My Job

There are some wonderful bonuses to working at an animal shelter:

-I get to dress "down" for work.
-I don't have to worry about the cat hair covering my clothing before I leave in the morning.
-If something annoying happens at work the cats will speak for me: grrrrrrrrr.... ffffffft.... hisssssss.... rrrrow!
-I have an automatic lap warmer as I sit at my desk.
-There is ALWAYS someone grouchier than me.
-I get to snuggle while I'm working.
-If I'm distracted while I'm trying to work it isn't my fault.
-I can spend all day with people who are equally feline-crazed.
-I can talk about the fact that I want a fourth cat and people TOTALLY understand and encourage it.
-There is always someone around to make me laugh.

So I feel pretty fortunate to have the job I do. I'm still getting used to it in many ways and am kind of lost sometimes, but I think that it'll get easier.

Website updates

I have moved Cara's old website to her .Mac webspace:

http://homepage.mac.com/carafakes/

which features a small portion of art portfolio shots we took last October.

Psycho Animals

Where do you find a patriotic cat, a purple swan-rooster, a long-eared guinea pig, a red fertility rabbit, and my tribute to the poor piggie that was roasted at a party I attended today? All baking in my oven. My sculpy creations for the evening. There are a couple of others, but I can't describe them. Too weird for words.

Aside from being reminded why I am once again a vegetarian, I had a good time at the pig roast in Hammond Indiana today. Food? I had some nice salads. Drink? A Dr. Pepper. Music? Not sure. Seemed to have been lost in the endless banter about hi-fi gear. (I heard the same song,"You Get What You Give" by the New Radicals quite a few times and a live band playing in the backyard.) Party favors? I couldn't resist. I had a cigarette. Just one, but by God I enjoyed every last stinky puff. People? Too weird for words. Cool though.

After a full day I'm ready to take my little guys out of the oven and move them into the bedroom so that they can keep Ashbury, Tammy, and Rebirth the rabbits company. Happy M day weekend everyone!

Play

An assignment for my Professional Development class this week is to play at least once a day. We actually have to keep track of it, note how we feel beforehand, during and afterwards. I had totally forgotten about the assignment until this evening when Dave and I stopped at Borders. As soon as I remembered, I went to the children's book section, something I don't think I've ever done, and read Madonna's book, The English Roses. I also looked around a little, and almost bought this refrigerator magnet making kit. Dave met me there eventually, we looked at the stuffed animals, found a bizarre book called Amelia and Eleanor Take a Ride (Amelia Earhart and Eleanor Roosevelt! Oh man, the illustrations are hilarious!), and decided that the Cat in the Hat is actually a tuxedo cat! I didn't end up buying anything, and to be honest I don't think I gave the exercise enough time. However, I did have fun while I was there and I think next time I will buy something. I just didn't see anything that really struck me.

I tried this whole play thing a couple of years ago when I was reading The Artist's Way by Julia Cameron. I was supposed to take myself on an artist's date once a week for several months for the purpose of fulfilling the yearnings of my inner child or something. It never worked. I could never get myself motivated to go on the dates. To me having a structured outing like that is too organized for my "inner child" who, I imagine would prefer to be spontaneous. I envision running in a sprinkler with my clothes on, eating Play-Doh, making mud stews and actually tasting them, cutting my own hair, painting a dog's toe nails, dressing up in men's clothing, and making fun of teachers.

I do many of the things I did as a child. I still paint. I still pet cats. I still like aquariums, books, movies, being tickled, teased, going for car rides, watching trains, eating ice cream, laughing till my sides hurt, and not doing the dishes! My job lets me play, and so does school. I don't make a lot of money, but I feel good about the fact that I can work full time as most adults do, get health insurance, go to school, AND be in a place where if you're not playing with or stroking the cats while you're working there is definitely something wrong with you!

So I don't know how I'm going to play tomorrow, but I like not having any rules as far as how I go about doing this. Julia said I had to do Artist Dates alone. Well, I prefer including people or cats if possible, and if I am by myself I may just stay at home and play. Why should I have to go somewhere?

By the way, I liked Madonna's book. I would recommend it for any little girl, but I don't think she really drives the lesson home as well as she could have. It's still worth reading, with cute illustrations, and Madonna's own bitchiness showing through every now and then.

Ringworm

Ringworm Ringworm Ringworm Ringworm Ringworm Ringworm Ringworm Ringworm Ringworm Ringworm Ringworm Ringworm. There. I got it out of my system. I will not freak out if I contract ringworm from working at an animal shelter. I will not imagine that I am itching at ringworm every time I feel an itch. I will take care of my itchiness by applying moisturizing lotion to my DRY SKIN - not my RINGWORMED skin - my DRY SKIN, which is itchy because it is DRY. Now, if I come home with ringworm it is not the end of the world. It is NOT actually a worm. It will not last long. It can be treated. I can avoid giving it to my cats. Even if my cats get it they will be fine. Okay, I'm going to go take a shower now and apply lotion afterwards to my DRY flaky skin, and I will not think about ringworm for the rest of the evening. If I do have a thought about ringworm I will quickly meditate on it and let it pass. I will not obsess.

Pink

Why did I choose the most visually obnoxious blog template? Why did I wear pink and black flip flops to school today whey they sliced into my feet so badly I had to limp home? Why are my slippers, pajama bottoms, shirt and bra all various shades of pink?

I don't know when this pink thing started for me, but I probably should credit Phillip Guston somewhat. I mean just LOOK at his paintings and you'll see. Go ahead. If you don't know who Phillip Guston is do a google search take a look. Luscious, sexy pinks with grays, blacks, reds and pale greens and blues! If you don't like what you see right away, give him a chance.

Anyway, I like pink so much I even had pink hair for awhile this winter. Dark pink anyway. I guess it makes me happy and it used to be a color I'd pretty much avoid, thinking that it might be too feminine or pretty for me.

Now I'm obsessed. Apparently I'm not the only one. At school Cynthia, my teacher, had a pink backpack and a pink water bottle. Keri had a new pink purse with a pink cell phone case attached to it and pink shoes! Jennifer at work is hoping to order pink t-shirts with the Tree House logo on them. Pink everywhere!

I guess it symbolizes childhood for me a little bit too. When I was in second grade I had a pink leotard for ballet class at the YMCA. My teacher could never remember my name so she called me the "little pink girl" or something like that when I messed up. Come to think of it I don't think I wore much pink after that until now. I also didn't stay in ballet for very long.

Did I mention that we have a pink wall in our apartment? You can credit Dave for that one. It was his idea during his crusade to eliminate the all white walls of our apartment. I love it, though, and think it makes our living space much more inviting.

What's next? Pink cats? Pink glasses frames? Probably just some more pink paintings. Thank you, Phillip!

School

I have school today from 1:15-9:45. On Thursdays I have two lecture classes in a row: Professional Development III and Anatomy II. After not having been in school for seven years it is a bit of a challenge for me to sit still that long! Luckily the teachers are great. I adore Dr. Kelli, who taught Anatomy I, and so far I really like Cynthia, a CMT who teaches Prof. Dev. III. I'm not sure who will teach Anatomy II, as the first class is this evening.

Massage school is turning out to be a really positive part of my life. I feel like I made the right decision to go, and let me tell you, after feeling like I've made some very bad decisions concerning furthering my education in the past it feels GREAT to know that I've finally made a good one. On Tuesdays we have Massage I, and basically it involves practicing massage on each other for four hours. Ahhh... I sleep better, I have more energy, my skin clears up, and I'm in a good mood afterwards! This of course gives me faith in the entire profession and the importance of touch.

I like my classmates too. We are so very different from each other, and I am the oldest out of the bunch, but this gives me a different perspective on life and relating to others. I don't have many friends that are younger than me, and I'm finding that they have a lot to teach me. Sometimes I feel like an old fart. My colleagues (at work too, as most of them are younger than me also) remind me not to take life too seriously and to have fun. It is so easy to forget that.

Anyway, I'm off to class.

Me? A blog?

Okay, the the fact that I'm doing this is a REALLY big deal for me. I normally wouldn't consider myself someone who would take the plunge and actually put myself out "there" like this, but I woke up this morning on my day off and couldn't get the idea of having my own blog out of my head. I should also thank Leah Jones, friend and fellow-blogger for the inspiration and motivation to do so.

I suppose it is really about wanting to connect with my family and closest friends who happen to be scattered all across the United States: Kansas, Alabama, Ohio, Oregon, and Pennsylvania. I miss everyone so much and I want to share my life with people in a way that doesn't involve long-distance phone calls. I also wanted a place to post photos of my life here in Chicago with Dave, Adat, Allie, Harrison and the fishies, and to share my paintings and drawings.

So, after mulling this blog idea over for the past several months and finally waking up this morning with the urge to really do it, here I am.

I should mention that the title of this blog started out to be "Cara Cares", but was quickly vetoed by my husband who had some strong feelings about it. He came up with the new name, which I actually think is quite appropriate!