whew been a while since i've come around here to update...i've been terribly busy with class, and sleeping all day...and more class...even if i'm only in school about four hours a day, it's amazing how much STUFF we learn. i don't know how my brain is even holding all this in. oh i know...it ISN'T. i forgot some really simple kanji the other day, i think i'm getting to the point where there is no space left to put all this new grammar and kanji and vocabulary, and so i'm dumping out anything i can...pretty soon i will be forgetting things like my address and which way my pants go on.
lately the weather has been utterly dismal, it's rained nearly every day at least once since last week. today it has been clear skies, which is nice because i can't remember the last time the sky was blue and not a blanket of heavy rainclouds with water full in their bellies. the only downside is that today it has been REALLY hot. the tenkiyohou (weather report) says it was 31ãC of still, humid, dead heat in tokyo today (about 88ãF). at least the trains pump up the AC to the max...there is no reason for it to be so dang hot at 8:00am to the point where you start sweating the instant you try and walk anywhere.
today i went to kojima (my pet store) to get some supplies and jingly cat balls for the bunnies and take a gander at the fuzzies they have in, and i got to pet my first mini rex and saw my first netherland dwarf. rex fur is incredible ! i was scritching her nose through the bars of the cage while i looked at food and got my bunny weed (there are two cages set up against a jutting half-wall next to the small animal supply alcove- usually a bunny is kept in the top cage and the store's black chinchilla lives in the bottom one). she totally zoned out...it was really cute. they also have an orange mini usagi in (not yet for sale), i was standing there watching it clean its ears quite thoroughly...holy crap i nearly died it was so cute. there is an 'island' made of rows of hamster cages back to back, with the long glass cases for bunnies and ferrets at the end and the two axolotl tanks on a shelf adjacent to the bunny side, and in the bunny case they had the netherland dwarf (maybe it was some kind of otter coloring) and a fluffy white lionhead, who were also not yet for sale. two adorable marshall ferrets were in the ferret cage. not really my animal, but my friend has three path valleys. usually we stand on opposite sides of the 'island' and yammer about the ferrets and bunnies.
on the wall at the end of the store and beyond the 'island' they usually keep the hedgehogs/momongas (sugar glider)/etcetera bunnies and ferrets who are in quarantine or who don't have cage space elsewhere. there was a cute broken orange lop and a small brown bunny on the wall today, also not for sale. they did have a very disgruntled looking lop out though, he'd definitely win some disapproving bunny awards.
i have been wanting something small and caged lately...kojima currently has a hedgehog in (there is usually always one available) and i want him SO badly, but it costs the same to buy him that it does to buy a bunny (about 25,000yen for the hedgehog, almost 300$ with the current conversion rates). a LOT more than i want to be spending on another pet right now...the mini usagis always go for around 5,000yen (roughly 60$), but a marked breed will go for anywhere from 20,000-28,000yen (224-315$). shushu cost me close to 300$, and fuan-chan was around 250$ (since she was a month older than shushu when i bought her i got a discount). i always have a private chuckle when i read people saying they won't pay 20$ for a bunny and complain that is expensive...give me a break ! :rollseyes
maybe i should just get an axolotl or a hamster or one of the big stag beetles that they have in right now...
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