Prodigal Daughter

Yes, I know I've been MIA for a few weeks, but I've just been swamped with getting ready for a recital with my teacher's studio. Tahnkfully, that happened Friday and it went well.


That's a picture of me right after the recital. Can you spot the relief and exhaustion?

In the interim, Coral managed to escape and get found all in the space of a week. She was strolling around the kitchen's window sill, ejoying her freedom. My mom found her.

I might, MIGHT get a carpet python baby. A bunch of reptiles were confiscated from someome one trying to smuggle them in and they were handed over to the Wildlife Center (the reptiles, not the people. Although how fun would that be? Locking criminals up with George the Bald Eagle)If no one claims then, legally, in the next 90 days, anyone is free to take them.
We'll see what happens.

New Year Cleaning

It's already been a long week and it's only Tuesday.
Yesterday I spent the day cleaning the library/snake room after I found some fleas in there. Fleas don't do anything to snakes except annoy them, but since my babies are extra picky when it comes to their environment, I felt guilty enough to take it upon myself to clean.
I moved all the tanks to my parent's room and you had to see the faces on some of the snakes. Looking at me as if I had lost my mind. Barbossa u=just cringed in a corner. But at least now they are more comfortable, I hope.
I was supposed to have a lesson today but my teacher called to cancel because he is sick. I have all this time on my hands and I am bored. Are you bored?

Ducky

I just came back from a voice lesson. Jesus I am tired.
Tomorrow I have another one and then I'm heading over to see the concert of one of my teacher's students.
Which means I won't be able to feed my snake babies tomorrow. And THAT means that there will be a lot of reptilian attitude to deal with. Topkapi already thinks my feeding schedule is crap so she is not going to be ecstatic about a further delay. They are going to be sooo pissed.

So, my sister brought home a baby duck yesterday from the wildlife center. We are going to find him a momma duck who'll adopt him. He is just the cutest, noisiest, most huggable thing in the world. I'm a bit concerned that he'll get seriously imprinted on humans, but we're doing what we can. I can hear him peeping for attention as I write this. Must..resist...the...cuteness.

Feeding Frenzy Friday Part 16

Guess what? Tybalt did not eat. Yeah, it's no big surprise to me either, but I was really hoping that he would get back on frozen/thawed after last week's success. Now he's going to have to wait for next Wednesday for his pinkie.
Talulah ate fine and Damascus, the little greedy one, ate three fuzzies. Two that were originally meant for him and Tybalt's. Of course, he still asked for another one.

Coral was strangely reluctant to eat her mouse. She did finally take it, but after a lot of goading on my part. I don't know if maybe she wasn't hungry, she is a grown snake after all, and can go longer without food. I'm glad she did end up eating it and she is now curled up in her water bowl, digesting her meal.
Topkapi is looking really dull which means she must be getting ready to shed. She'll probably still eat tonight, though.

I watched "Nine" with my parents last night. I did not enjoy it, they did. It seemed like a cheap imitation of "Chicago", and no one except, maybe, for Fergie, could sing. Is it really so hard to find actors that are possibly not as famous but can actually sing? If it's a musical, there should be real, honest-to-God singers, period. Apart from that, the acting was fine. Of course, Daniel Day-Lewis was superb, as in everything he does. The rest of the cast was alright, not memorable, but not really annoying either. It just felt like a "blah" movie.

Media Frustration

If you were to pick up my phone and press any of the keys, this is what you would see. The beautiful profile of Topkapi laying on my bed. She makes me smile every time I use my phone.
She's been really lazy for the last few days, not really doing much. I took her out today before I started practicing my music and put her on my bed, to see if that would get her into her exploring mood, but no, she just headed straight for my pillows and curled up. Since snakes are deaf (they do feel low vibrations), I can practice all I want without disturbing her. Sometimes I practice in the library, where my cat Ophelia lives, who can most definitely hear, and SHE does not enjoy it one bit. I've stopped doing that because it doesn't do much for my ego to see her with her ears pulled back in disgust.

Why is there nothing worthwhile to watch on TV? Really, I flip through the channels and nothing. Not one measly snake show. But it's not just right now, it's pretty much all the time. I'm reluctantly watching "True Blood" on Sundays, but it's such a weird show. I have no problem with the concept, with the gore (which does seem a little tamer this season), but when the two main characters are so revolting in every way, I really can't be that enthusiastic about it.
I watch "Dexter", which is a fabulous show, but it's not on until September. "House" is another one that I used to love (because I am obsessed with anything remotely resembling Sherlock Holmes), but that has now been disappointing me in its romantic blather. Sherlock Holmes would never be in love, tsk, tsk. But I guess they had to make House a bit more human-like.
I used to love "The Cleaner" but that's been cancelled, and "In Treatment" another obsession at my house, is on shaky ground. There's supposed to be a third season, but who really knows?
Anyway, I just wanted to get the frustration out of my system before I throw the remote at the TV.

This is why I love books.

Improvisations

I just came back from a voice lesson and I haven't had a chance to handle any of my babies yet. My teacher (an amazing one, by the way) wants me to put together a recital, to get me back on my feet again. It's been a while since I've performed, for more than one reason, but I trust myself enough to know that I will be just fine when I get up there. I know how to deal with performer's anxiety...and hopefully I did not just jinx myself. The last thing I need is to hear the introduction to a song and faint, or fall on the floor in a seizure. The drama...

Explain this to me, my sister has asked me to bake a pecan pie. In June. I bought all the ingredients yesterday, but I still can't get around the fact that she wants a pecan pie on the first day of summer. I don't have corn syrup, though, so I am going to make one that doesn't require it. Improvisation is one of my skills.

Barbossa has still not shed, and neither has Coral. She is still blessedly in her cage, and has not attempted to escape again. Really, I promise, her cage is not substandard at all. It is actually a beautiful one, with clean mulch and fresh water. What's the problem, Coral? I am really not that bad, you could do worse.

Ok, I was almost mauled by blue jays.
I was minding my own business, baking, when I see a big blue jay land on the ledge outside the kitchen window. I thought "ah, how cute". I kept going on with my business. After three or four times of this, I thought, either the bird smells the pie already or he's a spy contracted to track me down. Since I have not committed any crimes against the avian population, I went outside to see what was going on. Below the ledge we have a bush, and there was a little ball of blue feathers. A baby blue jay. I knelt down beside it and picked it up to make sure that is was fine. Of course, it let out a blood curdling cry that had the parents on me in less than a second. I got pecked all over. I examined the baby, and he seemed fine but was still too small to fly. I looked all around for a sign of a nest and nothing. If the baby were laying in a safer place I would have left it, but I knew that as soon as I let any of our dogs out it would be inside some one's mouth very quickly.
I went back inside, put on a hat, because being pecked in the head is not fun, and brought out a container to place him in. I think the parents would have torn me to pieces if they had been able. Granted, I was birdnapping their baby.
So now he is on the big table we have outside, in the container, where he is at least safer. I left food outside for the parents to eat and to feed to the baby, and I can see them and hear them from the computer. They are really not happy, but I think they and I would be a lot less happy if the baby was torn to shreds. We'll see what happens.

New Lands

Tybalt ate his live pinkie yesterday, so my evil action of the week is completed. He has to go back to eating frozen mice. Not only is it more convenient if he did, but it would also make me feel less like the villain in a fairytale, holding the defenseless mouse to be eaten by her minion and pet snake.

I also gave Barbossa his Pedialyte bath. He did not enjoy it one bit, but I did manage to get him to drink some of it, so if he is even a little dehydrated, he got a good dose of electrolytes to help him out.
I put him in a big container and I was worried of him trying to get out, like Topkapi does, crawling along the container until she finds the rim and then making a dash to freedom. I shouldn't have worried, however. Barbossa refused to move, as if staying really still could make him disappear. No such luck.
When I picked him up to dry him and put him back in his cage, he seemed so relieved. He crawled to his favorite spot in his cage, curled up, and for all intents and purposes appeared to be knocked out. Oh, the horror...

Today my mom and I are going to see "Mary Poppins: The Musical". My mom loves the movie and so she wanted to go see it. I, on the other hand, can't stand Julie Andrews so any movie she's a part of does not score any points with me, but since the musical is blessedly free of her teeth-grinding sweetness, I have hopes of enjoying it.
I have never mentioned that I sing. I omitted that consciously because it is the most integral part of my self and maybe I didn't want to share that at the time, but now I don't see why not. I've studied voice for 12 years, so half my life, and it is my passion (apart from my beautiful ophidian babies) and what I hope to do for the rest of my life. Fate is tricky, so we'll see. My main goal is to sing classically, but I also welcome musical theater or really any experience to sing. Hence the Mary Poppins field trip. I really don't know that much about the musical theater voices that are out there, I've always been so focused on the opera world. But recently I've widened my horizons, stopped being quite so snobby and realized there are some really beautiful, non-classical pieces of music out there. Step by step I am exploring virgin territory. Well, at least for me.