Dorm Pets

Late last semester I found out that my soon-to-be-roommate really wanted for us to have a pet when we came back to school. She requested a newt. He would be named Isaac (she's a science nerd, gotta love it). I was totally down with this idea. However, dorms have some restrictions on what sorts of animals you can keep in the building. When you look up our school policy, it says:

"Pets are not permitted in any residential buildings, except fish in properly maintained, clean aquariums, maximum not to exceed 20 gallons total capacity per room/apartment and registered/trained guide dogs."

Whenever a discussion arises about the pet rule, it always gets paraphrased a little bit. So "fish in properly maintained, clean aquariums" becomes "anything with gills that lives underwater." Well, what if I have a frog or something? It doesn't have gills, but it can live underwater... "anything that lives predominantly underwater." I feel like 'predominantly' is a relative term... "anything that can hold its breath underwater for at least 3 minutes." This cycle continues until it becomes something like, "anything that can comfortably fit into an aquarium." Comfortably? Really? I fit in my dorm room but it's not necessarily "comfortable." ... "anything that can fit into an aquarium."

I have a 10-gallon aquarium. It can fit a lot.

Goal achieved!

We've contemplated fish, newts, frogs, a kitten, a puppy, a chinchilla, a chameleon, hamsters, turtles, Boo, a black-footed cat, a fennec fox, a red fox, and a bearded dragon. Whenever we want an animal that's too big for the tank, we just decide to shrink it, so we're also considering a mini giraffe, mini dolphin, mini manatee, mini binturong, and alligator (we think that maybe we can get this one when it's a baby and then just will-power it to stay small.)

So we'll see how this adventure turns out.

At the Airport

I live far enough from school that it's usually cheaper to fly home than to drive. This means I do quite a bit of flying - I've actually tripled my flight time in the past year. I'm chilling in the airport right now, killing time before my flight boards, and, not gonna lie, I'm happily reminiscing about this weekend exactly one year ago, which was significant for a few reasons:

1) the first time I went back home after moving to school
2) the first time I flew again in six years
3) the first time I flew by myself

Even as an "adult," facing the airport by myself the first time was pretty terrifying. Fortunately, RDU is really small compared to Hartsfield-Jackson, so the terror was short-lived. The airport and I now have a solid relationship.

I actually love to fly.

The whole experience is awesome. Maybe I'll get to a point where I get sick of it, but I sure hope not. I don't mind waking up early if I'm headed to the airport. I love the hustle and bustle as everyone's on a different route to a business trip or vacation or home for a holiday or returning from a trip. I also like how directly it contrasts with the passengers (like myself, currently) who are sitting outside their gate for around an hour waiting for something to happen. It's just a cool experience. Just sitting in the airport.

Flying itself is amazing too. Coasting onto the runway, hearing the engines start up with that high-pitched whine that totally makes me feel like I'm on the Millennium Falcon. The pull on your stomach and the pop in your ears when you take off and adjust to the altitude change. Watching the cars and houses and streets get so small.

But the best is sitting by the windows and flying on a cloudy day. You enter into the clouds and are completely surrounded by white, and then you just pop out the top and you're above the whole word. Literally.

It's awesome.

And now it's time to board =^)