Wednesday
Tuesday
this is the toucan we helped today
it makes me feel better, or at least different, to think about it. do you think if i called the zoo tomorrow, they would tell me how it was doing? i hope so because i don't think that i will be able to sleep tonight for worrying, about both the toucan and my future.
as usual my predictions for a crappy day were totally wrong, more evidence that i get bent out of shape for no reason
it was a GREAT day at the zoo.
first, we saw the sea lions. i am from california, and so i have seen seals, sea lions, and elephant seals probably more times than anyone from other states. but this was the first time that their size and unexpected underwater grace really took hold of me. out of water, it was obvious that they are intelligent, boisterous, and probably pretty fun to care for, but they are awkward and ungainly. underwater they were beautiful. i think that word is used too often, but it really was true in this case. it was like they had coreographed it beforehand; they swam in sync, and were obviously showing off. it was very impressive.
then came the otter, who was also a showoff. we got to see him get fed, retrieve a stick, rub his belly, and do a bunch of flips. it sounds mundane, but it was way, way cute.
then we saw the polar bears. jake has this habit of sort of rushing through things like the zoo, especially if there are children around. he was done with the star wars exhibit probably 45 minutes before i was, and he was the one saying "let's move on" after we saw every animal. but he was just entranced by the polar bears. when one went into another part of the habitat, he wanted to go to a different window to follow it, and the dozens of children screaming at the bears to play with the ball or play with each other or roar didn't bother him at all. when the biggest one dove into the water to tackle the smaller one, he cheered along with everyone else, and we even went back to see them again later. i found out after that that after his grandparents retired, they drove around all over the country, including alaska, and took pictures of bears. i was really glad for his enthusiasm because then i didn't end up feeling like i had dragged him there for an afternoon of me oohing and awing over everything while he stood around and waited until i took him home. the grizzly bear was asleep, though - we went back three times to see if maybe he had woken up, but no luck. that was pretty much the only disappointment.
the hairiest part of our trip to the zoo was the "flooded rainforest" section. when we got there, a couple dads were talking about the caiman that was staring at a toucan that had fallen in the water. i thought maybe they had seen this earlier, because i could see a toucan hopping around on some branches above the caiman. then, just as we were walking past them, i saw the caiman go for something behind a tree; i just couldn't see the toucan from where i was standing, but he was stuck in the water and the caiman had gotten some of his tailfeathers and was right behind him, hissing. i flipped out, and ran toward what i thought was an information booth but turned out to be an abandoned cafeteria. i grabbed what looked like a maintenance guy and tried to explain what was happening, half-crying and pretty hysterical. he couldn't understand me and apparently didn't work there anyway, but he ran behind a door and came back out with a guy wearing an apron. since i was hyperventilating and pretty much incapacitated, jake explained the situation calmly to the teenager in the apron while i made frantic hand gestures. the guy sort of laughed at me and said he would "call". when we went back to check on the toucan, someone was using a rake to shoo the caiman away, and then he took both toucans out of the habitat. i don't know whether he took both out because they like to be together - the mobile toucan was pretty obviously concerned when the other one was stuck in the water - or because this incident made someone realize that it's not safe for the toucans to be in there with the caiman, but either way i don't think it's a good idea for all those animals to be in there together. i mean, some of them are endangered, and they're at the zoo to be protected! when jake first pointed this out, i was sure that zoologists, or whoever works at the zoo, would never put animals that have a predator/prey relationship in a habitat together. but even if the caiman doesn't usually prey on toucans, most carnivores are opportunists and if something goes wrong for someone else, like falling in the water and not being able to get out, something bad is going to happen. on the other hand, maybe this just happens sometimes and the toucan is going to be fine - i do tend to really freak out about stuff like this. the frustration i feel about the global political situation is nothing next to my desire for a toucan not to get eaten by a caiman, at least not somewhere where i know it is happening. sometimes i care so much about animals it makes me feel crazy.
this is what a caiman looks like. creepy, right?
we also saw the elephants doing their stretches and the giraffes eating. we went through "lorikeet landing," where you feed these lorikeets a bunch of nectar and they land all over you. they must have them specially trained or something because i have never seen a single person get shit on.
one really encouraging thing about going to the zoo was seeing all the animals hugging. the polar bears hugged, the sun bears hugged, pretty much all the monkeys were hugging each other, the hippos can't really hug due to lack of any sort of functional appendage but they were snuggling, the elephants kept touching trunks, and there was a pretty obvious relationship between both the musk oxen and the toucans. maybe it was just a chilly day, but it was an awfully nice thing to do for valentine's day.
first, we saw the sea lions. i am from california, and so i have seen seals, sea lions, and elephant seals probably more times than anyone from other states. but this was the first time that their size and unexpected underwater grace really took hold of me. out of water, it was obvious that they are intelligent, boisterous, and probably pretty fun to care for, but they are awkward and ungainly. underwater they were beautiful. i think that word is used too often, but it really was true in this case. it was like they had coreographed it beforehand; they swam in sync, and were obviously showing off. it was very impressive.
then came the otter, who was also a showoff. we got to see him get fed, retrieve a stick, rub his belly, and do a bunch of flips. it sounds mundane, but it was way, way cute.
then we saw the polar bears. jake has this habit of sort of rushing through things like the zoo, especially if there are children around. he was done with the star wars exhibit probably 45 minutes before i was, and he was the one saying "let's move on" after we saw every animal. but he was just entranced by the polar bears. when one went into another part of the habitat, he wanted to go to a different window to follow it, and the dozens of children screaming at the bears to play with the ball or play with each other or roar didn't bother him at all. when the biggest one dove into the water to tackle the smaller one, he cheered along with everyone else, and we even went back to see them again later. i found out after that that after his grandparents retired, they drove around all over the country, including alaska, and took pictures of bears. i was really glad for his enthusiasm because then i didn't end up feeling like i had dragged him there for an afternoon of me oohing and awing over everything while he stood around and waited until i took him home. the grizzly bear was asleep, though - we went back three times to see if maybe he had woken up, but no luck. that was pretty much the only disappointment.
the hairiest part of our trip to the zoo was the "flooded rainforest" section. when we got there, a couple dads were talking about the caiman that was staring at a toucan that had fallen in the water. i thought maybe they had seen this earlier, because i could see a toucan hopping around on some branches above the caiman. then, just as we were walking past them, i saw the caiman go for something behind a tree; i just couldn't see the toucan from where i was standing, but he was stuck in the water and the caiman had gotten some of his tailfeathers and was right behind him, hissing. i flipped out, and ran toward what i thought was an information booth but turned out to be an abandoned cafeteria. i grabbed what looked like a maintenance guy and tried to explain what was happening, half-crying and pretty hysterical. he couldn't understand me and apparently didn't work there anyway, but he ran behind a door and came back out with a guy wearing an apron. since i was hyperventilating and pretty much incapacitated, jake explained the situation calmly to the teenager in the apron while i made frantic hand gestures. the guy sort of laughed at me and said he would "call". when we went back to check on the toucan, someone was using a rake to shoo the caiman away, and then he took both toucans out of the habitat. i don't know whether he took both out because they like to be together - the mobile toucan was pretty obviously concerned when the other one was stuck in the water - or because this incident made someone realize that it's not safe for the toucans to be in there with the caiman, but either way i don't think it's a good idea for all those animals to be in there together. i mean, some of them are endangered, and they're at the zoo to be protected! when jake first pointed this out, i was sure that zoologists, or whoever works at the zoo, would never put animals that have a predator/prey relationship in a habitat together. but even if the caiman doesn't usually prey on toucans, most carnivores are opportunists and if something goes wrong for someone else, like falling in the water and not being able to get out, something bad is going to happen. on the other hand, maybe this just happens sometimes and the toucan is going to be fine - i do tend to really freak out about stuff like this. the frustration i feel about the global political situation is nothing next to my desire for a toucan not to get eaten by a caiman, at least not somewhere where i know it is happening. sometimes i care so much about animals it makes me feel crazy.
this is what a caiman looks like. creepy, right?
we also saw the elephants doing their stretches and the giraffes eating. we went through "lorikeet landing," where you feed these lorikeets a bunch of nectar and they land all over you. they must have them specially trained or something because i have never seen a single person get shit on.
one really encouraging thing about going to the zoo was seeing all the animals hugging. the polar bears hugged, the sun bears hugged, pretty much all the monkeys were hugging each other, the hippos can't really hug due to lack of any sort of functional appendage but they were snuggling, the elephants kept touching trunks, and there was a pretty obvious relationship between both the musk oxen and the toucans. maybe it was just a chilly day, but it was an awfully nice thing to do for valentine's day.
it is difficult to have a positive attitude under circumstances like these
it's raining and the first of the rejection letters just came in. jake seems to only actually want to go to the zoo because i told him i would buy coffee beforehand. it is shaping up to be a pretty CRAPPY day at the zoo. i don't even think that having cookies for breakfast is going to fix this one.
Monday
nell really likes otters, and also i know we will see some when we go to the zoo tomorrow. tomorrow! i can't believe it's almost here!
this is a sea otter. there are also river otters, which are darker. that is pretty much the extent of what i know about otters.
i saw nell today
i know, i know. nell is a terrific name for a friend to have. anyway, this is how it started.
last year, before i moved back to san francisco, i lived with nell. my good friend emily had moved back to san francisco early in the fall, my awesome friend carl had gone to japan and subletted the room next to mine to a girl i liked but not as much as him, and nell was sort of my saving grace because it seemed like everyone was just getting less and less happy. not just at the house - everywhere. myself included. then nell told me that she had decided to move, that she wanted to live by herself for a while. i completely understood her reasons for doing it, but having moved into the house specifically to live with her, i felt a little abandoned. i had thought i was still (immaturely and ashamedly) pretty butthurt about the whole thing until I JUST SAW HER AND EVERYTHING WAS FINE.
here is another way to approach the story.
this year, i have really been dressing like crap. at work i open cardboard boxes and take out the garbage. am i going to wear my limited edition search for spok promotional tshirt to work? no. nor am i going to wear a sweater, a sweatervest, a nice sweatshirt, or pretty much anything but one of the numerous crappy tshirts i own and a pair of pants that i won't get all butthurt about if they get a weird stain from packing materials (has happened) or i accidentally cut them with a boxcutter (has happened) or they get dripped on by the unrecognizable, possibly toxic material that drips from the ceiling in the back hallway (has almost happened). when i tutor, sometimes i'll put on a sweater or a nicer sweatshirt to cover up the crappy tshirt, but it's immediately back to the tshirt when i get home. i won't even go into the kitchen if i'm wearing anything i actually care about. the days that i don't have work are probably the worst though. i sleep in, and then feel guilty and rushed to try and do something with the day so i leave the house without even washing my face, usually in the tshirt i just slept in. then, inevitably, i see someone i know at the library, or trader joe's, or the post office (the three places i go on my days off). no matter who it is, i pretty much do not want to see them because i feel terrible and am pretty sure i look terrible, which is a shame because i know a lot of nice people that under other circumstances i would be very pleased to run into. but today was different. yesterday i went on a raging domestic kick, and cleaned my entire room (vacuumed, even) and started the 2-3 loads of laundry i have been putting off for a week. today, i got up early because i wasn't scared to face my surroundings (usually i just lie in bed and read comic books or stare into space, anything to put off getting up and looking at the shithole i live in. you would think this horribly depressing routine would have encouraged me to clean my room sooner. the only thing i can say is, i am just really lazy). i got dressed, washed my face and EVEN BRUSHED MY HAIR. that is when you know it is going to be a red letter day, where everything gets written in the day planner and then crossed off, the plants all get watered, i have a grocery list to take to the store, and i am on time for everything. i dressed in a nice tshirt i got months ago and hadn't even worn yet. i'd thought about wearing it before, even taken it out of the closet, and then thought, "why? i am only going to get dirt on it, so why put on a nice tshirt just to sit in front of the space heater and not look around?" i put everything i needed in my bag, gassed up, and was off to probably the most efficient and fulfilling round of errands i will enjoy all year. i had mailed everything i needed to mail and was parking in front of the post office, and who should i see walking by my car but old nell. AND FOR ONCE I DID NOT LOOK OR FEEL LIKE CRAP.
so there you go. i saw nell, it was great, we are hanging out on friday, and just like that i have a friend again.
last year, before i moved back to san francisco, i lived with nell. my good friend emily had moved back to san francisco early in the fall, my awesome friend carl had gone to japan and subletted the room next to mine to a girl i liked but not as much as him, and nell was sort of my saving grace because it seemed like everyone was just getting less and less happy. not just at the house - everywhere. myself included. then nell told me that she had decided to move, that she wanted to live by herself for a while. i completely understood her reasons for doing it, but having moved into the house specifically to live with her, i felt a little abandoned. i had thought i was still (immaturely and ashamedly) pretty butthurt about the whole thing until I JUST SAW HER AND EVERYTHING WAS FINE.
here is another way to approach the story.
this year, i have really been dressing like crap. at work i open cardboard boxes and take out the garbage. am i going to wear my limited edition search for spok promotional tshirt to work? no. nor am i going to wear a sweater, a sweatervest, a nice sweatshirt, or pretty much anything but one of the numerous crappy tshirts i own and a pair of pants that i won't get all butthurt about if they get a weird stain from packing materials (has happened) or i accidentally cut them with a boxcutter (has happened) or they get dripped on by the unrecognizable, possibly toxic material that drips from the ceiling in the back hallway (has almost happened). when i tutor, sometimes i'll put on a sweater or a nicer sweatshirt to cover up the crappy tshirt, but it's immediately back to the tshirt when i get home. i won't even go into the kitchen if i'm wearing anything i actually care about. the days that i don't have work are probably the worst though. i sleep in, and then feel guilty and rushed to try and do something with the day so i leave the house without even washing my face, usually in the tshirt i just slept in. then, inevitably, i see someone i know at the library, or trader joe's, or the post office (the three places i go on my days off). no matter who it is, i pretty much do not want to see them because i feel terrible and am pretty sure i look terrible, which is a shame because i know a lot of nice people that under other circumstances i would be very pleased to run into. but today was different. yesterday i went on a raging domestic kick, and cleaned my entire room (vacuumed, even) and started the 2-3 loads of laundry i have been putting off for a week. today, i got up early because i wasn't scared to face my surroundings (usually i just lie in bed and read comic books or stare into space, anything to put off getting up and looking at the shithole i live in. you would think this horribly depressing routine would have encouraged me to clean my room sooner. the only thing i can say is, i am just really lazy). i got dressed, washed my face and EVEN BRUSHED MY HAIR. that is when you know it is going to be a red letter day, where everything gets written in the day planner and then crossed off, the plants all get watered, i have a grocery list to take to the store, and i am on time for everything. i dressed in a nice tshirt i got months ago and hadn't even worn yet. i'd thought about wearing it before, even taken it out of the closet, and then thought, "why? i am only going to get dirt on it, so why put on a nice tshirt just to sit in front of the space heater and not look around?" i put everything i needed in my bag, gassed up, and was off to probably the most efficient and fulfilling round of errands i will enjoy all year. i had mailed everything i needed to mail and was parking in front of the post office, and who should i see walking by my car but old nell. AND FOR ONCE I DID NOT LOOK OR FEEL LIKE CRAP.
so there you go. i saw nell, it was great, we are hanging out on friday, and just like that i have a friend again.
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