inu ni au - okashina Lloyd (free-form)

Today I will tell you just a bit about the dog who I am currently living with (note that as with many dog people I frequently say "dog I am currently owned by," but I believe that if anyone was "owned by" Lloyd it might be a disaster of monsterous proportions). This is the face that will melt your heart:

Yes, this, my friends (and anyone else reading), is Lloyd. Lloyd has many nicknames; I frequently call him okashina Lloyd (which sounds something like oh-ka-she-na Loy-do) meaning funny Lloyd, silly Lloyd, or just plain "Lloyd, you are a ham." I less frequently call him mendokusai Lloyd (meaning troublesome Lloyd, which might happen when he jumps on me and knocks me over or tries to steal food of the table), hidoi / warui Lloyd (meaning horrible / bad Lloyd, for when he takes my host brother's socks), or occasionally, "abunai yo Lloyd!" I openly admit that the last nickname there is not really nickname, but an exclamation that means "Lloyd, you are about to die by being impaled on my pencil" which happens a lot because he likes to jump on me while I'm working. Similarly, he might get omoi Lloyd (heavy Lloyd) or just "mmf."

In fact, he thinks he is a lap dog, and spends a great deal of time trying to weasel his way onto me. Amusingly, he is also the only creature I know that is so terribly bothered by their profusion of hair, as his attempts to lay on me usually end in him spending fifteen minutes trying to get the hair simultaneously out of his eyes, mouth, and nose. He walks around with his mouth hanging open, and if something goes in, he tastes it or bites it and moves on (be it my pencil, a chair leg, my arm, etc.) He drools like crazy (because he never closes his mouth), and will randomly smack his head on me to get my attention. Endearingly, he spent thirty minutes earlier trying to get me to pull my host brother's sock while he held the other end, which meant having him relentlessly stick the slobbery thing into my hand, wait for me to move, and then ecstatically jump away. If nothing else, he certainly amuses himself (don't worry, I don't just ignore him all the time, and eventually I decided that since no one cared to rescue the poor sock, I shouldn't worry too much). He is also a living garbage disposal, but I don't know how to call him that in Japanese, so okashina Lloyd it remains.

On an unrelated note, I have resigned myself to mosquito bites and am quite used to itching. They (mosquitos may be best referred to as THEM) live downstairs in our house, and though I thought I had beaten them by wearing pants today, I have found three new bites on my arms in the time it took me to write this piece. They are quite evil, and I shall not feel the slightest remorse when I one day turn all of my scientific purpose to making sure they NEVER BITE ME AGAIN (mwahahahahaha - be scared, be very scared!).