The stairs at HMT in Takoma Park, MD as they try and hide the snow from the sun.
My birthday was wonderful. Many of my peeps done gathered around me and we had a Lovely time wandering the Aquarium, the Harbour, watching movies and generally being silly for a night. Me and a group of about 20 friends all gathered at the Baltimore Aquarium (and by gathered, I sort of mean filtered in ones and twos, eventually mOSTLY gathering in the Shark Pit, minus Audrey who’d wandered off and done her own thing), wandering through and oohing and awwing at octopuses and weird grabby fish, giggling at signs that said “sucking” and being amazed at the new Australia exhibit.
Catonsville, MD becomes a beautiful winter-wonderland. This is actually the view from my door after snow blanketed us a couple of days before my birthday. I was glad to see it simply because Maryland isn’t a terribly snowy state and snowing NOW means it’s unlikely I’ll have my birthday snowed out. This happened over and over again when I was a kid – I’d get all excited about my birthday party and then no-one would come because the snow would come a plopping down. I had sort of a Love / hate relationship with my “favourite” weather when I was a kid. Even sledding doesn’t quite beat cake with friends.
I hadn’t been there since I was 20 or so. It held up, though it was somewhat smaller than I remembered and there were no piranha, which made me sad. Of course, the lack of sea lions means it will never be the same, but managing to be there while the sloth was awake was wonderful in and of itself.
For my birthday, there was a Gathering (no Magic though) at the Baltimore Aquarium. We got there at 5pm as the sun went down to take advantage of the lowered evening prices. We were able to run around the whole place and depart just as things were closing, well-satisfied that we’d seen alllll of the awesome.
I’m wandering the noisome tubes at the entrance of the Baltimore Aquarium. [5/28/19 – YEARS later I discover that “noisome” doesn’t mean what I think it means… just mean they make weird noises, not that they’re unruly and stinky]
Filled with beautiful fishes and light – I’m sure there’s mystery too – like where’s the damned turtle?!!? We searched for quite some time before finally sighting it. I wonder if it’s the same one they had before, and if so, how he lost a flipper?
Hee. Upside down beestie.
Ah HA!!! Turtle ahoy!
I Love my friends! Rowan and his girlie, Paul (the little shipping deity), Amelia the Courageous, Amy Law and Michael Berkowitz looking up at us as we dodge and feint around one another!
And then we’re ALL looking up (add Ash, Sharif and Mitzi to the journey…. there are others floating around somewhere too. At this moment I think we were watching for bats. And failing.
The staring fish.
Some more fishy goodness from the Aquarium in Baltimore, MD from my birthday trip.
I can’t imagine what the fish make of it all – though I know that I’m merely anthropomorphizing and they probably make very little of it at all. Still, some of them (like the staring fish) are clearly aware of their captors… but do nothing but stare. I wonder what the difference is between the fish that are so very attentive and the creatures that aren’t. Though a shark snuck up behind me and scared the fuck out of me at one point, I’m grateful for the fact that they, at least, seem totally unaware of our presence.
Kristen decided that I and my friends Paul and Amelia needed to be merged. At least on the hair level.
A creepy photograph of me blowing out some birthday candles. I was apparently about 10. And Jewish. And a ghost. Bur that’s cool.
Heather killing me the first slice of birthday cake at her place in Owings Mills, MD. She was intent and dangerous. And hot. Of course. Women are hot with knives. Or at least hot ones are. A knife won’t make you hot. You’re thinking of bass guitar.
Afterwards we gathered back at Heather’s place for cake (too much ice cream cake oh god) and Jaws (which I’d never seen and was truly very cool) and the Little Mermaid (which led to a mass “Part of Your World” sing-a-long). Hamster-piled on the floor in blankets and sleeping bags we eventually all fell asleep in a sleep over the likes of which late 20s / early 30 year-olds are probably not supposed to have anymore.
My sleepover of awesome. Kristen grabbed a show of us all curling up to watching the second-half of my birthday party water-movie extravaganza. We’d already gotten through Jaws and now needed sleeping bags to lie and sing along with The Little Mermaid.
And in the morning? Ash brought pancakes, Kristen made pancakes – we ate LOTS of pancakes. So far so good. Twrr.
