[Rosela's Scrapbook] Stuff goes here.

[Khida]

Congrats, Rosela! That's all great news!

[Sayana]

That's so wonderful Rosela! I wish you all the best. Big changes, but they seem like really good changes too. =)

[Rosela]

Thanks so much everyone! I really, really appreciate it

[Gossamer]

Congrats on all of it. You deserve a change, some big time happiness, and a life filled with adventure.

[Rosela]

Thanks Jen, I appreciate it. I was very glad to see Kavala's name popping up in Riverfall again lately

[Rosela]

E

Lovely Waste of Time

Using my new-found collaging skills, I made a little collage of some various cute things I found lying around the internet. Enjoy!

E

[Rosela]

Even Troubled Dogs Need Love Too

This is Amber, our dog. She’s a pure-blooded Yorkie, a trick-master, a cuddler, and would protect us to the death if she thought we needed it. A Doberman in a 9-lb body, as we’ve often described her.

However, her home before us was a bad one that left her with serious anxiety problems that make her very difficult to properly socialize. She hates 99% of other dogs, children, and anyone she hasn’t already spent a fair amount of time around. She needs a strong, knowledgeable hand to be able to work with her. I’m happy to say that we’ve been able to step up and provide that, but…we’re leaving now.

It was a very hard decision, but we decided our move to the big city would not be the best thing for her. Noise outside our windows and in the hallway will send her anxiety through the roof. We know we'll end up in an apartment building, and the simple act of going down the stairs or elevator to go outside will drive her crazy. All it will take is a moment of our inattention, a curious hand stretched out to her, and we’ll have a bite. I’m ashamed to say it’s happened before. After many tears and much frustration, we decided we needed to do what’s best for her and find her a home like our current one: quiet, and with someone who knows what they’re doing and is willing to stick it out.

It plain terrifies us whether the latter is too much to ask.

Sometime last year, we stopped by the local animal shelter, just to see who they had. We’d been there before, and knew they had one particular dog, Ashley, a little American Eskimo, who clearly had aggression problems. She barked fiercely and continuously from the moment you walked in to the moment you left. She was an adorable dog, but clearly not for our house which already contained one maladjusted dog.

This shelter also took in horses, so they had a stable next to the parking lot, but on this trip, it looked empty. Imagine my surprise when I hear a little, formal bark from the stables – Ashley was there. She sat on the other side of the fence, watching us cross the parking lot, and barking dispassionately, as though she knew she was expected to bark and was simply obliging. I asked about her inside. “She’s crabby,” they said. “Just…crabby.” The image of Ashley sitting primly on the other side of that fence, barking because it was the only way she knew how to respond anymore, will stay with me for a long time.

I called the shelter not too long ago to ask about her. They said she got adopted, and seemed surprised that I’d asked. I want to hope she really was adopted by some who was willing to put in the hard work to rehabilitate her, but there will always be that painful suspicion that they lied to me and the put down this poor dog that no one was willing or able to help.

Though my fiancé says I’m crazy, I know in my heart that if Amber ever went to the pound, she would end up like Ashley. Her cuteness would not save her and all anyone would see is a wild, frightened dog spinning constant circles in an attempt to calm herself. It terrifies me that I cannot trust Amber’s new family to stick it out like we have. But I have to. All I can do is look them in the eyes and ask that if it truly gets too bad, that they call me before the pound. The pound may not be a death sentence, but for a dog already with problems, it makes life infinitely harder.

If you’re looking for a new dog, and you have your heart absolutely set on a breeder’s puppy, I’m not going to shame you for that. That decision is your right as a citizen of wherever you’re from and it’s completely understandable. But if you aren’t completely set on a pure-bred puppy, maybe take another look at the souls on the other side of the chain link fence. Ask yourself if you have it in your heart to take home a dog that may need a little more work than the floppy puppy you were thinking of, but will love you just the same, if not more.

Sorry for the depressing scrap this time; Amber's fate is just one of many things on our plate lately.

[Rosela]

I Need a Break

I mentioned in an earlier scrap how crazy things have been lately, and how much crazier they’re going to get over the next month or two. Spare time seems to come in pockets where I think I’m going to have more of it than I really end up with. Rather than go into all the gory details, because I know I’m a rambler, I’m just going to leave it at the above – I need a break. I’m taking a month off of Mizahar, which will be enough time to at least come back as a married woman and we’ll see if I need more time than that. I’m sorry to all of my thread partners, I hope I haven’t left anyone in too much of a bind with loose ends. Thank you to everyone for your support.

[Traverse]

For when you get back or if you check up on us, your scrap made me think of this video, which I enjoyed a lot when I saw it. I hope Amber does well with her new caretakers, she is so wonderfully adorable.

[Rosela]

Thanks Traverse Very good video, made me want to go visit a shelter...

Anyway, I'm Back...kindof.

So yeah, guess who's sneaking back in way after I said I would? I'm now a married woman, living in the big city, and working hard on my resume for my eventual job change (though that's still a secret from my current employers - sssh!). To be honest though, life actually isn't super great right now. To put it bluntly, I'm lonely. For 11 hours a day, I'm more completely alone than I have been probably my entire life. No dog, no office-mates, no husband always on the other end of a chat line (he can't chat at his new job for security reasons). Just complete, oppressive silence, from one end of the apartment to the other. This is part of the reason I'm back, to try and halt the downward spiral of depression that's set in since we moved.

Problem is, I have had no inclination to write for Rosela. There's guilt, mostly, from abandoning the character I've spent so long building up. I can't say I have any other character in mind either. I'm just...bereft of creativity right now.

But I still came back. There is one thing I promised to do, and by god, I'll finish it if it kills me: the Eypharian rewrite. We're so close to being finished, with less than a third of the way to go. The really hard stuff, genetics and skeletal structures, is already done. I just have to get my stamina back and cross the finish line into peer review.

So this is what I'm going to do. I'm going to reread everything I've written thus far to get back in the groove. I'm going to finish editing the last sections. I'm going to make a couple pictures. I'm going to get it peer reviewed, get it founder reviewed, and get this bastard put to bed.

Who knows, maybe after all this, I'll have found my spark for Rosela again. Or maybe I'll head on over to Falyndar and start all over with a badass Myrian. Or maybe I won't write anymore. I don't know. But this rewrite is getting done, that's for damn sure.