Meet Medusa!

You know what, it's not really nice to only write about the bad stuff so why don't I tell you about silly, mundane things. Can I tell you? About my prickly new pet. 

A few weeks ago, I got a very happy call from my sister telling me that she was in the honor roll. I'm big on spoiling my sister because in my book, it makes up for just how stern I am when it comes to school or in everyday life (I have an award-winning short temper). So, like the way we celebrate most of the momentous occasions in her young life, off we went to get her a new pet. For those of you not in the know (just kidding, I just needed a transition statement), this prickly little fella is a cinnicot-colored hedgehog. Her name is Medusa (after a favorite romance novel heroine's pet hedgehog) and she's a pinto African Pygmy hedgehog, just like most pets of her kind. More after the cut!

Pop-A-New Guineas!

Hello! My sister has been so good to her first guinea pig, Chloe, that another guinea pig didn't seem like a bad idea. Behold, she now has four (two fluffy Abyssinians and two American guinea pigs) and I'm happy to write that they get along swimmingly in their new "cage". It isn't really a cage, it's a rather long and spacious aquarium I filled with wood shavings and food. They did a lot of running around and popcorning the first time we put them there. Aren't they cute? :) All they do is eat and run around but I'm hoping we can train them as a special squad that will later on help save humanity, you know, kind of like G-Force? Yup. I noticed that Chloe doesn't wheek as much as she used to when she was alone. I guess guinea pigs are really social animals, a lot like my sister but a whole lot less like me. Although, they do eat more than they ought to and that gives us a common ground. More pet news after the cut.

Feeling a bit like Beatrix

Honeymals - Some of our pets are more photogenic than others and personally, I play favorites. The first being my very playful and sweet dog, Fendi, who isn't a stranger in this blog. He's always so happy to see me,  jumping around no matter how late I come home from work or school. Next to my dog are my chirpy budgies, Dean and Colette, in their beautiful, very rarely ruffled, teal and yellow feathers.

The rest are just dumped in a "Oh gee, I hope they last long." "Oh, they died already? Well, it's a bit longer than the last one..." set. My sister is past her baby bunny phase and has moved on to guinea pigs. (Thank God, for so many bunnies have come to die in this household!) The guinea pigs squeak and they don't stink as much but good lord, can they eat or what?! They also popcorn, so I'm pretty excited for when the pig begins to do that. Now, it's basically just a white furball squeaking for spinach tops or a carrot. I really, really, really hope this one lives long enough to get a new friend. (As I have whittled down her pets to just one per purchase because they never last.)

PS. The Beatrix reference is from a book I recently read. The heroine, Beatrix, is very fond of animals. I believe she actually prefers the company of her four-legged friends much more than that of talking bi-peds. We can't really blame her now, can we? How can you resist this kind of cuteness?

Octopus Crossing

I've always been fascinated by marine animals ever since I can remember. I get more excitement out of visiting aquariums than theme parks (Although, SeaWorld totally blurs the line between the two and I really love SeaWorld!) because I just love the genteel tranquility I feel whenever I'm in them. Aquariums also remind me of my father, so my love for marine life must be for reasons more sentimental than they are scientific. I just feel so happy and so relaxed even if there are times when claustrophobia kicks in and I get slightly terrifying visions of flood and breaking glass.

My favorite marine animal is the octopus, hands down. I love that they are known for their intelligence, escapist tendencies, deceiving defense mechanism and sometimes, their ability to predict the future of gorgeous millionaires like Iker Casillas. Sadly, most octopods don't live very long. They stay in the earthly seas for ten months at most and then go on to live the remainder of their fabulosity in the spirit world. It is this lifespan and their ability to escape aquariums that make them elusive features in marine sanctuaries. I went to two sites in San Francisco but I wasn't able to see any, only coral reefs made after Philippine seas. :( The good news is that I was able to find a North Pacific Giant Octopus in Seattle, right after Spain won the World Cup. Talk about victory! Hehe. :D

This particular octopus lives in two aquariums connected by a tube. It squeezes itself out of one aquarium and crosses the tube to the other. Most visitors coax the octopus to move to the other side but since it behaves LIKE A BOSS, all they can really do is wait with hope. Hahaha. It didn't happen when I was there though.

This is the clearest picture I have because the octopus moved so fast and I didn't want to block anybody's view. Check out that stare (more like sneer)! Like. A. Boss.

While squid and cuttlefish have tentacles, an octopus has "arms". I keep on calling it tentacles though. Force of habit. :( Look at its underside! I've observed that the suction caps (the white round ones) rotate as the octopus moves. I really find their locomotion very elegant and almost fluid.

Eksena! I can only imagine rows and rows of takoyaki and calamari and a pool filled with adobo. Yes, my love affair with food can never be undermined by my love for creatures of the sea. Haha! Yummy!

I'm pretty sure these are sea urchins. I wanted to take pictures of the stud puffin (see what I did there? HAHA) but it moved out of the frame. Makulit kasi siya. Bummer.

A few months a year, Seattle becomes home to a lot of salmons. Whenever they are in season, schools swim upstream for people to see. I'm only interested in salmon when it's sliced fresh by a sashimi knife so I just settled for the view. It was a beautiful day. :)

Before I boarded the ferry, I sat by a dock and had fish and chips.

This was my view from the table...

It would've been amazing to pet them, if they weren't such a health hazard. Hahaha. Kidding!

Hehe. I just wanted to share. That is all! :D

That Jojo's always on my mind

Remember Sammy, my pet fish? Yeah? Well, he died before I left for San Francisco. I gave his bowl to my sister as a parting gift, along with a small red fighting fish because I knew how jealous she was when I first brought Sammy home. That small fighting fish died too, and this entire paragraph is just irrelevant because nobody can explain why small fishes die fast at our house. We keep bigger fishes in two aquariums downstairs (one of the fishes, a really old, as big-as-a-dining-plate terrorist, ate its companion alive out of boredom, fin first and then chomped off its body later that week) and they all seem to be living strong.

I don't give up easily though, so behold! My new pet, (still a fighting fish, because a low-maintainance fish is the farthest I would go) Jojo! :) Yahoo!

Jojo's color reminds me of Yakov Smirnoff, which means "In Soviet Russia", so I named him Jojo after that Jojo from The Beatles' "Back in the U.S.S.R". Jojo was also mentioned in Get Back, but let's focus on one song here. ;) I don't know why but I really like Back in the U.S.S.R, it doesn't even make sense because Paul McCartney wrote the lyrics while they were in India, learning Transcendental Meditation, and it was intended as a Beach Boys parody (Remember their hit, California Girls?). I like to take it as a political jab at Communism or a paradox about the tension in Russia just because it makes things juicier. We see things the way we want them to be, don't we? Heehee. I just love singing to this song!

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EDIT/

Sad, sad news (well, not really). Hours after I blogged about Jojo, he DIED. !&@)#*!&(@#!!! I think na-usog ko siya (or someone who read this did!). Chos! I don't know what happened, he looked fine last night. :(  

/EDIT

Part of that world

My aunt took me to Orlando (about two hours from where we stay) last week :) We stayed there for two days, one theme park everyday. Upon planning my trip here in Florida, I had mentioned that I wanted to go to the new Wizarding World of Harry Potter. It turns out that would be a horrible idea as crowds, both tourists and locals, flock to Islands of Adventure just to sneak a little peek. It would be best to just leave that part of Universal out of the itinerary and come back when the hype is over. The Potterhead in me agrees (because I did come here with a burning fervor to see Shamu, and no one else) :)

I really enjoyed eventhough I was not able to come inside Hogsmeade and the Hogwarts castle:) My love for virtual wastelands of all things cute will never end. As such, I will always be a Simpsons and I Love Lucy fan. Here are some of my photos:

I tried omitting pictures with me in it because you don't really need that. I did include, mainly for my pleasure, a few of the stranger shots I took during the day. And I do take stranger photos wherever I go, sometimes in a manner that is rather very conspicuous.

Yeah, I am creepy. And slightly jealous of carefree, confident girls here in America. Also, if you will notice, most of my stuff are in black and/or white. I'm sorry, I am a lazy dresser.

On day two, I got in touch with my inner Ariel and explored the wonders of the sea. I really like going to aquariums wherever I am, which you would know if you've known me for a long time now. I think Sea World was the highlight of my trip, pretty much. It is my own version of Disneyland. :)

Some of these pictures may have come up on Tumblr already but why the heck not make a double copy? Heehee. :) On our third day, we went on a foodie trip to find Ming's Bistro but when we got there, I got so overwhelmed by the dimsum that I forgot to take pictures. I fail (or rule, whichever) at life like that.

So there. Today we're going to an Antique store and then a nice dinner out, Southern style. Creole cooking and all the other good stuff! Fried everything! Including cheesecake! Hahaha!