Journal, Day 1517
Tuesday, 14 May 2024
Ukraine War: Day 812
Hamas-Israel War: Day 219
Mass shootings in the USA in 2024: 157
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Charlie has become a “problem child.” He bit me today, for no reason that I can see, and drew blood. He’s turned into a surly teenage boy and it breaks my heart. Birdie puberty is painful. (At least for me.)
Kiki, on the other hand, has been enjoying a revived youth. She’s at least 9 years old. She has been so energetic and silly lately. She got a (huge) new toy yesterday and it’s already in shredded pieces on the floor of her cage. She revels in flying to the other bird cages, and she’s perfected her landings to a handheld perch. She tried to land on top of the dining room light fixture, turned at the last second, and flew to Houdini’s cage over my head instead. She loves flying!
I have one more day of work before taking two days off, and today I worked until my brain just couldn’t anymore. Tomorrow I will work until I’m as caught up as I possibly can get because after I log off I will be ignoring my emails and text messages until Monday. I believe in vacating 100 percent during vacation time, whether I go anywhere or not.
I didn’t used to. I used to be “on call” even when I was on vacation — and even when I was going through chemo — it was stressful. I’m too old for that shit. If they can’t live without me for two days, they’re not paying me enough.
It’s birdie bedtime now, and then human bedtime. It was a long day.
