(please excuse the slightly more informal nature of this post…it was originally written for a different audience…but i figured, well, since it’s already written…and there ARE pictures…)

on 2 apr–that is, wednesday, i received a telephone call from a photographer in boston.
“heeeey…um, are you free this weekend?”
“actually, yeah.”
“um…wanna come to florida to shoot an indian wedding with me?”
“let me think…um, YES.”

so, i did.  there were some logistical hiccups including flight booking, but in the end…a flight was secured, and i managed to book my ticket through houston.  i was SUPPOSED to get to see a friend on the way through, but, because my flight was an HOUR AND A HALF late getting in…that did not happen.  and lo…i was very sad.  in fact, i took sad-face pictures of myself sitting in the airport.  um…still on camera.  oops.

then i got to florida, and the crazy awesome indian partying shenanigans commenced.  so. much. colour!  also… they went ALL OUT.  it was GORGEOUS.  i’ll post some of those photos at some stage, maybe.  if you’re good.  THIS post, though, is about the day i spent in texas sunday.

the day started at midnight, as days are wont to do.  at that point, i was not asleep, as i generally want to be.  (see what i did there, with the wont/want?  awesome, right?)  i didn’t get to sleep for a little while, which was less than good, because the alarm was going off at 4am regardless of how many minutes my eyes were closed.  i got to the airport in plenty of time to wait and ask them nicely to change my ticket, but i waited in the WRONG LINE, and thus, by the time i got to the right person, her answer was, “oh, if you’d gotten here earlier, i could have helped you.”

so, i had to waste time when i got to houston listening to an airline employee say, “i’d LIKE to help you out…i WISH i could waive the change fee, i really do.  i mean that, but…i can’t.”  OK, lady, FINE.  charge me the exorbitant amt and just GIVE ME THE NEW TICKET!  flight successfully changed from my 1100 departure to 1720, i made for the doors to where a 1998 gunmetal grey ford explorer (i mean, chariot) awaited to usher me around houston-town.  it even came with a cool driver.  SWEET!

first order of business was comestibles.  we’d both been up for, oh, 4.5 hours by that point?  what’s that you say?  sunday mornings were made for IHOP?  we totally agree.  i kicked it 8-year-old-styles and got one of those chocolate pancakes w/ chocolate chips and a whipped cream smile.  which i did not finish.  then, we drove around for about a hundred years…discovered that the astros were NOT playing (SAD!) and then wound up at the zoo.

which…was…AWESOME!  i haven’t been to a zoo since, uh…australia in 2001, i think!  i’m ganking some of scott’s photos because his camera was small and fit in his pocket, and i didn’t feel like carrying my giant one.

this animal is…so weird…and awesome.  we were reading about it in spanish, and we came to a word we didn’t know…i told him, “it means ‘get it on’…” so, we went to the english board and sure enough, “these solitary animals come together only to mate.”  (can i write that here?)

(i like how it’s got a zebra butt.)

this tiger…must have been bored out of its gourd.  it was doing laps around its enclosure.  it would swim down the channel, get out, drippingly plod back to the start of the water and then kitty-paddle back to the end…lather, rinse, repeat.  it was doing it so dispassionately, too.

basically, i cannot beat scott’s caption of this, so…i will blatantly pirate it.  “please refain from feeding Dipppin Dots to the rabid, fanged animal” also “No Aerobics Allowed in the Zoo”

we went straight to the elephants…because i like them.

then, we went and got some comida.  mmmm, those honey chipotle chicken crisper things at chilli’s are DELICIOUS.

again, his caption is great…”can you read this guy’s sign….two points for honesty i guess”
(i grabbed his camera as we were getting ready to continue driving…the light just turned green, so i’m pretty stoked that it turned out.)

so, our last stop of the day was at alexander deussen park…a totally random state park type place, with…um…bison and peacocks.  weird, right?

anyway, scott is an army man, and therefore he must stalk prey and defeat it soundly.  which he did.

quarry in sight…he moves in…

aforementioned quarry was not particularly pleased at the method of detainment…”um, dude, you’re huge, and you’re STEPPING ON MY ENTRAILS WHILE THEY’RE STILL INSIDE ME.”  he expressed this nonverbal displeasure by attempting to fangoriously devour scott’s not-sneakers (i was informed that they were not sneakers after i made the egregious error of referring to them as such.  he was unable to provide a more precise classification than, “shoes”.)  fortunately, for all involved, the vile viper was unsuccessful.  (2 points or a free 8×10 to the first client who can tell me what “fangoriously devour” is from…no asking google!  email gwyn[at]gwynethcolleen[dot]com)

scott, however, was victorious.  “behold…i have captured and not-quite-slain the serpent!”

don’t worry about that lil snake…it lived to slither another day.

but scott still totally reveled in his victory.  (also, it should be said…i think this photo freaking rocks.)

the end.