Sometimes I get competitive

My room mate has started a blogger. By the competitive nature of myself, I now have to keep mine updated. That's where the problem comes in; I have nothing to write about. Nothing really interesting has been going on in my life recently. Expect, in the context of my blog's life, a lot has happened!  I think I should write the story of the last year of my life. A year ago, I think just about to the day, I moved to Arizona to work at the Phoenix Zoo. I guess I can write about that adventure so I don't forget every little last bit. I've already forgotten a lot, so I better write down what I remember!

hello square one, nice to see you again

I'm back to applying for zoo jobs again. I took some time off from it for a while because I craved some consistency and stability in my life after 4 and a half years of a seasonally nomadic existence. I wanted to sit still and stay on one place for a bit. But while I really like my current job, it's not something that I can do for long, and I don't want to put down any really firm roots here (like a year long lease or something), so I'm back to trying to get a job I want for a while. So far I have applied to three zoos:

Lincoln Park Zoo (Chicago, IL) for a seal keeper position
Dallas Zoo (Dallas, TX) for a mammal keeper position
Jackson Zoo (Jackson, MS) for a general keeper position

I really hope I get one of these jobs. I just need to get a foot in at a zoo, go there, work for 2 or so years, then if I don't like it I will have the experience to try to get a position I might like better. Ideally I would like a job around the Midwest so I'm not moving really far from my family, but Texas and Mississippi are both better than Oregon, and I've been there. Wish me luck!

In other news, I have not had any chocolate yet. This is actually quite impressive for me since I have dark chocolate squares and chocolate covered espresso beans in my room.

GrrArgh

I am looking for a new place because the roommate of doom is getting to be too much to deal with. I really really hate looking for apartments. What's online on these apartment search sites can not possibly be all there is, but it's the easiest thing to look for, and I hate having not enough money. But I do have more money than I had, so that helps. Where do you people look when you're trying to find an apartment?

I either want a studio for just me, or a 2 bed for me and the roommate that I like and also can;t stand anymore of the roomie of doom. Good roomie doesn't want to spend much more than we're spending now, so it just might be me all on my own, though I think she has it in her head that the only place we're gonna be able to find it gonna be like $2000/month each or something. Wish me luck, and give me advice please! Also, Cindy, wanna live with me?

Wanderlust

So, I was going to write about how I got a freaking job, but I'll leave that till later. Right now I'm going to write about the crazy that is my head. (and seriously, could I start more posts with "so"?)

If you know me, you know that I'm crazy. Not certifiable, but bad enough. One of those crazy aspects is how...not contrary, but I can't think of the right word right now, I can be. But I like things that are opposite of each other. I like black, but I also like very colorful things, for example. I'm a homebody, but I love to travel. I want to stay in one place for more than a year, but I'm always looking for a job somewhere else.

The thing that got me posting this was looking at this picture on Dooce's website. When I was in Oregon last summer, I couldn't wait to get home to flat land. And the instant I got home, I wanted the mountains back more than anything. I wanted to go back to Arizona and see the red rocks, the high desert, the beautiful mountains of Colorado, the dry heat and wonderful scrub of Santa Fe. God I miss it! And the whole time I was in Oregon, I was yearning for green. I wanted green grass and rain and leafy trees and green grass! Everything was dead and tan/brown. But when we got through California and into Arizona a little way, I started to fall in love. It was beautiful! I loved driving down a mountain pass into a valley and seeing it all stretched out before me. What I wouldn't have given to have been able to pull over and wander off to take rolls and roll of photos. Black and white that I could develop in the darkroom I don't have. I wanted to set up the perfect shot, swim in that pool we found (but was too cold to go in).

I wanted to stay in Sedona and Santa Fe for days, weeks. I want to move there and drink in the dry heat, bake in the sauna of the desert. Explore and live and run away from giant bugs and complain about the heat and work and play. I want to go back so bad! I want to see the rest of the desert, take pictures of rocky outcroppings miles past where Jesus lost his sandals.

But at the same time I want to go here and here and see trees covered in moss, and streams running through forests. I want to go back to England and explore the grassy hillsides, commune with the sheep. I want to go to huge cities in the hustle and bustle, or in calmer neighborhoods of those same busy cities. I want to go to Europe and find tiny bookstores tucked in side alleys in the Italian countryside. And in any of these places, I could probably live happily...at least for a while. At lease until my feet start calling again, wanting to wader away into that good night.

But God do I miss the high desert and the mountains. I want to spend time in Colorado some day. I want to move to Phoenix with my friend, see what a sprawling city is like, instead of one that goes straight up. But the contrary part of me is, I look at pictures of the red rock mountains of Utah and Arizona and I gasp and the beauty and the longing, but I have the same result when I look at pictures of all the green in the English countryside. I don't know id I'll ever be completely content to settle in one place, if my wanderlust will ever be sated. I guess only time will tell. If would probably help if I actually wandered a little too!

OMG YAY!

We finally have the interwebs! Hello from my new house!

Aaaaaand...goodnight

Lost: One MP3 player

I can't find my MP3 player!  It's as if I am missing a limb, I swear!  I listen to that thing constantly, and I've been missing it since I moved on Monday.  I am so sad!  Granted, it was only like $85, but still!  I love that darn little thing.  It was so cute and small, but held just enough songs for me, and pictures too!  It fit in my pocket perfectly.  I miss it so much.  I don't think i can cook/back without it, and my driving has  been so much less interesting to listen to.  Ugh, radio only.  I really hope I find it soon!  Woe!

It's a process

I'm pretty much moved in. I have all my big stuff, like bed, dresser, desk etc in the room and set up how I want them. I even bought a lamp yesterday, since my lamp finally died while trying to move it. It was one of those octopus lamps with the 5 heads and different colored plastic shades, and I've had it for like 5 years, it finally went kaput. After that many years of light bulbs that were apparently too strong for the lamp, the sades were brittle and crumbling apart, so I trashed it and got a new lamp. I just have little things to move it now. Artsy stuff that's laying all around my pathetic looking room at my parents house. I'm gonna move that stuff today, then dog sit till Sunday. And after work, mom is taking my grocery shopping! Gotta make the most of it since this is probably the last time she will.

Now I need to check out other internet related stuff, since we still don't have the internet at my new house (I'm at the parents house right now), and then I need to gather up the rest of the stuff I want, shove it in the car, and check on the dog. Laters!

Purple

I painted yesterday, finished up today after church. My new room is painted, some of my stuff is already there, and the rest of it is going tomorrow. Now I am tired and going to sleep I will take pics and blog all about it when we get internet there. Laters

Kira out

the color of our lives

Color of the wall in my current room

I have paint chips picked out. I can't decide if one of the colors is going to be too dark, so I think I'm gonna see if I can get a few of those little samples tomorrow after work. Then I'm gonna go to the house, slap some (neatly) on the walls, and see what I like. I know the color I'm going to have on three of the walls, it's the accent wall I don't know about. I have the accent wall narrowed down to two colors of purple. I would go with a red wall again, but I have a red wall in my bedroom now, and though I love it completely to death, I think, new house, new color.

Things I realized today

I could have a cat!

Or rats! And my rats can have ittle teddys!

I can make my own curtains!

I can make silk flower arrangements!

And since I work at a craft store, I would get discounts of half of this list!

:D

Fresh paint

The change is near, I can see the light and I don't think it's a train! There is an open window, and it's not to throw myself out of but to let the fresh wonderful air of change in. Now I just need to get that job and I'm home free for a while. Hope along with me people! Because either way, I'm gone! (And I really need the money)

And after that: