been way too long

I haven't known what to write about, so I haven't written anything. Here are a few updates on my life and snippets into my thoughts as of late.

I have recently acquired several awesome pets. One of these is a plecostomus (better known as an algae eater) that's 15 years old and 18" long. Beast! The other new fish are a gourami, which I once owned and sent away and now took back, and a 15-year-old raphael catfish who's spent his entire life in one castle. They all now live in my fish tank, and they're all still happy and healthy. : ) The new fish used to live in a 55-gallon fish tank (same size as mine). Mrs. Rahn wanted to take down her tank and wanted her fish to go to a good home, so I got them.


Once her tank was empty, Mrs. Rahn and I loaded it up, and I took it home with me. Because I needed a home for some bearded dragons! : ) Some friends from church, Paul and Lorraine (owners of Savage Dragons) breed these little guys and asked me if I'd like to have a few. So I now own Lieutenant Dan (he lost a leg), Dave Grohl (Joel's really into the Foo Fighters right now), and Flashbang (just a great name)


So there's that. And the other thing I wanted to talk about is my dream. I am just now realizing that my new pets and the dream that I'm going to talk about are quite connected. My dream is to own a pet shop. I want to have a heavy focus on aquatics. I want to sell as many locally bred pets as possible (lizards, fish, bunnies, etc.). I also want to focus very heavily on adopting versus purchasing pets. If I were to have cats and dogs, I would want them to be only available through adoption. My vision is that I would partner with a local animal shelter. My shop could serve as a foster home until someone wanted to adopt the animal, and the shop could act as an agent for the shelter (so we would have the ability to adopt out pets). I don't know why I love animals so much; I just do. I hope I never lose that passion.

Something that has made me feel less ridiculous/less alone in my affection for animals is the 10-year-old boy that I babysit. He loves animals just as much as I do, I think. He recently got a pet gerbil. I had all the supplies he needed (I had a sad experience with gerbils about a year ago--darn cats), so I sent them his way. He went one afternoon, and when he returned from the pet store, he had chosen to adopt. So proud of him! Of course, he was probably just thinking, "It's $4 to adopt or $12 to buy... yeah, I'll adopt." But last week on the way back from school, I asked him what he wanted to do for work when he was older. His response: "I don't really know. If there's a job where I can just take care of animals, I want to do that, I think." And he's requested to go to "animal camp" this summer. I don't know that that exists. He's also looking to get involved volunteering with an animal society in the area. The long and short of it is... If I someday get to own the pet shop I've dreamed up, I will hire him to work there without hesitation.

And now, Joel... He's so great. I own two cats, a big ol' fish tank, three bearded dragons, and a soon-to-be dwarf seahorse tank. He lets me have all of that. So great. TANKS, BAYBEE!

time is king

Is my life subject to my schedule, or is my schedule subject to my life? I feel like it's probably not a healthy thing to be do tied and committed to a calendar and a clock. But I am. I'm probably one office most schedule-driven people I know. Always with a watch, always with my phone, always with my iPod (it has my calendar on it). I guess that this all comes down to a combination of the space/time continuum and relationships. My life is ruled by time because of the relationships that I have--whether with people, organizations, animals, the space I live in, etc. My time and space schedule can have both positive and negative effects on my relationships. Spending time with someone: positive; being late for that: negative. Learning from/with someone: positive; being unavailable for that (most likely because I'm booked elsewhere): negative. And there's SO MUCH to remember! Ok, I need to be there then, and I need to call this person on the way there, and before I leave I need to accomplish this, and I need to end that engagement at this time so I can be there in time for that next one, and I need to call this person to arrange for that other engagement on the way... It doesn't end, and I like my schedule and being connected to so many people/things in so many ways. I'm just wondering if it's good or bad or if anyone else feels the pressure that is SCHEDULE.

This was brought on by two things: 1. I was running late but still needed to shower before I could leave for something. 2. I found myself with free moments today (Saturday), and it was really noticeable to me that I wasn't expected to do anything/be anywhere in those moments. Hmm.

Oh! Also, an afterthought: The way I spend my time defines me. Forgot to say that before v

librarians and friends

There are two types of librarians. There are those who are super nice and friendly and love contributing to the community by recommending books you'll love, by replacing those you've read on their appropriate shelves, by lending you a museum pass which ensures an awesome day for you and your company, by chatting with you about how you're liking the new town and what you think of their library, by giving you as much useful information as your brain can handle so you can enjoy their library and town as much as possible. There are also those who feel like their position as librarian entitles them to much better books than you'll ever understand ("Are you looking for the young adults section?"), like they have a job that is much more consequential than any job you could ever obtain, like they are just better than you and hate you for not knowing every single aisle and procedure of their fine establishment. I like the first kind best.

Are people friends because they are connected emotionally, or are they friends because they find each other? I've been thinking about this for a while... There are probably a whole bunch of people out there with whom I'd connect well, but I'll never meet them because of our geographic locations. So, I'm wondering... If I went just about anywhere, what are my odds of finding really good friends--good, bad, neutral? Who lies outside of my tiny geographic circle? Would I get along with them? Would we become BFFs? Do the people I know matter because they're all that I know? Would I find other people if I were elsewhere? OK, the things not to worry about: 1. I'm not moving or even thinking about moving; 2. I love and cherish my husband, friends, and family and would never try to trade them ever. I guess that today I'm just feeling like a small fish in a big pond and wondering who else is in the pond, too.