I was torn this week between writing about newspaper comics (my favorites and least favorites), how I'd try to "fix" DC comics, and a few other nerdy topics, but I'm saving those for upcoming columns. Today, I'm looking back to the 90s.
To Erik: What job that you had was the most fun?
People who know me tend to know what my favorite job I ever had was. That would be the non-profit I worked for that got telecommunications equipment out to people with disabilities.
However, the most fun?
Not even close.
For that, we go back to the late 90s, when I was an ed tech for summer school classes at the National Zoo in Washington, D.C.
For anyone who hasn't been there, the National Zoo is a pretty amazing place. It covers a huge area in the city, and is divided up into different sections based on species and/or region the animals came from.
The variety of animals is pretty spectacular, and I say that as somebody who visited a lot of zoos in his life. No, seriously, if I travel
anywhere and learn that there's a zoo nearby, I make sure to take a day to visit. I'm almost as avid about aquariums, but I will admit I've let a few slip by me.
When I worked there, it was a volunteer position, but I still considered it a job. I had set hours, I had a supervisor, and I had a uniform to wear.
I was also more knowledgeable about the animals than the actual teachers were. While the teachers were handling the overall classroom mechanics and leading the classes around the zoo, I was explaining to children about how dangerous an emu or ostrich can be, why the red panda isn't correctly named. I would improvise a quick craft session to teach kids how huge the wingspan of an albatross is, or how powerful the jaws of a crocodile can be.
I also got to take part in animal demonstrations. Granted, I wasn't really allowed to hold wild animals or guide them around on leashes, but there was a moment at the bat pen I got to stand inside the pen to help the teacher show how bats can "see" with sonar. I also had a titi monkey jump on me once, but that was just when I was standing near an open display the monkeys were allowed to hang out on.
It's also where I had my favorite lunch ever. Of all time.
Now, the lunch itself was pretty simple. A sandwich, a piece of fruit, and a small bottle of juice. Sometimes a candy bar, otherwise pretty basic stuff.
The best part would be where I'd get to
eat my lunch.
Amazingly enough, the bird house isn't the most popular spot in any zoo. I never understood why, since even at that time people were realizing that birds are more closely related to dinosaurs than most lizards are. Watching how wings move on creatures varying in size from the tiniest hummingbird to an eagle, or watching how they're able to position themselves to walk between branches is fascinating to me.
But towards the back is a curtained off area. It's not closed to the public, but there would almost never be anybody in there. It was a cage with a black light shining at the top of it which is where the zoo kept the kiwis.
It was a small, circular chamber, where you could sit on a bench and watch the kiwis run around in their enclosure. It was private, away from any of the city noise that might spread into the zoo, I just loved watching the little birds run back and forth.
The program was only a couple of months long, but I remember having an absolute blast the whole time, even if I wasn't getting paid. It wasn't just getting to hang around one of my favorite types of locations, but also seeing the looks on the faces of the children as they learned something that excited them, or discovered something they never knew that was fun. It was a thrill being able to see the excitement build on their faces as you approached a new pen or they heard the door knob click because someone was bringing an animal to see them. They were never disappointed in what they saw, and the excitement was always contagious.
