Love the Size of Tiger Sharks

I have wanted desperately to see the new Sand Tiger Sharks at the Georgia Aquarium since they arrived just before Thanksgiving. The video with their jagged teeth that go in every direction mesmerized me - so beautiful and terrifying! And after two unsuccessful attempts of trying to see them, I finally got my first glimpse last week.

We started out in the tunnel, and I proceeded to start my rotating search up and down waiting and hoping for the sharks to appear.



It's an awesome glass hallway where fish of all sizes swim around you - and lots of different sharks: hammerheads, wobbegongs, whale sharks, blacktip reef sharks, bonnetheads. I could stand there for hours- and have collectively waiting for a single appearance of the shy, still-adjusting-to-their-new-home Sand Tigers.



After standing in the tunnel for a good while, we decided to go to the big window because Mohammad hadn't seen the Manta Ray yet. I could sit in front of this giant window forever- it is so peaceful and beautiful to watch the fish go by.

I was settled in, sitting on the floor with my jacket off and purse splayed about when I saw it: a giant, bulky, jagged tooth SHARK start to swim by. I leaped up from the floor and sprinted to the edge of the window. Luckily Mohammad had the camera ready to document my expression of amazement and fear as I first laid eyes on this amazing creature.



This is one of the most amazing sharks I've ever seen. It makes me think of the first times I saw the nurse sharks at the Chicago Aquarium as a little girl. Both made me literally freeze with awe.



Afterwards we went and spent a good while at the shark-petting tank which was empty because it was a week day. I must have pet those sharks at least 25 times while we stood there. I think I'm making some serious progress on this life-long shark phobia of mine.

Amazing and Terrifying New Beasts in Town

It's official: there are now six Sand Tiger Sharks living .8 of a mile from where I work.! According to the Georgia Aquarium:

The three male and three female sharks are at home in the 6.3 million gallon habitat alongside the whale sharks and manta ray. The new sharks range from five to eight feet in length and weigh between 56 to 237 pounds. They are large-bodied and display a mouthful of sharp teeth that protrude in all directions, even when the mouth is shut. Despite this, they are a docile, non-aggressive species.

They are beautiful and terrifying! I cannot wait to see them - I'm planning on going next week - but I just might have nightmares before and after. Check them out on this video for yourselves:



Oh that classic Jaws music will always send chills up my spine.

Thank You for Being a Friend

Haha now you're gonna have the theme song to the Golden Girls in your head! My work here is done. My fortune cookie reminded me to:



Thank you in particular to my beautiful girlfriends who have been so attentive and caring and have literally showered me in flowers (and Poison tickets) over the last couple weeks. Beautiful perfect flowers that let me know in no uncertain terms that I am most defintely loved.









Signs that you are loved by your sister include the most delicious dark chocolates on earth:



And the most perfect ridiculous shark toy a girl could ever ask for:

Shukran Jazeelan!

I Touched A Shark

Rather, I actually touched several sharks, and more than once. With a lifetime fear, okay more like complex about sharks, this is huge, huge for me. And here is the proof from my first trip to the Georgia Aquarium today:


A bonnethead shark approaches, I muster up my courage.


A friendly cownose ray says hello.


THIS IS ME TOUCHING A SHARK!!! And it happened several more times with several other sharks. At first I just touched the dorsal fin, but then I got braver and touched its back. It felt amazing. The last one I touched, I actually ran my hand down its side for several seconds, from behind his head down to his tail. I have butterflies just typing about it!


My new friends. My dad would be SO proud of me today. I am so proud of me. I still can't believe it.

Marina, Goodbye

I just read that Marina, the 25 year old beluga whale who lived at the Atlanta Aquirium, passed away this morning. She had been there for just two years. She's the second Beluga, in addition to two while sharks, to die there this year. Marina stopped eating two weeks ago and the vets discovered she had ulcers. Ulcers. She was worrying.

The other deaths also seem odd:

Gasper, another beluga, was euthanized after veterinarians determined he would not recover from a bone disease he contracted at another facility. Whale shark Ralph died from peritonitis, an inflammation of the stomach lining. Whale shark Norton was euthanized following months of declining health. Aquarium officials say they don't know what caused his ailments, but suspect a pesticide used to treat the tank for parasites may have contributed to his demise.

It just doesn't seem right to keep these giant beautiful animals like this. I wish they were out there swimming in the blue.

The Kinda Lackluster Pornographers

I just got back from the New Pornographers show at the Variety Playhouse. I’ve listened to NP for a few years, at times constantly while I work. I was excited to finally see them live; I’ve missed them their last few times through Atlanta. What I found out though was that I prefer their recorded music to their live performance- at least tonight, anyway.

For a band with such a risqué name, this performance couldn’t have been more G-rated. Even though the songs tend to be high energy, the crowd seemed subdued and still. It reminded me a little of a Peter, Paul & Mary show-- like, pass me the wine from the picnic basket, I'm gonna need to get a bit more of a buzz on to get through this. Or like they were saying to each other “let’s all harmonize as loud and earnestly as possible”, but with 5 more people on the stage than PP&M, and one of those five I found to be annoying and a bit of a knob, as my sister would say. Neko Case didn’t feel anywhere near as strong as she sounded when I saw her solo this summer.

The highlight of the show for me was Kathryn Calder, who plays keyboard and accordion and harmonizes heavenly. I also loved the band name in lights on the stage and the fact that they have a shark on their new album. And they did play Mass Romantic, the song I was hoping for.

I should probably offer the disclaimer at this point that I'm sick and was having a hard time even standing during the show. Perhaps my illness could have impacted my level of enjoyment. It wouldn’t stop me from going, you know. Hell no. I'm a fuckin rocker. And besides, for all the shows I see, it’s probably good that I don’t love all of them. No one would trust me if I gave 7 thumbs up to every show I saw. So just to remain credible, I’ll give this show only 5 thumbs up. And here’s some video for you to enjoy.


Mass Romantic played by The New Pornographers, October 30, 2007 Atlanta GA

Hypnotizing Sharks

After about 16 hours of traveling, including multiple layovers due to my flight being cancelled, I finally made it home at about 2 am last night. Though I was exhausted, I was still on California time so I sat down to watch the last night of Shark Week.

This show called Shark Man was on, all about this guy who "hypnotizes" sharks, putting them in a state of tonic immobility. By rubbing their nostrils, the sharks sort of glaze out and its possible to invert their whole body, as if they are standing on their noses. This truly amazing feat is captured in a trailer for the very show I saw here:




I nearly cried when I saw it- it's so beautiful! The way the shark would rub up to the diver was pretty much exactly the same as the way my cat was head-butting me, happy to see me after I had been gone for several days. The ease in which the sharks can be manipulated says so much about the power of touch. I could almost relate with the expressions on the sharks faces as they gave in to the pleasure of being touched. Yeah I guess the sharks could be called "loose" if you know what I'm saying.

The guy went on to do this same thing with a tiger shark and then –gasp- with a 15 ft female great white. It was seriously one of the most amazing things I've seen.

God I'm gonna miss Shark Week now that its over. Well, I'm not gonna miss "Top 5 Eaten Alive" or "shark Feeding Frenzy", but Shark Man, him I'll miss.

Fear of Sharks

A few weeks ago while I was at my parents’ house in Chicago, Hank wrote to me about what he called “a beautiful experiment in parenthood.” He screened the movie Jaws to his two young sons.

He was careful to preface every scene with that was about to happen and how it was different from what real sharks will do. The boys even laughed at the girl being dragged around in the opening scene. The juvenile mind found its own. At the end, everyone was fairly entertained and agreed that no fish would ever do that in real life.

About an hour later, I find myself flipping through the channels and see slightly grainy footage of 70s-era teenagers hanging out on sailboats. I hear the telltale two notes that signal that Jaws is coming. For the first time, I don’t change the channel. I think of Zan & Jonah and remind myself that real fish don’t act like this. When Jaws emerges, I notice how his flesh looks like metal and his eyes are expressionless. He looks like, well, a robot, which I suppose is exactly what he’s always been. I don’t know how it could have taken me this long to recognize this. I watch the whole movie and find myself giggling at how silly the story is. I cheer and laugh out loud when the shark gets caught on the power line and explodes into ash.

In the following days and weeks, I find myself captivated with any and all images of sharks being shown. I watch a shark fishing show with my family and see how easily and brutally the fishermen take down huge beasts even while drinking Coors Lite. When they announce that a second whale shark at the Atlanta Aquarium died, I obsessively check the news stations for updated information on what happened. I feel my heart heavy for a couple days for the loss of this creature that I’ve never even seen. I watched a PBS program about the first great white shark to survive in captivity for an extended period of time at the Monterey Aquarium. She swam in an almost spooky way but was beautiful and graceful all the while.

I can’t help but ask myself “is that it?” Does this mean that a lifelong oppressive and irrational fear is gone? Will I be able to swim in the ocean without keeping my eyes on my toes and jumping if anything brushes up against my skin?

I keep thinking about the “skin” of Jaws in contrast to the tender, sleek flesh of the baby great white in Monterey. Both make me smile now. I look forward to more.