And the busy stay busy...

Just finished another long work stretch. I'm logging in around 57 hours a week between the two jobs, and average about 1 day off per 15 worked. The economy may be in a slump, but my finances are the best they have ever been. I just wish that it didn't take so very much to be that way, but given how many of my friends and family are struggling right now, I can't really complain.

Cubs season has begun, which means lots of green apron time. The coffee job has been my saving grace for the past 18 months that I've held it, but the big guns are making it more and more difficult to be flexible. More availability is required now than when I started back, and juggling responsibilities is getting tougher. I'm hoping that, with all of the extra time put in, I can reach my goals sooner rather than later. Fingers crossed, and support soles firmly in place, I persevere.

The demands of the jobs have also negated my taking another semester off from school. I'm looking to re-enroll come fall, with a new projected graduation of December 2010. Not what I had in mind, and my impatience is sulking in the corner, stamping her feet. But I remind myself daily that it is a marathon, not a sprint, and that I have a whole lifetime to build this career. The important thing is to see that it is done well, and if that means taking a little longer than originally thought, so be it.

My photo blog has been great fun, and a wonderful distraction for when the work-worlds bear down on me. I'm also getting into crocheting (2 dishcloths down, and a scarf in progress) and jewelry-making (I can custom-size bracelets to fit my scrawny wrists!). Next up is knitting....

As for the urban zoo, it has gotten even smaller. My hamster Kenya passed away last week; she had developed an abscess near her amputation site over a year ago, but medication had kept it at bay for much longer than had been anticipated. The night before she died she seemed perky enough, though a little slow, and ate her Cheerio treat and ran her wheel as she always did. She was inspiration in a plastic pear, and I'll always be grateful that I took her in.

My guinea pig Puppy also passed away suddenly. This happened about 6 weeks ago; I didn't post anything because, coming about so soon after the dual loss of Pickle & Panda, I just felt overwhelmed. He was seemingly quite healthy, and I was watching him like a hawk, given what had happened to my other two. He was fine in the morning, but had a distended abdomen come evening (at which time I started him on meds) and was gone the next day. A co-worker found info on something colloquially called "guinea pig bloat", a condition where bacteria can build up in their intestinal tract causing a blockage; its cause is not clear, though stress and food conditions are implicated. I'm not sure if his parsley just wasn't clean enough or what, but I miss him and his squeaky demands for attention. I'm not looking to take in any new critters for a while; I like having my urban zoo, but multiple pets mean multiple loss, and I'm feeling a bit leery at the moment.

Off to run errands now. If you can't hit a moving target, than I'm as impenetrable as Superman...

-C.