Page of sketches from photos in orange pen…but the orange highlighter is overpowering a lot in this photo. Noooooo! It looked fine ;____; It was too late into the night to do a daytime photo and I wasn’t bothered.

Gosh I had half a page done but was too exhausted to actually draw for the whole zoo day last week. The animals were always moving far away from me, busy or hiding out of the way so it became a “catch them when they’re visible” photo day instead! People who do it skillfully are admirable! Indeed I pushed the limitations of my body, brain and new phone’s camera :<

Some early morning grooming (:

Mother & daughter [I believe] bonding.

The large baboon family following the dominant male around. I watched the baboon family quite a while as they did their thing.

Morning chilling.

Zebras eating breakfast, I’m assuming! A relaxing day!

“Oh what. We’re doing something over here.”

Black swan doing their thing ;D
Yes and another one on the far left but was more hidden behind shrubbery.

“Wraughhhhh! What a morning!!” – Royal Spoonbill

And the Royal Spoonbill flew up and perched above the bridge.

It stared down at Leonie with curious, piercing eyes.

“Please don’t poop on me…not again!” she hoped to herself.

3 Kangaroos and 3 Pigeons[?]: I like how a kangaroo and a pigeon are having a staring match with each other. Curiouser and curiouser.

Now this specimen is reminding you to wipe your butt with environmentally friendly materials. There were toilets and a maze too. I didn’t remember seeing this the last time I visited…which was many years ago.

  This cool Blue-winged Kookaburra only started cawing when I was walking away! Then I walked back close to it and it was back to silently judging me again ;P

Nom nom nom!! Breakfast time!

Giraffes are so graceful and cool 😀

“Hey.”
Yeah, I get you. I’m not much with words too.

“Come on, come on…where’s my food?! My delicious chickens?!”
Kept pacing in circles…super restless!

Oof the Butterfly house was humid but it was beautiful seeing all of them fly all over the place! (: I was in awe at all the fluttering colourful lovely lifeforms!
I didn’t get to visit as it was closed last time!

Super hard to take photos of them when they’re not flying about!
I caught four here! :0

I hope I didn’t accidentally bump/collide into the butterflies as I passed through :<

I followed/stalked this bird for a bit because it was right where I was going until it finally noticed and turned around ;D Had to make sure it was aware of my presence so it can get out of the way without startling it too much.

I think it was meal time but I’m not sure! I took some more photos of elephants and other things but they’re not that great. Last time I was here, I witnessed a poop session…so I guess this was different haha

Mini Bird Island. Very quiet.

“Hmm…Nah.”
Perhaps trying to block out the noises of families, children and teenagers.

“Don’t care if it’s the morning! Good night!”

“Wrah!! I just wanted to sleep!”

Note there was a lot of noisy families and kids.

They were approaching my side of the window :0
Or maybe they’re getting ready for Halloween early.

“You wot?”
Yes I saw you rubbing your hands all over that!

I was just coming into this area and just saw this gorilla do a half-hearted lunge towards a group of teenagers in school uniform. They reacted and backed away laughing/yelling but then were back at making aggressive gorilla noises, trying to rile them up :<

Fortunately the gorilla didn’t really seem fazed anymore.

Instead they walked farther away.

 Did a bold stretching pose? I don’t know, you tell me!

This white-cheeked gibbon was a brilliant acrobatic show off ;D
Came up to the window and gave us a good stare and pose in the middle.

Did a pee nonchalantly during its performance too haha

I filmed it but I’m not uploading videos this time…too time consuming.

Meerkat trying to get comfy.

Mood. I love this meerkat.
Just laid there. It’s definitely part of the branch next to it.

Red panda munching away!

This African wild dog kept gnawing away. The rest couldn’t be bothered.

Mood again.

“Should I go up? Or stay down?”

They skillfully climbed and pounced up in the end.
Walked along the tops of the wall.

That looks so comfy to sit on, Pelican!

Mood x3. I love this one too.
I saw two wildlife photographers in their camo clothes and camera gear snapping at this glorious specimen. Their lenses were over a metre long!!

Mood x4 combo.

Looks up at the sky to wonder about the meaning of existence. WHY.

 Star Tortoises!! They’re endangered unfortunately.

“Heeeeeeeeeeeey” 😀

Pretty much sore all over [headache, shoulders, legs, feet, arms], dead exhausted and sleepy throughout the day! I didn’t really deal with people that much…just a lot of mental fatigue from sensory overload!

Yes my stamina is terrible and apparently I lacked sleep.
I kept sleeping in several days later -.-;

Other than that, I had a good time exploring, taking rest/nap breaks, eating sandwiches, fries and ice cream and walking about all day. Definitely missed some animals but I’m happy with what I’ve seen! (:

Finally a quick #BurpDoodle of a cat toaster!

Surely this exists already right? Push the tail down to pop that bread in?
Perhaps the cheeks can be buttons? Hmm!
This is a sketch I didn’t bother posting on social media because it’s cute but I don’t want to post every sketch as an individual post anymore. See below ;D

On posting schedule & online circles

I feel like I post too much? I have been too myopic. I’ve always been nervous about sharing too often and too much…and I’ve been ignoring that self doubt 🙁

So I’ve decided to batch up my posts and extra sketches into my blog posts. Aiming for 2 to 3 times a week…at worst it will be more during busy times like this month. It will take a while to balance it out so bear with me! Perhaps more people will actually click through to the blog! And then I’ll be less spammy on social media too! That’s my hopeful idea. Chances is that most people still won’t be looking at this blog…well at least you are! ;D

This started because I realised a lovely acquaintance unfriended me and some others unfollowed too over the years. As much as I am somewhat hurt and saddened, I truly respect that. I get it and I’ve done it plenty myself too! I’m just working out how to do better and not be too spammy. It’s also because I’m extremely selective with how much social media content I get from peeps myself so I understand…I want to be mindful of others perspective while still keeping true to my own.

I want to be careful with what I share and to whom I am comfortable with and trust. Essentially based on gut feeling, levels of trust, comfort, safety, respect, connection, goodwill and past interactions. I need to keep figuring out who my messy friends/acquaintances for both online and in person circles versus what I put out publicly too.

It’s super hard for me to judge when we do the dance between bonding and keeping personal space…as we all do. People get close, often go distant, change and usually you never really got the chance to really get to know them…and life moves on. Because I don’t actively stalk/follow most people [social media overwhelm], sometimes I get too presumptuous and assume people have drifted off when they don’t interact with me in any way shape or form over time…the common pattern in my life. I mean I don’t interact with much people online either because I’m not really keeping tabs on them – so that’s what I assume of others :S I value personal space.

Gosh it’s difficult because I don’t know who’s actually ninja reading and who’s become a mutual stranger. It doesn’t help that I express myself the most online rather than in person…at the risk of posting too often! Do note that I don’t expect you to keep tabs on my online posts or know about my life. In person I’m just not inclined to share much about myself until I feel okay and comfortable…within the limits of my terrible low social stamina ;0 Consequently this means people keep tabs and interact with me online to get to know me better anyway – gosh I appreciate them so much!

Occasionally I feel trapped and obliged to return kind favours or attention so I just express my sincere gratitude and refuse to be rushed, pressured or guilt-tripped into doing, friending or sharing things in return. I get afraid and back off when it gets too one-sided, creepy and intense! I’ll do it primarily if and when I want to, not because you expect me to! Oh learning to stick to my principles! :’)

Then again, attention is so fickle. I often live under the radar ;P
I need to keep learning and improving at life and art!!
So I am honoured that you have read all of this reflective rambling to the end.
Thank you so much.