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Location: Home.
Listening: The Daily Show.

Sleepy, so this will be a collection of brief snips.

First of all, congratulaions to Guru, who was the 2000th hit on this version of my journal (I was 2 shy of 3000 before I changed my journal URL a few months ago, everything went *poof* and I had to start over from 0). I'll have to find an appropriate prize and ship it to him.

Last night, Yaga and I ventured up into Los Angeles for Shuniti's Master Poetry Class annual reading at USC. I'll comment at length on this tomorrow, when I have more time and energy. It was, all in all, a pleasant evening. I got to see several old friends (pictures are forthcoming as well), ramble around the handful of blocks that comprised my entire world for my first four years in LA, and laze around on Shunit's sofa once more with a glass of wine and lots of good conversational give-and-take. It was very fulfilling.

I called into work and eventually drove in at 11:00 with a splitting headache (I blame the blush wine that Shunit pressed on me later in the evening. I never drink blush. I now have even more of a reason not to in future.). After work, I set out for pet supplies and found a pleasant surprise--Wild Oats, the Ralph's of organic groceries, has opened a branch next to the Long Beach PetCo. I spent about half an hour wandering the aisles, delighting in hundreds of preservative- and chemical-free foods and household products. Again, I'll write more on my love for organic foods, bath products, etc. at a later time. I'll just say that I spent several minutes with my face pressed to the glass of the fresh organic deli section and sniffing rows upon rows of essential oils (I've discovered that I react very well to the smell of vetivert) and left feeling like a kid with a new candy store to explore.

I rambled on to PetCo, where I picked up some dried bloodworms for Merlin, and two small rats for Luce. Unfortunately, one of the rats I selected was very aesthetically pleasing--the smallest of his litter, fawn and white, with big eyes and tiny ears. While his brother struggled and bit the girl who plucked him from his pen, this one showed no resistance to being picked up and placed in his cardboard box. We contemplated each other for a few moments before the lid closed, and I knew I was in trouble. I bought a small "critter" carrier and some rat food (a mix of dried seeds and fruits), ostensibly to hold any rats that Luce might refuse in future (when he's hibernating, he tends to lose his appetite, and I've been left with the question of what to do with a spare rat before).

When I returned home, I placed both rats in the carrier, so that Yaga and I would have time to walk to the Yard House for dinner before feeding Luce. Again, the larger rat fought when transferred from the box to the cage. The small one looked at me once more. I reasoned that, when I picked him up, he would try to bite or otherwise befoul me, and I might come to my senses. However, he allowed me to hold him without complaint. He was barely any weight in my hand--a small, soft, gently breathing bit of fur and tail. In the cage, his brother snuffled and burrowed and otherwise made a fuss, while he calmly ate a seed and then fell casually backward onto his restless sibling and proceeded to fall asleep.

They are both still alive, still in their cage, and I found myself turning to Yaga (who had been smirking at me since he saw me produce the sack of rat mix) a few moments ago and saying "I could train him, you know.". He didn't turn from his computer, but smirked once more and shook his head.

I know that I'm being silly. I have a red-tailed boa, a betta, and a cat. I certainly don't need another addition to my menagerie. It's Yaga's theory that, at this rate, we'll eventually have the entire food chain represented in our apartment. I know that this rat should simply be food for my snake and that should be that. However, I keep pausing whenever I look at him. It seems absurd to say, but he seems different from any of the other rats I've encountered. There's an odd sort of Zen quality to him that appeals to me on a deeper level. I find myself musing that PetCo is currently having a massive sale on all small-animal supplies and that he's so very tiny (even for a "small rat") that the amount of space and care he would require would be negligible in comparison to my other pets. At the very least, I can't bring myself to feed him to Luce. At the very least, I will have to return him to the store tomorrow and exchange him for another one of his brothers. Yaga just leaned over my shoulder to read, laughed, and stroked my hair with a bemused smile. I know it seems laughable, but I can't help it. I notice these things, and they affect me profoundly. I've even named him already--subconsciously, without giving any deliberate thought to the matter. I'd call him Eliot, after T.S.

He's sleeping now, while his brother is pushing frantically at the top of the cage. God Bless It. I'm going to keep him. I know I am.

People like me shouldn't be allowed out of the house some days.