Went and saw Enchanted again last night. I am still dying of the squee. And crying at the extreme lack of fanfic (I've only seen ONE! :(). Oh, lordy, there's so many fic possibilities for that movie, it's mindblowing. I can't write, but I can draw... ;) I also need to go raid Netflix for Amy Adams movies, 'cause she freakin' rocked. And I found a pattern today to make a "That's How You Know" dress. Now finding the right fabric, that part will be a real bitch! :P

Oh, and for those fans in need of teh squee... a bootleg of The Scene has been posted on YouTube! XD OMG SO AWESOME IT KILLS ME. HUGE HUGE HUGE SPOILERS FOR THOSE WHO HAVEN'T SEEN IT. (not sure how long it'll be before YT kills that one! XD much thanks to boston_princess for passing the link along!)

So I serenaded my otters while I worked on Sunday. I sang "You Can't Stop the Beat" and Denali cam running over and started squeaking at me. Then I sang "Happy Working Song" while I cleaned the porcupine holding next door... and when I looked back, the otters were makin' mad otter whoopee. THE OTTERS, THEY LIEK MY SINGING. XD

Also? Otter In A Bucket? CUTEST THING EVAR. (Denali, playing in the only "pool" she could find in porcupine holding while I cleaned her bedroom out. I have BadCellPhone!video and photos, alas, Photobucket is being a meanie-poo head.)

I think I had more to say... but it's been lost in the squee. XD

First off, I must give a big "F YOU" to the Seahawks for not showing up to the game today. And especially to Holmgren, for continuing to give Alexander playing time when it's clear that the soft cast interfered with his play. I think we owe that last fumble (and the GAME) to the cast - it got in the way, Alexander fumbled, Arizona recovered and scored, game over. You've really gotta be retarded not to realize from the first series or two that the cast seriously impacted his ability to catch/hold the ball. *headdesk*

Moving on... how do you scare the piss out of a zookeeper?
Radio call: Southeast Asia, anyone?
Us: Go ahead!
Radio call: Uh, we just had a guest report that something is coming out of one of your otters. They said it looks like it's having a baby.
Us: *craps pants*
See, we had a pregnant otter... or one we thought was pregnant. Unfortunately, small-clawed otters are prone to "pseudopregnancies," where their hormones are elevated like a pregnancy, their nipples protrude, and their belly gets big. I believe evolutionarily, it has to do with helping relatives nurse/care for their litters. According to the hormone spikes, our otter was "due" a couple of weeks ago... and since the window of opportunity had passed, we assumed it was a pseudo. So when we got the call, we started freaking out, thinking that she really HAD been pregnant, and now she was out on exhibit giving birth... instead, we got out there and, after careful inspection of the perfectly-normal otters, came to the conclusion that the guests had seen our male, Ralph's, wee-wee and thought it was a baby. Ah, good times! XD (We did bring the otters into holding after that, though, just in case)

( That 'Pluto attack' video... )

In happier news, I've been working on some Disney art, like a drawing based on the Share a Dream Come True Parade... I require Disney theme park motivation! :P
/SERIOUS withdrawls
//nothing but Disney theme park music plays in my car now

So I got freakin' nailed TWICE today. Me? Learn? Nevar! But this one requires illustration... ( stick figures, tapirs, and confusing diagrams ahoy! )

And OMG, this freakin' number (HSM 2 spoilers!!!) won't get out of my head!! :P

I still live! Erm, kinda. Been completely exhausted lately, for obvious reasons. But my bookstore days are pretty restful for me, compared to the insanity of my zoo days. Since I keep so busy, there's really not much else to report! :P

Everything's going well at the zoo! It's been a month already! Baby Bean's little baby is doing fantastic - she's out playing every day, and is very curious and energetic. The other day a little kid (maybe 7 or 8 years old) got excited when he saw her, and ran over and pressed his face against the glass. She came running over to him, and smooshed her own face right up against the glass to look at him! Cutest. Moment. Evar.

And it's time for the monthly book roundup! :D ( July 2007 Book Reviews )

Oh, and I just had to use my new icon, because Marion + frying pan = OTP. :P

It's official!! Baby Bean's baby has made her public debut, so now I shall squee here! XD Baby Bean, our female lowland anoa, had a baby the night of July 4th and the baby (a little girl) is OMG SO FREAKIN' ADORABLE. Seriously, she looks like Bambi, just without the spots. And she's energetic and independent and OMG SO FREAKIN' ADORABLE! :D And today she made her public debut! :D I brought my camera awhile back, and here is a photo of momma and the baby in the holding area, when she was only 5 days old. :D

FurryPaws... ah, I've finally gotten ahold of a few great dogs to really kickstart my kennel... too bad they're all male! :P But egads, the new "dead squirrels" that bring grooming down to 0%... it wouldn't be so bad, but it's like there's a whole dead-squirrel-virus going around, because they're EVERYWHERE and it's really irritating having to re-groom dogs every 30 seconds...

And can I just say how much I love Fandom Wank? Seriously. I read it every day, and it cracks me up. Even if I don't know the specific fandom, the comments and wank always bring the lulz. (Any paid JournalFen members here wanna hook me up with an account so I can join in the commenting hilarity? :P)

Kirsten update time!

I'm getting considerably more independent at the zoo. Now that I've gotten the basic routine and cleaning and feeding stuff down, I work on my own for a good portion of the day. And for whatever reason, I feel a lot more comfortable with what I'm doing there than I did at Rocky Shores. I think I felt more intimidated by all the rules (and, to be honest, some of the staff) at Rocky Shores, whereas at Asia I feel more confident in my own decision-making power. (Half the time at RS, I was terrified to even go find enrichment for an animal because I felt like the other staff would disapprove of my choices) I'm getting to know the animals a lot better, and most of them I can tell apart fairly easily now. I still have to look closely at the otters to tell them apart, and I have a bit of trouble with the tapirs when they're out together, but other than that I'm pretty good at it. And I'm having fun! I really love doing otter fish feeding, 'cause the otters are adorable. And I got to give a couple of treats to the gibbons yesterday, which was neat! They're really fun to watch during treat times in the afternoon.

Still getting back into the swing of Furry Paws! I've picked up a few great dogs in the last month or so, although it'll be awhile before I have any that are old enough to start breeding. And I missed shows last night because we all went out to a bar after work and I didn't get home til after shows had run. Doh! Ah, well, I'll live. I had to break down and get access to the Show Entering Form, though, 'cause entering all my dogs in 50 shows a day each got too time-consuming for my schedule. :P

( Mmmm, Disney geekiness! )

Not much reading in the month of June, sadly! Between crazy schedules and stuff to get done, there wasn't much time. That and reading big books. Hopefully I'll have more by the end of July, but here's the very, very short June rundown... ( June 2007 Books )

ETA: Oh, yeah, and freakin' HEAT WAVE this week. So it's not bad compared to everywhere else (and it really doesn't feel bad to me compared to Florida or SoCal), but we're setting our own records. It's into the mid-90s here for the next few days. I'm fine outside, but my room is starting to get pretty damn warm.

I live!!

Had my last day at Rocky Shores on Friday - sadness! :( I fed both seals, though, and did the usual stuff. We went over to Taste of Tacoma for lunch... of course, it POURED that day, so we were just wandering through the rain. It was worth it, though, for whole corn ears, scones with strawberry jam, skewers of strawberries dipped in chocolate, and alligator on a stick. Yes, alligator. AWESOME. It tastes kinda like pork, and was breaded like fried chicken. YUM.

The new job is going fantastic! It's a great area, and it's really fun learning new animals. LOVE the Asian small-clawed otters. They're so adorable! Whenever we walk by them in holding, they come running up to the fences and squeak and stick their little arms through. TOO CUTE. The tigers are gorgeous, of course. And the gibbons and siamangs are loud as hell in the mornings. Quirky, but really entertaining. :D I've been doing a lot of shadowing, learning diets, learning how to shift (with rotating exhibits, there's a crapload of chutes and gates to learn!), and learning specifics on how each animal's holding area is cleaned.

Oh, and my internship project, for the win!!!! I did observations of the bears in holding, seeing how they reacted to one another through the fence to help determine who should be introduced first... and it all went well! Woo!

On my way home tonight, I stopped and bought about $60 worth of fireworks to shoot off ('cause our neighborhood is made of awesome and we can use them legally)... only to come home and find out that my mom had bought a bunch, too. That's a lot of stuff to blow up! :D Now we're just waiting for darkness, which comes rather late at this latitude in the summer. Nothing like celebrating kicking the crap out of the Brits by blowing stuff up. ;) *runs from all the UKers on her f-list* :P

Hope everyone had a great Fourth! :D

Okay, I've been wanting to blurt this out all weekend, but I wanted it to be a little more solidified first...

I got a zookeeping job!!!

When I was at my usual zoo shift last week, one of the staff mentioned that the Southeast Asia exhibit had openings for part-time help, and set me up for a chat with the senior keeper about it. I was offered the job on the spot! So I've spent the weekend doing the paperwork and sorting out scheduling issues. I went in today to turn in my new hire paperwork, and should be put on the schedule ASAP! It should be close to full-time hours, too. I'll still be working at the bookstore, but I talked to my manager there about it and I'll be cutting my hours back quite a bit so that I don't die of exhaustion.

I'm really excited for this! It's with a very different group of animals than I've worked with before: white-cheeked gibbons, siamangs, Asian small-clawed otters, Malayan tapirs, lowland anoa, crested porcupines, and Sumatran tigers! So it's gonna be really fun to learn some new taxa. And OMG YAAAAAY, paid experience!! XD

I ordered my copy of A Dog's Breakfast on DVD this week! Yaaaaay! I'm so excited, 'cause that movie was freakin' hilarious.

The longest day of the year has come and gone... and after living in SoCal for so long, I forgot how long days are here in the summer! When I drive home from work at about 10:15-10:30, I can still see light in the western sky. It's rather odd. Oooh! And today there was an awesome, RAINBOW cloud! It must've had ice crystals in it. It looked like a rainbow! I actually had my camera on my and got a photo, I'll have to upload it later.

In Disney news... AHAHAHAHAHA! Florida is getting stuck with Block Party Bash next year! I'm taking bets on how badly they neuter it due to union regulations. I mean, it's not that great to begin with (although the high energy is entertaining), but WDW is going to have to take out half the stuff that makes it even worthwhile - I don't see them paying for all those tumblers, since they'll have to be Equity. And I'd be willing to bet the dances will be seriously dumbed down to make it easier to cast (so they don't have to find so many people with high color codes) and because there's probably a lot of stuff in there that WDW performers aren't allowed to do. But at least it means it's off Disneyland's hands! :P I wonder how many show stops they'll be able to fit, though... I wouldn't guess more than one, since the Studios parade route is so freakin' short. MAYBE two, and they'd definitely get overlap between the two areas.

Zoo day yesterday! I finally got to see Qannik! Hee, he looks so tiny compared to Bee. They're together now, getting free reign of both the holding and exhibit pools. Qannik won't go into the exhibit pool yet, though, because it's still Big and New and Scary to him. Oh, and the zoo website now has pictures of the move up here!

Still working my way through Bleach! I'm up through episode 17 now (just getting to Renji, unspokenlonging!) and I'm totally turning into a Ichigo/Rukia 'shipper. :P And Rukia is so Made of Awesome. I want to be as cool as her. But with better drawing skills. ;)

I've got myself back up and running on FP, and a few decent dogs to start me off. A LOT has changed since I last played. They finally added the genetics and litters and made minimum levels for some food/accessories, and just today added in stuff like grooming and using food/water bowls and beds. So I gotta adjust to that. A part of me is annoyed because in the end, it really drives a wedge in the gap between the newer kennels and the big, always-winning ones. It seems like the new rules make it easier for the winning kennels to dominate, and the others fall farther behind. Ah, well. Still fun. :)

Finished my Marahute piece, too, just in time for the contest! :D It's up here on dA. Lots of things that annoy me about it, but my short attention span struck. ;) Time for the next project! :P

Zoo day again! And what a gorgeous day it was for it, too. I spent the morning at bears, lugging the Massive Hose of Doom out around the exhibit to clean, then spending a small eternity cleaning out of the of the holding pools when Glacier decided that he had to spend the entire night pooping in the pool. Had to try twice to get Rascal to eat, because he did NOT want to come out of the den, and with the MASSES of screaming school groups there today, I can't blame him. He finally ate, though! I also got to feed Kenny and Boris (both of whom were rather squirrelly today) and fed Louise for a bit.

And since word is out, I can squee publicly... most of you who follow the marine mammal parks have probably already heard the news...
WE'RE GETTING QANNIK!!!
*bounces around* I'm so excited that we'll be getting a new beluga. And sooooon! Bee really needs another whale to keep him company, and I'm so glad that we're finally getting one. :)

And WTF?! This has to be the biggest piece of garbage ever written. Who wrote that, a 12-year old??

And one last piece of local zoo news... Hansa died suddenly today. That's so sad to hear. :( We went to see her soon after she was first out on public display. She was absolutely adorable. She's always been so much fun to watch. Last time I saw her, she was playing with her ball and trying to climb on top of it. Poor thing... :(

I got out birding again yesterday, since it was so gorgeous! I went back to Marymoor Park with my camera. As I was heading back towards my car, the birds suddenly lost their shyness! :D Three bald eagles this time! Two adults and one juvy. One of the adults had REALLY beat-up feathers. ( Birdie Report and Photos )

Today was zoo day! ( Zoo stuff! )

Came home and got to work on the latest SGA jacket incarnation - Weir's this time! This one is SO rocking my pants. I found the perfect fabric for the shell and lining, and the pattern I'm modifying is working out really well so far. I'm getting to the part I hate most, though - sewing together all the little pockets and flaps and junk, and the velcro, which is Pure Evil. Ah, well, it's worth it. And I'm keeping track of how much this one costs me and how long it takes me to make it. If it works out well, I may start taking commissions on making them. :)

Oh! And OMG, I finally ordered a tablet! *runs in circles* I ordered a Wacom Graphire 6x8 off Amazon, and it should be here Monday! Yaaaaaaay! I'm so excited to play with that. I'm glad I don't work on Tuesday, so I can just sit around all day and draw on it. :P

Okay, so it's been a very unexciting week. :P

Had a relatively relaxing morning at the zoo. I helped with a training session with Boris (got to be the "upstairs" reward feeder!) and then hosed the yard and put out enrichment. I made a coffee run for everyone (mmmm...) and then hosed some walrus poo and did chores in the kitchen. Very easy! Well, except for trying to pry 8.5 lbs of capelin off a VERY frozen block ('cause we were short this morning). Trying to do that without destroying them? Not so easy.

I got the Flipper season 1 DVDs this week! Yaaaaaay! 'Bout damn time. It's the original, 1964 Flipper series, but still fun. Haven't gotten around to watching them yet, but I gotta say - the extras are sorely lacking. One trivia game, and that's it? WTF?

Been sketching a bit. I made Sleepy Liz. 'Cause I was sleepy.

And to Stephanie Colburtle, who finished in second place in the Great Turtle Race... you're still the winner to me. XD

Oh, man, it felt SO FREAKIN' GOOD to be back at the zoo today. The sun was out, I had coffee... and right off the bat I fed Blackie. She was such a little lady... until she swung around and growled an open-mouthed threat. And then looked at me with a "Bitch! Oh no you di'nt!" look on her face when I gave her the signal to go back into the water. Oh. Yeah. (She went eventually... just sloooowwwwllllyyyy) Mostly did stuff around the food prep kitchen today (thawing fish, breakout, putting together puffin pans). While I was doing breakout, there was an ad on the radio for Atlantis and I totally squeed. I've never heard an Atlantis ad on the radio, especially on a mainstream station like Jack FM. I also spent a long time sitting in the office and reading all the notes since I was last there a month ago. It's nice to see that not a whole lot changes in a month. :D

I've been very productive the last few days, too!

Remember the Elphaba "Defying Gravity" dress I started sewing last summer? I FINISHED IT. FINALLY. It looks fan-freakin'-tastic. I'll have to get a picture of it! Still looking for a really good Elphaba hat, though... and green makeup... and a wig... and a pair of boots... and a broom... XD

Finally sewed my fleece whale blanket tonight! That was an easy one - all I had to do was put the blanket tape on the ends of the fleece sheet - 30 minutes, easy. I can't find a picture of the fabric print online, so I'll have to get a pic of that one, too. It has killer whales! XD

Decided that I still wanna do Marion's Raven Bar costume, 'cause it should be fairly easy... unfortunately, finding a fabric print like that for the shirt is proving to be impossible... *sigh*

Got another application ready to mail, this one for the Texas State Aquarium. I'm basically applying for any opening that I meet the requirements for at this point. Still need to get myself to the pool, though, 'cause I have NO idea what their swim test is like.

I also watched "Borat" last night... and while it was humorous, I was less than impressed. I think it got over-hyped to me. I love offensive jokes, but the movie itself was kinda boring. Hrm. Ah, well. Not sure what's next of my Netflix list. It'll be a surprise.

Oh, and was anyone else in the US really amused by the preview for next week's SG-1, where the announcer called Carter "Amanda"? I thought I was just hearing things, but apparently not. :P

Okay. Rambling post done now.

I had a bitchy!day today at work. It was one of those days where I have to literally bite back snarkastic replies to everything. Actual examples of things that popped into my head in response to customer comments: "No, that's not the real price. We put fake price tags on there just to confuse you." "When you hang up your damn cell phone and acknowledge me, then I will ring up your purchases." "How about next time you tell me you don't want a bag before I spend five minutes sticking all your books in the bag?" Ah, how I wish I could actually say what I'm thinking... On the bright side, one of our dirty, lecherous old guy customers didn't give me any dirty, lecherous comments today. I think the "talk to me and you die" vibe I was giving off saved me. :P

In need of a good fantasy, I watched Eragon tonight. Okay, so good didn't quite fit the bill. Some of the dialogue was so bad that I suppose it paid appropriate homage to the horrid dialogue in Paolini's original novel. And ooooh, the Eragon/Arya HURTS MY BRAIN. Seriously. Crap. And the kid playing Eragon? His acting was atrocious. But Saphira was fantastic (baby Saphira? CUTEST THING EVAR), beautifully animated. And Rachel Weisz did an amazing job voicing her. Jeremy Irons was a perfect Brom. That man is so sexy, in an old guy way. I think it's the voice. And the surprise for me was the guy playing Murtagh - I really liked him. The cinematography was gorgeous. I'm such a sucker for those grand, sweeping shots along the mountains. Story-wise, I was sad to see some stuff from the original novel go (no mention was even made of Katrena, and she kinda becomes a driving force in Eldest!)... and left wondering why Angela seemed like a skank, and Sloan wasn't really a jerk at all. And where were the dwarves? Also kind of an important part of the story. Bottom line: like the novel, it's very entertaining, but horribly written. Watch it for the fun and the great effects, but I wouldn't expect greatness.

But YAY! Got a call back from the zoo yesterday, and I'm going to be volunteering at Rocky Shores one morning a week! It'll be so nice to get back into the swing of it, and see my whale again! :D

Buh, and am I the only one that didn't know The X-Files was originally supposed to end with this scene of Bush being in on the conspiracy? As amused as I am, I like the Mulder/Scully lovefest better. :P

I just had my last day as a zoo intern. :( It's so sad!! I'm gonna miss it! :( They really know how to give interns a send-off, though - I got to do all the FUN stuff today! I did take a TON of photos today, too... so I can finally show off the fun part! ;) (no, there are no poop-hosing photos, sorry!)

( Kirsten + Marine Mammals = Love! )

I should get packing now... off to Vancouver tomorrow! :D

I have a cut on my thumb where I stabbed myself on a mackarel spine. It stings like hell. Me = retard. I also have fading marks of puffin bites on my wrist, but those don't hurt, they just amuse me. :P

On the good side - I got to feed BeeBee! XD

OMG POTC 3 TRAILER!! *screams and runs in circles* ( Spoilerage! )

Oh! And everyone needs to go see dark_faith366's trailer for "Smile of April" here!!!! :D

Oh, and one more thing: The Boston Museum of Science needs to STOP POSTING THEIR DAMN POSITIONS on AZA's website. They are never even remotely animal-related, they post like 20 at a time every two days and clog up the whole damn page. It drives me nuts.

That is all I have to report.

ETA: Dude, WTF?! It's snowing. Not sticking, but it's definitely snowing...

( Zoo rambling! )

I also was thinking that it might be kinda fun to do little animal information entries every so often. Maybe a specific topic in zoology, or an entry about a specific animal, or an aspect of ecology or conservation or whatever. But I want to make it interesting to people, so if there's a specific topic you want me to cover, shout it out! (*insert "The More You Know" graphic here*)

On a marine-mammal-related note, we came across this article while surfing the net at lunch today. Absolutely, completely, utterly ridiculous. Dear lord, will Bush get the fuck out of office already before he destroys the whole planet? There's a special circle in hell reserved for him right now. Memo to scientists: Don't discuss polar bears

And ZOMG! POTC 3 trailer in 9 days!!!

Oh, and for the record, Daylight Savings Time is teh suck.

I got to free feed Blizzard today!!! EEEEE! It came totally out of the blue after den cleaning. He was a good boy, and I came away from it with all ten fingers still attached! :P Oh, and Kenny snuggling with his barrel (in his holding pool that I made sparkly clean)? Adorable! I also took my water quality quiz today... and OMG, I couldn't read the questions about the "weirs" without giggling. :P

WTF is up with THIS?! Seriously, who's bright idea was that?! TV show based on commercials = *puke*

Aaaand, since February is now over, here's the book wrap-up for the month! Current books and all-time faves can be found on my "Book Recs" post here!
( February 2007 Books )

So WTF is up with the weather today? When I got to work, it was cloudy. Then it rained. Then it was sunny for awhile. Then it snowed lightly. Then it was sunny again. Then it Snowed Really Heavily But Didn't Stick. Then it rained a bit. When I left it was sunny again. OMFG, weather, make up your mind!

The zoo went well today! I'm sooo close to being allowed to free feed! Eee! Just gotta find some time tomorrow to watch the training orientation video (yay, review! Reading "Don't Shoot The Dog" eleventy-billion-and-one times pays off! ;)) and do some paperwork. And yes, once I get free feeding, pictures will be forthcoming. :P I got myself some "hose therapy" today and cleaned walrus holding. Tomorrow I'll do pinniped holding - there's enough gunk in there to be extra satisfying. :P

Oh, and Joanie-baloney is the cutest walrus EVAR. That is all.

I've been "enrichment girl" this week at the zoo! The other day, I did behavioral enrichment with Beethoven... I stood out on the whale beach and danced around and sang like a total doofus, and it was wonderful. Beethoven, unfortunately, did not agree... he swam away three lines into "I'm a Little Teapot." :P He did come back and listen to me sing my ABCs, though. Blackie and Louise (our harbor seals) came over too, but I think that was more due to the ice pile I put up on the beach for them. :P Another cute one was when I gave a ball to the otters that they hadn't had for awhile. The instant the ball left my hand, they were pushing and shoving each other to get at it. It was like watching rabid parents go after the hottest toy on the shelves at Christmas time. If it slipped away from one of them, the others would be all over it. Hilarious! :D

The weather during the week this week was freakin' gorgeous! I almost got down to my t-shirt. (I generally wear three shirt layers to work - staff tshirt, hoodie, staff sweatshirt) Then on Saturday it turned nasty... but for two days in a row, as I drove home down the Tacoma waterfront (GORGEOUS view and incredibly distracting when I'm trying to drive) I was treated to a rainbow out over Commencement Bay. Love it! It poured all day again today. Funny, though, you don't even notice the rain when you're using a hose to spray down an empty holding pool. :P (although it made the chlorine rather ineffective since the rain tended to wash it away as fast as I could put it down)

And a new icon for me!! Bee-face at the glass! :D