Wednesday, July 13, 2005 - Last Monday, Yuoo went to Brown Todd Park, a large community center in Loblolly, to participate in the Independence Day celebrations. The weather was very hot, but Yuoo enjoyed the carnival-like atmosphere. Some of his friends from Mortar Abbey were there, and they all had a picnic together. There were a couple of stages where a group of gopher musicians wearing cowboy hats were playing old-timey music.
Yuoo spent the early afternoon browsing the booths and concession stands, and once he had seen the sites, he decided to go on a hike on one of the nature trails. The trail took a lot longer than he had anticipated, and the sun was just beginning to set when he returned to the park. Normally, Yuoo does not sweat very much since he is a desert fox, but for the past month, he has been taking a new medicine which, oddly enough, has a side effect of making you sweat more. So, when Yuoo returned to the festival after his hike, his fur was so soaking wet that you might think he just went swimming or that it was raining.
After drying off with a few dozen paper towels or so, Yuoo hit the concession stands and indulged himself on some greasy carnival food. After retiring to the Mortar Abbey communal picnic blanket, Yuoo waited for the fireworks to come. It started to rain just as the fireworks began, but it was still a fun experience. After the fireworks, everybeast rushed toward the park exit like a crazed herd of lemmings, so it took forever for everyone to leave. Still, things were good.
When Yuoo watched the fireworks exploding overhead, he told me he though about the real bombs that have exploded, and are now exploding here and afar. On such a pleasant holiday, it all seems so romanticised and heart-stirring. You see pictures of George Washington and Abraham Lincoln and amber waves of grain, yet when Yuoo imagines being in the skins of those creatures to whom the bombs were aimed at, or even the creatures firing the bombs, it becomes chilling to the heart. Questioning and doubting is good, but that does not mean that you must throw away everything you have believed in, even if start to hear good reason why they might not be true.
One thing I like most about Yuoo is his posative attitude and outlook, and his good-naturedness towards other creatures. Yet, when I look in his eyes, I know that he is not at peace about everything. It bothers him when he sees something unfair or taken for granted in the world, to which even the creatures he knows to be good-hearted say, "That's just the way things are." There are things that he can not understand or reconcile. Still, he thinks it is most vital to see the good in creatures and give credit where it is due. On Idependence Day, even knowing that not all is perfect, he happily waves the flag and celebrates the ideals, and the home, that he loves.
Yesterday, Yuoo got himself a new pair of glasses, requested as an early birthday gift from his parents. Ever since he was a kit, Yuoo has been nearsighted and has required a new pair of spectacles periodically. Regarding Yuoo's old pair, the lenses were not particularly the problem; it was the frame. Though Yuoo got his previous pair of glasses as an adult, once he had stopped growing vertically, it turns out that his face has grown wider, and his glasses were slowly starting to dig into the sides of his muzzle and even scarring the skin beneath the fur. (Poor foxie!) The optometry clinic he decided to go to is a place called Eagle Eyes. (Though this place services creatures of all species, a large number of eagles and falcons go there to get their vision corrected, so I don't know whether you would call the store's name ironic or appropriate.) After comparing the prices, Yuoo decided to start the vision test. This vision center was well-stocked with all sorts of fancy computer gismos, all giving their utmost attention to Yuoo's eyeballs. Part of the exam included having his pupils dialated (which means having your eyes dripped with a chemical solution that makes the pupils of your eyes open up extremely wide for several hours. Yuoo tells me that he thinks he looked really funny with his eyes dialated like that, but he decided not to say anything in fear of offending the optomatrist lady, who happens to be a bush-baby. ;-)
After the exam, Yuoo picked out his frames. Fortunately, Eagle Eyes was having a sale where all the frames were the same price. So, Yuoo went ahead and got the best ones he could find. He ended up getting that new type of super-flexible, titanium frames. You can twist them into a pretzel without breaking them, and when you let go, they pop back into their original shape. Is that cool or what!
The Grace of Aslan was sent to earth,
And to Him, Grace has returned.
What measure of love, to Grace was bestowed,
Grace spread to those who yearned.
Thursday, July 28, 2005 -Today, Yuoo bought a really neat artist's anatomy and figure book so he can practice his drawing skills. Most art books in Yuoo's world cover the skeletal, muscle, skin, and fur systems of a variety of creatures, but this book is especially rare because it has a chapter on humans. It's difficult to learn to draw humans well because their coat of fur is very sparse, almost to the point of being non-existant. Thus, to draw a human well, you have pay extra attention to the texture of the exposed skin as well as the underlying muscle. And, I don't mean to be indelicate, but the humans' lack of a thick coat of fur can make it quite embarassing to study some of the pose illustrations.
Sunday, July 31, 2005 -Today, Yuoo got to play the bongo drums during this morning's music service at Mortar Abbey. :-)
