Census 2010.

I think I checked too many boxes on my census form -- I checked "Yes, other" and wrote "Filipino" when asked if I was of "Hispanic origin." (My reasoning: Spain ruled the place for 300 years, gave us their religion, and assigned my family a Spanish name. What does "Hispanic origin" mean anyway?)

The question "What is your race?" included a not-so-helpful list of two colors, a handful of Asian nations, and some native peoples. Here, I conflated ethnicity with nationality and checked "Filipino" and "Chinese," and wrote "American." I want to indicate that I am an American-born Filipino with traces of Chinese heritage, but there is no place on the form to explain this.

Maybe John had it right -- he was post-racial before there was a word for it, and simply wrote: "Human."

Adventures in Zookeeping.

So, I enlisted at a bunny rescue hoping it would satisfy my bunny curiosity without having to commit to one as a pet. In actuality, it pretty much guaranteed I'd be taking bunnies home with me! It's so stressful and overcrowded at the rescue org, and eventually boss lady asked me to help out by fostering. I wanted to help, and I sort of wanted bunnies, so I said yes. She's really hoping I'll adopt them in a few months! :)

The bunnies are people-experienced, but not very tame. On the first day, they ran away if you tried to pet them, and even lunged and growled a little! But we're working on it. In just a few days, we got them to eat treats out of our hands (nothing wins hearts like food bribes), and be comfortable with brief petting. So far, it's a lot easier than taming budgies!

We named the black bunny Onyx, after a precious stone befitting the queen rabbit. The boy is named Rory, for his fierce growl and Rorschach-like markings. They enjoy hopping around our dining room, circling our feet, giving nose bumps, knocking things over, and getting into trouble.

In hamster and parakeet news, they are awesome. It's been almost a year already! We've all settled into a good routine together. The budgies, Andy and Zoid, like to fly outside the cage in the mornings on warm and sunny days. They are finger tame, love basil and millet, and sing along to the radio. Adzuki the hamster goes on a scavenger hunt every night in our bedroom -- we place veggie treats around the room, and he runs around and finds them! He's gotten so accustomed to this, that if we don't let him out by 11pm, he starts doing a "hamster dance" (running around the cage frenetically, begging to be let out). How could we say no?

It was just a matter of time.

We are just fostering them for now. But I think Bunny World is really hoping it'll click. :)