The Zoo over Ambuscade Street

This guy is going to be among the first against the wall once the revolution comes. If I can wait that long.

"Whine, whine, I want to be famous, why can't I be an anime voice actor, even though I clearly don't care about acting in the least, I just want to be adored by anime fans because I'm a whiney bitch. Oh, and I don't want to be bothered with minor roles, I just want major roles so I can go to anime cons as a guest and be adored. Whine whine whine. I feel left out because there are famous people my age, but I'm not famous yet. Oh, have I mentioned I have Asperger's yet?" I think that about sums it up.

ATTACK!! ATTACK, MY MINIONS OF DOOM!!! "You and what army," he said. THIS ARMY, FOO!!

And this still makes my head hurt. A lot. I can't convince my brain to see past the optical illusion without resorting to cut-and-paste.

I just saw a bird doing the strangest thing. He was outside in the grass, probably thirty yards from my window. Ordinarily I wouldn't have even seen him, but his behavior kind of stood out.

He'd run across the ground for about four or five steps at top speed, come to a dead stop, then in four steps extend his wings fully. 1-2-3-4 extend. Then he'd start all over again with running. He was too far away for me to see what kind of bird he was, and Erik's hidden the binoculars on me again, but it really was the oddest thing. If it wasn't for the fact that he was in the middle of my yard, which bears a marked resemblance to a large, open field that does get mowed with some regularity, and it's entirely the wrong season, I'd have thought he was trying to lead a snake away from a nest. Very odd. He (or she, I suppose) had the most striking white strips on his wings, so it may have been a mockingbird.

Thus far, of the more colorful birds, we've seen thousands of cardinals (now, I know why they're the state bird of Virginia), robins, blue jays, bluebirds, goldfinches, and orioles. I didn't think that orioles came this far south.

I'm determined to get a better lens for my SLR, remember everything I've forgotten about f-stops and apetures, and take some pictures of the things. Oh, and to get a birdfeeder, so they have a more compelling reason to stop in my yard.

On an even more random note, I've been watching Upstairs, Downstairs, which has been more difficult to get through than I had anticipated. It's really an excellent show, but part of the problem is that it's a very serious drama, that deals with some issues I wouldn't have anticipated in an Edwardian drama (several parts had me going back to watch a second time. "They didn't just do that, did they?!?"). The other part is that it is a very well written drama, and it gives a window into a family's very personal dealings. Almost done with the second season now...

Oh, and speaking of crazy families, my Insane Mother-in-Law now thinks she's been abducted by aliens. No, I'm not making that up. *thud* I don't wonder any more why Erik is the way he is. Instead, I marvel that he's as sane and stable as he is. Of course, I do have to put up with him saying things like "I hope (name removed) is in tonight so I can get some crack." Out of context, that just sounds horridly bad. ^_^