So has anyone else noticed how unafraid all the squirrels on the Berkeley campus are? They freak me out. They walk the paths with nuts or scrounged food in their mouths like they're going to class or to a business meeting. They scamper as if they OWN the path. The most terrifying aspect is that if you happen to be coming the opposite way on the path from them they freeze and look at you and all I can think is nice little squirrel, I'm just going to go this way and you go that way and don't bite me! Don't bite me!
I'm convinced that one time instead of slowing scampering by as I side step them it's going to bite me out of sheer malice for walking on "its" path. In fact today as I was walking to Sproul Hall I ran across one that had a giant walnut in its mouth and as I come up he freezes and then I freeze and then I move and then he moves the same direction so that I almost step on him! It's a squirrel conspiracy I tell you. They're looking for a reason to bite me and when they finally find one the squirrel will have rabies. All I'm saying is don't trust them. They're scary little critters, and the ones on campus are freakishly aware of what's going on. I think they're super evil mutant squirrels and they're plotting to take over the planet. But hey, that's just me.
Posted by nuala at January 22, 2003 01:36 PMThere was a fantastic Robot Media short about this very subject a while ago. It was called "Blitzkreig." It was composed entirely of 24 karat comic gold.
Posted by: Jacob on January 22, 2003 03:36 PMyou know your blogs have been really good lately. i mean better than normal good. i think it is the focus on conspiracies as does it.
Posted by: didofoot on January 22, 2003 03:41 PMThanks....well I guess I'll be focusing on conspiracies then. Want to keep the readers happy.
Posted by: Nuala on January 23, 2003 10:23 AMThe squirrels in Berkeley are tremendous. When I was training to become a campus tour guide, i tagged along on one of Jigar's tours, and heard him talk about how the squirrels had won awards for their bravery and character. I initially thought this was one of many elements of Berkeley lore that Jigar made up, but it turns out some publication actually did cite UC Berkeley as having the top squirrels around.
Matt Holohan has a really funny joke about fat squirrels which I will let him retell, provided he's a comment-reading nerd like the rest of us.
Posted by: Sean on January 23, 2003 11:26 AMJust thought I'd post to let you know your squirrel comments made me laugh. We have the fattest, most spolit squirrels in my road, here in Christchurch, UK xx
Posted by: Sarah on May 20, 2003 12:05 PM