One year ago, Jackpot was born. May 3rd, 2012.
He is my inspiration. He is what makes me smile.
I owe him the world, as he has given me mine.
Saturday, May 04, 2013
One Year.
i don't really want to tear up and really write about this, so i'll put it as short as i can.
Saturday, January 26, 2013
Slip, Fall, Get back up. Or not at all?
Striking your feet to the ground, step by step, you walk. There is ice under this thin layer of recently fallen snow, that you are trekking over, but somehow you are not slipping. You see footsteps of others who have walked this path ahead of you. You see the ice. It terrifies you; what if you fell? Falling isn't half bad, really. It's not terminal. But it sure does hurt.
In life we slip and we fall, but we have to decide how it affects us, how to deal with it, and if we are going to get off our asses and take a stand. Some of it is pure chance and luck, while the other half is our own beings and everything that we are.
Although, maybe you're scared of the potential embarrassment.
Adding to that, your past doesn't matter. This is a here and now thing. Carpe diem, seize the freaking day. I don't care about what you think might be holding you back, or your fears, doubts, thoughts; you can do this. Courage over fear. Mind over matter.
Now, you continue walking and you see other's falls, their slips, and marks on this path. The fear rises. The doubt sky rockets.
The thing you don't see along that path is experience; the mistakes made and lessons learned. Nothing in this entire world can replace experience.
Courage isn't about not having fear, its about taking that first step even though you are shaking in your boots.
In life we slip and we fall, but we have to decide how it affects us, how to deal with it, and if we are going to get off our asses and take a stand. Some of it is pure chance and luck, while the other half is our own beings and everything that we are.
"Everything you need is already inside." NikeCoincidentally, sometimes all it takes is 20 seconds of insane courage. 20 seconds that could potentially change your life. In the agility world, 20 seconds could be half of your run, parts of it, or maybe just walking up to the start line.
Although, maybe you're scared of the potential embarrassment.
"It's like you'll embarrass yourself if you say something, and you'll embarrass yourself if you don't." Dylan Mee, We Bought a ZooEither way, don't you think it would be worse to look back on the matter and wanting to kick yourself for not trying? Would you rather have the possible embarrassment then, or would you want to forever have all that embarrassment of not seizing the day, and taking a chance?
Adding to that, your past doesn't matter. This is a here and now thing. Carpe diem, seize the freaking day. I don't care about what you think might be holding you back, or your fears, doubts, thoughts; you can do this. Courage over fear. Mind over matter.
Now, you continue walking and you see other's falls, their slips, and marks on this path. The fear rises. The doubt sky rockets.
The thing you don't see along that path is experience; the mistakes made and lessons learned. Nothing in this entire world can replace experience.
Courage isn't about not having fear, its about taking that first step even though you are shaking in your boots.
Thursday, January 10, 2013
The thing society calls change.
The toughest step is always accepting it. Taking a deep breath and gulping it down. Knowing you have to change. But, wait, the tougher step is CHANGING. Because you know what? Change just doesn't create itself. You have to be willing to feel fear, doubt, longing, and all the emotions, for change to occur. Yes, it may be a physical journey on a physical planet, but, in reality, it's more emotional than anything. And it's all up to you.
Take a look at this...
Change: the act or instance of making or becoming different.
Evolve: develop gradually esp. from a simple or more complex form.
Some may say I see change as evolving because I am an optimist. Maybe it's because of the way I see life. Forget that. I see changing as evolving because in life we evolve. Simple as that.
In life we start as a much simpler form, a baby. But as we go through life we grow, gradually. It's not one day that we are an infant, then suddenly the next morning wake up an adult. Gradually we transform, we learn, have new experiences, we feel, we love, and we lose some things too. You decide what you take from it, and really, in any situation in life. It's all part of our continuous journey. Its what makes us evolve in life and without any one of the elements, we would be different people.
Remember, change doesn't happen all at once, it's constant. It's waking up everyday and pushing through, evolving, until you are satisfied, and realize that it is where you want and where you need to be.
Think of it like this, change creates building blocks of a stair case, that only you have the key to. Each change, each failure, each triumph, makes you who you are today.
"Unless you're willing to do that work, and to get angry and to get sad and to get scared and to get uncomfortable, and all those things that need to happen for change to occur, then you're right. The choice is yours. What do you want to do?" Jillian MichaelsPeople see change as something different, really. And a lot of people are scared of change. I don't blame them. When you are used to one thing, and that one thing is getting taken away from you, what do you do? Now, don't get me wrong, change can come in a lot of different ways. But either way, the thing society calls change, I merely call it evolve, or evolving.
Take a look at this...
Change: the act or instance of making or becoming different.
Evolve: develop gradually esp. from a simple or more complex form.
Some may say I see change as evolving because I am an optimist. Maybe it's because of the way I see life. Forget that. I see changing as evolving because in life we evolve. Simple as that.
In life we start as a much simpler form, a baby. But as we go through life we grow, gradually. It's not one day that we are an infant, then suddenly the next morning wake up an adult. Gradually we transform, we learn, have new experiences, we feel, we love, and we lose some things too. You decide what you take from it, and really, in any situation in life. It's all part of our continuous journey. Its what makes us evolve in life and without any one of the elements, we would be different people.
Remember, change doesn't happen all at once, it's constant. It's waking up everyday and pushing through, evolving, until you are satisfied, and realize that it is where you want and where you need to be.
Think of it like this, change creates building blocks of a stair case, that only you have the key to. Each change, each failure, each triumph, makes you who you are today.
"Be the change you wish to see in the world." GandhiWhat do you want our human race to evolve to? What do you want your fellow man to be, say 50 years from now? What kind of person do you want to be walking this earth in the future? Show me.
Monday, January 07, 2013
The science of the extraordinary.
"The extraordinary are crazy, and without that, what would they be, why just ordinary."
The extraordinary do things that ordinary people may have thought about, but never pushed. Never challenged. Never exceeded their expectations or limits they have set for themselves. Never broken down walls. And why the extraordinary, they strive for, challenge, breakthrough, push, plan, dream, believe, and achieve all these things.
And, really, when we think about it, the extraordinary are a little crazy. Kookoo. Out of their minds. Crazy. They think of and believe in things no one could have ever imagined to become true, and they achieve them because of this. It's the kind of good crazy though. Like how a good crazy is doing all these things that no one would ever think to be sane or 'normal', but you do them anyway, and for a good reason. Also, you can turn it around, and you get crazy good. And aren't they always crazy good at what they do?!
Normal: the usual, average, or typical state or condition.
If you want to be extraordinary, you won't be normal. Or ordinary, for that matter. Some of us are chosen to be extraordinary, some of us have no choice, and some of us work our buts of every single day to achieve it. If you want to be extraordinary you have to work harder than the usual person, believe more than the average person, be and do more than the typical person. Be a little crazy.
Remember, being extraordinary is the victory over yourself, not anyone, or anything else. It's about pushing your limits, being the best you that you can be. I think that's when you really become extraordinary.
In reality, if you want to achieve it, you have to be different. Because extraordinary people are different from ordinary people.
Extraordinary - ordinary = extra
They've got that extra. Extra oumf, extra push, extra hard work, extra drive, extra passion? You decide. Make your own extraordinary.
The extraordinary do things that ordinary people may have thought about, but never pushed. Never challenged. Never exceeded their expectations or limits they have set for themselves. Never broken down walls. And why the extraordinary, they strive for, challenge, breakthrough, push, plan, dream, believe, and achieve all these things.
And, really, when we think about it, the extraordinary are a little crazy. Kookoo. Out of their minds. Crazy. They think of and believe in things no one could have ever imagined to become true, and they achieve them because of this. It's the kind of good crazy though. Like how a good crazy is doing all these things that no one would ever think to be sane or 'normal', but you do them anyway, and for a good reason. Also, you can turn it around, and you get crazy good. And aren't they always crazy good at what they do?!
Normal: the usual, average, or typical state or condition.
If you want to be extraordinary, you won't be normal. Or ordinary, for that matter. Some of us are chosen to be extraordinary, some of us have no choice, and some of us work our buts of every single day to achieve it. If you want to be extraordinary you have to work harder than the usual person, believe more than the average person, be and do more than the typical person. Be a little crazy.
Remember, being extraordinary is the victory over yourself, not anyone, or anything else. It's about pushing your limits, being the best you that you can be. I think that's when you really become extraordinary.
In reality, if you want to achieve it, you have to be different. Because extraordinary people are different from ordinary people.
Extraordinary - ordinary = extra
They've got that extra. Extra oumf, extra push, extra hard work, extra drive, extra passion? You decide. Make your own extraordinary.
Sunday, September 02, 2012
Control Yourself.
Sometimes we make rash decisions.
"I planned this out, but now that I seen her walk it, this is going to be my gamblers opening!..."
"RC here, FC here..."
"I'm gonna just release here instead!..."
Yes, sometimes these rash decisions may and most certainly can be turning points in our lives.
"Wow, I've been looking at planning gamblers wrong all along."
"Haha, it's certainly unlikely to get from a RC, when my dog is ahead of me, to properly execute a FC, when I should be ahead of the dog."
"Oh my gosh, my dog speeds up, responds to me better, or is even more confident when I am closer to him, opposed to being way to far away."
But other times they can just be little turns or bumps in the road that are regretted.
"Why would I do that? Her dog is completely different the mine!"
"You know what's not fun?! Getting plowed over by your dog.."
"How in the world did I think I was going to get to that FC if I released there?!"
And at all times, with rash decisions we don't think of the consequences.
But really, that is what makes them what they are; rash decisions.
This brings me to the title of this blog post, and whatever went through your brain about it and why it brought you here..
Do we need to control ourselves? Depends on how you look at it.
Yes, I believe that some things are needed and meant to be thought out. But on the other hand, some decisions are awesome spur of the moment things, that change your life.
Either way, you can learn. Just like everything else in life.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
This brings me to...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iDI4q-AqgM4&feature=youtu.be
^ link to our runs at a trial, the weekend of nationals, in the good ol' downtown Sals (inside joke with my dad xD)
Long story short, there were a lot of times that weekend where I really just needed to stop, take a breath, and think.
There were many things that weekend that I needed to control. Some of them were consequences others of them could have consequences.
One example is, lately I've really had trouble just sticking to my plan and not watching how others handle certain parts when walking a course.
Which brings me to;
1) the realization that I'm having trouble analyzing.
2) I need to find a way to block out the people around me while walking a course.
Which then brought me to solutions;
1) Now this I have been thinking of a lot before is Greg and Laura Derrett's online course analysis seminar. I did sign up, it started yesterday, and already I've learned so much! (more on this later...)
2) Okay, well this somehow never came to mind.. music! It'll get me pumped, in the zone, and set the tone for our run. Now just to load some good stuff to my iPod and create some playlists!:) (more on this later too...)
This weekend was really great! It was scored the same as regionals/nationals would be, but with runs for Qs!:) So it was super interesting to see how we made out score wise. :) <--- the smily face.. We earned 444 points which is our top score to date! Also got us a 2nd overall which is our best placement at 'Not The Nationals' yet too! wooot wooot! :D
Q wise, the weekend was alright. We just mostly made some stupid mistakes to get us to NQ. Learned some stuff, yay;) No Gamblers Qs, but we did get 2 Jumpers, a Steeple and a Standard (very nice one indeed! did not get it taped though)
Jackpot also did well with socializing, training in my off time, and well being in the trial environment. :) Very pleased with him. (more on him later too...)
IN CONCLUSION, I will be blogging lots more! I don't know why, but I've been very, lets just say, 'in-consistent' with it.
And with this post, the beginning especially, I've realized that I've missed writing!
Let me know if you like it, or if I should do more stuff like that on here?
Anyway, have a nice night!:)
"I planned this out, but now that I seen her walk it, this is going to be my gamblers opening!..."
"RC here, FC here..."
"I'm gonna just release here instead!..."
Yes, sometimes these rash decisions may and most certainly can be turning points in our lives.
"Wow, I've been looking at planning gamblers wrong all along."
"Haha, it's certainly unlikely to get from a RC, when my dog is ahead of me, to properly execute a FC, when I should be ahead of the dog."
"Oh my gosh, my dog speeds up, responds to me better, or is even more confident when I am closer to him, opposed to being way to far away."
But other times they can just be little turns or bumps in the road that are regretted.
"Why would I do that? Her dog is completely different the mine!"
"You know what's not fun?! Getting plowed over by your dog.."
"How in the world did I think I was going to get to that FC if I released there?!"
And at all times, with rash decisions we don't think of the consequences.
But really, that is what makes them what they are; rash decisions.
This brings me to the title of this blog post, and whatever went through your brain about it and why it brought you here..
Do we need to control ourselves? Depends on how you look at it.
Yes, I believe that some things are needed and meant to be thought out. But on the other hand, some decisions are awesome spur of the moment things, that change your life.
Either way, you can learn. Just like everything else in life.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
This brings me to...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iDI4q-AqgM4&feature=youtu.be
^ link to our runs at a trial, the weekend of nationals, in the good ol' downtown Sals (inside joke with my dad xD)
Long story short, there were a lot of times that weekend where I really just needed to stop, take a breath, and think.
There were many things that weekend that I needed to control. Some of them were consequences others of them could have consequences.
One example is, lately I've really had trouble just sticking to my plan and not watching how others handle certain parts when walking a course.
Which brings me to;
1) the realization that I'm having trouble analyzing.
2) I need to find a way to block out the people around me while walking a course.
Which then brought me to solutions;
1) Now this I have been thinking of a lot before is Greg and Laura Derrett's online course analysis seminar. I did sign up, it started yesterday, and already I've learned so much! (more on this later...)
2) Okay, well this somehow never came to mind.. music! It'll get me pumped, in the zone, and set the tone for our run. Now just to load some good stuff to my iPod and create some playlists!:) (more on this later too...)
This weekend was really great! It was scored the same as regionals/nationals would be, but with runs for Qs!:) So it was super interesting to see how we made out score wise. :) <--- the smily face.. We earned 444 points which is our top score to date! Also got us a 2nd overall which is our best placement at 'Not The Nationals' yet too! wooot wooot! :D
Q wise, the weekend was alright. We just mostly made some stupid mistakes to get us to NQ. Learned some stuff, yay;) No Gamblers Qs, but we did get 2 Jumpers, a Steeple and a Standard (very nice one indeed! did not get it taped though)
Jackpot also did well with socializing, training in my off time, and well being in the trial environment. :) Very pleased with him. (more on him later too...)
IN CONCLUSION, I will be blogging lots more! I don't know why, but I've been very, lets just say, 'in-consistent' with it.
And with this post, the beginning especially, I've realized that I've missed writing!
Let me know if you like it, or if I should do more stuff like that on here?
Anyway, have a nice night!:)
Sunday, July 08, 2012
Introducing... Jackpot! ♥
Jackpot is fast asleep right now, so I now have time to write a blog post!
Ohmygawrsh, we picked up Jackpot Friday night and what a wonderful puppy he is! ♥
He is everything I wanted and more in a puppy! He is so spunky, happy, and smart! :)
Beau and Jazz also love him! :D ♥
Remember how Jazz and sometimes wary around new dogs? Well, he is super super super awesome with Jackpot, and he doesn't even fizz him a bit! :D
I know they are all going to be the best of friends :)
I don't want this is to be a super uber long blog post, so here is a video! :)
Even though it kinda explains it in the video, I wanna write about it too :)
So his plane was arriving at 11:30pm (explains the lighting in the video!), and we waited at the airport a couple hours before just in case his flight was early. :) We watched the plane land, unload, and the buggie he was on come to the pick-up building! :) He was so happy to see us!
He had a big boy pee, ate a bit, drank some water, and played for a bit too! :)
We then went to my Nana's place since she wanted to see the cuteness machine :) He was happy to meet her too, and we played a bit more too :)
The drive home was great as well, and when we got home he met Jazz and Beau and the rest of the family. They were wonderful with him! :) He settled great, and slept with me for the first night :)
Oh so much more I want to say about him!
Don't worry, I'll be posting tons and tons of updates, pictures, and videos! :)
This is just the beginning... ♥
Ohmygawrsh, we picked up Jackpot Friday night and what a wonderful puppy he is! ♥
He is everything I wanted and more in a puppy! He is so spunky, happy, and smart! :)
Beau and Jazz also love him! :D ♥
Remember how Jazz and sometimes wary around new dogs? Well, he is super super super awesome with Jackpot, and he doesn't even fizz him a bit! :D
I know they are all going to be the best of friends :)
I don't want this is to be a super uber long blog post, so here is a video! :)
Even though it kinda explains it in the video, I wanna write about it too :)
So his plane was arriving at 11:30pm (explains the lighting in the video!), and we waited at the airport a couple hours before just in case his flight was early. :) We watched the plane land, unload, and the buggie he was on come to the pick-up building! :) He was so happy to see us!
He had a big boy pee, ate a bit, drank some water, and played for a bit too! :)
We then went to my Nana's place since she wanted to see the cuteness machine :) He was happy to meet her too, and we played a bit more too :)
The drive home was great as well, and when we got home he met Jazz and Beau and the rest of the family. They were wonderful with him! :) He settled great, and slept with me for the first night :)
Oh so much more I want to say about him!
Don't worry, I'll be posting tons and tons of updates, pictures, and videos! :)
This is just the beginning... ♥
Friday, July 06, 2012
Puppy Excitement
yeeeee!
Guess what?!
We are going to pick up our new puppy today!!
I don't think I've mentioned me getting a new pup on here or anything on the subject, so here goes.. :)
*sorry if this is super long, just lots of info and feelings ;P*
A long time ago, we got on the waiting list, of a good friend of my mom and I, who breeds wonderful performance shelties. She breed a tri 'Snap' with a blue boy 'Panda' on Valentine's Day this year. When the puppies were born, unfortunately 2 were born dead :( So there were then 3 puppies; a blue boy, tri boy, and a tri girly.
Of course, I've always said my next dog would either be a blue sheltie or a pure for sable sheltie. So I instantly fell for the blue guy.
I mean like who wouldnt fall for this guy?!
As the puppies got older we would see more and more pictures and videos on facebook. (I have the breeder friended :) Of course I was thinking of this puppy for agility, obedienc, rally-o, and of course a great family pet. The more that I saw of the pups the more I was leaning towards either the blue or the tri girl. dont get me wrong, the tri boy was soooooo sweet! We went and saw the pups for the first time in person at 5 weeks (I think?). I surprisingly had first pick and I decided on the tri girl :)
Time went on and they all got names :) the blue boy, Jagger, the tri boy, Harry, and the tri girl, Nikita. I loved the name Nikita because it was badass just like her, and it had nice shorter names in it like Niki and Kita for agility.
At this point, I was beyond excitement to get this amazing pup :)
Then we went down at an agility trial to visit with the pups again at 8 weeks. By this time I knew I was getting Nikita, so I spent extra time with her ;) Here is a video with some pictures I took :)
Unfortunately, the breeder found an inflammed area around her vulva that looked like a bug bite or something. Long story short, two days before we were supposed to get her she went to the AVC and was diagnosed with a Mast Cell tumor and at that time because of its location surgery was not an option, at her age and breed no one has ever seen this before. :'(
I was devastated by this. Not at all by the fact that we weren't getting her, but by the fact that a young puppy who had just started living, might not have too much longer. And you should have seen her, she had soo much spunk and seemed so happy. Sometimes life just isn't fair.
She is now staying with the breeder, to live the most wonderful life as long as she can! There is a fb page "Nikki's Journey", which the breeder updates with all that she is doing :) She seems to be having a great life and I am so happy that she is (:
Now, you're probably wondering..
Whaaa? She said she was going to pick up her puppy today!?
That's the best part.
See, after we found out that we were not getting Nikita we went out and searched for other sheltie breeders and available pups.
I really want to get my next pup before junior year as everyone says it's the hardest and I think it'd be super hard to train a super young pup during that time.
So we checked out Athill shelties. Now, we were looking at this kennel and breeder for a sheltie pup a long time ago, before we got Beau. So we kinda knew the kennel a bit, and Ma had talked to her before, etc.
And, there he was.
Blue boy, 6 week old pup, AVAILABLE.
Remember how I said I'd always imagined my next pup a blue sheltie?! Yaaaaaa. :)
He has two blue eyes, blue merle coat, boy, sheltie, sounds perfect right?! ;) Excatly what I had always pictured my next dog :)
I've only seen pictures of him, and am in love <3 I can't wait to meet him and pick him up tonight!!!
I decided on his registered name being 'Athill's Blue Suede Shoes' and his call name 'Elvis' :)
I was thinking of calling him 'Jackpot', but then realized people would probably call him 'Jack' and there is already a dog named 'Jak' that does agility in our area.
But, I absolutly love the name Elvis, I think it's quite cute c:
Don't worry, I'll be posting hundreds and hundreds of pictures and videos of him soon (:
Eeeeeeks! :) Puppy fever!
Guess what?!
We are going to pick up our new puppy today!!
I don't think I've mentioned me getting a new pup on here or anything on the subject, so here goes.. :)
A long time ago, we got on the waiting list, of a good friend of my mom and I, who breeds wonderful performance shelties. She breed a tri 'Snap' with a blue boy 'Panda' on Valentine's Day this year. When the puppies were born, unfortunately 2 were born dead :( So there were then 3 puppies; a blue boy, tri boy, and a tri girly.
Of course, I've always said my next dog would either be a blue sheltie or a pure for sable sheltie. So I instantly fell for the blue guy.
I mean like who wouldnt fall for this guy?!
As the puppies got older we would see more and more pictures and videos on facebook. (I have the breeder friended :) Of course I was thinking of this puppy for agility, obedienc, rally-o, and of course a great family pet. The more that I saw of the pups the more I was leaning towards either the blue or the tri girl. dont get me wrong, the tri boy was soooooo sweet! We went and saw the pups for the first time in person at 5 weeks (I think?). I surprisingly had first pick and I decided on the tri girl :)
Time went on and they all got names :) the blue boy, Jagger, the tri boy, Harry, and the tri girl, Nikita. I loved the name Nikita because it was badass just like her, and it had nice shorter names in it like Niki and Kita for agility.
At this point, I was beyond excitement to get this amazing pup :)
Then we went down at an agility trial to visit with the pups again at 8 weeks. By this time I knew I was getting Nikita, so I spent extra time with her ;) Here is a video with some pictures I took :)
Unfortunately, the breeder found an inflammed area around her vulva that looked like a bug bite or something. Long story short, two days before we were supposed to get her she went to the AVC and was diagnosed with a Mast Cell tumor and at that time because of its location surgery was not an option, at her age and breed no one has ever seen this before. :'(
I was devastated by this. Not at all by the fact that we weren't getting her, but by the fact that a young puppy who had just started living, might not have too much longer. And you should have seen her, she had soo much spunk and seemed so happy. Sometimes life just isn't fair.
She is now staying with the breeder, to live the most wonderful life as long as she can! There is a fb page "Nikki's Journey", which the breeder updates with all that she is doing :) She seems to be having a great life and I am so happy that she is (:
Now, you're probably wondering..
Whaaa? She said she was going to pick up her puppy today!?
That's the best part.
See, after we found out that we were not getting Nikita we went out and searched for other sheltie breeders and available pups.
I really want to get my next pup before junior year as everyone says it's the hardest and I think it'd be super hard to train a super young pup during that time.
So we checked out Athill shelties. Now, we were looking at this kennel and breeder for a sheltie pup a long time ago, before we got Beau. So we kinda knew the kennel a bit, and Ma had talked to her before, etc.
And, there he was.
Blue boy, 6 week old pup, AVAILABLE.
Remember how I said I'd always imagined my next pup a blue sheltie?! Yaaaaaa. :)
He has two blue eyes, blue merle coat, boy, sheltie, sounds perfect right?! ;) Excatly what I had always pictured my next dog :)
I've only seen pictures of him, and am in love <3 I can't wait to meet him and pick him up tonight!!!
I decided on his registered name being 'Athill's Blue Suede Shoes' and his call name 'Elvis' :)
I was thinking of calling him 'Jackpot', but then realized people would probably call him 'Jack' and there is already a dog named 'Jak' that does agility in our area.
But, I absolutly love the name Elvis, I think it's quite cute c:
Don't worry, I'll be posting hundreds and hundreds of pictures and videos of him soon (:
Eeeeeeks! :) Puppy fever!
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