Long Time No See.

Let's just say my new year has been... rough.

Both of my dogs had procedures under anesthesia on Jan. 25th.
On Valentine's Day, I had to make the heartbreaking decision to put Oscar to sleep.
I have been to Mayo multiple times, and my body has just not been my friend.

That's not everything, but I don't feel like diving too deep right now.

I will be posting again soon, I promise!

Super Thankful Thanksgiving, Family Friends Lose Everything In Thanksgiving Eve House Fire

On the eve of Thanksgiving, some family friends were at home when a smoke alarm went off. They managed to call 911 and get out, however their dogs were trapped inside. The house burnt to the ground.

Video of the fire.

Photos of the fire.

This morning, they were sifting through the rubble when they found both dogs, alive, in the basement! However, everything else in the house was lost. The family has three kids, all still in school. Here's a link on how you can help, including a number you can call if you'd like to make a monetary donation:

Help the Haslett-Marroquin family.

Pass their story along to as many people as you can!
Thanks!

STOLEN! Update

So, we gave up on the recovery of my original games. They are long gone. However, my parents have been kind enough to replace the games I lost. Now I just have to get the items and Pokemon I lost back. I will post the list again, and if you're willing to trade or can help in any way, please contact jelsen@hotmail.com

Thanks for the help and support!

Pokemon:
Celebi
Shiny Suicune (from B/W gamestop event)
Shiny Raikou (from B/W gamestop event)
Shiny Entei (from B/W gamestop event)
Spiky Pichu
Pikachu Colored Pichu
Shaymin
Arceus
Deoxys
Mew
Phione
Manaphy
Darkrai
Victini
Zoura
Zoroark

Items:
Oak's Letter
Liberty Pass
Member Card
Secret Key
Enigma Stone

STOLEN! FAQ

First off, to those of you sent here via Twitter, either from Neil Gaiman's feed or someone else's, welcome!

Now, I've gotten some questions about my previous post, and I will answer the most common ones here.


Q: Why didn't you file a police report?
A: First off, I didn't discover that my games had been stolen until several weeks later, as I had decided I was going to take a break from playing my DS for a while. Second, we are under Sheriff's department jurisdiction, and they're not so nice about small thefts like this, unfortunately.

Q: Why not just use an emulator?
A: Because I like having physical copies of the game. My DS is portable, easier to use, and made for these games. I don't want to have to use a computer to play it.

Q: Why not just buy new copies of the games and use Action Replay to get your stuff back?
A: I don't really have the cash to buy $150+ worth of games again, and using Action Replay is not only cheating, it can also damage the games, as it is not a liscenced Nintendo product. I got the games originally for the challenge and fun of working towards the goals in them, I'm not going to cheat just to catch up.


If you have any other questions, feel free to email me at: jelsen@hotmail.com

STOLEN! A Disturbing Trend Hits The Disabled Community.

It started with a story.

Specifically, this story about a disabled McDonalds employee who was duped, and had $5000 worth of his Superman collection stolen. In a follow-up piece today, it was reported that comic fans all over the world were outraged, and had taken it upon themselves to collect rare pieces and autographs to give to Mike Meyer to boost his collection once more, what a sweet thing!

But it also reminded me of a theft that happened to myself at the beginning of the summer.

Now, i'm sure many of you have heard of Pokemon, an extremely popular game from Japan. They have cards, video games, cartoons, and collectables. From the time they came to the US, I have loved the Pokemon games from Nintendo. Your goal is to collect and train Pokemon, eventually hoping to collect them all. I have been playing my games for years, working hard to catch and trade pokemon, and attending events to get pokemon you can't find in the game. I play these games as relaxation when i'm having bad pain days, I've played them in the hospital and in bed after surgeries. I have put about 4-5 years and hundreds of hours of effort into these games.

This summer, they were all stolen from me.

The probable culprit? A well regarded nanny my parents had hired to watch my siblings. Though she came with great references, because I was home during the day, I could see how she treated my siblings. She called them brats, told them to shut up. She ate all of our food and then complained there was nothing to feed the kids, when we had two fridges and four freezers that were full. She gave my mom a list of food she wanted her to get for lunches, nothing but chicken nuggets, pizza, and juice boxes. She would take my siblings to the river and then sit on the other side of the path, reading a book, not even able to see the children. After telling my mom this, and she discovering things around the house that had been destroyed, the nanny was fired after less than a month.

Unfortunately, the theft of my games was not discovered for another few weeks. Why? Because after she'd stolen my games, some of which were gifts while I was in the hospital, by the way, she put my game case back in the exact position it had been it. As I had decided to take a break from my DS for a while, I didn't immediately notice.

So what all did she take?
6 games; Pokemon Pearl, Pokemon Platinum, Pokemon SoulSilver, Pokemon Black, Pokemon Ranger and Pokemon Ranger: Shadows of Almia
4-5 years of work
Hundreds of hours of my time
Event-only pokemon, that you can no longer get, including:
Celebi
Shiny Suicune
Shiny Raikou
Shiny Entei
Spiky Pichu
Pikachu Colored Pichu
Shaymin
Arceus
Deoxys
Mew
Phione
Manaphy
Darkrai
Victini
Zoura
Zoroark

And the rare items Oak's Letter, Liberty Pass, Member Card, Secret Key, and made me miss out on the Enigma Stone.

I went to the local GameStop to see if she'd sold them, but the told me they couldn't let me see the games without a police report, store policy. I would later learn this was a lie.

I was and still am devastated by this. As someone who has trouble doing many things, these were what I was good at. Several of those games were gifts, some I'd purchased myself, but they all had meaning, and I will probably never see them again. It hurts to already have a disability, and then have someone take advantage of you because of it.

Unfortunately, there are people willing to take advantage of the less fortunate among us all the time, so beware!

EDITED TO ADD: If you have any questions, feel free to email me at: jelsen@hotmail.com

Goodbye, you obnoxious little brat.

Today I lost a dear, dear friend.

I received a call at 8:50am today. That time is burned into my mind. My friend Lori, whose house my horse is boarded at, was on the phone. She said that this morning, as they went to check on a horse of theirs, Diamond, who was in the process of dying, they'd found my horse pawing violently at the ground. She was colicking.

I told Lori I was going to finish up with chores at the place I was watching, as I was taking care of 4 horses, 2 dogs, and 8 or so cats, and then I would be out. Immediately after I got up, some unseen force urged me to skip chores and go, so I did.

I was not prepared for the sight that awaited me. As I got out of my car and walked into the yard, I noticed several things. First, my friend Lori, her daughter Ginger, who is also my friend, the vet, and the vet's assistant had all been crying. Second, I saw my sweet girl; She was trembling violently from head to hoof, breathing heavily, sweaty and caked with mud. There was a tube in her nose that went down into her stomach, which occasionally spewed gastric contents onto the ground. The vet's assistant was pressing a towel to my girl's nose, as it was bleeding.

After a talk with the vet, spending some time walking my girl around the yard, and talking with my parents, we decided the best thing was euthanasia. As the vet and her assistant prepared everything, Cocoa made her decision. She lay down on the ground, onto her side. Her breathing became ragged and her eyes closed. She was done fighting. The vet slid a catheter into her neck, and moments later, injected the solution that ended her suffering. They checked for a heartbeat once, twice. My dear friend was gone.

The vet's assistant pulled her forelock into a ponytail, and with a few snips of her shears, it was off, my last memento of a fallen friend. But it was only to get worse. The vet then moved on to getting Diamond ready for her her journey over the bridge. Diamond was sedated and brought into the yard, away from Cocoa to keep her from panicking. As my friends said their goodbyes, the vet helped Diamond on as well. And so it was that in the span of an hour, two sweet friends were gone, and three hearts were left broken.

And so may my obnoxious, bratty, naughty little pony rest in peace, her time with me too short.

The call every pet owner dreads.

This morning, I slept in, as I am wont to do on weekends. At some point I was awoken by the sound of the answering machine, and someone leaving a message about one of our cats. I thought she'd just gone to someone's house, and they were calling us to come get her. I was wrong.

The message told me she was gone, found by someone in their driveway, already expired. My world collapsed, my pets are my babies. I called the man back, asked him his address as my voice cracked and the tears fell. After that call I went through the motions, getting the kennel into the back of my car, the pain paralyzing, sobbing. I drove just to the street behind us. Parked sloppily, the hurt, the need to see her prompting me to rush.

The man stood in his driveway, the sadness obvious in his features. I walked up to him, hair wild, barefoot, in my pajamas, the tears streaming down my face. He explained to me that he'd found her there, in his driveway, not a scratch on her, but somehow lifeless. My heart broke as I looked down at the box he'd lain her in. I couldn't take it. I thanked him for his kindness and picked up the stiff body of my little girl, not bothering with the box, wanting to put her somewhere more familiar, more comfortable. I laid her gently in the kennel, on the blanket she'd come with from the humane society.

The young girls who live in the house behind us, and directly across the street from the man who found her, took notice of the situation as I carried her lifeless body to the car. They cried out her name, surrounded me, knew my pain. She'd spent lots of time making friends with them. I was hugged, consoled, but it all felt so foreign and uncomfortable. I just wanted to take her home. Eventually I escaped, driving home practically blind, unable to stop the cascade of tears and the sobs that wracked my body.

I got home and brought her into the yard. I sat, stroking her fur and examining her for any injuries. There wasn't a scratch, no signs she'd been hit by a car. Her body, however, showed me that she did not go peacefully. It was then that I realized that something more sinister may have happened to her. You see, not everyone is good. Some people are monsters. One of those monsters lives quite near to us. He has voiced his opinion on our cats, aimed kicks at them, and has even been seen harming his own dog. I am hoping I am wrong, that someone would not willingly harm such an innocent creature, but the signs are all there.

Monday morning I will take my sweet kitty to the vet one final time, to see if her demise was the result of a very despicable act, or a mere accident. And when she is buried, a piece of my heart will go with her.