How they are part of our families

On my way back from Pasadena, i was listening to a program on the radio talking about how the national Humane Society was trying to find ways to curb the alarmingly high rates of abandoned pets in the wake of the housing crisis and economic downturn.
As soon as i heard the reports, i was immediately taken back to my father's story about fleeing the war in Congo. My mother and I were evacuated late after the start of the civil war in 1998; my father decided to stay behind with our two dogs, Scibi - seen in this picture - and Carla, thinking the war would be short lived.

This wasn't the case, and it escalated to a bloody full blown civil war that almost claimed my father's life. during this entire ordeal, the dogs were part of my father's daily life and routine. Never once did he consider abandoning them or leaving them behind. He knew how much we loved them and he did too. So much so, that after about 3 months being caged in to the house, and not being able to leave, and after getting word of the impeding doom about to rain in the final days of the war, he packed the truck with our most prized possessions, the dogs and the persian rugs. Such devotion really proves the place that animals hold in our existance.

I am not judging those who abandon their pets, but i have to admit that it is something i cannot fathom. Once you develop a relationship with an animal, i do not see how you can in any way, break that bond short of death or abject misery; even then, everything seems trivial compared to the love and dedication that animal has shown. Sacrifice is in order, and it is normal that you should sacrifice to keep that union intact. It's a responsibility i feel.

In a way, i think the way my sister Violetta once described it, explains why pets mean so much to us; she likened the role of pets in our life as agents of love, as members of the family that through their lack of judgement on our actions, and because of their unconditional love and affection, teach us how to love, and who educate us on how to become loving beings in return. For this, i never would be able to conceive of seperating myself from any pet i accepted into my life, and it is for this same reason, that i encourage anybody to bring an animal into their family; you will learn more about life and love than you will ever imagine!

osteopath, more powerful in scrabble then chiropractor

It's a shame more people are not aware of osteopaths in this country. They work miracles. Not to be mean, but i have to say that my visit to chiropractors never really healed anything, just temporarily soothed some pains. My new osteopath, a wonderful man from south africa, near Joburg actually (close to the Rosebank Mall my dad and I used to hang out all the time while we were there), has fingers of steal; Shaolin monks got nothing on him. He was digging into my neck and back as if it was a lame lump of hot wax. No need to say i was almost crying... ok i was crying, but trust me when i say it was worth it. After four years, he was able to clear my neck from the fibromyalgia and motion restriction i had been suffering from after my accidents. My neck is brand new, i love the feeling. Checking blindspots are now possible again:)

Anyway, he rules. If you want to go to him, let me know. I will hook it up.

You've been served

So today i got the letter back from the sheriff's department; the summons that was supposed to be served to this guy i am taking to court was unsuccessful. The officer went three times and couldn't get in. The little weasel changed the name on the front listing, and supposedly, the intercom was broken.

Since i had nothing better to do and i have no full time job to go to, i decided to go hunting. It's important to note that it's not really about the money, he only owed me $160 for some freelance flash work; the problem was that this guy was coky from the start and threatened me if tried to pursue this issue. So for the heck of it, and to get an education in the american judicial system, i decided to take him to court and see how this all works. Also, i escalated the claim amount to $800, which was five hours of actual work and then doubled to make up for damages and wasted time. I don't expect all of it, i will just let the judge decide what is fair.

I first stopped by the courthouse in Santa Monica to find out what were my options. Basically, there are 4 ways to do it. You have the sheriff serve it for you, you mail it in certified but that is crap cause he needs to be willing to send the confirmation back which no one would want to do, then you can use a special third party courier service, or you can do it yourself by finding someone who is willing to serve the summons for you who isn't related to the case and is at least 18.

Knowing the dude was hiding from the cops, i decided to go to to this place, listed as his place of work and do some little digging. I got there, in Venice somewhere, near Broadway and Venice Blvd; it's a very cute neighborhood, a wonderful sunny and laid back place. So i get to the apartment complex and sure enough, the name listed is not his, it's something like Vanderbuilt and it has a cast iron gate, seventeen inches wide. All you can do in these circumstances is be patient and wait for someone to walk out. After trying to convince a local contractor to serve it for me, and failing miserably, i returned to the gate and waited some more. Finally a nice blonde girl opened the door and told me where the landlord lived. I knocked on her door for quite a while until she appeared, she had been sleeping and was visibly not used to being up this early. She was very nice and helpful, she told me the guy i was looking for was a pest and they wanted to get rid of the guy, everyone around hated his guts and that i would have a lot of luck trying to serve him by talking to a man in the complex who would be more than willing to serve him the papers.

Unfortunately, he was not home so i decided to go have breakfast and explore the area, and return later to see if he was home and possibly arrange something. I went to very good breakfast joint and had a half pesto sandwhich. Trying to be as slow as possible, i finish the darn thing in 2 minutes and went back to the apartment complex to try to get this puppy wrapped, so i could file it with the court on the way back to Westwood.

Sadly enough, the guy hadn't returned by the time i got there so i decided to leave my info with the landlord and return the next day.

And so i did.

I got up early, watched my wonderful Jon Stewart and Colbert from the previous night, and darted to Venice. I first got the same breakfast i had gotten the day before; pesto chicken bobo sandwich with fresh marinated red peppers and basil, with a cheese danish, and a tofu muffin. The muffin was pretty lame but the sandwich was great.

I returned to the apartment, this time carefully trying to avoid a $50 street cleaning ticket. I went straight to go see the manager but she greeted me with bad news in that the guy was not willing to get involved and i would have to find another way to server this guy.

Push came the shove, and i decided this would be an interesting little challenge to see if i could get a random person to help me out, and make a very quick buck in the process. I walked a for good fifteen minutes without finding a single soul i could ask. That's when i decided to enact plan a, which came to me yesterday, and ask one of the construction workers at the house around the corner. I did just that and met a cool white dude who was really melo and totally willing to hook me up. I explained to him the situation and it sounded good enough that he came along.

We walked across the street, got into the apartment, and knocked on the open door; they were not coming to the door, they must have been warned because we yelled and pounded for a while. As a filmmaker of some sort, i decided to film the entire event to supplement the pictures i had taken of the guy's car, apartment complex, and his fake intercom listing.

Obviously, they were not coming to the door, so we decided to call it the day and we finalized the court paper and i left it with the landlord.

Not quite the explosive ending to a juicy pursuit, but it is only the beginning. The court appearance and the garnishing of wages should be a real party!