#they told me to not do cookies

[blueboyluca]

(Just found your blog, you have some great posts about everything dog, definitely going through stuff!) I'm in a similar boat with a Third Dog potential, and needing neighbour approval, do you have any tips on making a lil proposal document? Did taking cookies help? I don't really know my neighbours, so I want to make the best impression possible >v< Thanks so much <3

Hello! Just noting that I don't have third dog yet, which means I don't have 100% approval yet as the dog needs to actually be here for that, but I don't expect anything to go awry now.

This got long, sorry. But hopefully it's helpful as it outlines everything I did.

To start with, I am friendly with my neighbours. When I first moved in I introduced myself to 6 of the other units as they were home at the time. Since then, I am cordial and wave when we pass by, and sometimes I chat to three of them if we are outside at the same time. The others keep to themselves, which is fine with me. Other relevant information is that I've never had any complaints about my current dogs and five other units have or have had dogs or cats (never more than two).

For my proposal letter, I kind of treated it like a job proposal and a cover letter. I put my personal details at the top. I titled it "Proposal for third dog at Unit X" and I added the date. I broke the document into sections with headings – Background, Council approval, Appropriate care, Impact and Conclusion.

In Background I talked about my history at the property, information about my current dogs and information about the proposed dog. I purposely downplayed some of the details, e.g. highlighted the dog would be under 10kg fully grown, called it a "papillon mix" instead of a "border collie mix" and focused heavily on the sporting dog angle. I also talked about my dog credentials, leaning on my current role as president of a dog club. If you don't have something like that to mention, I'd just focus on your commitment to training, accomplishments of your current dogs and a clear and concise explanation of why you want to add another dog, focusing on the positives and absolutely not adding anything that could be taken poorly.

In my area you need to register dogs to legally be allowed to keep them and a third dog requires a special registration. In Council approval, I briefly talked about how I would seek some kind of pre-approval registration and I also got to mention that I personally made five animal education videos for the council (I'm a professional video editor). For someone who doesn't conveniently have that on their resume, I would just talk briefly about the process you intend to undertake if registration or similar is required in your area.

In Appropriate care, I talked about how I'm a responsible dog owner, i.e. my dogs are registered, microchipped and up to date on vaccinations. I pointed out how often my neighbours ought to see me exercising my dogs, how I attend a dog club, that I utilise local parks (as my yard is small) and maintain an exercise schedule. I also have the benefit of a partner that stays home during the day. Basically this section is just to talk about how I'm good at owning dogs.

For Impact, I stated that I didn't think a third dog would make a major impact on the property due to the aforementioned appropriate care, and that my workplace is dog friendly and my yard is secure. This is where you could say something similar about what you intend to do to limit the impact on neighbours.

The Conclusion was just basically me reiterating that I'm a great dog owner, saying thanks for considering this, and please contact me if you wish to discuss further.

Then I printed out copies and put them in envelopes and bought a couple bags of cookies which I divided up into little party bags. Then I worked up my courage and knocked on their doors to chat. I started by apologising for interrupting, then briefly explained the situation (I want a third dog, this is why), gave them the letter (explaining it had more detail), handed over the cookies and thanked them for listening. My goal was to kind of get it all out before they could really say anything and then leave. This generally worked as most of them just took the letter and the cookies and said thanks. A couple of them said right away they didn't mind at all. One expressed doubts about barking. I asked if he had issues with my current dogs and he said no, so I just thanked him for his time and left it there.

A couple days later I went back to find out what they had decided (the ones who hadn't already told me) and they were all yes votes. I didn't approach one of the units because they're renting and I was socially exhausted by then and was happy with the majority I had.

I hope this helps! It can be really intimidating to do social things like talking to people about something you really want, but I like to rip the bandaid off and I wanted to know if it was going to happen or not so I just forced myself to do it and then it was over and now I get what I want!

[puppyeared]

horrible truth bomb dropped on my head 20 min ago

[magpie-trove]

%

[c00kietin]

Did you know before pumpkins came to Ireland, turnips (otherwise known as swedes) were carved instead? :D

Happy Halloween/Samhain!!

[daru-yu]

He's just a little silly 😔

[currentlyonstandbi]

okay so we know canonically that pete is a pretty decent cook (not withstanding the dumpling fiasco) and i like to think that it extends to baking too because 1. baking is just chemistry of course and 2. i like to project

which in turn led to me thinking about pete who picks up his love for being in the kitchen when he's younger, maybe as a way for him and may to spend more time together after losing ben ?

except now all i'm thinking about is high school era pete who cannot convey his feelings towards harry adequately in words and instead keeps presenting him with baked goods lmao

manifesting this type of simp energy

[nerevar-quote-and-star]

Trying to transliterate Leara's name into Quenya, and it somehow becomes, uh,

Lëarra

Which basically means "You Sealion!"

And I'm just, "Oh yes, this is That Sealion Woman, and she can breathe fire, as all sealions do."

If Leara, for any reason at all, needed an actual Quenya or Sindarin name for any fun Elvish shenanigans, we'll just use Calairie/Calearil, which is "Light of the Sea" in Quenya and Sindarin, and what Leara actually means.

[queencaramilflinda]

Everyone during neverafter 15: oh my god these social interactions are going horribly they’re all doing so bad!

Me, neurodivergent and cannot read social cues: idk mostly these seem fine

[kogglyuffs]

kinda late but merry christmas to yall!! (or happy holidays)

[flamagenitus]

What do you mean the grandmas are restless, and I shouldn't encourage them. What does that mean??

[thebirdandhersong]

Okay y'all it is over it is done the conversation has been had he knows I love him we are still friends I have cried my eyes out properly I have laughed again my heart will keep on hurting for a while but it is FINISHED

[orcelito]

Ok. Real question. How many people Actually have believed in Santa? Bc I never did, mostly bc my dad never bothered with the entire pretense, so the whole concept is just. Really fucking strange to me

Putting an actual poll bc I feel like I'm losing my mind a bit thinking about how apparently widespread it is. Like. It's just so... weird? Why is this the thing people have popularized? It makes no sense.

[gwydionae]

King's Quest Fan Remakes

After talking about them a bit recently, I felt compelled to play through the old KQ fan remakes (1-3 from AGDI and 3 from IA), and I wanted to share my more in depth thoughts for anyone interested in these love letters to the original games.

King's Quest I: Quest for the Crown Remake from AGD Interactive

A lovely update to the original! While clearly the least polished of AGDI's offerings, it's nice to be able to play KQ1 with KQ5-style graphics and voice acting (the original voice of Graham, Josh Mandel, voices him in all four of the games in this post, ftr). There is an option to turn off any chance of softlocking yourself before you even start the game, which is a welcome feature. Puzzle-wise, this one stays the most faithful to the original out of the three from AGDI with a few updates here and there (like that stupid name puzzle! lol). The vocal performances and sound effects can be a bit fuzzy, but I found them enjoyable nonetheless.

Overall a solid fan remake with limited extra bells and whistles!

King's Quest II: Romancing the Stones from AGDI

Easily the most ambitious of the three from AGDI. Pretty much all of the core elements from KQ1 are further polished here - artwork, acting, music, and sound effects. The story and puzzles, however, have been changed enough that the end product is sizably different from the original. In some cases, this is fun and interesting (more lore and character interactions! new and unique puzzles!), but not everyone will enjoy all the changes. I, for example, find the underwater section kind of fun, but the new content around the count... not so much (for reasons I'll avoid due to spoilers, but know they're more mechanical than anything). There's less freedom in when you can do things, the added story making the game far more linear than it originally was. But then I'm sure many would agree that if any KQ game could do with extra content, it'd be 2, so I can't fault them swinging for the fences, even if not every hit was a home run.

All in all, this version of KQ2 doesn't really work if you're simply looking to experience the original game with updated graphics, but it's a fun playthrough nonetheless, and newcomers might enjoy the added lore/story bits. Just be aware that I could probably sum up the original game's story in about two sentences while this one would take far longer. XD

King's Quest III: To Heir is Human Redux from AGDI

If KQ1 wasn't fully polished and KQ2 was a little overworked, then KQ3 is juuuuuust right! (For anyone who knows the game, yes, this is a purposeful pun. XD) The graphics, sounds, music, vocal performances - all are the best yet (though still with some minor hiccups as any fan game is wont to have - the music was sadly cutting out during the climactic sequence for me). It even has a neat little feature where the timer changes color depending on how close you are to being zapped into oblivion that is not only useful but adds a sense of urgency in it's own way (especially if you forgot the item that makes travel a lot easier for like 2 meals I mean what lol). While it does carry over some of the story threads from AGDI's second entry, this game still works well enough on it's own, with the majority of the new content being added in naturally rather than supplanting whole sections of the original. In fact, personally speaking, I think the added content only enhances the game, your encounters with Medusa and the yeti especially getting a nice boost. And the extra lore only helps you feel for the protagonists plight all the more. The ending is a bit drawn out, perhaps, and I may not agree with the order you're supposed to choose the four items in to get the treasure (insert rant here XD), but those are minor nitpicks at best.

This is easily the best of the three, AGDI having perfected their KQ formula at this point. It works as a remake of the original while still adding in a bit of new content that doesn't feel unwelcome. I would highly recommend it to anyone interested in giving the King's Quest series a try.

King's Quest III: To Heir is Human Remake from Infamous Adventures

Look. I know that it's not as impressive as AGDI's version. The time limit is laughably long, the spells are impossible to mess up, and some of the clickable areas can be a bit wonky. But I really like this version, ok?? I like the design and voice of Gwydion, I like the storybook quality that the cutscene art has, I like that it feels lonely when it should. And as much as some of the changes in AGDI's version were really nice, I like that it's basically just the original game without extra stuff added in.

This is like AGDI's KQ1 - a really solid remake of a game that gives you the feel of the original but with an updated interface and graphics. It's not as impressive as the one above, but it doesn't have to be. The original KQ3 is an awesome game, so an update of just that can't be bad. It can easily be played as a standalone game, and I will continue recommending this version 'til I die, lol.

[celiaelise]

My parents: *imply or even state outright that I and my brother are (one of) the most important things in their lives*

Me: yeah, but I don't want to inconvenience you...I don't want to be a bother... just lmk when it's convenient for you... no, don't worry, I'll figure it out on my own!

[fountainpenguin]

I keep forgetting how much Mikey wants Amanda dead and then I pick one episode to watch at random and he tells the news she's a witch (followed by her running for her life), then purposely stalls when Bunsen's giant dog is trying to kill her... despite knowing perfectly well that Boodles tears his Amanda chew toys to shreds.

This is not an isolated incident. He got MORE excited for the friendship ceremony with Amanda when Bunsen told him there was a risk of her disintegrating (A "win-win" according to him).

Also, he outright stole Amanda's dog because as a robot, it's hypoallergenic and his parents won't let him have a real one, and they instead gave him a teddy bear with a camera in it?? He does not give her dog back at the end of the episode? Wild.

[birthclod]

i wish eb wasn't so tied to Trauma for me bc it really is such a good game