Not entirely pointless photos of the day:

And you do realise, of course, that this is risking having the blog turn into a pumpkin...

I just thought that Ces might be interested to know that the sky had vertebrae this morning.

The other photo? Just there to keep the first photo company.

----------

I'm at a bit of a loss as to what to post today, to be honest, and for a couple of reasons. The first and most immediate reason is that I have a paper cut down the side of my left pinkie, and it's sort of making typing annoying.

I hate paper cuts.

Not that I'm saying that anyone else likes them, but still. Stupid cardboard box that I was trying to wedge into the recycling, anyway.

The second reason I'm a little blather-blocked is that I'm about to disappear from the internet for a few days, and that always makes me feel like I should be working a bit harder to post something worth reading before I go. I don't know why I put that touch of extra pressure on myself, but I do.

It generally leads to some very lame posts, and that's pretty much what's happening here.

I guess I could tell you why I'm disappearing, although that's not terribly exciting either. It's Canada Day weekend here in Canada (well, it would be weird if it was Canada Day weekend in Sweden), and after making it through another spring school programming season I've decided to vote myself a four-day weekend rather than a three-day weekend. With any luck it may even turn into a five-day weekend, but I'm not entirely sure about that yet. A weekend away from the office and my father's place means a weekend with no computer for me, and that leads to a blatherless blog. Well, obviously, since I haven't quite figured out how to do this by telekinesis.

I know some people are reading this and wondering if there's such a thing as a world without a computer for an entire long weekend, and let me assure you that there is. I like not having a computer at home. Sure, I miss out on some things, but it allows me to do more of other things. Take away the easy option and you find other ways to amuse yourself, believe it or not.

So what will I do with my weekend if I'm not going in to see my dad?

NOTHING.

I'm tired, and I intend to do nothing.

I might guilt myself into a little bit of cleaning, especially if I take that fifth day, but other than that... I might sit on my balcony and watch my plants grow. I might watch silly British sketch comedy. I might doodle, or knit a new dish cloth since I see that my current one has an extra hole that it really shouldn't have. Overall, though, the plan is to have no plan.

For days.

Doesn't that sound amazing?

Oh, and in case anyone new to the program wondered, I'll be doing all of this nothing alone. I like it that way. I'm not shy of my own company at the best of times, and after the last month and a half of talking to innumerable school children I think I deserve some time to talk to no one.

That is, except the voices in my head. Wouldn't want them to feel left out.





So there you have it. The last blather of June. Have a great weekend, everyone (and if you're in my area, stay off of the river. It's high enough that even we've cancelled our floats, and we have proper commercial rafts. Having a floating beer party in a Walmart inflatable would be just plain idiotic), and I'll see you whenever I manage to drag myself back to the office.

Or Wednesday. Whichever comes first.

Pointless photo of the day:

Yeah, no silliness today. I'm too much schedule-brain.

I should explain that, I suppose.

I just finished doing up the July schedule for our Visitor Services staff. That isn't exactly a job I look forward to. You see, we can only offer part-time hours (evenings and weekends during the summer; weekends only for the rest of the year) to these folks, so they have to find other jobs as well. Other jobs means they're not available for every shift here.

Picture taking a half-dozen people with other schedules all over the place and trying to make those schedules mesh.

IT'S NOT FUN.

And my head hurts.

Ah well. It's all e-mailed out now, so at least that's off my list for another month.



Guess I should get some lunch before my final school program of the season. Which, by the way, will not be helping my head at all. Booking a field trip on the final afternoon of school? That's just cruel to us, teachers. Why aren't you just taking your kids to the swimming pool like everybody else does?

Ah well. Again.

Lunch time.

I swore I'd never do this

I swore I'd never put a pointless photo of myself on this blog. I've put photos of portions of me before, yes. An eye. Part of my face. My shoes. Repeatedly. My hand holding ladybirds and dragonflies. But me, as a whole?

Nope.

I don't need to be here.

I'd rather remain faceless, to be honest.

Don't get me wrong -- I'm not equating faceless with anonymous. I don't post under my full name here (oddly enough, my parents didn't name me Dee), but I know very well that I'd be a quick find if someone felt like putting in a little effort to look for me. For one thing, how many long-time naturalists working at nature centres can there be in Alberta?

I don't pretend for a moment to be invisible.

I've just never felt the need to have you put a face to a name. Or a nickname, as the case may be. It's been a rule with me since 2003 (that, believe it or not, is when I started the old blog) that there wasn't ever going to be a photo of me around the place. No photo of me on the page, no photo of me in my profile...

My profile photo, for anyone who's wondered what the heck that thing is, is of the egg case of a Goldenrod Spider. The mother spider's guarding it. It was a cool find for me, because they're usually fairly hidden. Um, anyway.

Yeah, no photo of me. For years. So it's with a somewhat heavy heart that I very reluctantly share this image with you. It might be a total mistake and I'll probably regret it, but here goes. Putting a face to a name:

That's right. You've probably suspected it all along, but this blog is written by a pissed-off cat.

Wasn't worth the build-up, was it?





Ok, a bit more seriously. I was just fooling around with the 3DS the other night. This is from an application called Colors! 3D, which is, logically enough, a 3D version of the Colors! app Iphone users might know about. It's a pretty simple paint program, really, but I've been having fun just messing around with it.

This, obviously, was me tracing a photo because I wasn't in the mood to be terribly creative. The photo was taken with the 3DS's inner camera, so not exactly the highest quality you're going to find in the first place. Max and I were lying on the bed (Max was "helping" me play a game) when I took the shot.

And yes, he really does look that peeved in the original photo.

And me? Do I look anything like that?

Um.

Well, I do have two eyes. And glasses...

I guess it counts as sort of me. I didn't make up anything, but I didn't include everything either. Think of it as cartoon-me, and you'd be ok.

And why is it even here on the blog?

I DON'T KNOW. Weird mood, I suppose. We're all allowed weird moods now and then. I have them fairly frequently.

As you may have noticed.

I need to get back to work now. I, erm, hope you've found this... edifying?






Or weird. Weird works. Going to stop typing now, because I really don't know how to end this lack-of-post.

Pointless photo and very few words of the day:

As promised, if you'll recall. It's been a busy programming day (and something of a... well, let's just say it starts with cluster), and I'm spent.

But the poppies are pretty, aren't they?



Yeah.

Going now.

Chapter 1591: Wherein Dee gets all self-obsessed

The oriental poppies are in full bloom at the moment. I really love poppies of all sorts, but these are sentimental favourites because the seed came from my grandmother's yard. I usually take too many photos of them, but I restrained myself this year. No worries about the blog becoming All Poppies All the Time, then.

No promises about the irises, though.

----------

Man, was I long-winded yesterday. I didn't realise just how much until I read it back today. Ah well, it is Pointless Blather Blog, after all. Emphasis on the blather part now and then.

To keep to the apparently wordy theme of the weekend, I guess it's time for another 50 Things list. I used to do these semi-regularly on the old blog, but only recently resurrected them here. The idea is to pick a topic and list fifty things about it. I generally try to keep it positive because I need the practice, but that's not a hard and fast rule. It's my house, after all. I can change the rules whenever I want to. And with that... today's topic?

50 Things About Me
(in absolutely no order, because I'm not entirely sure what I'm going to type)

1. I'm very strongly left-handed, and I truly believe that I'm wired differently than most of the right-handed world. It sure seems that way, at least.
2. I'm an oldest (well, technically older. There's only two of us) child and an only daughter.
3. I like cheese.
4. I played oboe and tuned percussion in the school band. Tuned percussion because I was trying desperately to escape the oboe. I like the oboe, but there's nothing quite as lonely as playing oboe in a small-town band.
5. I have a very serious interest in historical fashion.
6. I hate it when movies get history wrong.
7. I studied Classics with my available option space when I was doing my Zoology degree. It was a nice break from the labs. My academic advisor thought I was nuts.
8. I don't currently own an MP3 player. When I go walking I like to hear what's going on around me.
9. I almost always have a song in my head. When I don't, I get worried because it's a bad sign.
10. I write two blogs and maintain a third, but I don't own a computer.
11. I'm a lyric mezzo-soprano.
12. I love Louis Armstrong. To the point where I (somewhat pedantically, yes) don't call him Louie because he never referred to himself that way.
13. I'm a comparative anatomy junkie and I frankly found my dissection labs in school fascinating.
14. I no longer cut up dead animals. The live ones are more interesting these days.
15. My cell phone is five years old because I'm having trouble deciding whether I want to change providers so I haven't renewed my contract. Is it worth the bother to switch, do you think?
16. My mother died unexpectedly in 1999 from complications from what was supposed to be routine surgery. The last time I saw her, I thought it would be the last time I saw her. This would freak me out more if I didn't realise that the memory of feeling that way wouldn't be nearly so strong if things had turned out fine.
17. As you can see from #16, I'm skeptical of premonitions and things like that. Skeptical, but not adamant in disbelief. I leave a window open in case proof ever actually decides to come in.
18. I like cats.
19. I'm allergic to cats. The universe laughs.
20. I dislike yellow in almost anything but flowers. I'm not sure why they get an exception.
21. I read far more non-fiction than fiction. I like to learn things.
22. If I get gift cards I go out of my way to buy something that I wouldn't normally buy. That way it's more gifty.
23. On a related note, my brother and sister-in-law have been supporting my art habit for years. Yay new toys.
24. I own the complete Monty Python TV series, including the German episodes.
25. Ditto A Bit of Fry & Laurie. Well, except for the German episodes since there weren't any.
26. I like sharing my books. With only a couple of exceptions, I'm not even overly concerned if they don't come back. Fly, book. Fly...
27. If you asked me what I'd save from my apartment in case of a fire, I'd be stumped. My ID? Honestly, my things are becoming less and less important to me as I grow older.
28. I got the English award at my high school. I know, kind of hard to believe.
29. I can write in fluent dry academic, but life's too short to be that boring.
30. I like playing with words, and think of language as organic. Proscriptive, rule-bound grammarians need to look at language as it actually exists as opposed to how they think it should be, as far as I'm concerned. In other words, go stuff yourselves.
31. My favourite curse word is bugger. It's extremely versatile.
32. I could have easily studied library science. Or linguistics. Language evolution is a very cool thing.
33. I hate dusting. It seems so pointless.
34. I (and my coworker) once used a keyhole saw to cut the breasts off of a mannequin. I should probably tell that story here sometime.
35. I've been walking the same trails in the Sanctuary for over twenty years now, but under the right circumstances going for a simple walk can still make me ridiculously happy.
36. When I was doing youth theatre with the choir I sang in, the lack of boys meant that I always ended up playing male roles. This despite the fact that I'm 5'2" and... erm, round. Apparently no one was supposed to notice?
37. My favourite colour is purple, but I look better in red.
38. I haven't had my hair cut in two years. Sheer laziness. When I do get it cut, it'll be short(ish). Then I'll let it grow again, probably.
39. I tend to have serial hobbies. I'll do one thing for a while and then move onto something else. Then, a few years later I'll go back and do it all again.
40. I once threw a full file folder across the room at my office mate (known here as Wheat. Long story). Missed. They're not very aerodynamic, file folders.
41. I have some pretty weird scars. Or, more accurately, scars gained in pretty weird ways.
42. I once gave myself a minor concussion by running into a tree during a pond study program. Long story. Again.
43. I didn't learn to knit until I was thirty. Now, I knit mostly toques. Too short an attention span for anything else.
44. I used to be pretty good at needlepoint and embroidery. Probably still am. It's not exactly something you forget.
45. I think that being nearsighted changes every single facet of my life. I'm always going to be more comfortable with the details than the big picture. Literally and figuratively.
46. I don't share many of my beliefs on the blog. I have beliefs; they're none of the internet's business.
47. I'm nearly terrified (think beyond scared, but not quite to the point of full-on phobia) of being burned and have been since I was a kid even though I've never been seriously burned in my life. It made it really hard to learn to cook as a teen because I didn't want to get anywhere near the stove. It's the one thing that might make me believe in reincarnation, really. Maybe I was a witch in another life. Hmm. Wonder if I weigh the same as a duck?
48. I'm allergic to the cold. No, I'm serious.
49. I like changing the words in songs. I think we can blame that one on my father, who used to stick nose into every song when we were children. As for me, I have a few favourite inserts. Just about every song about money is better with monkey, if you asked me.
50. I'm very pattern and shape oriented. Any weird photo cropping you see on the blog? Not accidental. I generally aim for things that appeal to my brain, even if they miss the point for everyone else.

And... 50. That was... very random.

But it equals another post, so good on me.





Blogging over the week might be pretty wordless since we're coming to our school year end, so  I might suggest that if this seems too blathery today you should wrap some of it up and save it for later.

Or find something else to read, I suppose. That works.

Done typing now.

Oh. I said something about a post, didn't I?

Damn.

I should never do that.

The thing is, somewhere between doing laundry, entertaining the cat (very definitely his top priority, at least), and making pointless paint splotches for what may possibly end up being my lamest entry for Illustration Friday ever (and I've had some lame ones), I forgot to think of anything to blather about.

So. Um. Let's see...

I...

... could talk about my fascination with grape leaves, I suppose, but that would make today's pointless photo NOT pointless, and as we all know that if this blog ever comes to a point it will turn into a pumpkin...

Yeah. I should probably stay away from the grape leaves. Besides, it'd be a pretty short post. I like grape leaves. They're fun to draw. The End.

Still leaves me without a topic, though.

I could talk work, I suppose, since work is what made the blog mostly blatherless this week. That might do, especially since I've noticed a couple of new people checking in recently. Hi, new people. You're welcome here, although I have to admit that I can never quite figure out why anyone comes at all...

Too many ellipses, Dee. Stop being so incomplete.





Ok, work, then. I know that my references to work are probably a little confusing, but that's partly because I have one of the odder jobs in the world. And... oh. I'm bleeding. Excuse me a sec.



A minute or so later...
 And more ellipses, apparently...

 Yes, it was a little weird to actually type out that last bit. I should probably delete it, but it made me laugh to see that I'd given you people play-by-play as I went so it'll stay. I have a small patch of eczema (aka atopic dermatitis aka bloody annoying) on my hand that got irritated when I was wearing the wrist splint after my sprain, and I must have scratched off a scab without noticing. TMI? TDB, as Yours Blatheringly always says.

Where was I, anyway?

Right, work.

As my profile says, I'm a naturalist/interpreter. I add the naturalist part in because a) I am a naturalist, and b) although my official title is interpreter (sorry -- School and Youth Programs Interpreter, thank you very much), almost nobody outside the business knows what that means and they assume that I'm multilingual.

There are different kinds of interpretation out there, folks. Some people interpret languages; I interpret natural history. And sometimes history history. And sometimes astronomy, just to throw people off.

The whole point of interpretation is to help people understand things. To teach without being pedantic. That's what I do. Ironic that I ended up teaching, since I come from a family of teachers and took a science degree to try to stay away from teaching. I guess that some things are genetic and you just can't escape them. At least I get to teach in a creative environment.

So that's the philosophy of the job; what's the job itself? Well, as my job title suggests, I spend most of my time doing school programming (as opposed to public programming, although I do a little of that too when I'm needed). For me that means leading actual school groups -- either at the nature centre or at the schools themselves if they've booked me for extension programming -- through what we call an interpretive program. Thus my constant and largely unexplained use of the term program on the blog. Sorry to anyone who thought that I was really a computer wizard for the nature centre.

When I started at the nature centre, leading programs was all that I did. I still do it, but as generally happens when you've been at a job forever there've been more responsibilities added on over the years. Now I also write the programs (which means being familiar with the school curriculum, since nowadays we have to prove our value for the schools' limited budgets. Pretty much all of our programming is curriculum-related. Why didn't I just do an education degree, again? I probably spend more time with the curriculum than a lot of teachers do. Sad, that), make sure that all the props are there, train the interpreters, supervise the interpreters, evaluate the interpreters... well, you get the picture there. June's a busy month for all of that, so I think you can see why the blog falls by the wayside.

Somehow or other it also fell to me to supervise the part-time weekend and evening front desk staff (known as Visitor Services) and edit the quarterly newsletter, which is a giant pain in the behind because no one ever gets their submissions in on time.

When I'm not doing any of the above I might be answering questions from the public, leading edible plant walks, doing astronomy programs with our mobile planetarium (think giant inflatable silver igloo, if you've never seen a mobile planetarium. Or, you know, just google mobile planetarium. That works, too), or drawing, since I accidentally became my own program illustrator a few years ago. What can I say? We're a non-profit. There's no way I'd ever have the budget to pay an artist.

I'll say one thing: with all its annoyances (and really, what job doesn't have at least a few annoyances?), it's a job that offers a lot of variety. On any given day I could be talking about rocks, researching aboriginal plant use, or playing with a snake. It's the kind of thing that's managed to keep my notably short attention span interested for (sigh) twenty years come last September (when did I become old enough to be doing anything for twenty years?), and the kind of field I've been working in for almost twenty-five years now if you count my university summer job. It's weird, it's hard to explain, and it's such a big part of me now that I don't think I'll ever be able to shake it.

A good thing, that? Oh, sometimes. Sometimes I'd rather be working in a library or an art supply store. We all have those sometimes moments, though, and I think I have less of them than most people do.

And that definitely counts as a good thing.

And...



LOOK! A POST!

TIME TO GET LUNCH, NOW!

YOU CAN STOP READING!

Pointless photo of the... well, whatever it is.

There may possibly be an actual post here tomorrow.

I say may, because obviously my track record hasn't been so great this week.

It's been busy at work.

But you probably gathered that. Or that I was eaten by a killer whale, maybe, although that would be a bit weird here in Alberta.



Um, yeah.

Tomorrow, then.



Or whenever.