Best Mobile Game EVER: Hungry Shark Evolution

I once worked in mobile games as a product manager. I was, and still am, the target demographic (female, 30's-40's, smartphone user, casual game player) for most of the games we made.  I really loved bringing games out that I myself would want to play too.

Since having children though, it's been hard to enjoy them. Time is really a factor now so I don't have much room for digital games in my life because of the sheer amount of "time-suckage."

But given my deep, abiding love of sharks, there are certain exceptions that will be made. Just yesterday I made the most wondrous discovery in the final throes of 2014: a gorgeously playable sharky mobile game called Hungry Shark Evolution.

I don't know what I love better, the beautiful graphics and responsive tilt functioning or getting to eat swimmers, cage divers(!) and fisherman as an enthusiastic Hammerhead shark. Oh and the Jellyfish, Angler Fish, Frat guy riding a Great White Shark and giant pissed-off crab can EAT ME--or at least try, B*tches.

I love this game, it came out two years ago (but to be fair, I had just had a baby) and it's made by a studio called Future Games of London--in my favorite international city about my most favorite animal on the planet. What's not to love? Well, I don't love all the interstitial ads, but I will put up with them because the game was free and I love it so much.  I have also seen there are shark finners you can eat for points too.  Oh the possibilities....

Thank you Future Games & Hungry Shark Evolution for making my 2014 "Shark-eriffic" all the way to the very end!

About that Trip to South Africa...

During Discovery's Shark Week 2001, I watched a program called Air Jaws.  The show documented the South African Great White Sharks that launch themselves out of the water to hunt seals.  Up until that point in my life of avidly watching shark documentaries and being a decent shark aficionado, I had never heard of (let alone seen) such behavior. So as the first few sharks leaped out of the water on screen, I stood up in my empty living room, pointed at the TV and screamed, "I am so going there someday!"

~13 years pass~

Our journey to South Africa this past July involved a lot of planning, multitudes of logistics and heaps of grandparent karma as we would be leaving the children behind. As a result, we observed wild animals in native habitats during a boundary-pushing, comfort zone smashing, epic adventure. 



Here are 10 Highlights from the Other Side of the World...

1. Meeting Chris and Monique Fallows
One of the men who studied and tracked these amazing South African sharks was none other than Chris Fallows, featured extensively in Air Jaws and the sequels. He and his wife, Monique, are the co-purveyors of APEX Shark Expeditions.  It was like meeting shark celebrities.

2. Cage Diving with Great White Sharks
I'd describe South Africa as complex, picturesque and politically fascinating place but honestly seeing the Great White Sharks were the MAIN reason we went there. Well, that, and wanting to do something completely wild and crazy to celebrate my 40th. (Mission accomplished!) We went out on the boat at total of 4 times: having 3 cage dives and 1 predation trip.  The weather wasn't very warm (it's their winter) but the sharks were magnificent.  This video is the culmination of all those trips. 
[Be sure to watch this video in 1080p HD, available in the settings drop down.]

3. Throttling One's Fear of Foreign Places
When diving with Great White Sharks seems like the least dangerous aspect of your trip, you really have to wonder. You know that thing when you read a bunch of travel books and the State Department advisory webpage and they basically say you're a big dummy to go travel around in this country? The reasons: "a very high level of crime," "one of the highest rates of sexual assault in the world" and "several US citizens have been robbed at gun point" while "car jackings and thefts from cars are serious problems." Yes, that's not anxiety-making at all. But a number of close friends had just traveled to the Cape Town area with no experiences like that. Obviously we had to keep our guard up and be vigilant but nothing bad happened. Also APEX made all of our travel arrangements through reputable businesses and we always had cars with drivers--never taxies or public transport. The two places we stayed in (Simon's Town and Kariega Game Reserve) were very safe and secure. However on our first full day in country in Simon's Town, we heard machine gun fire. For 30 minutes, we were freaking out in our room and I began to mentally beat myself up for getting us into this mess. Finally we just called our B&B host and emailed the APEX office manager about it...

4. Land Animal Experience: Penguins that Sound like Jackasses
Seeing (and hearing) is believing. These guys are specific to South Africa and make donkey sounds! There is an elevated wooden walkway to view them from so that you don't disturb their nests or general ambling around. It was pretty spectacular how many there were and how freely they came and went. But don't even think of snatching one of these as a trip souvenir. They are biters and will seriously hurt you--at least that was what the sign said.

5. Baboon on a Hot Tin Roof
These animals are fine to humans as long as you don’t have food.  But the most dangerous place is between a Baboon and some food. We heard some horrific stories of what baboons will do to people (bite mostly) if you have something they want. The baboons have human minders who alert travelers to their presence and are in charge of trying to keeping them off the roads so they don’t get hit.  One of these guys encouraged people to get out of our car and take pics of the baboons, especially because one had hopped up on the roof of our van.  

6. Land Animal Experience: Eagle Encounter & Bird Rehab Center

Eagle Encounters--a sanctuary and rehabilitation facility for birds of prey--was on-property of one of the wineries we visited and they let you get very close to the birds.  You can even put on a glove and have some owls fly to your hand.  Or you can pet some little owls.  They have gigantic eagles and falcons.  All of these birds were rescued from dire situations or have been injured.  One can tell the people there really love and care about the animals.  Their reintroduction into the wild rate is 65%.  One of the folks there, a 15-year-old volunteer named Cameron, showed us around and told us that he hoped to be a wildlife vet and work at one of the big game reserves one day.  He knew everything about the birds and clearly loved each one of them. It was so impressive to see someone that young know their passion and to take initiative to ramp up in such a way.  He also showed us a boa constrictor, lizards and owl chicks. But partway through visiting Eagle Encounters, the wind and the rain came down in epic proportions and all the birds had to be taken inside.

Young Cameron and an owl buddy

A boa named Charlie

7. King of the Reserve
Kariega Game Reserve is a gigantic 9000 hectares (roughly 22,240 acres).  Our guide Louis picked us up in the open air modified Land Cruiser that would be our jeep for the duration.  I love this vehicle.  It’s amazing in the Bush and rides like a dream. When we came across the lion, he was seemingly looking for the rest of his family. But, being that close to a predator in an open-air jeep, well it certainly gives you pause and elicits a ton of respect.

He eventually found his family and we spotted them together a few days later.

A funny thing: I don't have a picture of this but I remember one day we saw a house cat out on the reserve because the manager of the reserve lives onsite. It struck me as the weirdest sight because the cat looked totally out of place with Bless Buck, Wildebeest and Impala all wandering around behind it. But I bet that cat felt super-stoked given the crowd he got to run with.

8. Stealthy Sipper: Rogue Giraffe
The biggest surprise of the trip is when we caught this curious guy taking a drink out of our little pool on our patio. Animals are not allowed in the chalet area where people stay. There is a fence surround and a large gate leading to the lodge & chalets but it stays open during the day for the jeeps. Despite that, this guy wandered inside and from of all the chalets he could have chosen, we were the lucky ones. That water is much too cold for us to swim in so they don't put chemicals in it during the winter. So I'm sure the water was better tasting then the water hole.

"This is what I think of you..."

9. Elephants, Elephants, Elephants

Ken and I couldn't get over all the baby elephants.  There were at least 5 wee ones and 5-7 youngsters of varying age & size.  The herd consisted of probably 25-30 animals and one day we came across almost all of them on their way to a watering hole.  If I had ever doubted before, you can see when looking at these elephants that they are calm, happy and living as elephants should.  We sat stunned as the huge matriarch marched by, within a few feet of the jeep.  To see such large animals at close distance and to feel them go about their business unthreatened and unstressed just made my life.  We circled back to the watering hole where almost all of the elephants had gathered and just let it all sink in. 

This is a 3-minute video of the safari adventure with a sampling of the animals we observed. There is nothing more inspiring than seeing these animals in a natural habitat and being themselves.

10. Uninterrupted time with this guy
We left the kids in Portland with my family and by virtue of the preparation I did, the kind of people my folks are and how adaptable the kids were, we had no worries after settling in that everyone was doing great at home. That allowed Ken and me to relax and focus on our vacation. But despite having no children with us, we still had to get up early and be on a schedule (sad trombone). Since the animals wouldn't wait for us to leisurely rise at 9 am, we got up by 6:30AM almost everyday. Nevertheless, Ken and I got to spend 2 whole weeks hanging out with each other and just being a couple again. And as a bonus, we didn't once have to choose a restaurant based on if they served mac & cheese.

'MVPs' of our Trip:

• QuickPod Stick Camera Mount for the GoPro Video Camera--some of the best shots in and out of the water came from having this mount 

• Columbia Hiking Pants--I almost didn't bring wind blocking pants. Wow, that would have been a mistake. On the water and in the jeep, I needed this feature big time. I think I wore these pants almost every day I was in Africa.

• Bonine (motion sick med)--the one day we didn't take our medicine it was BAD. But when we did, happy happy joy joy with hearts and flowers no nausea (plus a few yawns--just take 1/2 a pill the night before & 1/2 the morning you go out)

• Columbia Fleece Jacket--Did I mention it was their winter? We layered up constantly and I was so glad I had a fleece with me. Wore this everyday.

• International Outlet Adapters (one for each of us) We were either charging our smartphones or tapping on our computers. Going to the other side of the planet necessitated accessibility.

So What's This Thing About Sharks?

You may have noticed from the blog header and blog posts that I have a deep and abiding love of sharks. As an adult, I've come to see them as an important part of the marine ecosystem, an APEX predator that has diminished in numbers due to superstition, fear and human ignorance. The sleek efficient form of the shark stayed virtually the same for a hundred million years with over 400 species of sharks now swimming around on our humble planet. 

But how they piqued my interest was much less heady and for that we're going to have to go back--way back.  It all started (for better or worse) when I watched Jaws on TV at the age of 7. 

While it temporarily traumatized me and made me nervous to swim in a pool or even sit on a toilet without looking down the whole time, I couldn't get over this mysterious animal. I think sometimes when you fear something so much, it flips over and you start to embrace it because fear is fascinating.

I was so enthralled that I asked for Jaws on my 8th birthday cake (and for several years thereafter).

Cake from 1982

When I was 21, it only seemed fitting to have my one and only tattoo be a symbol of the thing I found most intriguing and continually relevant...

In 2007, I saw my first Great White Shark with my own eyes when Ken and I wandered into the Monterey Bay Aquarium.  We were in the Bay Area for work at the time and didn't even know they had a juvenile male in the aquarium.  I was beyond excited! A fisherman had snagged him in his net and in the process the young shark had been injured.  The aquarium took him in for rehabilitation (and then released him a year later). My initial post about the experience is HERE.  Transfixed, I just watched him swim around the tank and hoped that one day I would see his bigger kin with my own eyes as well.

But after we had kids, the dream of actually seeing sharks in the wild seemed nearly impossible. Even though sharky things kept popping up....

2010 Shark photo-bomb at Maui Aquarium

Halloween, Sidney 2010

Halloween, Calvin 2013

Best store entrance EVER, Sharky's in Ocean Shores, WA

My 40th Birthday Cake,
courtesy of the Wallers & Morfey's Cakes

It's become a fun thing where friends will forward or share anything sharkworthy (stories/pictures) with me. But I still couldn't help but want something more.  This got my wheels turning last summer which lead to big plans...

Living the dream

Sharkies!  More to come but an early look at some of our footage from South Africa.

Shark-tastic

It's Shark Week on the Discovery Channel, people!

How I do love Shark Week. If you couldn't tell from my header, I'm a big fan of the finned ones. Ever since I was a little girl, I've been fascinated by them. When I was 6 or 7, I innocently sat down one night with my parents while they were watching Jaws on TV and it changed my life forever. Not only was I terrified to sit on the toilet for several days in fear that a shark would come up through the 4 inches of water in the bowl but I had learned of an animal that in its very image ignited a primal fear in people. It was amazing to think that there was such beast.

A year later I asked for a birthday cake with Jaws on it and whenever an ocean documentary was on TV, I would hope to see some shark footage. I learned more about these misunderstood creatures as I grew older and realized (as they say in all the documentaries now) that sharks really aren't out to get humans. Great Whites, Bull & Tiger Sharks are the top 3 types of sharks prone to attacking humans. But they tend to attack because they mistake humans for something delicious and nutritious like seals. The Great Whites are just unbelievably cool in their shape and features: streamlined, graceful, menacing and regal--worthy of great respect. I like all sharks but the Great Whites are my favorite.

When I was 21 and down visiting friends in California that summer, I decided to indulge a crazy notion that I should get a tattoo. I had been thinking about it for a good two years (as one should when considering getting a tattoo--it's a big commitment, just like marriage or a mortgage). And immediately I knew what it should be of. The one symbol that I have constantly gravitated toward. But not some stupid caricature, something classy. I looked through all the books and decided on this design because it looked almost tribal . And sometimes I feel that if I had a spirit animal or an Aumakua (benevolent guardian spirit in the Hawaiian tradition) the shark would definitely be it.

This is a somewhat stylized rendering of a hammerhead shark. Here is a picture of my tat about 2 days after it was done. I worked very hard to conceal it from my father for the 3 days before going back to college. When I returned for Christmas and he saw it...oh the disappointment. He stormed out of the room and upon returning 10 minutes later he said,"I hope it hurt." Let me assure you, it did.

I have never dived with sharks--only watched them on TV or in aquariums. My dream is to one day go to South Africa where the Great Whites leap out of the water and into the air as they hunt for seals. It is an amazing phenomenon.

I am not interested in cage diving however. I'm a bit claustrophobic so that would not work on many levels.

What I've been reading lately

As Ken astutely noted today, I have a curious habit called "snack food half-life" where I will eat up to half of any given volume of snack food and then paperclip it shut and forget about it. Weeks later, I'll come back to it but only eat half of the new amount. It results in me never finishing a given snack food and ending up with a square of chocolate, one tidbit of organic beef jerky, 3 sticks of sugarless green apple flavored gum, a bag of tortilla chip crumbs, 2 ginger snap cookies and an almost empty box of Junior mints-- all of these having entered our house during the third week of summer. You may not know this but I approach books in the same way, so instead of waiting years for me to finish them, I'll give you some mid-way reviews.

I have two books that I'm trying to get through at the moment and neither of them sustains me for longer than 20 minutes a sitting. The first one I've been reading as an earnest attempt to understand the complex societal pressures of motherhood in the book called "The Truth Behind the Mommy Wars." Now before you start get any ideas, understand that if anything were to "happen" I would tell you. So consider my reading of the book "research"--like one does before doing anything completely life-altering.

So this book (the first half anyway) discusses how American society really puts pressure on women and judges them on one particular issue: do you stay at home when you have kids or do you continue to work? The problem that I have with this book (thus far) is how the author spends too much time explaining the issue and by page 80 has yet to introduce some solutions or any sign that we are getting closer to a hook. Like I've said to my uncle Randy who puts way too much garlic in the Caesar salad, "Think of the amount of garlic you use, cut it in half, then cut it in half again." Ms. Miriam Peskowitz could have used this advice in the first part of her treatise.

Don't get me wrong, some people need all the details and several sets of data spelled out for them. In this case, I think most people can agree that with more women in the workforce, a more consumerism approach to happiness (i.e. need for more money), the reluctance of the American workplace to accommodate parents and the biological fact that women make the breast milk, we women will continue to face a tough choice. (I feel like I've just summed up what this book is about). Shall I bother to finish it? Hmm, yet another tough choice...

The second book I'm reading is a great sharing book with Ken. I like to read it to him right before we go to bed. I first heard about it on NPR and it's a doozy called "Dr. Tatiana's Sex Advice to All Creation." Now before you get all flustered, this is a scientifically researched book, cleverly written in the form of a sex advice column. Insects and animals "write in" to Dr. Tatiana who illuminates on relationships, courtship, sex, reproduction, parenthood and behavior commonplace in the animal kingdom. Insects by far have the most bizarre situations. The other day I read about the female praying mantis and the Australian redback spider who actually eat their mates after doing "the nasty" --in a way that really earns its name. It also talks about the fascinating way nature has equipped all beings, large and small, with advantages to propagate their species. It's a dense book, full of facts and humor. I definitely recommend.