Throwback Thursday

I used to be the poster child for my dad's printing business.

See what replaced me at

matsguy.com

Collectors Edition!

OK, alright, I know... I'm sorry.

The answer to what was in the jar from last post: the lens of the left eye of a Squalus acanthias (spiny dogfish) we were dissecting in lab. Don't judge me. It's sitting in vodka, seeing as that was the best preservative we had in the house, and unlike the rum my dad has in the cupboard, it's clear. Speaking of clear, normally (i.e. when the shark is still alive) the lens is clear, but probably since this one is a lab specimen, its now opaque. Kinda looks like a cat's eye.....

Now, what you've all been waiting for! A sneak peak into my crazy little world... hence the title of the post: Collectors Edition!

I have a large collection of...

playing cards!

That's right, folks! I have 34 decks that I can account for. I am sad to say that I used to have some awesome decks but wasn't collecting and got rid of them (a round deck, a deck shaped like a lion's head, a really super tiny deck, and some magic (as in magician) cards).

I make a point to buy a deck from every place I go to as a souvenir (if I'm there for at least a weekend). Some of them are just fun to look at, and others I do play with. At least 12 of these are still in their unopened condition (plastic wrap and all!).

My favorites to actually play with are the blue jumbo index bicycle deck, and Dora the Explorer. The worst two to play with are the Superman cards, and the pink bicycle cards (they are ALL BRIGHT PINK and really hard to tell whats what if colors are helpful to you when you play).

Looking forward to adding a few decks to my collection from Australia and maybe New Zealand!

What do you collect?

"What are you going to be for halloween this year?"

"I'm going as a peanut allergy."



Alright, I know. I fell off the face of the Earth.

I blame the institution! In fact, it really is their fault. If it weren't for school.... wait. OK, I know. Even during my break between summer school and fall classes starting, I was MIA.

I've certainly been keeping busy!

Here,

Can you guess what's in the jar? Try to be specific!

Tune in next time (whenever THAT may be...) to find out!
Also, don't miss my Collector's Edition post (coming soon!), as we take a closer look at my ever expanding collection of.......



(........ Yeah. I'm keeping you in suspense.)

At long last! A blast from the past!

Been having some computer problems lately (hooray for smarter-than-average phones!), and after it stopped freezing randomly, I was squirreling around trying to figure out how to make my printer/scanner and computer talk to each other again. For my applications they want pdf's of my "official transcripts" which are only official if still sealed in their little envelopes...but they told me to open them and scan them, so....

Moving on...

A blast from the past: A (brief) look at my childhood

I stumbled on a few pictures while cleaning a while back, and now that I've figured out how to scan to my computer, I can share them!

I'm on a boat! 

This is the boat Jenn's grandfather and my grandfather shared, and now my dad owns it. 

It's sitting in the SB harbor :)

Long ago in a neighborhood far, far away... Lived three little children who pretended to play piano...

Actually, I'm not even sure we were pretending to play it. Can't imagine our parents would stand for that for very long...

The kid in the yellow is my "fetus buddy" Patrick.

This is at one of my birthday parties (I'm thinking it was 1st grade). 

Mom had a big ol' box of dress up clothes that were too big for us. 

[I just realized I'm wearing mine backwards!]

Hard to see in the background, but that's Patrick's mom, Barbara.

She's either in shock, or laughing at this.

Me an' mah grilled cheez. 

Complete with Thumper footie-pajamas

Paradise by the dashboard light...

Hokay, so it's been about a million-and-a-half years since I last posted. I didn't even finish the photo-a-day challenge (*sad panda*). Truth be told, it was the last two weeks of summer school, and I had a paper and two finals, so I was a bit distracted and confined to my room. Not much inspiration for photography. The summer session went really well, and I learned a lot, but I'm ready to have a break from school for a bit.


I've been meaning to post some things about my trip to Costa Rica, but haven't had the time to sit down and recap, so here we go!

5 things that amazed me about Costa Rica

1. Its beautiful. Everything is so green, and fresh, and the air is so clean

2. Every house has a hammock

3. Every native carries a machete

4. All the food was so rich and delicious, and most importantly, it was fresh. There was fruit growing everywhere, not to mention, all the fish we ate was caught that day

5. The sheer number of hermit crabs. The ground was littered with them. At first I kept thinking they were spiders... *shudders*

5 things that changed me after being in Costa Rica

1. I actually like thunderstorms

2. I now think that coconuts are delicious, and I learned the green ones are better for drinking, and the brown ones are better for eating and making coconut oil with :)

3. I want/need a hammock

4. I was amazed at how little I missed having electricity

5. I am also quite interested in plants, particularly their medicinal uses.

5 things that scared me in Costa Rica

1. Getting stung by things in the ocean we couldn't see

2. The cliff-side hike of doom

3. The scorpion on the cliff-side hike of doom hiding in the fallen tree we were scrambling over

4. The ENORMOUS spider hanging out above our beds. Unfortunately, the reflective eyes told me this was still alive, despite missing several legs

5. The possibility that snakes were seeking refuge from the rain storms in our beds each night

5 of the most fun things we did in Costa Rica

1. Early morning hikes to find animals

2. Snorkeling with eels, sharks, turtles, jellies and fish, only to come ashore to trees full of monkeys...

3. The art, and arduous process of making coconut oil (the fun part comes with the feeling of accomplishment)

4. Mud-bath, rain dance. Sadly, the rain gods missed the call, and had to check their voicemail... 24 hours later we had a storm, and a waterspout!

5. Drinking straight from coconuts, taken right off the tree. One of the reasons to carry a machete....

"Jose's Beach", haha. Said he'd set up shop here to sell things. This is also where he taught us to fish.

Into the rain forest!

Mmmm... breakfast. Those eggs were so good.

Some form of plantains were also involved in nearly every meal, and they are delicious (any way you slice it! :-P)

The art of making coconut oil

Just a little slice of paradise to call home

One of the many hikes, this one to a water fall

Hammock, ftw.

Oh, yeah.. this is Jose. With a machete. Cutting open a "pipa" for us to drink.

The following photos were taken by others on the trip:

Home sweet home (main house)

Mud bath :)

One of the many hikes (and Jose learning how to use a camera)

Incredibly long snake... just passing through

Water spout!

We survived!

At the docks in Sierpe, waiting to get on the bus to head to San Jose

Tune in next time, for "A blast from the past: a look at Tanda's childhood"