Creative ideas

I want to remember the things that I loved at the zoo so that one day maybe I will be creative and figure out how to make some money off of it. I love training animals but I also love giving people advice and information about animals. On my last day at the zoo I had two different people ask for advice in subjects that I had no idea I was an "expert" in until I started talking to them and realized they had no idea about any of it. 

One of them was just a random woman and her daughter walking through the zoo that had just bought a guinea pig. They wanted to know who they could talk to because they had a few questions. I said that I guessed they could ask me because I was in charge of some guinea pigs that live off exhibit. I was thinking that I would have no clue about whatever specialized question they were about to ask. However, they really had no idea about any facet of animal care, much less guinea pig care. They were SO grateful and excited and full of so many questions that I had always just taken for granted that I knew and understood. I would love to help more people like that!

The other question was from another zoo. Someone had come to visit our zoo and then returned to work at their zoo and said that their porcupines looked obese compared to ours. I had to take that phone call because I was the only porcupine trainer that was at the zoo that day. I never would have said I would take the call otherwise, thinking I wasn't knowledgeable enough. I was nervous because I was talking to another zoo and I thought that no way would I know the answers and that I would look stupid to these other experts. It was all super simple (or so it seemed to me) questions and answers and I had no problem sharing my knowledge. 

:) Those are just little things that made me happy and I hope to keep in my life somehow. 

Last day

So today was the last day of working at the zoo. I didn't feel as sad as I thought that I would. I actually was ok and didn't feel so bad leaving. I said good bye to my animals but mostly I wanted to leave just like it was a normal day and not get emotional. I tried to get lots of pictures off of the computers and bring them home with me. I am going to miss Domino, Zamir and Larry the most. 

I am excited to start my new career tomorrow. I think first days are even worse than interviews so I can't wait for tomorrow and this whole week to be over. This time next week I will be snoozing! I still am excited to start something new though! 

Tomorrow I will start a new challenge with all of it's let-downs and excitements as well. 

Moving on

So I have to write about this to get it all out. Once I write about it I will probably not think about it again.

I told my co-workers yesterday that I was leaving the zoo. I saw some shocked faces and some sad faces. Afterward, everyone came up individually to talk to me about where I was going. When you make a big decision like this you always wonder if it is the right thing. I love animals and I thought that I wanted to work with them forever and have a career in the zoo field.

However, when I had two different people come up to me and whisper:
"pssssst... Brittany!" 
"What?"  
"If your new company has any openings, will you let me know?"



I knew that I had made the right decision. These people have been there 2-3 years and obviously aren't as happy as they pretend to be.

I feel that for a career in the zoo field you have to give up your life. I was willing to do this and gave up my life for one whole year. One whole year of never having a weekend off and working from 7 am- 7:30 pm every single Saturday. I might even have been willing to give my life up for another year or two. When you really look at the situation though you realize that this won't be just a year or two. You may give up twenty years of your life before you ever reach the position of supervisor. Even then you don't get weekends off. You might get one weekend day off. Also, there is no guarantee that you will become a supervisor! If I had given up twenty years of my life to work at the zoo and then was passed up for the supervisor position I would have been devistated.

Even though it is hard, I know that the best thing is for me to get out of the field. Learn something new. Build new skills and new contacts. You never know what might come along and you never know how the zoo might come back into your life years down the road because of the new skills that you have to offer.

I will always love the animals. That goes without saying. I am in the process of obtaining as many animal paintings and pictures of them as I can. Luckily, I can always go back and visit if I just can't stand not seeing them any more. I am also looking for my own pets.

My new adventure right now is buying office clothes. It is fun!