Hi! This is a pinned post for the top of my blog, featuring a helpful FAQ if youβre interested.
Frequently Asked Questions:
Whatβs your name? AJ!
Pronouns? They is cool. I get pretty much everything sometimes.
Do you have a redbubble where you sell a couple random things? Yes! Iβm wildwestwind on there [link] . I haven't updated anything on there in months if not years.
Whatβs your whole deal? I have every anxiety disorder.
School? BS In Geological and Environmental Sciences, minor in Biology. I spent a long time trying to go to Grad School, which never worked out. Iβm barely bitter about it! BARELY!
Work? Iβm a Z-tier sci-commer working as an Interpretive Park Ranger (Ranger Naturalist) in the Park Service. I have worked at: the LA Zoo, several local non profits, a government fossil repository where I worked as a paleontologist, a waste reduction team, a university as a field trip teaching assistant, a non profit run by an astronaut where I taught 4th graders about Martian Geomorphology, a summer camp where I taught drawing, and several Car industry adjacent things.
Are You a Park Ranger? Yes. I tag my Ranger-Related posts as #in which i am a park ranger [link].
Wait, arenβt you a park ranger? Most rangers only work seasonally. Itβs a huge bummer. Sometimes I do other jobs. Winter 2020-21 for instance I spent my off-season making car commercials to sell terrible vehicles to terrible people in Los Angeles. These days I only work 10 months out of the year, and try to travel a bit on the other two.
Can you tell me how to become a Park Ranger? Iβve answered a lot of questions on my Park Ranger tag [link].
Can you tell me how to get a job at a zoo? Sort of... I tag my Zoo posts #in which i work at a zoo [link] , but mostly I interviewed really well and got lucky in that job. Often times permanent long term zoo work requires you volunteer, which is desperately unfair. Some zoos are working to fix this problem, but the fact that zoos are overwhelmingly operated by the people who can afford to not work for years to get into the career makes change slow. Turns out rich people are bad at seeing that that ability to engage in charity for personal advancement is only really available to people who can afford to do it.
Can you tell me how to get a job in conservation? Sort of, but not really. My conservation work has all been unpaid.
You do art? βArtβ is a strong word. I doodle and take pictures and do RPG stuff and write occasionally. I post using the tags #mediocre art [link] , #my photography [link] , #ttrpg [link] , and #writing [link] respectively. I actually taught art for a little while in my youth.
Can I use your photos for a project? Maybe! If you are using one as inspiration for a painting, sure. Iβd like it if you asked first if you are going to sell it. If you are hoping to use one for anything commercial we can try to figure something out. If you are an educator hoping to use one for an educational program, get in touch with me, the answer will almost definitely be βYes!β Overall, check with me. Iβm not super precious about that as long as you arenβt making money off my work!
Are you okay? Probably not, but I sincerely appreciate that you asked!
