About Whale-Watching & Other Things

Over Labor Day weekend, my boyfriend and I, plus my sister and her boyfriend, plus eight of their friends (also mostly couples) — traveled to Newport Beach, California. We stayed in a rental property on Balboa Peninsula that was one row over from the sand, and it was a pretty darn near perfect way to spend a weekend. Especially since we were all going from temperatures hovering around 110 degrees here in Phoenix to the wonderful 70-something degrees on the coast.

In case you weren't counting, that's 12 people. All under one roof. And no, we didn't end up killing one another by the end of the weekend, but I will say this: If you are aware that you snore as loudly as, say, the sound a tractor makes were it to drive into a house, then please, please, do the right thing and sleep in a closet with the door shut. It's the polite humane thing to do.

Many of the other people along for the weekend were younger than my boyfriend and me. Not that it makes much of a difference — the two of us are like the oldest young people I know. Anyway, my point is, while the rest of them wanted to do things like bar-hop during the afternoons and evenings, my boyfriend and I wanted to do nerdy things like go whale-watching (see photo above).

I took this photo on Saturday morning off the coast of the Somewhere-Between-Newport-Beach-and-Laguna-Beach area, and it shows the back of a blue whale. At least, I trust that it's a blue whale. That's what the boat's captain told us. So I'm gonna go with that.

Did you know ... (Do any of you watch the TV show "Bones"? Any time I say "Did you know ..." I try to say it in the same tone and voice as Vincent, aka Mr. Nigel-Murray. It's a fairly recent development, as I only began watching the series on Netflix this year. He's a funny character, right? How he's always bringing up random factoids that, at first, don't seem at all related to whatever murder case the team happens to be investigating, but then moments later are revealed to actually tie in quite soundly. Such a good show. But I digress ...) Ahem. Did you know ... that the blue whale is the largest animal known to have ever lived on this here planet Earth? It's true. Even taking all the dinosaurs into consideration.

The boat we were whale-watching on was 65 feet long, and our boat's captain estimated that this blue whale was about 85 feet long. How he can be so sure, like I said, is a wonder, but I'm going to go ahead and accept it as fact. Apparently, blue whales can grow to be nearly 100 feet in length. To get some idea of the scale of that, click here.

We also saw pelicans, California sea lions and common dolphins. All in all, the whale-watching trip was a pretty cool experience. I also want to point out that I found a discount which lowered each of our tickets by 50%. That's right — it would have cost us $60+ for both of us to go, but instead it only cost $30+. Which meant more money for doing other things, such as going to the Aquarium of the Pacific. (Which, by the way, was open for extended hours that weekend, with entry being half-price after 5 p.m. I was on a roll!)

By the way, our snoring friend — we'll call him Jack, as in Jackhammer — was not allowed back into the room for a second night. The room's occupants, which included my boyfriend and me, plus another couple, all folded up Jack's roll-away bed, carried it down the stairs and set it back up in the dining room. And then slept far better that night.

The end.

The Creature(s)

Spotted this guy in my backyard Wednesday evening.

He doesn't look like he'd be very fun to pet, does he?

I also caught these little dudes, Tweedle Dee and Tweedle Dum, looking like they'd just taken a cookie from the cookie jar ...

My boyfriend and I are not particularly happy with our local 'munks, as they have consistently eaten every single plant -- flowering, fruit-bearing or otherwise -- that we have tried to grow on our patio. The little rapscallions.

Photos by Sway Sovay

Don't Forget To Park Your Cow

Nacho Figueras: A Caballo

To be filed under: "Things I at first found strange, but then, strangely beautiful."

Visitors

On Friday, my boyfriend and I jolted awake in the middle of the night to horrible unearthly chattering sounds just outside our window. It sounded like a small child frantically crying out in pain or something. It was weird. It was disorienting and terrifying. But I knew at once it must be the aliens, finally come to invade the earth, starting with our home.

However, as I started to legitimately wake up, #1) I remembered where I was and what kind of creatures lived around us and #2) I realized that there was nothing we had that the aliens could possibly want -- except for maybe our recent shipment of wine, but we'd already drank most of it by then, and don't you think the aliens would have found a far superior way of knowing that already?

"It's the coyotes," my boyfriend muttered before rolling over and throwing his pillow over his head.''

"Is someone murdering them?!" I shout-whispered at him.

"I don't think so." (Barely audible through the pillow.)

"Are they murdering someone?!"

"Maybe."

A while later, the chatter died down, and I was finally able to fall back asleep without thinking of the Discovery Channel-worthy animal attack which had probably taken place just outside my bedroom window.

Living in Oklahoma, I heard coyotes all the time, but I always heard them howling, never yelping to the point that they sounded like they were screaming like this. It was eerie.

I listened to several audio files and videos to see if I could find an example for you, and I think this video comes the closest. You cannot imagine how loud and weird this is going on right outside your window.

Time to Move the Wagons Again

Dear dear internet world, I have good news: I have not been ignoring you of free will. Promise.

Rather, my boyfriend and I just moved into are still unpacking in have only recently found things like our internet cables in our new place. I feel like I've been basically spinning in circles for the past several days -- packing, unpacking, packing, unpacking. And we're still neither officially out of the old place nor officially into the new place, but we will be soon. Very soon. Like, next Tuesday soon.

The better news is that we've moved to something akin to a mini desert wildlife preserve, meaning every morning when I step outside to drink my coffee on the back porch, I see one of these:


And usually a lot of these:


And occasionally, one of these:


We've also been told there's a resident bobcat that likes to scare the you know what out of local house cats, but I haven't spied him yet.

I love our new home. It has a lot of space for all my favorite pastimes: cooking, reading, knitting and of course, writing. And it's pretty neat to be so close to a metropolitan city and yet still on the outside edge, looking in on all the chaos.

Speaking of cooking, I already told you about how I nearly burned my face off making dinner in the new place last Saturday, right? I haven't?? Oh right, missing internet cables...

Well in that case, I'll be sure to cover all of that in my next post. It involves some bacon, a tall glass of milk, my own stupidity, a spicy little treat and a very nice young man who was willing to take me to the emergency room. To be continued.

The Perfect Hat Will Cover Her Face

My job just kicked my fanny.

I just worked from 9 a.m. Friday morning straight through to 5:30 a.m. Saturday morning. Think about that for a minute.

Anyway, once again, the magazines will be on racks come Monday, and people had better like them.

My mind is still abnormally fuzzy after so many sleep-deprived hours. For a long stretch of time yesterday I didn't even have the strength to do anything but sleep or click buttons on the TV remote.

This explains why I watched one hockey game, the NASCAR Richmond Sweep, and all of the Kentucky Derby, including pre- and post-show. While it was fun to see all the horses and horse enthusiasts who were excited to be at Churchhill Downs, it was terribly sad to see Access Hollywood's Nancy O'Dell interviewing all the "celebrities" -- who don't even have names outside the industry -- walk down the Kentucky Derby "red carpet." Who are these people? And how is society better for having been made to watch a video of Paris Hilton searching for the "perfect Kentucky Derby hat"?

There Will Be Karate Chops Involved

No matter how many times I watch this video, it always makes me smile. Or, depending on my current state of mind, deliriously happy and giggly.



I don't have a cat, but if I did, I would mos' def' want him to be a ninja kitty.

What I've Been Up to Lately

...I finished my article about the culinary festival for the March issue, and it will go to print this weekend. I'm not very happy with it, but it will have to do.

...And speaking of finishing things -- my tax forms are complete and ready to be filed. That's a huge weight off my shoulders, even if I'm not really getting much any money back.

...I've bought a lot of educational books focused on different fiction writing techniques, and I've been really poring through them lately. Who knows, maybe this will soon lead to a flurry of short stories or novel chapters, since I'm due for just such a flurry. They seem to hit their peak about every four years, I'd say, so it must be time again.

...This past weekend my boyfriend and I traveled home to Oklahoma for his birthday. (I bet you don't know many people who want to go to Oklahoma for their birthdays, huh?) It was very cold, but good to see friends (including the kitty pictured above!) and family, and get away from work for a while.

Photo by Sway Sovay

As I've Already Mentioned

So, with the magazine industry about to tank tanking, I've decided to try freelancing again.

Do you know what's great about freelancing? (Besides the obvious -- being able to work in your pajamas...) It forces you to learn a little about a lot of different subjects.

Now, do you know what stinks about freelancing? Learning a little about a lot of different subjects makes you feel like you're in school again. (I know what some of you are thinking. And yes, I actually liked school, too, to some healthy extent. I also enjoy going to the movies, but that doesn't mean I want to be trapped in a theater for the rest of my life, does it? It doesn't.)

Every writer I know is splitting his or her focus about seven different directions now. "Well, on Mondays and Tuesdays I write a week's worth of blogs for a site that my friend's friend runs. And on Wednesdays through Fridays, I work on all my articles I'm trying to submit to this online news site -- but that's just before noon, because after noon, on Wednesdays and Thursdays, I make myself query print publications to see if I can get any leads. And also, when I can, I make phone calls for this sales gig that one of my former coworkers got me into. On weekends I try to chip away at my book, but you know, most weeks I don't get that far."

That is no way to live. Sure, right now my fellow creatives and I may have to operate on a schedule that we don't like in order to pay the bills, but if this is just the way things are going to have to be until the economy turns around, then I'd like to at least make it a personal goal to work toward having the option of writing about things I want to write about.

Anyway, I'm still in the phase where I'm trying to figure out into which two or three or four outlets I want to split my focus. Soon, however, I'll be adding a widget to the side of my posts here that will list my monthly freelance earnings. I want it to serve as encouragement to meet my goals, and then later, hopefully, as a way to track my progress.

In related news, I have been having wicked eye strain and tension headaches lately. Probably due to the 10+ hours I spend in front of a computer all day. Too bad it's too soon to take a vacation.

Who needs cheering up? I do. Click here and you'll feel better -- or at least, different.

Monifa, the Baby Pygmy Hippo

I saw this on the morning news and just about snorted my coffee, that's how cute it is.

The Grand Canyon

One of my very best friends from Oklahoma, her husband, my boyfriend and I camped at the Grand Canyon this past weekend.

We had so much fun, but I was disappointed that my friend and her husband didn't get to see the canyon on a day with brighter sunlight, fewer clouds and better visibility.

Oh well, I guess this just means they'll just have to come visit Arizona again!







This elk was one of many we saw near our campsite. Isn't he beautiful?

Photos: Sway Sovay

A Visit to the DBG

The boyfriend and I visited Phoenix's Desert Botanical Garden a few weekends ago.

Now, normally, I don't show much interest in, nor would I ever recommend, going to an outdoor attraction at the height of day in Arizona during the summer because of all the melting that inevitably takes place; however, this particular weekend we both agreed that the usual routine of hiding indoors all day desperately needed to be interrupted. At least just this once.

Results: I wish I could say I had some beautiful photos to show you, but the truth is that I spent so much time feeling unreasonably hot and disgusting that there were few moments in which I was willing to pause for photo ops. Therefore, I regret to report that I only have one photo of a cactus flower and one photo of a lizard to share.

After maybe a dozen attempts, I did manage to get a fairly clear shot of the lizard. Predictably, there are a lot of these little guys crawling around Arizona, but I have never seen one this big (maybe 8 or 9 inches long).


What I'm really looking forward to is this: Las Noches de las Luminarias, an event that takes place every December when the garden is lit by hundreds and hundreds of white lights and candles in paper bags.

By that time of year, the temperatures have usually turned just the right degree of chilly (well, chilly by AZ standards, anyway), making the atmosphere so cozy and perfect for chai tea, hot cocoa, pumpkin pie and all those other cool weather indulgences.

Not to mention there's also good wine and good music and good dancing. One of my favorite local musical acts are the Sahnas Brothers, who are regulars each year. They are full-blood Greeks who were raised in Mexico and play beautiful Spanish guitar melodies.

Ah, I can't wait until the high temperatures finally drop below 100 degrees.

Photos by Sway Sovay

Sea World: Miscellaneous Animal Photos

More photos from my trip to Sea World on August 9, 2008, but this is the last set, I swear.

Click on any image for a larger version.

All photos by Sway Sovay

Sea World: Penguins

Some of you may be thinking, "Man, this is a lot of photos of friggin' penguins," but there's no way I'm apologizing, because trust me, this is probably not even half of the number of photos I actually took of the penguins at Sea World on August 9, 2008.

And can you blame me?? They're so. damn. cute.!

Click on any image for a larger version.























All photos by Sway Sovay