and we'll all float on
May 02, 2004 @ 6:26 p.m.
I'm back, my loves! And all is well! My weekend was a great getaway. I've not felt so refreshed in ages.
I wrote in my paper journal whilst I was away, so I'm just going to take my entries from there and put them together as one big one here. Whoot.
Friday
Today went pretty well. The Omaha Zoo was beautiful and exciting. It rained a little but that was inconsequential. I felt like the animals were too clustered, too caged. It didn't feel natural, like I think zoos should strive to feel natural for the animals, as much as possible.
They had gorillas! - lowland gorillas of course, there are no mountain gorillas in zoos. And I felt awful for them. Crowds gathered around their cages and banged on the glass despite the signs saying please don't tap on the glass and I was disgusted. Such regal creatures, and I despaired for them. Two silverbacks and two blackbacks (juvenile males), one of each in each cage. Eyes of wisdom -- showing their whites -- they never show the whites of their eyes unless they're upset. They couldn't escape the aggressive stares, and so the silverbacks charged the glass to the delight of the crowd, and pok-pok-poked their chest and stood rigid and quiet.
These magnificent creatures, with shocking intelligence in their eyes, and they were monkeys in a cage for most. Fierce monkeys who, when you looked into their eyes, had nothing but sadness and frustration in them.
I wanted to shout and shake my fists at those people, dismiss them with my rantings, beg them to reconsider what these creatures were. I wanted to make them stop staring, and yet my own eyes could not budge from their amazingly human eyes. I wanted to make those silverbacks understand that we are the fools, and we should be caged as we cage them. I wanted it to stop.
Saturday
Today was highly productive. I have new bed, which is what the whole trip was for in the first place. It is made of pewter, the headboard and the footboard are, a full bed with comfy, beautiful mattress and box springs. The headboard and footboard are pretty, adult, and yet feminine. All of it was less than $400, which is an amazing deal. I found a chair as well -- $165, ugly as sin, but a chair I literally sunk into and almost disappeared. If only we weren't so poor! Alas, no chair for me. It would have been nice, but my mother has been more than completely kind to me, and this way she got to buy tables for our living room.
It's been nice and refreshing to get away for the weekend, to surround myself with positive people and be positive, and feel happy. It's been a very long time since I've felt so carefree and happy, and had a chance to forget about school and work and all.
After the long day of shopping, everyone went to eat at the Outback and then came back to the hotel. My mother and I went swimming, and I got massive amounts of water in my ear.
Sunday (today thus far)
I awoke at 2 a.m. with a severe earache. I contemplated waking my mother to go to the E.R., then I contemplated going to the front desk to ask for a blow dryer to point at my ear to get the water out. I settled for two ibuprofen and hanging my head off of the side of the bed in vain. There's still water in both my ears, because most everything is muffled (excepting certain sounds, which almost seem louder, and strangely Aaron's voice, which seemed muffled but higher), but at least they don't hurt.
We made good time back to Cedar Rapids and now, my dear readers, it's time for me to get back to it. Studying and other homework, that is.
Feeling: okay.
Listening to: the water rush in my ears.
<< | >>
- - March 22, 2010
always the same - July 01, 2008
b-a-n-a-n-a-s! - December 25, 2006
elementary again - October 29, 2006
I don't like you, but I love you - October 03, 2006