I had one big event to recap and that required allot of time to do so as all my notes were in my head (thus I couldn’t finish it at Granny’s). It was quite a day :^) and I can finally use those pictures that had been staring at me for months
==Vendredi le 24 novembre==
It was an average day for Sotilde where she observed me, unfortunately, procrastinating for most of it. We didn’t walk that day as I declined my father’s off when I was right in the middle of (finally) working. An hour later, dinner commenced and we finished another episode of Kolchak: The Night Stalker.
Sotilde seemed to have gotten a bit porkier in regards to the numbers in her stats. I always try to keep her under 30, feeling that this is healthy although early in her life she was in the 40’s range. This gives an idea of how big she would be in real life and I wouldn’t see weight gain as troubling under those conditions anyway, as she would just be cuddly.
I returned after a shower to find Sotilde snug in her bed and I turned off her lights. She was 165 that day.
==Samedi le 25 novembre==
My family and I went to the Royal Ontario Museum (“ROM”) as part of my Geology assignment on the rocks and minerals in Ontario (both Northern and Southern Ontario, even though they are geologically different). There was a rush likely after lunch to get everything I would need and get going. I took Sotilde – to raise morale of course XD – along with my Mini and Wox my Akai (a MALE Ribbotchi, by the way). We drove into downtown Toronto with its multitude of gigantic buildings, expensive shops, and ceaseless crowd of walkers. The streets were on the narrow side and traffic was tight, but not mad. As we walked to museum, my mother mentioned I could use her phone for any pictures. I gladly accepted and stopped to take a picture of the ROM.
We waited in a carpeted lobby to get our tickets, standing in the lines formed artificially by thick elastic that ran between posts. I checked Sotilde during the wait and wondered if anyone would recognize a Tamagotchi. The viking exhibit was clearly advertised with a poster behind the counter depicting a robust wooden ship on tempestuous, violent waters. We got our tickets and guide books and stood in the next room with huge dinosaur skeletons.
My father and I headed to the rock and mineral display called “Earth’s Treasures” while the other half of the family went elsewhere. The room had rows and rows of display cases showcasing rock and mineral fragments of all kinds. There was a meteorite display to the left of the entrance with dark, dented rocks and a sitting area to the right with a huge gold coin. Some of the displays were dedicated to just one mineral, such as the displays on calcite and quarts, common light-coloured and translucent minerals that came in a whole rainbow of colours (colour alone is not a good diagnostic feature as it can be altered by small amounts of impurities). Although there were quite a few samples that had typical gemstone qualities, there also were the more “boring” solid, dull samples of varying shapes, some round and others resembling a cluster of spikes and still others appearing like rocky moss. Not all of the specimens were behind glass as some particularly large rocks were fenced off and left open at the top, with a counter-intuitive warning to not touch (several kids did and my father as well, dismissing the sign). Also towards the back was a display of several large ore samples – rocks that contain valuable minerals inside them like iron, copper, and gold. Most were big enough to demand their own space and I distinctly remember a thick slab flanking the wall and a white, glittering lump of magnesium. The ore display had an accompanying video in English and French which would blare out and easily annoy anyone forced to listen. At one point, a group of children pressed the button and I can’t quite remember if they saw the whole thing, attention span and all. Overall, the specimens presented were fascinating in their own rights, regardless of geological knowledge.
I believe I brought a bag with me to house my things and that was where Sotilde and company resided. For the most part, things were very still for them as I spent most of my time standing in front of the displays and detailing their contents. After a good two hours or so, I took a break and sat down with my father on a bench in a narrow hall. Across from us was a few rock displays and one of them had rocks that lit up [future note: don’t remember why and my geology book never mentioned anything like this]. A group of children clustered around the glowing rocks as I commented about what I had done and we reviewed the objectives. It then turned out I had taken the wrong angle for it as only the rocks and minerals from Ontario were of any relevance to the assignment. Things proceeded much more quickly after that and out of all the displays in the room, only four of them were relevant. Southern Ontario got a single display while the others were from Northern Ontario (where there is allot of mining).
Focusing on the Ontario specimens led me (and my tamas by default) to a dark room at the back of exhibit. There were display cases running across the wall that were lit from below and showcased handcrafted objects and specimens of gold. One case had a shimmering, intricate gold and emerald necklace that would have been captivating in another exhibit but, amongst all the natural wonders, was not superior simply because it had been crafted. One important display had various gold specimens suspended by glass shelves and the gold appeared like a crust on some rocks and on others like a coating or an internal ripple.
Having achieved everything I needed, the next step was to take photographs for reference. My assignment required sketching samples so pictures would be even better. Of course, I got one of Sotilde at the end of it:
The rest of the family had popped in to tell us they would be in one of the other rooms when we wanted to leave. That would be very soon as we stayed till nearly closing time. We left “Earth’s Treasures” and walked down the museum’s mansion-like steps to find a room with several stuffed animals – the taxidermy kind, not the huggable ones. The fakest looking animal was the stuffed housecat, oddly included with the mountain lion and exotic birds. There was one funny “display”:
I used this opportunity to take pictures, some of my family and some of Sotilde with the animals:
When we left as a group, we were forced to wait while a bunch of people finished taking their wedding pictures, blocking the only passage. Suffice to say, nobody congratulated the newly weds. When we walked out, the sky was dark and the myriads of night lights – street lights, lit windows, headlights, and store signs – stood out distinctly. The walkers were still walking and we became one of the crowd as we navigated to the car. As we did so, a beautiful, soulful melody sailed through the air from a street musician in front of the museum. It was the perfect end to the day. On that day, Sotilde was 166.
- - - -
Things have been pretty easy lately but I imagine I’ll be doing most of my updates on the weekend, primarily because my newest French course takes me away from the computer, a nice break for both myself and Sotilde. Only this week have I begun taking notes in a different logging style which will follow a combined weekly log instead of a daily one, but with breaks if needed. However, that won’t be implemented for a long time as I still have plenty of notes that use the old style, because more was happenin’ then.
I suppose allot of my log probably answers your question about how I did it, as not allot happens in my life so I can keep tamas out pretty much all the time. I've paused Sotilde a few times - usually for an hour - but in general she is so low maintenance there is no need to pause her when I'm out and about. If I was working, however, I'm not sure if I would be able to do the same, although she only really needs a 10 second check ever so often. I actually told Papa Ballad about Sotilde's age when we were driving home from ESL two Mondays ago, and I pretty much got the same reaction as you did XD I guess only we tama-folk can actually understand age records. If you're still up for making a topic about Sotilde - currently 527 - it would probably go into the "What's On Your Mind?" forum as the New section is more for announcing what Bandai's doing.
