linkismyhero

SPOILERS! (Click to view)

I guess I mentioned it before, but in Nintendogs, you can take your puppies out for a walk around the neighborhood. There will be question mark icons strewn about town, and if your route passes through one, you might find an item, or you might meet another puppy.

ALSO! Sometimes you will pass by an item just lying on the ground (it's in a little gift box, so it's not all nasty and grody or whatever). I wasn't sure if it was possible to pick those items up off the ground. I hadn't figured out how… until yesterday! All you have to do is touch the leash holder to it, and your puppy will stop and grab the item. It can be tricky, though, if your puppy is walking fast or running. Today I found a straw hat (which the puppy can wear on its head!) and a ?-block toy (like from Super Mario Bros.). These are much better and rarer items than the ones found at the regular question marks along the route. I think that the items lying on the ground are purely random, whereas the ones you find at question marks are based on trainer points (the more points you have, the better the item will be. I haven't earned enough trainer points to get very good items this way, so it's been cool to get better stuff on the ground).

I haven't tried putting the straw hat on my puppy, but I did bring out the ?-block, and he was scared of it. I also found a Bark Ball later today (it makes noise when it bounces) but Link is scared of it, too.

I've been practicing using some voice commands with Link, and he's gotten pretty good at obeying them. I wonder if I can try to enter an obedience contest soon. Molly tells me the disc competition is easier for her than the obedience trial, but I haven't had a chance to practice throwing the disc with Link at this point. The best place to practice is at the park, but if there are other puppies there when you go, they might grab the frisbee and prevent you from practicing. The other day, the park was empty, but I didn't have time to stop in.

I didn't exactly have time yesterday morning, either. I decided (foolishly) to stay at home rather than go with mom to work, and just take the local bus to the subway station to get to school. Well, I ended up staying in bed for much of the extra time I had here, getting up only to make a quick breakfast and then play Nintendogs. Well, when I was all done playing with Link, it was 8:39, and the bus schedule said the bus would come at 8:42! It takes me about five minutes to get to the stop unless I run, which I did. You know that nasty, hot, gravelly feeling you get in your chest and throat if you run when you're out of shape? I had that. Well, the bus was five minutes late, so I guess I could have gotten away with walking, but how was I to know? It's a roll of the dice with these crazy busses, I tell ya.

In my haste, I forgot that the local busses don't accept SmarTrip cards yet. I had my card out as the bus arrived, but I hastily shoved it back into my wallet and busied myself searching frantically for $1.25 that I wasn't sure I had, because I spent so much cash and coinage at the zoo the other day (the ice cream vending machines were around $2-$3, the water and lemonade was about $2.50 ). Luckily there was a dollar tucked away between a bunch of old receipts that I had stashed in my wallet for no reason (I don't need the receipts for anything, but I don't like stuffing a bunch of them in my pocket, so I've been putting them in my wallet), and I found a quarter in the change part. I'm sure the bus drivers hate when people get on the bus and say "I'll be back with the $$$ in just a minute", but that is what I had to do yesterday morning.

I started getting a panic attack on the bus. The traffic was backed up, and between that and my still panting and wheezing from having to run, a panic attack was imminent. For some reason, though, looking through the front windows of the bus helped to disarm the attack, so by the time I got to the subway station I was OK. I decided, because of the attack, that I would take the subway to school instead of the busses. The subway is less creepy and more comfortable. I'm not sure if this was a bad or a good move. It usually takes about the same amount of time to get to school whether on the busses or on the subway, but early morning traffic might have meant the busses would have taken longer.

Anyway, sadly, the panic attack came back as I was transferring to another train, and that panic attack has lasted from about 10:30 in the morning to pretty late in the evening. It was pretty much gone by about 7 or so, but at the time of my typing this I was still feeling some lingering anxiety and discomfort. Not fun to have to be in a class where you have to concentrate on what the teacher is saying well enough to write down notes while having a panic attack, let me tell you. I don't have all-out I'M GOING CRAZY panic attacks anymore, mostly (thank goodness), but the main problem they cause is difficulty concentrating. I've wasted therapy sessions by having a panic attack on the way. It can be nearly impossible for me to talk. My current therapist is really nice, unlike the last woman I was seeing (she cold and stern and unpleasant; I was never comfortable with her), so it hasn't been so much of a problem.

Class itself was not so bad. The Database Design class still seems to be pretty boring. Elementary Theory of Computing is cooler. We're learning about finite automata and such. I think I will like that class. I was actually hoping he would hand out homework today.

On the way home, the panic attack was so bad that I wasn't breathing properly, so when I was transferring to the second bus, I couldn't feel my hands. Well, I could. They were tingling and I couldn't move them properly. Stress and anxiety can have pretty bad physical effects aside from just feeling scared, as I'm sure many of you already know. I started getting the unpleasant tingly feeling on the first bus, and I was afraid that when I got up to transfer, I wouldn't be able to stand, or I would get up and collapse. I was OK, though, and I think getting up actually helped to improve my circulation, so maybe it was good that I had to transfer then.

Anyway, it is tomorrow now, and I need to take a shower and brush my teeth and such. So, bye!