You know what I've learned after three years of working at the aquarium? Reptiles really love boobs. Mine are especially appealing, apparently, as every time we take an animal out they immediately make a bee line for my lovlies. It's really kind of funny - place an angry, disgruntled 30 pound boa on my chest and within five minutes she's calm and loose as can be. Hmm. That came out a little dirtier than I was intending. Still... ;)

Hello, insanejournal! It's been...one month since my last confession. Whoo. Time goes by so quickly these days, doesn't it? In that time nothing new has occurred, but I did get to do a couple cool things:

- Saw Avenue Q live with the girls in Louisville. Nothing but love for the show and the company. If given the opportunity I highly recommend seeing it, as it's twice as funny live than on cd.
- Along that note, I finally rented the Wicked soundtrack from the library, and fell madly in love. Am now seriously considering saving up the insane amount of cash to see it in January.
- Learned one of my best friends from college just bought a house, which makes me feel very old and behind the times. Add this to the number of girls from my hall already married and spawning and the weirdness continues.
- Went to the zoo for the first time in ages, where I fell in love with the hairy sumatran rhinos and the random baby peacock we saw wandering the children's zoo. Also discovered that they now have an overnight program along the same line as the aquarium, which I think I'm going to submit my resume to for a little extra cash. Oh, and I finally fed the birds there! Unfortunately the only ones I could get to land on me were the exact species of birds we have at work - I shouldn't really be surprised by that, should I? One landed quite happily on my derriere as I was trying to coax one of the more exotic parrots over and had no intention of leaving until I paid attention to it, much to the amusement of the people around me.
- Went to see WALL-E and fell madly for the little trash compactor. This movie proves once again what kind of dork I am - right before I'd read an article in National Geographic about animal cognition, where it discussed the key factors in attributing intelligence upon something, and how that relates to human development. WALL-E displayed all of them in the first five minutes of the movie, and I spent the whole time geeking out. I've heard a lot of things about this film, namely about the rather dark (but ultimately hopeful) view of the future (and if we're honest with ourselves, that's pretty much where our society is headed - sad, but true) I'd still urge everybody to go see it.

That's pretty much it, except that I finally uploaded the few good quality pictures from when Duff came to the aquarium, which I've posted below for the curious. ( I think the episode's gonna air sometime this month, so check your TV Guides. )

Let's all take a moment and enjoy the fact that South Park aired their internet episode the day insanejournal kicked back online. This is one of those moments where pop culture hits a little too close for comfort, and all you can do is shake your head and take it with a smile.

Today was my third year anniversary at the aquarium and I had my yearly evaluation. My supervisor (whom I'm more or less friends with) spent most of the time talking about what a good job I was doing. I'm never sure how to take these things - I mean, how do you respond to someone flattering you for a half-hour straight? I get flustered, nod, and say thank you. I feel like if I talk about stuff like that, or about the Rose Award I was nominated for, I'm holding it over my co-workers heads or something. Am I making sense?

Anyway, I got a shiny new three year pin to put on my nametag and a fifty-cent raise, which is twice the standard. I remember chatting with one of the ladies at work the other day and she commented on the fact that she didn't get a raise this year, which, in hindsight, means I got hers. It kinda makes me wanna do the nyah nyah do your work dance, but that would be rude. ;)

All this praise is coming at the wrong time, though. I'm kind of conflicted, as I can't really afford to keep working at the aquarium. This isn't how I intended to spend my life, either, but I feel a little stuck now. I like it, I do, but I know I'm gonna burn out if I have to take another summer of this crap (which is perhaps why the management is buttering me up now). There's a supervisor position open that pays more, but I really just don't want that job, you know? It'd be a challenge, and something different, but it's taking away the interaction between the guests and animals, which is what I enjoy most now.

I don't know. *is one big ol' ball of confused*

On the plus side, this month is looking to be kickass. Major raise at work, Cats at NKU, Avenue Q with the girls, Duff Goldman coming to the aquarium, my birthday... good times.