...is the answer I'll give someone if they ask me about fish. "Ask me about invertebrates."
And after fielding a bug question, then I say, "Out of the inverts, I'm not so great with insects. Ask me about chelicerates."
And then, I'm asked something about spiders, and I finally break and say, "Listen, my knowledge is limited to horseshoe crabs - no, specifically, one species, Limulus polyphemus. You can only ask me questions about that one, single species of invertebrate."
I jest, of course. But when I took invertebrate zoology, most the semester was spent on Cnidarians and Ctenophores. Most of the arthropoda stuff was kinda rushed. Dude, not that I care at all. Jellyfish are, like, twenty times cooler than, like, beetles. Maybe even, like, fifty. (Not fifty, like fifty.)
But last week I was at one of my places of work, and someone looked down and was all, "Eeeeew! A really big spider! Ewww!" And I look down and I swear it looked kinda like a brown tarantula. Having seen an actual tarantula recently, I knew it wasn't, but it was all thick and furry. I quickly ran down the list of spiders I knew which lived in this area. Daddy long legs? Nooo. Um....brown recluse? Well...it IS brown....hey, aren't they highly poisonous? So of course, in my best Icabod Crane impersonation I say, amidst protests, "We're leaving. We are leaving now."
Well, I look up the brown recluse online, and nope, not it. The only other spider I know of? Wolf spider? Bingo. Not poisonous. Yay. Color me not terrified anymore. And look! It even says they're often mistaken for brown recluses! Of course, I'm assuming that's only by people like me who have never actually seen a brown recluse (until now).
In other arthropod news, I still have camels crickets in my basement, and they're so frickin' cool. Added bonus is my sister freaking out every time she sees one.
In non-invertebrate news, I have a new used car! Woo! Just in time, as my lease is up on the volvo tomorrow. Interesting story. I was teaching about algae, and there were two specimens I wanted to mention, Volvox and Ulva. And the only word I could think of? Vulva. And I knew that wasn't right, but I was all, "And your specimen...." not vulva, not vulva, not vulva, "...vul...vox!" Hah hah, there is truly no limit to my stupidity! ...
Anyway, so I've got me a new (to me) car. Accidentally signed something going, "yeah, yeah, I WANT them to do that!" and only after I signed it did I realize it was a waiver, saying the company didn't have to do what I wanted. Oh well. Insurance was a hassle, called up one company I used to be with and was all, "I want car insurance for my new car, what do I need to do?"
"We don't give quotes over the phone."
"Erm." I don't remember asking for one, but whatever. "What do I need to bring in." The woman tells me what I need to bring in, and then mentions that they're only open 9-4 Mon-Thurs. !? Scratch that. Call up a second company I had when I first got my license. I play phone tag with a guy for FOUR frickin' hours before I finally give up, and call the place my brother has for insurance. I play phone tag for a bit, then I have to call a couple of my previous insurance companies for my info, and this new company gives me a quote for $3600 a year. Um. For a female with no accidents and a 3.75 GPA? Whatever.
And then! Geico arrived in NJ! Woo! Seriously, I was able to do everything online within an hour! Still some stuff to get finalized, like, I need to get the car inspected and stuff, but still! I have a car. I have insurance. I do not work with poisonous spiders. I do not say parts of the female reproductive system are algae. I am happy.
So happy that a new comic as well as comicology stuff will be up Friday.
Also? Huge news for me that makes me even happier? Mark Waid, who is like a god to me, will be writing for Bart Allen again soon. I...I think I'm misting up. sniff.
(Huh...notice how me saying I wasn't going to bitch about anyone for a week resulted in me not posting for about a week? I'm such a bad, bad person.)