Update on Sharon

I've noticed long before now that I rarely write much about me anymore; instead I've been writing about Jack and our escapades together.  The truth is though, that Jack is my buddy, and apart from going to work, running errands, working at the temple and the rare outing on which Jack can't accompany me, there isn't much else going on with me these days. 

I read an interesting article in a dog magazine recently about 'furkids,' which are the pets whose owners view them more as children than pets.  The article treated the subject well, without pushing one extreme or the other, and it made me ponder my own relationship with Jack in light of what I'd read.  I've come to a few conclusions: first, that I don't have children or a husband of my own who I can take care of and who can help me feel needed; in other words, if I spend a lot of time thinking about and wanting to be with him, it's not like I'm putting him ahead of my other familial responsibilities - I simply feel good having this little creature whose health and happiness depend on me.  Second, as long as I'm not neglecting his doggie needs, such as nutrition, exercise, sniffing, running and rolling around in stinky things or playing with other dogs, what difference does it make to anyone else if I love him very much, kiss him (on the head, not the mouth), miss him, talk to him and sometimes worry about him?  And even, if I were to carry it further, as some people do, and dress him up and pamper him with pedicures and special home-cooked meals and stuff like that, what difference does it make to anyone else as long as he has his needs met and is clearly happy?  There are those who view their pets as toys or status symbols, who care little about the well-being of the animal and more about how their animal is viewed by society, and those people are wrong.  But the rest of us animal lovers, who view our pets as family members - albeit of a different species - deserving of love and happiness, have nothing to reproach ourselves for.  I feel good about that.

Look, here I'm talking about pets again.....but it has to be said, for the record.  I do, however, have a few things that involve me more than Jack which I'd like to share.


My lease on the Jeep I've been driving for the last 3 years is up in a couple of weeks, so I'm trying to decide what to do about it.  I'm working hard to think of many different options, weigh the pros and cons of each choice, and now that I've considered so many different things, I feel less afraid that I will make an impulsive decision reflecting only what I want now, ignoring what I might feel later.  I feel hopeful that I will make a sound choice that will be relatively easy to live with, whatever it is.  I'll talk more about this later.

I went to the opera last night!  This was my first opera, and it was a Christmas gift from Sean and Christy - one of my favorite kinds of gifts! We went first to Caffe Molise, which is a little Italian place downtown near Capitol Theatre.  It was excellent food!  I ordered the gnocchi, which I think was the overall favorite between the three of us.  Sean ordered eggplant ravioli and Christy ordered eggplant meatballs (veggie-balls) with polenta and asparagus.  I had never tried eggplant before, so we did a fair about of trading around.  I thought the meatballs were pretty good, but the skin on the eggplant in the ravioli wasn't my favorite.  We had chocolate hazelnut mousse cake over a ginger shortbread crust, covered in dark chocolate ganache.  Very good.  It was a nice little place; pricey though. 

So now the opera!  We saw Hansel and Gretel, which was in German with English supertitles.  Two women played Hansel and Gretel, and they were really great.  I loved Gretel's voice especially - operatic, but still lyrical and light at times.  The music was very enjoyable; my favorite part was while the children werein the woods at night after they've gotten lost and they sing a little prayer to invite angels to come and watch over them.  Very well done.  It was also surprisingly short - generally stage products last around 3 hours, but this was just over 2 hours including the intermission.  The sets were great, apparently rented from North Carolina, and I heard from a 90-year old opera lover who used to teach opera in Alaska and directed Hansel and Gretel herself, that she had never seen such a beautiful version of the night-in-the-woods scene (which is apparently one of the few scenes in which the director really has some creative license.)  We had fun.

I took TRAX, which was a bit of an adventure.  First I missed the train, so I set off to drive when it occured to me that maybe I could beat the train to a stop further north so that I wouldn't have to park downtown.  I stopped in Midvale, and found that I had just missed that one as well, so I debated, and called Christy to see what she though, and decided to stay there and wait for the next train.  I got on the train and fretted the whole trip because I was on a train marked SALT LAKE CITY but that was also stocked with brochures detailing the route and scedule of the University line.  Then there was the fact that there was no voice telling us which stop was coming and so forth - nothing whatsoever.  I learned on someone else's suggestion to watch carefully as we started back up after a stop as the name of the stop whizzed by on a sign.  I ended up getting off at the right stop, and made my way to the restaurant.  Then on the way back home, I actually did get on a University train and had to get off and turn around a couple of stops into the trip.  The train home had the magic voice that tells a person where they are!  It was great.  I actually really like the convenience of TRAX, but I was a little nonplussed to find it less user-friendly than it could be.  On behalf of those people like me who live and work away from the route of TRAX, I would like to say that if it was more user-friendly to newbies, we might be inclined to use mass transit more often than we do.  In San Diego, too, I was flying and didn't want to rent a car, but after checking into public transit and getting really confused, I opted to see less and stay closer to the hotel, with a couple excursions by taxi.  I actually hear that London has one of the most user-friendly public transit systems; maybe we could take a few pointers from them.  I would love to have a lower impact on the environment than I currently have - it's just intimidating. 

I guess the last thing I wanted to mention does have to do with Jack, and even Molly.  But it's my project!  I am determined to build a little cart that Jack could be hitched to so that Molly could go on longer walks with us and not be left behind simply because she can't go very far on her own steam anymore.  When she's too tired to walk anymore, we just put her in the cart and she can keep going!  I think it will be great.  I just need to figure out how to do it.

Work is still going really well - I'm enjoying it quite a lot, more than I imagine most other people can say about their jobs.  I've been blessed to have been provided a positive opportunity after the trauma of my last job.  I still can't believe it sometimes.