Back from St. Louis
Mar. 11th, 2012 03:55 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
citrakayahSt. Louis was pleasant. Firstly, it was warm there. That’s not actually entirely a good thing, given that this is Missouri we’re talking about, but on a personal level it was pleasant. Or not unpleasant. Point is, I didn’t need to wear a jacket.
Met up with the grandmother on my father’s side, went out to the Olive Garden, where I tried to enjoy myself but realized in the midst of what might count as a panic attack (about exactly what I forget, I do remember it was sparked by a political discussion resulting in me saying that I have an obligation to all sentient beings resulting in me realizing that my very existence has killed many of them and doomed others to misery, all the moreso because I’m in St. Louis three hours from home about to consume a fairly large meal) that I had not taken Zoloft the previous night. Whether that caused it I don’t know but it certainly didn’t help.
Day after that we went to the botanical gardens, which were quite pleasant, especially with the orchid collection being exhibited. I took notes on a map of the place but unfortunately lost the map with all my notes. No surprise there. I also took some very nice macro photos that should also provide tools for drawing.
Next day was the zoo, which was brilliant. It seemed bizarrely warm, though St. Louis is south of here and in the city, so I suppose I shouldn’t be surprised. Furthermore, the zoo blocks a significant amount of the wind chill. Naturally, my first action was to wander off and find the cheetah enclosure. The zoo has two males on display, and they were fairly active in the morning. Active enough that I spent thirty minutes or so watching them. Later in the day I had to wait about twenty minutes for them to come out; my imitation of a cheetah’s chirp, while not very good, may have helped worm them out of hiding. I also discovered that their big cats are on contraception. Including some of the same brands humans use. No word yet on if they’ve gotten angry letters denouncing the evils of taxpayer-financed feline contraception. And while they’re at it, the evils of exhibitionist insects. And cohabitating male cheetahs.
The zoo has been doing some renovation; currently they’re working on a new sea lion exhibit which looks excellent, from what I could see of the construction. Unfortunately I didn’t get to talk to them (the construction workers, not the sea lions), so I couldn’t ascertain what company designed the exhibit. If they even knew. In their position, I wouldn’t really care enough to remember.
I’ve been reading various stuff on the Ennegram lately. I estimate half of it is wrong or bad generalizations and the other half is pretty accurate. Considering that it is a theory of psychology based on a geometric shape, that is actually pretty decent. It says I’m a type five, which is pretty damn accurate, but not accurate enough for my tastes. I do need to pick apart my mind at some point.
Politics over here are... interesting. It seems that we’re refighting the sixties, what with people seriously talking about contraception like it’s a mortal sin and such. More worrisome is the possibility that the United States will declare war on Iran, which of course all the candidates are behind because not doing so would result in them getting called anti-Israel and anti-Semitic, which of course is bullshit.
Met up with the grandmother on my father’s side, went out to the Olive Garden, where I tried to enjoy myself but realized in the midst of what might count as a panic attack (about exactly what I forget, I do remember it was sparked by a political discussion resulting in me saying that I have an obligation to all sentient beings resulting in me realizing that my very existence has killed many of them and doomed others to misery, all the moreso because I’m in St. Louis three hours from home about to consume a fairly large meal) that I had not taken Zoloft the previous night. Whether that caused it I don’t know but it certainly didn’t help.
Day after that we went to the botanical gardens, which were quite pleasant, especially with the orchid collection being exhibited. I took notes on a map of the place but unfortunately lost the map with all my notes. No surprise there. I also took some very nice macro photos that should also provide tools for drawing.
Next day was the zoo, which was brilliant. It seemed bizarrely warm, though St. Louis is south of here and in the city, so I suppose I shouldn’t be surprised. Furthermore, the zoo blocks a significant amount of the wind chill. Naturally, my first action was to wander off and find the cheetah enclosure. The zoo has two males on display, and they were fairly active in the morning. Active enough that I spent thirty minutes or so watching them. Later in the day I had to wait about twenty minutes for them to come out; my imitation of a cheetah’s chirp, while not very good, may have helped worm them out of hiding. I also discovered that their big cats are on contraception. Including some of the same brands humans use. No word yet on if they’ve gotten angry letters denouncing the evils of taxpayer-financed feline contraception. And while they’re at it, the evils of exhibitionist insects. And cohabitating male cheetahs.
The zoo has been doing some renovation; currently they’re working on a new sea lion exhibit which looks excellent, from what I could see of the construction. Unfortunately I didn’t get to talk to them (the construction workers, not the sea lions), so I couldn’t ascertain what company designed the exhibit. If they even knew. In their position, I wouldn’t really care enough to remember.
I’ve been reading various stuff on the Ennegram lately. I estimate half of it is wrong or bad generalizations and the other half is pretty accurate. Considering that it is a theory of psychology based on a geometric shape, that is actually pretty decent. It says I’m a type five, which is pretty damn accurate, but not accurate enough for my tastes. I do need to pick apart my mind at some point.
Politics over here are... interesting. It seems that we’re refighting the sixties, what with people seriously talking about contraception like it’s a mortal sin and such. More worrisome is the possibility that the United States will declare war on Iran, which of course all the candidates are behind because not doing so would result in them getting called anti-Israel and anti-Semitic, which of course is bullshit.
