Project Kengikat

Sunny Monday

// June 15th, 2010 // No Comments » // Animals, HIV and AIDS, Me Time

Ok I don’t know if it was me and my headache, but after getting home from an awesome day of being out and about with Dodger, I sat on the sofa and this God awful headache took over which made my awesome day a complete pain in the head. Before I knew it I was in so much pain all I could do was sit and try to let it pass. I took some Excedrin, you know, the headache medicine and not long I was able to relax. I was in bed and sleep before the sun set. This was cool because I am sure Dodger was pretty tired from three days of walking over to West Hollywood.

Going to bed before the sunset can sometimes be a good thing, but there is always the chance that you walk up and this is what happened to me. At 1:30AM I woke up and could not go back to sleep. So I got up played with Dodger and then decided to blog. After finishing the blog my website went crazy and I was not able to save or post it. This really drove me crazy, but I wasn’t too upset because since Ryan created the website over two years ago I have never had a problem with it. I can say the same thing about my blog as well so I just took it all in stride and counted it as a practice blog.

Monday was my third day at the ceramics studio, as I stated before, it was also day three of walking to the studio, so I got three awesome days of walking in the heat. I think I’ve blogged before that I have fallen off from my gym schedule. I have only been one time since my trip to DC. I really can’t blame it on anyone or anything other then me. So the walking has been good for me.

When I got to the studio Brian had a bag of clothes for me and I am was happy. I’ve talked about what I do, but have never asked any of the guys to contribute anything, so to have Brian offer a bag of gently used clothes was so awesome. I always get so blown away when people do things like this. The bag was filled with really nice casual shirts which I will use for my outreach on Skid Row for people who are battling HIV or AIDS.

It was another really cool day at the studio and I am so glad that I took the time to make it there for three days. It is really a great way for me to clear my head and take time out for me. Plus I get to be in the company of some really cool people, many of which are friends of mine.

It was a perfect way to end an awesome weekend that I spent with my friend and Dodger. Once I returned home I also had a cool surprise in the mail. I emailed this shoe company to let them know the quality of the shoe laces the put in their dress shoes. I was surprised when i got an email back in a few days and even more surprised that after a few weeks I got a new pair of laces in the mail.

It’s Tuesday and I going to the gym today. In fact I am going all week and I will also take my little boy out for his long walks as well.

A Day To Chill

// June 7th, 2010 // 1 Comment » // Animals, HIV and AIDS, Me Time

Today was Monday which means a sweet day to relax and enjoy. Dodgers poop was much better after our morning walk, so I was really happy about that, plus he seemed to have his swagger back in his walk. This was awesome because I really wanted to go to the ceramic studio today, but if my little buddy wasn’t back to normal then I was just going to chill around the apartment with him.

.

Most Monday’s I spend the day doing ceramics with other guys who are either HIV positive or have AIDS. I was told about this place shortly after being diagnosed from someone who reads my blog and watches my YOUTUBE channel. They saw a blog where I was talking about how support groups just didn’t seem to work for me and being part of social networks where the main focus is centered around HIV and all the members only blog or vlog about HIV also didnt work for me. Especially since more the 90% of the people were acting like victims or how their lives are some how now screwed up and over. For me that isn’t support and it certainly isn’t something that I consider to be healthy or something I want to be around. Now I am sure these settings work for some people, I am just not one of them and from what I am learning from some many people who are HIV positive, this setting doesnt work for them either.

.

Dodger and I left home about 12:00PM walking to West Hollywood. I am not sure how far it is, but I think it is about 6 miles round trip, maybe a little more. It’s June, so we are experiencing what is called “June Gloom” which means there is a marine layer that hangs around most of the morning and then it burns off giving way for the beautiful California sun. The walk was awesome and along the way Dodger was able to mingle with other dogs and explore. I was able to get some much needed exercise in.

.

When I walked down the walkway toward the back yard I started thinking about the pieces I created the last time I was there and how they should be ready to take home. Once I got in the back yard I was greeted with smiles and hello’s from the guys. Monday’s are cool at the studio because there aren’t as many guys as Saturday and Sunday and the guys who come are very chill and there is never any catty drama. I also happen to think the most creative guys come on Monday’s.

.

Just like I had hoped for, my pieces were done and ready for me to take home, but what was really cool was the fact that they looked amazing and this made me very happy. Sometimes when I glaze I am not happy with the finished looked, but this time I was blown away buy how they came out. This was now the second time I was really pleased with the finished product. This gave me the energy to create some new pieces and this is exactly what I did.

.

I spent the afternoon in the company of some really cool guys creating some really cool pieces over some awesome conversation and the focus was not HIV or moaning and groaning about being HIV positive. It was simply a good of guys who share having HIV, but our passion for life and art is greater then allowing HIV or AIDS to control, derail, slow down or end the amazing lives each of us still has.

.

Just like always I left feeling happy that I took time out for me and the fact that I had the chance to spend the afternoon with some really cool guys making some awesome art. Dodger had the chance to play in this huge yard where he could explore and play in tall grass, chase cats and squirrels and then lay in the sun to nap. Our walk home was slow and steady. Once again, Dodger explored, mingled with other dogs and enjoyed his time with me and I was able to once again get some much needed exercise in.

Dodger

// June 6th, 2010 // 2 Comments » // Animals

5 months I met Dodger and after just a few hours with him, I knew that I wanted very much to keep him. From the time Phillip sent me his picture I thought he was cute little dog, but after he arrived I fell in love with him. After being with him for a few hours I knew I wanted very much to keep him. Later that week when I met with Phillip again to get some extra food for him, I told Phillip I wanted to keep him. I had no idea how saying I want to keep him would change my life.

Dodger and I bonded pretty fast and since then our bond has gotten so much stronger. When I first got him he went with me every where. At the time I had a car, so this was easy for me to do, but when the car broke down Dodger sometimes needed to stay at home alone. He didn’t like the change too much and he started using the bathroom on the apartment. I reached out to Phillip and he asked the trainer what I should do and soon I had some suggestions.

Many people told me to place him in a kennel why I was away, but I just could not bring myself to put him one. Since my bathroom is a good size, I would pull everything out when I needed to be gone and I would place him in there. After about two weeks of doing this and giving him some positive reinforcement and praise when he used the bathroom outside, he was back on schedule and I no longer have to put him in the bathroom. Well not as much. He sometimes has his moments where he forgets.

I know I love Dodger with all my heart, he makes me laugh and he is just such a sweet dog and he always seems to know when I am not feeling well or when I have had a rough day. When my Sickle Cell causes me to stay in bed, Dodger is right there next to me doing what he can to make me feel better. I don’t know how and I am sure people will think I am being silly, but Dodger seems to know what I am not feeling well and in these times is when he does silly little things to make me laugh or he will lay right next to me when I am in bed. He likes my face and when I open my eyes he’s looking right at me as if he is saying “It will be alright”

When I left for Washington DC I had no clue I would cry the way I did. My best friend picked him up and he was all packed and ready to go. He jumped into the truck and I closed the door. He turned and saw I was not getting in and went to the other side to try to get out. He began to bark at me through the window that sounded like “don’t leave me” My heart broke and I went upstairs so I would be ready when my ride got there. As soon as I closed me door the tears stated falling and then I let out this loud moan and I said “I miss you Dodger”

For the first time since getting him my apartment was empty and that just didn’t feel good. Even though I knew this was only for a few days, seeing him that way in the truck and then not having him greet me when I walked in the door was a bit much for me. In this moment I knew just how much Dodger means to me. Now I have had dogs before, but there is just something different about Dodger. I many ways he is like me when I was homeless and now like me he has a home. Like me he has awesome people in his life who love him so much. So I guess you can say that we are both formerly homeless.

Everyone tell me that I take such great care of him and in many ways I’ve spoiled him so much because I love him so much. I let him do his own thing and he has free run of the house. When people come over then need to adjust to him because this is his home and they are the guests. People need to know that he has places he likes to sit and they need to deal with that. If they cant, then don’t come over.

When we go to PETCO I let him pick his own toys, but putting them on the ground and if he plays with them a time then those are the ones he gets. He loves ducks and bears. He also has a few other toys, but the ducks and bears are the ones he likes to play with the most.

Two days ago I noticed a change in his poop. It started looking and feeling hard and last night it was very dry. Today after our morning walk I noticed that he didn’t even make a poop and then again in the afternoon he didn’t make a poop, but the late after noon walk he made a poop, but this time it was like hard rocks and when I pressed it between my fingers it was like balls of dry dirt.

Now Dodger has been drinking water and there have been no changed to his food. He also wasn’t acting like anything was wrong, but I knew his poop should not be like balls of dry dust. I called my friend Jacque and she asked me if he was drinking water and I said yes. She asked if I had changed his food and I said no, but after I hung up from her I remember that he did eat the dog food at my nieces house and that first night he got into the trash and ate some bones.

When we finished our walk I took off her harness just like I always do, but this time I wanted to check to see if I pulled the skin on the back on his neck if it would bounce right back into shape. If it didn’t this would be a sign of dehydration. Well the skin didn’t bounce right back, so this told me that needed to get him to drink more water. I could also get him some wet dog food, pour some fat free and no salt chicken broth over his dry food or even get him some non-flavored pedialyte.

Since today was Sunday and many times he gets a treat for dinner I went to the store and got him a can of wet dog food and some chicken broth for his dry dog food. Dodger was so happy to get wet dog food and I was happy to see him gobble it all down. I was able to get him to drink some water out of my hand instead of his bowl.

I took him out for his last walk at 10:30PM and I was so happy to see that his poop was starting to look better. It is still dry, but there was a shine to it and right before we got back home he went again and it was getting back to normal. I am sure by tomorrow his poop will be back to normal.

Right now my little man is sleeping in his favorite place. He was next to me until I moved the laptop in front of me. He always looks at peace when he is sleeping and he really loves to kick it on the back of the sofa.