Now that the hype has slowed down a lot, the anime has seen a lot more negative backlack. Well, yes of course there’s more than enough fanservice and yes there’s fujioshi bait, but there’s still a damn great romance story in there that sets a great example in how homosexual relashionships should be treated: normal. And the sports ain’t too bad either. Besides… sexy Victor is sexy. I know Yuri with his hair styled back in sexy mode is nothing to look away from, but Victor is just Victor. And talking about Victor, the announced movie (set to air 2019…), seems to be about him judging by the announcement teaser, which is definately needed. The TV-show went deep into Yuri, but he haven’t really seen that much background on Victor. I just hope it’s not entirely set in the past and we get to see some present stuff, too… namely some Victuuri cuteness.

There’s much more to talk about, but it’s getting late and I still need to feed the guinea-pigs, so we’ll end it here.

Sing (movie 2016)

I missed quite a lot of movies in theatres lately and now that they’re slowly being released on Blu-Ray/DVD, I’m finally catching up. My latest additions are “Moana” and “Sing”.

I had fun. It’s just very unfortunate for Sing that I watched Moana first. Do’t get me wrong, it’s a nice movie, it’s fun, has some pretty unique and enjoyable characters, but it’s not a “must see”. While Moana is not Disney’s greatest movie ever, it’s at least one of their better recent ones, that’s for sure. It’s not flawless and while the budget clearly shows (like, seriously, that’s got to be arguably the most beautiful animated movie I’ve ever seen), it has some shortcommings. This is criticism on a very high level, though. Still… I support Zootopia for winning the best animated movie Oscar, it really was the best animated movie of 2016.

Either way, back to sing: The plot is pretty thin. This wouldn’t really be much of a problem, if the characters were strong… which they aren’t. And here’s the problem I have with the movie: the characters don’t interact. You have this cast of awesome and interesting personalities and they’re just there for the sake of being there. All of them come with their own sets of problems, which all of them more or less solve by the end. They solve these problems by themselves, because they sing.

The singers in the show barely talk to each other outside of their respective groups. Even Buster Moon doesn’t really talk to them that much, he basically chooses them, chooses their songs and dresses, puts them into rehearsal rooms to practice and that’s it. The first and last time you see them interact is when they’re building the “outdoor theatre” together. Buster and Meena are the clostest, because Buster lets her work behind the scenes instead of sing, so he has to pay attention to her and teach her how stuff works.

I personally feel the main problem is, the movie tried to do too much at the same time. I personally cared the most about Johnny and his storyline, but that would’ve easily been enough to fill the entire movie and then there’s all the other characters, too. Frankly speaking, there’s simply not enough time to give each character the time they deserve for growth and developments to solve theie own problems in a satisfying way. Instead, I guess they focussed on Butster Moon and indended to have this story revolve around him, but his story is the least interesting. I mean, yeah, he loves his theatre and he doesn’t want to loose it, because of his dad, but when it comes to it it’s a money problem first and foremost. The other characters have emotional hurdles to take. Well, except Mike, Mike is an asshole and only cares about money and reputation.

Meena is very shy and needs to overcome her natural timid nature in order to follow her dream of being a musician. Ash needs to free herself of her boyfriend, who’s stopping and constricting her own artistic talent, but she catched him cheating on her and has to deal with a broken heart. Johnny… well, poor boy has a criminal as a father, who wants him to join the gang and doesn’t acknowledge Johnny’s interest in music. Rosita is the burned out mom of too many kids and not enough support from her husband who needs her personal life to kick off in order to be happy again.

All of this ^ sounds more interesting than the Koala with money problems. Here’s two different approaches: a) reduce the backstory of the singers, because their backstories don’t matter that much anyway, to properly build Buster Moon into a likable character with an actual emotionally connectable problem and that would most likely include giving more backstory to Buster and his father. Take your time to build emotions and don’t just throw stuff at out faces and expect us to care. Does anyone really cares about Buster? I don’t even think so, in the movie itself it was said all of Busters shows were flops, so it’s HIS fault he’s in this situation anyway and he expects these singers to get him out of it. Besides, he’s committing crime along the way, stealing electricity and water and illegally employ these squids.

b) reduce the backstory of everyone expect one of the singers and explore him or her properly and include the other caracters present into his or her healing process.

This movie tried to do everything at the same time and that’s just too much. It’s still fun, the music is great, but I never connected with the characters as much as I expected I would. Unfortunately, Meena seems to be the one from the artists who’s the “main” and for me she was the least interesting one, because she had the most trivial problem. Yes, being timid is not a piece of cake and getting over your fears is very hard and challenging and I’m not trying tot alk that down, but she had such a picture perfect life besides that. It’s like… girl, you have a way better life than any of your competitiors, why should I root for you over them? You will get your next chance, your family will catch you if you fall and help you come back. Rosita doesn’t have anyone like that, she will just fall deeper into depression. Johnny might end up in freaking prison as a criminal. Meena is basically the princess of the group.

It doesn’t really help much her song in the show was my least favorite. It’s not the song itself, Stevie Woner’s original version is awesome, I just don’t like Meena’s cover and I was glad when it was over. The other characters did a much better job covering/presenting their songs, in my opinion. I mean, have you listend to the orinal version of “Don’t you worry ’bout a thing”? It’s Latin-ish with lot’s of piano inviting you to dance Chachacha (if I’m not entirely mistaken, you can dance a Chacha to this), it’s a feel good song. Meena’s version doesn’t do it any justice. I loved her sining Halleluja so much more, why couldn’t she have sung something like that? Or … at least some kind of ballad, instead of latin? I don’t think it was the right song for her.

By the way, I loved Gunther. He was so cool. He was flat as a board in terms of characterization, but he was the comic relief and he was doing a great job being just that. They tried to give all these characters background and problems and failed to explore them properly and it’s the one character with no background whatsoever and barely and charcter to him, that I love the most. The things he was supposed to do, he was doing  extreamly well and that was: being funny and helping Rosita to loosen up. That’s all, but he did his job and he did it good.

Enough rambling. It was okay. Visuals were good, not quite as amazing as Moana, but good. Thin plot, interesting characters that don’t interact and (for the most part) pretty good music. It’s mild entertainment, but not a must-see.

Too many interests

I have way too many interests… and still waste my time onthe internet doing nothing most of the time.  You know, like writing a blog noboidy is going to read anyway about my crazy interests nobody is going to find interesting, even if he stumbles into it.

So, as I just mentioned, I have a lot of interests and I often find myself very much into something for a short period of time, before I move on to another. I just can’t do everything at the same time, but unfortunately I tend to neglect something, if I’m currently into something else.

Hold your horses, I’m a responsible person (at least I hope so), I will always care for my guinea pigs as best as I possibly can and if that includes feeding my big girl 7 times a day again, like I used to when she was growing up very ill, than I will do that. Our pets are part of our lifes, but we are our pet’s entire life. These are living creatures depending on our care, no matter what happens I will always provide the best possible care for them. I love them to death, I wanted to have them for at least 10 years before I finally got them and they are certainly not just a phase of mine, but treasured pets and part of my family.

I’m talking more about stull like… movies, games, anime and manga, stamp collections – this is all stuff that I like. I also have a full time job. And guinea pigs, including a very high maintance individual, that needs special care and a special diet. I also love doing postcrossing, something that I really really need to pick up again. I’m into photography, but I need to get my lazy ass outside more to actually take photos of… well… something. I love to go to the zoo and basically love everything connected to animal care. I have a huge book about the green tree python and one about the genetics of corn snakes, but even though owning a snake is something I can imagine, I will probably never actually own a snake.

I also have books about strawberry poison-dart frogs, dwarf hamsters and box turles – I’m not going to own any of those for sure. I’m interested in it, though. I have to admit I hate learning for exams, but I do love learning about the stuff that I like. This is what I loved about the time I went to University: I was able to do what I really wanted to do for the most part. I was able to attend a lecture about the origins of the universe, starting with the big bang all the way until the development of the first cell on earth, as part of my studies. No, I did not study astrophysics, I studied biology for teachers. How does that make any sense? I don’t know, but I do know the universe is finite and still expanding to this day, thanks to that lecture.

Surprinsingly, I’m not into US TV shows at all and even though I’m a pretty nerdy girl, I don’t like US comics.

My Set of G-Pigs

I’m currently hosting a home for my lovely set of G-Pigs consisting of a castrated male one and two girls. Guinea Pigs live in harems, therefore the ideal constellation is to have a male and several females he can reign over. Too bad nobody told mine this story.

My male one, Anton, is a red Abyssinian and a typical guy, he’s showing off and waggling his butt like a champ. He’s a really funny one and once broke his upper teeth off. God know how he managed to do that. With just 970g and still overweight he’s very small for a male. He’s a rescue pig from an animal rescue organization and probably from an inbred family line. He suffers from mild allergyies (allergic coryza), but as long as his hay and straw won’t dust too much, he’s just ocassionally sneezing. It’s not bothering him at all. His other problem is his asthma. He’s sometimes coughing as if he’s violentely trying to cough mucus up or something. The first time I heared it, it really scared me, but he’s only doing it occasionally. On very rare occasions, he’s having a bit trouble breathing. It sounds as if he’s whisteling from his breathing system. I have an emergency cortison-Injection in my fridge in case he has a bad attack and needs something against the swelling asap.

My “big girl” is a miracle pig. Her name’s Patti and she’s a white-chocolate-red swiss teddy. I got her together with the other female from a pet store and soon she began to develop serious problems with her intestinal system. She was chroncially bloated and it wouldn’t get better no matter what we tried. Her immune system was at the worst and she suffered from additional secondary infections, including pneumonia that was treated with 6 weeks of antibiotics, gastritis, a bad fungal infection and several bacterial infections & viruses. Her last virus infection took her two months to heal off and I thought she would die during that time twice. However, during the entire time, I thought she wouldn’t even make the night at least once every other week, because she was doing so poorly. I had to force-feed her for 9 months – smometimes more and sometimes less, had her on anti-bloating medication the entire time, pain medication in such a high dosis that she got addicted to Metamizol and had her on different antibiotics for weeks. All of that with a G-Pig not even a year old. It was a very tough fight and considering how fast these animals die, it’s a miracle she’s alive today. Back then I didn’t know if I was doing the right thing by keeping her alive, but seeing her today, it was all worth it. We don’t know exactly why she had so much trouble, but we found out she can’t eat fresh vegetables or fruits. That means no fresh carrots, salad, cucumber, apple, nothing or else she’s bloating up immediately and she needs a very specialo diet with additional vitamins. She also has a very sensitive and dry skin and a chronically weak immune system, but everything is very well managable.

She’s a big fighter, that’s probably the reason she made it through all of it. She’s a real character and the unrivaled queen of the group. She’s what I call “passive dominant”. She’s super chilled out and never seeks a fight. She never tried to bite or showed any agression towards the other pigs, but she’s the boss and she expects everyone naturally to accept that. My male had a real problem with that behavior when he was first introduced into the group and never managed to climb the ranks ablove her. They sorted it out without anyone getting injured and the male eventually settled down below her just fine. My underweight tiny piggie grew into the largest one of the bunch. She’s very large for a girl and weights proud 1050g. She’s simply amazing.

The last of the bunch is my peruvian princess Rosie. She’s chocolate-red-white-cream colored and with about 900g she’s the smallest and lightest of the bunch. She’s super social and get’s along with everyone no problem. She’s also the most talkative and can get on our nerves a lot when she wants food – she’s very pushy when it comes to treats. Even thought she’s the most delicate of them all body-wise, she never had any health issues whatsoever. Her only problem is that for about half a year now, she develops phantom pregnancies all the time. She doesn’t seem to really suffer from it, she just has milk and can be a bit moody sometimes, but generally she’s doing extreamly well. I talked to our vets and they said I don’t have to worry about any health issues whatsoever. Since she’s developing phantom pregnancies so often, I’m thinking about getting her castrated nonetheless. She’s two years old and at an age where she can get through an operation considerably good. Maybe I can take some stress off her shoulders that way, but any operation bears a risk and since she’s the delicate type I’m quite worried.

As you can see, they all have their indivdual problems, but since I know all of them inside out, I can deal with them allright. I have different medication against pain, bloating, gut-fungus, skin-fungus and asthma on stand-by at all times. I know the G-Pig dosage for several antibiotics, fungus medication and our expectorant by heart and if everything fails, I can still have a talk with one of our vets. It may sound as if I’m having a lot of trouble with my pigs, but that’s really not the case.

Adopting a Dog in Germany

our old girl in spring 2014

Ever since our old girl had to be humanely euthanized at the age of 16 in July of 2014, my father has been thinking about adopting another dog. As time went on, the thought became a serious wish and he started actively looking for dogs.

First off all, where can you buy/adopt a dog legally in Germany?

1. you can buy a puppy from a breeder
2. you can look into newspaper advertisements or the internet to get a dog from a private person who wants to / has to give the dog away
3. you adopt a dog from the shelter
4. you adopt a dog from one of the many animal rescue /helping organizations around

It’s actually forbidden by law to sell dogs on flea markets in Germany and if I remember correctly there’s exactly 1 pet store in the entire country, where you can buy puppies. Personally, I think the best way to go is to look for a dog in a shelter or adopt one from a trustworthy rescue organization (many may act out of good will, but it often lacks a professional execution).

I also understand why some people would rather have a puppy from a breeder, because that way you can check on the parents of your dog and the environment it’s been growing up in and basically you can be sure the dog has never really experienced anything bad and you get the characteristics you’re looking for in the specific breed you want to have. It’s the safest way to get a healthy normal dog, if you want to go to the trouble of finding a good greeder and spending a lot of money for a purebreed puppy.

sleepy girl

I reason I prefer “second hand dogs”, is mainly because I respect the choice to buy a puppy from a breeder, but I want to give the older dogs sitting in shelters and foster homes a chance as well. They may come with a problem here and there and it takes them longer to get used to their new home and both of you need time to get to know eath other well, but it’ll work out eventually with rigth amount of patience and love.

So, my father read an advertisement on the internet and called the women who copuldn’t keep her 10-year-old Beagle anymore, but he was too late. After turning down 20 people who weren’t goof enough, she gave the dog to a shelter a week ago. My dad went to said  shelter and there was the Beagle.

You see, it’s not that easy to adopt a dog from a shelter. They usually have you come several times to go for a walk with the dog, so you two get to know each other. They will also have talks with you about your experience with dogs and what kind of environment you can provide them and if they feel you’re unfitting, no dog for you. They usually try very hard to find good people, but that’s not easy, especially for older dogs.

Most people look for young and healthy dogs, that leaves the old ones and those with medical issues harder to find a new home for. When my father went for a walk with said Beagle, two women spoke up to him. The first one complained that dog would be too old for her liking, but the second one was very happy for that old dog to have someone interested in taking him. Faith in humanity crushed and instantly rebuild, I guess.

The usual procedure is, after you’ve decided you want to have the dog and the shelter staff agrees with you, you get the dog on probation, so to speak. Usually it’s a few weeks and after that time, you call the shelter and tell them how’s it going. In an ideal situation, you tell them all is fine and you keep the dog. If not, you bring the dog back. Many shelters have you pay the adoption fee after this probation period, in case you keep the dog. The shelter my father wants to adopt said Beagle from, even brings the dog to your home, to see the future environment by themselves. I think that’s awesome.

It may sound troublesome to get a dog from a shelter, but I think it’s good everyone tries their hardest to find good owners for the dogs.