Monkey Busy-ness September 26, 2006
Posted by Snow Monkey in Adoption, Books, Monkeys, Television, Travel.3 comments
The semester began three weeks ago today, and it’s been a busy three weeks.
For starters, there’s the teaching, the research, and all the fun administrative stuff that comes at the beginning of the school year.
Add to that the beginning of the fall TV season. Not that I’m complaining, but I’m invested in too many TV shows. There’s The Amazing Race on Sunday night, as I’ve already mentioned (my Bluegrass roots demand that I root for Team Kentucky, though they make me a bit self-conscious). Then America’s Next Top Model on Wednesday night (I know I said that TAR was the only reality TV show that I watched, but I lied; yes, I’m ashamed). Then three in a row on Thursday night: My Name Is Earl, The Office (I liked how the premiere handled the Jim/Pam situation), and CSI. And Lost hasn’t even started back up yet. I’m lucky that the first episode of Heroes didn’t particularly captivate me.
I also had the ten-year check up on the heart valves that I had replaced. Everything looked fine, but now I’m a just little worried about whether my having had the surgery will hurt our application to adopt from China (this discussion at Rumor Queen has both reassuring and disquieting—but mostly reassuring—information on that score).
On a less serious note, I did a one-monkey media blitz: two television appearances, one radio show, and a newspaper interview (that’s all I can say, however, because I’m Clark Kenting it here).
Last, but not least, I’ve done a lot of reading for fun. Specifically, I’ve been reading books and short stories by Manly Wade Wellman, who mixes horror and occultism with Southern folklore and folk music. Manly gets bonus points with me for living in Chapel Hill, NC for more than three decades (I spent a few years there myself). I checked out five of his books from the local library; four of them hadn’t been checked out for the past year.
In other news, happy belated birthday to SBird. It’s nice that she had fun in Vegas (I recommend the New York-New York hotel and RumJungle; I would diss the Tropicana, but I hear that they finally blew it up).
While I’m at it, I’d like to give a shout-out to Monkeyhead, who is not only a fellow monkey but also someone who knows the secret sign.
Edited to add: Oh, yeah, my parents went to Paris (a change of pace from their last destination, Hawai’i). I would like to go there someday. Sure, I’ve been to the top of the Eiffel Tower, but that was when we were staying at the Paris hotel in Las Vegas.
The Heart of Bush Country August 9, 2006
Posted by Snow Monkey in Monkeys, Politics, Travel.add a comment
A few weeks back, I took a road trip to Big Bend National Park with my Texas-dwelling brother. The park is in the middle of nowhere, but it’s worth the drive: we saw a pair of spectacular canyons, a ghost town, and the Rio Grande (a.k.a. the Muddy Ditch). We also saw the entire length of one very long gravel road.
We camped in the mountains, thereby avoiding the 100+ degree heat in the valleys. As night fell, my brother drove off to go find something to eat, leaving me alone in the tent without a flashlight. After falling half-asleep, I awoke with a jolt when a sudden gust of wind sent the door flapping and the walls shaking (later, my brother received his own scare when a skunk tried to find its way into the tent).
We visited several other points of interest, all of which begin with the letter M:
- McDonald Observatory. A humongous observatory that sits atop a mountain in the Davis Range.
- Marfa. The home of the fabled Marfa lights—which, sadly, may be nothing more than vehicle headlights. In any event, we drove through Marfa during the day, so no lights for us.
- Mentone. The county seat of the emptiest county in the United States. We didn’t linger there.
- Midland. The hometown of President (and fellow monkey) George W. Bush. Oil wells, oil wells, and more oil wells.
Source: Bush or Chimp?
Snow Monkey Says No… August 9, 2006
Posted by Snow Monkey in Monkeys, Politics.add a comment
…to constitutional amendments banning same-sex marriage.
Some snow monkeys are gay; others are heterosexual. Live and let live, I say.
Why “Snow Monkey?” August 8, 2006
Posted by Snow Monkey in Monkeys.add a comment
When I was growing up, my brother had a subscription to National Geographic. One issue included an article about snow monkeys (more properly known as Japanese macaques, or Macaca fuscaca). Looking at the pictures of them sitting in hot springs with frost in their hair, I thought to myself, “Snow monkeys know what the good life is.”
Many years later, I mentioned my admiration for snow monkeys to Zgirl, whom I had just started dating. She bought me a Wild Republic snow monkey named Takumi as a Christmas present (it took her a lot of work to track it down). Then she bought me another Wild Republic snow monkey named Akina.
I’m now married to Zgirl. I still have the snow monkeys that she gave me, and I still admire the snow monkey way of life.
