Today I went to the Cal Academy of Sciences for the first time...now I understand why admission tickets are 34 bucks! It's really high quality compared to many science museums I've been to - you get to access a planetarium (with two shows running), a live rainforest enclosure, an aquarium, a natural history museum, live African penguins, a swamp with an alligator, a living green roof and various changing exhibits.
The current exhibits are on colors of life and seismic earthquake, so it was quite interesting to see how the museum designers (or whatever you call them) design each exhibit so it can capture your attention best. For example, they had these huge guitar strings that are colored, and when you play different strings they play different notes and show animals that use corresponding colors in various ways - camouflage, attract prey, deter predators, etc. It's really interactive as the screen is blank unless you strum the colors you are interested in (invoking touch, sight and hearing), and pictures of the animals using those colors appear with small snippets of description, one at a time, and they disappear pretty soon so you have to strum again if you want to read more. Really good for kids (and me) who have short attention span haha.
They also have exhibits where you can dance the courtship dance, and crank a wheel in order to hear different bird calls. Really interactive and they are so smart in their design!
It's also the first time i watch a planetarium show that has nothing to do with astronomy - it's about earth's habitat and how all organisms are connected to each other, to the weather, and how men are connected to them too (impact of ship traffic and airplanes). I really like that they include the human aspect of it and on human intervention to preserve ecosystems. It's more useful than I expected!
Also, it was the first time I volunteered at the homeless shelter today, and I felt quite humbled there. I got to talk to this old lady who lives at the shelter now because she has no living relatives left. Not all the homeless are mentally ill, and it's quite interesting to hear their stories. I really struggle with my belief that there shouldn't be homeless people, and that they should be empowered to do something so they don't have to be homeless and living off donors and taxpayer's money. That's why I chose to volunteer with the homeless today, and learn what it's all about.
I don't think I can accept the way America works, where the homeless is a given part of society. But I can seek to understand how these people came to be homeless, and help them where I can with my time and energy.
I'll be volunteering with intellectually disabled children next week for special olympics, and I think I'll enjoy it more. Somehow working with kids and the elderly usually makes me happier than working with the homeless (understandably, since kids have little worries and elderly have seen it all so they put things in perspective haha). I'm going to try various volunteering gigs out and see which one I feel most passionate about :)
On a side note, someone gave me a catcall today at the grocery store parking lot. Oddly, I'm kindof happy about that ;)
