All Things Paranormal

October is gone. In commemoration of the month that celebrates night creatures, I have decided to take a look at why freaks like me become obsessed with all things paranormal.
For those people who don't know the dark and -let's face it- embarrassing side of my personality I am completely infatuated with cheesy supernatural books. The evidence is on the sidebar where I posted the bookshelf I made with all the urban fantasy books I've read in the past two years. It is absolutely sick and disgusting that I have found time to go through more than 70 books that all deal with demons, vampires, witches, werewolves, warlocks, faeries, succubus... It's kind of funny really, if you consider pathetic funny. In any case, I have summed up the reasons why , in my opinion, this genre has become so catchy.
First, because real life sucks. I know this sounds sad. But it is true. Life is just boring, mundane, prosaic, ordinary.... This doesn't mean I hate my life. But at the end of the day, it's always the same. You go to work and you go home everyday. Some of those days you hang out with people and go see a play, movie, game, drink... As nice as those things are and as much as you may like your job, when it all boils down, there's no real excitement. There's no "fight for your life", "save the world" or "stop some evil creature from killing your friends and family". In the end it is just same old world, with real issues. Yes I understand that I am being a brat. I know that there's a lot of things happening outside of my little privileged bubble, but still, sometimes I just wish there was more to this life.
The second thing I think is alluring for people is the idea of immortality. Most people are afraid of death and becoming old. I know I would do anything to stay at 25 and not grow a day older. I guess a lot of people do think living forever would suck, but imagine if you had been alive for the past 200 years all the great and terrible things you would have witnessed; the collapse of empires, country revolutions, the publishing of works like the Communist Manifesto and The Origin of Species, the World Wars, the beginning of the space age... It's no surprise that characters who have life through this and so much more would be attractive to people right? At least I think meeting someone who has lived through so much would be awesome.
The whole beauty and superpowers thing comes in at third. But pretty close to the other two. Who does not wanna be powerful and beautiful? What wouldn't most people do for getting those things? Little if I had to guess. It might be the reason why women specially like urban fantasy so much. On second thought... no; Women love this genre because they like the idea of being capable of changing men. And changing an evil man (such as a vampire, demon, fairy , etc) would be the ultimate challenge right? It's all about the ridiculous idea that you could be so special as to turn someone completely around. Which, by the way, may be more far-fetched than immortality 'cause people don't change... ever.
In all honesty, wouldn't it be amazing if magical things were happening right here under our noses? Wouldn't it be awesome to know about it and be part of this huge secret? Wouldn't it make life more exciting? I think it would. Since it's not the case, what else is there to do but try to make your life as exciting as ordinarily possible and read a few urban fantasy books? Any suggestions?

Meet the sloths from Amphibian Avenger on Vimeo.

Paper love

Rodents, love and sorrow

It is really amazing how much an animal so small can mean to you. I remember when I first got Punky. As soon as I saw her I knew she would be a part of me. Moo was almost as instant. I remember asking the guy at Petco who the friendliest guinea pig they had. She made me smile when I first tried to pick her up, she was so heavy! And she was even more friendly that I could ever imagine. Atari was the last addition to the pack. He was tiny and adorable, so adorable I thought he was a girl... Boy was I wrong. He had to move out of the girls cage after we found out that he was male. That's when my Moo passed away. I will always remember the little sounds she made when being petted, and how she loved laying on my bed. She was by far the biggest guinea pig you would ever find! She would eat anything, even tried to nibble on Punky's medicine. She really had no taste in food, she would down anything semi-edible. Atari was probably the exact opposite. He was always active. He would run around his cage and move his hide-away from side to side. He also had the annoying habit of flipping his plate over. My favorite thing about him was that he wasn't afraid of anything. He loved to explore and chew on everything. As soon as I would come close to the cage he would stand on the door poking his head out and always made hungry noises, even if his plate was full. I think that's what I miss more about him, the constant sound coming from his cage. When he wasn't quing (what I called his hungry noise) he was running around and moving his wood house, two other noisy activities. My room is so much quieter now, it makes me so sad.
Whoever thinks people don't get attached to small animals as some do to cats or dogs they are so wrong. My guineas all had very distinct personalities and were the greatest companions. It is true they don't have the best memories but they knew me well and comforted me every time I needed just by being themselves. I hope they felt as much love for me as I did for them and I hope I gave them a good life. I am grateful I still have my Punky and I plan to make her life as great as she has made mine.
It is really true that the best things in life come in small packages, I am glad I got to share time with three of the sweetest animals I have ever met.