On The Wrong Road
By Bei Dao (Zhao Zhenkai)
days gone-by rail against
the moment's flower
night that does youth proud
tumbles hugging stones
breaking glass in dreams
why linger on here?
mid-life letters circulate
vast sorrows
shoes of certainty pour out
sand, or schemes
completely unprepared
I walk further out
in some statement at a conference
tracing the twist in a preposition
joining ghosts
on the wrong road to greet sunset
--------
Monday was catch-up day after a glorious weekend running around, though of course I have only made a dent in the things that needed to be done (and would have done a better job had Rosie not eaten Cinnamon's food, which she is not supposed to have, and regurgitated it all over my bed, thus necessitating an extra laundry). I've been covering lots of Doohan obituaries for TrekToday, which make me nostalgic, plus Rick Berman making excuses for the franchise in several different forums, which make me less so as I really think the most recent incarnation of Trek needed to end when it did for the franchise to be restored. On the other hand I disagree with a lot of what Ron Moore thinks was wrong with the formula -- the fact that his new formula isn't floating my boat undoubtedly has something to do with this -- and am wondering whether all SF in the foreseeable future will either be B5 ripoffs or Lost ripoffs (am covering Threshold stuff too and wavering between "wow, this could be cool" and "wow, this could be awful").
Kids were at camp, nearly 100 degrees today and supposed to be worse tomorrow; instead of soccer during the last session, they let the kids run through the sprinkler, which is fine with me but younger son came home with his sneakers so soaking wet that he won't be able to play soccer tomorrow if he wants to. Which is fine, I'd rather have him indoors playing basketball on a Code Red weather day. Did I mention my Borders annoyance over the weekend? I had a 30% off coupon that had to be used by Sunday, had reserved a book online, went to pick it up Saturday on the way back from Baltimore only to be told they couldn't find it on the reserve shelves, and I knew I couldn't stop there Sunday during open hours but the manager assured me that if I put in another reserve online, he would honor my coupon Monday. Well, I reserved the book again and got a confirmation that they had it in stock, only to be told later that in fact they'd sold out of it. The good news is that they gave me a $5 coupon with no expiration, which I will use on something else as I gave up and ordered the book online! (Oh, and for people who listened to me whine about my half.com seller a few weeks ago: half.com refunded my money and the seller didn't leave me pissy feedback. I guess some people in the world do own up when they make a mistake.)
On impulse I watched The Dive From Clausen's Pier on Lifetime, partly because it was set at the University of Wisconsin which is my sister's alma mater and partly because I wanted to see how Michelle Trachtenberg was as something other than Dawn Summers (the answer being, a lot like Dawn Summers only with more '70s hair). It had every cliche imaginable and reminded me why I rarely watch self-proclaimed chick flicks, but it also had pretty cinematography and decent acting so was not a waste of two hours, particularly since I was folding laundry and doing other chores while watching. The main character's name was Carrie and when she moved to New York it was like Dawson's Creek crossed with Sex and the City -- I think Trachtenberg is in danger of turning into Katie Holmes, or at least who Katie Holmes appeared to be before she decided she'd rather play Mrs. Tom Cruise.
Scarlet ibis posing on a brach in the rainforest, which is the uppermost floor of the central building; the lower floors contain a huge ray pool, Atlantic and Chesapeake tanks and the giant walk-through coral reef and shark tanks, while the attached building contains the dolphins, touch pool and snack bar. The new Australia building will open in the fall.
Many birds were cooperative about posing in the rainforest! This is a saffron finch.
A pygmy marmoset in the small Brazil exhibit downstairs. It was behind glass, hence the glare, but this is the most clearly we have ever seen one at the aquarium.
Yellow fish and anemone in the coral reef exhibit.
The South Atlantic seabird exhibit, behind glass that was heavily steamed up and covered with water droplets, hence the blur. ETA: NORTH Atlantic seabird exhibit! Brain fart. Thanks
But this is what you really wanted to see, isn't it? Dolphins! Another photo badly marred by reflections off a glass tank, but you can see how playful they are with each other.
And here is Spirit showing off for an audience. She was one of the 2001 dolphin births; one of the 2004 dolphin babies was killed by agitated older male dolphins, so they are being very careful with Nani's new calf and have suspended all shows until everyone has settled down. But they let people wander in and out of the dolphin auditorium where they usually perform, and some of them were being hams.
No comments:
Post a Comment