California vacay recap, in which Very Special Things happen

I am back from CA! We had a lovely, restful vacation in Palm Springs and, despite my misgivings, I LOVED the desert. More importantly, my sinuses loved the desert. I've been back in CT for 3 1/2 days and I've had 2 megrims and 1 killer sinus headache already. (Those are migraines for those of you who don't speak Ye Olde Englishe.)

On Sunday, we had a lovely barbecue with our friends Peter, Bill and Jason, who happen to have a vacation home in Palm Springs. I hadn't seen them in over a year and it was great to catch up. Bill volunteers at the San Diego Wild Animal Park (he's a cheetah expert posted by the cheetah habitat to answer any questions visitors may have).

WHICH BRINGS ME TO THE VERY SPECIAL THING THAT HAPPENED!

Oh em gee, people. The Wild Animal Park is a phenomenal facility and you should all visit it someday if you can. It's unbelievable. The animals are in these amazing, enormous habitats that both allow visitors to observe them and allow them to exist in an environment that's very close to their natural habitat. They're given privacy. Natural barriers are used wherever possible instead of cages and fencing. It's just freaking amazing.

One of the coolest exhibits they have is this open area that mimics the Serengeti (or whatever)--many different types of animals co-exist in the same enclosure as they would naturally. Rhinos, giraffes, cape buffalos, gazelles, zebras, etc. with a watering hole and native vegetation and OH MY GOD IT'S SO AMAZING.

And...

For some extra money...

You can do this:



That's Willow. She's eating Acacia leaves (not my hand). But that's not all, people. Oh-ho-ho no, it's not. Because I also did this:



!!!!!!!!!!!!! THAT IS A PICTURE OF ME FEEDING A GREATER ONE HORNED RHINO. !!!!!!!!!!!!!

*dies of teh excitement*

Dudes. We freaking fed two giraffes, Willow and Kizzy, and Kaia the rhino. Like, WITH OUR HANDS. I touched a rhino. I! Touched! A! Rhino! I gave her apples! I petted her nose! I touched her funny wiggly lip! I saw her baby tusks! I watched her wet nostrils sniffing around the slats for more snackies when there were no more!

I am in love.

I have to say that the giraffes were hilarious and adorable as well. I shall now torture you with more pictures:

Ben wanted a kiss from the cute widdle giwaffe (whose head weighs almost half of my entire body weight).


Check out the tongue action! It's a little hard to see because her purple tongue is blending in with Ben's shirt but it's curled around the acacia leaf!


bebbeh!!



Honestly, I could bring Blogger to a screeching halt with all the freaking adorable pictures and video I have. I suppose this will do...for now. ;)

We had a few more adventures but it's getting late and I've got to get to bed. More updates to follow!

Places I've Been

How cool is this? (via Patrick Samphire)


visited 9 states (4%)
Create your own visited map of The World



visited 20 states (40%)
Create your own visited map of The United States

In the U.S. map, I only included states I've truly visited (i.e., lived in, vacationed in, or gone to on business trips). I could probably add several more if I counted airports I've flown through, but that seems like cheating.

Love and let love and the world will be a better place

THIS. A thousand times, this: Federal judge overturns CA ban on same sex marriage

Book-based video game

Hey everyone!

I may have mentioned this before, but it bears mentioning again. A company called PassionFruit Games (www.passionfruitgames.com) is making a video game based on TIGER EYE, the first (absolutely fantastic) book in Marjorie M. Liu's Dirk & Steele paranormal romance series. Marjorie wrote the game's script and PassionFruit has already involved fans in key decisions like how certain characters should look. It seems like a great joint venture that's all about finding new ways to have fun in the world of the book while still staying true to the story. I'm really excited about it!

If you're interested in learning more about the game, click here to see the screenshots portion of the PassionFruit website. You can get a sense of the look and feel of the game as well as the nature of the "casual" game play. While you're there, I'd recommend signing up for their newsletter - full of interesting interviews with the PassionFruit staff (I'm learning all about how a video game is made!) and sneak previews of the game. (And contests, like the one where you can become a beta tester if you post about the game on your blog. :D)

And, just in case you haven't read TIGER EYE, Go! Buy! Love! (B&N | Amazon | Independent)