Like a Slap in the Behind

Woooooweeeeee. My butt has been majorly kicked this month. Sore just thinkin' about it.

For a whirlwind update of some random things I have done in the past 4 weeks: I attended a wedding in Lake Tahoe, parasailed way up on a 1200 ft rope under a skull n' bones parachute, toured around the old west town Virginia City(where our dear friend in the picture up above was spotted, around the corner from a place where I bought some petrified dinosaur poop the color of a rasberry creamsicle), had my car's AC, headlight, and convertible top all go defunct while stuck out in Big Basin Redwood forest (which I macgyvered the shit out of to get the top working again using some duct tape, a piece of string, and a bungee cord - no joke), planted an apricot tree, went on a safari, moved out of one house and into another, made 10 bowls in ceramics class, memorized 60 scientific names for an assortment of animals from their Phylum down to their species, and sang copious amounts of Disney songs(on repeat) on the way to school while simultaneously trying to ignore the check engine light displayed so politely on my dashboard.

Overall, notorious VW problems aside, this has been a good month. No, a GREAT month. Despite the fact that I am taking a class which is known for flunking people into taking it 2 or 3 times, I am in love with all of my classes. I am taking a slew of Animal Science classes with all of the 1st year EATM students ( Exotic animal training and management ) - Animal Diversity, Animal Diversity Lab, Animal Health and Safety, Wildlife Conservation, Resumes for working in the animal industry(Specific right?), and Ceramics 3 (for fun :) ). 

Like the wishful Eatm prospie that I am, I sit up front and try to fit in as best I can. As terrified as I was in the first week (they are notoriously cliquey and close) of being one of the few non EATM students in the Zoo classes, I have found a bunch of them to be awesome, really welcoming, talkative, and extremely supportive of me applying to the program. I think a small part of this might have to do with the fact that I come to class wearing my work clothes most of the time... which conveniently happen to look exactly like their uniforms at first glance. I noticed that on the day I wore my work shirt to class, people started to talk to me. Coincidence? perhaps. Perhaps they are subconsciously more accepting of me when I look like one of them. Whether it's true or not, I feel extremely relieved that I can go to class on the zoo campus and feel welcomed. 

My days have been filled with studying for my Diversity tests. Since grades are a part of what determine animal assignments (and yes, even though I am not in the program yet, since these are required classes for the program... they will carry over), I am determined do well in this class. I  have always been of of those disgusting people that never had to study to get an A on a test. With this class.... I am not willing to take the chance. Luckily all of the information is extremely interesting to me, and I get a thrill out of being able to   ramble off the scientific name of a White Rhinoceros, an African Jacana, or a black widow spider. 

Nerdcity. I know.