Ahhh!

My dad and I just got home from seeing I Am Legend with Will Smith.

It was pretty good. Very creepy and some very scary moments. Also involves the death of a very loyal dog.

A "cure" for cancer instead leads to widespread rabies infection. Yikes.

Anyway, that is my short review. I would recommend seeing this one.

Haha....cats

I just stumbled upon this site called http://www.icanhascheezburger.com/

LOLCATS are the newest thing. They are hilarious!!! At least I think so. But I have a very stupid sense of humor. I think stupid things are funny. My mom just says stuff like this is "weird."

And cats are just funny even by themselves.

Goats/sheep

Here are four really BAD pictures I took today. At the top are Oscar and Felix, the ones that are a little bossy. The bottom one is a little pygmy goat. Alan said I can take pictures of all the animals, and that I can show people around if they come on Friday at 12:00. I don't know why these came out so weird. I need to read the camera manual.

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Today I wore my new jacket because it was very cold and rainy. I cleaned up the goat/sheep area and raked through the back part. All the poop got stuck in the mud.

Then I went with Alan to feed the pigs. They got an early lunch, which consisted of 1/2 cup of chow and 1/6 cup of produce. We threw out handfuls of popcorn outside for them so they wouldn't bug us inside. We straightened out their beds and cleaned out their water bowl.

Then we went over to the rabbits and cleaned out their area. They were out of rabbit food, so Alan had to go and get more. He said Elizabeth, the other string seven keeper, doesn't like physical labor, so Alan always has to do everything.

Then we went to the lemurs. Their cages had to be hosed and cleaned. Elizabeth didn't do this either. Alan said she brought lunch for everyone yesterday. Heh.

Alan started by raking the back, empty cage. The lemurs in the front cage started screaming; they didn't like the sound of the rake on the concrete. The lemurs in the other cage didn't do anything.

Then he started hosing the cages to get anything stuck on the floor. He had me do the first cage.

Then we took out all the food containers and plastic toys to soak them in bleached water.

Next week I'll go and take some pics of the lemurs. They like to stay inside during the winter.

Alan said the lemurs are feeling better, after we gave them their medicine last week. That's good!

So it was a very good day again!

Oh yeah. This morning I sorta kinda cut someone off when changing lanes. They honked at me. But on my way home, someone on their cell phone slipped into my lane right in front of me. I didn't honk at them, though. So there.

Haha

The latest from http://stuffonmycat.com/

New pics

New camera

My grandmother from San Francisco gave me a new digital camera for Christmas. These are some of the first pictures I took with it.

Ummm

About that tiger attack....

I've been inside the tiger's night house here at Oakland, and the only way I can see them getting out is if someone let them out. Even though that's a horrible thought. But those cages are locked and chained and just totally tiger proof. And each tiger has its own cage.... so every cage was open at the same time??

OMG

I'm watching the news and they just had a story called "SF Zoo Tiger Attack"

A few tigers got loose at the San Francisco Zoo, and one of them killed a visitor and injured two others. Police later shot and killed this tiger.

Yikes!

This is very tragic. I don't understand how in the world someone could let the tigers get out. But they did.

Merry Christmas!!

Merry Christmas, everyone!!!

We just had our Christmas morning and opened all our presents.

I got some really cool stuff! I got a whole bunch of Pokemon cards (which I wasn't expecting), but, even at my age, I still love getting them. I also got a gift certificate to J-Crew and the Sanrio store. So a trip to the mall is in my future.

I got a portable speaker for my I-pod. So I can play music in my room, or in my car. I also got a car charger for the I-pod.

I got Blake Lewis's CD (the runner up in American Idol.)

I got two calendars, one featuring frogs and the other featuring grizzly bears. I also got a weekly planner with pictures of horses.

I got a lot of other stuff, too, but I won't bore you by listing everything.

Later today everyone is coming over for dinner. My mom is cooking the turkey right now. She also is making cranberry sauce and baking an apple pie. Yay!

On Saturday we went up to San Francisco to see a play of The Christmas Carol. It was pretty awesome. Beforehand we walked through a part of town where all the shopping malls are. Nordstroms, Macys, the Gap, etc. My grandmother wanted to show us all the Christmas decorations. One window at the Macys store featured real kittens that are available for adoption.

I am having a great Christmas so far!

I hope you all are having a great Christmas too!

Hungry lemurs

It is now 1:00 and I am back from my second day at the zoo.....

It was a very great day.

I parked in the lot right behind the children's zoo. I got there at about 7:45. Then I walked into the keepers' lounge.

I tried to open Elizabeth's locker, but her sweatshirt was jamming it. So someone helped me.

I waited for Alan, who came in at 8:04.

Alan separated the sheep and goats again. I cleaned up the yard and swept the cement near the barns. While I did this, Alan went to feed the other animals.

I spent a long time on this. I was still working on it when Alan came back. Then he said, "well, I really only spend two minutes cleaning the yard." Well, I did an extra special job then. Heh.

Then I started cleaning the back area. There was a lot of mess there too.

Alan told me that he needed to feed the lemurs a type of medicine that helps their digestive tracts (since Chester wasn't doing so well.)

So we went to where the lemurs are. Alan brought a bag of grapes, a syringe, and that medicine (I forget what it's called.)

We had to poke a hole in each grape and fill it with the medicine, using the syringe. Alan got this idea from the bat keeper, who used it to help the bats.

Each lemur required seven grapes to get the full dose they needed. Chester required eight.

So.... Alan said he didn't feed them this morning so that they would be hungry.

And they were hungry. While Alan prepared the grapes I went into the lemur cage and brought one lemur out at a time. (This was not easy to do as they all wanted to come out.)

They would take one grape out of my hand with their mouths. They chewed pretty quickly, stuffing the grape in their cheeks and then mashing it down with their pretty sharp teeth.

Most of them sat with me and ate them. Then I would put each one in a new pen, so that we would know who was done and who wasn't.

A couple lemurs would race out of the pen and then run right up the piping that goes up the wall and along the ceiling. I had to shoo them off with a broom.

Eventually those ones ate the grapes. One of them refused to get down, so I reached as far as I could to feed it to him.

One of them, Lillian, lost interest after the fifth grape. She just would not eat the last two. She would take one in her mouth and then drop it on the ground.

Then Alan cleaned them off a little, because some of the medicine had leaked out of the grapes. After this she ate them just fine.

The last one did the same thing, except Alan left me alone to deal with her. A girl named Amy came while we were doing this. Alan took her down to get some extra hay.

The last lemur ate all her grapes, so all them were fed and happy. Some of them wanted more, and others just didn't want to have anything to do with it.

----

This whole process of feeding the lemurs took about an hour. So after that my time was up, it was 12:00.

Now I am here eating my lunch.

Alan seemed a lot less stressy today. He even made a joke. Amy sneezed while she was wrangling the hay, and Alan said, "that's why they call it hay fever." Haha.

Anyway, I don't know where my mom is... she's usually home at this time of day. I tried calling her cell phone, but she didn't answer. Oh, well.

So bye!

@#$%

I just got a traffic ticket.

My mom sent me to the mall today (why would you send me on a Saturday? idiot).

There was absolutely zero parking. I went against traffic trying to get into a different aisle. Then I just came home.

So great idea, mom!!

Oh no, CUTE!

It's 1:00 on Friday and I just got back from my first day at the zoo.

I got up at 6 and left at 6:40 in case of traffic. Well, there was no traffic and I got to the zoo at 7:20, 40 minutes before I was scheduled to start.

I stayed in the warm car for a bit and then went into the zoo at about 7:40.

Even at this hour there are a lot of keepers and volunteers running around. I went into the zoo kitchen, where the volunteer sign in sheet is. Victor told me to come there first.

I told one of the keepers that I was looking for Alan. She said he wouldn't be in until 8. Then a couple minutes later someone radioed Alan to tell him that I was there. I recognized her as the tiger keeper. She was very impatient with us over the summer. Her attitude was like, "ok just get this overwith, will ya?"

Anyway, Alan said he would come up there to meet me.

Alan is very nice. He's a little weird. I don't know. It's hard to describe. He's very stressy.

He showed me the birds first, which were right outside the kitchen.

The three diferrent bird species take very different diets. Every night Alan prepares their meals so that he can just easily feed them in the morning. The kookaburras get three meat balls and a 18 worms to eat. The others get various veggies and fruits, as well as some bird seed.

After that we went down to the children's zoo.

He corraled all the different goats and sheep together and separated them by temperament.

Two of them are no longer open to the public. They tend to ram into the kids, and one has huge horns. Their names are Oscar and Felix. Zoo keepers aren't allowed to tell the public the animals' names, even though every animal has one. This is to prevent people from distracting the animals or interfering with training.

Heidi is a very nice, very old goat. She is currently retired from the petting zoo, but she lives with the others.

The little pygmy goats are very (cute). Oh, yeah. "Cute" is the forbidden word in zoo keeper language. It is NOT to be used. This is because even the cutest animlas, like the meerkats, can be very "dangerous," or at least not pleasant sometimes.

A woman from the Conservation Department, Sarah, thought it would be fun to work with Alan this morning, too. So she was there. She used the forbidden word, but Alan didn't say anything. He just made fun of her.

Sarah and I raked the goat/sheep yard for poop. This took a while becuase they have a lot of space. I had trouble with my raking/shoveling technique at first. I realized that I had to be more forceful with my raking. Yes.

Later Alan wanted to trim the goats' hooves. Sarah and I were to hold them while Alan trimmed. We started with Heidi, the sweet old goat. She started shaking. Apparently she has arthritis.

Then we moved on to Oscar and Felix. They were not easy. We had to manhandle them, and Alan pulled Oscar along by his horns. Felix ended up laying down on his back, which worked.

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All the zoo keepers have their own lockers. They decorate them with personal pictures and magnets. One had a Johnny Depp picture on hers. I think that is really cool. These people just have so much fun at work. They have so much fun being together. It's really an ideal situation. I would love to work in an environment like this.

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Anyway, next we moved on to the pot bellied pigs. Their names are Joanne and Paulie.

They make so much noise! Snort, snort! When you feed them they just attack you, and then they promptly dump their food bowls over. Alan said it's ok to throw some popcorn at them to get ino their pens without them bullying you. We locked them outside because it had warmed up by then.

One of the pigs also has arthritis. She takes glucosamine, just like Max did.

Then we cleaned out the rabbits' home. We had to push them outside so we could scoop up their water and food. We went into their outside area and cleaned up a little out there. As we were doing this my volunteer keys fell out of my sweatshirt pocket and I couldn't find them. Alan found them and I decided I would put them in my jeans instead. Now I just have to remember to put them back when I'm done, which I almost forgot to do this morning.

Ok, then we went to the lemurs.

There are eight of them, and they were all inside their night dens, which are basically a couple cages with little doors for passage in and out.

One family of lemurs is bullied by the other, so they don't go out at the same time.

So all the lemurs were corraled together inside these cages. They get a couple handfuls of warm carrots and bananas. To feed them you really need to watch out. They run all over the place, jumping on things and sometimes even on you. They will take food right out of your hand. But they don't fight each other for it.

Oh my god, they are so (cute). I love them. They just have these amazing little hands and eyes. They are like very agile cats. One of them was making a cute little clicking sound.

Unfortunately one of them has diarrhea. His name is Chester, and I remember meeting him over the summer. Chester looks like a female, with very large breasts. But this is due to a hormonal imbalance brought out by his castration. Poor Chester. Alan doesn't know what's wrong with him. He's still eating normally. (But he probably gets made fun of by all the other lemurs.) Heh.

Alan is not the usual String 7 keeper. He works only two days a week, and another keeper works the other five days. Her name is Elizabeth and I also remember her from the summer. She's the one who let us hand feed the lemurs. So I know she's really nice too.

Today I had so much trouble opening doors and locks. Every one is so different. I guess I'll get it soon enough.

After I was done I had lunch at the main cafeteria. Food from there is free for volunteers.

Next week I'll park at a place that's closer to the Children's Zoo.

So... that was my day. I had a lot of fun and I wish I could go more often.

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My mom is currently setting up our "wrapping station." We have to start wrapping our presents. Now I am going to go buy some hot dogs and then help my mom with the wrapping.

Shopping

Today my mom and I went to Domus, a store downtown.

We bought some presents for people. I also found a really cool floppy hat that my mom will give to me as a "Christmas present."

I saw Michael today and taught me about ETEA. Event, thought, emotion, and action.

Yay!

Well, I just got back from the zoo.

I met with Victor, one of the volunteer coordinators. He was very nice.

He said that new volunteers should work once a week, and later on they can choose to work more days.

I chose Friday. There were several strings available on this day. Like the giraffes, otters, bats, some birds, some primates. Victor said the African animals string is very labor intensive.

But I chose the string 7 with the lemurs!!!!!! It was available!!!

I chose the morning shift, which starts at 8 and goes til 12. I will have to get up very early. Like I did when going to school. But it's really worth it, because this is the time of day when all the animals are out and when they make the most noise. The gibbons today were very loud.
My string covers a bunch of animals at the Children's Zoo. The list goes as follows:

Sheep and goats
Pot bellied pig
Rabbits
Lemurs

Long billed corella
Princess parrot
Kookabura

Victor said that not many volunteers choose to work at the Children's Zoo because there are a lot more exotic animals elsewhere. So he was grateful I chose this. But I think that working with these more "domestic" animals will be way cool.

Working with the giraffes, etc. would be cool too. But it wouldn't be as hands on. The goats and rabbits you can touch (with permission of course).

So I am very excited. I can start this coming Friday.

I'm glad I will be at the zoo when there aren't many people around. If I signed up to come later in the day, there would be a bunch of kids running around the Children's Zoo. After my shift I can sit and have lunch.

Volunteers get to park on the very top of the hill, past the main entrance. It's called the camel lot because it is directly behind the camel exhibit.

While I'm there, I can hang out in the keepers' lounge room. I can meet other keepers and other volunteers there.

....... so I am very happy.

It smells like Christmas

We got our Christmas tree yesterday.

It is very big and full. I like it a lot. It didn't take us long to pick it out, even though there were so many to choose from.

We put lights in it, too.

Today my dad and I are going to the mall to buy my mom some birthday presents. She wants a nutcracker and a Ricky Martin CD. Ok.

Well, today is our first day without Max. We are still very sad.

We have been listening to Sounds of the Seasons on our onDemand music channel. Like nonstop. My mom is continuing to decorate the house, and she has all her things piled on the table. She realized that she has a ton of candles. But I like candles.

We still have to set up our wrapping station. We use the table for this, too. I usually write the to/from tags and she wraps the presents. I'm no good at wrapping.

Tomorrow is my meeting with Victor from the zoo. He wants me to go to the main entrance and have someone radio him to let him know that I'm there. He will tell this person where I should meet him. I hope they know how to radio him. Does he have his own channel? I wish he would just tell me a place to meet him and I could just go there. I have to go at 10, which is when the zoo opens. Oh, well.

We watched The Santa Clause with Tim Allen last night. That is such a great movie.

In memory of Max

My dad just got in the car to take Max to the vet to be put down.

Ok

I was upset when I wrote that last post.

Thinking about it now, I KNOW that Max was loved and well taken care of. I know we did a good job.

The only thing I truly regret is that we didn't know he was in pain.

I know he was happy because he always would stand at the door whenever I returned home from somewhere.

And he would get so excited when people came over.

Yes, Max is the best dog in the world.

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We are going to get a puppy after this whole mess is over.

I know I said I didn't want another pet, but of course I was just writing nonsense.

Not another golden retriever. But maybe something smaller.

Or whatever dog we find that we just have to have.

My dog has stopped eating his dog food. I give him my leftovers; that's the only thing he eats.

We took him in to the vet today to get some x-rays and for a look at his mouth.

My dad just got back.

Max is very sick.

We have to put him down next week.

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What's truly tragic about all this is that Max has not been enjoying life. He's been riddled with problems ever since he was a puppy. I think he is intensely bored too, at least he has been recently.

He sleeps all day, just like me. He doesn't eat anymore, a pleasurable part of life for everyone.

I don't know how I will mourn yet.

I feel so guilty because Max is my dog. I didn't take care of him well. Just like my rats. It's my fault they died because I couldn't see that they were hurting.

So this will be a shitty Christmas.

I don't ever want another pet again. I'll just kill it.

Ring ring

I just got a call from the Oakland Zoo.

They want me to come in on Monday for an interview and scheduling.

So yay!

Other than that, there is no news really.