Friday, February 15, 2008

Dog Show!

(Clap, clap, clap-clap-clap, clap-clap-clap-clap - DOG SHOW!) Sorry for the obsure SNL reference, but we've been chanting that in my house for days.

Anyway, I am an animal lover. Pretty much an all-around equal opportunity animal nut. That's why there's four in my house. If I had more space and time to devote, I'd have more. Right now I'm toying with the idea of a saltwater fish tank with anenomes and sea horses, but I have no interest in cleaning it, so forget it. I don't know why I'm so into critters. I'm fascinated by everything from the creepy, like madagascar hissing cockroaches and newts, to the standards of adorable puppies and kittens, and even to the exotic like sugar gliders and wallabys. If it won't seriously hurt me, I'm all about it. My friend had a 6ft red-tailed boa constrictor named Lily who was the sweetest thing. She liked to watch TV on the couch with us. I know, weird, but I've always been this way. Where was I going with this?

Oh yeah, dogs. This week was the Westminster Kennel Club Dog Show at Madison Square Gardens. My animals are all mutts and I don't know that I'd ever pay to have one of those fancy pure bred types, but its sure interesting to see them. I always like the rowdy, scrappy ones that bark in the arena and jump up and down instead of prancing around. Suffice to say, I can't STAND it when the poodles win best in group and show over and over.

So, if you followed this year, you'll know why I'm so giddy. A 15-inch beagle named Uno won this year. A beagle! First time ever in the 132 years of the show. He bayed and barked through the whole thing, even trying to eat the microphone when they were interviewing his handler. (Both my dogs have beagle in them, so I'm a little partial. Fortunately, neither bay at inappropriate hours of the night.)

I'm going to relate this to writing now, really. It makes me happy to see Uno win. Almost as happy as I was to see the Giants win the Superbowl. You can overcome the odds and beat the poodles of the world. Underdogs can make it. It makes me think that despite (or even because of) my imperfect writing that doesn't fit neatly into any one category, I can take best in show, too. Or at least publish a book or two. I'm going to keep a space on my bookshelf for the award just in case...

What's your favorite underdog story?

SP
Circle of 5 Status:
2 Agent Queries Still Pending, 2 Rejected
2 Agent Partials Still Pending
1 Publisher Query Pending
1 Contest Entry Submitted to Lauries
2 Short Stories & 1 Love Letter Submitted to Trues
I'm also preparing a novella to submit to Nocturne, another Trues story AND putting together a few more publisher queries!

PS. PC's winners from Tuesday's blog are nascarandbeans and Mark. Email PC at problemchild@writingplayground.com with your snail mail address to claim your fabulous prize.

11 comments:

Lynn Raye Harris said...

Favorite underdog story? Without a doubt, Paul Potts. Watch the video here.

Goofy guy who got beat up in school, who thought he was a loser, who sold mobile phones for a living, sings opera and gets a standing ovation. (He wasn't untrained, but he wasn't living at Pavarotti's level either.)

LOVE his story. Makes me cry and gives me hope every single time. :)

Playground Monitor said...

Oh yeah... the guy from Britain's got talent. He went on to win the whole show. And while you're at that spot on YouTube, look over to the right and click on the video for little Connie Talbot. Not so much an underdog story as just a little girl being a little girl and not a Britney wannabe.

My favorite underdog story is Daniel Ruettiger whose story is told in the movie "Rudy." He never gave up and ended up being the last football player carried off the field on the shoulders of his teammates.

PM - who came thru her surgery with flying colors, though the nerve block hasn't worn off yet and I may change that assessment sometime in the middle of the night *g*

Barbara Vey said...

I love it that the beagle won. I'm not an animal person, but I found him adorable.

Angel said...

He's so cute!!!! Such personality. To me, poodles just look snobby. :)

I'll just believe right along with you that the underdog will win. You go, girl!

Angel

Anonymous said...

We've got Westminster on the DVR and I can't wait to watch it. Go, Uno!! We only ever had mutts...until I got my Greyhounds. They are both rescue hounds and they are WONDERFUL. You've got to have a fenced yard but they are great gentle, low-key dogs. God help us all if I ever had a big rambling house on some property. We'd be overrun with dogs and cats.

Yay! PM, good to *see* you here today. I was getting ready to bug one of the playfriends for an update on you.

Unknown said...

I am an animal fanatic so i was so happy to see anything but the poodle win... what fun to watch.
Thanks so much for the win.. i sent my email off.. what a treat for valentines day.. goodness knows my hubby blew it off again..

Problem Child said...

SP--you do not want a saltwater tank. The fish are very expensive and the upkeep is labor-intensive. If you screw up even the tiniest bit, all of your expensive fish die.

Of course, all we have at Casa PC is fish (freshwater, of course). DG is too allergic to have anything else. But I'd love to have a dog again. I miss having a dog.

I don't know many underdog story, but I was a big fan of Underdog!
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Underdog_(TV_series)

Someone needs to teach me how to embed a link...

catslady said...

I always watch that dog show and somehow missed it but I have seen UNO on different talk shows. Our very first dog was a beagle so I'm thrilled. I always route for the working class dogs and like you cannot stand what they do to some of those small dogs. Poodles are adorable uncut. I can't think of a specifc underdog story but like you and the Giants, I normally route for the underdog.

Lynn Raye Harris said...

PC:

a href="link"NAME/a

Now, put < in front of the first a. Put > behind the link with the quote. Put the name of the link. Put a < in front of the slash. Put a > behind the a.

Problem Child said...

And then turn myself about?

I'm not even going to pretend that made sense to me.

Andrea Laurence AKA Smarty Pants said...

I *KNOW* HTML and that didn't make sense to me. :)