Moving On, The Good Fight, and Values Statements

I have a serious love for Blau, our Eastern
Blue-Tongued Skink

So, some may have heard on facebook (while others would obviously not have) that I've taken a second job. In addition to convincing people to spend their hard-earned on tea in a city that barely spends money on shelter, I now help to maintain a suitable living environment (and, presumably, sell) a wide variety of animals at the largest pet shop in town. For the most part, I'm doing freshwater fish and lizards, so this is right up my alley.

Well, sort of. To be honest, I'm not wild about the Golden Tegu (who is notoriously mean), the live food for the animals (getting over that fairly quickly), or the arachnids in my care (the tarantula and the scorpion are much like getting whacked with a hammer by an angry gully dwarf, while the baboon spider will probably require some paperwork after a trip to the local hospital), though the vainglory of tending over fifty different species on a nearly daily basis is compensation enough... not to mention that I'm well paid, and well compensated in other ways.

Like Blau here, who might well one day be mine, if Kat'd have it. She won't, I'm certain, so I think I'll just get back into fishkeeping... but it's a nice thought.

Anyway, some of you are probably complaining that this is the first real post in a while and it's not saying much of anything. There's a good reason for that. I haven't much of anything to say. I suppose I could comment on the Northern Gateway pipeline, some of the local infrastructure snafus, or the great majority of just plain abusive pet handling in this city. I had to home a snake today because his previous owner abandoned him in an apartment upon moving out. That's a frustrating idea.

Truth is, last couple weeks, I haven't really felt like writing, well, anything. I've been grumpy, and concerned with other problems that, frankly, aren't interesting enough for the pen, as it were. Some of these problems I should simply deal with and move on, but, being hopelessly 22...

Anyway, moving on. I'm working two jobs now. Not unusual, in itself. In fact, it's depressingly common. The idea, of course, is that I work hard in order to play hard. I have become accustomed to doing certain things, and to a certain level of acceptable quality. I have been eating largely fresh foods (when not eating take-out), taking quite a bit of pride in the quality of my tea, and my moleskine collection is getting large enough that it might well need a dedicated shelf. Doing things well takes time, and resources. Resources can be expensive, and so, I work in order to play.

... Plus, come on, look at that face. Say no to a lizard as friendly as a puppy dog. Just say it.