Part 7

Saturday, February 7, 1998: Here we are, in another section of the diary! Lots of things have been happening! In chronological order they are: Teddy got to watch the movie, "Contact" (from Carl Sagan's novel) with me on Tuesday, Feb. 3d (the humans and rodent watched it the night before, but past Teddy's bedtime--CM decided she just had to see it again!). Teddy got to have peeks out the front door at various times on Feb. 4th and 5th at the record-breaking (18.5 inches!!) SNOWFALL that occurred here in the Ohio River Valley! CM hopes to put a few of her own pics from that up here soon! Here is one from The Cincinnati Enquirer. On Wed. night, the 4th, Teddy got to see part of the movie, "Chasing Amy". And last night, Feb. 6th, he got to see part of the Opening Ceremonies of the Winter Olympics at Nagano, Japan! Very impressive, but tooooo much chatter from the CBS announcers.

Tuesday, February 10, 1998: I had the urge to have another virtual pet around yesterday morning, so my Bobo Panda Byte was born at 9:57am.

Last night Teddy watched most of the John Woo Hong Kong action film "Hard Boiled" with me. Bobo watched her own little TV, which was a lot more appropriate for a young panda. She went to sleep at 9pm. Teddy and I made a hasty retreat near the end of the film, leaving the guys to finish watching the film by themselves. ::CM (again) makes a vow not to watch violent, bloody films like this again...She only did it because she thinks Chow Yun-Fat is very cute!:: (click on the pic to the left to see it larger) Anyway, Teddy finally got to bed after 10pm!

still February 10, 1998, 10:45am: Bobo turned 2 years old at 10:01am and changed from a little baby lying on her back, wiggling her paws, to a much more panda-looking appearance! Yesterday she would only drink milk; today she seems only to like apples! The problem with this is that they don't seem to help fill up her Hungry hearts. I have tried scolding her when she calls for attention (food?) but won't eat bread or bamboo leaves. She also won't take a shower or even have her face washed today (I did this with no problem yesterday). Scolding doesn't seem to have any effect on her except to make her cry and lower her Mood (happy) hearts. I hope things get easier...

Friday the 13th, February 1998: Things got easier! Bobo turned 5 years old this morning and began doing all her exercises, eating more foods, and behaving better! She now moves back and forth across the screen and is much more active. She looks so *very* cute playing with the hula hoop, swinging on the swing, and doing her exercises! She's suddenly become *much* cuter and more fun to play with!

Tuesday, February 17, 1998: Teddy died/left/went home to that big eucalyptus tree in the sky this morning. ::sigh:: I forgot and left him in the other room yesterday afternoon (for a couple hours or so?) while I was working on the computer. He was with Bobo, but she was watching TV (on pause). When Cat'r got over here, he said, "Teddy's in there, 'chuck-chucking' his little heart out." (see Jan. 3d entry) I said, "Just a minute" and didn't get to him for maybe another 1/2 hour. When I did, I found he was down to 0 on both food and discipline (this is not good, but he had gotten like this a couple of times before, and I just filled him up again and he was fine). But also his health and happiness meters were down--in the 80's! I was able to get his happiness meter back up to 100 (via playing the game with him many times) before he went to bed, but the highest I could get his health was 94. That included a trip to the vet. I had heard that if, at his advanced age, his health went below 95, he would die. But since he seemed okay at bedtime, I thought maybe we'd squeaked by. Not so. When I went to check on him at 7:15am this morning, there he was, a little koala angel with wings and a halo. He was so very cute, hovering there, smiling. I pushed some buttons, to see if I could see his final stats, like you can with a Tamagotchi, but all I succeeded in doing was resetting him. :-( So I put the tab back in. Now I won't be able to take his picture as a little angel. ::sigh::

Last night he got to see part of the movie "Jerry Maguire"...I hope he enjoyed his time here. He saw the entire Yuletide season (preparations for and the actual time), saw the New Year in, helped me through a difficult time in January, saw Valentine's Day. He got to go lots of places, saw a lot of movies and TV, heard lots of music, saw our BIG snowfall, etc. I'm going to miss you, little Teddy! We shared a lot, and I got really used to your being around! Bye-bye, sweetie!

10:01am: Bobo got bigger! She's now larger, has longer legs, and she has more of a tail. I think I have spoiled her with too much TV, though. I can't get her to take a bath at *all*. ::sigh:: Today, no TV.

Evening: At noon, Bobo called me (the little musical do-mi-so-do thingee she does). I looked to see what she wanted. Well, there she was sitting sort-of sideways next to a big throbbing valentine-type heart! When I pushed a couple of buttons, the heart vanished and I saw another panda sitting looking at *her*! Then he/she vanished! She's old enough (9 years old) to date, it seems! Later in the afternoon I happened to look (she hadn't called--it was only by chance I saw this) and there, for the first time, was something weather-related! It was a cloud, blowing wind on the screen (instead of Bobo!). I checked the instructions to see what garment she would need, went to the weather icon and chose a scarf for her. Then she appeared, wearing the scarf, doing her happy dance while the happy music played. She is *very* cute! But she has become very stubborn and hard to discipline. It's my fault: all that unmonitored television-watching! Eek! What a bad parent I am!

Wednesday, February 18, 1998: Bobo turned into a grown-up panda today at 10:01am! She became the character called (in the instruction sheet) Jasper. She now has an all-black body. I wonder if that's a commentary on my not being successful in getting her to bathe everyday?! Well, I *did* wash her face today, after two successive scoldings. I had to do the same with her about showering/taking a bath. I told her she had to be nice and clean, since she is old enough to go on dates! One of the pandas came to visit at 12 noon. She sat facing a valentine-heart again. After I watched this for a couple minutes, I tentatively touched the A button. A panda appeared to the left of Bobo. There was an animated breaking heart, with this new panda turning away and walking off-screen. This little scene repeated several times until I hit another button. I then chose the comfort icon, just in case she was feeling upset. She seems happy enough, in general. She doesn't seem to call me *quite* as often as she did. She continues to be a lot of fun to watch as she plays, exercises, and gambols (slowly) across the screen.

Saturday, February 28, 1998: Bobo is 20 years old today! She's getting to be a mature lady! Well, she didn't get to go to the book sale/concert that CountryMouse went to Friday night, Feb. 20th. CM had heard that Bobo Panda Bytes tend to reset easily if they are not handled very carefully; and so she didn't want to chance putting Bobo in her purse. But CM had a *wonderful* time: getting lots of neat things ("Angelina's Birthday Surprise" by Katharine Holabird; "Pearls of Lutra" by Brian Jacques; the inspiring Carl Sagan novel, "Contact" on audiotape, read by Jodie Foster; and 4 CDs--Sarah McLachlan's "Surfacing", the original score of the movie "Forrest Gump", Liz Story's newest CD "17 Seconds to Anywhere", and the eponymous "Laurence Nugent" (traditional Irish music on flute and tin-whistle)); having a lovely meal in the cafe (part of the bookstore); and then seeing her favourite favourite Celtic band, Silver Arm, perform live!

Bobo has been spending a LOT of time watching her little TV--but it's all PBS! (educational TV!) She tends to beep pretty frequently; and since CM was working on Web pages a lot this past week or so, she needed to be able to concentrate without Bobo's fairly constant need for attention.

Background by Eos Development | Red flower by Lady Dj | Blue buttons by Jelane