Hopepunk and shit

Ada Limón, “To Be Made Whole”, On Being with Krista Tippett

[ID: Text that reads, "I think it's very dangeous not to have hope. And if you can't have hope, I think we need a little awe, or a little wonder, or at least a little curiosity." /End ID.]

I'm small as fuck!!!

it is very dark in here

I'm small as fuck!!!

scoops you up in a jar

Sometimes I see some variety of North American Little Guy (opossum, raccoon, etc. ) and I’m like “okay”

BUT THEN I start thinking about how excited somebody from not-North-America would be to see this Guy. Like, would an Australian be excited to see the only marsupial not from their country? Are there raccoons in zoos on the other side of the world that are regarded as unique and exotic creatures? Idk but it’s made me more excited to see Guys in my area.

it's me, i'm the person described in the tumbl

I went to a zoo in England this past summer, and there were crowds around the skunks, raccoons, and coyotes.

So, as an Australian, going to the zoo in China with a USAmerican and a Jamacian was an experience.

The first thing you should know about this experiences is I'm a fairly bush-raised child. Not entirely, but the vast majority of my school holidays were spent camping or on a property or otherwise out in the bush. (Not the Outback, although sometimes, but definitely the Bush. The great south-west forests, to be specific.)

I have seen more than my fair share of actually wild Australian wildlife. I am severely immune to snakes, spiders, frogs, kangaroos and wild foxes, rabbits and pigs (those shouldn't be in Australia, but they are. Also, if you ever see evidence of pigs in the bush, you leave immediately.)

So here we encounter jarring moment of dissonance the first.

We were walking past the kangaroo paddock and I'll admit I didn't even give it a second glance - it was a case of "Oh, kangaroos, how normal," And moving on. Didn't even register that they would be something to get excited about. It was literally like seeing a bird or the neighbour's cat.

Anyway, after awhile I noticed that I was no longer with my fellows because they were amazed by the kangaroos. They were staring, they were laughing, they were paying money to feed the fucking kangaroos like they were some sort of weird, special, exotic animal.

"Oh for fuck's sake, guys, they're just kangaroos!"

And then I realised I was with non-Australians and felt properly shamed.

We spent some (far too long of a) time with the kangaroos and moved on.

Anyway, as we were leaving we were walking through the American animals section and I've stopped dead in my tracks and squealed with excitement and raced over to an enclosure to coo and generally be a weird, animal-obsessed little moron. I'd never seen this animal in real life before but it was adorable and lovely and the cutest thing ever. And my Americas friends were looking at me like I'd grown another head because the animal that I was enamoured with and had never seen in person before, the animal that I was most excited about out of any that was there (including the baby tiger that I actually got to hold, guys)

The animal was a raccoon.

Your trash creature is someone else’s treasured encounter

When my father visited a Zoo in Germany, he was amazed to find people eagerly watching what appeared to be a large patch of dirt with holes in it. It took him a minute to realize that the exhibit was for prairie dogs and everyone was waiting to hopefully see one pop it's head out. Dad, who went to school in Eastern Oregon and regularly harassed the local prairie dog population there, had long known how to call them. So to amuse himself, he gave the high whistle he used to use at school and, sure enough, about 15 little heads popped up to see what was happening. What was happening was the local German patrons all losing their god damn minds

I remember hearing a story (on Reddit maybe?) about a 911 operator who got a frantic call from someone who had recently moved from another country (I forget where, but iirc English wasn’t his first language). It was late at night and there was something trying to get in his son’s window. Something? An intruder, the operator asked? No, a monster, the man said, terrified. After several minutes of confusing conversation and the guy getting progressively more panicked, the operator finally realized that what he was describing was a raccoon. He had never seen or heard of one before. Once she explained the family was both relieved and excited to see it.

An unknown Furry Little Guy with hands trying to get in your child’s window at night would be pretty terrifying, not gonna lie

These are the roller skate king's parents to me

It's that inky blackness at the door again, pa

me: *tryna pay attention to a work presentation*

my brain, looping: *Waterparks voice* I MISS HAVING SEX BUT AT LEAST I DON'T WANNA DIE ANYMORE AND I THINK THAT'S PRETTY COOL (๑˃ᴗ˂)✨️

was scrolling through my photos in an attempt to not space out and i forgot to share this cool bunch (๑˃ᴗ˂)✨️

WAIT I JUST SAW MUSHROOMS TODAY TOO

FLY AGARIC THEY WERE HUGE

waiting patiently to be pet

so close....

Finally neck rubs for a poor child who has never got pets in her whole entire life (fibbing).

She's so funny when she wants attention.

i think everyone deserves a large rock a short distance from their home. i dont like that discussions about walkable cities never include plans to allow wider access to large rocks. the people need large rock

I figured I’d make this PSA, since I’ve never seen anyone talk about it: when old people get UTIs, it can really mess with their head and cause symptoms that mimic things like dementia. I saw this often with my grandmother, and my mother had an elderly coworker who was perfectly healthy and independent until he suddenly had a sharp mental decline. He was in the hospital and they diagnosed him with dementia and were about to strip away his Power of Attorney and put him in a nursing home when someone thought to check for a UTI. They put on him antibiotics and he was quickly back to his usual self and back in his own home working at his job again, because he was completely fine aside from the UTI.

Obviously I’m not a doctor or anything, but from my experience and my mother’s research in caring for my grandmother, this is a real thing and I figured people should be aware of it to at least take into consideration in that kind of situation.

yes!

and UTIs don’t always have the symptoms we expect- I didn’t realize I had one until I sought help for the flu-like symptoms of having gone septic

Miku has been all over the world by now but has she been to the animal kingdom? 🤨

There is 1 bird on this post! Good day, Miss Hatsume!