penn

At work . . .

and I am showing Joel how to use typepad and how wonderful it is. It's a great cold day here in Oregon, and I am bundled up everytime I go outside.

tonight, I am going to sleep a lot.

I am . . .

a horribly, no good, very bad blogger. I swear, I will post more someday. Is anyone even reading this beside Juliana? Who knows :-) Anyway, I do have stuff to post. I've got an excellent set of "promised to be taken at over 60 mph and I took a pic of the speedometer to prove it" photos from my weekend visit to Walla Walla and Whitman College. I also have pictures from my brother's "den of iniquity" that is his messy room. I'll post after I get through with the craziness of my life, which right now includes lots of creative writing, lots of biochemistry experiments (2 minus two weeks to the Toxicology Conference and then I will have Tuesday afternoons for me ALWAYS and guilt free to boot), and lots of biology lovin'. Oh, and a touch o'excellent Urban Environmental Policy, which both drives me crazy and keeps me well grounded in the world. UEP reminds me of my reasons for wanting to be a conservation and restoration biologist.

And, believe it or not, after all this, I still love school ^^

Mundane

To the standard English speaker, mundane is the word reserved for things like brushing our teeth, doing dishes, or getting homework done. Mundane tasks are, by definition, characteristic of the commonplace. In other words, mundane is boring.

In the Society for Creative Anachronism, mundane is a slang term to describe people who aren't in the group. The SCA (to which I belonged from ages 16 to 20) is a historical reenactment society concerned with education, except you usually need to deemphasize historical and strong deemphasize education. I knew many excellent people in the SCA who were veritable encyclopedias of medieval knowledge, whether it be kings and queens, noble clothing, fabrics, crafts, or fighting. However, for every one historically accurate person I know, there are at least four or five who come to the SCA for reasons other than history. Some come for the granduer: even if you're a night security watchman in your "mundane" life, you can still be the knight in shining armor on the battlefield. Others come to escape the hellish pit their life has become due to debt, lack of education, or even just poor luck. And yet others attend SCA events to dress up and party down. Many a new drinking game originated in the SCA (see: tablero -- fun, supposedly historically accurate, total hoax).

Anyway, people from the SCA often refer to those not in the SCA as "mundanes." This, in and of itself, is not a problem; however, when you begin using this terminology in everyday life to sort out the people you know, it can get problematic.

Example:
My best friend from high school (whom I rarely talk to anymore because I bailed out of the SCA and she is still an active part of it) is turning 21 on the 21st of October (yeah, she's just a little younger than me . . . 8 days). For her birthday, she sent out a huge email to friends and family (tho I never got it . . . ). She must have used the term "Mundane Family" and Friends. Her uncle emailed her a letter (which she forward to our mailing list, which is how I read it) that chided her on utilizing the term mundane to describe her family:

As a side Bar (from your Uncle); I'm a little surprised at your inclusion and use of "Mundane Family" and Friends. The tone of that paragraph is really harsh. Do you really think my family fits this ugly statement? Or others? ***Engage the brain cells girl***

Mundane: Ordinary, Dull, Commonplace, Boring, Unexciting, Uninteresting, Humdrum, a pain and effort to be around.

Part of growing up (along with the right to drive, drink and move out on your own) is to grasp and accept the diversity of your family, and friends, while I know you pride yourself in being all-accepting.

With this e-mail going to so many people – it really sets a poor impression of what you think of your "family" and friends outside of the SCA vs. what they are really like – it creates preconceived thoughts.

For future reference, you might want to create multiple e-mails. One e-mail that is more positive friendly relative oriented - for us Mundane Family members.

She's all upset. I'm not sure why; I think his viewpoint is quite valid. I don't think she intended for mundane to be an insult to her family. However, she has to be aware that not everyone will read her emails in the exact way she intended. Personally, I think his compromise solution is quite resonable. Let's hear it for people that can work to a solution *yay*. Now, on a sidebar from me: this is why I am growing up and why I really no longer talk to any of my friends. Apparently, everyone else found the email from her uncle highly offensive.

Road Tripping Article

An excellent article.

My birthday was great!

I enjoyed a wonderful birthday yesterday. My boyfriend got me these beautiful roses and took me out for drinks. For dinner, my friend Laura and I made cream of mushroom chicken and homemade applesauce, sopped up with french bread, and Laura made me birthday brownies (because she only had yellow cake mix, which I am not a fan of). For a birthday at school, this one was good. Except for the Something Corporate concert that Josh took me to last year (and getting to see Josh), this birthday was much better. So far, I have avoided the emergency room *yay*

It's my birthday . . .

and it feels just like any other day. It's a Monday, I'm tired, and I have a full day of class and work. I'll eat dinner tonight for a friend (but I volunteered to cook -- what an idiot!). Tonight, I'll get out, have a drink with my boyfriend, then go to bed early so I can be in Ptown by 8am for a fieldtrip. Getting older sucks because birthdays suddenly become less important.

Cougar Mountain Zoo

This past weekend, I visited Cougar Mountain Zoo in Issaquah, Washington. I went with my mum and a good friend to celebrate my upcoming birthday. Originally, we planned to visit Point Defiance Zoo and Aquarium. However, my dad wanted to go there with us, and he was unable to spend the day with us. My mom remembered hearing about a neat little zoo in Issaquah, and we happened to have a coupon for it in the entertainment book, so off we went.

This zoo has to be the niftiest little zoo! It focuses on endangered and threatened species in seven main worlds: large macaws, cranes, reindeer, mountain lions, lemurs, antelopes, and cheetahs. I didn't see a cheetah when I was there (they won't have them until 2004), but all the other animals were delightful. At the reindeer habitat, they sold little cups of apples, so I spent all my singles on apples to throw to the reindeer, which were more than happy to receive a treat from me.

I think the favorite animals there for all of us were the ring tailed lemurs. In the enclosure, there were thirteen of them (my favorite number!). When we first went to the lemur cage, all thirteen of them were curled up together on a little platform :-) Later on, when we came by, the lemurs were frolicking everywhere. They also made the cutest little mewing noise. Late in the afternoon, the zoo keeper came around to do enrichment with the lemurs and give a talk. On the day we went, she took carrots in to the lemurs and let them eat the carrots. I tell you, there is nothing cuter than a little ring tailed lemur gnawing on a carrot.

I really enjoyed my trip. I love animals so much! Maybe someday I'll be a volunteer zoo keeper.

Better but . . .

I can't figure out how to import my posts from blogger. I mean, I put the address in but it doesn't seem to want to important them. I did, however, figure out how to change the spiffy colors on my website! This is sort of fun, if only I didn't have stuff to study for. Ugh, the joy of midterms.

Now on typepad . . .

and i can't figure out how it works :-( phooey.