Thursday, May 26, 2005

   Chronicles of Ed: Fish Time!

All right, it's update time and TVE is back. So get amped for the vamp!

I'm back with a real update this time because I've actually done something different from my usual boring "do nothing" routine. Like when I went to Atlantic City with my sister and her boyfriend, I've done something else different, with my parents, and again feel I owe my fans the opportunity to share in my experience even though it wasn't anything too special, but, hey, I got pictures. So, join me, if you will, on my journey through--THE AQUARIUM! *cue eerie echo*

To begin our journey one must first enter, and so we did. The two love birds holding hands in the first picture are my parents, I took this as we were walking to the entrance of the aquarium. I didn't realize until later that I got them in the picture, because I was looking more towards the horizon than anyone in front of me. In the second picture, just before entering, I snapped a shot of the water front with the city in view on the other side. Again, my mother can be seen to the left and I also managed to catch a man throwing garbage out on the right hand side. Yeah, I don't know why I pointed that out--but, I did.

Inside we're greeted by the friendly staff, and made our way to the first area of the aquarium. Not much of interest at first, so I didn't bother wasting my time taking any pictures of the plain looking fish. However, that changed the second I seen this weird rock looking sucker. I'm not quite sure what it is called, there was a sign next to it that said "Frog Fish" but it didn't really look like the one in the picture, but it looked pretty cool. Next up are jelly fish--upside down jelly fish! I've never seen upside down jelly fish before so I had to get a picture of them. I just feel bad for the person who steps on one of these things.

For some reason there aren't only fish or aquatic animals in the aquarium, I found this two-toed sloth in a small fenced in area. The picture isn't so great, but I didn't want to use the flash because it might startle the sloth or something. It was pretty cool looking, and it was also what caused the picture to look bad too because it was hanging from the lights blocking them so I couldn't catch it in a good light. Also, in the same fenced in area was this bird, I'm not even sure what it is, but it looked cool.

On our way to the next area I spotted these beauties of death, Piranha. Nothing special really in this photo, but next to the display was a flat screen monitor showing some Piranha in action attacking anything that came into the water, it was awesome looking. It looked like boiling water from the surface when they got a hold of some prey. Moving on I found another very deadly creature, the feared--Killer Frog! Yeah, I was kinda laughing at it too. The idea that that thing is called a "Killer" anything sounded like a joke, but on the sign next to the display it had said it was a very poisonous frog. But still...

Anyway, next we have a random, illuminated, tank full of fish in a dark room, looks cool, I guess. Next, some fish called "Flashlight Fish" or something like that. The tank was really dark in actuality so you could see the "antenna" with the little "bulb" on the end moving around but not the actual fish, however in this picture you cannot see that because I used the flash so you could see the fish but kind ruined the whole flashlight thing for them. Meh.

Here is something I really liked a small in door waterfall-ish type thing. I had to get a picture of it. Next, a diamond backed turtle--that can swim through the air! Looks like it anyway. All right, moving on. In the next area was a short tank with a small sand imitation beach with Parrots sitting on branches and Sting Rays and fish in the tank. And only a few steps away from that area is a big tank with an imitation sunken ship setting with fish, such as Queen Fish, inside.

Spiny Lobsters attacking one another is such a rare sight, I suppose, but I have it in a picture here. There are actually three lobsters, but the third one pulled itself up a rocky side off camera as the other two were snapping at each other and latching on one another. And, now, a really big tank! Bare with me, not all of these pictures will have great introductions as there isn't much to be said about some of them. However, in this picture the tank doesn't really look like it's that big, but trust me it's huge. Moving on again, you've heard of something called the jaws of life, used to pry things open/off of trapped victims. Well, I captured on camera the jaws of death! These jaws trap victims by pinning them down in their jaws, but then rips them apart. Yeah, I know, stupid comparison.

Moving on once more I find myself in the Hippo area. A large wide open area with free roaming birds, like this one, and a huge tank for the Hippos to move around in. I couldn't get a good picture of the Hippos sadly because people kept getting in the way, and on top of that they mostly stayed in one spot sleeping facing away from me, so I got a picture of some Hippo asses! Eventually, one Hippo did turn it's head and just when I was about to take a picture of it someone on the staff turned on the air bubbles and blocked my view as well as made the Hippo turn it's head away again. But it did look back again, slightly anyway, but sadly the picture didn't come out as good looking as the other one.

After leaving the Hippo area I came across this awesome sight, a tank full of jelly fish bathed in a blue hue. It just looked too cool to pass up. Not far from there I found this ugly mofo called a "Japanese something Crab." I don't know why I bothered to take a picture of it really, but I guess I felt compelled to because of how odd it looked. Down the hall was the shark tank, not much to say though sadly as it was a bitch to get a picture of them in general. One reason is because they moved around too fast most of the time, another reason was that the tank was dark and using the flash kept causing glare and/or make the tank look dark for some odd reason, and lastly because a bunch of people kept getting in the way again. But I do have two, this one, and this one.

Next, we moved outside to the Penguin and Seal area. The Penguins didn't do much, just stood around and sometimes cleaned or pecked at one another. But next to the Penguin tank I found another bird on the aquarium grounds. This picture is my favorite due to the tranquil nature of the bird, peaceful, still--but that could just be the rigor mortis setting in... *looks around shifty eyed*

Moving on, Seals! The Seal area provided me with many shots. I have a shot of a seal swimming across the top of the water, and another one. Now, Seal ass! Then, I caught glimpse of one seal bobbing up and down in the water with it's head above the surface and attempted to take a picture of it. I got it, but just as I was taking it's picture another one swam across the surface to get in the picture as well, looked cool. I managed to catch the one that swam in front of me in a couple more shots, one of it swimming across at the bottom of the tank in front of me, and another of it swimming away while twirling in the water.

That's it, we seen more, such as people in Hippo costumes dancing around with the children, but I didn't feel like wasting shots on them. I had some fun at first, because we went early, but apparently we ended up going when like twenty five schools were visiting or something. High schoolers, middle schoolers, and apparently even elementary schools because there were teenagers and children of all ages there and it got hot and stuffy fast. On top of that they're all pushy SOBs, and I felt like giving some of them an elbow shot to the face, and yes, even the little one... *grumbles*

Anyway, after leaving we took a moment to take in the sights and watched the water with ferries carting people around on them. With my last shot I took this of a pirate-esp ship across the way. So that's it. Nothing else, sorry, but be glad you didn't have to see my mug in any of these. Well, feel free to comment--actually, you know what? I typed all this up, SO YOU BETTER REPLY!!!

Just kidding...maybe. Later.


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