Hyena project = complete!

* Yup, it's over and done with. I've still statistical analysis to do but the testing is OVER. So far it seems the ice lolly's winning on the what's favorite.

* There's a new rat friend; Rizzo Rat and he's a cute and smart little fellow. He used to curl up in my pockets like Nathan but he's grown used to the movement and much prefers sitting on my shoulder facing forward like a pirate's parrot or sitting atop of my head. The only down side is that he pees freely...fun, not!

* Haven't had the time to tell you but I've finished Karl Marx and here's the review:

Karl Marx by Francis Wheen

My review

rating: 5 of 5 stars
Wheen's wonderfully written book illustraits, with colors as vivis as possible, the life and works of Karl Marx, warts and all; from blood-thirsty arguments with opponents, to medical details of the various many ailments Marx suffered from to the horrificly true and not-so-nice predictions of Europe's political future including the world wars and what brought them about.

Karl Marx is an educating idol for anyone who wants to think on their own, to conclude only what their mind understand by constantly checking for contradictions and 'plot holes' in grand theories around them and Wheen describes wonderfully both how Marx came about this and what it brought him.

The book is well written, light to read and enjoyable. The style is humorist and serious at the same time, with a keen eye on the various misdeeds various politically-enclined historians twisted or wrongly presented Marx history and work, which is always nice to see.



A very good book, I highly recommend it.


View all my reviews.

Am now reading Complete Illustrated Lewis Carroll

* Due to the fact that people in cat forums are stupid enough to think a troll would go all the way to invent a story describing my cat research, or that I'm the MI5 (people are really, honestly stupid) I've decided to turn to places where I can proove my identity more easily, so I've opened a FaceBook account and here it is.

* I'm officially have been working at the store for a month and now I'm getting precenteges for my sales, which is another bonus in an already bonus-packed work place ^_^

* Piccies!!

This is Anat, she volenteers at the zoology garden, helping Shimon (the hyena's keeper) with his work. Those two were such great help to me in the project, they were simply marvelous. I wrote them each a thank you letter and got them a box of chocolates for their bother and help.


The hyena enjoying the fishy ice lolly. It took him a while to wrap his brains around the concept of the ice lolly, and he didn't like the fish at all!


Egret tree at the zoology garden


The hyena cheating; he was supposed to keep the bone ine cage so that I'll know if he prefers the bone so much that he'd go into the cage for it while there's the yard and all its treasures to relish, but he took the bone out to the yard as you can see


Yum yum yum, Ice Lolly Version 2.0; chicks and fruits and the hyena is loving it!


Having a dust bath


The wolves dug a tunnle (*commence The Great Escape jokes now*) in the yard and it's the hyena's pleasure the destroy it from time to time, as you can see here; he's pulling out a log they stuck in it...


A happy hyena; having a short dip


One of the wolves


Sniffing the fat stain a dead sheep the wolves got left behind


And rolling in it....


The yard


Moi in the final toy-free observation today, a picture taken by my dad who climbed on the roof with me for 'security reasons' (Mr. Safety's orders *rolls eyes*)




The garden


A herd of gazelles


And that's it for today!!

Mommy's little helper

* This week was a bit of a stress; five days of work which meant the only time I was home was in the morning and then after 23:00...not fun. But the pay will be good (and I need it!)

* Speaking of pay, lovely Ebay ended up demanding almost half the sum I earned on my first sale, after a long list of various fees, half of which aren't mentioned. Cute people, like hell I'm using their services again without a proper reserve price, the assholes.

* The Deaths: Legend is on hiatose due to problems with the beta-ing, but mostly due to the nonexisting free time I have. I'll keep writing various bits of it but it'll take me a while to find a proper beta and once I found them, to trust them again to properly do the jobs they took upon them or last for long without kicking up drama to cover laziness (the first being the fault of the latest now ex-beta and the last being the fault of my first ex-beta). See, Allan, no battle axes ^_^

* This morning Scarlett was very nice, helping mom fold the laundry. Mind you, the term "help" is very flexible in the feline world. I'll let you be the judge:



"Here, mom, take this, oh my clawas are in it? So sorry *pulls hard*"




Slowely creeping atop the pile to block any more kidnapping of items:




N00, THEY BE STEALIN' MAH LONDRI!!


Perhaps rolling around and looking cute'll do the trick...


She's just an angel


"leave me alone already"


"I'm sleeeeeeepiiiiiiing!!"


Yeah, right.

* Store stuffs: Meet Nathan, as I think he aught to be named:


Nathan was one of our kept-for-snake-food rats in the store along with several other rats. Last week there were only him and two other rats left and since I already introduced myself to him I held him again and he snuggled up in my overall's chest pocket to doze off, pop out and scare/delight costumers and pee in the pocket. ANYWAYS, halfway through the shift a man comes and wants two rats for his snake. The bastard insisted I'd get him the rats even after he saw what I had in my pocket and had to be prized off by the other worker in the store, bless his soul. So Nathan's buddies were taken and my little one, having been in my pocket, was saved.
The name stems from my father's sensitive and tactful (note the sarcasm) comment about the story that I "made Sophie's choice"....now tell me, is that something to tell a gal like me?
Anyways, the day after that I convinced a nice young couple of obvious animal fanatism to take Nathan in as a pet and his life were completely saved ^_^

Another friend who kept me company this week is this little cocktail parakeet:

Luckily, he was considerate enough to not leave any birdly "presents" behind while he stayed where he did. Kind parakeet <3

* The hyena project: He doesn't know what to do with ice XXXD it's not in hus umwelt, the poor baby. he spent the whole hour pacing like he always does with short tiny breaks to check if anything tasty melted off the ice yet and to lick it listlessly for a few minutes. Here's the ice lolly full of goody yum yums for hyenas like fish, whole chicken, canalopes and dates:

Bears go nutty over these lollies but I guess bears live in places much more prone to ice and snow while the currently more desert-inhabiting striped hyena has a problem wrapping his mind around the concept of nibbling and kicking the ice into melting to release the goody yum yum. Oh well, it's a result and it's a great result too IMO, so I'm pleased.

@_@

Five work days + university + zoo experiment + project + university obligations = no life

However, I had this to cheer me up:
Brand New Monty Python Papperbok by Graham Chapman

My review

rating: 5 of 5 stars
Very silly.


View all my reviews.

Happiness is....

1. A cocktail parakeet on my shoulder, playing with my earring and putting its tiny face into my curls' loops.
2. Fluffing up a bunny and having a child-costumer come up to me asking if they can hold it and to quickly and sternly answer "No".
3. Doing the same to an annoying screeching teenager girl, who has been running around the store aimlessly babbeling nonsense and responding to animals' natural behavior like only stupid teenaged girls can react when they think being disgusted and amused by whatever looks odd to them is the right and feminine thing to do, and is now standing by the bunny pen with a large sign on it saying 'Do Not Touch the Animals' asking if she can pet the bunny.
4. Fondling a rat who, after a long while of sniffing around my hands and shirt, curls up in my palms and goes to sleep.

Did I tell you I love my job yet?

The hyena project relaxed a bit and now the toy stage is in full force. The bones experiment is done and next week'll be time for the ice lolly test. I enjoyed making the ice lolly (take a small plastic tub, fill it with cut up chicken, sardines, canalopes and dates, fill it with water and put it in the freezer) but I did not enjoy putting it in the freezer. I found a dead sheep there, waiting for consuming; not a pretty sight on the end of a long bunker-like refrigerator, opening a giant bunker-like door and once the clouds of frost dissappear to see the sheep's legs sticking out in odd directions @_@

Anyways! Here are some kitty pictures:



Muh?


You again? What do you want?


The biggest toy bone (the one he did not yet consume, BTW) was also a key interest to the fluffers when I let them sniff it around. Scarlett was the most intersted:


She was trying to get under it for some strange reason...


Sam joined in




But gave up when Scarlett started showing too much interest. He's a gentleman like that; he'll give her whatever she's interested in even if he's playing with it. The only thing he'll take from her is the food bowl come gushy food time...


Hopefull much, ne?


She tried biting it from every direction

She even managed to drag it for a few centimeters...

Today I was in the zoology garden doing the last round of the bones test and here are pictures!!

This is the predator's compound's yard. Mostly the wolves are in it but the hyena gets to go there once in a while


This is the hyena in one part of his cage. The other part is of equal size on the other side of the wall.


Shiran, who came up with me onto the roof of the wolves & heyna side of the compound, looking glum. I had to take someone up there with me due to security orders...


More of the hyena


Standing in his water pool, he likes sitting there, scratching himself or drinking the water while cooling on them.


Bones round I. Note the big yellowish bone is the same one Scarlett tried having a go at. Note the changes a hyena can do...


And that's it for today, I'll bring pictures of the ice lolly round as well ^_^

*waves smoke away*

I got a job! I'm now a proud (and happy) worker in a PET SHOP in a neighboring city's mall. Yeah, Couldn't have thought of a better part-time job for me than that, huh? I'M SO HAPPY!! A hissing cockroach walked on me and a tarantula walked on me and a leopard gecko bit me and a budgy walked on me and an ara parrot missed pooping on me and rats smelled me and a siberean hamster yelled at me and *can go on forever* fun fun!!

On a different note; the hyena experiment is under a bit of problems. Here's a short video you can sort of make out my mood from:


Goodnight and happy D-Day anniversary.

The two news pieces I promised...

1. I got fired after a small, silly, bitchy tackle with a coworker to a shift who was also themanager of night team, but which was based on a very deep and annoying problem. I have work ethics so I don't talk on the phone while I'm supposed to stay available to answer costumers' calls, and I try to stay by my work station in case I'll miss a call. Said coworker and manager had a habit of having private conversation on her line so that all the calls kept streaming to me and when she wasn't at that she'd talk on one of her own cell phones and not notice calls entering her computer thus ending up getting to me etc. On my last shift the pressure of calls was phenomenal and she chose the wrong time to be bitchy about me needing to answer even more calls (I answered twice her ammount by then) instead of using the relative calm in calls to eat my dinner.
Also, two months ago I covered for their asses by staying to do a double shift until the next morning because the guys who were supposed to replace us stood us up. On the morning after I was praised and promised a big bonus for that act of niceness by two of my bosses but two months later and there's zilch from them.
Screw them, I can find better places and I have better things to do now.

2. SCHOOL'S BACK!! Last friday the lecturers finally signed a reasonable agreement with the ministry of treasury and the strike is over! Aw, man, how I missed my faculty...I even missed the toilet <3 it seems the semesters will be shortened by two weeks and some substance diducted but also we'll be learning 6 days a week and not just 5 as usual. My faclty has yet to give us the year's new time table so I'm still happy and optimistic but there are high chances that I might have to postpone some of my choice labs (invertebrates and variational bugs labs, most likely) to next year when you're supposed to complete all your choice labs and classes.
But most importantly...SCHOOL'S BAAAAAAACK!!

I am alive (or so it seems)

* I've worked six days this week, without even noticing it...damn, how did it come to this? Well, with nine days until the semester is due to be canceled by the strike for good and the professors still not willing to settle (they didn't show up to a meeting about it scheduled for yesturday...) it seems I still have time to keep gaining a financial fat layer before the disaster of how this academic year will look when it's finally started again will ruin any chance of me ever having a life beyond work and study.

* Speaking of life, me and the BF have a one month anniversary tomorrow (*squee*) and if I wasn't so cynical and shy I'd tell you exactly what I feel about it.

* I've updated my flicker account with some new pictures, including all my old hyrax pictures. As I was writing comments for each picture, I noticed how this stupid project and the treatment I get from the project guide didn't mar my enthusiasm for these strange little beasts. *sigh*

* Finished Mists of Avalon. Have you ever found yourself reading a book, knowing you're reading crap, but the writing style and the occasional promising plot twist kept you going?
Maybe I was fooled by Hallmark's production, Merlin, and I expected Morgaine to have a backbone to call her own. Zimmer Bradley took whatever hope I had of finding yet another female character to favor and crushed them; Morgaine is obsessed with who everyone marries and who gives birth to who as badly as the simple 'foolish' women she describes contemptibly.
The constant religious conversations were getting boring by the nine-hundredth time they were run and Zimmer Bradley's constant obsession with not taking sides or making too many snapping comments of Christianity were annoying.
Bradley gives no one a truly happy ending nor a revenge to any of the 'bad' characters and so leaves the reader with a sense of bitter disappointment. Sure, it was nice to read about the very early days of post-Roman england, but for god's sake; I could have picked up a history book and not this waste of time, energy and paper
However, watching Monty Python's Quest for the Holy Grail, is a wonderful cleansing experience after this book...

Am now reading Steve Jones' Almost Like A Whale.

Updates...

Work's going a little easier on me this week, though I took two extra shifts beyond what was planned. These decent work weeks might be a little wearing but as long as the strike's going they can't harm too. much.

Went to see In The Valley of Elah which is a downright brilliant movie which I recommend you all to watch. It was very life-like and completely kitsch-less save for the last scene which I'll spare you the spoiling of, Tommy Lee Jones and Susan Sarandon act so naturally and realistically you can't see it's 'Tommy Lee Jones and Susan Sarandon' anymore, but instead you see their actual characters which is a bit tricky once an actor is famous enough, and Charlize Theron is brilliant in a zero-sexuality-full-character role. Go watch it, it's a very good movie.

Things with the (now official) boyfriend (*squee*) are going smoothly and lovely but I'll spare you the gushy stuff.

However I will share with you some very romantic new pics of Sam and Scarlett bonding:

Scarlett: What? I'm not squishing him...


Scarlett: He likes it, really...


Sam: Uh....mooooom


Sam: Mooooooooom!!


Awww, they're kissing (or trying to bite each other's face off, lord knows)


"And you, my dear, are no lady..."


Cat smear I


Cat smear II


End of pic spam ^_^