Tuesday, August 19, 2008

Aquarium and Underground

Totally awesome fish at the aquarium:

Largest octopus in the world.... while sleeping:


The Seattle "underground" looking up:


Seattle was originally built on tide flats, thus making flushing the toilet rather hazardous at high tide:

Friday, August 08, 2008

And... a list

Because I'm a follower. I'm good at following. And there have been entirely too many pictures up on my blog lately.

Things I have been good at:
  • Music - started violin at 5, flute at 9, Baritone at 11, piano at 13, trombone at 16 and French Horn at 17. I have officially stopped starting new instruments. Too much effort. I've always been able to sing fairly well, but I probably wouldn't get very far on American Idol - not enough of a diva.
  • Cooking and baking - both of which I find relaxing, which my friends have, on occasion, found convenient. :)
  • Organizing - this may sound silly, but I can create a kick-butt filing system, complete with color-coding and neatly printed labels that is both intuitive and efficient.
  • Languages - I admit that I am lazy and haven't always done the vocab memorization that I ought to have, but I can learn the basics of a language - any language - very quickly. Getting to the more advanced concepts usually took more effort, which was where I hit my wall, not because I have a problem with language, but because I am inherently lazy.
  • Writing papers - I once wrote a 26 or so page paper in 24 hours. And it didn't suck. Getting through grad school would have been a lot harder if I weren't good at stringing words together.

Things I have been bad at:
  • Getting things done on time - I am quite possibly one of the biggest procrastinators you'll ever meet. I almost always get things done; it's just usually right under the wire or late.
  • Swimming - I can't swim. I understand the concept, I spent the better part of two months in the pool every day, but I used one of those kid's training boards the whole time. Water and I just don't get along.
  • Balancing my bank account - now that I have built in overdraft protection, I'm safe. But I know that my overdraft fees supported my bank for years. The one I disliked most was the $5 check the park service waited five months to cash. Exactly when I had only $3.50 or so in my checking account.
  • Personal relationships - I can't help it; I don't like people as a general rule. So I generally find it most convenient to stick with the people I know.

Thursday, August 07, 2008

The Meatrix

http://www.themeatrix1.com/