I finished reading Life of Pi last week or so; liked it a lot. I feel like I gained a lot of insight into how animals think. For instance, I learned that under the right conditions, animals are no less "free" in a zoo than they are in the wild. They're no more "trapped" in their enclosures than humans are in the houses they call their homes. Learned that EVERY animal in the wild is a vicious killing machine when it needs to be; no such thing as cuddly pettable animals other than domesticated ones. Also learned that lions in a circus do as they're told cuz they view the lion tamer as the alpha male; social hierarchy is apparently of utmost importance in animal society (and human society too, as I'll talk about in a moment). And of course, you pick up a bit about survival on the high seas- turtles are easy prey, apparently. Then at the end of the book, various levels of symbolism are revealed that make you sit there and think wow, what an intricately constructed story. Very good book- one of my new favorites.

All Hail the Alpha Male. After thinking about it a bit, I realized how much humans behave according to social hierarchy as well. Take the weightroom, for example. When you feel like you're the big dog, the alpha male, you walk with a bit more swagger, talk with a bit more bass in your voice. You're less likely to clear out and make room for others- it's your right, no? You're entitled to take your time in your territory. More likely to leave some weights lying around in your general vicinity- marking your territory. And when you lift, your grunts become a bit more audible- akin to the roar of the beast. And of course, the scrawniest guys often try to chum it up with the biggest guys- omegas trying to get in the alphas' good graces. If you're the small one, you're prone to let the big guys do whatever the hell they want. Anyways, I'm sure similar behavior happens in any environment- in the workplace, at home, etc. Just goes to show how people are still just animals deep down, I think.

*Also finished watching the anime series Getbackers. It was ok I guess. There were some pretty heavy yaoi overtones, and one of the main characters could get annoying at times. Overall though, the story was pretty good- decent overall resolution with only a couple loose ends.