I have...

...a spider in a jar. This is presumably the same little beast who so surprised me a few days ago. She (I assume her gender) is a little golden-brown thing a little bigger than my thumbnail, legs and all. She's very active, crawling 'round and 'round the jar with its little notebook on top. I've been watching her, curiously enough. I plan to take her outside in a little while, but I want to know what kind she is first. No sense in letting a learning opportunity go to waste, even if it's the creature I fear most.

Well, I fear them when they're loose, at least. Having one captive isn't quite so bad. She might be spinning a web there in the jar... It's amazing what the little things can do. She doesn't appear to be of the poisonous variety, as far as I can tell. There's been no pictures or description matching what she looks like online. As a matter of fact, I can't connect this little one to any family of spider on the websites I've checked.

Anyone know anything about spiders? She's about 1/2" long (as best I can measure through a jar) with a slender light white/yellow abdomen and a slightly darker thorax. There are no clear markings on her abdomen from what I've been able to observe. Her legs are thin and hairless, with dark brown tips. I think she's a web-spinner and not a hunter because she looks like she's building a web in the jar. Now that I can't figure out what she is I'm even more curious. I know she's not a wolf spider, an orb-weaver or any of the better-known poisonous types. So far her closest cousins seem to be funnel-weavers, though why one of those would be in my room is beyond me, I've never seen them indoors before. I think her eyes are arranged in a row of four on the top of her head and another row/group lower down. Bah. I'm interested but I don't dare get a closer and clearer look by actually opening the jar.

I'm neglecting my homework and don't really mind. Yet again, there are more interesting things to do and more excuses to put off what should have been started hours ago. I do a silly thing when I'm avoiding a big project: I take on several little ones and work on all of those. On Thesis Week, I manage to clean my room, wash my dishes, do my laundry (folded and put away nicely!) and do myriad other things both domestic and insane before I touch the keyboard with thoughts of working on the original project.

And when the deadline looms like a tsunami, I work. I think I work well under pressure, because so far I’ve gotten A’s on my thesis papers.

Blogger died as I was trying to post this, so I went down to let Goldilocks out. When I went down to let her out I discovered that her kin are regulars here, they are indeed not poisonous, and nobody quite knows what they are, but they like the bathrooms because it's warmer in there. Makes sense... I think I saw one in the shower once.