|
|
|
June 21 In fourth grade my teacher read us Island of the Blue Dolphins and I have fond memories of it. I just listened to the audiobook and it's not at all what I remember. It's a SAD and TRAGIC story, not the happy and adventurous tale of a girl and her dog sailing between Tahitian islands on a raft, which is what I imagined it was. NO, that's not what it is at all. Her dad dies, her brother dies, she's abandoned on an island by herself, and then her fucking dog dies too. I read the wikipedia article about the real story and she lived alone on the island for fucking decades, then came to the mainland to find that everyone she knew was dead and she couldn't communicate with anyone, and she died within weeks. This is not a happy story. Goddamn. And the dog too! Also I think that same teacher read A Wrinkle in Time to us, or maybe I read it myself, but I listened to the audiobook of that last week and it turns out that I wasn't remembering that book at all correctly either. Not even close. Did you know they go to different planets? I didn't either. The blatant and overt Christianity seems very out of place in outerspace. My uterus has been hankering for another period since its failed one-day regular non-pill period of a couple weeks ago. I expect a new pill-induced period to start any second. Good! And then we can get on with things. I suppose I'm kind of in the pits again right now. I mean, I miss the puppy and his roommate and I'm sorry for myself that I won't be getting to see them much over the next few months. I'm making it all about myself. I'm glad the puppy's roommate will be getting his surgery sooner rather than later, that he won't have to deal with this pain for much longer, I'm glad he and the puppy are together, I'm glad he's with his family, and I'm glad he's getting one of the best surgeons in the country, etc. etc. etc. Etc. Hey, my period just started. Being on the pill is weird. My cats in Neko Atsume weren't giving me enough gold fishes so I stopped buying them fancy cat food. Now that I'm back over 500 gold fishes I suppose I'll buy them some tuna. Better Island of the Blue Dophins Rontu and I lived on the island for two years. We were very industrious. I honed my hunting and fishing skills and was completely self-reliant. Rontu was a nice and happy dog. I made myself a nice skirt of cormorant feathers. It was very beautiful. One day, as Rontu and I were out lounging on the beach, a big ship appeared on the horizon. It was a white man's ship. At last the ship had come to get me. Rontu and I got on the ship and set sail for the mainland. Once we got here, we were very careful not to eat too many strange foods too quickly so that our gut biomes could adapt, and I wore a face mask for a while so as not to acquire any strange airborne illnesses. I found all my people who had come over from the island. It was great to see everyone. I learned Spanish and English quickly and soon was able to talk with everyone I met. I traveled around the state of California giving talks about my experience and hosting workshops for women who wanted to learn how to survive in the wilderness. Rontu and I lived in a little bungalow in Santa Barbara and I got a job at a nearby In-N-Out Burger. I married a handsome newspaperman. Rontu eventually got old and we had to have him humanely euthanized. I was sad about it but he had lived a good, long, and healthy life. I commissioned a large bronze statue of him, which I had placed on the island. THE END
|