Job Hunting

Once again I am on the hunt for a job.  I have just given notice for my current job, so will be out of an income after 2 weeks. This sucks. Why am I quitting? Let's just say it's on the list of the jobs that I don't have enough patience/willpower to keep going.

Here is a list of jobs that I have done that I will not be pursuing a career in anytime soon:

1. Hostessing: I have a semi-phobia of phones, and I'm not very good at the balancing act.
2. Waitressing: I'm somewhat hard of hearing and speak too softly. People don't understand me most of the time, especially in a busy restaurant. When I get embarrassed from speaking too softly, I speak even more softly. Positive feedback. The biology definition, not colloquial.
3. Bird caretaker: as much as I love the birds (and I really do), I started to have nightmares about trying to resuscitate the dead chicks that we feed the birds. I knew then it was time to quit.
4. Work with children: as much as I love children, I can't work with them. They are exhausting!
5. Home support worker: I don't like the 24-hour shifts, and being a servant to someone's every whim, especially when it comes to personal matters.
6. Tutor: though I still work as a tutor, I realize that a lot of the people that need tutors need them because they don't have the motivation to learn on their own. They also don't want to learn with a tutor, and often resent me being there trying to teach them.
7. Teacher: I did my TESL practicum and despised it. Although I know I could suck it up and get the job done, I won't be having a good time, and the students probably won't either.
8. Office Work: again with the phones. Also I feel the pressure to interact positively with the clients. I'm not a big people person, so this is extra difficult.
9. Kitchen Staff: I volunteered in a commercial kitchen for awhile. Not my cup of tea. I need windows!
10. Dealing with mentally unhealthy people: I tried it. I did my best. It is not for me.

Here is a list of what I think I like:

1. Acting/performing: I don't care if it's background work or an actual role. I love it!
2. Animals: I love taking care of animals, especially horses, so long as it doesn't involve the cutting up animals for food.
3. Making things: I have done a bit of manufacturing and actually enjoyed it. The problem with this is that the place where I worked didn't have enough hours for me.
4. Critiquing: I love tearing things apart in the pursuit of perfection. This brings me on to the next one.
5. Editing/proofreading: I love figuring out ways to make things sound better, if I have the time for it. I also find spelling and obvious grammatical errors all of the time in books. I often circle these and ponder sending a list to the editor. I read a lot anyway, so this would be a good career. Maybe.
6. Traveling: I really enjoy seeing new places and experiencing new things.
7.  Writing: I do enjoy writing, but none of what I write is good enough for anything monetary, and I'm too impatient to write a novel. I attempted and got through 5 pages.
8. Research: MAYBE. Depends on what kind of research. If it's hands-on, collaborative research that deals with relevant issues, I might actually enjoy it. Ethnography would fit lovingly in here.
9. Learning languages: if I could get paid to learn languages, I would be in heaven.
10. Community development: this is more of a dream, I don't know if I would even enjoy it, but I would like to go into small, distressed communities and help them re-find themselves, revitalize their language and culture, and start a creative process of economic development that would hopefully benefit both the individuals and the entire community.


So I have a little bit to work with. Not sure if I'll find anything suitable from the second list on Craigslist. Tee hee! We'll see though.

Pickle and Kita spooning

Baby Bunnies :(

The blackberries are delicious right now. It was a late harvest, but they are now juicy and sweet. I decided to pick a bucket full when I got home from work today. I set out with my bucket, happy as a clam, listening to music, my dog running around joyously. That was until she sniffed out some baby bunnies.

I had never heard a bunny scream until that moment.

My husband had warned me that a couple of months ago our dog, Kita, found and ate a few baby bunnies. He was able to rescue one, but the others were goners. "One-bite snacks" as he said.

I suppose this notion was in the back of my mind when I heard the scream. I turned and there was my dog, tail wagging, staring at the ground. I told her off and rushed toward the sound. I saw the thing on the ground and couldn't tell what it was. At first I thought it was a rat, and if it were, I would have nothing to do with it. It didn't take much longer for me to realize it was a bunny. I quickly swooped it up so my curious dog wouldn't bother it anymore. It immediately calmed down, but I noticed a bite mark in its side with dried blood. The mark was too small to be my dog's, the blood to dry to be fresh, but I didn't know for sure, so I went and sat down with it cuddled against my stomach. Then I heard another scream. There was another one! I swooped up that one as well as I noticed a third crawl off somewhere. by the time I was able to grab the third, I couldn't find him. I looked all around for him without any luck. I cuddled them both to me and wondered what I should do. I looked at their injuries: the second one appeared to have a few holes in his head, one eye swollen shut, and a broken foot. I pondered the following:

1. Could I keep them and nurse them back to health?
           ~ but how old are they? are they old enough not to eat milk?
           ~ can I take them somewhere? where to take them?
           ~ should I find their nest and put them back?

I looked for things online. Most sites said DO NOT TRY TO REHABILITATE THEM YOURSELF. But I didn't know where I could bring them. I thought maybe I could put them back in their nest and they would heal on their own. But their wounds were pretty deep. The first one had a hole on his side that revealed something white, probably an intestine?

I started looking again for the nest, and found it. It was in rough shape, so I decided to try and build a new one and leave them there for the mom. As I was building the new nest, I saw the third one. I checked to see if it was breathing, but it wasn't. I picked him up and put him on a rock to see if I could tell how he died. He had blood on him, but not the puncture marks like the other ones did. I thought: If only I had gotten him first! He may not have died! Then I saw a white maggot-like thing crawl from out of his side and then crawl back in. Even if I had gotten to him first, and he didn't die, it wouldn't have been long until he did.

I eventually found a place called Critter Care Wildlife Society, and brought them the bunnies. The wounds were at least a day old, the person there told me, and it looked like cat bites. It was a relief to know that it wasn't my dog that had gotten them. If it weren't for Kita, I wouldn't have found them, and they surely would have died there. They may still die, but at least they have a better chance at survival now than before.

You may be thinking: So what? They're just bunnies. Bunnies reproduce at a rapid rate. If you wouldn't have found them they would have died anyway, so why rescue them? Besides that, they're wild and won't last long before they're eaten by a coyote anyway.

#2 (horizontal) I have less hope for this little one, but he was still struggling to live. He liked to hide his head in my fingers.

#1 I have much hope for this one. Clean the wound and a little sew job and this guy should be on his way. He was so cute, he would nuzzle me.

But I couldn't do that. My heart would never let me. I can only hope that they recover and grow up into big, healthy bunnies.