Doing the Budgie Boogie!!

This will be the last entry from this journal

Sun, 26 Aug 2007 22:12:11 GMT

This is dakiwiboid, posting for Ernie. Burt died this morning, apparently of a tumor on his chest. moosl and I took him out to Shaw Nature Reserve and left him under a bald cypress tree, among the wild birds he loved so well.

Ernie will continue to post at ernie_bird. Please join him there.

Cicada songs

Tue, 21 Aug 2007 02:31:15 GMT

I have to convince Ernie of something. He thinks that the cool songs that we keep hearing all the time are coming from birds. I don't think so. Yeah, they're fun to listen to because they're loud, and because they go up and down a lot, but those aren't birds. I'm pretty sure that the guys who are doing the singing are cicadas.

I don't think that we'd really like them if they came up really close to us, and I think that Ernie should stop yelling out the window for them to do that. Don't you? I don't want them to come banging up on our windowscreen trying to get in here, especially late at night. It's scary.

Bats are cool!

Mon, 13 Aug 2007 19:20:23 GMT

And they fly! But Burt says the picture is too big, so I put my quiz result behind a cut. See my spirit animal behind it!

Your Score: The Bat

Here's your results! Your spirit animal has a Nobility ranking of 9 out of 18.

Your spirit animal is the bat. They are remakable creatures that guide themselves through the night using sonar. They are a fairly common spirit animal, but are neither exceptional nor despisable in regards to nobility. Being nocturnal, they have not really "seen the light", and there is much they are still unaware of, but they have their own special way of navigating the world, which though unconventional, works just fine.

***Wondering how this animal was chosen for you? These questions were carefully thought out to see how important you hold certain virtues such as: humanism, self-knowledge, rationalism, the love of freedom and other somewhat Hellenic ideals. Some of the questions were very subtle. Your score was then matched with an animal of corresponding nobility. However, you shouldn't think this was a right/wrong sort of test, but more of an idealistic values test. It's ok to not hold these values, you'll just get an animal spirit of lower stature if you do!***

Link: The What is Your Spirit Animal Test written by FindingEros on OkCupid, home of the The Dating Persona Test

Lobsters--eeew....

Sat, 11 Aug 2007 21:00:15 GMT

Ernie and I listen to the radio all day. It's mostly KWMU, our local NPR station, though sometimes Mom turns on some classical music or tunes in the jazz station for us. We like listening to the talk shows and the news, especially The Diane Rehm Show. She says "good morning" to us every day just the way we like! We also like The World, although I always have to look up the answers to the quiz. I don't know a lot of geography, and Ernie just doesn't care.

We're actually listening to The Splendid Table which we usually like because it's about food. We like to hear about food. There are usually a lot of things about vegetables and fruit, which we like to eat a whole lot, and we don't mind that there are a lot of things about cooking them, because Mom likes to cook, and that's fun. She makes a lot of fun sounds with the pots and pans, and we enjoy that.

But today those Stern people who go around the country eating stuff talked about something icky. They talked all about eating lobsters. I'm going to put one of those lj cut things here because this is just too icky. Those things are gigantic bugs! Now look, I know that we birds eat a lot of bugs, or actually, my outside relatives do. Ernie and I have never had actually insect, although we've had some seeds that had some protein pellets that was supposed to be like bug. They weren't all that good, so we asked Mom not to buy them any more. It's a natural thing to eat raw, crunchy bug, though.

However, the idea of cooking bugs alive and eating their bodies with melted cow fat is just disgusting to me! How can you? Eat some broccolini or carrots or millet spray or something. Eat eggs or chickens or something instead. We're omnivores. We don't mind you eating chickens. It's just the way you cook those bugs. Ick.

I didn't mind the part of the show that was about cheese. That was OK. Now I'm gonna read Wikipedia until I feel better.

I want to go to the con!

Sat, 04 Aug 2007 13:06:24 GMT

Mom got up yesterday and ran around like crazy, so I asked her where she was going. She stopped and told me she was going to a science fiction convention. Burt looked it up. It turns out that it's this one and there and people there from around the world, and people dress up as other people, and walk around in the hall that way, and there are thousands of people there, and especially girls! I want to go and pick up chicks!

She told me I couldn't go! I cussed her out. She says I still can't go.I don't see why not. They wouldn't charge me full price, I'll bet, and I wouldn't need a hall costume. I want to see all the shiny stuff! And the girls!

So, we were listening to this press conference on the radio this morning

Thu, 12 Jul 2007 16:24:03 GMT

It didn't make a lot of sense. Of course, I'm not very smart, compared to humans. My brain is smaller than a lima bean, but I try really hard to make sure that every sentence I write agrees with every other sentence in the same post. That guy kept contradicting himself and saying strange stuff. It was as if I'd flown up there to Washington and had a press conference and told the press people that Iraq should be in a state of strawberry. Actually, that wouldn't be too bad. Everybody should have a nice, big red strawberry every day. Don't you think so? Do you think that the press would listen to a little yellow budgie?

I want an I-Phone

Mon, 02 Jul 2007 16:25:04 GMT

I could work it really well with my beak, and it would be really cool to use. Mom says I have to earn the money for it all by myself, and pay the phone bill and data connection bill every month all by myself, though. Does anyone have any ideas for me to make enough money for that?

Doesn't this look like a nice bird?

Wed, 27 Jun 2007 18:57:43 GMT

That picture comes from this story about the bird. He's a recurve-billed bushbird. Supposedly these birds were hiding out in forest reserves in Colombia and Venezuela. I hope that having his picture taken means that more people decide to leave this guy's forest home alone, and that they don't just rush down there to look for him and take more pictures.

Oh, wow!

Wed, 27 Jun 2007 17:14:17 GMT

The lawnmower bird is out there! We like him! He makes a cool sound.

We've also been getting visits from a baby robin. He comes around and says "querp, querp". He's getting bigger and bigger and bigger every day. He's huge, but he still sounds like a baby and follows his mom around begging for worms!

A cool guy!

Mon, 25 Jun 2007 18:07:54 GMT

Hey, there is this cool guy that Burt found on some place called the BBC. His name is David Rothenberg, and he knows a bunch about birds. He says that we birds don't just sing to tell the girls how wonderful we are, and the other guys to stay away from our territories. We thinks that we sing because we want to make music! I think that he's right. I like music a lot, and Mom always pays attention to the kind of music I like and the kind of music I make.

Anyway, if you want to hear this guy David Rothernberg making music with birds, you could go here. He wrote a whole book about Why Birds Sing, and did a whole CD about bird song. He's even recorded some duets with birds! I like the one with the laughing thrush better than the stuff with the lyrebird. (Burt says it's because I'm jealous of the lyrebird's tail, but I think the thrush is a better musician.)

I like this guy.

I wish they wouldn't make so much noise and mess

Thu, 31 May 2007 03:06:07 GMT

Those icky people are still around. They've made a whole lot of mess outside our window, and they come around every day and bang with hammers, or make scrapy sounds. They keep throwing around junk, and they've scared away most of the birds. Today, they almost pushed Mom's air conditioner into her bedroom, and she had to yell "HEY!" really loudly to make them stop! Sometimes it gets dark all of a sudden, and our lamp and radio go off, and Mom gets mad because nobody told her that this was going to happen. They come in and cut holes in things and then they don't match up with the stuff they shove through the holes. It's nasty.

There's a lot of dust around, too. We don't like it. It would all be so much better if they were just a little more polite about it, but they aren't very nice to us. Sometimes they point in our window at us. It's not kind.

Fri, 11 May 2007 17:55:05 GMT

Oh boy, oh boy, oh boy! Mommy just called the landlord person to find out when the guys were going to come back to do more stuff in here. She says they aren't going to come out until next week, so she let us out of the cage! We are going to fly around now! YAY!

We are prisoners

Mon, 07 May 2007 18:16:57 GMT

Mom locked us in our Little Cage, that is, the cage with bars. We don't get to be in the Big Cage, that is the living room, which is what we usually get to fly around in without being locked up at all, until the landlord person finishes yanking stuff out of the place we live in and putting in something called HVAC. We have been waiting this way for a week, but finally a person came just now and ripped out the air conditioner. It was scary, but now there's a hole, and we can hear the birds really well. Mom says that some more scary stuff will happen soon, and we should try not to worry, but it's kind of awful. We're scared.

Cats

Sun, 29 Apr 2007 06:36:44 GMT

There is this thing called Caturday. Humph. Why isn't there a Birdday? Birds are cute too!

Sun, 15 Apr 2007 04:05:43 GMT

Burt ate a great big hole in the strawberry, and now his cheek feathers are all pink! He looks silly.

P.S. He's a piggy.

Good food stuff

Fri, 13 Apr 2007 02:24:49 GMT

This morning, when Mom fed us, we only got seeds and water. She said we'd get treats later. She went out for a long time, and when she came back, she had groceries. The treats were good! She gave us a really big lettuce leaf, nice and wet. I took rides on it, and lots of baths. Baths on a wet leaf are best. I remember my real mom telling me when I was just a chick that when we were wild birds we took baths on wet leaves outside. I get very excited when I get one of those baths. The lettuce tastes good too, and we eat holes in it.

Mom also gave us some of that stuff that looks like green feathers and tastes spicy. I think it's called fennel or something like that. We got our usual strawberry, too. When I eat strawberry, my beak gets red, and she calls me Redbeak the Pirate!

Woohoo!

Fri, 13 Apr 2007 02:19:59 GMT

Two fire engine birds just went by in a row! Lights and sirens are so cool! I love the noise they make! I want to sound like one of those sirens. I also want it to stop raining during the day so that the lawn mower bird comes back. I like it a lot. Vroom-vroom!

Wow, that bird is so SMART!!!!

Wed, 04 Apr 2007 19:38:07 GMT

This cockatiel guy can whistle the Imperial March from Star Wars! Neither of us can do that! He must watch a whole lot of movies, too!

Gee, I'm posting a lot! I'd better hush up after this.

Fri, 30 Mar 2007 19:03:36 GMT

(Click here to post your own answers for this meme.)

✓ I miss somebody right now. (Little Firefly friend, come see us!)	✓ I don't watch much TV these days. (Mom, fix the DVD machine!)	× I own lots of books.
× I wear glasses or contact lenses.	× I love to play video games.	× I've tried marijuana.
× I've watched porn movies.	× I have been the psycho-ex in a past relationship.	× I believe honesty is usually the best policy.
✓ I curse sometimes. (Mom yells at me for it.)	× I have changed a lot mentally over the last year.	× I carry my knife/razor everywhere with me.

* * * * *

× I have broken someone's bones.	× I have a secret that I am ashamed to reveal.	✓ I hate the rain.
× I'm paranoid at times.	× I would get plastic surgery if it were 100% safe, free of cost, and scar-free.	× I need/want money right now. (What would I do with it?)
× I love sushi.	✓ I talk really, really fast.	✓ I have fresh breath in the morning.
× I have long hair.	× I have lost money in Las Vegas.	× I have at least one sibling.
× I was born in a country outside of the U.S.	× I have worn fake hair/fingernails/eyelashes in the past.	× I couldn't survive without Caller I.D.
✓ I like the way that I look.	× I have lied to a good friend in the last 6 months.	× I am usually pessimistic.
× I have a lot of mood swings.	× I think prostitution should be legalized.	× I slept with a roommate.
× I have a hidden talent.	× I'm always hyper no matter how much sugar I have.	× I have a lot of friends.
✓ I have pecked someone of the same sex. (I peck Burt all the time.)	× I enjoy talking on the phone.	× I practically live in sweatpants or PJ pants.
× I love to shop and/or window shop.	× I'm obsessed with my Xanga or Livejournal.	× I'm completely embarrassed to be seen with my mother.
× I have a mobile phone.	× I have passed out drunk in the past 6 months.	× I've rejected someone before.
× I currently like/love someone.	× I have no idea what I want to do for the rest of my life.	× I want to have children in the future.
× I have changed a diaper before.	× I've called the cops on a friend before.	✓ I'm not allergic to anything.
× I have a lot to learn. (I know everything!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!)	× I am shy around the opposite sex. (Bring on the LADIES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!)	× I'm online 24/7, even as an away message.
× I have at least 5 away messages saved.	× I have tried alcohol or drugs before.	× I have made a move on a friend's significant other or crush in the past.
× I own the "South Park" movie.	× I have avoided assignments at work/school to be on Xanga or Livejournal.	✓ I enjoy some country music.
× I would die for my best friends.	× I'm obsessive, and often a perfectionist.	× I have used my sexuality to advance my career.
× I think Halloween is awesome because you get free candy.	× I have dated a close friend's ex.	✓ I am happy at this moment.
× I'm obsessed with guys.	× Democrat.	× Republican.
× I don't even know what I am.	× I am punk rockish.	× I go for older guys/girls, not younger.
× I study for tests most of the time.	× I tie my shoelaces differently from anyone I've ever met.	× I can work on a car.
× I love my job(s).	✓ I am comfortable with who I am right now.	× I have more than just my ears pierced.
✓ I walk barefoot wherever I can.	✓ I have jumped off a bridge. (I jump off the one on our cage all the time.)	× I love sea turtles.
× I spend ridiculous amounts of money on makeup.	× I plan on achieving a major goal/dream.	× I am proficient on a musical instrument.
× I hate office jobs.	× I went to college out of state.	✓ I am adopted. (Mom adopted me from Petsmart.)
× I am a pyro.	× I have thrown up from crying too much.	× I have been intentionally hurt by people that I loved.
× I fall for the worst people.	✓ I adore bright colours.	× I usually like covers better than originals.
× I hate chain theme restaurants like Applebees and TGIFridays.	× I can pick up things with my toes.	× I can't whistle.
× I have ridden/owned a horse.	× I still have every journal I've ever written in.	× I talk in my sleep.
× I've often thought that I was born in the wrong century.	× I try to forget things by drowning them out with loads of distractions.	× I wear a toe ring.
× I have a tattoo.	× I can't stand at LEAST one person that I work with.	× I am a caffeine junkie.
× I am completely tree-huggy spiritual, and I'm not ashamed at all.	× If I knew I would get away with it, I would commit at least one murder.	× I will collect anything, and the more nonsensical, the better.
× I enjoy a nice glass of wine with dinner.	× I'm an artist.	× I am ambidextrous.
× I sleep with so many stuffed animals, I can hardly fit on my bed.	× If it weren't for having to see other people naked, I'd live in a nudist colony.	× I have terrible teeth.
× I hate my toes.	✓ I did this meme even though I wasn't tagged by the person who took it before me.	✓ I have more friends on the internet than in real life.
× I have lived in either three different states or countries.	× I am extremely flexible.	× I love hugs more than kisses.
× I want to own my own business.	× I smoke.	× I spend way too much time on the computer than on anything else.
× Nobody has ever said I'm normal.	× Sad movies, games, and the like can cause a trickle of tears every now and then.	× I am proficient in the use of many types of firearms and combat weapons.
× I like the way women look in stylized men's suits.	× I don't like it when people are unpleased or seem unpleased with me.	× I have been described as a dreamer or likely to have my head up in the clouds.
× I have played strip poker with someone else before.	× I have had emotional problems for which I have sought professional help.	× I believe in ghosts and the paranormal.
× I can't stand being alone.	× I have at least one obsession at any given time.	× I weigh myself, pee/poo, and then weigh myself again.
× I consistently spend way too much money on obsessions-of-the-moment.	× I'm a judgmental asshole.	× I'm a HUGE drama-queen.
× I have travelled on more than one continent.	× I sometimes wish my father would just disappear.	× I need people to tell me I'm good at something in order to feel that I am.
× I am a Libertarian.	× I can speak more than one language.	× I can fall asleep even if the whole room is as noisy as it can be.
× I would rather read than watch TV.	× I like reading fact more than fiction.	× I have pulled an all-nighter on an assignment I was given a month to do.
✓ I have no piercings.	× I have spent the night in a train station or other public place.	× I have been so upset over my physical gender that I cried.
× I once spent Christmas completely alone because there was a miscommunication on which parent was supposed to have me that night.	× There have been times when I have wondered "Why was I born?" and may/may not have cried over it.	× I like most animals better than most people.
× I own a collection of retro games consoles.	× The thought of physical exercise makes me shiver.	× I have hit someone with a dead fish.
× I am compulsively honest.	× I was born with a congenital birth defect that has never been repaired.	× I have danced topless in front of dozens of complete strangers.
× I have gone from wishing I was a girl to revelling in being a boy to feeling like a girl again in the span of five minutes, and not cared a whit for my actual sex.	× I am unashamedly bisexual, and have different motivations for my desires for different genders.	× I sometimes won't sleep a whole night or eat a whole day because I forget to.
× I find it impossible to get to sleep without some kind of music on.	× I dislike milk.	× I obsessively wash my hands.
× I always carry something significant around with me.	× Sometimes I'd rather wear a wig in day-to-day life than use my own hair.	× I've pushed myself to become more self-aware and thereby more aware of others.
× Even though I live on my own I still cry sometimes because I miss my mother.	× I hand wrote all the HTML tags in this document.	× I've liked something which a majority of people claimed was either bad or weird.
× I have been clinically dead for a brief period of time.	× Instead of feeling sympathy/empathy with people and their problems, I simply become annoyed.	× I participate/have participated in auto drag races and won.
× I do not 'get' most comedy acts.	× I don't think strippers are money-greedy or slutty for dancing.	✓ I don't like to chew gum.
× I am obsessed with history/historical things and can't wait for someone to build a time machine so I can be the first to use it.	× I can never remember for the life of me where I parked the car.	× I had the TEEN ANGST thing going for at least 2-3 years.
× I wish people would be more empathic and honest with each other.	× I play Dungeons and Dragons weekly.	✓ I love to sing.
× I want to live in my mother's basement when I grow up.	✓ I have a custom-built computer.	× I want to create a certain someone's babies, even though there's a 0% possiblity of ever achieving it.
× I would be in a relationship with one of my pets if they were human.	× I've gone skinny-dipping.	× I've performed in three plays.
× I enjoy burritos.	× I'm Irish and loving it.	× I have a thing for redheads.
× I am a twin!	× Most of the times, I'd rather do something intellectual instead of doing something generically 'fun'.	× Once I set out to finish something, I always stay at it until it is completed before I move on to something else.
× I wish there were a way to erase past mistakes.	× I sleep more than 12 hours a day.	× I wish I could be prouder of what I've accomplished, but it's never enough.
× I need more time to myself.	× I wish I was more open-minded.	× I hope that I go really prematurely grey.
× I download songs from the internet.	× I've just reenacted chapter 58 of Death Note with my best friend.	× I say random things to freak people out.
× I'm still a little mad about the ending of Death Note.	× I love playing Truth or Dare.	× I love listening to slow music, but I hate singing to it.
× Music helps me remember that I am not alone.	× Playing my favorite sport makes me temporarily forget my problems.	✓ I think this survey is particularly long.
× I prefer my LJ friends to my real-life ones.	× I can only hate someone that I love.	× I've ordered an extra two shots of espresso to an Americano at Starbucks.

This looks like a GREAT toy!

Fri, 30 Mar 2007 18:51:42 GMT

I think I'd like one of these!

Take the quiz at dicepool.com

We have a new toy

Fri, 30 Mar 2007 18:48:16 GMT

I'm not sure I like it. Mom took out one of the big mirrors and our peacock feather toy and put in this toy with bright colors and little mirrors that turn around if you touch them with your beak. We were very disrupted when she did it, because she also changed the paper in the bottom of our cage. It's so inconvenient when she does that. We stayed out of the cage for over an hour. I think I want the big mirror back, but Mom says that we were sitting around in front of our two big mirrors too much, and she'd rather we played with this toy, and got on top of the cage and played instead. Humph.

Good Morning!

Sat, 24 Mar 2007 13:54:31 GMT

It's been lots warmer, and the birds have been singing, and it's been raining a lot. I guess the spring did come back after all. Our friend the bunny person came around. He's kind of like a kitty with long ears and a funny tail, in case you've never seen one. He wiggles his nose a lot. Ernie laughs at him, which I think is rude, but the bunny person doesn't seem to mind.

Mom's been getting up early for days now. She had to go to work, so she was getting us our breakfast in the dark. She gave us our favorite thing every day! It's nice to have broccolini and strawberry, and we even got an egg snack stick to chew on.

When she's getting us our breakfast, she says "GOOD morning!", the way that our friends on NPR do. Sometimes I say it back to her, as best as I can. Ernie won't do it. He doesn't like people talk much. I've heard him say "Kiwi", but that's about it. He's a good singer, but talking like a big person just isn't his thing, even though we hear our friends on the radio all day!

moosl has been working late a whole lot. We try to say something to him when he gets home, even if it's just a chirp, though. We know that it's nice to have someone notice you when you come in the door.

How is everybody?

It's cold and grey again.

Fri, 16 Mar 2007 16:46:12 GMT

All the outside birds look unhappy, and the squirds are fluffy. What happened to our sunshine? It was so pretty for a while, and everyone was looking cheerful and sitting in the tree near our window singing! Waah!

Go, Chickens!

Mon, 05 Mar 2007 23:14:04 GMT

Chicken Police? Burt says he thinks the chickens are guys, but I don't know about that. The one that pecks the white rabbit looks pretty sexy to me! I think those rabbits got what they deserved for fighting like that.

I'm a happy bird!

Mon, 05 Mar 2007 04:24:20 GMT

You know why? Because it's Sunday night, and they're playing wonderful jazz on the radio. Now, I like jazz a lot. It makes me feel like singing, but the person who's really happy is Ernie. Right now he's sitting on top of our cage talking a whole lot and dancing around and bobbing his head up and down. When he's happy it fills my life with joy. It makes our Mom smile too!