My paperweight once searched for delicious algae.

This past weekend Daniel returned home from his near month-long trip out of the state that encompassed a path followed somewhat along The Mississippi River, from lower to upper, and traversing through Louisiana, Mississippi, Tennessee and ending in Illinois. Again, I live vicariously through others when it comes to travel. Though my thirst for travel is quite strong, fortunately for me, his stories of adventure and travel will suffice this time, as I have no powerful yearning to visit those particular states. That is not to say that there isn't interesting attractions within them, i just simply did not have a personal allure to them in the past. However, since Daniel did purchase gifts for me during some of the highlights of his trip, quite thoughtfully I might add, I was delighted and very grateful to receive these souvenirs from his journey to have as my own keepsakes from these places i've never been to. One of the mementos is an interesting fossil trilobite he picked up at the Tunica RiverPark on the Mississippi river. Mississippi has more official fossils than any other state, and the Mississippi river is the largest river system in the United States and the largest of North America! One of Mississippi's state fossils, is the prehistoric whale, Zygorhiza kochii. The early whales lived during the Eocene Epoch, around 45 million years ago, when the coastline of the Gulf of Mexico extended across what is now Mississippi. Yes, it's true and I didn't know that until I did some research to learn more about my new special tokens :) I found out that the Lower part of the Mississippi river has yielded a lot of fossils specifically pertaining to these past marine creatures. There is a whole lot of trilobite fossils out there! I learned that trilobites are related to crabs, lobsters, shrimp, spiders, and insects and that like modern arthropods, trilobites had to periodically molt their shells to grow, so one trilobite could have left a dozen or more shed carapaces to fossilize. Just think of all those trilobite fossils waiting to be found!
Pretty crazy. This intriguing information about trilobite fossils further prompted me to google more coolness related to them, so just for grins, i tried searching for fiction books about trilobites. As an avid reader with a long–standing interest in all things strange or unusual, I was pleased to see my searches led me to an obscure book called Trilobites! by Kenneth Gass. I can't seem to find this in print anywhere, but the product description reads: "Scientists have found living trilobites in the deep sea, but must now find a way to kill them before they destroy the ecosystem and humanity itself!" Wow. Just. That is right up my alley. How did both the golden age of science fiction Monster "B" movies AND the Syfy channel's original television programming overlook this little gem of an opportunity for campy Creature Feature goodness?? It's madness, right?? All i know is that this Trilobite thriller is surely a story I am meant to enjoy! I will have to be diligent in obtaining that book for my cryptofiction collection. Now, I implore anyone out there reading this entry, feel free to contact me if you have a lead for me on a reasonably-priced copy! I shall update the Trilobites tag if I ever obtain this. Consider it a quest. Trilobite questing. Yeh.
Okay, moving onto other coolness revolving around these prehistoric arthropods, i found this awesome trilobite tattoo thats courtesy of http://inknerd.com/tag/trilobite/. Admit it, it's awesome and bold! But the question is, is that trilobite fondess at its best?
And the answer to that would be, no. In my opinion, true trilobite affection is biting into a fresh batch of Trilobite Cookies. Yeh, that's kind of gross. Perhaps it would be more accurate to call it what it is, true trilobite madness!
As for me, i'm personally quite content with my new trilobite token just as it is: a fossilised piece of prehistoric marine memoribilia, also useful as a paperweight :)