Decisions.

My next tattoo will likely have a llama and a giant anteater in it. Lovely. :)

do you know what a "plethora" is?

These types of conversations happen to me a lot. Do I know where the "gonocoxite" or "supraalars" are (or what they are?) on an insect? Well, yes, because I've worked on Chironomids in the past but usually the answer is "No?", and this:

source

Which is why I like this film clip so much!

Just a little note:

James Joyce is known for giving us the secular meaning of "epiphany," using the word to mean the "revelation of the whatness of a thing," the moment when "the soul of the commonest object [...] seems to us radiant."

via The Writer's Almanac today.

So beautiful. The revelation of the whatness of a thing.

The angler fish: video

An awesome bit of Friday science.

Give me a bit more time

... to get my resolutions in order. :)

In the meantime...

This is so cute:

And a few excellent blog posts from people who are much more on top of life than I am.

The always-wonderful Neil Gaiman wishing us Bravery and Joy in this new year (love this).

Jenny Lawson (aka The Bloggess) makes me laugh nearly every time I read her stuff. Here's an excellent one about inspirational stuff on pinterest.

And, lastly, two inspirational posts by Mara Glatzel that speak to me about not being broken (it's so easy to think you are - either broken or a ruiner) and not being too much (though people may say you are). 

Happy New Year!

A little video I found hilarious.

I love the "I" vs. "them" conundrum that plays out every day in real life. It's just so fascinating.
I had a good, boozeless NYE celebration and accidentally made it to midnight when I was checking my e-mail via my phone while laying in bed. Had an excellent Jan 1st, though. Overall, I can't complain.
I'm hoping to cement and post my "resolutions" in a day or so. Until then, consider the "you" in the video all the stuff you're gonna dominate this year.
Get it!

On things like The Proposal and money

I'm sitting here on the couch in my Father's house watching "The Proposal" (one of my sister's favorite slightly silly movies). My brother is playing on the  computer, and my sis is making lasagna. And I, I am drinking coffee and thinking about if I will run before dinner or after. And I am struck by how desperately full of love I am for my siblings and family. Ooch, I love you so hard it hurts.  I am thankful indeed to have been blessed with such stupendous siblings.

A haiku I wrote about my sisters yesterday;
Economist and
chemist, discuss strategy.
iPad games. Sisters.

And a little piece on writing I love, because it applies to anything you do for joy.

Money….not very much, but better than it’s ever been before. Probably it will all be taken away from me, or will be worth nothing, just when I have written my last word and feel the time has come to sit back and watch the flowers unfolding. However, that is a morbid thought. The only fact that matters is that there is money in the bank. It has accumulated there, mysteriously, because every day I lock myself up in a room and guide my pen over sheets of paper, and then sell those sheets of paper. That, you will agree, is an exceedingly peculiar way of earning one’s living. Making odd scrawls on a sheet of paper…rather ugly, hurried scrawls, blocked over, scratched out, very painfully erased and amended…and then exchanging those scrawls for beautiful, tangible things, like tulip bulbs, and shelled walnuts, and bottles of mysterious, dusty, and exquisitely fragrant Chablis! Very odd indeed.

But then, the minute any man except the farm labourer begins to ponder the sources of his income, he will feel inclined to hang his head in shame, unless he is a charlatan or a stockbroker.

– Beverley Nichols, Village in a Valley