Koala Bears And Time Flying
January 2, 2009 / 9:23 pm • By Dr. Melissa ClouthierI’m recovered, mostly, from New Years. I know. I know. I’ve been a lazy blogger. I’m still on vacation and don’t expect to lose the vacation state of mind for at least a week after getting back home. I get on the plane tomorrow and am struggling to decide how to handle the trans-Pacific flight. Before I was flying during the night so I took drugs, knocked myself out and woke up with an hour or two to spare–just enough time to pull myself together, turn down hideous (and I mean hideous) food, and read a bit before getting off the plane. This time, I’ll be flying during the day Sydney time. Should I knock myself out anyway? Should I go to sleep halfway through the flight? I don’t know. And what will the kids want to do? I don’t know that either.
I touched a Koala Bear. Yes. I. Did. It was soft and gray and relatively tame. Koalas are as easy going as they look, I learned, unless one male is around another male and then they get vicious. They’re territorial. I like territorial males. They sleep most of the time and wake up briefly to eat. And they rarely leave the tree they perch in unless they get hungry again or want to have sex (the euphemistic “find a mate”). No wonder Koalas have been my favorite animal. They’re cuter than sloths but not much more active.
We also fed Wallabees, but the kids thought they were kangaroos and don’t you dare tell them any different. I have pictures. There were dingos and ostriches and and crocodiles and strangely, cows, at the nature center.
Our last hurrah in Sydney will be to go to the Sydney Opera House to watch Madame Butterfly. The Botanical Gardens are across the street and I hope to get some good pictures. My memory card is full and I’ll have to spend some time fooling with my camera. I wish I just had another memory card, but then I’d be afraid I’d lose it. Gah. It’s a pain being in my head.
Being so far away and disconnected to time has been nice. I know bad things are happening. Life marches on no matter if you’re sidelined by bliss or misery. Time changes and melds to our experiences. That can make it rush by too fast and too fleeting when blissed. It can make it crawl by when miserable. Either way, time ticks away. And life is too short.
I have more pictures to bore you with, but I don’t know if I’ll have time to put them up. Maybe when I get back, then a whole bunch of other real life things like work and school crash back in. Of course, there are the New Years resolutions. Mine are utterly predictable so I won’t list them. I’ll put everything on a dream board when I get back, so I can visualize what I want. I think I’ll make a goal list again. I do it every few years, stumble across them later and am often surprised at how many are fulfilled. Lots to accomplish in 2009. If this year is any indication, the year will be gone in a blink.
