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Greetings from Clearwater!
Actually, I'm in a place called Crystal Beach staying at my friend Ashley's house. She basically left me here alone from the night (and all day today...I'll get into that later) and she has a computer that I'm using, bwhahahaha.
On Friday (11/4) and Saturday (11/5), it was nice seeing a lot of people. It was weird being back because it didn't feel like I'd been gone for four months. I guess that's not really a long time...but so much happened that it seems longer? If that makes any sense. Anyway, the first night Ashley and I went to Casa Maya (I think that's the name of it) which is a really good gourmet Mexican restaurant. It's actually won awards for best vegan cuisine, and of course....I wore my "Nobody likes a vegetarian" shirt that day. HA. I covered that up quickly before they called PETA. Actually, I managed to offend a TSA guy at Logan airport earlier that day with my shirt. The conversation was as follows:
TSA Guy: What does your shirt say?
Me: It says "Nobody likes a vegetarian."
TSA Guy: Oh yeah? ::scoffs:: I don't know if that's true.
Me: Obviously it is, jackass. You being a prime example. Eat some fucking meat, and have a nice day.
Anyway, because I am a textbook example of instant karma, I ended up catching that weird cold that's running rampant throughout UNH (and Florida, apparently...because Ashley was getting over the same thing) and I noticed my throat was really sore on the plane. By the time Ashley and I went to the restaurant that night, I felt like shit, had no appetite, and couldn't taste anything anyway. So I didn't get to scarf down my taco salad (which is the best I've ever had usually...but again, it certainly helps to tasting capablities when one consumes food).
The next day, Ashley and I went to my old stomping grounds (the Clearwater Municipal Marina, of course) and went on the Little Toot for old time's sake. Basically all of the mates on that boat are different, and I don't know how many new captains they have. I am fairly positive Rik doesn't work there anymore, and I know that Chris is on another boat. Anyway, I saw Cathy, who works the ticket booth for the boat. She is basically drunk 99.4% of the day and I am surprised she remembered who I was. It took several reminders, but this was basically our conversation:
Cathy: Heyyyy babycakes*, you wanna go see some dolphins? The dolphins are out, baby! They're playin! It's a good day, baby!
Me: LAY OFF THE SAUCE
No really, she is a nice lady. And Ashley and I did see some good dolphin sightings. Just before we left the slip, I saw the Thriller (another boat) coming back to the marina, and saw Chris but didn't say anything. I'd also seen his girlfriend earlier and I really didn't want to get involved with that drama again. But anyway, the dolphins were awesome. I saw Scrunch with her baby (I saw her baby when it was like literally DAYS old, and now he/she's big and was doing some nice bows and breaches) and it was fun to see how the dolphins were doing. When we got back to the marina, I saw another woman I'd become close to who worked for the Little Toot and another boat owned by the same company. Her name is Betty, and she is pretty much the most amazing woman ever to exist. I went over to say hello to her. She was next to the Thriller, and Chris seemed terrified that I was back, hahaha. He walked over to where I was standing, and then did a quick 180 and basically sat in the fetal position behind some pilings. I could see him easily where I was standing, but he never looked my direction and just remained in the same position. His girlfriend came to rescue him. Hopefully they are doing well.
That night I went out to dinner with Tiffany, Ashley, Dannyel, and Arlet. We chose the Outback because let's face it, the Outback is a fantastic culinary experience. THEN on my way back from that, I went over to my friend Mel's apartment and met her girlfriend Megan who is fucking hilarious. We talked forever, and Megan convinced me she was god, because she has a zillion DVDs that she basically pirates from an undisclosed company. She is truly Computer Master although she might disagree with me. But it was so fun to see Mel again! She burned me a CD with hilarious songs on it.....I know a few of my UNH friends are going to appreciate them.
Und zen, the next day, Ashley and I went to CMA and I was actually allowed to work with the animals again! I wasn't sure what they wanted me to do or not do, especially since there were a lot of changes in food prep, presentations, and just minor changes with the animals' behavior...so I was hesitant during the sessions which I was not used to (being hesitant is not a good thing when you're working with animals, haha). I made some mistakes that I would've never normally made, but I had a bit of an internal struggle going on.
For example, Ashley and I were working with Panama. One of the staff trainers had told me what NOT to do with Panama, so that wasn't an issue. However, when I was with Panama, she kept leaving whenever I gave her a herring. At the end of the session, Lori and Sam ended just as Panama was drifting from me. Normally I would've just ended the session without giving Panama the rest of her fish, but Ashley told me to do a handstation with panama and then end. I KNEW this wasn't right, but I was like, "Ashley's been here longer, and I haven't been here for four months" and I did what she asked. Of course, as I bridged Panama, another dolphin had come over to me and it could've been a BAD situation. Ashley felt really bad but I was irked at myself. I shouldn't have listened to her, but whatever. The trainers understood, and unfortunately Ashley was beating herself up for the rest of the day.
Lori, Ashley and I left to go to the conference in Duck Key after CMA closed. It was a fun drive and the resort was really beautiful (albeit very cold....the AC was on full blast). It contracts a dolphin facility called the Dolphin Connection so every day of the conference I got to see dolphins and the sessions were really interesting. The conference itself was really cool. The presentations were amazing; it's insane what people and animals can do. There were only a couple that I thought were sort of lame, but everyone else was pretty amazing.
We went to the DRC and Theater of the Sea for one of our field trips. I LOVED the DRC. They do amazing research, and they are so relaxed with their training. I love how enthusiastic their staff is, and they are training vocal SDs with their animals. I could definitely see myself working there at some point. TOTs wasn't as impressive. Their methods of training were really confusing, and even though one of the trainers explained it to me, Lori, Ashley and I were sort of confused still. They bridge at weird points and I don't really understand how they maintain high criteria, but I guess the behaviors must all be really well established. They had a really young sea lion who was ADORABLE. Then we stayed for dinner and drinks. I had to leave early to go back and study for my vert morph practical, but it was a fun day.
Our other field trip was to Key West. That was SUPER fun (it would've been more fun had I not had to go back at like 9 to study). I met a lot of neat people, and we went to a bar called Sloppy Joe's. There was a two-person band there that was really good and fucking HILARIOUS. Ashley and i left at around 8:30pm to catch a bus back to Duck Key but it was like an hour late. I did manage to get the best piece of key lime pie EVER though (although it cost me 5 dollars).
IMATA also had a job fair on Thursday night which I went to. There were about 10 different places who had tables and most of them were looking for prospective employees, and a lot of them encouraged a lot of us to do internships. I got to talk to Ken Ramirez who is really nice and has a great sense of humor (he could put up with me, so you know he has to be laid back), and I also met someone from a forum I'm on. I met a bunch of SAIC (dolphin trainers for the navy) people. I'm pretty excited about the possibilities, but I know it's unlikely I'll get a job without doing another internship. At this point, I am willing to do essentially anything to get into this field.
It was a fun experience overall, but I am ready to back to UNH and finish up the semester. I am pretty sure Ashley is annoyed with me because she kind of left me here in her house. Her boyfriend has two little sisters that live about 45 minutes away and they wanted to hang out with her. She left last night to go see them, and then spent all day with them today. However, there is basically no food in the house and I have no way of leaving. Thankfully Dannyel and I are going out for a really late lunch and then I get to see my friend Matt.
I think what I wrote should win the Pulitzer prize.
*This is really how she talks, I'm not embellishing anything here