work-a-day

yesterday morning i woke up at 6 am. showered, ate breakfast, and took my newly-loaned wonderfully old and rusty bike (i think her name's greta) to work. the city was just waking up as i dodged through delivery trucks and ladies with strollers.

i got to work, and started my day with my new duty of feeding the cuttlefish. they're so amazing to watch; they flicker and flash and stalk their prey (of frozen shrimp) around the tank. they recognize me now as the feeding lady. whenever i open the tops they swim to the surface and stare at me and flick out their extra feeding tentacles a bit, which is basically the cuttlefish equivalent of licking one's lips. i had heard them described as eerily similar to domesticated cats, and it's really true. they ham up the cuteness when they want you to feed them or play with them, but other times they couldn't care less about your existence and would much prefer to sleep.

yesterday we all spent about 12 hours here: cleaning the aquaria, setting up new filtration units, dissecting sick animals, preparing for new incoming ones. i didn't even notice that so much time had passed, since we spent the day chatting and joking and speculating on scientific theories and making fun of each other. it was amazing. and when we got out, there was really nothing to do but pull some beers out of the cold room, climb up to the roof of the building, and watch the sun set over the river at the end of a well worked day.

i think i've found heaven.

(i also filmed the feeding this morning. look forward to links.)