Hi! Isabelle Knight here again! So… this isn’t really a writing update. In fact, this has nothing to do with writing. But I felt it would be nice to write about this. It’s definitely going to be interesting.
So, I collect pandas (toys, of course. If they were real panda’s that’d just be… strange and possibly illegal) and I have a growing number of pandas. I’ve collected them ever since I was born. My first toy was a panda named Izzy. And yes, Izzy can be short for Isabelle. I never realized it until after my pen name had been chosen. I currently have… uh, ten and a half? It’s either nine and a half or ten and a half. You might be wondering about the half. Well, one is a ZURU Rainbocorn I bought in Thailand (strangely, the person was just selling the plushie. It didn’t come with the egg or other accessories) so, it’s half unicorn, half panda. Hence, the nine/ten and a half. The pandas are:
- Izzy
- Peter
- Charlotte
- Zoe
- Christie
- Louise
- Agatha
- Diamond
- Grace
- Lani (new addition!)
I also have a red panda named Kinzie that I named after the character from Rick Riordan’s Heroes of Olympus series. Does the red panda count? I don’t know. I heard that they’re more related to raccoons than pandas. If so, why call them red pandas? Why not red raccoons?
Anyway, I was planning to stop collecting pandas. Apparently, I can’t. Even if I wanted to stop (which I do not). The last sentence might need explaining. Prepare yourself for a long and strangely interesting story.
So, I went to IKEA yesterday and I found two cute pandas! I took Charlotte (no one would mistake her for a panda from the store. She’s nine years old. And by that, I mean she has been around for nine years.) One of them I named Oswald and the other, Lani. I toted Lani around with me because she was so cute and I wanted to play with her for a bit.
Had her with me the entire day. My parents refused to let me buy her though. Anyway, I carried her around, even when I had dinner at IKEA. And I spilled juice (I don’t think it was juice. I’m not sure what it was exactly. I think Coca Cola with lemon in it? I don’t know) on her. Long story short, spilled the juice on her, had to pay and take her home. Which is why I cannot stop collecting pandas. If I hadn’t spilled juice all over her, I would’ve just left her at IKEA. Anyway, I had to take her home. I did get her cleaned up. She looks perfectly fine now.
Here’s a picture of Lani along with the rest of the panda family, with their names attached.
And here’s a list of the pandas along with how long I’ve had them:
- Izzy (11 years, same as me.)
- Peter (10 years)
- Charlotte (9 years)
- Zoe (8 or 7 years)
- Christie (1 year and 2 months)
- Louise (1 year)
- Agatha (few weeks)
- Diamond (few months)
- Grace (few months)
- Lani (1 day)
These are their ages at the time of writing (May 18, 2024).
Oh! And I also forgot to mention two things. One, Lani and Grace are twins. They are exactly the same. I can usually tell me pandas apart, even if my friends and family can’t. Not this time. I often get Lani and Grace mixed up. But there are a few differences if you look closely enough. Lani’s fur on her forehead goes down. Grace’s goes down. Lani’s nose is kinda pointing or sloping down. Grace’s is going up. I don’t know if you know what I mean but… Also, Grace’s fur is a tad bit clumpier than Lani’s.
The other thing I almost forgot to mention that I actually have more pandas. Not plush ones. They are Calico Critters toys. The Pookie Panda family. Debra, Walter, Angela, and Tyler. I’ve had these for a few months. My parents gave those for me for my birthday last year.
Ta-da! The panda family! I don’t know if you’ll be able to see some of the names so… the pandacorn (half unicorn, half panda) is Diamond, the panda wearing clothes is Louise, and the panda on the left of Louise is Agatha. I think I chose Agatha because Agatha plus Christie equals Agatha Christie, the author. Also, Agatha is one of my favorite characters in The School for Good and Evil.
So that’s it for this blog. I hope you found this interesting. Also, the cover teaser for Enchantria is out! Woo-hoo! I am so excited!
Isabelle
