A Day at the Museum
January 5, 2007
have always loved big and enormous animals. As a kid I remembered having lots of books about dinosaurs, and I also used to remember all of their names. The vicious T-Rex hunts alone, the smart Velociraptors hunt in tactical groups, Iguanodon is the first dinosaur with opposable thumbs. Can’t seem to memorize it all now, heh. My obsession with giant animals doesn’t just stop there, I also tuned to Ultraman every Saturday morning religiously, and deep in my heart I have always hoped that someday the giant monsters will somehow defeat the ludicrous ultramaniacs. I loved the monsters. And Ultraman is so lame, defeating every foe with the same goddamn tactics in each episode. Clearly the producers are underestimating the monsters. I’m sure they’re purposely letting the good guys win to show good example to little kids, that good will always triumph over evil, but in a way, it felt like they are lying. I mean life can be rough sometimes, and it’s not like the good guy always wins you know.
When I was 10, there’s this “Dinosaurs Alive” exhibition in JB where they feature hydraulic life-size dinosaur robots. They even carefully covered it with realistic skin, and everything looked so real. Boy it sure as hell makes me excited! My parents gladly took the whole family to the exhibition, knowing how much we would love it. Dinosaurs are roaring everywhere, with gigantic-movements and realistic sounds. As exhilarating as it was, I knew they were all fake, but enjoyable nonetheless. I’ve heard stories about real fossils excavated and displayed in museums, but of course none of it was in Malaysia. Mostly it was on display in the American museums. It seemed impossible for me to go and watch the fossils myself, but deep inside, I prayed that one day I will get to see the real remains of the dinosaurs, once rulers of the Earth.
That was then. But now, the obsession slowly fades away with age. When you get older, you have certain priorities, and slowly the things that were once so important to you, now seem so insignificant. Somehow along the way I have shaken off the obsession of giant animals. But when I was in London, my friend Chip mentioned something about the National History Museum, where they actually have real fossils of dinosaurs. Even though dinosaurs don’t amuse me much more than during previous years, I gladly went there to witness it myself, to fulfill the dream of the little child inside me. It was a wonderful day at the museum. =)
