la_belle_laide: (D)
Yesterday, I was completely off-line after about three hours of struggling and on the phone with tech support who kept trying to tell me to go to a "help" web page. HELLO! NO WEB PAGES.

Anyway, from yeeeeesterday...!

Scissor-beaked catbird died today, made me very sad. Tucker was my best buddy though, made it a little better. Kelly and I went out to the spa after work, not bad! The room was really nice.

My computer is sllloooooooooow and my internet connection sucks. LOATHE. But I don't feel like that sums it up.

From today: Shinigami is going to be all right! It was the alternator. (Sp? It's some big car word.) And it's fixable, I've very relieved. ^_^

Blooming: Sand-cherry, apple blossoms, irises, clematis. NICE.

My desktop uber alles. )
It rules over Your Mom.
la_belle_laide: (D)
Yesterday, I was completely off-line after about three hours of struggling and on the phone with tech support who kept trying to tell me to go to a "help" web page. HELLO! NO WEB PAGES.

Anyway, from yeeeeesterday...!

Scissor-beaked catbird died today, made me very sad. Tucker was my best buddy though, made it a little better. Kelly and I went out to the spa after work, not bad! The room was really nice.

My computer is sllloooooooooow and my internet connection sucks. LOATHE. But I don't feel like that sums it up.

From today: Shinigami is going to be all right! It was the alternator. (Sp? It's some big car word.) And it's fixable, I've very relieved. ^_^

Blooming: Sand-cherry, apple blossoms, irises, clematis. NICE.

My desktop uber alles. )
It rules over Your Mom.
la_belle_laide: (D)
First though, getting back to SITF today was mostly pretty good. The only things that really sucked were finding one of the quails dead, and Frank smoking a cigar in the building. (Smoke in general bugs me out, but it's so bad since the surgery, my eyes dry right out.) I tried to hint it nicely to him but he didn't get it, and I don't have the heart to tattle. He's very rarely there, so maybe I won't have to deal with it too often. He's this typical, big older avuncular Italian guy, and even though he knows my name, to him I'm just "the Angel" who helps him move heavy objects around when they need to be moved. Seriously, how could I call trouble on a guy like that? Yeah, and one of the quails died, I felt so badly when I found him in his cage. Hilda told me he hadn't been eating in the last three days. It was fantastic to be back among the birds that I love. Tucker was all about me today, he jumped onto my arm and ate food out of my hand, played with my bracelet and made funny "coo" noises when I went by. Pam the peahen, on the other hand, attacked my ass. For real, I turned around and bent down to remove the sheet on th ebottom of her cage and she jumped up and pecked my butt really hard. Better my butt than my eyes, though, which is what she usually goes for. The only other thing that happened was, I think some bird parasite or other bit me, or maybe a lot of them did (one of the roosters has mites really badly--mites don't usually get to me, but SOMEthing did today,) and by the time I got to Kung Fu, I was red and itchy all over, huge pink welts all over my neck and shoulders. It itched like mad and I wanted to throw myself into the duck pond.

Speaking of ducks. During the first class, we were all doing some drills (a really cool one that I liked a lot,) when two ducks crossed into the middle of the road below and started doing it. Two more ducks followed them, another male and another female. Meanwhile, traffic started to back up on both sides of the road, because the road is really narrow and none of the cars could get around. To make matters better worse, the second male duck gets on the back of the other male, who is already doign it with the first female duck, and starts doing it with him! It was a duck threesome, and the other female just stood there watching. Dude, you have never seen a group of adults turn into twelve year olds so quickly as did our class. Everybody Wasn't Kung Fu Fighting. We all just stood there pointing and laughing, especially when the drivers of the backed-up cars started blowing their horns to get the ducks to quit it and move out of the road. And then the class just disintegrated from there, I mean how can you go back to doing what you were doing after seeing a partly-homosexual duck threesome? THe jokes and puns just kept coming. Then in blackbelt club we did our hardcore warmup, and Sifu drove us into zen-oblivion with a really awesome drill that we repeated for about twenty minutes, this was seriously one of my favorite drills ever.

On the way home--and indeed on the way there--there was a power line down on the North Road so I had to detour. On the way back, my eyes were already going blurry (I'm sure the earlier smoke didn't help,) and though I could see (I always tell people who ask me how I can drive yet, "I like to think I can see headlights bearing down on me,") I couldn't read the road signs. Funny thing: when I went out with Chrissie before the operation, we got lost and ended up on thi sone road. Last week when Dad drove me to the library, he got lost (which is a rare thing so close to home, believe me,) and ended up on the exact same road. Don't you know that tonight, I got lost again on this detour, and ended up on the exact same befrigged road? But at least this time I knew where the beef I was!

It was around this time that I thought I blew my speakers. It was right in the middle of MCR's "THis Is How I Disappear", and I naturally had it cranked, but not so terribly cranked that my speakers should have been blowing out. And it was rhythmic, the way they would go on and off, almost like a bassline tha thad nothing to do with the music. So I turned the entire stereo off. That's when I heard my brakes squealing everytime I touched them. Dude, now I only just had my brakes done, my Da paid for it, because there was simply no way in hell, not with all the work I have missed recently. So I was all WTF, and started talking ot my car. For those of you who don't know me, I love my car unnaturally. My car's name is Shinigami, (go on, ask me what it means and what it's from if you don't know,) and I totally make out with it. I have actual feelings for my car. I think that when you name something and take care of it, you give it mana, chi if you want to get Chinese about it. Shinigami has its own mana, anyone who's been in the car can tell you. So I begin to worry about Shinigami, because he is an old car who has been with me for about seven and a half years now. Now I get nearly home, and all of a sudden the anti-lock brake light comes on. Another mile, and the "check engine" light comes on. The dash monitor starts telling me, "SERVICE CAR SOON" then in the next mile it starts telling me, "TRACTION INACTIVE". And I'm going, "Two more miles, Shinigami, two more miles." I get to the left turn before my avenue and all of a sudden, the dash goes completely dark. I try to make the left turn and Shinigami chugs, almost stalling. Halfway to my avenue, the headlights flicker off, on, off, on. I get to my block and make the right turn, and we chug to a halt to the house. Now I'm near tears, not (only) because I'm thinking what this is going to cost me, but because my faithful Shinigami actually got me home, waiting till the very last possible second to quit.

Please send good vibes to Shinigami. I don't know what I'd do without him.

Anyway, so tomorrow I do my split-shift, the hospital then the clinic, this is my suuuuperlong work day, when I have to eat on the fly. (Which always makes me picture me sitting on a giant fly while eating my lunch.) Afterwards though, Kelly and I are going to the spa. How fantastic is that? I've never been to a spa, but we decided that we were just going to up and go. I so totally cannot wait, you don't even realize. Friday is another long day, though shorter than tomorrow by an hour and I get an actual, sit-down, clocked out lunch Friday. Saturday is Tai Chi and then Hula (I think?) and then Sunday is Duck Pond Day. I had a fantastic time last year at Duck Pond Day with Tristan. He's going to be there again, but this time it's going to be a handful of us, not just the two of us. We might all get together and do a demo, maybe sword form. Which is really quite a shame, because I don't remember the blasted thing about the sword form. Oh well, we'll see. I wonder if there will be anymore duck orgies?

Oh, one last thing: Frank Iero is my new hero, he speaks out for vegetarianism and against animal testing. Hurray for bands I love supporting causes, 30STM with their EnvironmenTour, forward-thinking politics, vegetarianism and Earth Awareness, and now MCR with their anti-lookism, anti-homophobia and now animal rights. I hope there are bands like this still around when I have kids someday.



la_belle_laide: (D)
First though, getting back to SITF today was mostly pretty good. The only things that really sucked were finding one of the quails dead, and Frank smoking a cigar in the building. (Smoke in general bugs me out, but it's so bad since the surgery, my eyes dry right out.) I tried to hint it nicely to him but he didn't get it, and I don't have the heart to tattle. He's very rarely there, so maybe I won't have to deal with it too often. He's this typical, big older avuncular Italian guy, and even though he knows my name, to him I'm just "the Angel" who helps him move heavy objects around when they need to be moved. Seriously, how could I call trouble on a guy like that? Yeah, and one of the quails died, I felt so badly when I found him in his cage. Hilda told me he hadn't been eating in the last three days. It was fantastic to be back among the birds that I love. Tucker was all about me today, he jumped onto my arm and ate food out of my hand, played with my bracelet and made funny "coo" noises when I went by. Pam the peahen, on the other hand, attacked my ass. For real, I turned around and bent down to remove the sheet on th ebottom of her cage and she jumped up and pecked my butt really hard. Better my butt than my eyes, though, which is what she usually goes for. The only other thing that happened was, I think some bird parasite or other bit me, or maybe a lot of them did (one of the roosters has mites really badly--mites don't usually get to me, but SOMEthing did today,) and by the time I got to Kung Fu, I was red and itchy all over, huge pink welts all over my neck and shoulders. It itched like mad and I wanted to throw myself into the duck pond.

Speaking of ducks. During the first class, we were all doing some drills (a really cool one that I liked a lot,) when two ducks crossed into the middle of the road below and started doing it. Two more ducks followed them, another male and another female. Meanwhile, traffic started to back up on both sides of the road, because the road is really narrow and none of the cars could get around. To make matters better worse, the second male duck gets on the back of the other male, who is already doign it with the first female duck, and starts doing it with him! It was a duck threesome, and the other female just stood there watching. Dude, you have never seen a group of adults turn into twelve year olds so quickly as did our class. Everybody Wasn't Kung Fu Fighting. We all just stood there pointing and laughing, especially when the drivers of the backed-up cars started blowing their horns to get the ducks to quit it and move out of the road. And then the class just disintegrated from there, I mean how can you go back to doing what you were doing after seeing a partly-homosexual duck threesome? THe jokes and puns just kept coming. Then in blackbelt club we did our hardcore warmup, and Sifu drove us into zen-oblivion with a really awesome drill that we repeated for about twenty minutes, this was seriously one of my favorite drills ever.

On the way home--and indeed on the way there--there was a power line down on the North Road so I had to detour. On the way back, my eyes were already going blurry (I'm sure the earlier smoke didn't help,) and though I could see (I always tell people who ask me how I can drive yet, "I like to think I can see headlights bearing down on me,") I couldn't read the road signs. Funny thing: when I went out with Chrissie before the operation, we got lost and ended up on thi sone road. Last week when Dad drove me to the library, he got lost (which is a rare thing so close to home, believe me,) and ended up on the exact same road. Don't you know that tonight, I got lost again on this detour, and ended up on the exact same befrigged road? But at least this time I knew where the beef I was!

It was around this time that I thought I blew my speakers. It was right in the middle of MCR's "THis Is How I Disappear", and I naturally had it cranked, but not so terribly cranked that my speakers should have been blowing out. And it was rhythmic, the way they would go on and off, almost like a bassline tha thad nothing to do with the music. So I turned the entire stereo off. That's when I heard my brakes squealing everytime I touched them. Dude, now I only just had my brakes done, my Da paid for it, because there was simply no way in hell, not with all the work I have missed recently. So I was all WTF, and started talking ot my car. For those of you who don't know me, I love my car unnaturally. My car's name is Shinigami, (go on, ask me what it means and what it's from if you don't know,) and I totally make out with it. I have actual feelings for my car. I think that when you name something and take care of it, you give it mana, chi if you want to get Chinese about it. Shinigami has its own mana, anyone who's been in the car can tell you. So I begin to worry about Shinigami, because he is an old car who has been with me for about seven and a half years now. Now I get nearly home, and all of a sudden the anti-lock brake light comes on. Another mile, and the "check engine" light comes on. The dash monitor starts telling me, "SERVICE CAR SOON" then in the next mile it starts telling me, "TRACTION INACTIVE". And I'm going, "Two more miles, Shinigami, two more miles." I get to the left turn before my avenue and all of a sudden, the dash goes completely dark. I try to make the left turn and Shinigami chugs, almost stalling. Halfway to my avenue, the headlights flicker off, on, off, on. I get to my block and make the right turn, and we chug to a halt to the house. Now I'm near tears, not (only) because I'm thinking what this is going to cost me, but because my faithful Shinigami actually got me home, waiting till the very last possible second to quit.

Please send good vibes to Shinigami. I don't know what I'd do without him.

Anyway, so tomorrow I do my split-shift, the hospital then the clinic, this is my suuuuperlong work day, when I have to eat on the fly. (Which always makes me picture me sitting on a giant fly while eating my lunch.) Afterwards though, Kelly and I are going to the spa. How fantastic is that? I've never been to a spa, but we decided that we were just going to up and go. I so totally cannot wait, you don't even realize. Friday is another long day, though shorter than tomorrow by an hour and I get an actual, sit-down, clocked out lunch Friday. Saturday is Tai Chi and then Hula (I think?) and then Sunday is Duck Pond Day. I had a fantastic time last year at Duck Pond Day with Tristan. He's going to be there again, but this time it's going to be a handful of us, not just the two of us. We might all get together and do a demo, maybe sword form. Which is really quite a shame, because I don't remember the blasted thing about the sword form. Oh well, we'll see. I wonder if there will be anymore duck orgies?

Oh, one last thing: Frank Iero is my new hero, he speaks out for vegetarianism and against animal testing. Hurray for bands I love supporting causes, 30STM with their EnvironmenTour, forward-thinking politics, vegetarianism and Earth Awareness, and now MCR with their anti-lookism, anti-homophobia and now animal rights. I hope there are bands like this still around when I have kids someday.



la_belle_laide: (WWJD?)
Listened to some book today, played with the dogs for a long time. Listened to some more book, surfed the web, went to the doctor. He assured me that I was well on my way to excellent vision. ANd he and the girl who works there who also had PRK, assured me that the dryiness and the hazy night-vision would remedy itself over the next few weeks. This all made me feel much better. It actually is getting better, slowly. The good vision is lasting longer into the night these days.

Then I had dinner and drove to Kung Fu. DROVE. Drove without glasses or lenses or anything, just my usual sunglases, DROVE there. It was the weirdest feeling, I kept thinking I was forgetting something. In Kung Fu we did all kinds of drills in basics, partnered drills with the pads and stuff, which was a nice workout. SOmething was uproariously funny to me during that, but I don't remember what it was, which is weird for me. Sifu said something that made me happy, but I don't remember what that was, either, which is also weird, because I really hold onto stuff like that and my memory is the bomb. But I guess blackbelt club wiped my memory clean.

In blackbelt club, we went full-on, Sifu kept us going for the entire class. Halfway through I hit that point, you know the one, I talk about it a lot: when you stop feeling pain and go total zen. All I was thinking of was, "Here it is!" My eyes were also getting really blurry at that point, so when we were done I put some drops in before driving home. Driving home wasn't bad. I was having the halo vision, but it didn't interfere with my driving too much. I am noticing a lack of depth perception though, both on the way there and on the way back. I seemed to think that I had more room than I actually had and I almost cut someone off twice. I'll have to keep that in mind. Driving home, I was euphoric, like I tend to be after a class like that.

At home, I had a message from Bosslady at SITF, saying she'd gotten my messages about last week and she completely understood, and if I needed this week and next week off, I could have those, too. O_o I called back and got her husband on the phone and told him I would be in on Wednesday. I said I had a doctor's note and he said, facetiously, "Yeah, cause we really thought you'd skip out." Then he added, "And we really don't want you to leave." Which made me feel all warm and fuzzy. Then we ended up chatting about the surgy because he was thinking of having it, too. Yeah, it was nice to take a break for a few days--boring, but nice--and I will be going back to a job that is not an easy one, but I require that. I miss the birds. And I need the money. I'm going back to Hawai'i in September, and then nexty March I'm going to Italy and to Sicily to stay at the Castle Giuliano. So I need the money, and also, I miss the birds.

Next Sunday is Duck Pond Day! I wonder what we'll do. I hope at least a few of us will show up and bust some Kung Fu moves, because I'd like to go.

Random: My god(dess)daughter is an articulate, insightful writer and I'm very proud of her. ^_^

Random: some pics. Warning, a few are of me.

Ciao, baby. I really liked how my hair looked here. )

SANO WANTS IT. )

Sunset over my neighbor Frank's house and farm. )

Right before class tonight. )

My Goddess! :D  )

Outside my Western window, a cute garden under my tree. )

Tomorrow is Beltaine, folks. Have a fun one.

PAU!

ETA: Last night I had a dream that I woke up and fire was sentient. ALl fire, everywhere, was now conscious and capable of making decisions. Jo-chan was staying over at my house and we had to leave for a party or something, but we were afraid that the stove would start itself up and we'd come back to find everything burned down. No one coul dput out candles if they didn't want to be snuffed. So basically we would all starve, burn, or freeze at fire's whim. Then I went outside and watched a meteor shower.

How frigging weird is that? I wonder what that crap means.

la_belle_laide: (WWJD?)
Listened to some book today, played with the dogs for a long time. Listened to some more book, surfed the web, went to the doctor. He assured me that I was well on my way to excellent vision. ANd he and the girl who works there who also had PRK, assured me that the dryiness and the hazy night-vision would remedy itself over the next few weeks. This all made me feel much better. It actually is getting better, slowly. The good vision is lasting longer into the night these days.

Then I had dinner and drove to Kung Fu. DROVE. Drove without glasses or lenses or anything, just my usual sunglases, DROVE there. It was the weirdest feeling, I kept thinking I was forgetting something. In Kung Fu we did all kinds of drills in basics, partnered drills with the pads and stuff, which was a nice workout. SOmething was uproariously funny to me during that, but I don't remember what it was, which is weird for me. Sifu said something that made me happy, but I don't remember what that was, either, which is also weird, because I really hold onto stuff like that and my memory is the bomb. But I guess blackbelt club wiped my memory clean.

In blackbelt club, we went full-on, Sifu kept us going for the entire class. Halfway through I hit that point, you know the one, I talk about it a lot: when you stop feeling pain and go total zen. All I was thinking of was, "Here it is!" My eyes were also getting really blurry at that point, so when we were done I put some drops in before driving home. Driving home wasn't bad. I was having the halo vision, but it didn't interfere with my driving too much. I am noticing a lack of depth perception though, both on the way there and on the way back. I seemed to think that I had more room than I actually had and I almost cut someone off twice. I'll have to keep that in mind. Driving home, I was euphoric, like I tend to be after a class like that.

At home, I had a message from Bosslady at SITF, saying she'd gotten my messages about last week and she completely understood, and if I needed this week and next week off, I could have those, too. O_o I called back and got her husband on the phone and told him I would be in on Wednesday. I said I had a doctor's note and he said, facetiously, "Yeah, cause we really thought you'd skip out." Then he added, "And we really don't want you to leave." Which made me feel all warm and fuzzy. Then we ended up chatting about the surgy because he was thinking of having it, too. Yeah, it was nice to take a break for a few days--boring, but nice--and I will be going back to a job that is not an easy one, but I require that. I miss the birds. And I need the money. I'm going back to Hawai'i in September, and then nexty March I'm going to Italy and to Sicily to stay at the Castle Giuliano. So I need the money, and also, I miss the birds.

Next Sunday is Duck Pond Day! I wonder what we'll do. I hope at least a few of us will show up and bust some Kung Fu moves, because I'd like to go.

Random: My god(dess)daughter is an articulate, insightful writer and I'm very proud of her. ^_^

Random: some pics. Warning, a few are of me.

Ciao, baby. I really liked how my hair looked here. )

SANO WANTS IT. )

Sunset over my neighbor Frank's house and farm. )

Right before class tonight. )

My Goddess! :D  )

Outside my Western window, a cute garden under my tree. )

Tomorrow is Beltaine, folks. Have a fun one.

PAU!

ETA: Last night I had a dream that I woke up and fire was sentient. ALl fire, everywhere, was now conscious and capable of making decisions. Jo-chan was staying over at my house and we had to leave for a party or something, but we were afraid that the stove would start itself up and we'd come back to find everything burned down. No one coul dput out candles if they didn't want to be snuffed. So basically we would all starve, burn, or freeze at fire's whim. Then I went outside and watched a meteor shower.

How frigging weird is that? I wonder what that crap means.

la_belle_laide: (D)
Typical Friday in some ways, with the exception of everyone being out of sorts from the moment we all woke up till the moment we all clocked out. But we got through it anyway with our usual perverted lively humor and Non-Creepy Backrubs. Casse, Jennel and I ended up giving each other weird nicknames for the day, with Casse as Soggy Bandaid, me as Grill Fairy, and Jennel as something I can't repeat in my blog. (She meant to say one thing, mixed it up and said a different, more vulgar thing and it slayed us, so it stuck.) At lunch I was sugar crashing in the worst way and my focus effed right off for the rest of the day. At around 4 PM Bossman walked by and saw me staring (almost drooling) at our Gallery Of Hot Guys in the kitchen and he called me on it. "Are you staring at pictures of boys?" OMGz NO!!! I'm just doing the dishes with my.... hands behind my back. Yeah. And then at around 4:45 caught me doing it again and cracked right up. Which cracked everyone else up, too. I'm shameless, I swear.

I've been at this place for nearly eight years now and so I've been around long enough to see some evolution there. The evolution of how humor gets us all through the day is most striking to me. It didn't used to be like this, but rather it built up slowly over the years. It's now to the point where it's almost a case of beneficial one-upmanship: Who can be the funniest, wittiest, quickest on the uptake? Failing that, who can say the most shocking and vulgar thing so as to make everyone else's jaw drop, while still keeping it clever? Failing that, just throw things at each other, like food, napkins, dog biscuits, and alcohol soaked cotton balls.

My job at SITF is so different from my regular job. I haven't hit my comfort zone there yet, in terms of it feeling like I'm working at home when I'm nowhere near home. (I even feel like I'm "home" when I'm at Green Cloud, and we've only been at that location for just over a year.) I love SITF, but I have to get used to the work (constant,) the pace (quick and steady) and the atmosphere (lonely.) It's beautiful, quiet, hectic, off the main. Although yesterday Hilda was upstairs with me for most of the day because she had things to do up there. I found that sometimes she was really breaking my stride (I'm a creature of habit to the point where it's OCD,) and sometimes she was pleasant company, and sometimes I actively liked her. It takes me a long time to like people, but she seems a decent sort. She sings to the bunnies when she cleans their cages. And then yesterday while I was in the songbird room she called me out: "Julie! Julie!" (I'm "Julie" to her.) "Come look at the peacock!" Because Pam the Peacock was doing this: )

It's times like that when I realize how lucky I am to have such an unusual set of jobs. I should also like to mention that there's a little bird there that I'm absolutely in love with. You'd think it was Tucker, the huge, pied crow (NOT a magpie, but a pied crow,) or any of the other crows maybe, but actually it's one of the many ring-neck doves. Which is unusual for me because I'm not really a fan of doves in general. But this is the gentlest bird ever. She stepped into my palm on Wednesday when I hadn't even asked her to and then just sat there. I picked her up and kissed her little head and she made dove noises at me. I went "AWWWWW!" and now I have to pick her up every day. Oh yeah, but Tucker still floors me. Sometimes he'll come and stand on my arm, but sometimes--like this week--he wants nothing to do with me and just yells at me to eff off.

But now for some pics from my regular job.

Kitten nose! )

Freaky 50 Cent and his sex toy. )
That's 50's sex toy. He humps it regularly. But he's not humping it in that picture, actually. Weirdly enough, he seems to be roosting on it. I don't get this bugged out little pidge. He flies to your arm when you snap your fingers, but then he randomly attacks, too. And sometimes he puts his head under the newspapers and just makes grunting noises for a while. I videotaped him doing it once.

RRRRAAAWWWR!! )
That's an American Indian Dog; I think that's what it's called, anyway. This is one of my favorite dogs that comes in here.

As you can plainly see. )

That's just me being a doof in the mirror. )
Yup, that's pretty much what I look like at work.

And away from work, at home, the Ninja Wizards!
Kisses for Haku. )

Sano lickies. )

Beautiful Trisky )

And that's that. Hey, I will maybe do another huge image dump later, but they'll be crappy computer painted sketches of mine, so you might want to avert your eyes lest you be struck blind.

la_belle_laide: (D)
Typical Friday in some ways, with the exception of everyone being out of sorts from the moment we all woke up till the moment we all clocked out. But we got through it anyway with our usual perverted lively humor and Non-Creepy Backrubs. Casse, Jennel and I ended up giving each other weird nicknames for the day, with Casse as Soggy Bandaid, me as Grill Fairy, and Jennel as something I can't repeat in my blog. (She meant to say one thing, mixed it up and said a different, more vulgar thing and it slayed us, so it stuck.) At lunch I was sugar crashing in the worst way and my focus effed right off for the rest of the day. At around 4 PM Bossman walked by and saw me staring (almost drooling) at our Gallery Of Hot Guys in the kitchen and he called me on it. "Are you staring at pictures of boys?" OMGz NO!!! I'm just doing the dishes with my.... hands behind my back. Yeah. And then at around 4:45 caught me doing it again and cracked right up. Which cracked everyone else up, too. I'm shameless, I swear.

I've been at this place for nearly eight years now and so I've been around long enough to see some evolution there. The evolution of how humor gets us all through the day is most striking to me. It didn't used to be like this, but rather it built up slowly over the years. It's now to the point where it's almost a case of beneficial one-upmanship: Who can be the funniest, wittiest, quickest on the uptake? Failing that, who can say the most shocking and vulgar thing so as to make everyone else's jaw drop, while still keeping it clever? Failing that, just throw things at each other, like food, napkins, dog biscuits, and alcohol soaked cotton balls.

My job at SITF is so different from my regular job. I haven't hit my comfort zone there yet, in terms of it feeling like I'm working at home when I'm nowhere near home. (I even feel like I'm "home" when I'm at Green Cloud, and we've only been at that location for just over a year.) I love SITF, but I have to get used to the work (constant,) the pace (quick and steady) and the atmosphere (lonely.) It's beautiful, quiet, hectic, off the main. Although yesterday Hilda was upstairs with me for most of the day because she had things to do up there. I found that sometimes she was really breaking my stride (I'm a creature of habit to the point where it's OCD,) and sometimes she was pleasant company, and sometimes I actively liked her. It takes me a long time to like people, but she seems a decent sort. She sings to the bunnies when she cleans their cages. And then yesterday while I was in the songbird room she called me out: "Julie! Julie!" (I'm "Julie" to her.) "Come look at the peacock!" Because Pam the Peacock was doing this: )

It's times like that when I realize how lucky I am to have such an unusual set of jobs. I should also like to mention that there's a little bird there that I'm absolutely in love with. You'd think it was Tucker, the huge, pied crow (NOT a magpie, but a pied crow,) or any of the other crows maybe, but actually it's one of the many ring-neck doves. Which is unusual for me because I'm not really a fan of doves in general. But this is the gentlest bird ever. She stepped into my palm on Wednesday when I hadn't even asked her to and then just sat there. I picked her up and kissed her little head and she made dove noises at me. I went "AWWWWW!" and now I have to pick her up every day. Oh yeah, but Tucker still floors me. Sometimes he'll come and stand on my arm, but sometimes--like this week--he wants nothing to do with me and just yells at me to eff off.

But now for some pics from my regular job.

Kitten nose! )

Freaky 50 Cent and his sex toy. )
That's 50's sex toy. He humps it regularly. But he's not humping it in that picture, actually. Weirdly enough, he seems to be roosting on it. I don't get this bugged out little pidge. He flies to your arm when you snap your fingers, but then he randomly attacks, too. And sometimes he puts his head under the newspapers and just makes grunting noises for a while. I videotaped him doing it once.

RRRRAAAWWWR!! )
That's an American Indian Dog; I think that's what it's called, anyway. This is one of my favorite dogs that comes in here.

As you can plainly see. )

That's just me being a doof in the mirror. )
Yup, that's pretty much what I look like at work.

And away from work, at home, the Ninja Wizards!
Kisses for Haku. )

Sano lickies. )

Beautiful Trisky )

And that's that. Hey, I will maybe do another huge image dump later, but they'll be crappy computer painted sketches of mine, so you might want to avert your eyes lest you be struck blind.

la_belle_laide: (D)
The bad: Lil' Jon died today. This has been a long time coming. This little dude has been sickly since he first came to me back in '04, when he was found floating in a pool. Rehabbers out west took him, fed him, then tried to release him and he was found the next day almost drowned in a footbath. They tried a third time, and the day after that they found him stuck in a trap. Over the years he's just been oddly clumsy and not quite right. He never fully feathered, he was always carryign some form of avian pox, he ate tons of food and never got to a good weight (and he was parasite free, BTW,) and he had that weird fungal thing that no vet and no lab could identify. I am honestly surprised that he made it three years, and I will really miss this fantastic little bird. My house is so quiet these days. First Cassidy and now Lil Jon; my bird room is totally empty. Actually, right after I lost Pendragon in July, I lost Ray a few days later. So it' sbeen a rotten few months, pets-wise, and NO MORE PLEASE. I've paid my debts in grief for the next few years now, right? PLS?

The good is all the neat creatures at my new job. The work is hard, and no mistake. Today I didn't have time to stop moving for a second, I whizzed around the place like a comet. But today and yesterday I was up there by myself for most of the time, and at first I was thinking that was lonely, but now I'm finding it kind of medatative. It's just weird on a Thursday to go from the hectic, loud hilarity that is my hospital job to this cavernous barn tucked away behind a row of trees and a pond on a vast empty field and then work alone for four hours. Bosslady told me what she needed done today, and I did it, all of it. But then she was really surprised when she came back and it was all done; I mean, she totally couldn't believe that I'd managed it all. I started to feel like I'd inadvertantly skipped something and I asked her to go back over everything I'd done to make sure it was all okay. She was like, "Wow. I just can't believe you work so fast." But then I guess doing animal husbandry for so long, you just learn how to plug away and get it done. There are no distractions. At the hospital I multitask like I was born to do it. Here, it's one thing at a time. After bosslady left, it was just me and the birds, and the only words I said were to them, and those were few and far between. It's strange, not talking for so long. But I was thinking a lot, mostly about the work and the animals and everything. It takes me a long time to settle into a place, and to be honest, I am a totally lazy cow and completely unmotivated with very little in the way of this thing you people call a "work ethic." I just wasn't born with one. It's my natural inclination to sit around and do nothing, or to sit and read or write or watch movies while eating ice cream. So when I end up working more than I'm used to, I freak out and I start to get this bizarre feeling that something is wrong, that I'm managing my time wrong by working too much (not bloody likely) or that I'm forsaking some other aspect of my life. I really have to stop myself from thinking that when I see myself going down that path. Anyway, so here I am in a new job, trying to get comfy, to get back into my comfort zone and to feel like I was at home. (Because part of the reason I've stayed so long at the hospital is because I actually had to in the beginning, and then later on, because being there is sort of like being at home anyway.) I mentioned before that I need to be surrounded by beauty while I work. I wasn't kidding. But it goes deeper than that: I really need to connect with a place, I mean, I have to bond with it.

During these musings I ended up thinking about animal work in general, especially wildlife work. I remember when I first started at the hospital there was this guy and this girl causing some pretty serious problems for me online. ([livejournal.com profile] triforcekt, you might remember Matt and Karen?) These two went beyond internet trolls and ventured into dangerous "we're coming to get you" land. Anyway, the guy found out that I was working at an animal hospital and he said something like, "$6.50 an hour to scrape up dog crap!" Which was actually far off on both counts, as I'm paid quite well on top of doing other things aside from scraping up dog crap (although there is, of course, tons of dog crap.) And in my "defense" someone had mentioned "It's a dirty job, but someone has to do it." In the case of wildlife, that's only half right. It is a dirty job, but no one has to do it. With something like this, I think you really have to be just built for it. I'm good at this particular job because I've always specialized in wild birds and this is mostly wild birds, but I think there's more to it than that.

Or maybe I am really just a glorified farm hand. But that, too, is okay. :D

What's better than okay is the fact that we have a white peahen and a magpie. Did you catch that? A magpie who hopped onto my arm today and let me feed him. Okay, so I did actually kind of make him hop onto my arm by sticking my arm in his grill, but he didn't rip my arm off and beat me to death with it, which is sort of what the peahen tried to do. Only she doesn't so much go for my arm as she goes for my eyes. Seriously, I absolutely do not kid you, the bird leaps up into the air when I lean down and tries to peck my eyes out. I let her bite my arm a few times just to see how bad it hurt, and it really doesn't, but dude, I'll bet it would hurt if she pecked my eyes out. I'll just bet. She's very, veyr cute, though.

And you'd better believe that I have pics of this place and these animals. :)

This is Pam the peahen. )
Her tail is awesome and her face is really cute. I didn't know that peahens had that funny little hat, isn't it adorable? She doesn't seem the eye-gouging type, does she?

This is Tucker, the magpie. )
Dude, a magpie. I want him to sit on my shoulder and preen my hair and be my best friend.

This is a small section of the land that this place is on. )
Yes, a small section. I have yet to get pics of the ponds (indoor and outdoor) and the place itself.

Oh, and this is my new hat. )
Don't you just love it? Haku does, too. In fact when I tried it on, he pulled it off me. To be fair, it does look exactly like something I'd bring home for them and it does hang well within their reach. Trisky had a go at it, too.

Finally, this is the t shirt I made for tomorrow's concert. )
Although I may let Jo-chan wear it if she'd rather, and maybe I'll squeeze in an hour tomorrow to make a different one for me to wear. We'll see.

I need to find my zen about this concert and just go there thinking, Hey, live music, my favorite band, my awesome kid cousin, end of story. It's just that this band and their small club shows and bus parties have spoiled me. :/

I'm sure I'll be back with a huge writeup within a few days' time.

la_belle_laide: (D)
The bad: Lil' Jon died today. This has been a long time coming. This little dude has been sickly since he first came to me back in '04, when he was found floating in a pool. Rehabbers out west took him, fed him, then tried to release him and he was found the next day almost drowned in a footbath. They tried a third time, and the day after that they found him stuck in a trap. Over the years he's just been oddly clumsy and not quite right. He never fully feathered, he was always carryign some form of avian pox, he ate tons of food and never got to a good weight (and he was parasite free, BTW,) and he had that weird fungal thing that no vet and no lab could identify. I am honestly surprised that he made it three years, and I will really miss this fantastic little bird. My house is so quiet these days. First Cassidy and now Lil Jon; my bird room is totally empty. Actually, right after I lost Pendragon in July, I lost Ray a few days later. So it' sbeen a rotten few months, pets-wise, and NO MORE PLEASE. I've paid my debts in grief for the next few years now, right? PLS?

The good is all the neat creatures at my new job. The work is hard, and no mistake. Today I didn't have time to stop moving for a second, I whizzed around the place like a comet. But today and yesterday I was up there by myself for most of the time, and at first I was thinking that was lonely, but now I'm finding it kind of medatative. It's just weird on a Thursday to go from the hectic, loud hilarity that is my hospital job to this cavernous barn tucked away behind a row of trees and a pond on a vast empty field and then work alone for four hours. Bosslady told me what she needed done today, and I did it, all of it. But then she was really surprised when she came back and it was all done; I mean, she totally couldn't believe that I'd managed it all. I started to feel like I'd inadvertantly skipped something and I asked her to go back over everything I'd done to make sure it was all okay. She was like, "Wow. I just can't believe you work so fast." But then I guess doing animal husbandry for so long, you just learn how to plug away and get it done. There are no distractions. At the hospital I multitask like I was born to do it. Here, it's one thing at a time. After bosslady left, it was just me and the birds, and the only words I said were to them, and those were few and far between. It's strange, not talking for so long. But I was thinking a lot, mostly about the work and the animals and everything. It takes me a long time to settle into a place, and to be honest, I am a totally lazy cow and completely unmotivated with very little in the way of this thing you people call a "work ethic." I just wasn't born with one. It's my natural inclination to sit around and do nothing, or to sit and read or write or watch movies while eating ice cream. So when I end up working more than I'm used to, I freak out and I start to get this bizarre feeling that something is wrong, that I'm managing my time wrong by working too much (not bloody likely) or that I'm forsaking some other aspect of my life. I really have to stop myself from thinking that when I see myself going down that path. Anyway, so here I am in a new job, trying to get comfy, to get back into my comfort zone and to feel like I was at home. (Because part of the reason I've stayed so long at the hospital is because I actually had to in the beginning, and then later on, because being there is sort of like being at home anyway.) I mentioned before that I need to be surrounded by beauty while I work. I wasn't kidding. But it goes deeper than that: I really need to connect with a place, I mean, I have to bond with it.

During these musings I ended up thinking about animal work in general, especially wildlife work. I remember when I first started at the hospital there was this guy and this girl causing some pretty serious problems for me online. ([livejournal.com profile] triforcekt, you might remember Matt and Karen?) These two went beyond internet trolls and ventured into dangerous "we're coming to get you" land. Anyway, the guy found out that I was working at an animal hospital and he said something like, "$6.50 an hour to scrape up dog crap!" Which was actually far off on both counts, as I'm paid quite well on top of doing other things aside from scraping up dog crap (although there is, of course, tons of dog crap.) And in my "defense" someone had mentioned "It's a dirty job, but someone has to do it." In the case of wildlife, that's only half right. It is a dirty job, but no one has to do it. With something like this, I think you really have to be just built for it. I'm good at this particular job because I've always specialized in wild birds and this is mostly wild birds, but I think there's more to it than that.

Or maybe I am really just a glorified farm hand. But that, too, is okay. :D

What's better than okay is the fact that we have a white peahen and a magpie. Did you catch that? A magpie who hopped onto my arm today and let me feed him. Okay, so I did actually kind of make him hop onto my arm by sticking my arm in his grill, but he didn't rip my arm off and beat me to death with it, which is sort of what the peahen tried to do. Only she doesn't so much go for my arm as she goes for my eyes. Seriously, I absolutely do not kid you, the bird leaps up into the air when I lean down and tries to peck my eyes out. I let her bite my arm a few times just to see how bad it hurt, and it really doesn't, but dude, I'll bet it would hurt if she pecked my eyes out. I'll just bet. She's very, veyr cute, though.

And you'd better believe that I have pics of this place and these animals. :)

This is Pam the peahen. )
Her tail is awesome and her face is really cute. I didn't know that peahens had that funny little hat, isn't it adorable? She doesn't seem the eye-gouging type, does she?

This is Tucker, the magpie. )
Dude, a magpie. I want him to sit on my shoulder and preen my hair and be my best friend.

This is a small section of the land that this place is on. )
Yes, a small section. I have yet to get pics of the ponds (indoor and outdoor) and the place itself.

Oh, and this is my new hat. )
Don't you just love it? Haku does, too. In fact when I tried it on, he pulled it off me. To be fair, it does look exactly like something I'd bring home for them and it does hang well within their reach. Trisky had a go at it, too.

Finally, this is the t shirt I made for tomorrow's concert. )
Although I may let Jo-chan wear it if she'd rather, and maybe I'll squeeze in an hour tomorrow to make a different one for me to wear. We'll see.

I need to find my zen about this concert and just go there thinking, Hey, live music, my favorite band, my awesome kid cousin, end of story. It's just that this band and their small club shows and bus parties have spoiled me. :/

I'm sure I'll be back with a huge writeup within a few days' time.

la_belle_laide: (D)
So the new job? Oh my god, you have to SEE this place, it's huge, and the land is beautiful. It smells clean, with air purifiers in the walls; the floors are heated; the windows are big and look out over gorgeous trees, fields and ponds (I need to be surrounded by beauty in order to work, stupid, I know); and check this out: everything she uses is ORGANIC and not tested on animals. Bosslady and I are similar in a lot of ways, both vegetarians, organic, health-freaks, that kinda thing. She even uses safe bleach. As for the work itself, well, it's what I do, you know? Aside from the obvious beauty and cleanliness of the place, no surprises here. It's wildlife husbandry and I've been doing it for like eight years. ^_^ So it's comfortable. A long day, with both jobs stuck together, but still, it's what I know.

So, Idol tonight, top twelve. I missed the women because I was at Kung Fu, but as far as the men go, please let Sanjaya leave tonight. Why the eff is he still here? Ooooh, Ryan is torturing Chris Sligh. Chris is my favorite. And I admit to having a totally lame crush on teeny little metro Ryan Seacrest, wtf.

What else? Oh, writing! I wrote a huge MONSTER of a chapter last night. In fact I can barely wait to get back to it tonight, I'm charged. W00t.

Anything else? Oh yeah! For godsakes, GET WELL, LE JARED! Jaysus.

Speaking of American Idol and another Jared, WAHHHH! I didn't want Jared to leave! He's cute and has a great voice. Meh. If Sanjaya is still in I will vunch a beeotch, I mean it.

la_belle_laide: (D)
So the new job? Oh my god, you have to SEE this place, it's huge, and the land is beautiful. It smells clean, with air purifiers in the walls; the floors are heated; the windows are big and look out over gorgeous trees, fields and ponds (I need to be surrounded by beauty in order to work, stupid, I know); and check this out: everything she uses is ORGANIC and not tested on animals. Bosslady and I are similar in a lot of ways, both vegetarians, organic, health-freaks, that kinda thing. She even uses safe bleach. As for the work itself, well, it's what I do, you know? Aside from the obvious beauty and cleanliness of the place, no surprises here. It's wildlife husbandry and I've been doing it for like eight years. ^_^ So it's comfortable. A long day, with both jobs stuck together, but still, it's what I know.

So, Idol tonight, top twelve. I missed the women because I was at Kung Fu, but as far as the men go, please let Sanjaya leave tonight. Why the eff is he still here? Ooooh, Ryan is torturing Chris Sligh. Chris is my favorite. And I admit to having a totally lame crush on teeny little metro Ryan Seacrest, wtf.

What else? Oh, writing! I wrote a huge MONSTER of a chapter last night. In fact I can barely wait to get back to it tonight, I'm charged. W00t.

Anything else? Oh yeah! For godsakes, GET WELL, LE JARED! Jaysus.

Speaking of American Idol and another Jared, WAHHHH! I didn't want Jared to leave! He's cute and has a great voice. Meh. If Sanjaya is still in I will vunch a beeotch, I mean it.

la_belle_laide: (mantis)
Health: Drink green tea. Can't hurt you, and looks like the benefits are pretty awesome, just like folks have been saying all along. While we're here, let me semi-tangentially mention that getting into alternative health stuff (and by "alternative health stuff" I mean things not having to do with antibiotics and other doctorly things) has been one of the best things I've ever done. Green tea, pomegranates, acai, tons of fruit and veggies, excersize, finding that zen through excersize, leaving meat behind, making my own skin care products without parabens or petroleum (surprisingly easy), all of that good stuff: remarkably easy, not as expensive as people think, and way past worth it. Green tea is just a small example. Slightly tangential here: why do people spend thousands of dollars on weight loss programs, when eating less and moving more are actually free?

House tonight: FUN! Admittedly House can get really stretchy with medical facts and stuff, but after all it is a TV show. And the characters are still fun and enjoyable. Sucks to have to wait till the 27th to see a new one. That will be AFTER the 30STM concert.

30 Seconds to Mars: OMG. A little nervous about the upcoming concert. I've seen them 3 times and enjoyed each time, but I'm afraid this will be a downer without Matt, with the crappy venue, the short set list, and the slim to none chance of getting to meet the guys. I've already met them and it was grea but ... really I want Jo-chan to have a splendid time. I wish it was a smaller venue. I wish Matt hadn't left. Going on with 30STM: I love you, Jared Leto, for your random impromptu acoustic solo performance at 2 AM for the 20 or so people waiting around the tour bus to say hello. What a nice guy. LOL at him correcting the folks who started singing to him in the wrong key.

New job: I start tomorrow. Rumor is that the woman who runs the place (an aquaintance of mine for a few years, but we've never gotten to know each other too well yet) is extremely exacting and very detailed and pretty hardcore about every little thing. Which, you know, I'm not necessarily that way. I hope I can meet her standards. Because if I do, not only will I be doing what I love (working to rehabilitate birds, with lots of raptors and other things not seen everyday!) but I will be getting an extra hundred dollars or more a week for a few measly hours. I also have to leave the Kung Fu desk job. Which kind of blows. But dude. An extra hundred dollars a week that I can put away instead of spending on groceries and other junk.

Book stuff: Wrote a huge chapter. Will try to continue to write tonight.

Weather: Late season last gasp arctic blast FTW. Ten degrees tomorrow. I can dig it.

Friends: My friends at work, though snarky, can sometimes come out with some really sweet things to say. Mostly, they are awesome.

I dunno, I guess that's it. I'm all wound up for tomorrow. Send me good work vibes please!

la_belle_laide: (mantis)
Health: Drink green tea. Can't hurt you, and looks like the benefits are pretty awesome, just like folks have been saying all along. While we're here, let me semi-tangentially mention that getting into alternative health stuff (and by "alternative health stuff" I mean things not having to do with antibiotics and other doctorly things) has been one of the best things I've ever done. Green tea, pomegranates, acai, tons of fruit and veggies, excersize, finding that zen through excersize, leaving meat behind, making my own skin care products without parabens or petroleum (surprisingly easy), all of that good stuff: remarkably easy, not as expensive as people think, and way past worth it. Green tea is just a small example. Slightly tangential here: why do people spend thousands of dollars on weight loss programs, when eating less and moving more are actually free?

House tonight: FUN! Admittedly House can get really stretchy with medical facts and stuff, but after all it is a TV show. And the characters are still fun and enjoyable. Sucks to have to wait till the 27th to see a new one. That will be AFTER the 30STM concert.

30 Seconds to Mars: OMG. A little nervous about the upcoming concert. I've seen them 3 times and enjoyed each time, but I'm afraid this will be a downer without Matt, with the crappy venue, the short set list, and the slim to none chance of getting to meet the guys. I've already met them and it was grea but ... really I want Jo-chan to have a splendid time. I wish it was a smaller venue. I wish Matt hadn't left. Going on with 30STM: I love you, Jared Leto, for your random impromptu acoustic solo performance at 2 AM for the 20 or so people waiting around the tour bus to say hello. What a nice guy. LOL at him correcting the folks who started singing to him in the wrong key.

New job: I start tomorrow. Rumor is that the woman who runs the place (an aquaintance of mine for a few years, but we've never gotten to know each other too well yet) is extremely exacting and very detailed and pretty hardcore about every little thing. Which, you know, I'm not necessarily that way. I hope I can meet her standards. Because if I do, not only will I be doing what I love (working to rehabilitate birds, with lots of raptors and other things not seen everyday!) but I will be getting an extra hundred dollars or more a week for a few measly hours. I also have to leave the Kung Fu desk job. Which kind of blows. But dude. An extra hundred dollars a week that I can put away instead of spending on groceries and other junk.

Book stuff: Wrote a huge chapter. Will try to continue to write tonight.

Weather: Late season last gasp arctic blast FTW. Ten degrees tomorrow. I can dig it.

Friends: My friends at work, though snarky, can sometimes come out with some really sweet things to say. Mostly, they are awesome.

I dunno, I guess that's it. I'm all wound up for tomorrow. Send me good work vibes please!

la_belle_laide: (D)
First of all, congrats to my lovely and wonderful friend Jennel on her pregnancy. <3 That was really the big news of today, that kind of overshadowed anything else. Seriously, there's something about working at this place that = "knocked up." It could be that we're mostly women of around the same generation....

Aside from that, today was crazy. We were shortstaffed in kennel, with just the two of us, and jus tme in the very beginning, getting totally slammed. By midday, just as I was helping this guy take food to his car, this woman came running into the hospital with her bleeding dog wrapped in a blanket. I took a peek at him and patted myself on the back for my immense control, smiling at her and saying, "We'll get a doctor for you right away; follow me." Because the dog's eye was popped and on its cheek. It seems that one of her cats literally struck the dog's eye out. The woman was crying and hyperventilating throughout the whole ordeal (I mean dude, if that was my dog I'd be pretty freaked out, too,) but she decided she wanted to save the dog's eye, which meant sending it to a specialist. Only thing is, it took about 30 minutes to get her on her way, because she kept standing there raving hysterically to me before she left. She wanted to know what the e-collar was, what it was for, what was the thing the vet had tried to do to the dog's butt (she had tried to take the temp, but the dog wasn't having any of that,) if I would call her daughter for her, as well as telling me all about her past history with dogs and eyes. I mean, I now know way too much about her life. I had to tell her about six times which exit to go to on the LIE for the specialist, even though she had a map. It took us both about ten minutes trying to navigate her into the car. She didn't know where to put the dog, where the dog wanted to sit, where she shouldn't sit, how to get herself into the seat, or if the dog wanted to lick me goodbye. No thanks; I only accept licks from dogs who don't have a chance of getting their bloody sclera all over me. It really was the sweetest little dog, too, and the woman was nice, too, underneath all the madwhackery. I know this because she offered me her coat. No, not because it was cold outside and I was helping her into her car--she offered it to me for keeps. As she was getting into the car and I was telling her to drive carefully ("I CAN'T!" was her reply,) she mentioned that I was very calm, and very calming. I told her it was probably because I'd seen things like this so often before. Then she jumped out of her car, hugged me, took her coat off and tried to give it to me. In the nearly eight years that I've worked there, I've been offered tips, food, pets (?!) and wine from clients. I've never until today been offered someone's coat. So that was weird.

It must have set the mood for the rest of the day, because later, when I ended up answering phones a while up front, I came out with, "Good afternoon, (business name) this is Jules, how may I hurt you? Uhh... HELP! How may I help you?" Thank god it was Donna's Mom, and we were both laughing so hard that neither of us could speak, and even after I gave the phone to Donna, her Mom still couldn't speak. A client was at the desk and heard this, and she giggled a little, but then seemed slightly put off by it afterwards. Brittany made me feel a bit better by telling me about the time she had said, "This is Brittany, how can you help me?" Fortunately for her Gabbi was on the other line and answered, "Uhh, I don't think I can." But honestly, "how may I hurt you?" Classic.

To further the intensity of this day, I got a call from a rehabber aquaintance of mine, Terry. A few years ago she opened a huge--I do mean huge--wildlife rehab center close to where I live. I think she does birds exclusively. If not, she definitely specializes in them. Not only songbirds like I do, but water fowl, shore birds, raptors, everything. I've always wanted to do some work there, whenever she was ready. Well, she is! And she offered to match my pay, which is pretty decent. I won't be leaving my job, but I will be taking some hours with her. It's so awesome. I love dogs, cats, and the few exotics we get, but you know, I live for rehabbing wild birds. And while most of it is husbandry (which I do anyway,) much of it is technical stuff, medical stuff, the stuff I love. I know, I know, I tend to take on these huge projects (the dolphin team, the Kung Fu desk job) and then find myself bored after a few times. But Terry actually addressed that, too. She said that not only is she very flexible in her hours (she'll take me whenever she can get me,) but if, at any time, I feel like I can't do it anymore, I must just tell her right away and no hard feelings, no drama. She understands that this will be my third job, and that in the summer, if all the dancing goes well, it'll be four jobs. So I'm pretty excited about that!

Also worthy of excitement is that Tricia is coming up tomorrow! FINALLY! ANd then Kim is coming over and the three of us get to hang out, like old times. I can't describe how awesome that is for us, because it had always been the three of us and we were (and still are, regardless of the distance,) the best of friends. Then the night after that, OCEANS OF HO! Which is going to be a HUGE event this year for us. Dressed up all snazzy, a limo (not a hummer, I made sure!), posing with Naked Leaf Guy, and dancing like fools. The usual, only better.

Then on Sunday it's the play that SB and Jo-chan are both in. HOLY CRAP! I will definitely have to get tons more batteries for my camera.

Notes: I hope to get everyone to go to Chinatown either next weekend or the following one, and then after that, Jo-chan and I are off to see 30 Seconds to Mars again.

And then, my friends, it's Spring. The first touch of the sun, the smell of wet earth, tentative buds of green, and the western wind. :D Okay, but now I'm getting ahead of myself. First I have to take the dogs out and then watch who's getting thrown off Idol. I say Sanjaya and that cute guy who was a background singer who did TIme After TIme. The girls, I missed their performance the last two weeks so I don't know their names aside from who I like.

Anyway, that's where it is now.


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