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I know I haven't been on Gaia forever, but today I find myself in such need of a venting and I couldn't think of anywhere else to throw it up (actually that's not entirely true but more on that later). I assume that no one is going to read this, or on the fat chance that someone does I'm in for more trolling...but venting to preschoolers is not very productive to the cause.

Let me start by saying people who comment without reading an entire post, or with no knowledge of the situation being described are jerks. I hate arguing with people that don't even read the whole story! There is no sense in arguing with them because they can't construct a valid argument because they aren't even reading the points that you are making. It's like arguing with a rock, pointless!

For anyone who cares what started this whole rant of mine listen in, and for those of you who are going to pass judgements without taking the time to read, then kindly bugger off please.

Hubby and I live on a farm, and being a farm we keep animals around for various purposes. We also have a young family, so many of our animals are both work animals and pets as well! Kids love animals, who knew? So my particular problem today revolves around our cats.

For anyone who doesn't live on a farm or in a rural area, mice can be a huge problem! Our first winter here we were catching 3-4 mice a night in our live trap, yes we caught them live because we are animal lovers and believe even mice have the right to live - somewhere other than our pantry. When we moved here we had 3 cats. One neutered, and one pair for breeding - and seeing as how the 3 obviously couldn't keep up with the mouse problem we needed breeding cats! I totally understand overpopulation of cats and what-not, but our local shelter charges over 100$ for a cat, and they prefer to send feral cats to farms - not kid friendly! This is not economical - specially considering we always lose several cats over the year; it's unfortunate but we have coyotes and cold winters. Don't mistake that statement to mean the cats fend for themselves. We provide them with shelter - they have a barn full of hay, heated water, warming light, and food all year.

The thing with being on a farm, as we have learned, is that strays happen. We have randomly had other cats move in, or we've taken in abandoned kittens. We ended up with a lot more cats than we anticipated the first few years. And with unfixed cats comes - kittens! I know what you're thinking - fix the darn things, well guess what? There is just no way of fixing all the cats that happen by, who pays for it all? And I simply couldn't live with myself if I threw every hungry cat out in the winter (when most of them show up) to freeze to death. Our local shelters also charge you for turning in animals, and for cats most of them end up being put down anyway because no one wants them. So yes, I feed the cats that come by and give them shelter.

Yes, the first few years we had a real flux in the number of cats - so many kittens! I did my very best to find them homes, and homes I found for almost every single one. Now I had a small problem. I was giving them away for free. I was getting so many takers for them, and I'd pack the little guys into a kennel and take them to the city only to have the takers be no-showers. This resulted in a lot of unnecessary stress for the babies. I also got flack for being irresponsible by not charging anything - I was only going to attract psychos and people who weren't really committed to providing safe homes. So now I've started charging. Not much - usually 5$, and I'm not that strict about it - I've given two cats for the price of one or last year I had a farmer that wanted 10 and I didn't charge him at all. This litter I have right now, only 2 in total, I've asked 10$ for because I've taken the time to litter train and am offering food and litter with them as well.

We are not breeders! We have done our best to bring down our numbers - we only have 6 cats in our barn right now! We want breeders because as I stated we are a farm and we lose cats, particularly over winter! Buying from a shelter is impractical and costly. We do keep some of our kittens - males primarily to reduce breeding. We also monitor our alpha male and keep track of his kittens to limit any inbreeding; we make sure when we keep a male that he isn't related to any of the females in the barn. It is not a perfect system, but it works so far, more or less. Our intention has never been to make money off the kittens, but we inevitably end up with more than is practical for us to keep. I do my best to find them good homes, this has never been an issue until today.

For some reason one woman in my local area took offense to my sale ad, accusing me of being a money grabber. She completely trolled me, and even got her friends after me as well. I asked them several times, politely, to leave; but the problem with trolls is they get joy out of making someone's life miserable. It doesn't matter what you say to them, their aim is to hurt, not actually make a valid argument.

And yes, I needed a vent, and I tried elsewhere before here. I wasn't even complaining about the cats - I explained the situation and I suppose that's where I went wrong because no one read my complaint about trolling and cyber bullying - they made an issue about how I'm essentially a criminal for allowing my cats to breed. I should be paying astronomical fees to fix every stray that wonders into my barn, or paying fees to turn them over to a shelter where they are likely to be killed anyway because no one wants adult cats. And then people tell me use the money you make from the kittens to fix the cats, yeah but you know what? The money I make off those kittens doesn't begin to make a dent in that cost.

So after being attacked by all these trolls, with a blessed few in between who actually have experience with farm life and totally understand the impossibility of the situation, I am left feeling like I'm a jerk for giving these cats food, water and shelter. Like these poor little kittens I've had in my house for 3 weeks now, because had I left them in the barn there was a 100% chance they would have froze to death. How do I know this for a fact? Because we lost a whole litter last year. Yes the barn is shelter and there is a heat lamp, but the kittens don't manage to stay warm enough. All I am trying to do is find them decent homes, and I feel like a jerk for even saving them from the cold to begin with. I have 6 cats in my barn right now, we really don't need more than that because the cat population sky rockets very fast, but obviously we will keep them if I can't find them homes. I just don't have it in me to send them out to their deaths.

I am doing everything in my power to be a reasonable responsible person and I am being treated like a criminal by some puffed up know it alls from the city who can't even take the time to read through and understand the situation. I'm not killing these cats, I'm not dumping them on someone elses farm to be someone elses problem, I'm not handing them over to some psychos to turn them into dog chow; I'm trying to find them safe and loving homes!

In return for my commitment to these guys and giving them a good start on life I am on the receiving end of cyber bullying from ill informed individuals.

For those that have been reasonable, logical and kind I thank you. To everyone else, grow up - if you can't say anything nice...

End rant.

---- Sagi ----


---- Tobias ----

January 18th must be marked on the calander.

Yesterday over lunch I made myself a deck of flashcards to help me study kanji. Forty four cards in all. For lack of anything better to do, I went through the deck with Reiko once, telling her the meanings and pronounciations of each of the forty four kanji. Now, understand that Reiko has no prior knowledge of the Japanese language. After going through the deck once, I proceeded to go through the second time to see how many Reiko would remember. Take into account that she was eating at the time and not really paying attention the first time through.
Although she could not remember how to say them, after telling me the meanings of the first five cards correctly, I made her a bet that if she could get 50% of the meanings of the kanji correct I would give her cookies. So begins the challenge.
Reiko wins with an astounding 31/44 correct.

While the challenge was taking place, Kai, having been freed from his classroom prison, joined us just in time to see Reiko's amazing victory. Jealous by the fact that Reiko was now getting cookies, he decides to take up the challenge. He comes out on top with 26/44.

Bah, when I think, I had a week to memorize the first fifteen, and another week for the second fourteen.....

Currently Reiko has taken up a second challenge. This time she is to remember all the Hiragana, including those with diacritics, a total of seventy one characters. Tomorrow she will be tested. Why is she doing it? If she gets 75% right she earns herself a home made apple pie. 95% gets a keylime pie. 100% gets a keylime pie with marrange. Currently she has brought herself down to only one in her incorrect pile. Can she remember them all for tomorrow, after sleeping and D&D all night????

Ah the joys of University, 2008.

I feel I must rant about recent problems that have come about in the last four days I have been back at school. I am a Japanese major and as part of my major I may take either historical and/or religious study classes focusing on Japan. This semester I decided to start working on understanding some of the religions - like Shinto and Buddhist - of the region. First, however, I must take RLST 100, and now that I've given you a short summary I will rant on the problems I have incountered.

First off, the bookstore failed to order enough books for the class. On the first day of class the prof utilized the 'show of hands' method to see how many in the class had in fact aquired the book, and I was relieved to see that half the class, or less, had been able to do so. That is, until the prof assigned the reading assignment due the next class anyway; if we didn't have the book we'd best find some way to get it. As this particular book is put out by the University, ordering it from an online source such as Amazon.com is impossible. -- Before I go on I must make note that this 'text book' is in fact a computer CD, one that the prof pointed out as having been problematic in the past for students. You see, the CD is formatted for a Mac, and most students choose to work from a PC. The prof acknowledged that the PC can not always read the pdf file properly. -- Needless to say on the next day when he asked questions no one offered answers, whether due to the fact of not having the book yet (as was my case) but also to a second fact that has only come to my attention after having completed the readings.

This "book" could have been written by a child. The writers (as there are several) appear unable to put together a grammatically correct paragraph or even a sentence. Sentences flip flop on topics which they are speeching and paragraphs have no central idea they explore. Many paragraphs are made of one giant run on sentence. Commas are nearly non-existant, and the authors seem unable to decide on a format for using quotations. At one point one of the authors actually suggests in a bracetted section that to better understand religious studies students would be well off to read a book which she makes multiple references to, because the auther of this book provides an excellent arguement on what 'religion' is without actually telling the reader what exactly his arguement she is so impressed by is.
I am by far not one of the most intelligent people in the class, so it may not mean much to say I did not understand anything from the readings, but I do understand basic grammar. I will not name the book here, nor the authors, nor my University I attend because I wish not to encounter legal rights issues in posting this on the internet, so you will just have to take my word for it.

Next up is Damek! My dear dear mute elf

Boredom hit me over the head, so I decided to make my roleplay characters into gaia avvies using tektek ^^

First up is lovable and adorable Tobias; woot

As of late I have been a participant in the great roleplaying game of D&D ((yes, I am a nerd)), therefore this little adventure is not of my creation, I am but merely a pawn in our struggle to drive the DM mad. This story is told from the point of view of my PC, my beloved Tobias.