I promised I would write more, but I haven’t had any daring adventures or fascinating discoveries lately, so you all (all 3 of you?) get another list.
Paul the Octopus

 

  1. Psychic Psephalods

    2. Ok, so I don’t believe in psychic phenomena, but I do believe in fiercely intelligent/awesome invertebrates who occasionally eat bivalves out of transparent boxes which happen to have flags on them. The only way Paul the Octopus could be more awesome is if he were a cuttlefish. Sorry, Paul. I know Octopods are full of awesome, too, but come on. Cuttlefish. (I think the cuttlefish’s hypnotizing display may have gotten to me when I watched NOVA, because I realize now that the octopus’s wily tool-using ways outstrip the cuttlefish adorable predator act. Darn you and your amazing display, cuttlefish!)

  2. Writing

    3. Growing some of my own food has helped me feel a little closer to the billions of humans that have inhabited this world before me. Another tie with past humans and cultures in which I’ve always taken an interest is story telling. I love to read stories, and I would love to be able to share my own with others, but I’ve always been pretty shy about letting anyone else read anything I’ve written (with the exception of canonical newspaper articles from the Harry Potter universe…yep). I want to get started but it’s hard to know where to start even though I read a pretty good book about it last year called Writing Down the Bones. I was hoping to take a Creative Writing class in my area this fall, but I can’t seem to find one offered by any of the local colleges. Any ideas?

  3. Soccer

    4. The World Cup was addictive. I want to start following fútbol more closely, but I’m not really sure where to start with that either. I think John and I are going to root for Everton in the Premier League since Tim Howard plays for them and they borrow some other US National Team players, as well. But who do I support in the states? When do they play? I need to do more research.

  4. Robotics

    5. This one is stretching it a bit as I have no training in engineering or mechanics at all. But there are so many awesome robots out there lately! There are soccer-playing robots, teaching robots, oil spill fighting robots, robot vehicles, and space robots, but the new robot butlers are just terribly unimaginative. If anyone can help me make my AI butler happen, you just let me know.

  5. Awesome Things

    6. I looked through my email to see what else I had been trying to learn about lately. I email myself lots of notes about music, books, websites, apps, and recipes. So if you know of anything awesome for me to email myself about looking into later, feel free to leave it in comments