Enter the Haggis;; aka - THE BEST WEEKEND OF MY LIFE! [Friday]

And you think I'm exaggerating...? Oh, well, I'm not. I had the best weekend of my life that I can remember. I don't remember my heart stopping so many times in such a short few days, or clapping, 'Woo'-ing, and screaming so much... Also, I just about melted to the floor eighteen billion times... Oh, and I cried once. But don't tell anyone... Or I'll have to hurt you. I'd do it. I will... Okay, maybe I'm kidding, but really, let me tell you why it was so incredibly amazing!

Also, I know it's been a while, and I'm kind of sorry about that... College is very busy and I left you all at some very bizarre posts, so... woops;; ^_6

Friday, September 18^th Two-thousand and Nine
I woke up at ten something, and went to class only to find that "Eco is canceled." So, I practically teleported back to my dorm room and found that Liz (who is my room mate this year, also) had to take a shower - she had every intention of being finished packing and such by the time my class was finished. However, since the class was canceled, well, her plans were foiled! So, I waited around, humming so many random Enter the Haggis songs, all excited to just leave the room. I picked up my bags, put them down again, paced the room, did stuff on my computer (mainly Facebook nonsense) until she was finished, and by then, I was singing the song at the end of How The Grinch Stole Christmas, when all of the Who's down in Whoville welcome Christmas... So, I was all hopped up on excitement and maybe sugar - I maybe had some PEZ and Pixie Stix while she was gone, maybe... After getting the neighbors to watch my betta fish, Keiran, we set off on a whirlwind adventure to find my car in the parking lot!

And then we drove from the far, lower east side of Pennsylvania all the way up to Saratoga! And we only stopped once for gas, which is awesome, because I didn't really want to stop... Oh! Sad news, the thing that I plug into the cigarette lighter thing in the car to put my iPod in to play music... my iTrip, or what you call it - didn't work! It died! In my hands! It died! It wasn't even all that old, I just got it for Christmas about three years ago. I mean, I use it all the time, so I guess it finally threw in the towel. So, it was sad. Liz and I wound up getting our Haggis fix in the car, though - we had iPods, and headphones. Don't be alarmed, fellow drivers of the road! I had the right earbud and Liz had the left, and she held and played with the songs on the iPod, I just drove and sang along like a good driver - paying attention to the road and the GPS, I have a side story about her name later, it's mildly entertaining, but not pertinent to my amazing weekend! I think I'm going to dub it my unbirthday, because it was just that amazing...

Anywhoozle, we got to Saratoga in a little under 4 and a half / five hours and walked into the fairegrounds of Saratoga and got our map, and our hands stamped with little 'I2K's, because that's what it was: Irish 2000. Awesome, right? I know!(Look, my hand! Yeah, that's a ring on my left ring finger.... No, I'm not married... what of it?) So, Liz and I walked in and it wasn't long before I saw purple hair, and a pirate hat, and a shirt with Trevor Lewington's face on it that said 'More Vibraslap' and I pointed, because that's what I do, and I went "Fia!" Granted, she was on her phone, so Liz and I just walked up to her and waited until she was off to speak with her - which didn't take long, because we're awesome, and she wanted to speak with us.

Now, I know what you're thinking. 'Jereality, how do you know this Fia person? I have never heard you mention her before ever.... Also... isn't Haggis sheep stomach? Why would I want to go into that? That doesn't sound like a good time at all... I think you're opinions are skewed!' That's where I have to stop you, because you're asking too many questions. Okay, I know Fia and a whole bunch of other Haggis Heads - that's what we call ourselves.... - from the Enter the Haggis (ETH) ChatRoll that is online while they stream their concerts. Oh, by the way, ETH streams their gigs live, so those of us who are far away and can't go see them in person can still see their show. How amazing is that?! I'll tell you, really amazing. Really super amazing! I have lots of friends there, and I think I met, well, I met a bunch of them. I really can't remember all of them.

Back to the story --

So, I pointed, Fia, phone call, waited... and then we introduced ourselves - and it wasn't difficult to figure out who were were. I mean, I use this name on the ETH chatroll, and I have them call me by my real name and it's got my picture on it (yes, I know, of my face... Paranoia, I know... weird, right?) and Liz uses her name and also has a picture, so we were pretty noticeable... Also we were excited 'and were all "Heeyyyyy!!" ' So, I'm pretty sure they figured us out very easily. Then if they didn't we introduced ourselves, I think handshakes were involved, I'm not quite sure... So, after Fia introduced me to her sister and a fellow who goes by Whip, and Jenthetrainer (all friends on the chat) I grew even more excited. Not only were the guys from Enter the Haggis in the same vicinity as we were, but we were meeting our online friends too... I was ecstatic.

So, we got the names of everyone around us and then we decided to go toward the main tent, passing other little kiosk-y tents with food, and awesome knick-knacks and other brick-a-brack that is totally awesome. So, for some reason, we stopped about forty feet from the main tent where the music was coming from, and I had a cookie from an ETH chatroll friend who goes by IrishSmurf, which was delicious... and then all of a sudden, walking like a normal person is Trevor Lewington (guitar and vocals)... just walking along from the music tent. And I swear to you that my heart stopped, and my breath was gone, and I put my hand on Liz's shoulder, and I caught Trevor's eye for maybe four seconds and I think I'm lucky to be alive because I don't know if you can survive without a heartbeat or breath for that long. So, Trevor walked away, and I think he may have laughed at us... which is a huge possibility, because lets face it, he's probably used to it. Fia just stared at us, and smiled... Fia is friends with the band... Which means I'm jealous. However, that does not mean she and I cannot be friends - by the end of the post, we are friends... I just gave away some of the story, I'm sorry.

So, we stood there for a while longer, and Trevor walked back to the tent, and Liz and I almost died again. Here, you should already be aware that as far as we are concerned, these guys are 'famous' people, and they were just walking around, all willy-nilly... It was so amazing. After our hearts continued to beat, Fia needed more refreshments, so we went to the Beer Tent, losing some people in the process. While Fia and her sister went into the tent, Whip, Liz and I were forced to wait outside because, unfortunately, we're underage. We spoke instead, about how Whip did not look like he was 17, but that he look 20, and then we moved to how we liked the bags that were being sold in the booth shop across from the Beer tent. Though, when Fia and her sister came out, we were all bitter looking 'cause they came out with delicious looking drinks. I did, though, double-dog dare Liz to go in... she did take a couple steps in, and then came right out.... She had to, I double-dog dared her. That's how we roll.

Then we moved back to the white tent with the music and saw Mark Abraham (bass player) talking to some Haggis Heads, and I was like 'Oh my gosh.... this is going to be the best day ever!' Little did I know, it would wind up being the whole weekend; :) ... Anyway... The group moved into the tent a ways, and Liz and I met up with her Aunt where we spoke for a little bit about my driving the next day up to Saranac Lake for the next Enter the Haggis show. I assured her that I was totally capable, and then all of a sudden, I remembered that I had to call my dad - so, I did. After I hung up with him, I rejoined with Liz and then we lost Fia. So... we sort of wandered for a little bit. [All of this reading, and the band didn't even start yet! Phew! You're awesome!]

I saw Craig Downie (bagpipes and founder for/of Enter the Haggis) talking with a couple Haggis Heads, and told Liz... we freaked out for a few moments. Then we meandered through the fairegrounds and looked at the people - well, I did... because people watching is one of my most favorite hobbies. We passed the Beer Tent, honestly, I had hoped to find Fia there.... because I felt really lost... I liked having sort of my own tour guide, like my own leader of the festival, is was 'totes awesome'. However, I did not find Fia at the Beer Tent, so Liz and I hung left and then found Jenthetrainer, and stayed with her for a little bit. She was speaking with a guy about the Great American Irish Festival's Golf Tournament ( I know, I didn't post about GAIF, I really do apologize... I did get busy... but just pretend I did, and said 'awesome' a whole bunch... Because I would have... I would have been introducing the same people, I promise.) So, she was speaking with that guy, and Liz and I were sort of standing around, looking for Fia... and then we found out she went with her sister and Whip to go and buy a Bodhrán.... We nodded, and were like 'oh, that's cool', because it was - I kind of want one... Anyway, we walked with Jen for a while, in fact, we walked all the way up to the Beer Tent with her, got a little bit bitter because we couldn't go in, and then decided to leave her and find Fia.

So, we turned around, and walked back in the direction we came, passed some neat little shops, passed two alpacas - it reminded me of my vacation to Vermont (Marlee Farm Alpacas), were I went to an alpaca farm and got a blanket and some fingerless mittens - and then we made a left and I pointed to Fia again, because lo and behold, there she was! I had found her again! I have some sort of Fia Tracker... or something, it's scary. Anyway, we reunited and Liz and I were shown the nifty drum Fia bought. She said she bought the drum from an attractive ginger man in a kilt. Oh, the things I retain... Later, I saw said ginger-man.... I had to agree, Fia has good taste so far.

So, instruments(Fia's sister bought a penny whistle) in hand, Liz and I followed Fia, her sister and Whip to Whip's car which they call the Box and placed the newly purchased noise makers in the vehicle. Then, talk of Moxie was brought up. I had no idea what Moxie was, so I wanted one. I popped one open, and shared a sip or two with Liz. Turns out I like Moxie... it tastes like ginger snaps... and those are delicious...

Once that was done, we turned around, and began to walk the festival, Whip and I drinking our respective moxie's while random conversations flowed. I vaguely remember saying something to Liz... It was so funny, that's too bad - I'm sure you all would have enjoyed it, I'm sorry. Once the moxie's were gone, and properly thrown away, we reentered the grounds and (after brief confusion by the main gate, deciding which side - left or right - was best to go through, we made it all the way in) saw a huge sand castle! Fia said she wanted to stomp it... I said she was the destroyer of hopes... OH! And by this time, we were with another Haggis Head named Kelly! I don't have any links for you... so, just imagine something lovely. As we continued, we spoke of our childhood sand castles... and how either they were bucket shaped castles, or the buckets that were shaped like castles.... And how it wasn't very imaginative... Then I said how I made my bucket castle, and I made my moat around my bucket castle, and all my imaginary bucket people were very happy in their bucket castle... with the stick in the top for a flag. Good times, child hood. Good times.

Then we meandered a bit and wound up at the Beer Tent, but this time, oh, this time I would not be thwarted and pushed aside like some underage pre-teen! Oh no. I just walked right in, just like I owned the place. Was I asked to leave? No. Why? Because I have confidence in sunshine, I have confidence in rain... I have confidence that spring will come again - Besides which you see I have confidence in me So, Liz and I stood in line with our little group sans Whip 'cause he had a call to make, and then got out of the way a bit until we saw DAG.... Did I mention DAG yet? No? I guess not... I think this was probably the second time I met him at the fest, the first time was all mushed in with a whole bunch of people from the ETH Chatroll. He calls himself Dag for short, but his full online name is Dagnabit - which is totally awesome. And also, also! I speak to his wife online at the ETH Chatroll thing, too! Her name is Brenny, she's so nice! Anyway, when the beers were received our group sort of moved to the center of the Beer Tent and conversed.

Eventually, Fia and Dag got to talking about exchanging phone numbers - apparently, Dag isn't the best texter, either - he said he starts a text in the beginning of the day and finishes it by the end of the day, so silly. So, mildly drunk, I'm assuming, Dag is trying to remember his cell phone number and as soon as he has what could possibly be it, he says "Oh wait, that's my wife's... mine's....oh wait... um..." It was hysterical! It went on like that for like, ten minutes! It was so funny! Then we decided something, I don't know, I was just suddenly worried about crowds and the stage so I missed a few things, but it was okay, because that's where we decided to go next!

Oh. My Gosh! When we got to the stage the crowds had already started, the guys were on stage and I swore I was going to wee. I told Liz, I said "Liz, I'm going to wee". S'what I said, I did. So, Liz, Fia and I pushed our way into the crowd, Liz saw her aunt, and we pushed ourselves in furthers and we wound up almost in front of Craig Downie (the bagpiper... from before... founded the band, remember?) Anyway, I was in front of Craig, about ten feet from stage, loving life. In fact, Craig has the first two pictures on my camera. (I'd put some up, however, my camera doesn't have a 'view pictures' button, so I can't upload anything... ]: )

So, I don't remember the set list for the first night, because I don't have a picture of it that I can see, but I do know that they started with Litter and the Leaves and then the rest of the songs are a blur of amazing... I jumped and I shouted, and I punched my fist in the air, and I counted the four a whole bunch of times, and bounced my foot in time with the music... And somewhere during the middle of the set, a guy in a red north-face fleecy looking jacket weaved his way in front of Fia and I and these two other girls who were in front of us, and we all sort of looked at each other and were like 'really?' And wouldn't you know it, this D-Bag eeked out some of the foulest smelling gases.... Oh! It was during Fiddle Set! and Brian Buchanan (he plays the fiddle and the piano... you may notice him as the one with the red/orange hair) looked over in my direction because Fia was standing next to me laughing hysterically - because let's face it... the guy in front of us, it was funny... And Brian does this thing with his eye brows that is totally awesome - Anyway, he looked over in our direction, and flicked his eyebrow up. So, we sober up pretty quick because you know what that means, don't you? That means Brian heard Fia laughing... Woopsies.....

So, then, the rest of the concert commenced and was absolutely amazing. At the one part of The Ghosts of Calico (which was my first favorite song on the CD), there's a lyric that goes ; "So take my last breath quickly/take it in my sleep/take it while I'm dreaming of a life in San Martin/'Cause everyone I know now is a dusty memory/I can hear the wolves delivering my eulogy." And at the point, a whole bunch of the ETH ChatRoll people, we all howled... It was awesome.

But for some odd reason, the venue was rushing through the acts, so the guys didn't get to do an encore or anything. In fact, I learned later that the stage crew was breaking down while they were singing Gasoline.... Insane, right?

After that, the guys left the stage, Brian spoke about his birthday trip to Ireland that I'm going to try to persuade my parental units to let me attend. However, my side of the battle is looking a little bit shaky... Regardless, you're here to read about the festival... So, let's continue.

Then our little ChatRoll group conversed some before Fia was like "there's Brian." And I almost died. That's right, almost died! She then led the way right to him, pirate hat bouncing away (because she's that awesome, she can wear a pirate hat...also, Saturday was Talk Like A Pirate Day)... And she walked right up to him and said 'I'm sorry for laughing so loud in the middle of Fiddle Set' and Brian just stared at her and was like 'What?' .... So, it turned out, he was just making a face earlier... he hadn't heard... Now we had to explain.. So.... we did;; ^_6.... and there was much laughter. And then Fia introduced us, and I said "Hello, I'm Jereality," and he smiled real big and held out his hand and my heart stopped and I fell to the ground!

I'm kidding.

Fia introduced us, and I said "Hello, I'm Jereality," and he smiled real big and held out his hand and my heart stopped, and I smiled real big and he said "hey Jereality," and then he moved on to meet Liz, and whoever else we were near I wasn't too sure because I just shook Brian Buchanan's hand and nothing else really matters...

-insert big fangirl sigh here;; however, after some events, I have calmed down... such events will be explained in the next post-

And then Brian said, "let's move to the light," so, we did! And we followed him toward the Merchandise Tent! Which it really just the side of the performance tent... so.... Yeah. And then in the clamor and clutter of people and bodies, all of a sudden, Liz stopped in front of me, and a guy to my left directly next to me turned around and my heart stopped again, and my breath was gone as Trevor Lewington (guitar and vocals) both exchanged brief stunned glances. Obviously neither of us had expected a person in our paths... And I had not expected Trevor.... In my stunned silence I could barely hear Liz introduce herself quickly to Trevor all by herself (I'm so proud!), and then we were all shooed from the Merch' Tent, because none of us worked there... That wasn't cool though, 'cause Brian told us to go there, and then Trevor told us all we had to leave (very politely, mind you...)

Not a problem, because as we were moving from the tables where all the Enter The Haggis stuff on it, we saw Mark Abraham (bass and vocals). Fia introduced us to him, and oh my gosh, I thought he was going to squeeze my hand off. Mark has a death grip hand shake. I'm sure it's because of the bass player-ness, but still, pulsing hand afterward... No matter... He was so nice! And then, after Mark left to go and greet more fans, our group meandered into the field a little bit, looked at the stars, recounted the story of the guy who eeked foul gases... However, it just so happened that guy was standing behind Fia as she told the story... I tried to get her attention before she told it, but she has the punch line came and the laughter, well... Then the guy left... After that, Dag wore Fia's pirate hat, pictures were taken, some stories were passed.... and then we got to meet James Campbell (drums). Shook his hand, I don't remember what we spoke about, I just remember that he laughed - he has the most awesome laugh! And he's always laughing! He must be the happiest person alive, I think... OH! It was so cold, and he was in shorts... I mean, I know he just rocked out and he was crazy awesome, but it was like... cold. Then he left to go do things.. He said he'd be right back... but Liz and I had plans...

So, Liz and I went to the Merch table and I bought a shirt with the band's Stick People on it... and then I put it on right over my clothes... and then I met Craig Downie! And when I shook his hand, he looked at me all concerned, and said 'you've got such cold hands, wee lass!' and then he took his other hand and warmed 'Righty' (my shaking hand), while I just said 'yeah, I get cold easy'. Stupid... And then I got pictures!

And life was good! My very last picture of Friday evening was with Brian Buchanan. First, we got into the normal 'this is the fan picture pose' and then I held up my 'Rock-and-Roll' fingers, you know... Like I always do for my pictures.... And out of the corner of my eyes, I see bright red hair turn and look down, I hear the softest chuckle.... and I'm almost positive my 'I-don't-want-to-take-pictures-with-fans-anymore-I'm-tired' smile turned into a 'this-girl-is-silly' laugh at me, smile....

So.... It was sort of totally amazing... Of course, my smile in that picture is gigantic.... after that, Brian left, and we stayed and listened to a few more bands....

Somewhere between James and pictures with Brian, Fia disappeared.... After a very long time, speaking with totally amazing people and listening to the rest of the other bands, Liz and I decided it was our time to go. So, saying good bye to those that were around and trying to get a picture that took about eight tries to get before we moved to the area where only the shots of the grass were being taken.... What? We tried to take a picture. It didn't work. Whenever the camera was moved, it took a picture of grass to our left. Liz suggested we go toward that left direction, where the grass was... the place where the camera was taking pictures, and try to take the picture there.... Sure enough, it worked - weird, right?

After all of that fun, we walked out of the tent and ran into Fia, where I tried a Hot Beef Sundae (It's roast beef, mashed potatoes, and gravy in a cup - don't worry).. It was delicious... that's when I remembered that was the only thing I had eaten all day. Woops. We got to talking for a while, the evening wound down with Liz and I having a place to crash for the night on Saturday, rather than driving all the way back home (NY to PA)... which she didn't like either... Everyone we told always made the same face.

And then we left, ad drove back to Liz's 'Camp' where we stayed up until two-ish, squealing over pictures... Turns out her Aunt's camera has the same memory card as mine, so I got to see my pictures... They turned out well, not a one is blurred - I'm pleased. Then I took a picture of the one with Brian and I with my phone, sent it to facebook and now it's my facebook profile picture... Funny world, isn't it?

Oh, anyway - that about sums it up for Friday.... Tune in readers, for Saturday, September 19^th 2009, when Enter the Haggis plays in an Old Folks Home... True story... totally awesome!

ROCK ON!
^_6;; Jereality

A Brief Filler...

So, I'm working on a post about the Great American Irish Festival.. and I'm getting seriously delayed because I do have a life... Granted, it's not usually a very busy one, but when I do do (-insert your laughter, I said doo doo-) things, sometimes I get tired... and then I require sleep...

And when I do sleep, I sleep for a very long time. In fact, I hibernate... So, yeah... That post may take quite a while... Just know that it was awesome, and I will fill you in on the details in a while...

^_6;; Also, if you haven't checked out Enter the Haggis.... do it... I'm pretty sure you can listen to their whole new album for free on their page... Yeah, they're that cool...

^_6;; ta ta

Jereality

A Tip for Everyone Who Wants To Help the Birdies

A man came in with these today:





Aw, they're preciousssss... Yes, I know. However, what he should have done while mowing the lawn was left them alone. When you see a nest on the ground, leave it be - the mother can still see the babies, she will take care of them.





If you have already picked up the nest and put it in a container, do not bring it to a zoo or any type of other facility... We really can't do anything for the little babies... The mother can only care for them when they are that size... I'm sorry, but I've never lied to you guys before and I refuse to sugar coat these things if I haven't done it before...

If you're sensitive, take a long blink, and scroll down... until you see the smiley face... read AFTER the smiley face.... Alrighty my little soldiers - that picture above there is our kitchen...the baby birds are in a sandwich container... we work in a zoo full of predators... Now it's your turn to use your imagination.





Should you find a nest ON THE GROUND and you feel like it's in some sort of danger, grab a basket from your home, like this one:: :: and put the nest in there WITHOUT TOUCHING THE BABIES! DO NOT TOUCH THE BABIES! I know you may think they're adorable and ready for a good cuddle to your cheek, but I will tell you true - they are not. Simple as that. Just don't do it. They're animals... and their mother would not be pleased if you took her babies and squashed them to your fleshy mouth sack.

So, put the nest in the basket, and hang the basket in the tree. And then leave it all alone. Don't go back to check on them later, don't assume that you have some custody of the little birds because "well, they're living in my basket, in my tree, in my yard"... Don't do it.

That's about all I feel like saying on the matter...

Oh! To the couple who came in with bread today... I am well aware that you were feeding the chickens and the ducks and such... but please leave your bread in the car... There was half a loaf in the bag when I took it from you... I wound up throwing the bag away... That's procedure or something... so, to save you money and to save the world bread... if you could feed the ducks and the chickens and the peacocks or whatever comes out into the parking lot, and then toss the bread into your car before you come into the zoo... that'd be super....



I'm fired up for bed now!
It's going to be a good sleep!
^_6;;Jereality

How Much For That?!

So remember last post I said maybe I'd have an interesting dream tomorrow night? Well 'tomorrow night' was last night, and I did have an interesting dream.

I was back in my high school... well, sort of. I was in a school building, but I have a feeling it was my school mixed in with some of Hogwarts because the walls and everything were made of some serious stonework. Anyway, it was a holiday; I think it was the fourth of July or Memorial Day... I don't remember which, but I do remember it was odd because it was snowing out, and no one approved of it.

I remember walking up the steps with one of my good friends - an old friend from my waking life... he moved when we were both very young, and we see each other occasionally, speaking through social networking sites... Facebook being the primary source... Anyway, Kevin and I walked up some stairs and saw a girl an older girl dressed in darker colors, her hair in disarray, crimped, and colored and poofy go into a room. So, we followed her, now with Sibling in toe, and walked in on a classroom full of degenerate people whom Kevin seemed to know.

'Take a seat,' he said. Sibling and I did... Sibling brought a picnic basket... weird. So, we sat down, and the older girl at the front of the classroom [-who upon waking I can tell you was an older, slightly larger Dakota Fanning as Cassie from Push -] She took a piece of chalk and began writing on the board.

'One is worth two CDs. Two is worth one DVD. Five is Fifty dollars,' she said, writing it out on a chart.

|One - 2 Cds
|Two - 1 DVD
|Five - $50
|One Bottle - $100-$500
|Two Bottles - $1000-$2000
|Five Bottles - $8000

Now, I didn't understand how her system worked, or what she was talking about, but I did notice that all of her 'o's looked like coffee cups. After her meeting was over, and everyone that was in there was gone save for Sibling, Kevin, 'Cassie' and I, she walked over and made a point to show me her coffee cup 'o's.

After she showed me that, she handed me a small blue pill and told me the first one was a freebee. That's when I told Sibling to go home. Sibling went away and it was just Kevin and I in the room. He was bouncing off the walls, laughing bout the deal he had just made.... bringing two people instead of one to his meeting. Apparently that gave him discount or something. I had only shrugged and popped whatever Cassie gave me in my mouth and sucked on it for a while.

After it did nothing, Kevin told me to take it out and open the capsule. 'That's just a sugar pill,' he told me, throwing it on the ground. 'This is a heroin pill,' he said, handing it to me, and putting his own in his mouth before taking my hand and the picnic basket and leading me out of the room where we ran into a teacher. The teacher shifted between Snape, McGonagall and some random made up person, yelling at Kevin and I as we ran down the stairs, meeting Sibling at the bottom.

We all were laughing as we ran to the park, and then I woke up....

It was weird... I remember some of the scenes so vividly... the part where we got to the park, and the screen of my mind moved so that it captured an arch and a lamp post and the three of us just running around... and the scene at the far end of the classroom, when Kevin gave me the heroin pill... and when I opened the sugar pill, having Kevin take it from me and put it in his pocket... it was all very strange...

I wonder what tonight will have in store....


^_6;; Sweet dreams & pleasant nightmares!

-Jereality

Headaches and Heartattacks

It seems the soap keeps running out in the shower... the bar soap. Whenever I get to it, it's always a small triangular piece, less than half an inch in width and about an inch by half an inch... all from a standard size piece of soap.

That's just something that was on my mind and that bothered me. I thought I should inform you all.

On a side note, I've been waking up with terrible head aches for the past couple of days. I think it's because I've been dreaming of working.... which has been kind of annoying, because I don't want to work when I dream. That's why I sleep. Last night, in my dreams, I was cleaning out a gigantic bear exhibit when five men and their dogs entered the exhibit. The dogs were solid colors; there was a bright blue one, a bright lime green one, a purple one... and I don't remember the other two... a pink one....

I don't understand why there were there... I woke up... but the bear was didn't want them there and was charging at them before I opened my eyes...

Maybe tonight I can get something else interesting and I'll tell you all about it....

Sweet dreams & Pleasant nightmares!

^_6;; Jereality

Greta :: 11/12/2001 - 7/10/2009

I thought I had it all out of my system.

I didn't think when Greta hopped in the van she didn't think she wouldn't be coming back with us.

That's what bothered me the most.
I don't want her to think that I betrayed her.

She won't hurt anymore... I know the benefits of her "life" now, what with euthanasia. She won't be in pain... and she was, she really was. She couldn't see, either. So, what she was doing here wasn't really living.

I thought, though, with what I had already written, I would've gotten everything out of my system. But as I sat in the room, looking all around the place...

The thing that bothered me the most was my dad.

The only other time I've seen him cry was at his Aunt Mary's funeral. And only that was for a few seconds... a few tears. These tears were different.

Father sat on the floor with Greta the whole time. She was his, really... I think of the four of us, he really did love her the most... He loves a lot... Now he hurts a lot.

I don't have a dog anymore.
I miss her.

What Do You Mean, 'This Sounds Familiar?'

Concerning Zookeepers

Zookeepers have been living and zookeeping in the four corners of the Zoo for many hundreds of years, quite content to ignore and be ignored by the world of the City Folk. Earth being, after all, full of strange creatures beyond count Zookeepers must seem of little importance, being neither renowned as great thinkers nor counted among the very strong. In fact it has been remarked by some that Zookeepers' only real passion is for animals. A rather unfair observation, as we have also developed a keen interest in the collecting of peacock feathers and the hosing of walk-ways. But where our hearts truly lie is in the peace and quiet and calm of being behind the fences... For all Zookeepers share a love of things that are distant. And yes, no doubt to others, our ways seem quaint. But today of all days, it is brought home to me : it is not bad thing to celebrate a simple life

And so life in the Zoo goes on very much as it has this past Age, full of its own comings and goings, with change coming slowly. If it comes at all. For things are made to endure in the Zoo passing from one generation to the next. There's always been a Jereality loving the Zoo here in the world. And there always will be.

I'm All Outta Angst

So, I've been on the computer a whole bunch lately...

When I can get online, which is a rarity, I check the blogs I read, my e-mail, respond to said e-mail, check my facebook, and then I go promptly to my role plays... Those things... they're like my drug. I love them.

Anyway, the title has nothing to do with me running out of angst... I do believe that would be impossible. In fact, I may actually have more angst... It's all a matter of perception, though. Where some see angst, others may see, well, nothing, because their eyes are closed. I have no idea what else you'd see... I'd see angst. Maybe someone else in a similar position, just trying to move ahead. That's what you'd see, trying to get to a better place in a better time...

Unless, of course, you fancy taking quizzes... Quizzes with the question that ask: 'Where do you see yourself in five-ten years?' and you answer: 'Right here.' Then again, you could be perfectly fine with where you are in life, if so, then I congratulate you. I find that hard to accomplish in this economy...

Let's change the subject.

I can't sleep.
It's 1:53 am.

My aunt is coming over tomorrow... today? In ten hours... I'm going to teach her how to straighten her hair. Silliness... She's my favorite aunt, though, so it's totally okay with me. I do have to tidy up my room, though... Ah well...

Side Note, did I tell you all that I have carpal tunnel in my right wrist? I do, and it hurts very badly.

I'm in that in between state... Between tired and awake. My spine hurts, though. It's because I'm laying down, and craning my spine slightly in an odd direction so I can type... and I've been doing it for about five hours. I'm reversing all of my slouching, I guess.


Another note... http://omeagle.com ...You talk to strangers.... It's amazing. Nothing is given out, and you can talk about anything. It's amazing...

It's 2:52 am right now...

The conversation with Stranger is really quite interesting though...
She's a Mormon from France, I believe... She's pretty cool...


More stuff! Ska music, it's amazing! I've been listening to it and the new Green Day album, 21st Century Breakdown...


This is probably the worst post ever...

I need to be more coherent, goodness gracious...


Until next time....

^_6;; Jereality

We Had Some Good Times

It was Christmas time... that's when Mother put a small, fuzzy Rottweiler puppy on Father's bed. His present. Greta. Her name took a couple of weeks to come up with. She's a pure bred German Rottweiler, so we wanted a German name. We started with Kayla. Greta seemed to fit better.

She was the runt of the litter, Mother said. We could fit her in the pockets of our winter coats when we took her places. Sibling and I had to watch her at night over winter break... When she was old enough, we hired a trainer, got her all trained up... she knows 'sit' and 'lay down' and 'go to bed'... over time we'd ask questions and she'd figure out that they led to things she wanted like 'Do you have to go outside?', 'Want a treat?', 'Wanna go for a walk?'.

Then she had a stroke and an embolism shot down her spine and destroyed the nerves in her right hind leg. Then, we discovered through her genetics she did not have a socket in her hip on the left side, so her leg bone and her hip bone were just scraping together, unconnected. Now, my puppy-minded dog couldn't run without injury.


She seemed to get better though, which was great. Her spirit was high - is high. In her mind, she's still so young. Her body is her downfall. She's sliding on the floors she used to walk fine on, she can't see because of glaucoma and allergies, and all she wants to do is play.

There is nothing more we can do for her. Under the play in her eyes, it's easy to see she is in pain. The only place she can run is in her sleep, and even then, I don't know if she's being chased - so I can't help her there, either.

Greta is my first dog. There were times I said I didn't want her. Times I called her stupid...

Just words.
Just like these.
These won't do anything.
They're not even making me feel better.


This is Greta. We could give her people food. It didn't matter.

She liked bread. Cheese, I think was her favorite. American cheese... from Acme. But if you got it from somewhere, that was cool too. And Peanut butter... add that to any pill we had to give her, and it's gone. Any vegetables were out of the question, though. No one wants vegetables. She once ate a doubled batch of chocolate chip cookies... Pulled them right off the table... Just about 80 cookies, I think.

She is an awesome dog. I love her, I think she knows that.

I remember, when we could walk her around where I live, I'd share my water with her... If I had a lollipop, which I generally did, I'd let her have some. I didn't care. Greta is my dog. She belongs with my family. And everyone who knows her will miss her. Count on it.



There's never going to be another dog like her. She'll sit right in front of you, plop her head in your lap and just stare at you. I love her. I'll miss her.

Sort of Job

It's actually an internship... sort of, I guess. It is. It's an internship. I'm learning there. It's awesome.

I work at a Zoo now.

It's amazing.

I get tossed around with different keepers from 10 to five.

The first (two days go) day I worked with Allison, and picked with Davey the donkey's poo, and the llamas, and Pig (that's his name). And then we went and scrubbed the houses for when the animals are brought inside. I scrubbed the floors of Primate houses, and a white tiger house and a puma house... it was awesome! Then I played with two month old African Serval kits... Chip and Polka Dot... a small child named them. They're adorable! I love them.

The next day, which was yesterday, I worked with Diana in the Education building, where I pretty much stood still while she spoke to two classes for an hour about (in order of appearance) a bearded dragon (named Rock), a Blue tongued Skink (my favorite type of Skink EVER, and then a Leopard Tortoise (named Tetris, 'cause of his tetris grooved lookin' shell), a soft shelled turtle, then we switch and go to a Screech Owl (named Dexter... he got hit with a car, or flew into a window or something, so now the zoo takes care of him... he's awesome), and then we close with two baby wallabies (Matilda and Heath).

Heath is the younger half brother of Matilda. They're adorable. I play with them. I get to play with them and the baby Servals. That's my job.

No, but really... The other day, I stood in the education room and learned all the information about how the animals are all totally awesome (don't worry, I'll do something special for all of them.. I'll get their pictures, and make up my own education thing just for right here...on my day off, though.) and then I just held Matilda in her 'pouch' because she got upset that Diana took Heath away from her for the presentation... So, I held Matilda, and brought her around for pictures and stuff... It's a good time...

Today, all the aforementioned animals, sans Screech Owl and Soft-shelled turtle were handled by myself. The owl has issues, so he and Diana are working with the avian thing together, and the turtle, well. okay, I'm going to teach you something right now.

This turtle, pictured below is the soft-shelled turtle. It has that snorkle nose so it can breathe when it burrows under the sand for protection from the predators... And Jereality is a predator to it.. luckily, it has great defense... A super long neck it can extend that I was too lazy to grab a picture of that you can google... Their neck, no lie, the one at the zoo, stretches like, five, six inches from the shell. If your finger goes near it, he will snap at it. And it's not 'aw, cute, the turtle is gumming my finger'. It's 'OH MY GOD!' Because turtles and tortoises are closely related to birds anatomically in the sense that they both have beaks.
The turtl's beak below, it's like a pair of scissors. Why would I stick my hand in sand with a pair of angry scissors?


This tortoise on the other hand cannot stretch his neck several inches, and the one we have is about 10-15 pounds, rather than the one that's about the size of a large tea saucer and can brutally scissor-blade attack your fingers, Tetris's beak is like a steak knife. However, he is easier to grab, so I held him... and all was well... I still have all my fingers.





Apparently there is a birthday party tomorrow, I get to hold animals again. I'm so excited. I've heard no one likes the education room because of the reptiles... Pssh, I love reptiles... So, I love the education room... It's totally awesome... But I still want to be around the other animals, too, so I need to make sure I don't concentrate my time with the reptiles and the birds... so I miss out on the rest of the zoo... 'cause I love big cats and the primates are hysterical... and Holly, the bear, so cool. So, we'll see what happens with all that...

I still need to get my papers signed...

-sigh-

Once again...
But still, I got a sort of job! WOO!

^_6;; Jereality
I LOVE ANIMALS!!

When I Don't Do This, It Makes People Sad

So, here it is!

I haven't posted in a very long time!

I think I"ve been busy... I don't really remember... everything is just a blur. That's not good, I think. Everything, all the days, should definitely be separated and defined. Not blurred, however, they are... for me.

Whatever...

What's been going on?
LOTS!

I saw Star Trek! It was awesome!
Also, I saw Night at the Museum 2! Also Awesome!
I've also discovered Magic the Gathering! More Awesome! Something I that can unite the group together with... we all play it... it's fantastic... I've actually acquired my own deck now, I no longer need to use Onyx's red/green deck... I've got my own blue/white deck... even though I really, REALLY want a black/white deck... because the're totally badass... also I want an Elf Deck... because Elves are the shit.

More on me to come... just not right now, because I"m really tired....

OH! New Green Day CD, 21st Century Breakdown, it's totally amazing! I recommend it to all and to all a good night!

SO, get it!

^_6;; Jereality

I Do Enjoy A Good Story

I enjoy PEZ as much as the next guy... {Jarod, the Pretender} ... So, when I tell you I got home and saw my
Puss in Boots PEZ dispenser looking at me with such longing, well... I just had to fill 'im up with some Lemon PEZ... Why lemon, you ask... Well, because lemon is my favorite flavor of PEZ. And now, a conversation.

-Dim the lights please, as I sit on my chair... snaps-

Me: i would like some PEZ

Onyx: lol



Onyx: just squeeze an orange into some sugar
same thing

Me: correction: I would like some MORE pez

Onyx: oh my

Me: yes....
see, i have this Puss in Boots dispenser...
and I have two lemon PEZ things...
correction: had

Onyx:lol

Me: I just finished the first one, and loaded up the dispenser again
sugar is delicious when its flavored with artificial sweetener
Also, a fact from me to you

Onyx: lol

Me: I'm glad I don't have an ugly pez dispenser

Onyx: as am i, i assure you

Me: because every time you grab a Pez, it looks like your giving the dispenser a little kiss

Onyx: ...i empty the dispenser out into my hand
or eat the pez from the packets

Me: granted, you give a little crunch afterward, which doesn't quite make sense.... but a kiss nonetheless
nope, I kiss
kiss plastic
Puss in Boots

Onyx: lol

Me: snap his head back, like i'm a vampire, grab the sweetness, and chew away
swallow, and repeat
out of context, this is a terrible conversation...

Onyx: ...it really is. you should blog it

Me: I will. right now

[end scene]

An E-Mail Post, Perhaps

I don't know if this will work at all. I'm trying to blog from an e-mail. If it doesn't I suppose there is no harm done. No gain... no loss... Well, a small waste of time, I suppose, yes.

I wish I could express to you all how very hot it is. I live on the third floor of a building. An old building built in the 1800's. On campus very much effected by the disease that is terrorizing the planet: Global Warming. I believe we have five fans. Let me count them. One directly blowing air on me and my computer. It's a black Honeywell fan. It's loud. I don't particularly like the noise it creates, however, the cool air is lovely. There are two more fans further to my right... and another below my bunk to my left... what are we at now? Three? I do believe so... There's one across the room... small, a white one... I don't count that as a real fan. It's quite small... But it does move air, so I guess it does count. Four. And now we've got a window fan from a lovely man by the name of 'Audrina's friend'.  There are in fact two fans inside of it, so I was mistaken. We've got six fans total. That's lovely. I think everyone else in the dorm only has one or two.

It is my contention we've got the coolest climate in my dorm.

I wonder when the masses will realize this...

It feels like a wonderful spring day in this room sometimes, when I tune out the noise the fan is making... the cool air and the sunlight...

It's lovely.

I leave my body and I go to a field. I've been there before, when I was taking a test I went there - the first time, accidentally I stumbled upon it. I rest there.... and then I return back to the dorm... where the computer is hot on my legs, and I'm reminded that the internal fan isn't working properly... I should get it looked at....

Keep hydrated.
At least the walls aren't sweating yet.

^_6;; Jereality

Spring Break: The Trek

Today, I woke up at 7:30 to eat breakfast at eight because we needed to do our tour thing at ten something. So, I got up and dressed and straightened my hair and such, and then went downstairs to eat. Edwina and Jon had set up the table for our breakfast, I had cereal, Special K, to be exact, and also, a croissant. And also some orange juice and some coffee. Yum. After breakfast with our other Bed and Breakfast-ers from Alaska, we all walked with Jo^hn^(?) to the trolley place so we could go to New Orleans. We waited a few minutes for our trolley since we just missed the one that was there when we walked up, it's okay though, because they circulate enough trolleys to have all the stops visited once every five minutes. I would know, Jon printed out a sheet of all the trolley stops for me, along with a map of the French Quarter, where we would be spending our day.

So, as soon as our trolley came up, Jon left and we boarded, and I paid five dollars for the four of us (because it's $1.25 a person) and we all sat down. Turns out we got the trolley in training because, well, our trolley driver was in training. The man in the purple shirt who instructed him seemed to have woken up on the wrong side of the bed this particular morning, because he was the least happy camper I had seen yet. Our History Tour started at 10:00 in the back of a voodoo shop between Royal Street and Bourbon Street... Where were on the trolley at ten o'clock. We got off the trolley at ten o'three -ish. And we still had about seven blocks to go. But it was A-okay, because the family of Jereality is well versed in the forced march. We got to the back of that voodoo shop at around 10:07 ish to see a crazy woman (CW) dressed all in black, except for her shirt which had only the white words 'Haunted History Tours' (which is the tour we were on) handing out stickers to designate tour-goers. Yay! We got our stickers! I still have mine, by the way... mmhmm.

CW took us down a few streets in the French Quarter, explaining why the deceased needed to be burried above ground rather than underground. It's because of the water... See, if they were careful, a couple months later 'aunt marie' would come floating on by the dinner table, and 'while in life her conversation was riveting, now, it's kind of lacking...' (That's what CW said, I thought it was quite funny)

Then I saw a 'lady of the night', but if we had to ask, it was a man... That's what CW said. They (New Orlean-ers) have a thing called the Blotter, or something and one of them is "If you have to ask, it's a man." So, I saw a 'la-man of the night' and took a clandestine picture, good times. Silliness.

After that, we went to the St. Louis Cemetery One. There, we saw that people were 'buried' (for lack of a better word) in wall tombs. [because I can't say entombed and tombs in the same sentence, it's just awkward] They were neat looking. Entire families were entombed in the wall...tombs. They place the deceased in a coffin and put the coffin in the tomb for a year and a day out of respect for the dead and also legal reasons because you can't sue them if the person wasn't really dead if it was a day after a year [I think that was it]... I don't remember... Anyway, after we went through the whole cemetery, we were finished with the tour.

We followed our tour guide to some free food behind the St. Louis Cathedral to which Sibling turned her nose up to... Which was understandable because it looked as if the food had been sitting out for quite a while. So, our group of four turned tail and moved to the front of the cathedral, looking around and walking around the french quarter for something to eat. Finally, we got to a place called Muriel's. It's in Jackson square, a lovely open air bistro... I had a seafood au gratin... It was delicious. After we ate, we all walked around the French Quarter for a very long time. Sibling bought a piece of art work, then I bought a third and mom bought 2 thirds of a piece of art work... and there was a man dressed and painted all in silver who sounded like a robot...

Eventually, we wound up at Cafe du Monde, a very, very busy cafe that is famous for its beignets - a square, hot, french doughnut covered in mounds of powdered sugar. They're delicious. By the time we were eating our beignets, however, the group was tired of itself, and we all just needed a rest... We had been walking around looking at various museum-esque things. We went through a Zulu museum, and we went through an 1850's house - which is exactly what it sounds like, and then we went through a history of New Orleans type of museum, which gave the history of New Orleans... It was lots of fun... Mostly, we people watched through the large windows... We excel at people watching. If I posted pictures of actual people, I'd show you... but I don't, because that kind of creeps me out... Anyway...

After we ate at Cafe du Monde, we went and relaxed in the park in the French Quarter, Sibling laid on the ground like a crazy person... Mother laid on the bench, then Liz laid on the ground, and I sat on the bench. Because I'm alert, and looking out for people who want to take our stuff. Our visit was cut short, however, because some man closed the park... So then we went to the St. Louis Cathedral and played cards on the step... It was lots of fun, and then we went on our Vampire Tour!

I can't do the tour justice, I can just tell you that it was awesome! If you click on 'Vampire Tour' it will take you somewhere else that described what I did... Except I don't know who their tour guide was... Our Vampire.... tour guide was Tony, that was his real name, so when you all go to New Orleans, you can go and request him. He was really quite entertaining. I had an amazing time... Except the part where at the Zodiac/Axeman/Tony's Favorite House my right contact decided dry out and make my eye itch and fall out. It was awesome... I listened to wonderful Tony speak about the most amazing things... with blurred vision. Awesome.

And then the tour was over around... I don't remember, ten-thirty? Mother had the map, she said we should go straight, Liz asked to see the map, she agreed, led the way. I should have looked at the map. We wound up walking for a good half hour, forty minutes... in the wrong direction, me with blurred vision... I was less than pleased. Eventually, we turned around and walked back toward the French Quarter.. but the damage was done, and Mother was annoyed so we wound up taking a cab back to the bed and breakfast... Ah, good times...


Quote:

While Playing Cards on the steps of the Cathedral. A large group walks past, we needed to know which tour it was...

Sibling: Excuse me. Which tour is that? Excuse me? Hello? Anyone? Anyone? Bueller?

-------
In the beginning of the Vampire Tour, gauging our knowledge of vampire's, Tony asked us if we knew the ways to finish off a vampire. The first three steps were called out.
Tony: I'll be really impressed if anyone knows step four
-silence-
Me: -whispers to Liz- It's water...
-silence-
Liz: Say it
Tony: Anyone?
Me: Water. Sprinkle the ashes in fast moving water...
Tony...the Vampire: -stares- I'm going to be...over here

Spring Break: The Zoo Ba Dum Cha

Today I woke up at 7:30 in the morning, ate a breakfast of 'Fruity O's' and a bisquit, and went and took a walk on the beach with Sibling and Liz. It was a great morning. Also, I discovered I got sunburned yesterday on the boat, yeap, on my neck/shoulder region. It hurts a lot because I use that skin spot to hold bags... Oh well, I'll tough it out... what's a little pain, eh? So, after our walk on the beach - which ended approximately around 9:00, because we needed to get Mother tea - we went back to the hotel room got showered, and packed to go, and left by 10:35 for the Alabama Gulf Coast Zoo.

We drove for about twelve minutes before pulling up to the small enclosure area, and in my head I was thinking 'it looks bigger on TV'. Sibling merely said "this is it...?" So, I ignored the size of the zoo, since I already knew what was inside and that it had to be a bit larger on the inside, we walked inside and told the woman behind the counter that we had scheduled a meeting with Patti Hall, the director. Patti had just gotten to the zoo, and was in a meeting though, so the woman behind the counter said we could just walk around the zoo ourselves and then if we didn't bump into Patti around there, she'd be by the gift shop later.

So, we did just that. Walking around the first things we saw were the lemurs on Lemur Island. They don't have a fence around Lemur Island, it's just an island... Lemurs don't like water, so they stay on the land. After the lemurs, we crossed a little bridge thing, two our left side -while on the bridge- was a turtle, and on our right were three alligators. Then we made a sharp left to look at Lemur Island some more and some ducks... and a swan named Romeo [who on the Series is a jerk...] after that I saw a bear, but I didn't know if it was Milley or Buddha, the two resident Black bears, so we went closer to them and took some pictures of them. After that, we went through the -what I am going to call- the Aviatrix, which housed about twenty or so exotic birds. The strangest one was the Coocoobara, they make a strange noise - I had seen one before on Jimmy Fallon's new show.

We left the birds, and then saw some kind of...deer thing.... I don't know, but Liz pet it. Then I moved on and took a picture of a peacock and then I took a picture of Lady (a lioness) and then I saw some coatimundis (coati), but they were sort of sleeping so I really couldn't see them. And then I saw some capuchin monkeys one was Michael, one was Crunch and the other was Kunda... she was blonde... I'd never seen him before... And then I bypassed the goats and the deer and the llama looking things and the emu bird and went toward Chuckie, a gigantic alligator. I took two pictures of him him. Did you know, that during Hurricane Ivan (the first hurricane the Alabama Gulf Coast Zoo went through, Chuckie was lost! He was later found and such, but, boy, that's scary...)

After Chuckie, we moved and then I saw Rajah and Rani, a white tiger and a 'regular' tiger. Cool stories to follow... Anyway, Liz and I tried to boof them over to us, which is pretty much what it sounds like when you say it out loud. But like 'BoOoOoooOooffuh'. With those inflections and things, too. After those tigers, I continued along and found Umba, Mandril Baboon. After Umba, I saw Katrina and Chaca, two spotted black leopards. Then I walked further on that path and saw some wallabys, and I snagged some pictures of them. Then I meandered on over to where Simba and Cici, the two Barbary lions that the zoo has. They're awesome... except Barbary lions are extinct in the wild, and Simba is completely amazing, and everyone wants a piece of him for their zoo, so that should give the Little Zoo That Could some more publicity.
Then, as we finished up the circle, walking back up to the entrance, Patti Hall waved at me, and I waved back and I said, "Liz! Patti Hall is waving to me! How did she knows it was us? Do we dress funny? It's because we're from Jersey? Patti Hall is psychic!" She then greeted us and my party and the couple people that came on the tour with us. Then, we spoke for a few moments and then moved to go and watch some ghost tigers (there's only thirty in the whole world, and the Alabama Gulf Coast Zoo has two, it's a double recessive gene...) get their nails clipped. It was cute, they were growling a little bit.. adorable - I got to pet one.

Then Patti led us to a large cage, with two special needs Capuchin monkeys inside: Trey and Lulu. Trey did not want to come out and play, but Lulu sure did. In fact, as soon as the cage door opened, she was out onto Patti's arm and then onto my shoulder and then my dome. Needless to say, I'm glad and proud and stuff to be the first person not zoo related to have had been jumped on. Anyway, Lulu jumped around for a good twenty to thirty minutes, cameras flashing all around, but she mainly kept to my neck, camera and head, Liz's face, Sibling's arms and Mother's shoulder...once. Lulu had a strange habit of jumping from a strange woman beside me to the cage, wrapping her tail around my neck to turn and then swinging herself into the bushes behind me... It was so cool to see, I tell you what...

After we put Lulu back in the box with Trey, we moved on to the back lot area where we followed Patti and saw an older Capuchin monkey pair. I clearly saw that the male older capuchin monkeys are in fact, obnoxious 'butt holes'. The female was lovely, all calm and peaceful... she did, however, steal the piece of fruit the male worked so hard to throw things around to get... Ah well... After that we saw a male peacock and a female peahen standoff! Patti called it a 'Mexican Standoff', so I'm telling you, the reader.... yeah.

Oh! My! GOSH! After that we went inside this little area house place where all the food is prepared, and I saw the meat delivery, a box was labeled 'neck' and another 'wing', Patti said that the meat was cut up into quarters, and then she opened up another little room that looked like it was made out of thin pieces of wood... Yeah, painted black... with a door. We kicked off our shoes, and then hopped in a room with three baby kangaroos! One was eight months old, another was seven months old and the other was six months old. The five month old was feeling a little bit sickly, so was unable to join the others and us in the visitor area. So, I held .... Liz and I and Sibling held a baby kangaroo, her name was [still is, but we're not there anymore, so it's past tense] Matilda, they called her Tilly. And then after that, I put my shoes back on, cleaned my hands and then Patti was like "I'm gonna do something else with you guys."

Liz and I were shocked and amazing, more things to do! Inconceivable! So then she finally let the cat out of the bag, what're we going to do? Feed some tigers! See? Remember when I said that there would be some more fun stories to tell? I told you! Yes, Sibling, Liz and I all bottle fed milk to a tiger. Sibling fed Salt, who was placed with Pepper in their own enclosure. While Liz and I fed Rajah and Rani, in another enclosure. After each time we fed them, we boofed at them, and placed our hands and faces up against the fence and the tigers spoke to us, it was amazing!

One of the most awesome experiences of my life! Felines are so amazing! After we were done playing with Rajah and Rani, Patti moved us all to Simba and Cici's enclosure, and we all got to take really good pictures of Simba because he was then put into a separate area where he pretty much schmoozed everyone. Apparently, he's a big baby, and is in love with attention. Which, by the way, for a gigantic Barbary Lion is hysterical. He was quite talkative, too, responding in whatever noise he could to what Patti was saying... So cool...

But after that... after that, the tour ended, and we had to leave...

And it was sad...

I didn't like leaving...

But Patti said that we should call next time, and be Zoo Keepers for a day, which would be amazing - since that's what I"m planning on doing as my career anyway. So, now I have her business card, which she said I could have, a bright green and white Alabama Gulf Coast Zoo T-Shirt, a plush cat, a magnet, and over 800 pictures...

After the zoo, and after eating at a nearby place - where I got steak, which was the worst steak I got on the trip... much too much pepper - we drove to Louisiana... We scheduled a Ghost Tour for six o'clock, however, we left lunch/dinner around 4 thirty and we wound up getting into Louisiana at 6:20-ish. Unfortunately, I had to call the tour place and cancel it, which meant I didn't get to see my ghostie locations. That's alright, I guess, I mean, it's not like I won't be traveling there again.

Once we arrived in Louisiana, we went immediately to our Bed and Breakfast which was called Chez Ellie Marie, and is run by Jon and Edwina Figaro. We dropped all of our stuff off there, got a brief tour and had a sit down chat with the both of them for about twenty to thirty minutes.
It was a great conversation, topics ranged from morals and respect to the Zulu coconuts (Edwina's father was a high ranking member, I think she said - they paint coconuts and throw them at people during Mardi Gras. They don't throw them anymore, they caused physical pain or something, who knew?) We also spoke about what we were doing in Louisiana, what we did in Alabama, the tours we were going to take, and then I stopped listening to what Edwina, Liz and Sibling were saying because Jon came back with directions on how to use the trolley and how to get to the French Quarter.

After that, we asked about where we could eat. Just down the street a little bit, there was a place, so, we ate there. It was called La Granada, and it was delicious! I had a lamb shank. Liz said I ordered it because I like to say shank. That is false, it was because I didn't want to get the steak... because lamb was on the menu, and I often do not get the option for lamb, so, when the option was offered, I chose it.

After we ate, we went back to Chez Ellie Marie and slept... except I went on a crazy rant about how Hoo doo heard about a whole bunch in the Louisiana area... So, I creeped myself, Liz and Sibling out with that. It was awesome. Now, we sleep.

Spring Break: The Awakening

Today I didn't wake up until 9:25, and it was glorious! When I finally did wake up, I got a shower and then I heated up some of the meaty beef tip things that I didn't eat last night - I had those for breakfast, and a roll... and also a brownie. By that time it was eleven o'clock and Mother said we needed to get me sunglasses because we could be on a boat, and with the sudden bright and beautiful day, well, the sun would be quite loud in my eyes. So, we went to a place called Alvin's Island and I got a pair of sunglasses and Mother got her hat... And Sibling got a cup, and we all got Henna type things. Mother, Sibling and I got matching lizards on our arms, I'll show you a picture.

So, after we left we drove to Flipper 2, a place where we would be Dolphin Watching. When we got there, we all got free ice cream from a place called Flippers Seafood & Oysterbar and then we were all told to get on the boat. So, we got on the boat and went all the way to the front, which is called the bow. When Richard who was our Captain pulled out of the dock, we clambered up from the hull area and onto the top portion and pretended we were on Titanic... except for the sinking and the death and the "Don't let go, Jack!"

But it was amazing, the weather was beautiful, the sky was clear blue and the water bluish looking and amazing, totally amazing. I saw probably nine pods of dolphins or so, and took about 60 some pictures... because I brought the lesser of my two memory cards... not even a whole gig... So, we rode it out for two hours and it was an awesome time. Then we ate at the place we got the free ice cream at and I got steak. It was pretty good, not as good as Calypso Joe's, but still really good.

After that, we came back to the hotel and I took a nap. It was great. It was such a fantastic day. Tomorrow, we go to the zoo - I'm so excited! Here's some of what I saw today!

Spring Break: The Downpour

My eyes opened today for the first time at approximately 6:30 in the morning to Sibling and Mother laughing and talking about nothing really in particular, and then I don't know ht really happened, I must've fallen back to sleep because again at 7:20-ish, I hear Mother almost trip over the sundries bag that is laying on the floor... Why they woke up so ungodly early was and is beyond me, but I've grown to accept that they are strange people.

Anyway, after they were loud, those two got breakfast and eventually roped Liz into going on a morning beach walk. I declined, and decided to sleep for an extra twenty to thirty minutes. I obviously needed it. I still nee more sleep, I'm very tired. I'm anticipating sleep this evening, very much. Anyway! After they all came back from their walk, I ate breakfast... a bagel and some cream cheese and I called the zoo I mentioned in the post below this one. They were closed for a little while today because of the rain. So, that's when we discovered the rain. Luckily, we had a whole bunch of brochures and looked at them and decided to go into Mobile, Alabama for the day.

So, we drove to Mobile and went to the Museum of Mobile where we learned about slavery in the town of Mobile and life 'way back when'. Also, we discovered that when Mother, Sibling, Liz and I are placed in a room all by ourselves with children's activities, we will indulge ourselves. For instance, there was an activity that required teamwork to make an archway and a keystone type of project... we did that, then, Sibling organized the fake fish while Mother and I organized the fake vegetable and fruit displays on the fake market street. Then, right before the group of young children came in, we wrote all over the already written on white boards things about how New Jersey is the best, and how 'we were here'.

Then we went upstairs where we saw a whole bunch of Mardi Gras things. I learned that different towns have different colors for their parades and such. Purple is for power, green is for pride and gold is for wealth, or something... Then we messed with some buttons that made some very loud noises, such as bombs... True story, I blew up an entire facility with the click of a red button, I'll show you on the pictures. It told us about an explosion in a munitions factory a couple days/weeks after a war ended. Then we found the reason we came to the museum: Pirates! There, we learned about piracy and different stories on pirates and different trade routes they terrorized, and I learned how to tie a Reef Knot and I found buried treasure that I had to throw back into the the little sand box... Good times. Then we moved into a room with five miniature houses, which were beautiful! They're on Sibling's camera, because her's takes better pictures like that - pictures through plastic... mine has a terrible glare. [ I plan on making the houses in The Sims, they're going to be awesome!]

During that, however, Liz got a phone call from Patti Hall, the director of the Alabama Gulf Coast Zoo and we are going to actually see her on Wednesday around eleven, I think... I think that's the plan that's going on. I'm so excited! Anyway, after the little houses, we moved the to gift shop and picked up a few things, for instance, where to go for food, since we were about to eat a person.

The kindly old woman directed us to Three Georges, where we can, in fact eat one of six real food options. I'm not knocking it, it was tasty. Not somewhere I'd recommend if you're hungry enough to eat someone though, and, as stated above - we were. No matter. After we ate, we drove through more rain, and decided to go to the Gulf Coast Exploreum Science Center. It's a hands on, play with science and stuff place. I thought it would be "oh, look, a sand box".

No, this place was awesome. We walked in, and bought tickets and stuff and then met this woman whose name might have been Jennifer, who was a splendid woman who once upon a time lived in Jersey. She gave us little credit card looking things that we used to go around the main floor of the place and do all kinds of fun activities with. We placed the card into the machine of our choice and did the activity, like stand on a platform and a tube thing squirted out fake blood into a bigger tube thing and it measured how much blood was in you depending on how much you weighed... or something, I didn't really read it, I just thought it was interesting that someone decided "Hey, let's manufacture something that looks like a bleeding garden house and say let's make it educational." And another thing we did was looks at pig lungs, and we also saw a cow's eye and I made a skeleton move via excise bike, and I listened to my pulse with a microphone stethoscope, and also my reflex thing is about 21 - 25 hundredths of a second!

Oh My GOSH! JEREALITY! YOU'RE A SPEED DEMON! I know that's what you're thinking, and yes, you're right. I am. Now, if you could please not interrupt, I'd be glad to continue on with my story.
After we - OH WAIT! I did surgery. I did some virtual knee surgery, my patient survived, naturally. Anyway, after we demolished that floor with our excellence, we decided to grace the floor of the second with our presence. And grace it we did! I'm glad we did, too - that floor was amazing! First, I wasn't impressed, because I saw microscopes. And I was like ".......[dramatic pause].......NO!" and then I sat down on a chair, then Liz sat down beside me, and I turned and looked at her and went "Dissecting microscope?" and then I left after some words were exchanged.
Mother and I then moved to this thing that was strange looking, and actually, I don't remember actually what happened in the three to seven minutes I wandered around aimlessly, lost in the abyss of my mind whilst the people around me did their science. No, really, though. I don't remember what happened, but suddenly I remember standing next to Liz and seeing Mother materializing into space on a small tv screen in front of me. It was pretty neat. We played around with the TV screen thing for a little bit before we went our separate ways, Liz and Sibling doing something with making fish while Mother and I went and took a picture of our heat reflections and went to go play with electricity.

After that we all played with magnets. And then we played with dinosaurs and scenes and stuff... I felt like HalfCyborg for a good twenty minutes, with all the stop motion, it was intense! I'm not going to put my masterpiece up here because it's a grand total of four seconds long with a six second introduction. And then all of a sudden a woman came around and said "we're about to close in ten minutes"

"....what? O_o"

I was having so much fun, and she had to come along and ruin it with her closing times. (-_-) Meanie. So then we left, and went back to the van and drove back to the hotel. Well, no... we drove in the direction we thought the hotel was in. See, when you go West to originally go to a location, you then can't go west to get back to the starting point, you need to go east. Didn't get the memo for this trip...

So, we're driving, and running out of gas and suddenly, we're where we've never been before. "Barbie's dreamhouse land", as Liz just called it. I have a picture, so you'll believe me. So, we turned around from there, and then drove some more, mostly looking for a gas station as we were on E. So, we drove for a few minutes when all of a sudden shouts of "WHOOOO!!!!!! NEW JERSEYY!!!!!!" A chorus, actually. Naturally, we're all shocked and we look to our left, there's a jeep looking car truck thing... I don't know, but it was filled to maximum capacity and then some with guys whooping and shouting and dancing about how we were from Jersey. Made my night. We left them, because they followed us for a while, we called them the Stalker boys, and then got some gas for the car...

THEN we went to the hotel. Then we decided we would go and get some food. However, the world decided against that. The world plotted against us and said "NO! NO YOU WILL NOT EAT THIS EVENING! EVERYONE SHALL EAT BUT YOU!" And I said "but, but World, please, we're but lowly travelers on the great expanse that is you..." and World replied in a deep billowy voice "NO! NO ONE IN YOUR VEHICLE SHALL EAT THIS EVENING FROM A RESTAURANT! IF YOU EAT TONIGHT YOU WILL SUFFER!" And I said nothing.

Four times we drove up and down the stretch of road. Twice across a bridge. Twice into a parking lot. Once we pulled into the final parking lot and looked at our destination, 'Brunos: Supermarket', we knew that our restaurant outing was destroyed. So, we walked in, grabbed two bowls of macaroni and cheese, one for me and one for Liz, Mother and Sibling grabbed a pulled pork thing to share and I also was given some sort of meat thing because I vowed to have steak every night this evening.

I inhaled the macaroni and cheese. I feel horrible. We also bought ice cream, pound cake and a cookie cake, which I have just eaten a piece of... I'm going to die much faster than expected. Also, I now have a midnight bed time. Which is closing in fast! Good thing I ended the day already, eh?
It rained. All. Day. Long.
Time for pictures!

Spring Break: The Beginnings

-BOOM BOOM- "Everyone, RUN!" -insert screams here- "It's gaining on us!" -fade to black
[Voiceover: They thought it would be a normal Spring Break Vacation, little did they know what they were really getting into. Jereality, Mother, Sibling and Liz on a drive from Jersey to Alabama... this, this is their story]

At nine o'clock Saturday morning, March 14th, Mother came to my room and woke me up. It was time to get the rental van. The rental van is a 2009 Town and Country, I think and it's got all kinds of bells and whistles and such... to the point Sibling and Liz don't even have to open the doors manually, they just have to click a button also... Satalite radio, which is sort of fun to play with when I'm not making everyone listen to my iPod. Anyway, we all piled into the van after packing everything. The contents of our Rent-A-Van include a leather computer bag which stores my life, my clothes bag, Liz's clothes bag, Mother's clothes bag, Sibling's clothes bag, a large cooler, a small cooler... Also, Mother's got a purse, Sibling's got a purse and I have another amazing computer bag with a little robot on it.

After we piled in we drove a few minutes to get to Father's place of work where we received from him four turkey sandwiches and a container of brownies. We said our good byes, and on the adventure we began. We drove through south, through New Jersey on various versions of I-85, through Delaware, AROUND Washington DC because it's painful to navigate there, then Maryland, Virginia, a little bit of West Virginia I think, and then through North and South Carolina.

Meanwhile, it's raining buckets and we're on a major artery, all around people who think they're the only ones on the road. It was crazy. I had to turn up the volume and stuff on the radio so we (Mother and I) could stay awake, because by this time it was 3 in the morning and we had been driving for 12 hours.

So, when we get into Georgia we decided we'd stay at some hotel for the night. We did, which was great because we all needed proper sleep since one of my favorite quotes from the ride is [Me: "Hey!";;; Mother: "I was just resting them!"]

We got to the hotel there, and Liz and I are all giggly because it is now four thirty in the morning and that's what happens when we stay up all day. Except Liz and Sibling slept the whole ride.... Liz also got up at one in the afternoon... Regardless, we were all quite sleepy. So, we got all of our things and made our way up to our room in a hotel that looked like the inside of a bee hive. I swear, I thought the Queen Bee would pop out of a room and start shooing away little copies...

This morning, around 9 in the morning again, Mother woke me up... It was time for breakfast. I had steak and eggs. It was delicious. After that, we had some drama checking out of the hotel and getting our vehicle out of the mandatory valet parking. After all of that happened, we restocked our vehicle with all of our belongings and drove some more - we were on the road by one. From Georgia we went straight for Alabama. Which was great. By 6 we were in Alabama near our hotel area.

Cool thing that happened at one of the stop lights here... A car pulled up next to us, and our windows are rolled down because the weather in Alabama is awesome, and a woman goes "Hey, ya'll just drive down from New Jersey?" and we were all "yeah!" and we had an entire conversation for a good three hundred feet after the light turned green, going the same speed about where we were going. It was very nice, quite hospitable.

Finally, we found our hotel... it's right before a place called Souvenir City... The fireman we asked said if we passed that, we'd gone too far.... He was right. So, we all got into our hotel... it's the smallest hotel in the line of hotels along the beach. Also, it's pink. Also, I have to share a bed. I'm not good with sharing. Whatever, at least I'm here, and having an awesome time so far.

After we dumped our stuff into the room, we decided to ask our concierge front-desk man to see what we should do about food for dinner. He sent us to a place called Calypso Joe's , so, we went there. It was muggy out, a little, so we sat outside because inside would have bee even worse. Especially since it's Spring Break everywhere and the stupid people are out to play. Especially the people with children who have no control over them. The parental advising pretty much went like this:
Parent: Sit down, or else!
Child: Hmm...
Parent: Hmm, Sit down.
Child: Hmm, No.

and

Something that pretty much went along the basis of if you don't come here now, I'm going to call you to come here again. It was ridiculous. I'm kind of upset that I'm not young enough to act the way I do in front of the parents who let their children run a muck. Anyway, dinner was great... I had steak again. I'm big into meat.

Later, we contemplated dining and ditching (we didn't) and then came back to the hotel and grabbed some brochures for the following couple of days before we move along to Louisiana.


So, at the moment, it is eleven:eleven in Alabama at home, it is 12:11 ... I should be getting some sleep tomorrow. We're going to the Alabama Gulf Coast Zoo tomorrow - it's pretty much the thing that sparked the vacation, then it just kind of morphed into this big amazing fun time happy adventure.

More to come at a later date. Now, for some pictures!