five state tango

This is a travel blog, or was, and I don't seem to travel much anymore, but here's a little tidbit for you anyway!

Two months ago, almost three now, I moved down to Texas. Don't ask me why because I really don't know still. I needed a change. I had to get out of where I was. There are jobs here. Anyway.

I packed up almost everything I owned into my (very small) car and drove down through five states in about five or six days. I used the trip as an excuse to visit my friends that I hadn't seen since I came back from China. That was two years ago.

First stop was Los Angeles. I crashed at my friend's house for the night. We spent it watching A Very Potter Musical and then the next morning we made crepes with nutella and strawberries! It was delicious and reminded me of my senior year of college when I would make crepes all the time with my friend Nicole. Which was perfect timing given that the next night was spent in Phoenix with Nicole.

It's nice coming back to familiar places. I always thought that I would hate Phoenix for the rest of my life after going to high school there. But there's something nice about knowing where you're going, how to get places, which roads lead to what. It was pleasant to be back in Phoenix, even if I was in Glendale, an area I'm not terribly familiar with.

We hung out in the pool and then went to see the Hunger Games (my third time, Nicole's first). The next morning, I packed up and headed out, straight to...

Albuquerque to visit my friend Caty and her husband Adam. I still find it weird that so many of my friends are getting married. We mostly just hung out and I broke out the colossal Europe photo album (It is twice the size of China's despite the fact that I was in China for a longer amount of time). I also introduced her to Starkid and the genius that is Holy Musical B@man.

But alas the fun couldn't last and it was off to Texas for me.

So here I am three months later. I have a new pet! It's a rabbit, an American Fuzzy Lop which I mentioned a few entries ago. I bet you guys didn't think I'd actually get one, did you? I actually have 3, but only one is here with me in my apartment.

And I've been here 3 months and I'm already bored. I'm thinking about my next move... which I'm fairly sure has to do with writing. If I can double my monthly freelancing income, I could make it my full time job. I suppose that is my goal for the end of the year. Until then, I will go to work every day and figure out a way to make it happen. Until the next trip!

I've been initiated

Got my first (well, second ever but whatever) dog bite yesterday. Currently hurts like hell if anything touches it and there's a lovely swelling bruise around where the lower incisor was. What sucks most is that it's on my forearm, so... quite visible and unfortunately a place that touches things a lot like the computer, my body, anything I lay it on. Hopefully it will go down by the time I have to work again. Boo.

on bathing dogs

What's the highest amount of dogs you've ever given a bath in one day? If you said zero or one, you're probably like most normal people out there. My number is twelve. Top that.

I don't mind bathing them, unless they try to bite me. Then it's not so enjoyable. My least favorite part is drying because it takes a long time, and if you don't know me, I'm not the most patient person and if things take too long, I speed them up or take shortcuts. Can't take shortcuts drying a dog. It's either dry or it's not and you have to keep going until it is.

The worst dog to bathe, you ask? Shepherds. They have a ton of hair and no matter how much you brush, there's still more to come off. I swear their owners never think of actually buying a brush and doing it themselves. There are these things called pet shops, and, gasp, they sell pet supplies such as brushes and nail clippers and shampoo. Yes, things other than food and toys. Hard to believe, I know.

I wonder how many I'll have to bathe tomorrow. Shall we try to break my new personal record? I'd rather not.

The downfalls of employment

I've often wondered what it's like to enjoy your work. I guess I'll be waiting a while to find out.

Flashback about eight years to high school and I'm in exactly the same place. Sometimes it feels like I've come so far only to end up exactly where I started.

I'm not going to talk about my job per say, but I'd like to talk about the things I've learned over the years doing this type of work - I work in a dog boarding kennel currently (just got the job last week), and I worked in a kennel in high school as well. First off, let's get rid of those misinterpretations that working in a kennel is super fun and you just play with dogs all day. It's not and you don't.