HOLY COW.
>.<
Where to start here......

I went to the aquarium on Friday.......(after waking up at about 6 in the morning)
YEAH.
In retrospect, it probably wasn't a good idea to go on Friday at all. I got there, and the place was FLOODING with little kids!
-_-;;;
There were 3 summer camp groups, two schools, and (about) a bajillion families with little babies.
I mean.....there were SO many little kids in this place, that the little heads gave the impression that the floor was not only deep and fuzzy, but also MOVING.
LOL...
ANYWAY......I set on the task to sketch as much of the wildlife as I could. This turned out to be more of an annoying task then previously indicated, seeing there were very rude people pushing me while trying to take pictures of the wildlife, and DOZENS of ankle biters.
.....and then (of course) once people realized that I was doing more then blocking their view of the fish, I would get bombarded with comments.
From adults:
(in a cooing voice to their kids) "Looky! The lady is drawing the fish!"

....and from the children....
"WHAT ARE YOU DRAWING? CAN I SEE? CAN YOU DRAW ME A PICTURE? WHY ARE YOU DOING THAT? MOMMY, WHY IS THE WEIRD GIRL DRAWING?"

(and yes......I am putting everything in caps for a reason. Kids SCREAM when they're in loud groups together)

Good Gravy.

Eventually, lunch time rolled around. The cafe was PACKED, so I decided to move into the shorter line and eat my "warm meal" of Lay's Salt n' Vinegar chips and a Snickers bar. WHOO!
I decided to sit next to the locker area.....seeing it was pretty desolate, and away from the crowds......that is, until this lady with her three kids came by, and decided banging the lockers together (and giving me a headache) was more entertaining then bugging the fish....
-_-;;;
It wasn't ALL bad though....I enjoyed seeing the different animals, and their reactions to the screaming crowd of toddlers. In addition to an aquarium, the building also had a bird aviary. This one duck (whom I called "Angry Duck") would puff up, and honk every time a little kid screamed in it's face. The otters were swimming CONSTANTLY. Partially (I'm sure) from the little kids banging on the glass, and partially because they knew no one could get a good photograph of them like this. Those mischievous little wusoms!
^_^
Luckily for me, most of the little kids found the Leafy Sea Dragon exhibit rather boring (leafy sea dragons don't move around as much as fish and otters do).
It was the least crowded exhibit in the museum.
There were three leafy sea dragons in the tank. Two of them were always swimming in sync, while the third circled the other two as they did so. They seemed to be doing their own little dance for the audience.
Despite the amount of gawking people, the dragons seemed just as interested in the people, as the people were in them. They would swim up to you in the tank, stare at you, and follow you around if you moved to another part of the tank.
They seemed the most interested in me though.....seeing I hadn't moved from the tank for quite some time (drawing a leafy sea dragon is rigorous work).
When I was through, I pressed my sketch up to the tank....just to see what the dragon would do. The dragon looked at it intensely before swimming off into the distance. (he must've not liked the sketch very much....I'm not THAT bad at drawing....am I?)
LOL!
^_^
Unfortunately, this extra attention from the dragons must have informed the guests that I was a trainer. (I wasn't even dressed in the same color! HAH!)
People started asking me about the Dragons, as if I were an expert or something.
It was a good thing I had written a report about them......otherwise I would've looked REALLY STUPID.

My favorite conversation in the room was between a father and his little kid:
Father:"WOW!!! LOOK AT THESE SEA HORSES HONEY!"
Kid:"Those aren't animals dad!"
Father:"Yes they are! See the eyes...and the tail?"
Kid:"NO! That's not a fish! That's LETTUCE!"

LOL.....It was cute! <3

I bought some souvenirs, and then went off to visit my relatives.
The next morning (on my way back home) I discovered the most AWESOME comic book store EVER! While its abundance in manga was kind of low, it made up for it with the sheer number of other graphic novels it had. It had EVERYTHING: toys, comics, movies, cards, board games, porcelain figures, keychains, candy.....EVERYTHING.
I ended up buying several card sheets (in which I organized all of my vintage Pokemon cards scattered among my room once I got home.....took me several hours to put all 306 of them in order)
I also ended up getting some nifty Jeff Smith "Bone" cards (which are now out of print everywhere else)
OH! I also bought the very first three back issues for Marvel's "The Wonderful Wizard of OZ" (which I've been wanting to read for some time)

YUP!
It was a busy weekend.
Tomorrow I have to wake up at 6 in the morning again to do another Transformers shift.......