Learning by Fire

I was talking to a friend the other day - or rather, a while back if I'm being literal - and I got to thinking about a serious flaw in my character: I prefer to learn things the hard way. Make logical sense? No, I didn't think so, either. Here are a few examples:

I have these intuitions often that tell me, "This is about to happen. You should probably adjust the situation at hand to prevent it." Not Sandra Bullock-type of intuitions or premonitions where, no matter what she does, she ends up with the same results. Or where she jumps back and forth between days. Odd. No, my intuitions, or premonitions or whatever, are little things like, "If you set that cup right there, it's going to tip and spill all over your mother's carpet. Bad idea." But it's a fleeting thought and I push it away. Why? Because, "Whatever, Alaina, it's sitting far enough back. Plus, how can you of all people know the future? Don't be ridiculous!" Three steps away and I hear a small little thud and feel a few drops of liquid land on my ankle. It's red. Awesome.

Another, rather humorous one, was when I was walking on a perfectly flat stretch of thin wood outside in a friend's yard. It wasn't raised at all, it was just set into the ground, so I had no fear of falling off of anything. The problem was my sandals. No traction whatsoever. As I walked along it, balancing like a tight rope walker, I saw in my head a vision of me slipping and falling backwards. "Haha, that'd be funny," I thought, and took just one more step. BAM! Didn't even know what hit me for a second. Literally. I didn't feel myself falling, I dropped so fast! I just felt something hit the back of my head, opened my eyes to see blue with little spots of white and took a second or two to deduct that I was flat on my back, looking up at the sky. Then I heard friends running up to me and shouting questions of, "Are you okay!" I couldn't help it; I burst out laughing. I should have known.

As time went on, things only got worse. I wrecked a friend's car after quite physically forcing down a very, vary bad feeling I had about going anywhere. I hung out with someone I knew I shouldn't have, but couldn't imagine why it was such a bad idea until, not long into it I decided I should leave and the last words I heard him say were, "I could have given you a date rape drug!"

There is obviously something inside me that just doesn't listen. I think the subconscious concern is, "Well, if I follow these negative feelings and avoid this situation, I'm pretty sure I'll never know what it was I was supposed to learn to avoid."

WHAT?! How about believing that fire will burn and cause damage? Concept? Maybe if I go the other way I'll learn something good, rather than, "Ha, oh yeah! I definitely should have listened and stayed away. El-oh-el. Ma bad."

If I haven't already done it, I'm kind of concerned about burning my hands too many times, and beyond repair. Then I'll be useless. Audrey Hepburn once wrote to her sons, "If you need a helping hand, you have one at the end of your arm. As you grow older, remember you have two hands. The first is for helping yourself; the second is for helping others." Metaphorically speaking, I need to stay out of harm's way so that I'll be able to help others when they need it. In the states I've put myself in, I haven't been able to be there for many people lately. That's a thought I hate.

So I'll try to break this habit. Uhhh...good luck to me? I really suck at this, in case I haven't painted a clear enough picture for you. Did I mention it's a bad idea to take 4 energy shots (not regular drinks) in the space of 2 hours at work? AT WORK?! Or to take someone I absolutely know will annoy the hell out of me on a 16 hour (one way) driving trip to pick up a kitten? Yeah, that one was a disaster (see Adventures to Missouri blog post).

Despite all the disasters of my life, I can't help but not regret any of it. I've still learned lessons, regardless of how they were learned. It'd just be easier if I'd go about it the easy way. But let's face it...how many of us really do that?

Thuh Animals

So I was glancing through my earlier posts and realized one huge thing: “Mina” is actually “Ellie,” and I don’t even remember my little brother planning on going with me to pick her up. Obviously he didn’t.

And speaking of pets, my brother just got a new one yesterday. Out of 8 people in the family, we have 7 pets; and not everyone has one, like my middle brother on a mission or my youngest sister. So just for fun, I’ll blog about them.

The first one to join the family was Pockets:

A feisty little thing, she is. She has a dominant personality and destroys EVERYTHING left out for her to reach. So we have to be careful. Many computer cords and cell phone chargers have we had to replace. But she's very sweet when she has nothing to chew. Always the first to greet you and lick your feet.

Next was my Ellie:
Adorable, quiet, shy, and very loving and loyal. Her whole world revolves around me, basically. And our fish. She loves the fish.

Then we had Pebbles join the ranks:She’s Pockets’ little non-blood-related sister. As in they share the same owner. A bit more reserved than Pockets is, she is nonetheless an accomplice in those ruined cords and chargers. But she’s got a very gentle personality and you can easily hurt her feelings if you get angry at her. So get angry and then tell her you still love her, she’ll be just fine.

Milliee is no longer part of the family, but she was briefly, so I thought I’d put a quick little doo-da about her on here, too.She was in heat the entire time we had her, minus about 2 months of her kittenhood. And she liked to stick her tongue out at us. We laughed. One time my computer screensaver hypnotized her to sleep. It was SO funny!

Then we got Daxton:He came fully grown from the shelter and hates the indoors. Except that last night, apparently, my youngest brother (Daxton’s owner) let him in and he fell asleep wrapped in my brother’s arms on the bed. Cutest story ever.

Then Jaden came along:Most tender soul a dog ever had. He cuddles while you watch TV and plays with dogs less than half his size without even hurting them! So sweet. He actually gives hugs when he greets you. It’s adorable.

Then little Taz:

Teeny, tiny little thing, all growed-up. He plays harder with Jaden than with anyone or anything else. He thinks he’s Jaden’s size, I’m pretty sure, and he adores my mom!

And as of yesterday, we got Dozer…we think (it’s not a permanent name yet):

He’s hard to see, because he’s all black. He’s also Jaden’s little non-blood-related brother. When I walked in the door yesterday, he came running up to me, wagging that little tail and so excited to see me as if he’d known me the whole 3 months of his life. It made me to smile. =)

And there you have it. The Whicker Pet Family. Cute, ain’t they?!

Hyperness

So I'm sitting here, ready to blog about a crush, when BAM! Some serious energy hits. Now I can't focus on words well enough to talk about this guy. Odd.

So I've decided to blog about whatever comes to my overactive mind right now, AS it comes to mind. This should be interesting.

First up, my friend, Kelly, comes to mind because we used to send emails like this. We'd sit and write about whatever entered our thoughts, following the train that led from one point to another. It was fun.

Now I'm thinking about something I haven't told her yet. I've alluded to it to her and the thing is that she and I have no secrets between us. Except for this one, but I really think that she'd figure it out quickly, anyway. She'd be surprised because you'd THINK this wouldn't be a thing anymore, but it is.

My little brother is so cute. The one on a mission. Actually, all 3 of them are absolutely adorable, but JJ's the one that just popped into my head. I'm not entirely sure why anymore. Can't remember.

But Michael is living with me and my sisters and it has been a BLAST! He's so much fun and brings such a unique vitality to the house that neither of my sisters, nor I can imitate. He's so cute. I just love him to death.

I love my job. The people I work with are so great. All of them.

I wish that everyone could love their jobs like I do. I wish that everyone could get along with each other. It'd be happy, but that's not life, is it? Hell, I don't get along with everyone I come across and most of us have more of a social life at work, where we spend all our time, than anywhere else where we DON'T spend as much time.

I should get a fish. No, I shouldn't, I kill them too easily because I get annoyed at how much I have to clean up the damn tanks. I wonder if a bird would be different. My cat, Ellie, might like it. Hahaha! That'd be cute.

Colten's a fun guy. He's my cousin and we just chatted on FB, that's why he's on my mind.

My friend's son, Juno, is freakin' cute. His mother, Unhui, is a twig and you wonder how the HELL a baby came out of her. Juno is sucking on a little sucker. But he paused to look at me and smile. He's so cute. 10 months old. I'm going to go to his first birthday party. He's half Korean and their first birthdays are apparently a huge deal, so his is going to be the biggest party I've ever seen for a 1-year-old in my life. Fun times. He keeps staring at me and smiling when I look over at him. HE'S SO CUTE! He's the only baby in the world who's ever made me baby hungry.

Who am I kidding, I used to live to become a mother. Then things changed. Now I can't imagine it and it kinda freaks me out. But Juno makes me second-guess my second guess. He's so adorable.

I think I should go now. Seriously, this could get long, especially with how much energy I've got right about now. Ha. Ha, ha, ha. Oh boy, k, I'm done. 'tis gonna be sad when this energy dies down. Sure is fun while it lasts, though.

ADIOS!