Poor fishies

We pay to watch you, and we pay to eat you.


This will probably be a long post just because I thought about a lot of things...


So today, Mother, Brother, D, and I went to the Monterey Bay Aquarium. Took longer than an hour to get there on 101 South and CA 1 South. There was a really slow section that lasted for three or so miles because people were rubbernecking at the scene of... a flat tire. There was a tow truck and a CHP cruiser with its lights on. So I guess people thought there was an accident. But all I saw was the tow truck guy replacing a tire -sigh-

Anyway, honestly, I left the house thinking that today was not going to be fun or enjoyable. I had my reasons. You know my reasons. It's family time, you know?

So when I was driving to D's place (I had thought he would come to our house because it would have been more convenient), I wasn't surprised when Brother bitched about my driving. It just affirmed the kinda day that I thought was ahead of us.

So while D was driving us south, I just sat in the back with Brother and stared out the window, being sullen. I shut up and let my family talk for most of the ride to Monterey.

I decided to use my phone's notepad tool to help me remember stuff I was thinking and stuff I saw.

First thing listed: Bird. I watched a bird fly around, while we were stuck in the slow traffic caused by the flat tire.

Second thing: Broccoli... :P Because I was feeling shitty and not very garrulous, I watched the passing scenery and listened to family conversation. They were talking about how to get down to LA from up north. Usually, people take Hwy 5 because it's the quickest way there. But it's also possible to take 101 there too. It takes much longer, but you get to see more of nature. So when we got into the hills, I looked out and saw broccoli. Not literally. The trees reminded me of broccoli. So I thought of them as giant pieces of broccoli (good thing I love broccoli, or else that would have been a nightmare). It had a calming effect on me haha.

So that actually made me feel kinda happy. Made me think today wasn't going to be so bad.

Third: "Car ride > destn. Overcast. Roadtrip! Cross traffic-scary turns?" Though I was a lil happier, I noticed the cloudy sky and was still thinking I didn't want to go anywhere. But the passing scenery mellowed me out a lot. Then I thought about the aquarium. I had only been to Natural Bridges once when I was in the second grade. Never to the MB Aquarium. I wasn't sure how much fun I would have because I thought I'd have to explain everything to Mother (which I kinda did have to). I didn't think I would enjoy it, so I thought that the car ride would be the highlight of my day.

Really, I just like watching things pass. Haha I noticed the cross-traffic signs. Scary. I didn't know highways had cross traffic anywhere. Sucks to live in those areas, where you gotta wait a long ass time to be able to maybe make a left or right turn.

I say we should have our roadtrip soon. Like this summer. Who wants in?

You know, as we were driving along, I felt like I had been in that direction before. But I know I've never been to Monterey.

Anyway, the parking garage for the aquarium charges $10, all day. Pricey, yeah? Tourism kills bank accounts haha. Not really, but I'm glad I'm not a regular traveler.

For the four of us to go in to the aquarium, it cost $117.80. My student ID saved us two dollars XP haha.

The aquarium was cool. Too many lil kids though @_@ I felt like I was going to accidentally crush them.

So first, we went to the Outer Bay place because Brother wanted to look at the sharks and stingray. Stayed there for quite a while because he wanted to see the hammerhead (so dark, so hidden). Also saw different types of jellyfish.

After this, everything we saw kinda just melded together in my head :P so much, so much. But we pretty much saw everything there was to see. But I guess I'll say a lil something of what I thought when I saw them.

Starfish (I wanted to go to the Splash Zone haha). So rough yet smooth. So awesome.

Took the LONGEST time to get to the sea cucumber. Shiva had told me in the morning online to touch sea slugs and sea cucumbers haha. There were no sea slugs sadly. But the sea cucumber, wow, SO SQUISHY. I mean, I expected it to be kinda soft and squishy but not that squishy. It felt softer and squishier than gummy bears :O So awesome. I think that was like the highlight of my visit right there haha.

Didn't get to pet the hermit crabs ): because Mother wanted to leave.

Also looked at anchovies. They yawn to eat :P No, really, they open their mouths wide open to let food pass into their orifice. You pretty much see their skeleton when they do that O_O

Penguins shake their butts :P Of course, you already knew that if you've watched "Happy Feet" haha.

The sea dragons (and sea horses) were cool. I like how they blend in with their environment. Natural camouflage ftw!

Moray eels look so awesome. I asked D if he remembered the show we watched on TV two months ago that talked about moray eels and the differences between those from the Pacific and those from the Atlantic. I think it was on the Discovery Channel :P but yeah, moray eels. I like the black/gray ones. The colorful ones are pretty interesting too.

The cuttlefish were sleeping D: They didn't move. Just stayed at the bottom. They still look awesome though.

Also saw the otters play around. So adorable ^_^

Flamingo (Brother's fave exhibit), ibis, egret. So pink. And red. And white. I think the ibis is my favorite of the three.

Butterfly fish. I'm not really sure why they're called that, but Brother liked them. Especially the pyramid butterfly fish.

Sea turtle, yay. Wish we could pet one.

Went into one of the many gift shops in the aquarium. Bought the only cool thing there haha. It's a light thingy. You shake it, glitter flows around in the water and there's a mini-light show :D Ten bucks. Pricey, but I like it. I would have gotten a stuffed otter or something, but I'll save that for another time.

After that, the fam and I went to eat at Fish Hopper. Again, so pricey >_< But I had this awesome berry lemonade and crab ravioli with prawns and scallops. Mmmm, tasty. Mother had a California seafood salad. Brother, some kinda salmon plate. D, filet mignon with an extra piece of lobster. Brother had alcohol.

Our conversations are kinda weird to me whenever Brother drinks something stronger than beer @_@ When Mother and D weren't there, he told me I should start dating >_> It was unexpected. But I agreed haha. But obviously, I can't just up and start dating. He wants to continue this conversation another time. Again @_@ so weird, why is Brother talking to me about girls and dating??? I'm soooo confused(?).

After the food, I went outside to buy a spray-painting from a guy who was making some in front of a crowd. Finally get to see a spray paint artist in person. Not the best spray artwork I've seen, but it's still impressive. I chose the one that Brother and I agreed was the best of the selection. The others were too simple or too typical of spray paint art. Guess what I'm gonna do with this piece I bought :D hmm...

So after that, back to the car to go home. The ride home was much much faster than the ride to the aquarium. Haha with our Murano, D "raced" against a Mustang :P It was amusing. I've never seen him drive quite like that before.


So today ended up going better than I thought it would. I'm glad. Really, I was expecting the worst. But hey, always great to be pleasantly surprised, yeah?

Quite a bit of missing details again, but I have to rush. Must pick up the brother from work and drive him to the club or something -_-

And yeah, today meant that I would not get started on my essays. Again XP Tomorrow? Maybe.

Oh, I forgot to say: The ride home was very pleasant. I got a little bit of sleep. Had a nice short dreamish thing. And then I remembered that Owl City is gonna be in SF on Monday and Tuesday :O I want to go. Should I go? I was thinking about it in the morning too because I was thinking about how spring break pretty much sucked and I need to make up for it somehow in one awesome, amazing event haha. I could possibly still buy tickets from someone on Craigslist, and Brother could go with me. I really wanna go to a concert this year. It would be an awesome experience. Or maybe I should wait for another concert. Hmmm.... Ooh, maybe there will be another ISA event.

I should make up my mind tonight, so if I do go, I could try to buy the ticket tomorrow. Mm...

Anyway, good day. I will post up the few photos taken of the sea creatures on Facebook later. Why? Because they are awesome.