Mom said we might get a pet that's just for my company. But there are a bunch of restrictions. No cats (Mom's allergic), guinea pigs (ditto), no rats or mice (Mom's afraid of them), no reptiles (ditto), so on. That doesn't leave me with a lot of choices.

Much as I like animals, I'd kind of like to have human companionship. I've never really had a lot of close friendships. I had a couple--like Kristen from third to sixth grade--but that's about it. I just can't seem to find a good friend and I can't seem to keep them, no matter how hard I try. I try to be the kindhearted, cheerful girl, I try to be the sarcastic, snappy girl, I try to be myself, and everything I do ends up failing, and everyone ends up running off with someone else--either a boyfriend, a girlfriend, or merely another group of people who don't like me. I think the last really close friend I had was Taylor. I haven't been in his physical presence since Christmas.

I go out into the world every day, holding out hope that I might find someone with a life philosophy and dreams similar to mine, and every day I become discouraged because the rest of the world seems to have given up on their dreams of hope and peace and settled for mediocrity and even outright terribleness.

I'd kind of like a sugar glider, but I'm not sure how well Sarge (Mom's bulldog) would take to a gliding rodent sharing the house with him. And I'd kind of like a creature that's big enough to come with me on a walk, but I know Mom ain't gonna let me get another dog.

So that leaves me with--what?

Maybe I'll look up chinchillas. Or bunnies.