Chompy

I bet this guy really took a bite outta life!  And other things!

Hiya, Friends!  Happy Friday to you!

Well, ya know, I'm still rattlin' around in the dang ol' Odditorium, and while yesterday's post talked about art that kinda made a kid feel big, today's post is about feelin' completely small and a little bit like shark-bait.

You see, at the Odditorium, there's the jaws of a giant, prehistoric shark on display.  Big enough for me to stand inside and still look dwarfed.  The shark was a Megalodon, and he musta been HUGE!

You know, I'm something of a dinosaur buff.  I avidly watch Dinosaur Train on PBS kids.  I like to compare dinosaurs' features.  But on Dinosaur Train, it's hard to grasp just how big those dinosaurs could be.  They all fit on a magical train that goes through time-tunnels, after all.  So in my mind, the dinosaurs were all about my size or thereabouts. 

Standin' inside the Megalodon jaws kinda really put things into perspective for me.  The Megalodon's teeth were each as big as my whole head, and he had rows and rows of 'em!  That's a marvel in a museum, but I'm glad I'm not out in the ocean, just tryin' to swim, and all of a sudden, seeing all those big teeth coming for me!

I bet his name was Chompy, though!

Hey, Friends!  Don't be shark-bait.  I love ya lots, and I'll see ya tomorrow!  Muah!

The Eye of the Needle!

I might not be a microscopic masterpiece, but I'm still noteworthy!

Hiya, Friends!  Well, it's Thursday, and once again, I have stories of adventure in the Odditorium to entertain and delight you with!  Today, you might notice that I'm standing in the eye of a needle, and that's no accident.

You see, at the Odditorium, there's an entire room devoted to the artworks of a fella in London who sculpts eentsy-beeentzy-teeny-tiny little sculptures in the eyes of needles.  Like what you'd use to sew your buttons back on. 

We're talkin' microscopic masterpieces here!

It's true!  In order to really see the artwork, you hafta look through the magnifiers, and when ya do, ya see sculptures of roses, famous people, just regular people eatin' at a table in a cafe, cars... pretty much anything you can think of that somebody would make a sculpture of, but it's downsized to almost a molecular level, and framed in the eye of a needle.  It's just incredible, Big People!

So that's why I had my picture taken in the eye of the needle for today.  That's what I would look like, if I were a microscopic work of art, but it's also what I look like, just bein' me.  Whatchya see is whatchya get, Friends.

If ya get a chance, you ought to visit the Odditorium sometime while the tiny sculptures are there, Big People!  It's a little odd, but mostly interesting that there's an artist who thought to make his works so tiny and quiet, and yet not skimp on any of the detail.  One thing I've learned about art is that it can come in all shapes and sizes, and some of it is meant to be big and make the observer feel small.  The art in the eyes of needles has kind of an opposite effect, and yet it doesn't let ya feel like you're too big for your britches, just because you're much bigger than the sculptures.  In fact, the whole experience got me to wonderin' if there isn't some being somewhere, lookin' at us within the eye of a needle.

It is something to think about!

Hey.  I'll see ya tomorrow!  I love ya lots, Big People!  You bet I do!

Underdressed

I'll come dance with you sometime when I'm more properly attired, Fella!

Hiya, Friends! 

Well, ya know, most of the time, you know me as a pretty snappily-dressed Little Kid.

But when I go casual, I really go casual.  Sunglasses on my head, stretchy pants, big, oversized winter coat from Canadian Walmart. 

And it never fails.  When I go Really Casual, there's always a little fella nearby, wearin' a whole darn tuxedo, no less, askin' me to dance.

You'd think I would know by now, given my popularity with Little Fellas Wearin' Whole Darn Tuxedos No Less, that I'd learn to wear a party dress at all times.  That way I'd be ready to dance and I wouldn't feel so underdressed.  Thing of it is, party dresses aren't very comfortable all the time.  I don't know what tuxedos are like, but party dresses can be scratchy, cold, hot, pokey, and ya can't eat messy foods in 'em. 

There has to be a better way.

Aw well.  I love ya lots, Friends!  I'll see ya tomorrow!  Muah!

I Am Electrifying!

I'm electrifying- this isn't new. I've always known this about myself!

Friends, it's Tuesday, and I'm still at Ripley's Odditorium!  Aren't you glad about that?!

Anyways, sometimes, when ya travel, ya learn new things about the world around you, or maybe even about yourself.  However, this post just goes to show that sometimes, you do NOT learn something new.

What?!

That's right.  Thing of it is, I have always suspected... nay, I have always KNOWN that I am an electrifying Little Kid.  And before that, I was an electrifying Toddler Unit, and before that even still, right from the very beginning of me, I was an electrifying TigerBaby. 

It is true, and if you don't believe me, I believe I have a sizeable canon showing thus.

So at the Odditorium, there was this ball that looked just boring and unassuming, until ya stride up to it and put your hand on it, and then, you know what happens?  Ya set off a lightning storm inside the ball!  It's a Plasma Ball or something.  But it proves that I am an electrifying Little Kid!

Keep that in mind next time ya see me, Big People!  Make sure you can handle this type of energy! 

I love ya lots, Friends!  I'll see ya tomorrow!  Bzzzzzzzt!  Just kidding!  Muah!

The Weather Up There...

The weather up there is the same as the weather right here, Friends, so ya don't even need to ask.

Hiya, Friends!  Happy Monday to ya!

Well, ya know, when I was traveling and visiting the Odditorium in Niagara Falls, I met Robert Wadlow, who was the tallest man in the world. 

He was reserved yet friendly.  He would stand up out of his chair and then sit down, surveying everything in the Odditorium with a look of thoughtful quiet on his face.

Ya know, Friends, I know that sometimes when ya meet somebody so tall, ya wanna say things like:

"Boy!  You're a tall drinka water, aren'tchya?!" or "Hey, Buddy!  How's the weather up there?!"

Thing of it is, even the most tall human is gonna experience the same weather that even the shortest human experiences, if they're in the same spot.  There's no need to point out to a tall person how tall they are!  They get enough of that, and they probably know how tall they are.

Do ya know what I said to Robert Wadlow when I met him at the Odditorium?  I said "Hiya!  I'm Zoe!  I'm five!  I'm from North Bingham!  This is my first time in Niagara Falls, and I think your place here in the Odditorium is boss!"

Ya just talk to someone who's really tall, just like you would, anybody else.  It's easy, Friends!  I love ya lots1  I'll see ya tomorrow!  Muah!

My Pal, Mr. Ira Popper!

My eye-poppin' pal here tells me I shouldn't be so scared of eye-drops!

Hiya, Big People!  Happy Sunday to you!

Well, as promised in yesterday's post, we're back in the Odditorium, and I'd like ya to meet my pal Mr. Ira Popper.  Actually, that isn't his name.  His name is something else, and he hails from Cuba, and he's BumbleBee's neighbor at the Odditorium.  He's kinda like a perpetually-surprised greeter, in the lobby!

The thing about Mr. Ira Popper is that he could make his eyes pop right outta their sockets, whenever he wanted to. I'm not really sure what this kinda skill does for a body, other than earn 'em a place in the Odditorium, but you know what?  Right on, eye-poppin' man!  Don't ever change!

You might think that someone with this appearance would scare a little kid.  But you wouldn't be knowin' this little kid very well.  And besides, Mr. Ira Popper is super-friendly!  The neat thing about traveling is that you meet people who look different from you, who know different things than you know, and who have a whole different set of experiences from the ones you have.  I never woulda known that bein' able to pop your eyes outta their sockets is a thing, until I visited the Odditorium!  But after talkin' to Mr. Ira Popper about it, he says that it's really a skill not everybody needs to have, and I'll get by in life just fine without it!

Next time I come, I think I'll bring him a case of Visine, though!  It was kinda dry in the Odditorium Lobby!

Hey, Big People!  I'll see ya tomorrow, mmmkay?  I love ya lots!  Muah!

Eye in the Sky Wheel!

I'm surveyin' the region in climate-controlled comfort!

Hiya, Big People!  Well, ya know, it's Saturday, and on a recent Saturday, I found myself way up high in a Sky Wheel in Niagara Falls, Ontario!  It was quite an experience!

First off, I have never been that high up before in an amusement ride.  I'm pretty sure my hotel room on the brink of the falls was as high or close, but you don't feel as high-up when you're high-up in a hotel as you feel when you're high-up on a giant metal wheel!

Second of all, it's pretty thrilling, even though the ride itself just goes around and around in a giant vertical circle, very slowly.  It's a thrill because the wind was a' whippin' pretty good the day I rode on the Sky Wheel, so even though I was in my own observation pod, I could still hear the wind outside, the higher up we got.  I could still feel it rockin' the pod a little bit.  But it was fun, too!  I hafta gotta imagine that it would be extremely COLD!!! to ride a big wheel like that in the winter, if the cars weren't enclosed!

I got a view of Niagara Falls like no other.  I could see the tops of buildings on Clifton Hill and still be up close to 'em!  The Skylon Tower is up high, too, but it's far from everything.  At one point on the Sky Wheel, I'm pretty sure the giant Frankenstein Monster that's next door neighbors with Burger King looked me right in the eye as I was sweepin' up in the sky! 

The thing about bein' an eye in the Sky Wheel is that once ya get up so high like that, it really puts things in perspective.  When I was walkin' around Clifton Hill, it felt very bustling and big.  Up in the Sky Wheel, all the people bustling around on Clifton Hill looked like little ants in a peaceful parade.  Insteadda the sounds of traffic and noise from all the amusements wantin' to get you all hooked in, you hear the sound of the wind and the Sky Wheel music, which is much like elevator music, but you're on the Sky Wheel.  I realized how interconnected each individual really is, even if they don't know it.

Yep.  Bein' an eye in the Sky Wheel changed me for the better, Friends!  I love ya lots, and I'll take ya back to the Odditorium tomorrow, mmmkay?  Behave yourself, and exit through the Gift Shoppe!  Muah!