a huge huge update!

So my god! just where do i begin! So, so much has happend since i last posted, on behalf of poor little zonta! Sadly, an awful lot of stuff happened, which i won't go into here, but regretably, zonta has now gone back to cork, she's been gone about 3 months now, and i miss her terribly, and do hope to have another guidedog in the future, for sure. you can hear me talk about zonta, among other things, and singing two on stuart lawler's podcast at: http://www.stuartlawler.ie/podcast
The college course which i wrote about in earlier posts didn't work out either, and i'm now putting all my energies into looking for a job. Paul has now moved up to dublin! This is fabulous and we see each other loads now!
in other news, i've just over the past few days had a very lucky escape from an internet scam! Everyone avoid:
http://www.myhomecommute.com
It's to do with home businesses, and is a scam, i learned this the hard way, but thanks to permanent tsb who are fabulous, the chrisis was averted!
I will write soon again, and thanks for reading!

Doggy musings!-the 2 week edition!

Hey everyone! it's zonta here, lots to tell you in this post, you'll understand why as i go, its been a heck of a two weeks around here! I've finally made it to the computer! i think, but can't be certain, that mum's asleep, so better make this quick, i've been warned against going on the computer, i got in big trouble last time i was caught looking at her emails! Don't know what the fuss was about though, there wasn't even anything interesting in there! Anyway, the week before this one, i did lots! On monday, we were just mostly getting ready for aftercare, for anyone who doesn't know what that is, that's when someone comes to look at me and mum walking, and tells me how great i am and how well i'm doing! On monday night, Mum did have a little chat, saying we were going to walk tomorrow, and that i had to be very good, but she always says that so i was just thinking "yeah yeah ok whatever!" on tuesday morning, it was raining, and i didn't really enjoy my morning trip to the run after my feed like i normally do, because i got all wet! soon after this, a friend of mum's came, and picked her up, and we both went to a coffee shop, i think that's what its called anyway! Mum left me in harness, and i had to lye down very quietly, and be really good, i'm supposed to be good in all coffee shops and places like that, but sometimes i get bored and chew my lead, mum hates it when i do that, but if i'm bored, what else am i meant to do like! Anyway, at this coffee shop, i had lots of people coming up to me and rubbing me and telling me how pretty i was! I loved it, and it was good they knew how pretty i was i thought! we don't get enough recognission for being pretty us guidedogs! On tuesday afternoon, thankfully the rain stopped, and we went out on what i thought was a normal walk, but found out was aftercare later on! when we got as far as a field that was on the route we were doing, all of a sudden, mum stopped and took off my harness, next thing i knew, my trainer was there, the one who had trained me to be a guidedog, i couldn't believe it! I was happy to see her, but had kind of forgotten her to tell you the truth! we went to the field, and i think she must have been trying to show mum how to do something with me, because i had a long lead for a few minutes which i always enjoy because it means i get to have a good sniff about! After that mum and this girl walked home, and when we were outside my house, i wanted to eat a bee, but wasn't aloud, its soooooo unfair! then on wednesday i had to go to this place full of music, i don't like that much either! then mum went into this tiny room, and i had to sit there while she played, guitar i think it's called, i didn't like it at first, i tryed to bark to get her to stop but she wouldn't, so eventually i decided it was just easier to settle down! thursday we went and got food, and i went to the vet for the first time, it was interesting, then i had a free run, i love those! then friday, i got to go out and see horses!
saturday, we went to this place where mum's friend lives, i think they might be a bit more than friends though, they're always hugging and stuff, i hate that! i always bark, but just get told shhh, why doesn't she understand i just don't like when she gives anyone else attention! I got to have lots of free runs in this place, it was huge, i really did feel like i had so much more energy than usual though, strange i thought! I did have a bit of a time of it down there, when we arrived, mum found out that i had chewing gum stuck to my bottom and my tale, i ended up having to go to the vet and get it taken out! I didn't mind much, always great to be swept off your feet by a big strong man i always think! Then on sunday morning, mum fed me as usual, and then we went back to bed, and i spyed a tissue in the bin, which i ate! Turns out that wasn't the best decision though, i got really sick afterwards, i learned that lesson the hard way, no more tissues for me, well, unless mum's silly enough to leave them lying about that is! then on sunday afternoon i had more free runs before i came home, and i even took a little trip to another garden, how cool was that! this meant i got to get scooped up, for the second time, this time by mum's friend! then we came home and eventually i settled down for the night and went to sleep.
Now onto this week! nothing much to tell till saturday i'm afraid, as most of my week this week has been spent indoors, because mum found out she had bought the wrong food for me! no wonder i had so much energy! i had to stop eating that one and go back on the one i was eating before, i'm ok again now thank god! but this meant i didn't get to do much going out at all this week! till yesterday that is! Me mum and her friend, paul is his name, he plays with me sometimes, he's really fun when he's not hugging mum that is! We went to this place where there were all these people, and dogs just like me! It was cool! I wanted to talk to them and ask, "do you do the same thing i do"? but i wasn't aloud! because i was wearing my harness, which means i'm working, i had to sit or lye quietly and be good, which i did after a little while, i was bored being told to sit down so figured i'd just do it without being told! It was cool though because even though i didn't get to talk to the other dogs that much, mum would give me these yummy treats for just sitting or lying there, i must do that more often i think!
Today we are just chilling out and i think mum will probably groom me today because i think we're going out tomorrow!
Now i better hurry up and get off this thing before mum wakes up!
wags and woofs and thanks for reading!
Zonta x x

Zonta and other stuff!

Ok so what's went on this week then... On monday, as i wrote last week, i went to the college to do the orientation i had scheduled, i had rang twice, but when i went in, they were cleaning so i couldn't do it, was so frustrated! Then myself and my resource worker from NCBI(national council for the blind of ireland) came back to the house, and she had some tea seen as our orientation attempts had been unsuccessful, and we got to talking about my various ups and downs with zonta, after that, i did a walk, which she accompanied me on, just as a pair of eyes(not a guidedog instructor) very important to clear that up, and she was able to tell me some things about the walk, some of which didn't really please me, so much so that when i came home, i rang irish guidedogs, and was given some tips which i've since implemented, and things have gone fine since thank god! Tuesday paul came up, me and zonta got wet on a trip to the shops to get him, all because a bus driver forgot to tell him when he was at the proper stop! On tuesday night, we played at a benifit for a friend of our's brother, i don't think it went fabulously because i didn't do enough practice, but i'll know better for next time! On wednesday, i played at a barbeque in the NCBI, and had to struggle some more with zonta's dislike for music which i'm not impressed by at all! On monday evening i was trying to pick out stuff to play for the gig, and she was barking at the music i was playing, not not good! but anyway, the barbeque turned out well in the end, and we even got a taxi home, and zonta settled right down, in fact, i think i could safely say she was the most settled she'd been that night in that taxi! Thursday was nothing much really, paul was meant to go home, but because of a music technology workshop which was on the following day, he stayed up that was great! On friday then, we went to the msuic workshop, it was fasinating stuff! in the morning, we learned about braille music, and in the afternoon, we learned all about a program called sonar and the way in which jaws can interact with it thanks to a set of scripts which have been developed. for anyone who doesn't know, jaws stands for job access with speech, and is the screen reader widely used by blind people to help them access the internet and other aspects of a computer. Paul definitely wants sonar, and i would love it two it would come in handy for college! today then i met a friend in town and zonta was absolutely amazing! She behaved absolutely fabulously i'm so proud of her today! Really feel we're going from strength to strength!
Next week, my biggest thing is that i'm starting classical guitar, i cant wait! I got some guitar cd's today, so will enjoy listening to those!
I will write next week to tell how things are going, i also have an aftercare visit from guidedogs two so that should be interesting!
Till then, thanks for reading!

a little bit of everything

Well so what's been going on since wednesday i hear you ask? there's been more walks, more ups and downs, but we will get there! i have orientation around the college which i will go to in september tomorrow with my cane, this is before i introduce the dog so i will then be able to direct her when she is introduced to the situation. Paul was up yesterday and left today, we went on a walk and got lost, adventures adventures! thankfully he didn't mind though! elsewhere, i took my guitar to get fixed on saturday and turns out they can't do anything so not sure what i will do about that! nothing much happening this week really, but i will write at some stage with news of how me and zonta are doing!

A clean up and an update!

hi everyone, forgive the date's on the posts before this one, as they were posted today also, i moved these posts from a wordpress account to this one, as i find blogger easier to use with jaws.
While i'm here i might as as well write something! This morning someone from guidedogs came, and observed a walk, says myself and zonta are doing fabulously well for this early stage!
I will take her out again soon and see if she will do as well as this morning!
bye for now...

All about me!

Hi Everyone and anyone who read’s this,For the purposes of this first post, let’s pretend that even people who know me have just stumbled across this blog in a search engion, and haven’t a clue who i am, for that reason i will be telling you a good bit about myself in this first post.My name is kerie, i’m 22 and i live in dublin Ireland, there are 5 in my family, my two parents, and a younger sister she’s 19, and a younger brother, he’s 12. I’ve lived in this house pretty much since I can remember. I was born in Majorca, spain, in march of 1987, i was 3 months premature, this resulted in me getting two much oxygen in an incubator, I subsequently developed an eye condition called ROP or, detached retinopathy of prematurity. This means that my retina’s detached as a result of my prematurity, and i lost my sight at 8 months. After this when i was 2, (as far as i remember anyway) I was taken to America on and off for about 2 years, for multiple operations, in which attempts were made to save my sight, but unsuccessful ones, and so it was that i was to experience life as a blind person.I started school when i was 4, i atended a school for the blind till i was 14, after which, due to closure of this particular school, i was mainstreamed, meaning i atended for the last 4 years, a school where there were sighted pupils, and i was the only blind person. This did come with it’s share of problems, lack of books, and people, both teachers and pupils, not really knowing what to do around me, led to a not very pleasant school experience for me, i wasn’t really accepted socially, and teachers in their efforts to show other students that i wasn’t and would not receive preferential treatment, treated me worse, at least i feel, than they would have been if they did the same things i did, not doing homework etc.After i made it through school with all it’s chalenges, i then embarked on a rehabilitation course, in which, after having received no what is called mobility, meaning training in how to get from one place to another safely , i received a lot of this training on this course,and was then able to travel around the city centre here, using at the time, a white cane. After this course, i then decided to go to colege, where i undertook the study of holistic therapies, and received at the end, again after many problems, 2 diplomas from I.T.E.C. standing for the international therapy examinational council, in both holistic massage, and indian head massage. I then sat around for the next year or so, as there was and is, no work in this industry at present. During this time, I was also in the process of applying for a guidedog, and the waiting semed to take ages, and there were many struggles to get to the point i’m at now, which is that I’m going for training with a beautiful golden lab/retriever at the end of may. I’m also going back to college, to do what’s called a PLC or post leaving certificate course in music performance after which i hope to do my degree, and turn my love and passion for music into some sort of career.In this blog you will find posts about all aspects of life, in the next few weeks, details of how training with my guidedog is going,will be posted here, plus lots of other things, so stay tuned!till next time…

An update on what's going on!

Well hey there, here i am again, with an update!Well, Zonta, that’s my guidedog’s name, she’s coming on thursday, the guidedog instructor will spend the evening here, leave Zonta here for the night, we will hopefully do some work on Friday, meaning me walking with Zonta, she will then go back with the instructor to cork, and i will then go down to start training on monday the 25th of may. Elseware this week, i have a meeting with the director of my college course on wednesday, and tomorrow i have a meeting with the doctor who made the prosthetic eyes, which i wear. Getting new ones, they really are long overdue hahahahaha! I will probably not write again till thursday, but i may write on wednesday, who knows… till next time…