I got licked by a giraffe

It was a perfect day for the zoo. It was only in the 70s and windy (though a grayer day might have been better as the safety glass glares).

One thing I expect in Columbus is car accidents. Too many people and too many shit drivers in worse cars. today I was hung up by a very bad one (as in I wouldn't be surprised if people died) I saw two SUVs at the head of the accident but didn't look hurt much (they might have been the reason the other two collided, one compact car was in the trees and another had the hood flipped onto the windshield, the trunk in the back seat and the driver's side door sheered off.

The zoo was even better than before. I don't remember the last time I was there (as I'm sure it's close to a decade ago) I think I was there with ElD. Now they have shops/concessions to match the area the animals belong to (an 1880s Alaskan village for the polar bears, an African village etc) and even the gift shops had different things from area to area (and cheap too, I picked up some really cool gem stone/mineral stuff and a stuffed manatee because I couldn't resist).

There are now 3 interactive (maybe more) areas where you can feed the critters. I had to pay 3$ to hand feed some lettuce to a giraffe (his name was JP). He licked me. He was adorable. they do n ot let you touch the animals though to minimize interactions and human stupidity. Another interactive was with a computer in the polar bear area. The one thing Jack Hanna and company do at the COlumbus Zoo is showcase the importance of zoos (as more than a holding pen for animals) that so many anti-zoo people don't seem to realize. It's all about conservation and diversity and saving them in the wild (and Mr. Hand fed giraffe is probably happier here than being lion food in the wild)

Anyhow in the polar bear enclosure there are three computer generated circles on the floor showing how melting polar ice caps are threatening to kill all the polar bears. When you step on even the sturdiest of them it literally cracks under foot. It's a great teachin device.

there is also a baby polar bear, Nora, but she wasn't out today. Aw. I did get to see a lot of great animals. I hope my pics came out but I forgot the camera in the car when I got home and my legs have had just about enough of walking (especially since I didn't know the damn tram didn't run except for sat/sun and I parked way far away). I was walking for about 5 hours and realized when I got to the car it was quarter to five.

I had planned to stop at the B&N about 6 miles away to get a manga volume with the 40% coupon then go to German Village to the Book Loft and Schmidt's for dinner BUT the timing was all wrong. SOme of you know I did home health in Columbus. I know this city well. I know that at any day of the week it's bumper to bumper slow ass traffic trying to get from Northwest Columbus where I was to the south side of the city where German Village is.

I decided to go to dinner up by B&N at the mongolian BBQ. Got a new manga, ate then hell it was 630 and it would take me at least to 7 to get down to German Village and I was tired so I gave up on that one. I can do that another day.

I went to the casino (which was my planned final stop) I got my preliminary drink, a caramel hard apple cider by Mad Moon (delicious), put 10$ in a dollar machine but nothing there, took another 10$ and put it in my favorite machine in that whole casino Haunted House (there is only one and I will be so sad when it's gone). On my first pull I hit the bonus and win 50$ two spins later I hit another bonus and won another 10$. I decide to quit while i'm ahead and go drink and sit it out listening to live music in one of the casino bars.

I go to get my free coffee for the drive home and see a machine I've never seen before. It had crystals growing out the top and a screen of rotating gems and how could I resist that? I jammed twenty in, first spin hit a spin til you win and won more. I took it and ran.

The ride home was fine (barring the asshole who ran the red light and nearly murdered me in front of a strip club).

Now I'm tired and my feet are crabby but it was a good day (better than Mom who had to spend nearly 4 hours signing paperwork to sell that house)

Reviews matter

There's a bit of a dust up on Jana's FB. Apparently some author (name deleted) pissed off one of her/his fans by lashing out at the non-reviewers with literally an F bomb every third word. It was exceedingly unprofessional.

That said I understand the author's frustration (not that I dared say that on that post because yeah). What readers NEED to understand that in this day and age of publishing reviews matter. They matter as much as your dollars. Amazon's method of bringing books to the reader (and let's be honest no matter what we think of Amazon they're the driving force right now) is based almost entirely on reviews.

If you get 20 + reviews Amazon will suggest your book as a 'you might also like' and so on and so forth.

In the post villifying that author, so many of them said these two excuses which are so...pointless and are probably what set that author off.

1. I don't know what to say - Honestly it DOES NOT matter. It can be a BAD review and Amazon's algorithms still count it. You could simply say hey I liked this and it would count.

2. I don't have time - Really? A simple review could be done in 60 seconds

ANd that's all it takes to help an author sell books.

the poster was ranting about readers starving authors out by not reviewing. Harsh, bound to piss people off, and in a way, true.

Have a favorite author who isn't Nora Roberts, James Patterson, JK Rowling Stephen King famous already? Help them, slap some stars on that book and pen a few lines of review, help them crack the next level of Amazon's algorithms.

Speaking of that I need a beta for a 24 hour turn around. I might have to do this entirely on my own.

Oh and catw00man is doing a write every day in Sept challenge and I liked the sounds of that so for me Day 1- 164 words Day 2- zero thanks to the zoo. Day 3 1,192