Under the sea...

Hah, so, the other day I found something and I wanted to share because it's just so funny and terrible and indicative of who I am as a person.

I love sea animals. Sea mammals in particular--whales, dolphins, seals, walruses, narwhals, and manatees, to be specific.

Well when I was a wee lass, in first grade, our teacher taught us about manatees. As a class, we adopted a manatee from Blue Springs then took a field trip to go see him (just for kicks, his name was Howie, and he is still there. I now feel like I need to go visit him.). ANYWAY, as part of this whole lesson on sea cows, we had to sculpt one out of clay and make a diorama, like out of a shoe box or whatever.

My Mom heard that we had to do some kind of artistic project and immediately panicked, and rightly so. Because my artistic skills rival that of a four year old who was actually born with two left hands. So she bought play-doh and we practiced. And in her words, "The first one looked like a poop. So I said, 'No, Mary, try again.' So we smashed it and I showed you how to pinch out a flat tail and flippers." Do you want to see the end result?

That's a retorical question. The brilliance of blogging is that your readers are a captive audience. YOU HAVE TO SEE THE END RESULT!

LOL, omg, so I obviously thought that since I had practiced, I was the Michelangelo of Model Magic and made not one, but TWO manatees. I think this is what I was going for:

FAIL. 

Also, I'm so proud of this little morbid detail. We discussed in class how manatees were endangered because of motor boats hitting them and injuring them. So, naturally, I glommed onto that disgusting bit of imagery and added it to my sculpture. 

It's also missing a flipper and its tail has been glued back on, but that's just due to it being OLD not because of my 6 year old creativity.

Also, I just wanted to show you its horrifyingly skull-like face. Wtf, little self. 

And, this is the really insane part: I WON something for this! I got second place, I think, at the school's art fair. I'm not sure what that says about the school's art judging system, but it's probably not good. 

Anyway, that's where my love of manatees started. Because I know you were all BURNING with curiosity. ;)