Friday, August 12, 2016

Update

Wow.  2 years since my last post.  In truth I would have guessed it had been longer.  I guess I'm not the kind that feels the need to pour my heart out to the cold, cruel internet all the time.  Just sometimes...

Ed moved to Berkeley and I learned to live on my own.  I liked it.  No one to answer to.  Ice cream for dinner.  It was good.  I did get lonely eventually, though.

Work.  VCA was the pits.  The pay was way below standard for a licensed RVT.  It was an excellent first job, though.  I got comfortable dealing with emergencies, loved interacting with and educating clients, but I stayed far longer than I should have.  I loved my coworkers, though, and I think that's why I stayed so long.  Then they got a new corporate manager and everything went downhill fast.  Luckily, at the same time, a seal and sea lion rescue and rehabilitation place had some contract work.

So, I've been working there on 3 month contracts for over a year now.  They are almost ready to finally hire someone.  My whole life is hanging on this decision and it is driving me insane.  First, I got evicted...  Wait.  Let me back up first.

So, for months on and off I was looking on OkCupid and meeting a few guys here and there.  Some were ridiculously bad dates.  Most were just ok, but nothing I had interest in continuing.  I had gone on like THE WORST date with one guy that I was really into from his profile and had another lined up the next weekend that I wasn't so sure about when a third guy sent me a message.  I didn't want to go on the date that was already scheduled, so I blew him off.  Figured I'd go on this one last date since it was a commitment and then quit again for awhile.  But, right after that 2nd date when I had got home early because this whole internet dating thing was totally stupid and a waste of time I got one more message from that other guy I had blown off.  There was something in the message's tone as well as its contents that made me decide to hang on for just one more potentially bad date.

So, Clark and I met at a tiki bar.right around the block from my apartment.  We had one drink amongst the zombies that were hanging out waiting for the zombie walk to start (or maybe it was after -who knows?).  The conversation started out awkward and shaky, but toward the end of our drinks I thought there might be something there.  We left and went for a walk.  We walked around the entire west side of the island.  Right past my apartment twice.  I bit my tongue and kept where I lived to myself for safety sake, but I was tempted...

Now there's no secretes 'cause we live together.  It's going great.  I'd never imagined I'd be able to find someone like him or have a relationship like this one.  Now my fingers are crossed for us being like this forever.  I think we're both committed to making that happen.

So, back to the original story.  I moved in with him.  Landlord was ok and then not ok and then ok and then not ok with the dog living there.  To be fair, it was a tiny studio with 2 adults and a 70lb dog, but we were getting by just fine.  That is, until we were evicted.  Well, I think we were forced out, not technically evicted.  All of the neighbors were forced out too.  It sucked.  Finding another apartment with the dog was super hard, but we just moved to a 2 bedroom duplex in Cotati with a yard and it's been great so far!

Work at the seal/sea lion rehab place.  It's definitely a cool thing to be a part of, but there are definite ups and downs.  What the Center does is great.  They are committed to their mission to help seals and sea lions in need of medical care, but also public education and science.  At any given time they have 20 to 30 research projects looking at the impact of antibiotic use, environmental toxins, food sources and reproduction, and even human behavior and neurologists looking at sea lion brains to better understand human epilepsy. Cool stuff!

But, some of my skills are rusting away.  There are days I'm on top of the world because I rocked a difficult anesthesia or even a CSF tap or something else that I'd never get to do in a regular vet practice.  But there are also days when I do nothing but restrain animals and get treated like I can't be trusted to do anything but take a length measurement and do nasal and rectal swabs.

Right in the middle of our move to Cotati last month my car threw a Check Engine light.  It has a multitude of other issues too that make me think its time is limited.  So, I've spent weeks researching cars, gas mileage, and the feasibility of an electric due to my long commute.  The problem is, same as finding a new apartment, the decision really hinges on where I'm working.  If I'm not commuting 88 miles a day to the seal place then I don't really need an electric car with all of its unknowns like how long the batteries will last, capacity degradation, etc.  So, I'm trying to hold out until they make a hiring decision by the end of September.

And that's where I'm at.  You're all caught up.  Maybe I'll post again in a couple more years!