Happy Halloween!
Monday, October 31, 2011
Happy Halloween
I'd like to wish you all a super Happy Halloween! And a wee happy birthday to myself, since it's my birthday today too. Although I technically only officially only turn 23 at 7:42pm tonight heh. I packed my weekend full of Halloween and birthday celebrations and had an absolutely awesome time with my friends. Hope you all had a great weekend too. I'll leave you with my silly octopus costume.
Saturday, October 29, 2011
I can't be quiet
While this blog is primarily a personal account of my style adventures and my life, this post is going to be dedicated to something else important to me. Very near and dear to me are this planet's wildlife and natural areas. There is nothing that hits me harder than learning of a newly extinct species or one near extinction. Or that another tract of precious forest has been clear-cut and destroyed despite being essential animal habitat.
I know too many people who just brush it off, "Oh, it's not important, I'm sure more live elsewhere." Or claiming that it's just a bird, just a frog. Just. These are species that have evolved through millions of years, tied into a complex co-dependent ecosystem, and now they are gone. GONE. They will never exist again. I can't even begin to understand how people don't grasp the seriousness of this!!!
If you have no interest in this matter, I'm sorry and I feel bad for you. These are things you are losing, and their loss DOES impact you, whether you think it does or not. As a warning (for those of you easily emotionally affected by such things like I am) some of the following information is very heart wrenching and devastating and I apologize ahead of time if any of it upsets you.
This amazing animal is an Amur Leopard. Native to the Far East region of Russia's remote forests and areas in Northern China. It is now believed that there are less than 40 specimens left in the wild. Think about that. There are billions of people on this planet.... and less than 40 of these precious creatures left. Poaching for their fur and the destruction of their habitat from logging is attributed to their near-extinction. Conservation methods are underway, but too little too late. There are approximately 300 Amur Leopards living in zoos across the globe, and we can only hope that breeding programs manage to successfully save this species from looming extinction.
Above is an illustration of the Chinese Paddlefish, thought to be one of the biggest fresh-water fish in the world. Why an illustration? Because no one has seen one of these fish since 2003, and the last baby fish was spotted back in 1996. During a three-year search, conducted from 2006-2008, a research team from the Chinese Academy of Fisheries Science in Jingzhou failed to find even one specimen. As you can imagine, good photos are rare. The reason for this being, that back in 1983, a hydroelectric dam was built on the Yangtze river in China. This perfectly divided the river, separating the breeding and feeding grounds for this and many other fish. But don't they make special sections in dams to let fish through? Yes, except the metal re-bar inside the dams apparently affects the paddlefish's sensitive electromagnetic sensors in their long snouts and the fish stay away. The dam effectively sentenced these fish to extinction. We can only hope a small population still exists.
I know too many people who just brush it off, "Oh, it's not important, I'm sure more live elsewhere." Or claiming that it's just a bird, just a frog. Just. These are species that have evolved through millions of years, tied into a complex co-dependent ecosystem, and now they are gone. GONE. They will never exist again. I can't even begin to understand how people don't grasp the seriousness of this!!!
If you have no interest in this matter, I'm sorry and I feel bad for you. These are things you are losing, and their loss DOES impact you, whether you think it does or not. As a warning (for those of you easily emotionally affected by such things like I am) some of the following information is very heart wrenching and devastating and I apologize ahead of time if any of it upsets you.
This amazing animal is an Amur Leopard. Native to the Far East region of Russia's remote forests and areas in Northern China. It is now believed that there are less than 40 specimens left in the wild. Think about that. There are billions of people on this planet.... and less than 40 of these precious creatures left. Poaching for their fur and the destruction of their habitat from logging is attributed to their near-extinction. Conservation methods are underway, but too little too late. There are approximately 300 Amur Leopards living in zoos across the globe, and we can only hope that breeding programs manage to successfully save this species from looming extinction.
Above is an illustration of the Chinese Paddlefish, thought to be one of the biggest fresh-water fish in the world. Why an illustration? Because no one has seen one of these fish since 2003, and the last baby fish was spotted back in 1996. During a three-year search, conducted from 2006-2008, a research team from the Chinese Academy of Fisheries Science in Jingzhou failed to find even one specimen. As you can imagine, good photos are rare. The reason for this being, that back in 1983, a hydroelectric dam was built on the Yangtze river in China. This perfectly divided the river, separating the breeding and feeding grounds for this and many other fish. But don't they make special sections in dams to let fish through? Yes, except the metal re-bar inside the dams apparently affects the paddlefish's sensitive electromagnetic sensors in their long snouts and the fish stay away. The dam effectively sentenced these fish to extinction. We can only hope a small population still exists.
You may remember this photo from my first Zoo post a while back. This is a Javan Rhinoceros, officially extinct in Vietnam as of April 2011. It is now critically endangered, with an estimated 40-60 specimens currently surviving in the wild. Once spread through the islands of Java and Sumatra, throughout Southeast Asia, and into India and China, this animal can now only be found in zoos like this, or in the sole remaining wild population in the Ujung Kulon National Park on Java, in Indonesia.
This odd-looking fellow is the Giant Chinese Salamander. These amphibians start off as 1" tadpoles but can grow to reach nearly 4 feet in length and live over 30 years. Currently critically endangered, not only habitat loss and pollution are to blame here. That's right folks, the Giant Chinese Salamander is being eaten into extinction. These salamanders are considered a Chinese delicacy and are extremely over-hunted as a rare food and as a form of traditional Chinese medicine. Way to go China. Again. Really, stellar work. Less than 10 specimens are known to be held in captivity, nowhere near enough to relieve pressure on the wild populations.
These four are only a few of the severely endangered species on this planet. It's claimed that anywhere from 35 to 150 species of life go extinct everyday around the globe. Every. Day. How many of those were never known to science? Which held the cure to till-now incurable diseases? Which would have changed the field of medicine forever? What great gift of nature have we so destroyed... And those are conservative numbers. Some claims are made that one species goes extinct every 20 minutes.
I know most people don't have the time or interest to learn about these matters. I know the plight of some strange amphibian or a jungle rhino doesn't impact most folks daily lives. But we have to open our eyes and see the destruction we are really bringing about. And we have to turn things around. Because I don't know about you, but I'd like our generation's children and grandchildren to live in a world with strange amphibians and jungle rhinos, and every other amazing form of life we are blessed with here on this earth.
Only the future will tell the fate of life on this planet and the consequences of our actions upon it.
Friday, October 28, 2011
What a Coincidence
I am wearing nearly this exact same outfit today. So although the photos are from back on a rainy October 14th, I look much the same today. Except I'm wearing some black wool tights and different black shoes. It's gotten much colder since then and I can't walk to work bare-legged anymore. It's even kinda nippy in the office. My yellow sweater is niiice and snuggly-warm though, so it's all good.
I'm so happy it's Friday! I'm having friends over tonight for a wee Halloween-costume and early-birthday party for myself, and we'll be watching two of my favourite films. First is a zombie film, REC, the awesome original in Spanish. Basically, the film that Quarantine copied exactly to every detail... because apparently most Americans are too lazy to read subtitles. And choose really bad actors to make their lazy-American "remake". Ahem. Anyway. Next up will be Trick 'r Treat, a dark-comedy/comedy-horror type film. It managed to surprise me several times and give me some good spooky laughs with moments of creeped-out-ness, and I approve hehe.
Then tomorrow, my friend Tina is coming over and we're going to do a Walking Dead marathon through all of Season 1, which should be fun. Five straight hours of zombies, anyone? I'm saving Season 2 for actual Halloween day. Do you have any plans for the Halloween weekend? Costume parties maybe? Or just sticking around the home place?
See, I said I'd paint my nails for Halloween! Black OPI Crackle Polish over some nice Halloween-y orange! I actually almost didn't get to do this, because when I went to open my crackle polish... the cap was stuck tight. And I mean tight. I spent a good 20 minutes trying to open it, and finally managed to get it unstuck, but I forced so hard that it actually left a mark on my palm that lasted for a good week. I worked for these toes!
I'm making that face at my cat, who's tail-tip is in the very bottom of the photo. He's been a giant suck for attention lately, so I hope he gets his fill tonight. I haven't quite decided how I'm going to sit 6 people in a room with three chairs and an awkward double bed in it yet but I'll figure something out.
I hope you all have a really awesome weekend! Cheers!
Yellow Sweater - Thrifted from Value Village
Dress - Purchased from Sally Jane Vintage on Etsy
Shoes - From my grandmother
I'm so happy it's Friday! I'm having friends over tonight for a wee Halloween-costume and early-birthday party for myself, and we'll be watching two of my favourite films. First is a zombie film, REC, the awesome original in Spanish. Basically, the film that Quarantine copied exactly to every detail... because apparently most Americans are too lazy to read subtitles. And choose really bad actors to make their lazy-American "remake". Ahem. Anyway. Next up will be Trick 'r Treat, a dark-comedy/comedy-horror type film. It managed to surprise me several times and give me some good spooky laughs with moments of creeped-out-ness, and I approve hehe.
Then tomorrow, my friend Tina is coming over and we're going to do a Walking Dead marathon through all of Season 1, which should be fun. Five straight hours of zombies, anyone? I'm saving Season 2 for actual Halloween day. Do you have any plans for the Halloween weekend? Costume parties maybe? Or just sticking around the home place?
See, I said I'd paint my nails for Halloween! Black OPI Crackle Polish over some nice Halloween-y orange! I actually almost didn't get to do this, because when I went to open my crackle polish... the cap was stuck tight. And I mean tight. I spent a good 20 minutes trying to open it, and finally managed to get it unstuck, but I forced so hard that it actually left a mark on my palm that lasted for a good week. I worked for these toes!
I'm making that face at my cat, who's tail-tip is in the very bottom of the photo. He's been a giant suck for attention lately, so I hope he gets his fill tonight. I haven't quite decided how I'm going to sit 6 people in a room with three chairs and an awkward double bed in it yet but I'll figure something out.
I hope you all have a really awesome weekend! Cheers!
Wednesday, October 26, 2011
Toronto Reptile Expo and Breeder's Convention
It seems forever ago that I went to Toronto for the Reptile Expo. Yet not so long ago either, because one of the snakes I brought home still hasn't eaten. Ugh, finicky eaters! And I was totally not expecting to get trouble from the boa, either. Anywho! This will be a critters-only post, so if you don't like reptiles, feel free to skip this one.
To start things off, here I am with Brian Barczyk from BHB Reptiles/SnakeBytes TV. He and his wife, along with their team, work together to breed tens of thousands of snakes every year. Crazy impressive! I felt like I was meeting a celebrity heh. If you're curious about the expo, here's SnakeBytes' video on it. It really gives you a good feel for it.
Yes, your eyes do not deceive you. That snake above is selling for $2200. And that's actually a conservative price in the reptile business when it comes to exotic morphs and rare species. It's not unheard of for breeders to spend in excess of forty thousand dollars on one snake. Although that's usually for extremely new morphs, or new-to-pet-trade species. It's all about cornering the market and having something before everyone else.
This is probably the chillest little lizard ever. If I could reincarnate as something else in another life, I would want to come back as a chill lizard, because just look how chill he is. Speaking of chill lizards... A monitor lizard is having some lazy snuggle time with its owner below. Monitor snuggles! I adore these big lizards (of which the one above is a baby), and hope to someday own a Savannah Monitor in particular, but they get BIG and require a lot of room. Notice her tail hanging down by his ankles? Big lizard!
These little tortoises were absolutely adorable. About palm-sized, they were sitting in this tub on the edge of the table and I was giving them my aw-little-tortoise-goo-goo-eyes when this kid popped out of nowhere and started poking the left tortoise's head. I immediately had him stop and told him, tortoises are delicate, you can't just poke them like that. (Not to mention one tortoise like this is worth about $300, if not more)
Parents, teach your kids not to poke things, you never know when that thing might bite back... or be incredibly expensive and easy to kill. Just sayin'. And while on the subject of kids and tortoises...
As I was taking this photo, the boy asked his dad if they could take the tortoise home. I guess this was probably one of many requests for a creature by this point because the father replied in the most exhausted tone, "We really don't need a giant turtle..." Even though, you know, it's a tortoise.
If anything I mentioned here has you curious, feel free to ask some reptile/tarantula/snake/lizard/expo related questions and I'll answer them in the second Expo post. I hope you're all having a groovy Wednesday. Cheers!
To start things off, here I am with Brian Barczyk from BHB Reptiles/SnakeBytes TV. He and his wife, along with their team, work together to breed tens of thousands of snakes every year. Crazy impressive! I felt like I was meeting a celebrity heh. If you're curious about the expo, here's SnakeBytes' video on it. It really gives you a good feel for it.
Yes, your eyes do not deceive you. That snake above is selling for $2200. And that's actually a conservative price in the reptile business when it comes to exotic morphs and rare species. It's not unheard of for breeders to spend in excess of forty thousand dollars on one snake. Although that's usually for extremely new morphs, or new-to-pet-trade species. It's all about cornering the market and having something before everyone else.
This is probably the chillest little lizard ever. If I could reincarnate as something else in another life, I would want to come back as a chill lizard, because just look how chill he is. Speaking of chill lizards... A monitor lizard is having some lazy snuggle time with its owner below. Monitor snuggles! I adore these big lizards (of which the one above is a baby), and hope to someday own a Savannah Monitor in particular, but they get BIG and require a lot of room. Notice her tail hanging down by his ankles? Big lizard!
These little tortoises were absolutely adorable. About palm-sized, they were sitting in this tub on the edge of the table and I was giving them my aw-little-tortoise-goo-goo-eyes when this kid popped out of nowhere and started poking the left tortoise's head. I immediately had him stop and told him, tortoises are delicate, you can't just poke them like that. (Not to mention one tortoise like this is worth about $300, if not more)
Parents, teach your kids not to poke things, you never know when that thing might bite back... or be incredibly expensive and easy to kill. Just sayin'. And while on the subject of kids and tortoises...
As I was taking this photo, the boy asked his dad if they could take the tortoise home. I guess this was probably one of many requests for a creature by this point because the father replied in the most exhausted tone, "We really don't need a giant turtle..." Even though, you know, it's a tortoise.
If anything I mentioned here has you curious, feel free to ask some reptile/tarantula/snake/lizard/expo related questions and I'll answer them in the second Expo post. I hope you're all having a groovy Wednesday. Cheers!
Tuesday, October 25, 2011
Woops
So apparently I mucked myself up yesterday and skipped an outfit from earlier in October. My outfit timeline is now officially non-existant. These are things I have worn, at some point in time, somewhere. Maybe someday I'll get back to posting on the day of, or the day after, but eh. I'm okay with willy-nilliness. Things are rather willy-nilly for me lately anyway.
My grandmother gave me these shoes the last time I was down for a visit, since we've got the same shoe size. I wore them this one time and I have since donated them to the thrift store. As amusing as having duck-bills for feet was for the day, my feet were too wide for them and it felt peculiar while walking.
I really love this outfit. Which is a shame because the blouse is now in my mending pile. I noticed on my last wear that a seam in the back is coming undone, but I'm not certain I'll actually be able to sew it back together since the material is pretty wispy. Everything in my mending pile is currently made of some suspect material though. I really need to tackle that soon.
I had to post this shot just because of what the wind is doing to my hair. It's so 70's glamour. And you can tell this was early October because the leaves behind me are still green! I hope you're all having a good Tuesday. Cheers!
Blouse - Thrifted from Value Village
Skirt - Thrifted from Value Village
Shoes - From grandmother
Belt - Ardene's
My grandmother gave me these shoes the last time I was down for a visit, since we've got the same shoe size. I wore them this one time and I have since donated them to the thrift store. As amusing as having duck-bills for feet was for the day, my feet were too wide for them and it felt peculiar while walking.
I really love this outfit. Which is a shame because the blouse is now in my mending pile. I noticed on my last wear that a seam in the back is coming undone, but I'm not certain I'll actually be able to sew it back together since the material is pretty wispy. Everything in my mending pile is currently made of some suspect material though. I really need to tackle that soon.
I had to post this shot just because of what the wind is doing to my hair. It's so 70's glamour. And you can tell this was early October because the leaves behind me are still green! I hope you're all having a good Tuesday. Cheers!
Monday, October 24, 2011
Double the Snake Print
Yes. Of all the shoes in my closet, I chose to pair my snake print flats with my snake print dress blouse. Because I am just crazy like that. But I thrifted this grey skirt a few weeks ago and haven't been able to figure out how to style it with anything else but grey. And I have a lot of grey snake print stuff. So thar ya go. I just never realized how little grey I actually wear anymore, and it's rather awkward for me figuring it out again.
I've come to the conclusion that I like my skirt hems at granny-length. I have a few shorter skirts and dresses, but anything higher than just above my knee starts to make me feel inappropriate. Unless I'm wearing leggings, because then that just negates the whole naked-feeling. (But leggings are still not pants, let us not forget!)
I'm in love with my hair in this last photo. I tend to have more bad hair days than good, but sometimes my hair just really makes me happy. Too bad most of my good hair days wind up on the rainy/windy days and it gets all fussed up the minute I go outside. Le sigh.
The Zombie Walk on Saturday was a blast. I had such a killer time, and I'm already excited for next year. Then Sunday I just stayed home, played video games, took in one of my too-big skirts and just relaxed. I hope you all had a really groovy weekend too. Cheers!
Dress as blouse - Thrifted from Value Village
Skirt - Thrifted from Value Village
Flats - Spring
Belt - Ardene's
I took these photos on October 10th, but my tree is now mostly naked. Which is a shame, because that maple tree serves as awesome window-camouflage to keep folks in the street from seeing into my apartment. I've got huge sliding patio doors looking right into my living room, it's like a Cel-fishbowl.
This outfit really isn't all that flattering on me, and I probably won't wear it again. At least not with flats. Heels would have been a better choice, since I look very short here. But at least it was comfy. Now to figure out how to style this skirt with something involving colour...
This outfit really isn't all that flattering on me, and I probably won't wear it again. At least not with flats. Heels would have been a better choice, since I look very short here. But at least it was comfy. Now to figure out how to style this skirt with something involving colour...
I've come to the conclusion that I like my skirt hems at granny-length. I have a few shorter skirts and dresses, but anything higher than just above my knee starts to make me feel inappropriate. Unless I'm wearing leggings, because then that just negates the whole naked-feeling. (But leggings are still not pants, let us not forget!)
I'm in love with my hair in this last photo. I tend to have more bad hair days than good, but sometimes my hair just really makes me happy. Too bad most of my good hair days wind up on the rainy/windy days and it gets all fussed up the minute I go outside. Le sigh.
The Zombie Walk on Saturday was a blast. I had such a killer time, and I'm already excited for next year. Then Sunday I just stayed home, played video games, took in one of my too-big skirts and just relaxed. I hope you all had a really groovy weekend too. Cheers!
