pelf-ism is contagious

I used to play softball in school, but that was when everybody had to participate in at least one sports. I also remember joining the baseball club because one of the seniors whom I adored very much played for my school. And most importantly, she was the pitcher (you know how much attention is paid to the pitcher? It’s apparently THE most important player in the team!).

Anyway, a group of us from the Wetlands Institute drove almost an hour from Stone Harbor to Atlantic City to watch a baseball game between the home team (Atlantic City Surf) and the Quebec team. It was my first LIVE baseball game, and I was excited about it

Baseball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of nine players each. The goal of baseball is to score runs by hitting a thrown ball with a bat and touching a series of four markers called bases arranged at the corners of a ninety-foot square, or diamond. Players on one team (the batting team) take turns hitting while the other team (the fielding team) tries to stop them from scoring runs by getting hitters out in any of several ways. A player on the batting team can stop at any of the bases and hope to score on a teammate’s hit. The teams switch between batting and fielding whenever the fielding team gets three outs. One turn at bat for each team constitutes an inning; nine innings make up a professional game. The team with the most runs at the end of the game wins.

- Source: Baseball @ Wikipedia

So, there are usually 9 innings in each baseball game. But if there was no winner (a tie), an extra inning would be played, until there is a winner. Guess how many extra innings we got to watch the other day?! FIVE extra innings!

And every time there was a switch between the teams, Splash the mascot would make an appearance on the field. Also, kids participated in a couple of 30-second games during the switch.

The game started at 7pm and ended at midnight, and guess what?! At the end of the game, there was a fireworks display which lasted for about 15 minutes!

P/S: Thank you very much, Dr. Roger Wood, for taking us to the game!

More pictures taken at the baseball game.

I have just realized that I have visited 4 zoos and 3 museums in 3 months. And that’s record-breaking because I don’t remember visiting 2 zoos and 2 museums in Malaysia in the last 5 years, LOL. Now, I have always been a “museum person”, though I’d never call myself a “zoo person”.

I wished that the state of zoos and museums in Malaysia was in better shape so that it would be a pleasant trip for foreigners who visit our country. Otherwise there would not be any reason why they should visit our zoos and museums!

Anyway, I am not going to document all my visits to the zoos and museums because frankly, the things that we see in such places are similar. But I have uploaded my pictures into my (ever-expanding) Flickr account, so you are most welcome to check them out:

Zoos:

• Santa Barbara Zoo @ Santa Barbara, CA
• Cape May County Zoo @ Stone Harbor, NJ
• Bronx Zoo @ Bronx, NY
• Philadelphia Zoo @ Philadelphia, PA

Museums:

• Santa Barbara Museum of Natural History @ Santa Barbara, CA
• American Museum of Natural History @ New York, NY
• Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum @ Springfield, IL

Are you a zoo person? Or a museum person?

Just the other day, my sister called to inform me of her heavy luggage. And I know it is kinda full because of my pressies *teeheehee* :-) Anyway, I am feeling rather excited now and I guess I am going to behave like little ‘Ying Ying’ (right) when my sister comes back. *jumping*