You all ready for the New Year? I am. Get this Year over with! At least, the week between Christmas and New Years is the time I wish wasn't.
Here is my PSA: DO NOT GET PETS FOR PEOPLE WITHOUT TELLING THEM! FUCKING STOP IT! ESPECIALLY CHILDREN WITHOUT TELLING THEIR PARENTS! I got stuck with a SULCATA tortoise because my grandmother in law was scammed by a local pet store who told her they were easy to care for and sold her all the wrong equipment at twice the price. My son is 8 with ADHD and still sucks his thumb when he thinks I'm not looking, and she thought a salmonella factory was a good fit. I'm outraged at her, but way more at the unethical store that eagerly sold an animal that can live for a century to a woman that has lived almost a century, and then said they would only take it back as a surrender... which they would then resell. So, I've been trying to find it a new home on craigslist (I do not respond to any messages that don't sound halfway intelligent, and I found a couple people who talk like they did any research, so hopefully I'll start the new year without it) while being made out to be the bad guy because I am unwilling to care for a tortoise that will get bigger than my dogs. My son has zero interest in it. He wanted a bearded dragon or a leopard gecko, but grandma can't fathom a lizard as a pet....
This same thing happened with my poodle. He was a gift to me, and his personality is so totally counter to mine and this family that it's taken us 6 years now to finally like him because he's chilled out. Still gonna break his neck chasing the ball (ball is life, life is ball. Have you heard of our lord and savior, Ball? All praise Ball), but at least he can stand still long enough to be petted now. The only time I could ever touch him was grooming time. The pet I got to chose was my corgi and she fit in like a missing puzzle piece literally from the instant she was placed in my arms. She looked at me like she had known me all her tiny life, never even looking back at her other owner. She walked in our house like she owned it, put my poodle in his place on day one at 7 weeks old, and never once cried for her litter, like she knew she was meant to be with us. As for the cat, well, there's something to be said about the kitty distribution system... it just knows, and it knows better than people.
So let the system chose our cats, and let people choose their own pets. If grandma had bought a tank and light (which btw, the light they sold her for $100+ broke in a week but because I already argued with the owner over their "buyers remorse" policy (I didn't buy it thus is not buyers remorse) they wouldn't refund the equipment either) and offered to take my son to pick his own pet, I would have been fine with that. Just don't buy pets for people. These are living creatures with personalities that have to match their families. Not all animals will just develop personalities based on their family. My poodle is proof. It was very difficult to go through the chaos of an unmatched personality, I won't be forced into an animal that will outlive my kids that they absolutely do not care about and will be entirely my burden. I used to have 5 snakes (rosey boa, piebald ball pythons and cornsnakes) and bred fancy mice for them (curly haired with a plethora of colors, kept my favorites as pets/breeders), and they all needed a lot less care than the one tortoise. At least ask the person who will be caring for the animal what kind of animal they are willing to care for.
Now that I've gotten that off my chest, I'm sorry I haven't had much time to write. It's not just interruption, it's full day distractions of going places and doing things, and the only type of writing I can get done in those situations is editing. So I have nothing new to show right now. I had a chapter for Rat and Dragon, but it wasn't lining up with the next chapter in a nice way so I had to adjust and... mutant baby ninja turtle was dropped on me. Mostly all of Christmas and the hours of wrapping and shopping and realizing I'm out of tape and more shopping... Life is always getting in the way of what I want to do. T.T (that's a cry face, for my older folks who don't know. My dad didn't, which shocked me because I use it a lot. Tears falling from closed eyes. Q.Q is also a cry face, but used as a insult like "You baby." "Don't QQ about it.")
I wish we could have pictures in our blogs! I saw a meme that said "the neurodivergent urge to use parenthesis in every sentence (because every thought comes with bonus content)." I do it a lot. (Sorrynotsorry)
Happy New Year to all! Once school starts again, my goal is to finish this chapter and actually finish Mongrels and Music. I have the plan forward. I will have to go back and change the last chapter. It will be a significant enough change that I will definitely announce it so keep an eye out for that.