Billy is, in fact, a girl. Yup. FE-male.

That's okay, I don't mind at all. She will still be called Billy :)

The vet gave her a clean bill of health and trimmed off some of her mats, but due to time contsraints he was unable to remove them all, so showed me how to do it will scissors so I can do the rest.
She's got a really bad one by her bottom and tail which is urine soaked and I am dreading trying to get that out. It's in such a delicate area. (I will obviously be wearing gloves, also.)

Thank GOD you can "hypnotise" a bunny by cradling it on it's back. This way I will not get thumped in the face while I cut the mats out :D

Stupidly I forgot to ask how old he thought she is, so I will have to ask next time. I mean, really, where was my brain? At least I got the most important stuff answered.

(The vet wasn't the one that looks like James Dean, but he was nice looking anyway. Shit, he's a vet - they're ALL hot.)

It's bitterly cold and horrible right now :(

P.S, driving home from the vet we passed a church and someone had spray painted "Satan" on the front doors.

I laughed.

So did Mum.

On Friday we went and picked up the new addition to the family, Billy. He's a bunny and we got him from the SPCA.

Not sure what age he is, but we'll find all that out tomorrow when we take him to the vet.

Here he is:

He's quite friendly and doesn't seem to mind being held. He's weary but doesn't struggle like alot of bunnies do. I hope that with patience on my part and time on his he will like people and actually choose to come and say hi to you. I hope!

I also hope he gets along with my cat, Molly. I would love it if they could be buddies.

Billy's currently residing in the hutch my dad built for our last rabbit, Abby. It's much bigger than most hutches you can buy and the bedroom is upstairs.
Anyway, I don't particularly like the idea of him being out there at night and during bad/hot weather, so I am embarking on building him an indoor "condo" out of these things (there are about 50 million tutorials on how to do it at bunny websites. Google 'Neat Idea Cubes' and you don't even get the company site that makes them, you get bunny sites). My sister got some at Kmart in Auckland, but Gisborne doesn't have a Kmart so I will have to get some when I go up there.
I did try looking at places here but because it's Sunday nothing is open.

Honestly.

This town is fucking annoying like that. Almost nothing is open on a Sunday, just essential stores or bigger chainstores. I was so pissed off driving home because of it. How is anyone supposed to get anything done with nothing open?! Shit.

The sooner I see the back of this damn place the better (yes, I know it has some great points, but they're not enough to convince me it's wonderful).

Another rant: It seems that New Zealand is crap at stocking rabbit supplies. Things like hays they can safely eat, rabbit pellets that aren't also for guinea pigs and don't have deyhdrated carrots/other veggies in the mix.
I cannot locate hay! Rabbits need hay and I cannot find any!
I have asked about this at a LiveJournal rabbit cummunity and someone said that rabbits can eat horse hay/straw, so I will try the horsey stores and see if they can help me.

Even New Zealand based online pet supply places don't have much in the way of rabbit things. If they do it's all the stuff that Rabbit.org doen't recommend (like no pine litter as it can cause liver poisening or something).

Anyway, all this frustration is worth it because Billy's great (and also adorable beyond measure).

I really like bunnies. I think they're great companion animals. They have alot more personality, character and intelligence than what most people think they do.

So, I am mostly done validating every page, but the thing is that I have done my whole site in Strict 1.0 but the damn blog is in Transitional and it still has warnings. I am too wussy to go into the code and try and "fix" them because I don't want to screw up the blog and have it not work when I have got more important things to be doing (like helping my Mum sort and pack the disaster that is our garage).

I'm so pissed off about it! The blog has to be Strict to go with the rest of my site and it can't have warnings! I'm like an obsessive-compulsive freak about it.

I can't put the validation link on my site until the whole thing is Strict 1.0 and has no warnings. I just can't. I can't have my index page say "Transitional" when the rest of my site is Strict.

Just imagine hair pulling and screaming about now.

Insert swear words of your choice here.

I have been editing pages on here most of the day. It feels good to be getting them done and "cleaning" them up.

I really should go to bed because I can barely stay awake anymore.

It looks as though Mum and I will be moving back to Auckland while Dad stays here for his job and works on the house to get ready to sell. He will follow us soon enough.
Mum and I will come back and forth to help him with the house and stuff.

I don't know how I feel about moving back there so soon. I just wasn't expecting it right now. I mean, I don't even know when we are going, but Dad is seemingly laid-back about it all and doesn't seem in a rush, so that's good. Gives Mum and I time to sort ourselves out and what-have-you.

I packed two boxes tonight. I have alot more to box up, the stuff I don't need, because Dad is driving a small truck to Auckland with our unneeded junk this coming Monday.

I was watching some home clutter organising, Super Woman on the Living Channel this afternoon and I think we need her.

Listening to some TMV and now I shall go to bed and hopefully fall asleep and not get woken by Teh Evil Kitteh And Her More Evil Clawz.

P.S, go listen to my Radio Blog ("radio" on navigation bar) and listen to the song 'Frances The Mute' by The Mars Volta.
I fucking love this song. It makes the whole world perfect for 14 minutes and 36 seconds (yes, it really is that long and you better listen to the whole thing or I'll cut you).

P.P.S, Pirates Of The Caribbean 3 opens tomorrow and I need to go and see it! Captain Jack and I are resuming our affair of the loins.

This morning I did my usual volunteering at the SPCA. I cleaned the hospital wing again; I think it's my favourite part to do because there is more room in there to move around while you clean out the cages (unlike the other areas where you basically need to be a contortionist to do anthing). I also like that it's away from everyone else — I like to do my job in peace, I guess.

Next week is my last week volunteering there because my life is becoming complicated and I don't feel I can make the commitment to it anymore.

There was a gorgeous little ginger kitten there today. He had a handsome face with hazel eyes; they matched his fur. He hissed alot though, at just about everything. Stroppy but cute!

You always end up falling in love with some of them. They're all cute but sometimes there's an animal there that you seem to connect with and are drawn to. It might not be the cutest one there, or the most friendly, but something about them captures your heart and you wish you could give them a home.

I have been very good. I have not come home with any new additions to our menagerie, but there have been times where I would have loved to have brought one home.
I remember at the end of last year, before going away for Christmas, crying over four little fluffy, black kittens because I liked them so much. I was so sad that I couldn't give at last one a nice home. It's too hard with having two dogs who think cats are on the menu and trying to juggle them with the cat I already have. Plus we travel to Auckland so much and I already take my cat with me so having another one would just make things far too complicated than I'm willing to let them get at this point.

There is a rabbit at the SPCA that, if it's not claimed by it's owners, will be coming home with me. Our rabbit passed away a year ago and my mum really misses having one, so we've been on the waiting list for any bunnies that come in.
He's very cute, fairly big in size, a bit fluffy and he's got floppy ears. I think he looks like a Billy.

I don't tend to name animals after cartoons or food (or verbs for that matter). They get dignified "human names" when I name them. Although, once I did name a bird after my favourite Backstreet Boy's nickname...I was eleven, so... Yeah.

On a more personal note, there is some family business that needs sorting. It's not really business in a negative sense, it's just that it involves a possible move back to Auckland and so forth. I feel a bit up-in-the-air because I don't know what's happening and I dislike situations like that. I would rather know exactly what's going on so I can get my head around it and figure out what I'm going to do.

I don't have anything tying me here in Gisborne. I have some friends but I don't feel like I have made any who I have connected really well with. I have always been guarded and I find it hard to let people in, even if I really want to. I am the only one to blame for not having made friendships here I feel like I can fall back on. Ones that are everlasting and so strong I will dread leaving. I love the people I do have here, but I feel like it's only gone so far and we don't have that extra element to make our relationships stronger.
I'm used to being the outcast and it doesn't bother me for the most part, but it would be nice to find some people who I really connect with and who "get me", or at least have more in common with me. I guess we all just want to fit in somewhere and I have yet to find my "somewhere".

I am thankful I don't have a someone tying me here, but on the flipside I sort of wish I did. It's an odd feeling. As I mentioned previously, I do like someone here, but the opportunity to do something about it has not arisen and I get the impression he is perhaps not interested in me.

I really ought to go to bed earlier.

I think the problems are fixed now.
The important one was the issue with the redirection URL once you've posted a comment. I found a post about it at the support forums. Wish I had found it earlier as that would have saved me alot of torment...

The other problem was only an admin one and not something that would effect visitors to the site. I think I know what the problem was and have now fixed it so that it works and doesn't irk me. It wasn't somethat that effected the working of anything, but it was bugging the crap out of me.

Man, I'm exhausted after all that. Just imagine me sitting here with frazzled hair and a frown, with my hands on the sides of my head and a strange groaning noise coming from my mouth.

I got my View CD in the mail today! Hats Off To The Buskers. Damn, it's good. The opening track 'Comin' Down' must be played loud.

I could do with a thousand snuggles right now. And really good book.

I'm going to kill the blog in a minute!

Stupid problem with the comments is still happening.

I am THIS CLOSE to screaming. I'm am so fucking wound up about it I'm actually laughing. THIS HAS GOT BE A JOKE.

What the hell happened to my nicely working blog? SERIOUSLY.

I'm just going to have to leave it for now.

Was having issues with blog, so I re installed it and this is just a test to see if it's all working.

I should be in bed but it's times, late at night while using the laptop in the living room and listening to the TV and/or music, that I feel like I can chill out and relax without being shut up in my bedroom or the tiny computer room. It's nice.

I'm listening to music on Cedric Bixler-Zavala's unofficial MySpace page. I haven't heard any of these tracks yet, I think most of them are work he's done with other artists.
I would love for him to put out a solo record. That would be amazing.

Last week I found out my eldest sister is moving overseas (to my brother-in-law's country) with her husband and their 15-month-old son. They leave in July, I think.
I'm not entirely shocked by this news, as I know my sister loves that country and she and my brother-in-law want his family there to know my nephew. I think it's wonderful he will get to spend time in both countries, experiencing different cultures. I think it will make him a stronger person and able to more readily accept different cultures and people.

I will miss them all like crazy, and especially miss my sister living in Auckland City. I will have find some other excuse to go into the city and drink bubble tea, even though it wont be the same without her and my nephew.
It will be hard at times as we are so close, but I'm sure I will get used to it and cherish the moments we have together in the same country even more.
It's a good excuse to go overseas as well.

It's very chilly tonight — has been all day, really. Of course it doesn't help when Puppy pushes the lounge door open and lets all the cold air in.

June 2nd I'm flying to Auckland for just under a week because I'm going to a concert on the 4th. I'm going to see The View at The Kings Arms! I'm very excited.
I'm a relatively new fan of theirs, but have liked their single 'Same Jeans' since it came out here in New Zealand in around February. It was the first single released here, though not the first one released...

Holy crap, Alt TV is playing 'Grace' by Jeff Buckley!!! Be right back.

Okay, it's finished.

...Right, so, yeah, 'Same Jeans' was the first single released of theirs in NZ, but not the first released in the UK (they are from Scotland). I find it weird that they do that.
They're young — average age is 20. It's kind of nice to be into a band made up of people around my age for once. Same goes for Arctic Monkeys and The Kooks.

I'm not going to lie and say that their physical appearances don't have an effect on my opinion of them, because it does to a certain degree, even though the music is what determines my interest in the first place. The bass player and back-up vocalist, Keiren Webster, is absolutely gorgeous. He's this boyishly handsome guy with a quirky personality. He sings their songs 'Skag Trendy' and 'Gran's For Tea', among a couple of others.

People in the UK have been raving about these guys since mid last year and saying their live shows are brilliant with amazing energy, so I am looking forward to it. I don't like to get my hopes up about this sort of thing because everyone reacts differently to performances, so we'll see. As long as I can sing, dance and laugh while I'm there I will probably enjoy!

It's almost 1am, so I really should be going and getting some of that sleep normal people have. Mind you, even if I go to bed at 10 I can never seem to get to sleep until after midnight anyway. I envy people who can just go to sleep after 5 minutes. It's really not at all fair.

I'm finding myself crushing on a certain individual who just so happens to live in my town. I think he's lovely. But there is always a "but", isn't there? I wont go into details, as this is public and who knows who'll see it.
I wish I wasn't so damn shy when it comes to this sort of thing!

"Wait in the fire."

Yes, finally I have gotten all the new layout uploaded and all the pages changed over!
I still have a long To Do list, mostly XHTML validating and spelling, grammar and making sure I've used the correct ASCII characters and such.

My new blog is powered by b2evolution and so far I'm finding it wonderful. I only wanted something to manage my blog, not the entire content of my website like alot of people do with Wordpress. Plus B2 has been exellent for integrating smoothly with my existing layout. Yay! No having to learn the laguage of Wordpress in order to make a skin that looks nice and works for the rest of my site.

I'm so happy with this layout. I know I always say that but I've worked so hard to get it just right and I came up against alot of obstacles that I managed to get over.
I have tested it in Internet Explorer and it works fine, though it's not quite as nice as in Firefox (the same can be said for all sites, really). I don't have any other browsers so I can't test in them unfortunetly.
Nevermind because anyone who doesn't use Firefox is clearly insane.

(No, I wasn't entirely serious about the last part).

I think I deserve a break for a few hours, or maybe the rest of the day! Tea is to be had along with some dark chocolate (prodiving there is any left; if not, I shall be sad).
Chocolate, scientists have found, releases endorphines that make you happy. Chocolate has one of the same chemicals (or whatever it is) in it that marijuana has, but it doesn't make you high in the same way.
Some stress therapists (yes, there is such a thing) are treating stress in their patients by recommending they have about three M & Ms a day. Enough to give you the kick, not enough to add three dress sizes.

I hope everyone's weekend has been good. Apart from doing the site I got my period a week early (it must have known that I didn't want it while I'm away in Auckland in a couple of weeks for a concert) and have been blobbing. No social life for Miss Sam when she gets into an XHTML spasm.

P.S, I've got earache. Boo!
P.P.S, There is something wrong with the comments, so don't bother trying to post one until I've fixed it.
P.P.P.S, Actually, no there isn't. When you hit "Send" on the comment form it will take you to an error page. Just hit the back button and refresh; your comment will have posted.