UGH
As I said...UGH. I haven't been this damn sick for a long while. My lungs feel like I've been power dragging bonfire fumes, and my nose is running faster than San Jose is losing to us (By the by, I'm a FLAMES fan, living in Calgary and all *chuckle*). I was on the way to the doctor's office, when about halfway there, I smack my forehead and walk back home. The boyfriend still has my bank card. *DOH!* I need a doctor's note since I've been gone sick for three day, and the gouging bastards charge $10 for this piece of paper these days. Pathetic. So, now I have to wait until he gets home at 8PM, see if I can convince someone to drag me to the doctor's (if there's one OPEN!), and wait for 2hrs just to pay money for a piece of paper! *grrrrrr* Serves me right for being ill eh? Meh.

Well, on a more pleasant note, I was back home in Edmonton from the 7th-10th. I had a BLAST. It was really nice seeing all my old friends again; Mike, Mark, Ken D., Heather-Lynn, I love all you guys. :) It was awesome seeing my parents and brother again too.

My friend Mike drove me up (very sweet of him, eh?), and when we hit Edmonton, we drove straight to Sherwood Park, and chilled for a bit and shot the shit with my parents (this is also where I was crashing). Then we headed out to karaoke at the B-Street Bar. My friends Mark and Ken met up with us and we rocked the house. I got a standing ovation for doing Jefferson Airplane's "White Rabbit".

On Saturday, after visiting with my brother, Heather picked me up and we headed to her parent's place. There I got to see my little nephew who is now a large, talkative 5 year old. :) (I last saw him when he just turned 3) Then we headed over to Heather's place, and waited for Mark to show up. We had some Birthday cake and then headed out to a goth club called "The Suburbs". My friend Ken met me there as well, and we all had a blast. I haven't danced so much in my life! And the freak culture in Edmonton RULES! :) I was as prententious as could be; smoking clove cigarettes and drinking absynthe. ;)

On Sunday, I spent the day with my Mother in Sherwood Park, of course. :) My Mother made pork tenderloin, strawberry and spinach salad (well, I made that via her recipe), and mashed potatos w/ gravy. YUMMY! I got both my Moms a card (as I couldn't find anything else in Sherwood Park Mall). I picked up a circular saw while there since my step-mother got one that day on sale. :) Then I went out with Mike and Heather later in the evening to Ceili's Irish Pub for a few pints.

Then, come Monday, it was back to Calgary after having lunch with Heather and Sheldon at Brewster's. Mike drove me back, on three hours of sleep mind you. After dropping me off and resting for about an hour, he drove back home to Edmonton. Man, he's got more gusto than I! *L* What a depressing day that was though. After being in Edmonton again after so long, I've grown quite homesick for the place. I've been bummed about it, but, I'm planning on going for another visit on May 29th. :)

Later peeps!

Snakes And Stuff
On Saturday, April 24th, and Sunday, April 25th, TARAS (The Alberta Reptile And Amphibian Society) hosted a reptile show here in Calgary. I'm also a general board member of TARAS. :)


It was a blast as usual, and, I did not walk out empty-handed. :)


I got:

A pink toe tarantula
A male Northern Pine Snake - I named him Zuul. (There is no pine snake, there is only Zuul!!! *L*)
And a gravid (pregnant) Jungle Phase Leopard Gecko

Ken got:

A pink toe tarantula
A male Amazon Tree Boa
A male Jungle Carpet Python
A female Columbian Red Tail Boa
A female Dumeril's Boa
A female Aztec Anery Corn Snake

We both got:

A female Miami Phase Corn Snake

We got this as a gift for letting our friends from Saskatchewan stay with us for the duration of the show.


As I mentioned above, the leopard gecko was gravid when I got her. I got her on Saturday, and, by Sunday night, I had an intuitive feeling that she was ready to lay her eggs. So, I placed her in a humid nesting box overnight. When I came to check on her on Monday afternoon, she was resting beside two eggs. :D I'm so proud! I have to incubate the eggs for about 45 days. They should be due to hatch around June 10th. I'm counting the days!

So now, I have 42 snakes, 3 tarantulas, 1 scorpion, and 2 geckos. Quite the zoo eh? :)



Till next time...

METALLICA!!!!!!!!!!
I FINALLY got a chance to post about the best night in my life, let me tell you about it. :)

On Wednesday, March 24th, I got to see Metallica, it was the BEST CONCERT EVER! To make it even better, Godsmack opened for them! I got whiplash so bad, I regret nothing!

Metallica's playlist was as follows:

Blackened
Fuel
The Four Horsemem
Fade To Black
Frantic
The Memory Remains
I Disappear
St. Anger
Sad But True
Creeping Death
Battery
---------------
No Leaf Clover
Nothing Else Matters
Master Of Puppets
One
Enter Sandman
---------------
The Wait
Dyers Eve

Godsmack put on a wicked performance as well, lots of pyrotechnics (at one point, I thought Kane was coming out *LOL*). And, the singer teamed up with the drummer to put on a really awesome drum solo. Both drum sets were on rotating platforms, it was really neat.

I was sitting (well, standing) in section 106, row 15, seat 5, not a bad seat at all. :) They're coming back in 6 weeks, hopefully I'll be able to go again and get a damn t-shirt this time! *L*

Catching Up....
Wow, I sure haven't posted in here for a while. Well, since being turfed also unreasonably from the "place that shall not be named" (I seem to be on a streak since the first cursed place turfed me) I've been so much happier. I'm now in the IT field and AWAY from retail! Yay! I'm also making more money then I've ever seen in my life; doing tech support...sad eh? Meh. I'm happy. :)

Well, I'm up to 28 snakes, a gecko, two tarantulas, and a scorpion now. I have quite the zoo going. I'm hoping someday that Ken and I can do educational shows with them.

Last Saturday, I went and got my lower lip pierced. It actually wasn't all that bad, it just felt really gross going in. I really took kissing, eating, and brushing my teeth for granted before getting this! *LOL* I'm virtually back to normal now, I don't have to cut up all my food anymore with a knife and fork. *L*

My Birthday is a short 11 days away. I'm both looking forward to it and dreading it. I'm going on 25 years old. It's both a stepping stone in life, and a fast approach to middle age. *shudder*

Last weekend, I went to a 10 year anniversary reunion for a BBS I recently joined. I had such a blast and eveyone that I met was fantasic. :)

Till next time......

Changes...
Wow has a lot happened since I last posted. First off, I got undeservingly turfed from my job on the 16th. It was for some pretty petty reasons too. Basically, two weeks prior, they knew I was looking for another job, but, I hadn't given my two weeks notice, as I didn't get a call back from the place that I interviewed at. I think that just gave them the incentive to get rid of me. Basically in my termination letter, they gave reasons for things that I had been told about ONCE and things that I did several MONTHS ago. I had not once received a written warning from them. ONCE my tattoo was showing, and it was pointed out, so, I covered it. It was mentioned casually to me that I dress fairly dark and should try adding some color into my wardrobe, which I did. I took that as a helpful suggestion, not a warning, but they used that as ammo in my termination letter too. A long time ago, I was prone to being on the company phone. I stopped doing that months ago and apologized for it. No written warnings on that. That was also ammo. I ONCE called other locations to pick up shifts before consulting my manager. I got told ONCE and never did it again. Also ammo. I would organize the store if things were looking messy or out of place, they used that as ammo and also said that I was over-stepping authority doing so!!!! The DISTRICT MANAGER was usually the one telling me to rearrange stuff! They mentioned that I did it in another store, yeah, because the district manager TOLD ME TO! I did nothing but bust my ass there and show up whenever they needed me, plus, my sales kicked ass. I couldn't believe that! I've NEVER been fired from a job before, it just baffled me!

But, a week after being unemployed, I managed to find TWO jobs. I'm working every Sunday in a pet store and Monday-Friday in a technology company doing tech support and help desk. It'll be awesome money, so, this is the silver lining that I had been waiting for since my termination, it opened me up to more options and more money. :)

Working at the pet store is a blast; of course I'm working the reptile department. :D On my first day, I gave all the reptiles food and all the tarantulas and scorpions water. It was a lot of work, but, I felt at home doing all that. Thank god I know something about these critters, I didn't feel like a dolt at all at work until it came to people asking me about the fish. *L*

Speaking of reptiles, I'm up to 25 now, and I recently bought a Pink Toe Tarantula. :) Updated pics are on my snake page.

Later

Erin

The Babies Are In!!!!
Well, as I stated in my earlier post, I had new snakes coming to me. I was only expected a max of five, and my boyfriend came home with SEVEN! He came back with three Ghost Corns, two Snow Corns, one Lavender Calfornia King, and one Vietnamese Blue Beauty. If you want to see pictures of the new additions plus the ones I had beforehand, go to my Snake Page. They're all eating like champs and should be growing like weeds in no time! :) Thanks for reading! :)

Time To Napalm My Workplace
Hello all. It's been a while since my last entry thanks to how busy I've been with work. But, that will soon change since the bastards are knocking me down to 3 or 4 shifts a week. Now, tell me, does this make any sense to you? There is 13 shifts available in a Monday-Sunday work week. There is three FULL-time staff there including myself. The way the manager has the shift rotation currently is that one person gets 6 shifts, one 4, and the other 3 per week. How is that fair? Logically, I figured that if two of us are given 4 shifts and the other 5, and rotate who gets the 5th shift every week, that would make it as fair as possible. So, as a result, I'm going to be losing a hell of a lot of money for no damn reason. I honestly think it's the company's way of slowly weaseling me out of there. I'm most likely paranoid, but, I could also be unfortunately dead on with my feelings.

On a lighter note, my boyfriend is picking up some new snakes today. I'm not sure entirely which he's getting yet as he's stated several options. I just told him, "I don't care! Just come home with snakes!" *LOL* So, I could accquire anywhere from 3-6 new babies today. :) I'll be sure to post when they come in. :)

I'm Happy.....
As the header states, I'm happy! Hell hath frozen over! Well, I actually blame this blasphemy on my medication. :) I decided that my severe mood swings were affecting my job and my relationship on a serious level, so, it was time to bite the bullet. Naw, I'm not psycho by any means, but, I'm not exactly a normal individual either. Hey, normal is boring, and I believe that bi-polar people are quite exciting at times. Rather than bitching and brooding about my illness, I laugh at it, I mean, I have a DAMN clean house thanks to my manias! I was seriously against taking medication, but, it seems to be the trick for me right now, especially with all that's going on in my life RE: my relationship, job, finances, goals, etc.

Things overall are going well, I'm working on patching things up in my relationship. I really do see hope with this one. Needless to say, this is "the one". I say that this IS rather than MIGHT because I've never been more certain in my life. I believe that when people meet the right one, they just know it in their hearts as I do now. There's no explanation for it. The moment I first spoke with him, something in my heart told me that I'd be spending a long time with him. Never have I ever known love this true and unselfish. He is truely a blessing to have in my life. I mean, sure, we fight, but, our love is so strong that we can survive anything. And believe me, that fact has been proven.

Well, tonight I'm going out to karaoke; and it's going to be unusual for me because I'll be neither smoking nor drinking. I quit smoking over a month ago (June 16th), and, I can't drink on this medication without suffering serious consequences. Well, pop is cheaper, and, I won't be going into work hungover tomorrow morning. :)

Shit, I hope this good mood lasts. Hmm...I'll give it 48 hours. ;)

What Dragon Am I

A GOLD Dragon Lies Beneath!

I took the Inner Dragon online quiz and found out I am a Gold Dragon on the inside. My Inner Dragon is the most honorable of all. Golds are the third rarest of all the dragons (after Platinum and Chromatic dragons) and have a station in society that reflects their rarity. I am what one might call a Draconic Knight. Golds live by a strict code of chivalry and commitment. Remember Draco? Yep, Gold Dragon. My appearance is fearsome and all-mighty but I'd never stoop so low as to bring any harm to a human. I'm one of only two dragon types that are aligned "Lawful Good" and demonstrate great magical proficiency. My piety, beauty, wisdom, and inner strengrth are absolutely without parallel.

Of course, being a Gold Dragon isn't all high ethics and codes. I like to fly around scaring things, advise humans in their affairs, and shapeshift. Strike that, I LOVE to shapeshift. And I'm great at it. In fact, who's to say I'm not really a Gold Dragon after all? My favorable attributes are honor, truth, kindness, gold, wisdom, bravery, and trustworthiness. If anyone threatens or tries to kill me, I could strike back with my breath weapon - Fire. But then, no one's tried anything that stupid in the last couple thousand years. After all, I'm about 54 feet long.

HEH HEH HEH...KICK ASS!