Corinne's Blog

I just witnessed a true act of compassion.

I was sitting in Louie’s room watching CSI with Louie while Chip

(Louie’s dog) was sitting at my feet chewing on an old circular bone.

We were getting to the end of the episode where all the good

stuff happens when all of a sudden we hear a yelp come from Chip

because he has gotten the bone stuck around his lower jaw and he

can’t get it off because his teeth are blocking it.

Instinctively seeing that the dog cannot free himself Louie

jumps up to try to calm and assist the dog…only to realize

that the bone is stuck on there and cannot be easily removed.

Chip is trying to run away and remove the bone himself and he

continues to yelp in pain as the bone obstructs his ability to

close his mouth properly.

This is serious and Louie and I know it…I watch helplessly as

Louie tries to assist Chip who has run into his Dog hut and is

panicking and not keep still enough for Louie to remove the

bone.

The only thing I can think to do to help is to stop some of the

commotion… I turn off the TV.

Louie stands up and runs down to the garage…This bone removal

requires tools or a trip to the vet will be needed…Louie

instructs me to keep Chip in one place, the dog is panicking and

tries running after his master I try to keep him calm and in the

hallway…the dog throws up and runs up to the Kitchen.

Louie returns with a huge pair of garden/ metal cutters with a

goal to cut the thick bone off his poor friend’s  All I can

think to do is try to calm the poor animal down so he stops

running away and so he won’t continue to panic and whine in

pain. It is extremely hard to see an animal in pain and I felt

my heart hurting when I saw the look in Louie’s face as he tried

to free his dog from pain at risk of creating more pain by

cutting the dog’s gums with the bone’s edges.

Louie thinks fast of a way to get the clippers into the open

slit between the dog’s chin and the bone…he goes and grabs a

spoon because he doesn’t want to cut the dog and the spoon could

provide more space. Louie calmly talks to Chip to try to get him

to stay still…he tells him that he is being a good dog and he

calmly orders chip to sit still…I am petting Chip and trying

to get him to stay in one spot in the Kitchen…after one failed

attempt and Louie accidentally getting bitten by the scared dog

Louie successfully is able to cut a small slit into the

bone…with hopes that with the new weakened bone the bone with

break free with a little pulling.

Sadly the cut to the bone does very little and the dog continues

to get his gums cut as they scrape against the bone. Louie’s

hands are now covered in drool and blood as he tries to break

the bone from Chip’s jaw…I remember thinking…what a

dedicated master Chip has, what love, what compassion this man

has for this creature, I really respect Louie for trying so hard

to save Chip’s life.

Louie says that he’d like to try again but now the dog is moving

to much to get the clipper near him.

I keep imagining the possible trip to the animal hospital we

might have to be taking…and the possibility of there maybe

being a mini saw somewhere that we could use and not hurt the

dog with…maybe a knife…but then I thought of how the dog was

moving his has spastically and ruled those ideas as unsafe and

unwise. “I really don’t want to have to take you to the vet

tonight buddy..” Louie says to Chip “…I can’t afford the vet

right now.” Louie adds in a calm soothing voice.

Louie instructs me to go down to his room and to look in a

cardboard box next to his bookshelf for a screwdriver…I’m

thinking to pry the bone open with. I run downstairs trying to

help in anyway I can…I hope the Chip doesn’t try to run away

from his master when I walk away.

I look in the box and I grab some tools a screwdriver, a hammer

and a small screwgun head that could be used as a chissel if

need be… I am greatful that right as I get back to the kitchen

that I hear the snap of the bone and see Louie smile as he frees

his child from his bonds.

Louie pulled it off and Chip tries to run away like Louie had

hurt or abused him, maybe to lick him wounds as dogs often do.

I was reminded of Disney’s Beauty and the Beast and how Belle

tries to treat the Beast’s wound but the Beast just wants to

take care of himself.Belle’s act toward the Beast is a true act

of compassion.

Louie inspects Chip’s jaw to see that most of the damage done

will heal and that the dog will return back to normal and not

have to go to the vet today…I breath a sigh of relief. Louie

also inspects his hand for he recieved a pretty nasty bite that

has left a mark. Chip a dog that I’ve never seen or heard of to

hurt a fly must have been in a lot of pain to bite his master so

hard.

Chip runs around the apartment trying to run and clean his

wounds and I clean up the throw up that Chip left in the

hallway.

I tell Louie that Chip deserves a reward for being such a good

dog under such miserable circumstances and Louie runs for a box

or treats…When Louie Calls him Chip doesn’t respond and he

acts as if his master is going to try to hurt him as he offers

him a treat.

Louie figures that Chip isn’t in the mood for a hard snack and

he heads to the refrigerator for some cheese. I think Chip isn’t

coming because he is associating the pain he felt to his

master’s actions to help and not exactly to the bone itself.

Once again like in Beauty and the Beast when the Beast yells

“That hurts!” to Innocent Belle as she is cleaning his wounds.

Finally Louie manages to get Chip some cheese and right away I

can see the old spark return to Chip to please his master…the

drama for tonight is officially over and I decide to leave the

duo alone.

Louie said to Chip that he would start throwing away his bones

before they got that bad…”what if he’d been home alone” Louie

said, which made me think…I would probably panic in such a

situation…Louie said that the last time that happened he had

almost cried, this was the second time poor Chip had gotten a

bone stuck on his jaw.

I witnessed love between a Creature and his Master and I have

true respect and Honor for Louie Tran for showing his dog such

love, and saving the animal when he was helpless to help

himself. Love knows no boundaries.

This is me simply talking about events in my life…as I sit outside the emergency Center at the Hennepin County Medical Center…waiting.

The first thing I’d like to discuss is a conversation I had with my Pastor Matt Johnson. I had asked Matt if tomorrow I could testify in front of my church congregation. Technically it isn’t my congregation because I am not a member…but I have found a family among the members these last few years. Matt and I talked about why I wanted to testify and what is important when thinking about God and a testimony. Many people want to just talk about how God has blessed them but they fail to mention that struggles they are still going to God about. For example: I was blessed with a new job…but I’d like prayer because -I am making less than Minimum wage at my job -I am unhappy not being able to start school like everyone else I know. -I am having trouble communicating with people I love because of my lack of a cellphone, the internet. -how it is hard to be on my own and independent when I only really have my mother and Craig to talk to no consistant friends.

Another event that has happened in my life was my choice to wait to go to Scotland for a couple of months. Putting Scotland off till after the holidays will allow Craig a time to meet and get to know my mother so my mother will trust him to be my main emergency contact if anything happens to me while I’m overseas.

My third event is that yesterday was September 11th, eight years after the towers fell. I was 12 years old when it happened and like many others I remember where I was when the towers were hit. I was sitting in Ms. Wilcek’s sixth grade classroom during quiet reading time when my teacher got a phone call from her fiance now husband. I remember I was sitting across from Derek S. and that we were quietly chatting to each other over our books…my teacher left after the phone call and came back crying. She and other teachers chatted quietly in the corner of the room until they decided to turn on the TV and they all sat watching the news as we children sat reading. We wondered what was going on because my teacher was crying and it finally came on the intercom that America had been attacked earlier in the morning in New York City I remember wondering where New York was and if it was anywhere near us. We were told that we were being sent home early and that our parents would be informed of our early release. When I got home my mom arrived a little later and she explained everything to me…I was really sad because I thought we were under attack in MN. I remember going home and watching as they showed footage of it on every channel…I watched the footage of people committing suicide after deciding that it was either jumping out the window with a plastic bag parachute or burning to death. I remember after 9/11 I went to my church and asked if the people who had commited suicide were going to hell…my youth ministers said no…because it was God’s will.

I’ve moved inside because it is extremely hot so I’m sitting now in the emergency room lobby at HCMC and just a few minutes ago there was a young girl who discovered that her father had died…she started yelling histerically about how her dad was dead…the kind of screams that make your heart skip a beat…like true pain. I was thinking in my heart about what may have happened to the girl and the man…was there a car accident? Was it a heart attack? Had the girl herself commited the crime? and being in the emergency room I’m thinking about what’s going on…I was raised and shown on tv that when you are in the emergency room you should expect the worst. I wanted to go swarm the girl to see what she looks like and comfort her…hug her and sooth her so that she will stop yelling and frightening the babies and making them cry. I’ve decided to stay where I am…because out of sight for me is out of mind. My mother on the other hand has gotten up to investigate. The girl was yelling and was taken back into a different room wondering and asking if anyone could help her dad. It makes me think about what Craig is doing this weekend and what I may have to do with my mother having cancer that is slowly getting worse. Letting go of loved ones is very difficult…but even though my mother says that she has “too much to do” to die…it still scares me to think about losing her. While some people like Craig don’t yell and scream histerically when they learn that they have lost their loved ones …people who stay strong and keep their composure to keep their family strong there are people like this young girl whose live are totally shaken and with them everyone around them are shaken as well. My brother has stopped complaining about his burned wrist…the reason we are at HCMC anyway…he burned it on a pan at work and it looks painful..but not as painful as losing someone you love. It might be a third or forth degree burn but he no longer complains of the pain as he was before the girl was screaming…I wonder if he realizes that it could be worse and that the pain he feels now isn’t so bad. Or maybe his pain reliever kicked in.

Now that the girl has been taken away the heavy heart I am feeling remains…the people who also sit in the lobby with my have continued their lives as soon I will continue mine…I think about Craig and his mother and death. This weekend Craig and his family are releasing his mother’s ashes in Elie Scotland…a beautiful place full of many family memories I can tell. I wonder if I was cremated where they’re place me. Or, if it was my mother…where I’d put her…I would never want to think about anyone I love as ashes or in a wooden box to rot in the ground. I do not pray for a fate like that to befall anyone.

“oh my god! oh my god my dad’s dead…no! OH MY DAD! OH MY GOD…NO i DON’T WANT anything I want my dad”…I can hear the girl in my head ringing still.

I need to get my mind off of death because it depresses me…so on a lighter note: my roommate Louie is allowing me to use his laptop. it is nice because i am sitting in HCMC and they have guest wifi. Before when I was sitting outside in the car I was thinking about how nice it would be to just loiter outside the hospital to get wifi…but then I felt bad about not being able to get on facebook because it is blocked.

In back of me are some giant tropical fish…they are like I’ve never seen before and they have huge eyes. I wonder if these fish could be the last things a person might ever see in the world if they were to die in this hospital as the girls father had.

My brother used sweet corn to cool his burn…it reminds me that I am hungry and I reach into my bag and grab one of the boxes of museli bars I won from the slogan contest…there’s a really loud annoying woman calling people to the counter…

there is a girl here with two boys and I wonder if they are here for a maternity test. They look like they might be.

I wonder what the hospitals will be like in Scotland if or when i ever have a child and need to give birth in one.

I wonder why they are butchering a man’s name over the loud speaker…and when they are going to call for my brother.

Wow it has been 5 hours…

wait, my brother Tyler just arrived with a really high fever…they are going to take them in together, I’m going to call Sean and see if I can get a ride home…laters.

Wednesday Sept 9th 2009

Today is the 3rd day of my second official week and I have gotten my cleaning checklist down to a science. I wish it wasn’t so redundant though. My employers are really picky about everything and they want me to clean things everyday that most people only clean once or twice a month. I work from 8:30am till 6:30pm with two 1 hour breaks. I’m trying to figure out what I am supposed to do when I’ve actually finished my job at hand. Like today, I was supposed to spend my first 3 hours shift doing my daily checklist ;which looks like this:

“8:30 start time, (meet in 1st floor kitchen), work till 11:30 to finish the daily checklist

___Empty and reload dishwasher
___Pick up each room & make bed with all the pillows
___Pick up all dirsty clothes & bring to laundry room and start washing & drying clothes
___Clean all bathrooms and toilets upstairs and main floor
___Spray air freshener in each room when finished
___Vacuum main floor hallways, kitchen,bar,family room, and 2nd and 3rd floors.
___Dry mop foyer, front entry, closet, living room, dining room wood floors
___Sponge mop all tile floors, marble stairs. bar floor and kitchen
____wet mop solarium
___Fold finished clothes and put them away
___Pick up all trash in each room and take out”

I have three hours to complete and finish my daily checklist, after I am supposed to take an hour break to eat lunch. my daily chores tell me to “Break in your (my) apartment and eat in your (my) kitchen”…this line on my schedule really bugs me because I feel that it is a bit condesending. I am on my break now and I’m think I’m going to take a nap. I was going to type about how I wish I didn’t have to do so much everyday..like vacuuming the same rooms everyday and mopping the same rooms everyday is kind of stupid because they don’t get that dirty from day to day especially when no one is walking in most of the rooms but me. I wish these people actually lived in their house so I’d have something to clean when I went around and recleaned what I already did right the first time. Doing this same routine everyday for this second week is already getting boring to me…maybe I should get another mp3 player to make things more interesting….

Off for a 20 minute power nap!

So I just moved to a new apt that is attached to a mansion in which I am employed as maid/housekeeper/cook. I am currently thinking that my position and responsibilities are kind of reminding me of slavery. I get paid 20$ a day to do a crazy crazy crazy amount of work…but something is better than nothing at this point and my goal is to raise enough money to get Craig over here and to get back to school. In the servant’s quarters that I’ve moved there is currently: NO INTERNET, NO CABLE and THERE IS NO WAY TO ENTERTAIN ONESELF outside of cooking and leisurely cleaning. I’ve been listening to the radio and trying to find ways to pass the time while I’m on break from working or on the weekends which I have off. So, My new goals to keep myself from going crazy of Boredom in my new place are to….

a) watch every single movie from Louie my housemates collection in which I already haven’t

b) start to read books again

c) practice my violin on my own and perfect my individual solo skills by teaching myself new songs from various orchestral song books I have laying around.

d)try to get on the computer that Louie says I can barrow

e)Walking Chip (Louie’s dog)

f) By trying to get Louie to play board games with me.

g) to take up knitting

h) To take up painting

i) to start writing a series of memoirs…

j) to write down in a notebook stories and things that I’d like to blog about.

k) To get out and walk around more…or to exercise by picking up bike riding and running again…Louie says I can barrow his extra bike sometimes.

L)my actually learning something new by picking up a book at the the public library and teaching myself something (maybe a new language)

m) maybe learn the constellations

n) walking…I can pick up photo walks.

o) I can practice my baking more…I can cook but my baking could use some work.

p) I could finish writing my musical

q) I could socialize and invite people over to my new place to watch movies

r) I could pick up drawing

s) I could pick up sewing

t) I could start planting things in pots and talking to them everyday

u) Get myself acquainted with current events by reading and following the newspaper

v) I could take up a dance class and practice while I’m free

w) I could try to find another part time job to fill the rest of my day

x)I could sit around feeling sorry for myself and telling myself how bored I am… *sigh…I am so bored…sigh*

y) I could organize my room in different ways…to entertain myself and fill my time

z) I could start building things.

(Now that I’ve been here for a week and I have experienced some of the drama my opinions about my new job have changed quite a bit. But, my new housemate Louie is really cool and nice~!)

So if you haven’t heard already I Corinne Salone will not being going back to Hamline University coming this next fall semester. Instead I will be spending my time working to raise enough money for me to surivive in school without a lot of financial help and on stable finacial feet. When I had first made this decision I’d also made the decision to move to Scotland to work for my friend Alexander’s wife in the Royal George Hotel where she is manager. Since I wanted to go to Scotland so bad and I didn’t have any money and I had no one to lend me any I felt that the best way for me to reach my goals would be for me to find a temporary job that could help me make a little money. I looked all around and applied at many different places. I put out multiple profiles on Care.com to take up positions at Nannys and dog walkers. One day at the beginning of the summer a long time ago I’d recieved a letter from a company calling itself Vector Marketing. They told me that I’d be requested by someone to take up a position with them and that I should call in and schedule an interview. Well, I never did call in because I thought that whole thing was a scam. It was only a week ago Tuesday that I’d been called early in the morning by the receptionist at Vector Marketing and I’d been asked if I still wanted to set up an interview. I said sure and she told me that there was an interview open at 5:45pm that day. I told her that I’d try to make with with no guarentees. I then begged friends and family to give me a ride there because I had no busfare. Finally after getting into a small Tiff with my sister I recieved a ride from Alex Roetman because she felt like doing someone a good deed. I did the formal interview which required me to dress up, be quickly screened then watch someone do a demonstration of a product. The product I learned was a knives set well known as Cutco. Cutco products are famous because they are reliable and they last forever because their guarentee for renewal lasts for as long as the knives are sent back in. So after my interview I was called back into the district managers office and he told me I got the job. I was really relieved and surprised that he would tell me so fast when the only thing I’d done was answer one question. He told me not only did I get the job but they I’d be training in on Thursday, Friday and Saturday of the same week since I was unemployed I thought that didn’t matter because I had nothing to do anyway. So I ended up waking up early on Thursday and Friday to make myself look acceptable for training. I even wrote down 424 names in order to win a names contest to sit in a comfy chair (that was cracked, broken and no so comfortable.) It was only when I learned about the catch and when I felt that I was being brainwashed into liking the product that I felt bad about where I was…who would I sell the product to? I asked myself…then I tried to think about who and I “made” myself appointments Thursday night like I was instructed to. It was Thursday that I also was told to figure out what I would to do pay for my practice and show off set. I called my mother asking her if she could back me on the 245$ knowing full well that she is as broke as I am. My mom told me that she’d try to figure it out and that I should pray. So after praying, and praying and praying the next morning I woke up and called my mother and she told me that my prayers hadn’t been answered and that I was not It wa going to be able to get my demonstration set unless I could find someone else who has money. I think this was God working his hand in my life. Because of training and stressing out over every detail of making my appointments and writing names I had realized that Cutco would create more stress in my life. I felt like I should just give it up because I wouldn’t be able to pay for my cutco set and I realized that the stress of many hours trying to work for the company wouldn’t be anything compared to the three days I’d spent training. So I decided to call Vector Marketing and tell them I wasn’t interested in selling anymore. It was right after I’d gotten off the phone that I’d gone up to my room and gone on Care.com to check up on an interview that I’d been trying to schedule with a family to become their nanny. One thing cutco had taught me is that I had the ability to get up and not give up on my search for a job. Getting up early for vector was much like getting up early for any other job and I realized that I could do that! I checked up on the interview but i had no luck reaching the family. So instead I surfed Care.com to see what other positions might be available to me. I saw an add that had actually been posted by a MAN that surprised me asking for a live in housekeeper. I’d never been a housekeeper but I’d kept a house. I was pretty much born and raised trained for the job. I sent in a message saying “I’m the girl for your job” and that I “could handle even the messy work with no problem” and that the people who were inquiring should give me a call. A couple of minutes later I get a call from Brian Groff himself asking me to come in for an interview at 3pm. I said sure because I had nothing else to do. That was at about 1pm. So after getting myself ready to head out again I am very pleased when I call my mom and ask her to take me and she agrees. She tells me that she will arrive at 2:15 to pick me up…at around 2:20 I call my mother and she tells me that she’s been trying to avoid State Fair traffic so she was coming at my from a different direction after having gotten off at the Lexington exit. She didn’t get there till 2:45 So the whole way to my interview my mother swore to me that we ‘d be fine and that I’d get there on time. She was even speeding to get there on time. When we got to the house I was shocked and awed at how big it was. During the interview I was a little nervous but I felt surprisingly comfortable in my surroundings and I think I answered the questions right and asked the right ones myself of the family. When the interview was over I think the only thing that went badly was that I’d been stuttering a lot and that i’d had trouble thinking up something that I do badly which was something that had put me on the spot when it was first asked ‘ what do you do badly’. I left the interview feeling happy and confident because Brian had actually been smiling when he showed me the house. He’d been giving me details that he would only really tell someone who had the job already. I remember the last thing I told Brian as I left was that I go to church on Sunday. I told him that I’d be getting home via a bus and that I was fine and didn’t need to call my mother to ask for a ride…which I did but I didn’t want to sound desperate. rended up te first day in my Because the interview went so well I decided to go on a walk to the Kenwood community center down the road to call and get ahold of my mom. But sadly the center was closed. So instead I ended up walking to an ice cream shop about a mile down the road and after rewarding myself with a mango vanilla double scoop I thought to myself ‘what if I did get the job?’ would I go get ice cream at this creamery a lot? Then I thought about my goals for my future in Scotland and it really made me wonder.It was around 7pm when I was informed by my frat brothers bck at Theta Chi that someone had called and they’d asked for me yet the boys hadn’t wanted to come and get me so instead they took a virtual note of it. I called Brian back and discovered that after all the people he had interviewed he had liked me the best and he offered me the position for the year. I accepted sadly knowing that I was also accepting the end of my Dreams of Scotland. So NOW CRAIG HAS TO COME!…Brian wanted me to move in on Monday…and it was Saturday when I got the call. I had gotten a job Tuesday, quit it Saturday and gotten another job on the same SAturday…LUCKY ME!

I’m going to chat about my week in a bit…it is getting late .

So I have this new job as a housekeeper in this REALLY BIG mansion in Minneapolis and the main thing I’ve learned from these first 3 days is…

-That you never are Finished with your work…there will always be more to do…
-If you SEE something that needs cleaning it will always be YOU that will need to clean it…and you might as well do it right away.
-There is no such thing as a break
-Bribing Alexis (the 4 year old) will not get you to get her to stop grating the cheese all over the floor.
-The cat is out to kill you.
-Reseting the kitchen at night for the next day is the best decision.
-Chemicals are strong and can make one cough…proceed with caution
-Keep telling yourself: “I am a good cook, they will LIKE what I make”
-Flambe is a great conversation starter.
-Act happy and energetic even when you want to sleep.
-Make friends with Louie (the gardener), Jillian (the nanny) and J (the mechanic) you will see Alot of them
-Ants on sponges are never good.
-Stay Organized and On task!
-If you need to move it…It’s your right to.
-ASK QUESTIONS!
-The dryer switch only drys from right to left not left to right…so don’t read what the switch says.
-Don’t get jealous of the mansion because you get to live there too
-No matter how much you organize and clean and strub and no matter what you do…Janelle will always find something to complain about.
-Try to remain miss. Speedy from 7:15 when you wake and check the laundry till 8:30 when you fall exhausted into bed.

-There will be BUGS…and they are more afraid of you than you should be of them…so if you see one don’t be a wuss and kill it already!

-JUST REMEMBER…YOU only have 362 days of this left :D