Am I crazy?

Am I crazy?

Okay, so maybe I’m a bit more traumatized about Purple and Merida’s abductions than I should be. I mean, I’ve had bad luck with two-wheeled transports getting stolen, okay? First there was H12, the moped we rented in Key West, FL. John and I were having the times of our lives whizzing around that cute lil’ town. We went to our fav dinner place– Mangos, had an awesome evening, and walked back to our mopeds– only one remained. Our error? We used only a single lock. Same thing with Purple (my cable lock kept jamming so I went without). Not the same with Merida. Still, I’ve been victimized three times already. I’m not taking any more chances.

So I went to Meiluocheng the other day. Across the street, there is a monitored bike parking lot. I paid the attendant the 5 mao (half a kuai) and then spent five minutes locking the wheel to the railing, putting a second lock through the front tire spokes, and putting a cable lock on the back wheel. The attendant watched in disbelief. She said I was mad. Understanding how ridiculous I must have looked, I just laughed it off and explained that my shit got stolen three times. Sometimes the embarassment almost gets me, but then I just think of the regret I’d feel if Furby got stolen. I already have the locks anyway, right? Might as well use them. Oh well, I’ll be the stupid, paranoid American. Who cares. I’ll always have Furby to come back to.

I went to a Pet Carnival today. The cool thing was that the place was packed: maybe the Chinese are quickly becoming dog fanatics like the North Americans and Europeans. Good sign for my pending dog treat business. The bad news was that I saw plenty of “breeders” or dog sellers with dogs of dubious condition. Aside from the trauma of just being in a new place with loads of people, the animals were crammed a bunch to a cage and some looked seriously underfed. The experience was quite disturbing.

I saw a purebred German Shepherd (my favorite!). It was so gorgeous, but it was crammed in a crate and though it looked healthy, it appeared bored as hell. Next door was an English mastiff. Beautiful but again, not amused. I ran into Mr. Jade Zhang, the president of the Shanghai Small Animal Protection Association. Cool guy. We met up, because there was an English-speaking woman flipping out with one of the vendors. There was a chuiauaua pup looking seriously malnourished and fragile. She kind of flipped out and took the animal, and then the vendor freaked thinking she was stealing it. Anyway, she only spoke English and the vendor only spoke Chinese. I quickly became the interpreter. We then got Jade involved, and it was a bit of a mess. In the end, Jade promised Danielle he would harass the shit out of those people to get the dog to a vet. Animal lovers can get quite worked up. And honestly, the more I read the news and learn about people, the more I come to adore animals above humans. Dogs are just so pure and loyal. I can feel my vegetarianism coming back stronger than ever (John is not going to like that…). Anyway, I instantly clicked with Danielle, a South African. She’s actually the volunteer coordinator for the SSAPA– she was introduced at the fundraising event last week. Super cool gal. Has traveled all over the world doing random jobs. She has such passion and conviction. I can’t wait to get to know her better. I swear, running into people with passion… it just makes me feel so alive, so empowered. I think that’s why I love nonprofit– it’s all about idealistic people wanting to change the world step by step, starting with themselves. Conincidentally, Danielle and I both recently discovered Animals Asia and are completely inspired by the founder, Jill Robinson. We wanna help bring Dr. Dog (therapy dogs) to hospitals in Shanghai. So much to do… here I am alone on a Friday night but I feel so energized, like I’m ready to save the world.

I also took home a new toy for the babies– a buster-cube like toy (only 50 kuai compared to $16 in the US). R&M now have so many move the brain toys. Hehe. Always working my pups, trying to keep them on top of their game. Still walking up 17 flights of stairs twice a day. Yeah, just counting the days til I have serious buns of steel. 🙂 Okay, off to bake natural dog treats. Trial batch number three.

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