SPIDERS

I know I haven't been updating this regularly, but the reason is a combination of things, including not really spending much time online. So I guess I should catch up a bit, although first I think I'll tell you about the spider.

I'm staying with my friends Michael and Andy in Oakland until Saturday. I know approximately 500 Michaels, but this is the one who obviously lives with Andy, so enough explanation already. This is my third trip to Oakland in the last month, for business-related reasons.

Anyway, on my first night here, I decided to retrieve my contact lens case and glasses from my bag while getting ready for bed. So I unzipped the front just a little bit, and reached my arm inside, and felt around for the glasses. At some point during this exercise, I saw an incredibly enormous spider inside the case, and although I don't actually remember screaming and running across the room, I am assured that I did.

I casually mentioned the bug, (read: hysterically pointed and said "bug") and Andy went over to the case, peered inside, and affirmed that there was a spider inside and it was really quite big.

I'm not exaggerating about the spider, by the way. Its body was over an inch in length and a half-inch wide, and the legs were quite long as well. Most of the spiders I've seen at Natalie's are of the variety with the tiny body and long, spindly legs. This one was different. It was brown, and its body was so big that at first glance I thought it was some sort of beetle. In my own defence, Andy did actually mention several times that it was a very sizeable spider.

So Michael, Andy, Carrie (another friend who was over) and I spent some time discussing what exactly should be done about the spider. Eventually it was treated as a HazMat case. We dragged the closed suitcase out to the back porch, and Andy and Michael put on gloves (I'm telling you, it was a really huge spider), opened the case, and lured the spider out to his death.

Under normal circumstances, if I were to find a spider in the house, I might try to put it outside without killing it, because just because I find something disgusting doesn't mean it is worthy of death. (Except for men. Let's face it, they are.) But I feel very strongly about not introducing non-indigenous species to an area, so we did agree to kill this one. Michael was the ultimate hero in this case. He destroyed the spider with a section of newspaper I'd been keeping because it had an advertisement for High Holy Day celebrations at a local synagogue that I've been wanting to attend.

Anyway, the next day we were all curious about this enormous arachnid, so we searched Internet until we found photos identifying said spider. It turns out to be quite poisonous. It's called a "Hobo Spider," which is hilarious when you consider the fact that it stowed away in my suitcase. I know nothing about spiders, but its venom is most often compared to the Brown Recluse, whatever that means. Er, I guess what it means is that it's a very good thing that none of us were bitten, and it was probably not such a bad idea to kill it either.

At any rate, here I go, catching up. Natalie and Charity are still in Alaska, and I've been completely alone in Spokane for quite a long time as a result. It's been pretty difficult, especially since I've been dreadfully ill for a lot of the time, although I haven't fainted in nearly a week, so I think I'm getting better. There was a rough week there in which I couldn't sit up for more than a few minutes at a time without passing out, and that seems to have gone, which is a relief.

I've interviewed for a couple of jobs (one in Spokane), and mostly have found that people aren't all that excited about the notion of hiring someone for whom they have to sponsor a work permit. On the bright side, contract work is picking up, and if everything continues as it has been, I'll have enough work coming in for the next six months that freelance will be a full-time job for me. Considering the fact that I make literally twice as much hourly as a freelancer than I do at a "real" job, this is no great tragedy. If I manage to get a normal job, I'll have to finish up all of the other work in the evenings and on weekends, which is again not a great tragedy.

Well, that's enough of an update for now. I'm afraid my typing is waking everyone else up.

More later.

Really.

I mean it this time.