mbolism red
Self-Professed Crazy Dog Lady & AntipreneurOh, I hate talking about myself! I'd much rather talk about my dogs. I feel that I am who I am because of them, in reality. I probably wouldn't be where I am, doing what I'm doing without them in my life. Why? Read on, dear friend...
I figured instead of doing a train-of-thought type of thing, I'd do a list of things about me.
Trust me, it'll be an easier read and infinitely more interesting.
Name: mbolism red (no, I'm not telling you my real name. I prefer mbolism)
Age: I'm not telling you that either. Lets say I'm in the 25-39 "Box"
Background: I was born in Livonia, MI. I grew up in Sterling Heights, MI. I have four older brothers and my parents are incredible. They always supported me in everyway, especially when it came to the 2 most important things: my love of animals and my artistic pursuits. I have them to thank for creating the person I am today. I went to Stevenson H.S., attended MCCC, EMU, and CCS- all for only a couple semesters. I found that I wasn't very well suited to college life- it really stifled my creativity and took time away from the things I really wanted to do. I learned all my oil painting skills at CCS, photography at EMU, and music, politics and philosophy at MCCC, so I feel I took away what I needed from my short college stints.
Affiliations: Unique Women In Business, Divapreneur.org, Deaf Dogs Yahoo Group, Chinese Crested & Italian Greyhound Rescue, Etsy Teams: Etsy For Animals, The Etsy Dog Mafia
Education: High School and some college/university, Michigan College of Beauty (cosmetologist license)
My Pets: 2 huskies, 7 italian greyhounds, 2 chinese cresteds, various fish, 1 tiretrack eel and 2 shrimp.
Likes: compassion, spirit, passion, love, friendship, colors (pink & red are my faves), light & dark/contrast, feathers, sparkly/glittery things, animals, my dogs, ASL, crystal/glass/swarovski, reading books, writing, my mbolism mix on iTunes, tattoos, my family, leopard print, the 1920's-1940's style, anything "Parisian", Polish food, accents (esp. russian), orchids, my african violets.
Dislikes: capers, tomatoes, close-minded people, selfish people, uncaring corporations, greed-driven individuals or companies, mass media, celebrity worship, the American obsession with "never too rich or too thin", record companies who look at the music buying public as idiots who need to have their tastes invented for them and have their music spoon-fed to them on corporate-owned radio and cable networks. Big business= bad music,
Feels Strongly About: deaf culture/rights, closing down every puppymill that exists and punishing those who abuse or neglect animals, abolishing dogfighting, breed specific legislation (Breed Specific=B.S. Coincidence? NO!), giving Tibet it's independence, breed education before ownership of a dog, people who treat pets as livestock and those who view pets as disposable consumer items, designer dog "breeders" ( I use the term loosely). FYI, there are millions of "designer dogs" being euthanized in shelters daily. Why go pay thousands to a breeder when you can adopt a rescue & save a life?
Is Apathetic About: celebutantes, Perez Hilton (and any Hilton actually...), the "me" mentality in the USA as well as the "bigger, better, faster, more" philosophy of American consumers, movie, music and book reviews, ridiculously expensive restaurants, $400+ shoes, labels, logos and "names" in fashion. Prove to me undeniably that a $400 pair of shoes is really THAT much better than a cheaper pair. I'd rather get a $20 pair of shoes and DONATE the other $380 to dog rescue. Just something to consider...I don't care about what labels I wear on the outside, I care about my soul and who I am on the INSIDE. To me, that speaks volumes more than the fact that I wear Prada.
Dog Experience: Got my 1st puppy when I was 4 years old. She bit me in the eye, but it didn't bother me and didn't change the fact that I loved her. She (Rusty 1) was with me until I was almost 18. She really taught me to love and appreciate dogs and need them in my life. In 2000 I got a rescued husky for my significant other, and then soon after, we got a 2nd as a companion. I helped with some husky rescue/transport for a few years after that. In 2001 I got my 1st italian greyhound. Owning her inspired me to get very involved with the breed. I volunteered with rescue and fostered I.G.'s for almost 4 years. Most of my i.g.'s are fosters who had issues, problems, or were otherwise unadoptable. My "specialty" is working with troubled or issue-laden dogs. I especially like working with fearful dogs or dogs with disabilities. I have had personal experience with dogs with liver shunts, luxatting patella (needing dual-knee surgery), those with separation anxiety, extremely neglected dogs, dogs with dietary issues (I did home cooking for a year for one), kennel rescues, epileptic dogs, deaf dogs and blind dogs. Pretty much every one of my 11 dogs fits into those previous descriptions.
I got my first deaf dog (born with closed ear canals) in 2006. Aurora Dior is an all-white chinese crested who belonged to a breeder in Novi. When they got her as a puppy they didn't know she was deaf. They had her for almost a year before we met. I have two certified/registered therapy dogs (2 of the italian greys) and the breeder asked me if I'd want Aurora to 'adopt' so I could give her a job as a therapy dog. Of course I said yes. I trained Aurora using ASL (sign language) and basic obedience commands. Aurora graduated from basic obedience and then passed the therapy dog test for Therapy Dogs Incorporated. I got my 2nd chinese crested (Voodoo, a male who I show in UKC conformation) as a companion/friend for her in late 2006. They're pretty much inseparable, and are my velcro dogs. The huskies and I.G.'s tend to stick together, but I call the cresteds my shadows. Where I go, they go...even if I'm just leaving the room for a moment. In the future, I'm looking forward to moving to a new, larger home (this fall) with over an acre of land so I can continue to help rescue and foster. I'm focusing now on volunteering with deaf dog rescue and helping promote deaf dog adoption to the general public. I don't know that I'll ever adopt a 'hearing' dog again. Living with Aurora has changed me forever. You can see more about that on my squidoo.com page on adopting a deaf dog. (link below in "web presence")
Music Experience: started classical training in violin at age 7, played it til I was almost 16, then picked up bass guitar and have played it ever since for 20+ years. I've played 5-string bass for the past 9 years. Been in various local Detroit bands including Mental Landscape and Haflife. I won the Detroit Music Award for "Best Bassist" back in 1994. I'm
so much better now...I wasn't even playing five-string back then.
Art/Design Experience: been drawing and painting my whole life. Won young author award for book/illustration back in 2nd grade and have been doing it 'seriously' ever since. Planned on getting a BFA from CCS in Detroit but couldn't deal with the cost and time involved. Since 2003 have had a portrait/photography business and have participated in various exhibits in Metro Detroit and around the country. Many of my pieces are in private collections in the US and Canada.
Personality: odd, quirky, creative, energetic, slightly OCD, insomniac, chatty, sarcastic, silly, sometimes too serious, a little ditzy occasionally, loving, caring, thoughtful, compassionate.
Things that make me laugh: Family Guy, Simpsons, Eddie Izzard, "intelligent" comedy, Brit humor, Bull Riding Monkeys.
Things that make me cry: seeing any type of suffering; animal or human.
Things that anger/frustrate me: people who hurt or neglect animals and treat them as livestock, China for not letting Tibet have their independence. (I'm boycotting watching the Olympics or buying anything related to it btw), selfish & uncaring people/governments/corporations.
Things I love to do: ASL, make jewelry, make bows/barrettes and other accessories, do some 'fun' graphic design, paint, garden, drive in my Jeep Wrangler with the top off, skydive, swim, organize things, laugh with friends, smell flowers, feel the sun beating down on me, groom Aurora and Voodoo.
Things I hate to do: laundry, any kind of lawn maintenance, wash my car (esp. when it comes to cleaning the inside), give ALL the dogs baths, groom Aurora and Voodoo, (yes, it's a love/hate job grooming them)
Things that inspire me: My italian greyhound Tippytoes (and Cairo- they're my 2 i.g. therapy dogs), Aurora Dior- my deaf chinese crested, Pinky, Jamie and other close friends, colors, feelings, nature, historical time periods, different languages and cultures, places like Fiji, Antigua, Nepal, New Zealand.
5 things I wish I could share with everyone in the world:1. Don't buy a dog from a petstore.
Ever. Google "puppymill" and study all the sites, watch the videos, take a good, hard look the pictures. These are living creatures with feelings. If you have any type of soul or heart, you won't be able to ever walk into a petstore that sells dogs ever again.
2. Think of others, put their needs above your own when you can. Give, donate, help, assist, understand. The Dalai Lama has it right. Try it, it could change your life...and then the world.
3. Laugh and stop taking everything so seriously. You are
NOT the most important thing in the world. The world is bigger than just you, and nothing is that big of a deal, really. No one cares that
YOU have a big meeting and need to cut everyone off and flip them off in the process of trying to speed ahead of traffic. All they care about is that you're a jerk. Life's too short. In the end, on your deathbed, will most of the material, day to day tripe you're obsessed with really
THAT important? Probably not.
4. Reputation is priceless. You can buy a lot of things, but NOT your rep. People won't remember you for most of the things about you, but your reputation precedes you and it will follow you to your grave and beyond.
5. Be open-minded, try to appreciate all the unique, different and wonderfully strange things and people in the world. Just because they're outside your "comfort zone" or they might scare you a little doesn't mean you should hate them. There is a lot of variety in the world, enjoy it.
Me, in one word: eccentric
My current favorite saying: "no matter what you do in life, you'll never be as cool as a bull-riding monkey"
My web presence:http://www.freewebs.com/hairofthedogdetroit/
http://www.hairofthedogdetroit.etsy.com
http://www.hairofthedogdetroit.blogspot.com
http://www.bewareofthedogdesign.com
http://www.myspace.com/mbolism
http://www.myspace.com/haflife
http://www.myspace.com/hairofthedogdetroit
http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=1005342597
http://mbolism.spaces.live.com/default.aspx
http://www.squidoo.com/hairofthedogdetroit
http://www.squidoo.com/adoptadeafdog
http://www.flickr.com/mbolism
http://www.photobucket.com/mbolism
I am mbolism on Del.icio.us
