Project 365 New Things: Day 31

Today, I got a Pinterest account. Well, technically I got it yesterday, but I really got into it and started exploring it today, so I'm counting it as Day 31's challenge. Deal with it.

I am sort of addicted. Pinterest is very shiny and pretty, and I find myself checking it more often than is probably good for my health and the well-being of my homework. I have spent more time looking at pictures of baby geckos today than I did when I was looking to adopt my own gecko years ago.

And now, I would like to share with you an example of Pinterest's marvelous, state-of-the-art search function. Observe:

Yes. Because if I can't find the page of my best friend, the next best thing is obviously corgis. Duh.

Farewell, friends. Good night.

~Maddie

Project 365 New Things: Days 22, 23 and 24

I write to you from my bed, which is covered in disheveled blankets, crumpled tissues, and, most notably, my cold-germ-infested body. There is also a textbook. I am trying to ignore the textbook. The textbook is trying not to be ignored, and is, as far as I can discern, going to great lengths to continue to be white and immobile in the most attention-grabbing, flamboyant and irritating way possible. And I think it's winning.

Anyway, this and an all-day event yesterday are the reasons why I did not write individual posts for days 22 and 23. So, before I begin studying and/or sneezing again, here are the short versions of the new things for the past three days:

September 27, day 22: I learned the word "entrepôt." It is French in origin, and means 'a trading port.'

September 28, day 23: I went zip-lining. It was a blast, and I loved it. Unfortunately, it only served to exacerbate the cold germs which currently reside inside my body.

September 29, day 24: I applied to become an admin on a Facebook page. The page is called "Stay Strong," and it's a lovely community for teens struggling with depression, bullying and/or self-harm. I've been a fan of it for a while, and I just have a strong desire to make the world a better place by helping these people maintain the awesome online support community they've built. (Before you start worrying about me, I just want to let you know that I personally am not depressed or anything, but cannot help but have empathy for those who are).

Now I am in bed, recovering slowly and trying to get homework done. I am beginning to have fantasies about mailing the good-natured, albeit very vocal small dog under my window to a nice, warm place that is far, far away, where he can yell at squirrels and chew bones such that his canine heart may overflow with contentment without making my fevered head pound in agony.

Hope you had a splendiferous weekend. Is that a word? It is now.

~Maddie

My Goldfish is a Boss.

FACT: People dislike reading lengthy stories about other people's pets.

FACT: I don't happen to care.

And so, without further ado, I present: Six Reasons Why My Goldfish is a Boss.

1. He has an awesome name. My fish is named simultaneously named after one of the best trumpet trumpet players ever and one of the coolest and most unappreciated Disney characters ever. (Hint: my fish is not called "Mushu" or "Cruella DeVille.") He's called King Louie. King Louie is the orangutan in The Jungle Book, who is one of the hippest primates around. He's way cooler than Mowgli, for sure, though that's not a difficult thing to be, admittedly. King Louie (the ape) is named after and voiced by Louis Prima, a fantastic jazz musician.

King Louie

Louis Prima

2. He is approximately the size of a tennis ball. When I got him, he was maybe the size of a ping pong ball. I'd almost swear he was inflatable or something.

3. He has a hobby. Yes, friends. King Louie is, like both his namesakes, a musician at heart. He likes to pick up the largest pebbles adorning his tank bottom in his gaping, toothless maw, and put them back down again. Really loudly. Seriously, you would not believe the noise he can produce. Once, I could hear him doing it all the way from the living room, which is downstairs and across the house from his tank. I kid you not. For some reason, he prefers to do this at night. I don't know if I've mentioned this before, but the tank that he shares with my other fish (Gershwin the Clueless Black Moor) is in my bedroom. You'd think a goldfish, of all animals, wouldn't keep me up at night by making noise. How hilariously wrong you'd be.

4. He also likes to paint. Whenever I open his tank, he greets me by enthusiastically swimming to the surface and spitting great quantities of water onto my shirt and/or carpet. He's my aquatic Jackson Pollack.

5. He is greedier than Mr. Potter in It's A Wonderful Life. I had to buy special sinking food for my fish, because he wouldn't let Gershwin (who has an eye and, I suspect, common sense impairment) get a thing to eat.

6. He is pretty darn beautiful. I told myself I wasn't going to play the 'pretty fish' card, but oh well. He's a gorgeous, shiny calico.

I've had a *lot* of pets over the years, including many fish, but King Louie is one of the weirdest I've shared my house with yet. Now look me in the eye and tell me with a straight face that goldfish don't have personalities.

~Maddie