Thunder only happens...

My weekend started a little early this week. No volunteer shift since it's Spring break. But I'm glad I stayed in to enjoy something I've not had the pleasure of having in A LONG TIME. After months of being here, I heard thunder... It's actually raining heavily and not drizzling so pathetically. It's almost beautiful watching the rain... Also, it's comforting knowing that when the rain goes away, the sun always comes out in the end to brighten the day.

when it's raining...

The unrandomness of randomness

So I decided to pick up the student-run paper at SFU today - I haven't exactly been catching up on what's going on up on "The Hill" as they call it. Pfft. It's a "hill" alright. I went up today and it was fcking snowing. Honestly! It's fcking the middle of MARCH! Anyway... as I was saying... I picked up the paper and turn it over and it reads:

"Fighting for smokers' rights"

You're fcking kidding me right? What rights can you possibly give? Canada is already as socialist as any country can go, literally... I know it's a rule that you can't smoke like within 6 metres from a building but who the hell actually cares in the end? I walk out to Convocation Mall and I see 3 guys puffing away right next to the sign that reads: "NO SMOKING" bolded and in the biggest font possible that you'd have to be fcking blind to not see it. Rights huh?

I tuned in to 2 new bands today. I am listening to Kings of Leon and Grizzly Bear. And I just realised, they are fcking good! Why did no one tell me how good these bands were before this? Incubus is coming out with a new single in 1 MONTH! Black Heart Inertia... Awesome shits. Needless to say U2's new album, New Line on the Horizon kicks ass.

A few days ago, a friend and I came to a conclusion : this world is fcking lacking in random people. Where have all the random people gone to? It's as if were the last 2 people to laugh at the randomnest things and laughing alone at something so random can be pretty weird in public. I need a random friend who's HERE NOW. Not in Australia and practically almost a whole day ahead of me. No offense intended, Joh! I still love you =) But seriously, where the fck are you random people?

Well, that pretty much sums up my random thoughts for today. And it feels good to be random. Try it!

Undersea

Mother nature has been a little bit off weather. I woke up Monday morning hoping my day would be sunny. It was a friggin' winter wonderland! Hoping for the buses to stop running didn't exactly come true either. So, there was still school to go to. Pfft... Well, it was a pretty cold week. And I thought I could be walking around in shorts and t-shirt by this time of the year. Well, as Thursday sets for the dawn of Friday, I head out the door to Vancouver Aquarium. This time, I got some cool pictures from the Wetlab and also from the Birds of Prey show.

Nothing really special about this picture but... I took this picture because it reminded me of my brother for some reason. Can you see the 2 eyes? Almost comical looking...

This is a Puget Sound King Crab. Pretty cool don't you think? Well, I think so. It's so colourful. We might have made it a teensy bit annoyed by pulling it out of the water to get a few shots of it. I don't want to get this fella pissed anymore.

You're probably wondering what the hell is this shit? Well, to be specific, that is the mouth of a sea cucumber. The other end of the sea cucumber is the anus. The mouth has modified tube feet that form a ring of tentacles. And it's their tube feet that enable them to move around and stick to rocks.

The sea urchin... I like to think of it as the porcupine of the sea. Can you see it's tube feet? It's those lighter red string-looking things. It's the sea otters favourite food. There's a really cool and funny way that sea otters break them open. But I'll save that story for another day.

I just thought this seastar was pretty cute. Did you know that it only has one hole in the middle of its body on the underside. So, technically, that hole is the mouth as well as the anus. Pretty gross, I know... Its whole stomach comes out of its body and it digests its food outside of the body before going back in. Now THAT is pretty cool.

Some pretty looking anemonies. The stick to your fingers when you touch them. Question: are they plants or animals? PLANTS! Well, most people think so but they are of the animal kingdom. This fella too has one hole in the middle right there that serves as the mouth and anus.

More sea stars...

And more anemonies. I think this is a pretty picture. The colours are just... drawing. Like. It draws you to go closer and closer until you can't get any closer...






And on we go to the Birds of Prey. This is the Turkey Vulture. They're evil looking and disgusting maybe. But there is a reason they eat carcasses. They clean up after the dead... Oh and by the way, they poop and pee down their legs. It's because their excretes are acidic and it helps with killing off bacteria that's left behind on their feet (considering they walk around really dirty stuff)





Well, without a doubt, this was everybody's favourite bird. The Bald Eagle. I think I got a good shot of him. You think so? It was before take off. The weather wasn't all great but the birds were.






And that concludes my lesson for the day, kids! Hehe. I really want a DSLR right about NOW. My birthday isn't for 9 months. Start saving people!

Toodles!~

"Are you happy?"

This semester started out pretty great.
But why do you always have to fuck it up for me?
And it always draws me to this question:
Are you happy?
Every time I think I am.
You just make me realize that it's all bullshit.
Is thanks in order?.. Fine.
Thank you for making me realize what a shithole all this is.
Thanks for fucking it all up again.

A day@VanAqua

Don't you just love Fridays?.. Too bad if you don't. I do. It's my favourite day of the week. I get to forget all my academic troubles (at least for a day). Even though I have to wake up early (like at 8am), I'm motivated to get my behind downtown to Vanaqua. I took 2 groups of kids today around the galleries. Fun stuff. Having such good weather on a Friday only tops everything off. I took a walk by myself this time around Vanaqua to take some nice pictures of some of the animals there. My battery sort of ran out like 20 minutes after I started my "mission" but at least I have some....






So, let me start off with some "nature-induced-camouflaging" This little guy is all alone in this small tank. But he blends in so well, doesn't he? Too bad I ran out of battery right when I wanted to get a better picture. Oh well... there's always next week...

I think one of the bigger highlights among the kids is Miss Seymour right over here. Kids are always fascinated with the predators. She was actually moving when I came to take her picture and then, of course, the whole world decided to take her picture as well. She took her oppurtunity to show off some of her skills too.

Quick question: how many tentacles do octupi have?
SIX!!!

Well, for Miss Seymour over here, that seems to be right.
Don't believe me? Count for yourself!

Normal octupi have EIGHT okay.... I can count!

I got a shot of her back as well. Highly intelligent creatures... They can squeeze into anything that is as big as their beak - their mouth - and yes... it looks exactly like a bird's beak. Bet you didn't know that! Hah! Anyway, they can fit into anything that is as small as their beak. Cool no? By the way, between a shark and an octupus.... who do you think would win? I know which one you'll pick. Guess again. and if you don't believe me. Youtube Shark vs. Octupus.


I don't know how it happened but I think I took a wrong turn, and ended up in

A Bug's World.

Hehe. Not quite. But I usually never walk into this gallery. Kinda cool though. For boys maybe...

There'a the TA-RAN-TU-LA.

This is probably one of the many types of cockroaches that inhabit this world. I absolutely HATE cockroaches. I get this tingly-weird feeling everytime I see one. Ugghh....

This .... I had no idea what was going on. But... it was alive.... It was one of those huge cockroaches that one Fear Factor season had. They had to eat it. URGHHHhh.... Anyway. Weird, no?

This is one of the big catfishes they have over in the Amazon gallery. But if you think this is BIG? You are in for a surprise....

THIS is what I mean by BIG. It's HUGE. This is an Araipaima. It's so huge it couldn't fit into my picture. There's 2 of them in the tank. They may be huge. But they are fruit-eaters. Over in the Amazon, the eat the fruits that drop into the water. That's why their mouths face upward. Like an Arawana's...People seem amazed by them. Like...

"MAN... LOOK AT THAT FELLA. I BET HE'S A THOUSAND YEARS OLD."

This coming from an adult, yea.... Hahaha...

No. I did not take pictures of particles. It's a jellyfish! I forget what they are called. But they are tiny. But fortunately for us, they are not poisonous.

This are pretty cute fellas. They are the spotted white jellyfishes. It is actually their name... Cute... I don't think they are deadly...












More White-spotted Jellies. "Jumping Jellyfish!" Can anyone tell which Disney character said that?...=)

I have no idea what these are called. But they are like magnets. No, they don't attract metal... But they seem to attract a lot of people's attention. There is always someone standing by this huge round tank staring at them. It's so calming. Sometimes, I find myself just staring into them too.

Well, that's all for today kids. I'll probably get more pictures next time. I'll be sure to charge my camera battery next week. Hopefully. But even if I do, pray I'll have the mood like today to write a whole post about it.

Stay tuned.

Crab anyone?

Let me start my post by saying.

HELL YEAH!

I KICKED ASS IN MIDTERMS.

And to end the week, I got treated to dinner at Kirin, CitySquare. We had Alaskan King Crab. It's a seasonal crab which comes in about 2 times in a year. So my dad took me for this special dinner. I didn't expect much but was I in for a surprise...It's about $13.80 per pound. And I think we had like an 8-pounder crab (the smallest one there) and the 3 of us weren't enough to finish it off. But anyway...

BE AWED!

BE AFRAID!

BE AMAZED!

Huge isn't it? The lobsters are already pretty huge. And then we have the Alaskan King crab. Looks like a spider to me. Can you imagine a spider that huge? Not exactly something I want to be thinking about...

Sorry I couldn't get a better picture. I had no time to take a proper one. But at least it gives you an idea how it looks like up close. The legs are really sharp with all those spikes...

From that one 8-pounder, we had 3 dishes. One of them included the fried garlic style which was pretty good. Anything with loads of garlic should be pretty good.=) The meaty parts of the crab was mainly used for this dish.

This was the curry style. It had what was left of the body with rice and curry. We didn't have much place in our stomachs to put in much of this. It was good though.

I think this was the best dish. Garlic-style steamed crab legs. This... we actually got to finish. It was gooood.

My comments... If you have the chance (and the money), don't miss out on this chance to have this crab. You will not be dissappointed.

Toodles...