Monday, June 2, 2014

Just another day

This is my Friday. Yep. Because I get Tuesday and Wednesday off. That means grocery shopping, exploring, reading, sleeping.... more sleeping... oy. Why are there days off?

 Today wasn't horribly exciting. We had a fairly decent sized tour group come through, and Rick wanted two people in the Rhino Barn for that. Seeing as we were short staffed, he asked me to take my lunch at 1 instead of earlier so that there would be one person to talk (me) and one person working (Ethan.) So, I ran upstairs, ate a snack quickly to hold me until later, and came back and started talking to people (while also playing with um... I mean using... the laser pointer.)

 The problem is, the group was feeling very chatty, and I was still even later getting upstairs to grab lunch. That said, we had a really good conversation, they were legitimately interested, I wasn't really hungry yet, and frankly I didn't have a watch anyway. I was in too good of a mood about Rick wanting me to be the one answering questions of those of us that were around, honestly.

 After I did get a bite to eat, I made my way over to the Discovery Station and entertained three curious young boys and their mom. Talking about bone names in front of other people is intimidating, but its worse when the mom is a doctor. The level of questions the oldest one (who was at most 11) amazed me, and he asked about everything from the bones to my thoughts on science and God. And yet in between questions they joked about using the bones as cavemen tools. This state will never cease to amaze me.

 Aside from that, multiple people called the rhinos "dinosaurs" and me an "archaeologist." Just another day of me holding my tongue when I get too frustrated about those two misconceptions. Some people are eager to hear the differences and learn from a mistake. Others just don't look like they want to be corrected by a 19-year-old. At least I'm getting really good at telling the difference.

 If there are questions about Ashfall or anything paleo really, ask away in the comments. Honestly, I could use something to write about on days like this.

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My Story (Very briefly...)

Lots of people claim that they wanted to be paleontologists at the age of 3. So did I. The problem is, I never really grew out of it. My third birthday party had dinosaurs. Everywhere. I grew up digging in fossil dirt from Aurora, NC, looking for coral and shark teeth. I practically lived at my local science museums (and still do, only now I get to do research, fossil preparation, and work in collections!) When local paleontologists discovered a dinosaur with a "fossilized heart" (no longer considered such) when I was little, I got to meet the man who led the work. And then, years later a dinosaur bone with soft tissue turned up. I was officially hooked.
No longer was I dreaming about dinosaurs. I was actively pursuing the science behind prehistoric creatures. I didn't want to read about it, I wanted in on the action. So I started working at the museum, and finally going on my own adventures. And thus, I needed a place to share them and maybe inspire others the way I was inspired. I have gone from watching fossils be prepared from one side of the glass at the museum to working on them on the inside of the glass. I am a student working toward my goal. I can finally start to call myself a paleontologist.