AFRICAN CATS

Can I just say that I really want to be a lion now? It's a rough life--the potential for pride exile, being pushed around by a player male lion who doubles as your protector, and having to catch your own food--but I would be a lion. How sweet would that be?

Ever since I went to Kenya this past summer, I've developed a rather unhealthy obsession with elephants and lions. Elephants are just plain awesome and the day Disney makes a documentary about elephants will be one of the happiest days of my life. But Disney has made a documentary about lions. My first encounter with these magnificent creatures was when I saw two lionesses lounging on these two trees. They were stunningly beautiful and amazingly powerful. They scared the heck out of me, but I was completely rapt with them. Then, my last morning in the country of Kenya, I saw two more lionesses and, gasp, two cubs who were wrestling with each other. The moms were watching us wearily but were also keeping a keen eye on their vulnerable little ones. It was so, so cool.

Then African Cats came out. And my life was made.

I won't ruin it for you (ha, yeah right, as if anyone reads this anyway), but you'll probably be disappointed in the way that some of the lion drama turns out. I was. Warning: good guys don't always win. But any Maximum Ride fans will be slightly amused at the parallels in the lion world and in the book world. If you have no clue what I'm talking about, don't worry about it. I'm just embracing and flaunting my nerdiness. But really, it is a powerful story about real dangers of a world that humans can't possibly understand, even with the help of Disney. The cycles of the African savannah and the circle of life (one of the many things "The Lion King" nailed as pertaining to the life of a lion) are amazingly portrayed and I am awestruck by how brutal but beautiful they are.

The cheetah part was cool too. The speed of those creatures is mind-blowing. And they're just beautiful animals.

Though rough and rather terrifying, I still want to be a lion over a cheetah. I would rather travel in a pride than fly solo. Or run solo, rather. Meh, you know what I mean.

Well, it's 1:40 in the morning. I should go to bed. Curse you, late night/early morning writing urge!

Lions>humans. I mean really, you try jumping a wildebeest with your fingernails and let me know how that works out.

No, I don't need you to point out that lions don't have thumbs and, though we can't kill a wildebeest with our bare hands, they can't do x, y, and z that we can.

I just think lions are really awesome. If you want to get me a pet one, I wouldn't oppose.

Okay, I'm done. For real now.