Accomplishing Escapism

 On Friday I skipped work to have a mole removed from my foot.  The mole was not cancerous, but my dermatologist said it was definitely a "high risk" blemish - words that made me nervous enough to have the whole thing cut out.  So now I have four stitches in the really thin skin right about my heel on the inside of my right foot.  It hurts to walk, so I've been moving in this kind of twisted club foot-esque fashion.  When strangers ask me why I'm limping, I've been telling them mysteriously that I have a congenital birth defect.

But seriously, if I don't know you, why would you care about my foot?  Or expect me to share?

Before I got my parrot, I did a lot of reading on them - what they eat, what their habits are, that kind of thing.  Because I am a responsible pet owner.  Almost everything I read said that conures like to have hidey holes, things to poke their heads in, and things to sleep in.  So when I set up Dizzy's sleeping cage I included a fuzzy sleeping tent.  I had no idea if he was actually using it or not, because he always wakes up before I do; but Monday morning, I slept all the way through to my alarm and realized Dizzy wasn't making noise in his cage, waiting to be let out.  I pulled the sheet off and had a split second panic attack because I couldn't see him in the cage at all - until I noticed the long red tail feathers poking out the end of the fuzzy tent.  He didn't move or make a sound until I tugged on his tail feathers, wherein he immediately poked his head out the other end all "What?  A guy can't get five more minutes?"

And it was pretty much the cutest thing ever.

There are three firms that work on the floor that my dad's firm is on.  One is a two-man team that just broke off of my dad's firm.  They're very used to using the assistants in the office to do their filing and such, but one of them is such an asshole that as soon as they formed their own firm all of us were like "Oh good, we don't have to deal with them anymore."  But since they do still need administrative help, I've been hired to do part time work for them (about 5-7 hours a week) at an additional income of $20 an hour (which is slightly more than my normal hourly rate).  As a consequence, I will end up staying later or coming in earlier more often so as not to affect my salary, but hey, extra cash is extra cash.  I will gladly come in an hour early to the tune of an extra $100 a week.

I got my shipping notice for my copy of Star Trek.  While I'm slightly annoyed that I don't have it NOW THIS INSTANT, I'm willing to wait for the sake of the discounted price I paid for it.

My mom has decided she wants to see more movies in theaters, a result of which is that I get to see more movies in theaters.  We saw Coco Before Chanel on Sunday, which was pretty much brilliant, and tonight we're going to see An Education.  I've also been holding weekly movie nights, the goal of which is to bring films most people haven't seen before, and so far it's a resounding success.  Our roster so far:
Sunshine
The Slipper and the Rose
A Boy and His Dog
Frailty
Night of the Hunter (which I'd seen!  Did Seth show me this?  I don't remember!)
I've got Saving Face on the backburner, and my mom gave me a pamphlet with cult films on it from the library, so undoubtedly movie nights will only get more interesting.

I got my newest tattoo today.  It is a dragon, in browns and a touch of green, on my right shoulder, and it is BEAUTIFUL.  Seriously, I can't recommend Kris Evans at the Endorphen Den highly enough - from the first time I walked in her door for a consultation to when I paid her today, I had an exemplary experience.  We had about three good chats about my art before today, working out exactly what I wanted with what would artistically look good, and I have to say I'm tremendously pleased with the result.  I'll put up some photos once I'm allowed to take the bandage off (12 to 24 hours, so around 10 tomorrow morning thereabouts).

I was a BABY about the pain.  I've had two bitty tattoos done before this, so I thought I knew what I was expecting, but lordy.  The outline was nothing, took about a half hour and at worst made me grit my teeth a little.  But the thing is full color, and let me tell you, getting the color done felt like she was peeling my skin off and then setting fire to it.  It was not fun - I asked for a pause twice, and then started chatting inanely about nothing to take my mind off the pain.  She did say I was no worse than a lot of people, and commended me on my ability to stay still, even during the worst of it.  But yeah...it hurt like whoa.

The end result is a bit bigger than I had originally intended, but I'm totally fine with that; it means details are clearer, and my dragon actually has an eye rather than just the outline of where one should go.  He really is awesome and I'm so proud to be able to wear personalized art on my body.

I told my mother about it yesterday, so I wouldn't ambush her with a four-inch tattoo when she and my father come in today to help me move out.  It's bigger than I lead her to believe, but at least I didn't get the "Oh, Martha...." sigh when I talked to them on the phone earlier.  I think the tattoos and piercings are becoming "just something our daughter does," and since they've always taken an "it's your body" stance with the piercings, they don't give me TOO hard of a time about it.  I wanted to tell them beforehand this time, though, because I think I may have hurt my mom's feelings when I didn't tell them for a couple of months after getting my first one - I told my sister, who let it slip to my dad.  It's easier to tell them now, since I know I won't be disowned for it.

I'm excited about seeing people tonight!  I hope everyone can come to the Mill - I'm leaving tomorrow and the soonest I'll be able to come back will be early July. :( I want to see you before then!