dogs only get sick in the middle of the night. it's a rule.

last night i tried to go to bed at two.  i wasn't able to fall asleep until around three, though, maybe later... and i was awakened completely before four by the extremely determined and long-lasting efforts of perry. 

he wasn't actually trying to wake me, he was horking and horking and then vomiting and then horking some more, and i kept drifting in and out of sleep waiting for him to stop, and he just didn't.  then i thought he was drinking water, but it turned out the sound was him compulsively and repeatedly licking his lips.  he kept this up--vomiting, heaving and lip-licking--for a couple of hours, during which time i tried to go back to bed three times and eventually ended up googling dog symptoms on the internet and hovering nervously over the open phonebook, which is 90% in finnish, hoping i wasn't going to have to try to call a vet in the middle of the night.  the lip-licking was what weirded me out the most because he's seven and i've never known him to do that before.  he was literally licking his lips constantly, no real breaks--just the occasional gulping, or horking--for ten, fifteen minutes at a stretch.  i didn't get to sleep until five, after drinking some chamomile and eating some medicinal chocolate (since i didn't have any xanax on hand, and that was what i really needed). 

of course now the dog seems fine, if a little smelly.  stupid canine digestive system.