Dueling damselflies, whale savin' pirates, and a little bit of sexism defeated
So, this past Sunday I spent some time outside while my parents were fiddling around with my mom's car, it was partly cloudy, but mostly sunny and kinda hot, so I seeked the shade of the backyard, near the woods.
Our backyard is lined mostly with forest, and there's a stream just beside the lawn's edge that I like to visit now and then because it's close and cool to look at.
I stopped by there, and since there hadn't been much rain lately, the stream was more like a series of puddles. I just stood there and chilled, looking at the plants and bugs around there, and I spotted these little dragonfly-looking bugs flitting about. There were ones with metallic-green bodies and black wings, and others with brown bodies and brownish-transparent wings with a white spot on the tips. I guessed they may have been damselflies, because they reminded me of the ones they showed on the Life documentary series on the Discovery channel, and when I looked them up later on eNature, I was right, ha 8D
But anyway, I thought they were the coolest little things, just flitting about like butterflies; I assumed the green ones were the males and the sorta drab colored ones (I couldn't find a picture :[) were the females, based on what I knew about bird coloring (I was right about that, too :D). I watched them for a while, the males and the females, rooting them on, hoping that they'd meet and fall in love :P
I saw a pair go off into the woods together, but I don't know if they ended up coming back or not.
After I came back from seeing those two off (I watched them go off into the woods :p), I watched the little bugs flit about some more, trying to get a closer look at them.
Then these two males saw each other, and started BATTLING.
And it was kind of epic.
It was apparently a territorial dispute; they first collided, then they flew at each other, then one circled around the other, then one was chasing the other...it was hard to keep up with them, they were moving so fast. This went on for about 3-5 minutes, then all of a sudden they both went to the ground, one pinning the other down right at the water's edge. For a moment I was worried that the other one might get killed; I didn't know much about damselfly territorial disputes o.o' Then they got up and flew again, across the yard this time; I followed them, and they went out a short distance away, then they parted; one flew to a spot further up the stream bed, and the other came back to the spot where it all started.
I was freakin' amazed.
I gave 'em a little round of applause afterward :p
They stayed in the same general area while they were fighting, so I was actually able to witness the whole thing right in front of me. It was like something out of a nature documentary :D It was SO awesome. I wish I'd had my camera.
This is why I love wildlife watching so much. The chance to witness the natural world go about its business right in front of your eyes.
I haven't seen anything this awesome and rare in nature since I locked eyes with a raccoon in that stream when I was like, 14.
Shush, that was awesome to me at the time. :|
It kinda made me want to study wildlife as a career.
Maybe. As a possibility.
If I decide not to be a video editor.
...why am I so indecisive? >|
But yeah, it was awesome, and you would've thought so too if you were there to see it :D
Later on I got to watch the first episode of the new season of Whale Wars.
(I didn't get to see it on friday =( )
Since this is a show that Eva CAN watch on the internet, I won't get spoilerish here.
But I must say, the Ady Gil was one badass ship. o_o
I liked the beginning of the episode, too, where Paul recounted meeting the gaze of a whale in the wild close-up. That must've been so amazing.
Later on during The Simpsons, I saw a Toy Story 3-themed mastercard commercial, that showed a young girl getting a Buzz Lightyear toy. It made me happy, a bit sad, and a little angry at the same time.
Happy that gender stereotypes are dying, sad and angry because I had to experience such gender stereotyping when I was around that age.
When I was a kid, when Toy Story first came out, I freakin' loved it. I had loads of toys from it, even the Slinky Dog.
But one thing that still sticks out in my mind was back when I saw an ad in a Disney Adventures magazine for a Buzz Lightyear action figure; it looked kind of awesome to me at the time, and I showed my mom. She was pretty much unenthused about it, more so than the average "yes, that's nice, honey". I don't remember exactly what she said, but I remember going back to the ad and looking at it, and figuring it out that she didn't want me to have it because it's a boy's toy.
Years later, it turned out that I was right; she told me recently that my liking of Toy Story when I was a kid kinda drove her crazy, because it was such a "boy movie".
I didn't care back then. It was a cool movie; the concept of toys coming to life after you leave your room appealed to me as a basically-only-child who often played with my toys alone in my room. And I liked Buzz Lightyear. Woody was cool, too, but I thought Buzz was kind of awesome. I think the closest I got to having an action figure of him was a McDonalds happy meal toy that had pop-out wings. I loved that thing :[
I know my mom wanted me to be a girly-girl ever since I was little, so I can kind of understand why she reacted that way to it, but I'm decidedly not a girly-girl. I like some girly things, sure, but I'm not like, ultra-fem.
I love sneakers, and pants, and haven't worn a dress since I was 5.
I prefer The Sopranos over Sex and the City.
I love rock music.
I've played video games since I was 7.
I've always loved reptiles and amphibians.
I picked the hot wheels car over the barbie doll in McDonalds happy meals when I was a kid.
I'm not a complete tomboy, but I'm pretty boyish with a lot of things.
And my mom should've known that back then. :/
But yeah, seeing a girl in that commercial made me very happy, and a bit sad that that couldn't have been me way back when. U.U
...now I want to buy myself a Buzz Lightyear action figure just to make up for it. >.>
Well, that'll depend on what money I have to work with in the next month or so, and if I'm still feeling nostalgic by then. :P
Oh, speaking of, I'm not sure if I'll be able to see Toy Story 3 in a theater, but I'd like to.
I'm part of the generation that were kids when the first one came out, the generation that this movie is partly catering to; this is kind of awesome for me :D