Oh, so sorry about your pet, Miss Vanna. I don't think you should feel silly at all, nor should you worry about how you're handling it. There's a pet thread, actually several, at WorldCrossing, that would be a wonderful support for you. Unfortunately, WX is frelled right now.

I do think the sadness of pet loss is something given little to no respect. I'm sure your hamster filled a needful place in your life, and it's understandable that you would mourn and miss him. I hope your memories of him turn to happy ones soon.

And speaking of sad yet totally off topic, my little hamster who I've had for three years died today...so I'm quite upset. Am I ridiculous for being completely crushed and spending a good lot of today crying over this? I feel silly, but I figure someone may have had a similar issue and have a solution for how I should handle it. So depressed.

You aren't being silly-it was a living creature that you shared a significant part of your life with. It wasn't a toy or a machine that broke-it was its own self, with a unique hamster personality different from any other hamster. And the only way to handle it (imo) is to allow yourself to mourn, to feel as sad as you feel without guilt that you are overreacting (as long as you aren't suicidal you are being perfectly proper). And then, when you are ready, get another pet (if you don't already have another). No one should live without an animal in their lives.

Miss Vanna, I am so sorry.

Thanks everyone, it just sucked so bad because I always clean her cage on Sundays and I went to take her out and she didn't move. It was so traumatic, I bawled like a four year old all day. And the only thing I could do all day to cheer myself up was buy the S4 DVDs since I hadn't had time or the money until now. It still really didn't help much since I had to take everything out and there's just an empty spot where her cage was.

I'm just one of those highly emotional people when it's something I've grown attached to so I'm hurting pretty bad right now, but I appreciate everyone's kind words, it really does mean a lot and I've never dealt with a death of a pet in that manner...the last pet that died was my childhood dog and my family put him to sleep when I was at school, so I didn't deal with the actual death of it all. I'm not a big handler of loss or change...but then again, who is?

Miss Vanna, anybody who doesn't mourn lost companions is missing something important inside. Sadness is one of the ways we can tell we're still human. You've still got her inside, though. That's why it hurts, now. It's better to hurt than to be empty, though. The more you've got inside, the more you can fit in there. Kinda wierd, that. Nice, though.

{{{Miss Vanna}}} I'm so sorry about your hamster. Of course you're hurting.

Oz definitely thought Veruca was hot -- he was staring at her way before he knew she got wolfy. Would he have had sex with her if it wasn't for the wolf factor? I honestly can't say. I think Veruca would have been more than willing, and I think, wonderful as Oz is, the pull of a sexy rock chick who wanted him might have tempted him away from Willow. The wolfiness is really just a metaphor (one of the more obvious ones on the show) for the siren call of the new! exciting! person.

I think Oz and Willow both cheated. I don't think either one gets a moral pass. They are slightly different kinds of cheating -- Willow carried on her relationship longer, Oz was more intense about it. Personally, I'd be more okay with it if my husband bonked some hot chick he met at a bar once or twice, than if he was having smoochies with his best friend for months. But that's my personal sex/love issue. But I do think Willow should have given Oz a pass on the cheating, if he'd asked for it.

What I love most about "Passion" is that every time (every time!) I watch it, I always find myself shouting, "Run, Jenny!" I'm always hoping she'll get away from him and she never ever does.

You know, I do this to (I think it, not shout it). I felt a little the same way in this season's Angel, when Lilah was doing everything right, and pulling every trick she could think of, and fighting tooth and nail -- and was betrayed to her death anyway, and just when she might otherwise have been safe.

Also, large with the love of the librarian wielding a flaming baseball bat.

Oddly enough, I never liked the Passion voiceover. I don't think he's got the vocal chops to pull off what I want to hear. Then again, I also hated the voiceover in Blade Runner, so clearly I am a voiceover-hater.

The thing about the wolfiness v. sexyrockchick is that for this show, it isn't just about the metaphor. Oz really is a werewolf, not just a horny guy, thrown for a loop by how turned on he is by this random singer-chick. He's a werewolf, she's a werewolf and on some wolfy level they are interacting before he even knows what she is (although Veruca implies that she knew about him right away).

The element of how much the wolf that is in him was reaching out during his non-wolf time is interesting to me. If the show was just a non-supernatural soap opera, I wouldn't be interested. Horny guy+hotnewchick = betrayal + bailage. Blahblah. Oldest story evah. This show can play those themes, but something else is also going on. How much does the wolfy element, a power that is out of his control and that he didn't choose, have to say about his actions and culpability in WAH? (Not to mention the "oh crap, we have to write out Seth, like right now!" element, but setting that aside.)

Cereal to add: I like the voiceover in Passion and in Blade Runner. I love Blade Runner, but the thing that weirds me about the director's cut is the missing voiceover. I always want it back.