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" Above all, don’t lie to yourself." – Fyodor Dostoyevsky, The Brothers Karamazov" I don’t want to die without any scars." – Chuck Palahniuk, Fight Club" Not all those who wander are lost." – J.R.R. Tolkien, The Fellowship of the Ring" It is our choices that show what we truly are, far more than our abilities." – J.K. Rowling, Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets" It is better to be hated for what you are than to be loved for what you are not." – André Gide, Autumn Leaves" If you’re making mistakes it means you’re out there doing something." – Neil Gaiman, Make Good Art" Even a stopped clock is right twice a day." – Paulo Coelho, Brida" If we wait until we’re ready, we’ll be waiting for the rest of our lives." – Lemony Snicket, The Ersatz Elevator" The worst enemy to creativity is self-doubt." – Sylvia Plath, The Unabridged Journals of Sylvia Plath" I dream. Sometimes I think that’s the only right thing to do." – Haruki Murakami, Sputnik Sweetheart" If you don’t imagine, nothing ever happens at all." – John Green, Paper Towns" Everything is possible. The impossible just takes longer." – Dan Brown, Digital Fortress" Fear is an illusion..." - Dark Templar, Starcraft 2 "
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" Did you know that the Russians sent dogs into space? My mother told me this when I was a boy. Nobody knew the effects of space on a body, you see, so they sent dogs first. They found two little mongrels on the streets of Moscow. Pchelka, which means Little Bee, and Mushka, which means Little Fly. They went up in Sputnik 6. They were supposed to get into orbit and come right back. But the rockets misfired and shot them into space.
Whenever I look at the night sky, I think about those dogs. Wearing these hand-stitched spacesuits, bright orange, with their paws sticking out. Big fishbowl helmets. How… crazy. Floating out and out into space. How bewildered they must have been, dying from oxygen deprivation. For what? They would have happily spent their days rummaging through trashcans.
For all anyone knows these dogs are still out there. Two dead mongrels in a satellite. Two dog skeletons in silly spacesuits. Gleaming dog skulls inside fishbowl helmets. They’ll spin through the universe until they burn up in the atmosphere of an uncharted planet. Or get sucked into a black hole to be crushed into a ball of black matter no bigger than an ant turd. "
― Craig Davidson , Cataract City
