Yes, quite literally what the title says.

I was out biking the other day, figuring I should get some exercise, fresh air, and sunshine, instead of being cooped up in the house playing Harvest Moon: Tree of Tranquility all day long. (Though I have to admit I still long for the days when I played Toontown. I did broach the idea of a month's subscription to my mother, which she immediately struck down. I'm already computer-addicted enough as is, I suppose.) So I decided to stop by the nearby park.

A very pressing matter in the town I live in is the bird population. We have astounding numbers of ducks, seagulls, geese, and pigeons. There are now signs at various bodies of water, such as at the reservoir and at the park I just visited, telling visitors not to feed the birds so that they'll continue with their usual patterns of migration instead of staying here permanently to gorge on bread crusts.

In fact, they've gone so far as to provide brochures in three different languages - English, Chinese (Mandarin), and Spanish, to "educate" the citizens about why we shouldn't keep the birds around. Something about how the birds poop in the water, which in turn makes the water dirty and gets them sick. (But wait...If they don't want the birds around anymore, shouldn't they just let the birds get sick and then die of their own accord? Oh, right, they wouldn't want to spread bird flu or some other disease. Or tarnish their reputation with the blood of several thousand innocent birds. Reminds me of the passenger pigeons being driven extinct.)

I saw some of the Canadian geese who have taken up residence at the park, and notice that they'd had their children (they're called goslings, right?). I thought it'd be nice to get close and take some photos of them. Here's a few shots...Sorry that they're a bit on the blurry side. Aren't the goslings so fuzzy-looking?





But while the goslings went on eating the grass (that's what it looks like, though they're actually eating the bugs), one goose stood guard. He stood there looking around suspiciously. Whenever I made a move he opened his mouth and hissed, showing his tongue. One time I tried to approach quickly and he ran towards me, flapping his winds and hissing like crazy. I hastily retreated until I was far enough that he decided I wasn't dangerous. It was actually a little fun, in a twisted way, taunting the goose. I don't want to risk getting bitten, though. I've heard goose bites are quite painful. But it would be nice to have animals that don't run away, growl, or try to bite me when they see me and actually meet an animal that likes me for a change.

Labels: animals, bird, birds, canadian geese, disease, geese, goose, hygiene, migration, park, pollution, sickness, wild animals

It's quite a famous book, and I recall that my fifth grade teacher recommended it to me. But at the time I wasn't particularly interested in it, so I figured I might read it when I was older, if I ever ran out of books to read (in other words, there was almost no chance that I would read TKAM of my own accord).

I think I'd actually made the right choice by not reading the book then because I ended up reading it this year as part of the 9th grade literature curriculum. I really don't like to read books twice (there are so many good books out there, I'd much rather be reading those than reading something that I already know the ending to), and besides, if I'd read it back then, I probably wouldn't have been able to understand as much of it. (Not that TKAM is a difficult book to comprehend or anything. At least the author doesn't write with thy's and thou's and other such old language.) I really don't remember much of the books that I read when I was younger, though...I guess my brain thought other things were more important.

I actually thought the book was quite interesting, and enjoyed reading about a trial, as well as seeing a mysterious character make an appearance at last (can't reveal more than that if you haven't read the book). The movie was a disappointment in comparison. It seemed too rushed since it left out a lot of content and changed what it did put in, though I suppose moviegoers don't have as much patience, and it would be a pain to make a really long movie anyways. Well, of course, there is a general rule that books are better than their movie counterparts (which makes me fearful about the Twilight movies; I've heard some say it was good and others say it was "meh", so I don't know who to believe. But I don't really want to watch them anyways because the books were rather bland). I ought to read the Howl's Moving Castle book, but of course I keep putting it off. In fact, I really haven't been doing all that much reading these days. I really have to get back to the books.

In the case of TKAM, the mockingbird represents someone who was punished even when he/she hadn't done anything wrong. But after hearing a friend's description of a mockingbird that lived in her neighborhood (an actual bird, mind you, not a person), I'm not sure if a mockingbird is the best symbol of innocence. Although TKAM says that mockingbirds must not be shot because they sing beautiful songs, my friend (I shall refer to her as SNK) says that the mockingbird near her house is very annoying. It imitates the sounds it hears and makes a racket at nighttime, which disturbs her sleep. Eventually it either went away or got shot by a neighbor (I hope not, that's a pretty gruesome end to a bird, even if it was disturbing the peace). Another friend of mine says she'd like to have a mockingbird as a pet, though, since it is able to imitate sounds it hears (apparently it could even imitate the tunes from songs for the piano and violin. Not bad!). Wonder if they can be raised as pets. I used to want a squirrel as a pet, because I like their fluffy tails, but I suppose it would probably have rabies.

Labels: bird, book, death, disappointment, harper lee, howl's moving castle, imitation, mockingbird, movie, noise, novel, pet, repeating, rule, squirrel, story, to kill a mockingbird

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