#42 - SUNDAY FUNDAY #2

juvenile female Harpactira pulchripes © Michael Jacobi

Early on in the resurrection of Kiss My Big Hairy Spider (#5) I had an entry called Sunday, Fun Day. This is a term my mate Mark Pennell uses for his relaxing day off after a busy week creating beautiful body art. He downs a Tiger beer or eight and joins his family at their local social club. (If you're into tattoos follow @mark_seriousink on Instagram or Serious Ink Tattoo Studio [Bristol, UK] on Facebook).

I have had several "Random Shite" entries and I think I'll just instead combine my random topic posts, where I spray all over the place like an un-neutered male cat, into a weekly Sunday Funday post. As you may have read in KMBHS #31 I have started a new career. So far it looks like Sunday will usually be my day off so it will also be my relaxation and Tiger time. So instead of in depth blog entries like my ongoing series Tales from the Field, Casa de Tarantula and Tarantula Breeding, I will just post some Random Shite. So, I suppose, this is #2 in another ongoing series called "Sunday Funday".

I fibbed when I said Sunday would be a relaxation day as I still have a full time job just feeding my large spider collection. So that makes TWO full-time jobs. My work hours are mostly 1-8 pm and I am an early riser so I have time in the morning to work the spider room, but it's a daunting task to stay on top of everything. Therefore, I am seriously reducing my collection. I intend to only keep my personal favorites: Harpactira, Idiothele, Monocentropus and a few rare Aviculariinae (Avicularia & Pachistopelma), plus my favorite spiders Poecilotheria subfusca and P. ornata. Everything else is up for grabs. Once I have moved perhaps 75% of my collection I will start keeping some favorite out-of-the-ordinary snakes again as well. But my plan is to have a spider & snake collection that only takes one day to work. I want free time. I want to play my guitar. I want to play disc golf. I want to read. I want to write. I want to hike with my camera. I'd add that I want time to shoot, but I now get paid to do that! The whole idea of starting a second career was to move away from being a slave to my animals as I have been for 33 years and do something else I am passionate about! I am now a hobbyist, just like most of you.

So, if you'll pardon the solicitation, I hope you are signed up to my mailing list or check out my SPIDERSHOPPE web page (the mailing list subscription form is on same page). I plan to post a closeout, clearance, spiders-be-gone, priced-to-sell, for sale list later today. 

Avicularia braunshauseni © Michael Jacobi

Another semi-random topic is page views for this blog. As I look at how many people have read each entry I still notice that my most read entries are my rants. So for those of you who have commented publicly or privately that I "whine too much", you are in the minority. People like when I bitch and moan. The problem is that I've got most of my rants out of my system. And, now that I am very much enjoying my new job and am putting my life as an exotic animal dealer in my rear view mirror, I am in a much happier place and just don't feel like tongue-lashing (via typing) the fucktards. I have run out of topics and desire. I am very much enjoying the educational series and the Tales from the Field. I love writing those. I feel much less of a need to spew venom at the douchenozzles in the tarantula hobby.

The one topic I still had planned to "rant" about was what I call popularity contests. One thing that always bothered me as a dealer is how many "competitors" seemed to get a positive review on Arachnoboards for every single package they shipped. It was obvious that they were soliciting reviews. It was obvious that their "fan boys" were trying to butter them up to maybe get a better freebie next order or maybe some sort of discount on a larger order. But it was the active solicitation that bothered me. I have never in a 33 year career asked anyone to write a review for me. And reviews are nonsense anyway. As you know, I travel a lot. I use Expedia and they send me reminders to review places I stay. I always do so and I speak the truth. I usually will mention both the positives and the negatives about my accommodation. Sometimes, there are no negatives and I give an honest all positive review. However, the reality is that most places could improve something and these establishments will gain more from some constructive criticism than me just writing "awesome place, great stay". It's the same with the hobby reviews. You will see either all negative reviews for the cheats and scumbags or all positive reviews for the majority of dealers. The positive reviews mean almost nothing. Sure if you've never dealt with a particular seller it is helpful to see that others have had good experiences. However, when there are 1000 positive reviews it is just a waste of bandwidth. These are "fan boy" posts. And, very often, especially for newbie dealers that have an extraordinary number of reviews in a short time, these are SOLICITED reviews. These are advertisements that circumvent the forum's rules. OK, this mini-rant is over. See... I don't have much more bitching to do. I want to educate. I want to relax. I want to have free time :)

Let's look at another pretty picture ...

Tapinauchenius sp. Colombia  © Michael Jacobi

I don't know how many of you are into photography. With today's amazing smartphone cameras I know most of you are into taking snapshots, but I wonder how many are trying to learn to take better photographs with DSLR cameras. This has the potential for another ongoing series for KMBHS. Or perhaps just a single blog entry that covers how I approach my tarantula portraits and my in situ, wildlife, scenery and street shots during my field trips. I'm no Chad Campbell or Michael Pankratz, let alone a Glenn Bartley, Kristofer Rowe or Thomas Shahan, but I certainly am knowledgeable about photography fundamentals.

If you have any other ideas for either single blog entries or ongoing series please email me at spidershoppe@icloud.com. If you are looking for some deals on some beautiful spiders hand raised by me watch for my list by tonight.

In closing, I would like to share a post I made this morning to my personal Faffbook page. I mentioned in an earlier blog the amazing Emma Stone artwork I won in an Urban Jungles Radio sponsored auction that supported armed rangers protecting rhinos and elephants. The artist Yvonne Bolduc posted an image of my new art framed and I shared it to my page with the following statement: "I won this beautiful portrait of Emma Stone by Canadian artist Yvonne Bolduc in an auction sponsored by Danny Mendez, Andrew Vizzacchero, and Urban Jungles Radio. Yvonne donated her art to raise funds for IAPF.org, the International Anti-Poaching Foundation. These funds go to armed rangers protecting rhinos & elephants. Wildlife crime is sweeping the planet. The illegal trafficking of wildlife is now one of the world’s largest criminal industries, with repeated links to terrorism networks. If you have even a spare 20 bucks in this month's budget I urge you to consider helping these animals be defended. Thanks Yvonne, I look forward to hanging your art in my living room." So ... if you have a few dollars to spare I ask you to consider supporting the International Anti-Poaching Foundation. They take PayPal.

Thanks, MJ