Procrastination and Other Drugs

Well, it's been an almost obscenely long time since I've written here. Again. Oops. In my defense I do spend an awful lot of time on the computer, so maybe the subconscious doesn't want to do this too? That's pretty weak.

What's even weaker is the reason for this post. You're seeing this now because I'd rather do almost anything else than what I have to do, which is finish an assignment. Silly, right? Especially given that the assignment is totally self-directed, I made up the question, I did the research and now all that remains is that I have to write it up. Blah.

Enough of that. Let's comment on life. I still work at the Zoo although not for much longer. Time has sped by, which is usually the case when we're having a good time, isn't it? I've seen so many cool things that I never thought I would have experienced if you'd asked me a year ago. Yesterday I saw a baby marmoset, for pete's sake. They are pretty cute. About the size of a chipmunk, but a fully formed primate. Which brings me to the subject of primates in general. I have decided that they may be among my least favourite animal classes. They're so much like us, it can be off-putting. I don't know if I like seeing so much of myself in an animal.

Now, this could be construed as a comment on zoos in general, which it really isn't. I have no problem with the ethical curation of living collections, combined with a safe environment, excellent health care and nutrition, and responsible breeding, research, and conservation efforts. This is how animals are treated here and it is done very well. And given the other activities of humans, habitat destruction, pollution, poaching and other irresponsible behaviours, this is the only way we're going to be able to preserve some of these species until human attitudes change. For example I heard today that there may now be more tigers in captivity than in the wild. If we don't want to destroy the species, we're going to have to keep them here. Some might say that we're interfering with the logical progression of nature, but since we caused the problem, it is for us to do what we can to solve it.

I don't know if that was very articulate, or even had much of a point, but at least it's a post. And now it's done. And I have to work on the paper. That is it. Goodbye.