Wait until you become a parent!!!!

Above is my child-chocky. He's a precious 3 month old. How I ever thought I would be a good dog owner is beyond my reasoning. I have been wanting a dog since 2003, since dogs are such good companions. I figured that having one would eradicate my loneliness and feel the void I have had since losing my mom. Wrong!!!!!!!!!!!!! Dogs, especially puppies, take a shit load of work. I believe this is the closest I have come to understanding what it's like to be a parent. You have to have patience, persitance, and dedication or commitment. Maybe that's too deep but it seems like the logical thing.
So, of course like all parents, my child is smart. He covers his eyes with one paw when he doesn't want to go out. He knows how to get into things he's not suppose to. And he's already bi-lingual. Yep, my kid can 'speak' Chinese. Now, this all came about since he was with a person that speaks Chinese more than English at times. So, many of the commands that he is used to I have to use Chinese. Which means I have to use my Chinese. Egad!!!!
What's interesting about having a puppy, is the best way to train them is to ignore their bad, and only praise their good actions. On the website I read this on, compared this to rearing a child. What a concept. Ignore the bad and praise the good. I wonder if this concept was actually used often would the world be a better place.
When I was in grammar school school I took German. I hated it and wanted to take French. But somehow, I think my mom thought the cold war would still be in place by the time I was grown and I would be working in the State Department or something. Well, German lasted on me for about 1 year and during that time, I had a tutor noticed my errors more than anything. Eventually I stopped because I wasn't 'producing' any results. And believed from there on that I was incapable of learning any language. Thru my current attempt at learning Chinese I have noticed that my throat contracts when having to speak up. I am persistence at this stage of the game in learning because I feel I have so much on the line. Yet, while the tutor isn't there, her presence is still with me, and I am more focused on my errors, than my achievements.
If people in the world actually ignored the bad, would this eliminate terrorism, racism, and all the ism's we currently have? If we stop giving in to the critic within would that critic eventually disappear because it has nothing to feed it? Until we try another alternative, divering from the current form of 'training' we use to relate to others, we will never know.....................
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On the Taiwan living front, I had to go to the doctor's today. For about 7 to 8 years I have been dealing with poor digestion. Each past visit to the doctor's has made me more and more weary of their abilities to be able to effectively deal with a patient. Today, was probably the worst. Having to be in a situation where your health is at stake and in another country is stressful and frustrating. So, to resolve the problem, I self medicated myself. I think that from this I just realize more and more how important one's health is and how proactive one has to be in the decision making process of one's health. It also made me wonder how long do I want to be in Taiwan. How long do I want to continue facing the unfamiliar and has all that worn off and it's time for me to go......................