On Thursday night, I felt completely stressed out and burned out from studying Statistics. I'd been thinking about it and worrying about it and staring at formulas for way too long. I closed my book and notes, and I left.

When I got home, Joe handed me a surprise gift that totally brightened my day -- a brand new camera phone!!! I LOVE it, and have finally figured out how to send pictures to people and websites. I even created my own Flickr account and posted a few pics there. See my pics on the sidebar? The bigger one will change every time I post a new picture. I can't believe it took me so long to discover the wonder and beauty of flickr!! Heh. Seriously, it's a very cool site.

It's funny, because camera phone pictures are really not that great. They blur easily and aren't very clear. But I'm so enchanted by the whole aspect of having a camera IN MY PHONE that the novelty is not even close to wearing off. It's super fun taking pictures with it and having a tiny camera everywhere I go. I'm sure I'll be posting new pictures regularly!

One place I meant to use the camera phone but didn't get a chance to was Little Zoo. I'm always so busy there (and dirty) that taking out the phone to take a picture is not as easy as it sounds. The main issue is that the animals are in their enclosures, and while they're perfectly safe and happy in there, no animal looks happy with bars in front of them. Plus, when I'm right next to them, I'd rather pet them than photograph them.

Speaking of photographs, Mallory gave me the pictures she took of me with Rufio (lemur) and Ty (the raccoon). I'll see if I can scan them in soon.

And speaking of Little Zoo, I had a really fun time there this past weekend. Mallory and I did a birthday party, and I got to do lots of animal handling. I even got to hold a hedgehog for the very first time (dude, those guys are sharp!). We also brought Rufio, Ty, a large rosy boa, an African Pixie Toad, and Madagascar hissing cockroaches. The kids loved all the animals, of course. It was fun to see them laughing at Mallory's jokes (I was laughing, too; that girl is entertaining!) and their little eyes widen at the sight of every new animal. So cute! Then one girl frantically shot her hand in the air while Mallory talked about Ty. The girl's mom told her to wait, so she put her hand down. Then she shot it back up, waving it a little. I could see her looking past Mallory, so I looked, but didn't see anything. I thought she probably saw a squirrel or had a question or something. Instead, the girl waited with her hand outstretched high in the air until Mallory eventually called on her at which point she blurted out, "I see a FROG over there!"

"A frog?"

"YOUR FROG!! YOUR FROG IS OVER THERE!" she said anxiously, barely able to contain herself.

Sure enough, the pixie toad had pushed the lid off his container and was crawling merrily away. The little girl ran over and pointed him out to me so that I could find him (he'd hidden himself very well under that bush!). I felt SO guilty, thinking I hadn't attached the lid properly when I put him back. Then I realized it doesn't quite snap shut, and dude is strong! I actually held his container on my lap on the drive back, because he tried to get out in the van, too!!

Before we left, the kids came over to ask questions or tell us stuff. The same little girl ran over to me and told me some crazy story that kids always have. Then she paused and added, "I'm a good frog watcher!"

"You are AWESOME!" I told her, and she beamed, then ran away. Kids are too funny.

The birthday party was a total success, and everyone left happy. We put everyone away when we got back, cleaned up a bit, then hit the road. It was a fantastic day. It always is at Little Zoo! God, I love that place.

P.S. Rufio managed to pull my nose piercing halfway out TWICE on Saturday! Oh, the pain! I'm going to have to either figure out how to take it out and put it back in in the same day, or else I may have to abandon the piercing completely. I don't want to take it out forever, though. I've had it for two years and I really like it! Hopefully taking it out and putting it back in won't be too hard. Wish me luck! Crazy lemurs!