- Kat -

Oh, I may have misspoke. I totally agree, nobody wants to take responsibility when they make a mistake. It's almost become a kind of game to some people, to see how they can 'apologize' but still make it clear that it wasn't their fault. "I'm sorry your feelings were hurt by what I said," is a very popular one. No acknowledgement that they may have said something rude or ignorant, just a throw-away apology to get people off their back while still resting the blame on the person they hurt with their actions.

They are slowly but surely getting more comfortable in their new home. Still a bit antsy when I approach, but when I come by I'll see them hanging around outside instead of always being in their hides. Pictures soon! They have such lovely colors. I'm glad you said something to the teacher. If there was a miscommunication, intentional or not, it is important that it is resolved fairly. This is important for your and your school career and someone else's mistake should not hinder you. I agree totally. People have not been taught how to deal with differing opinions or different points of view, and have taught themselves to take them as direct personal attacks. Sometimes, I can understand their position, in the case of things like racism or gender discrimination. Those are antagonistic. But I frequently see young people take personal offense if someone dislikes a piece of media they enjoy, or even just interpret it in a different way than they do. They see it as someone saying that something they like or believe is wrong and bad, and thus so are they. The thing that confuses me, is that people frequently complain about millennials and how sensitive they are. A lot of baby boomers like to throw around the idea of participation trophies and how nobody was ever told they aren't amazingly special at everything. And while that is true, and the people raised like that are hard to deal with, I feel like some baby boomers forget who it was that raised them that way. Kids didn't give themselves participation trophies, the adults that raised them did. Kids didn't actively hide from any opinion that clashed with theirs, adults hid them from it to spare their feelings. Now that those kids are adults and are missing those skills, the prior generation pretends like these tendencies sprang out of the void and they had no hand in it. The whole idea of people not wanting to accept any responsibility for things and pushing the blame on someone else is present in every generation.

Mine would do that too! sometimes it was like they couldn't wait for ball time, and sometimes it was a strange and scary monster that was obviously there to eat them. The leopard geckos are here! I tried to take some pictures but they are both still staying in their hides so you can't really see anything. Once they are feeling more adventurous, I'll definitely share pics! Their names are Leo and Lagg. I can see how that would be frustrating. On one hand, people don't want to step on any toes, and especially in a school setting it can be easier to just smile and nod and pass the class. But that won't really open up real discussion or change minds for the better. Not to sound like an old person but I think the internet has created a strong mindset where the second someone says something you disagree with, you should write that person off as evil and stupid forever. There's a lot to unpack about the whole idea but I see it a lot because it's especially prevalent in my generation. What a lovely scene you describe! I want to draw it, I hope I do it justice.

Sasha and Penny would do that too, only they'd gather up what I stashed for them and then I'd find that they moved it to another stash while I was cleaning. Those all sound like fun classes to me I took a class in high school called Cross-Cultural Connections that would talk about a culture and cover its basic info and then talk about how it's represented in America and how the two cultures combine. And then of course photography and horseback riding sound great! I've only been horseback riding once but I loved it. The idea of a little blonde hamster wearing a cowboy hat standing on a saddle with his little paw on the shudder button of a camera while his horse paws the ground patiently....it is perfect.

In theory, it should be over now. I'm hoping by October it stops climbing into the upper 80s x.x I remember when I had Sasha and then Penny, any time I cleaned their tank, I liked to change things around and give them something new to do for a while. The only thing I'd leave the same was their bathroom. For both of them, the first thing they'd do when I put them back in is run into their potty and wonder who had stolen all their poop. I hate weird deadlines like that, too! I always forget the time it's due when they do that. Why does it matter that the assignment is turned in by 6PM that day? As long as it's ON that day, shouldn't that be enough? If you don't mind my asking, what is the class you're taking?

As pets, male leopard geckos usually live about 10 years but some get as old as 20. These guys are just under a year so I'll have plenty of time with them. And to answer your earlier question, my brother loves lizards so he will likely help out while I'm on my trip, though mom and dad both say they'll help out as well. I always love your hamster set-ups. It's so cool how you make these hammy palaces for your friends! I want to be able to do something like that some day. Storms coming this weekend. Hopefully it breaks this humidity, I hate it x__x

I will! Two boys, and they're still pretty young so I should have them for a good long time. I'll take lots of pictures once I get them! I will be picking them up next Sunday. I'll definitely need to pack some, then. And lots of sunscreen. I'm glad you guys are safe, and I hope nothing else comes for you this year. Or any other year, for that matter.

I remember hearing that about Skin So Soft, now that you mention it. I wonder if mom still has some... A coworker is moving and unfortunately his new apartment does not allow pets, and he has two leopard geckos. He and I have talked in the past about how I loved keeping leopard geckos for my school and recently babysitting one for a friend while they were out of town, so he said he would give me the geckos and all of his supplies for them for free since he knows I have experience and will take good care of them. I'm very excited! I'm gonna take so many pictures in NZ. Millions.

The house AC is fixed! Still no AC in the car, though. I managed to get bitten a bunch by mosquitoes while the AC was down so I feel your pain x.x We've also had a huuuuge number of crickets this year for some reason. I usually don't really care either way about crickets, but there are so many in the house and in the building at work, and they die all over the place and spend all night screaming, so I'm ready for winter to take them out too. I was just talking with a coworker about that today! 4 years seems like such a short time and a long time at the same time. We are FINALLY getting the last office position filled next week, so hopefully we'll be ready when peak hits. To be honest, I know my coworkers can handle it. It's management I don't have a lot of faith in. I am getting more and more excited for my New Zealand trip as it approaches! I still have so much to do to get ready but I also want to leave tomorrow

NZ friends are safe, they are on the other side of the country so they didn't really feel it. The AC in my car and my house are both broken x.x Fall needs to hurry up and cool down.

One of my coworkers has family in the Bahamas and told us about how bad it was there. It's terrible, my heart goes out to everyone there. I'm glad it wasn't able to reach Florida and cause more destruction. For the record, we have always liked to watch storm clouds and the rain come in, but if there is any chance of a tornado, we wait the storm out in shelter. I may be very midwestern but not even I am the kind of person who can stand outside and watch the funnel touch down. I hadn't heard about the NZ earthquakes, I have friends down there but they didn't say anything. I'll have to check in and make sure everyone is okay! I remember a while ago, a friend of mine in Australia had some earthquakes and really bad flooding in her town, it was really scary.

I'm sending good vibes your way! I hope you come out on the other side of Dorian safely I can never understand people who do stuff like that. I think I would start to panic as soon as I couldn't see the shore to begin with, much less knowing I didn't have any kind of safety equipment. Any time there is a storm bad enough for us to get warning, my family and everyone we know definitely head to shelter. We might watch the storm come in and go out but when it's actually on top of us we stay safe, and we keep the weather radio/channel on the whole time.

This is the difference between the coasts and the midwest. All of my friends in areas like Florida never really care that a hurricane is coming unless it's one of the major ones. I was talking to some friends tonight and they said their biggest concern is if they lose wifi XD But hurricanes seem like a big deal to us! Meanwhile, coast people are afraid of tornadoes while those of us that live in Tornado Alley will stand outside and watch them roll into town. You now all know about my mistrust of open ocean. Do with that what you will. This week is doing its best to drive us all crazy, but at least tomorrow should calm down, and then it's a long weekend! I think these past few days have been extra bad because everyone is trying to get stuff done before the holiday.

MacKenzie is more and more lovely with each photo you post~ I remember my friend had a little tent thing that we LOVED when we were kids, I'm sure she's having a great time with hers as well! Thank you both for your kind words. Seeing the improvement with each lesson is a great motivator in making me want to go further and further with photography, and it's definitely something I can see myself doing long into the future. I'm excited to see where else my lessons and ideas take me! I hope things stay calm for you in Florida. Hurricanes always sounded terrifying to me. Probably because I'm used to tornadoes, where there's much less water XD Being landlocked for all my life has given me somewhat of a phobia of large bodies of water. One of my coworkers is on vacation for 3 weeks, and it's already gotten pretty hectic in the office. My coworkers a great but we could use fewer customers! XD

I have had the most fun photographing organic things so far, and things in closer shots. Animals, flowers, or just general things in nature. I did also have fun doing the skyline photography and night photography, but I think when I have a specific focus of the image that I can understand I'm better at knowing how exactly to photograph it. If you have any suggestions for exercises to do around home, please let me know! I feel like I've kind of exhausted all the photo opportunities I have around here.