it's been a while since i've been active on DA. i've been having the same old health struggles. oh the joy of chronic illness.

my mom's been away for the past week or so trying to find a job in atlanta, so my only company has been the occasional nocturnal appearance of madeline, my hedgehog. today my mom found out that she got the job in atlanta, which is great, because i've wanted to move there for a while. but it presents kind of an issue: hedgehogs are illegal in georgia. hedgies aren't native to north america, and some idiot lawmakers at some point thought that if poeple kept hedgies as pets, all of them would simultaneously escape their homes, madly reproduce, and ruin the local ecosystem. of course, this hasn't happened in any of the several states where people legally keep hedgehogs in america. the plan is for me to go to college in the fall, and i cant even keep a cat in my dorm, let a lone a pet that's banned statewide. i can't give up madeline, so i don't know what i'm going to do.

if you've read my blogs and/or artist comments on my photos, you would know that i had planned to be a zookeeper. i wanted to do this very much, so i ignored the fact that i am physically unable to have such a career. 8 or so weeks ago i finally came to terms with this. the new plan is to be a pharmacist. i have no idea why i didn't think of this years ago. i want to go to mercer university in atlanta, but my SAT math score isn't quite high enough. my reading and writing scores are really high though, so i'm hoping those will make up for my mathematical shortcomings. mercer is so perfect for me. they have to let me in. i can do the entire program there, pre-pharmacy included. i need a job where i can use my brain and not my (lack of) brawn.

one other benefit of being a pharmacist is that i'll actually make a good living, a stark contrast to the wages of a zookeeper. i'll actually be able to (eventually) buy a jag and build my dream house: a small-ish tudor manor. and i can have a lovely english garden with snapdragons and topiaries. and i'll be able to afford to visit britain. being a zookeeper would have been so awesome, but i can't expect people to hire me when i can't physically do the work. i was reading to pamphlet for a zookeeper training program and i can't even pass the vision test. i feel like a fool for ever pretending i could do the work. at least i have a new plan.