This morning, I had an “experience” with my alarm clock.

You see, today my alarm clock music was “Dubinushka” by Rimsky-Korsakov. (One of my favorite composers.) It’s a nice piece, and ends with a lot of energy. Seriously, if there’s one thing Russian Music does well, it’s “Loud and Obnoxious to the extreme.” So needless to say, I normally don’t sleep through it.

Today, however, it joined my dreams. Somehow, in my dream, I thought that I was awake. And turning off my alarm clock. But the music didn’t stop. I “turned off” all three of the alarms that I have set on my phone, and it still didn’t work. And to make matters worse, I was continually worrying that it would wake up my roommate. (Never mind the fact that her alarm clock had gone off about a half-hour earlier.)

In the end, after about three minutes, I finally really woke up and realized that my phone wasn’t actually broken. That made me a lot happier with my alarm clock than I had been in my dream.

I’ve read a lot of fantasy books. Like, a lot of fantasy. And one of the things you can’t help but pick up, if you read the right sort, is the use of Greek Classical “Elements” applied to magic. (Earth, air, fire, & water.)

Now, sometimes creatures get classified by their elements as well. So, birds are usually air, fish are clearly water, dragons & lizards are fire, and most other animals are earth.

Sometimes, at least in my mind, those can mix. A swan, or other sea-bird, might be both air & water aligned. That sort of thing.

That got me thinking: A phoenix is supposedly a fire-bird. That means that it would be both fire and air. So what would be its antithesis? The “anti-phoenix”?

I’ve been considering, and I think it would definitely be the duck-billed platypus.

Yes, the duck-billed platypus. And here’s why:

First of all, for an animal to be an anti-phoenix, it would need to have opposite alignment. A phoenix is fire & air. The opposite of fire is water, and the opposite of air is earth. So we need an earth/water creature. That leaves land-animals that can live in the water, or water-animals that can live on the land. A duck-billed platypus fits the bill. So do otters, beavers, and mermaids. So we need to find other reasons.

Next: phoenixes don’t actually exist in this world. Neither do mermaids. So that strikes mermaids from the possible, leaving otters, beavers, and our friend the duck-billed platypus.

Also, phoenixes are graceful. Elegant. Beautiful. So are otters. Duck-billed platypuses are not. That should strike otters from the list. That still leaves beavers, though.

Another reason: there are a number of places and things named after the Phoenix. Phoenix, AZ, for example. And the University of Phoenix. There’s a Beaver County in Pennsylvania. But alas for the poor duck-billed platypus, I am unaware of any county, city, or non-platypus-y thing named for the Duck-Billed Platypus. (Perry the Platypus doesn’t count; he’s a platypus.) That strikes the beaver from our list.

Even if that didn’t work, there’s another trump card. If the best birdwatcher in the world were to hear the word “phoenix” for the first time, s/he wouldn’t automatically assume that a phoenix was a bird of any sort. On the other hand, the Duck-Billed Platypus has the word “duck” in it. The name implies duck like tendencies. But, it’s not a bird! Neither is the beaver, but the beaver doesn’t imply “bird” with its name.

Clearly, then, the duck-billed platypus is the anti-phoenix. And the two should likely be mortal enemies.

…

Anywho, have a great day!

This week, I’ve been missing my puppies. So I tried to crochet one.

Crocheted Critter in progress

Yeah. I’m still not sure what creature it’s going to be. I think it’s coming out cute, though! And if I add some wings, ears, maybe a horn-

Yeah! That too! I knew I could count on you to keep me honest. Thank you, Fluffy!

Anyways, I’m actually even writing down what I’m doing!

Normally, when I create my own patterns, they’re genuinely one of a kind. In other words, I play around with the pattern, and then sort of forget what I’ve done. But not this time!

In fact, I hope that I’ll even be able to upload the pattern here! Then you could download it!

Hey!

It’s fluffy, and it’s cute, right? That means, who wouldn’t want to?

Fair enough. Well, that’s sort of a moot point right now, anyways. I still do need to finish the critter!

So, thoughts: What does it look like it’s turning into right now? More bird-like? Seahorse? Dragon? Generic critter…?