dragons have feelings, too

Today was not exactly the kind of day I'd have liked to have had, returning to LA and all. For one thing, I didn't get home and into bed until after midnight (my plane was delayed due to weather and stupid, f'n Primetime Shuttle just left me at the airport). I then woke up 7:30am southern time...5:30am LA time. Yup, I'm tired and cranky and not in the mood for how my day unfolded.

First thing first. I returned a call to a recruiter, one I really like. She has a prospect for me that's, how shall I put this, outside the box...way out. I'm not big on taking leaps of faith when it comes to supporting myself and why the hell there isn't an assistant position at a good company in the valley is beyond me (but apparently, there are very few positions in any career at present, a sad fact that will get worse before ever getting any better, or so I'm told). I keep plugging away and I'm willing to hear other options, but it disappointed me that my favorite recruiter was presenting me with this. Now, I have to gently tell her I'm not interested and hope she still helps me out. She should and likely will, but I get nervous in these kinds of situations and could have done without it.

After the call (and with my stomach in knots), I got up, dressed and off to pick up my little Boo from cricket camp (Scales 'N' Tails). I was excited to retrieve her and get her back to my place. I figured she'd be stressed out, but what I hadn't banked on is just how far stressed out she'd be. When I walked through the store's front door, my eyes landed on Ashley, who was walking to the front from the back. I saw the look of relief and nervousness in her pretty brown eyes right away.

"Hey, you're back!" She flashed me a half-hearted smile and headed straight to where Boo's terrarium was sitting in the reptile area.

"How'd she do?" I asked, preparing for the worst.

"Well, she messed up her terrarium." I already knew she'd do that. "But the really weird thing is she hasn't eaten since you left her here."

My jaw dropped. "Boo hasn't eaten in over six days?! You're kidding."

"No. We fed her lots of worms too, but she just buried them in her sand. I've never seen a beardie go that long without giving in to food. They get very attached to their handlers, but this was even more so than I've seen."

My stomach really started hurting at hearing that. Last thing I would have wanted is for my temperamental lizard to go on a hunger strike! Ashley then proceeded to tell me how she'd shown Boo to a male beardie they just got in the store (I so want to buy him but I don't want to breed baby beardies!). Boo waved her arm at him which is what the female does when she's showing submissiveness and flirting. Great. Boo not only acted like a spoiled brat by tearing up her terrarium (repeatedly) and refusing to eat, but she also acted like a little hussy with the first male beardie she's seen. Can't really blame her. I've been known to act like a hussy myself.

As soon as I picked Boo up from out of her terrarium, she froze and closed both eyes. I then put her on my shoulder, and she buried her snout into my neck. "See?" Ashley said, clearly happy to give Boo back to me, "she loves you."

Yeah. Not sure I'd call it love, but apparently dragons have feelings, too, and Boo clearly did not care for cricket camp (except for the flirting). I promptly drove her home and let her walk around. Only she didn't walk, she ran...all over the apartment and jumped up on the screens in my French doors, which I had to keep pulling her down from. I then shut the French doors to keep her off the screens. Next thing I knew, she was jumping up and into the glass on the doors, then sliding down. I'd pull her away from the doors, only to have her run over to my bookcase to knock photos over. And so it went...all.day.long.



And forget food, cause it seems as though the hunger strike hasn't ended. She did manage to eat one worm (to which I playfully called her 'worm breath'), but after that she cemented her snout shut and gave me stink-eye every time I rubbed a worm over the tip of her mouth. I almost lost my temper with her, but given that her beard kept turning black (with no provocation), I surmised that this acting-out was her way of expressing anger and hurt over being sent back to the shop that sold her. Lizards aren't dumb, at least this one isn't, anyway, and I'm pretty sure she knew exactly where I'd dropped her off and for the past six days had no clue I'd be back to retrieve her. Poor thing. Finally, she is asleep in her terrarium. Just like a child throwing a crying tantrum, she wore herself out.



Now, I'm exhausted. I did sneak out for an hour and a half to ride Nellie up some sickeningly steep canyons in my neighborhood and to ride to the grocery store. I needed the exercise to mellow out. Maybe Boo's unhappiness rubbed off on me, but I couldn't shake the blues all day. I don't like feeling depressed and will rarely allow myself to be, but today no amount of telling myself to 'htfu' would work and I just ended up annoyed. I think coming back after a great visit home and jumping back into my off-kilter life wasn't as easy as I thought it would be. I seriously have to get motivated.

I did write an article today (and am writing two more tomorrow) and job searched, but I never felt as if I was in the groove, whatever groove that may be. Oh, and my place is a mess (again!), but mostly cause I've yet to fully unpack and have clothes all over the place. I'll regain order tomorrow after I get a really good night's sleep - something Boo needs as well. I suspect tomorrow morning, she and I both will back to normal.