No Cornelia Wilbur Today, For a Change

Two choices today--stay home and watch the so-uncomfortable-to-watch-but-why-can't-I-look-away Sybil, or get the Hell out of Dodge. Happy to say. . .

At the ZOO

I dragged myself out of my apartment this morning with the idea of going to the Museum of Natural History, but then decided it might be fun to hit the Bronx Zoo. Not able to make a decision, I text messaged Sam, who text messaged back, "It's all happening at the zoo." I think she just wanted to be goofy and quote Simon and Garfunkel, but who am I to argue?

The greatest thing about the Bronx Zoo is that two short blocks away, you're in any other sort of skanky outer borough neighborhood, with sleazy mattress stores and fast food chains and cell phone shops of questionable legitimacy. Then, all of a sudden, there's monkeys and giraffes and tigers and ostriches and snow leopards. I had a great time; I always find it calming to stare at wild animals--as long as they look happy and well taken care of, which I'm happy to report, they did. I swear, those animals are talking to me. I asked a peacock to spread his feathers so he'd look like the NBC peacock, and he was all indignant like, "No. I'm not going to do that just for you. What do you think I am? Go away." And the peacock had my friend Joan's voice. It was really weird. I think I learn best when I get short snippets of information, and the zoo is great for that. Today, I learned that:

• Ostriches and zebras often chill together in the wild. Ostriches use their keen eyesight to look out for predators, and zebras use their heightened sense of smell. I wonder if they ever intermarry. That's be hilarious, a zebra with feathers coming out of its butt. HA. I did see a giraffe chasing away an ostrich today. Sweet.
  
• Wild dogs are extremely endangered, with fewer than 5,000 left in the wild. They are the ultimate teamwork species, ganging up on prey that is larger than any one of them to collectively bring down "the man." They will also search for days for a missing member of their pack, and they assign a teenage "babysitter" to watch the younger pups when the adults go out hunting.
  
• A sloth will rarely travel more than 125 feet in an entire day.

Fordham
On the way to the train, I walked through Fordham University's Rose Hill campus. There's a guy whose goal it is to visit 500 college campuses, and I completely understand his thinking. Campuses are fun to check out, especially when they're pretty grassy campuses in the middle of the Bronx.

Jack's
On the way home (well, not really on the way--I took Metro North to Grand Central and then meandered my way to the PATH), I stopped at Jack's. It's this neat dollar store/discount place that attracts a large and varied clientele. They sell the weirdest stuff for a dollar. . . irregular underwear under the brand "Oopsies," toothpaste manufactured in various African nations, assorted refrigerated meats, ashtrays, etc. Today I bought a bottle of water and 3 greeting cards. Greeting cards are only $.50 at Jack's, and as of late I've had a really hard time spending money on something I know gets looked at for a second. Two of the greeting cards are for people I know having babies. They're really cute. And I can't help but be selfish and think, "Gee, I hope those babies aren't stillborn, because these cards were really cute and cheap." Also, it would be sad.