Sorry Dana. :( People are horrible.

Oh Dana, some people don't like seeing happy people (even when your 'happy' is hanging by a thread anyway) and like to derail you. Similar thing happened to me the other day. It's bitter jealousy, pure and simple.

thougI tend to think he may have really just been commenting on the dog's rambunctious nature.

you are awesomdon't let assholes derail you. nt

i

His comment reveals everything about him, and nothing about you. Pity him. The pain he must feel inside that he's going around lashing out at complete strangers for no reason. Lashing out from the safety of his moving car as he drives away. He's a worthless coward. Don't let somebody that pathetic into your head. Give his words no value. We know you are awesome. You know you're awesome. That's all that matters.

fuck.

... and then picture him with his head out the window, looking back at you laughing his last as the driver clips the apex of the next turn and splashes his head against the telephone pole like a summer squash against a cricket bat.

at least he died happy.

this is what I really think though.

1) Put Carrot on your left side wrap his lead around your bum and hold the lead in your right hand. Walk... Whenever he pulls stop walking. Start again telling him to heel. Every time he pulls stop walking. He will get the picture.

2) That idiot probably meant no such thing. How could he? You are fabulous! :)

It's no more personal than if you were the cashier in a bank when he pointed a gun at you and said "put all the cash in the bag, bitch". Not worth your time to pity. Also not worth dwelling over. Easier said than done.

I don't think you do know you're awesome. If you did, it wouldn't have bothered you so much. But Carrot knows you are. and Sundae and Limey and J and the entire interwebs........ eventually we will tell you often enough that you might start to believe it.

I thought you preferred dogs to humans anyway? ;)

The VA is upsetting me today. I have been waiting for a year for my decision, they keep telling me that it only takes 270 days. When I tell them how long it has taken they say that due to the sequester things are running slow. I have tried to call them every day for the last week, and after going thru thier automated system they tell me to call back after hours and set up a time for them to call me back. They never call. And I waste my time waiting for the idiots to call me back. FUCK THE GOVERNMENT!!!

Thanks guys. You made me feel much better. Doesn't usually bother me when random strangers call me a dog or an ugly bitch - usually I just laugh it off. It was just the timing of it that made this one get to me I think. I'd only just got my head out of the eczema blues.

maybe he'd just been dumped by his girlfriend eh? :p

Re: Carrot's rambuctious nature (omg love that word, I shall make an effort to use it more often ;p) - he wasn't pulling at all, that's how I know it wasn't meant in that way (well, that and the expression of disgust on the lad's face and the aggressive tone of his voice) he was sat quietly at my side as we waited to cross the road.

He doesn't often pull on the lead, actually. There's a handful of specific places and contexts where he'll pull, but he walks beautifully on the lead most of the time. But, yeah, 'Vana, that's exactly the method to do it. Though, it never got through to Pilau. he only stopped pulling the lead when he got too old and frail to do so...mind you he had problems with the outdoors. Pulled so much and so consistently that he did my elbow in ;p Hence I was frikkin determined we would not be having a repeat of that problem with Carrotchops :)

That totally fucking sucks, fargon. I saw a thing on the Daily Show about the delays in VA claims and I was quite shocked. They were saying there are basically piles and piles of paper claims unprocessed and two different computer systems that can't talk to each other. Is your claim snarled up in that nightmare?

crossing fingers and toes they sort it out soon.

Fargon, maybe we need you vets to get booths next to the military recruiters at high schools across the country. They give their sales pitch and then you tell the kids what to expect after they serve... bastards.

the backlog of paper claims is so physically vast that it threatens the structure of the warehouses that store them.

There is more work to be done than can be done by the people and resources that have been allocated to it by those that make such decisions.

These priorities reflect the influence of the constituents. BY THEIR ACTIONS, it is clear to me, despite their cries to the contrary, that our veterans matter little to the decision makers in our government. fucking disgusting.

granted, the problem is enormous. but so are the stakes for each individual, like fargon.

it pisses me off.

Soldiers matter a great deal. But former soldiers seemingly matter very little.

Fargon,
My VA claim was opened in Sep of 2008. My deployment in 2009 caused my claim to be closed. It was reopened in July of 2012 and I can't see the end of the tunnel yet. My meds are routinely late or not mailed at all. Now they are billing me for office visits & meds.

The only way to fix this is to go a couple of times a month to the regional office handling your claim and speak with a representative. Check your ebenefits status online daily. Finally contact your congressman to have your claim followed up.

Good luck. It is a long road.

Christ, it shouldn't be so difficult.

Can you say? Thanks for affirmative action.