my seven non-blogged things

I alluded in my previous post that I was thinking about things I haven't blogged about. I finally thought of some (I don't think I have blogged about them at least). The meme I got tag from was here over at Amanda's place (And I did dance ballroom dancing one time in my life, in competition! Wasn't too impressive though, but it was great to learn early on how to foxtrot, cha-cha and some rumba and samba.... shake those hips but keep shoulders steady!)

Pets: I have and have never had pets. (I have worked at a farm though, with animals, and I was quite good at riding horses. But I am scared of cats and dogs… or maybe rather the people who have untrained dogs?) I just read this in the New York Times and again I am stunned. Why would you want pets if you don’t really want pets… you want something “that fits into your lifestyle” and therefore declaw cats and debark dogs?

It’s like when I went on a little vacation out in the outback of a southern state and found the cute cat at the bed and breakfast. The owners said “she had a sister but she’s dead now. They were both declawed as indoor cats and then my daughter didn’t want them anymore and we took them in. However, they are outdoors here. One day some dogs came round and the cat couldn’t climb the tree to hide but got chewed to death.” Excellent, first declaw the cat so it doesn’t destroy your precious furniture – then leave it defenseless outside. And you think that I am boring not wanting a pet?

I sometimes don’t wonder anymore about people who buy their couches and leave the plastic on top of it “not to make it look worn” (true story). Why did you buy it? Well, it looks good right? I guess the same thing applies to the cats and dogs that are "changed into quiet and non clawing things"?

Plastic surgery; I have a small fascination for plastic surgery. I’ve thought about a tummy tuck – if it wasn’t for the fact that I am terrified of surgery in general (read: “bacterial infection and pus” not to mention the face that your whole tummy is going to be open and there have been reports about the stitches loosing and the whole pack of intestines falling out….”). I would rather take those money and go on a retreat for 4 weeks. Retreat for body and mind, someone to cook for me and time to exercise for me. I’d love it. Anyone have like $6000 to donate?

I do find it fascinating that 25% of women between 18 and 25 in Sweden apparently has done breast surgery. I am still baffled. I did read the % of nose jobs in college girls in the US too… And then I haven’t even mentioned the “swan” shows… or the idea behind that surgery can “fix” you although it might be mostly in your mind that you need to be “fixed”. Hm, maybe there is a post in there somewhere, if I can find the link to science.

Child rearing: Since I don’t have children of my own, I’ve been told numerous times that I can’t have opinions about this. I find that comment funny in general since we tend to think that people can have opinions about lots of things they haven’t really done (drug legislation for example) Anyhow, my views on this is that I do think you shouldn’t coddle kids too much (read helicopter parenting) and coming from where it is illegal to spank/hit children I am not a fan of corporeal punishment either. Some of my co-workers are very strict on punishing their teenagers and I find myself a bit baffled (I wasn’t punished as much growing up), I am not sure on this “no TV for two weeks and no computer for one week” just because someone “talked back to them”…. But I guess it is hard to imagine for me, childless as I am. It would be interesting though, to see if it would be terribly different from being a huge part in bringing other people’s children up (as a common baby/child sitter) since if I can hold my temper with other people’s kids – I’d be able to do it with my own too, right?

Playing an instrument: I am a fan of every child learning at least one instrument and/or singing. My point? Learning to read keys. It’s really quite simple, once someone has given you the starting points. And it is also a window to understanding the “classical music” and maybe listen to other types of music than is on the radio all the time, not to mention the voice over/mood music in thousands of movies (how many times can Mozart’s requiem be played as an ominous move?). I have enjoyed being able to play my instrument of choice as well as learning on my own to play the piano (dabbling at least) and the clarinet. If I had one chance to start again, I'd go with carinet or oboe...

Politics in general: I haven’t written much about politics in general apart from my feminist views/rants and some science funding questions. Why? Because I find the discussions in general raising more questions than giving answers. There was a time (and some of my family were very happy then) when I would declare “I don’t speak to X and Z since they are [right/left] and only disgusting, stupid people are that way”. Oh the easy times. I have a diverse setting of friends, most of them (I have to admit) do share (most of) my political views, but there are some who don’t at all (especially not when it comes to taxes and rates)… then I moved to the US and things were not as easy. I think it would be safe to say that even the most right-winged person from my home country would be less right than the most right-winged person here. Why? Because there is an ingrained idea about government [funding/size] back home. Here? (in the south?) Not so much.

Not that it matter to me, since I have already singled out a few questions where I know that if my friends and I differ it will be hard to see eye to eye and still be friends. I call them “key issues”, and no – I will not voice them here. Too complex and too personal, but some of them are in the same camp as “women being worth the same as men” and things like that.

Private/Personal things: I’ve mentioned, and especially in the beginning (some posts have been taken away with time) some things about my personal life. Then I decided that it wasn’t where I wanted to go. Something with “getting a larger audience” made me play the cards a bit closer to home. It’s also because I don’t know if (or doesn’t want it to) matter if I am married or single or divorced or living as a mormon… (I’m not, a mormon that is) To me it mattered to say that I was female, although my nick name is ambiguous from the early times of internet for that exact reason.

Funny enough, I don’t find the rants about “how sad I feel” or “how challenging this has been with work” as private. Maybe partly because I find it honest to say “it’s not always easy to be a post doc” and that were the best posts to read for me when I started reading all these science blogs. If I want lies and pretending, I can just look out the window or go to the cafeteria. Not always that helpful for the impostor syndrome.

iPhone: haven’t written a word about iPhones or Droid. I feel very happy having an older phone since then I can’t surf the web all the time, which I would do. I am a bit envious of people who have an iphone, sometimes, but overall I don’t think it would be a good thing for me right now. I would be on the darned thing all the time... (moderation isn't really my best word).

And the seventh thing I haven’t written too much about…. Lies, well I have talked about that. Deception and infidelity, touched on it too. Hm, let’s go with Travels. I love travelling to new places and eat new food and see new people. That said, I have never been really good with going to a new place and sit by the beach. I have never been to Asia nor South America. One day I wish to go. I haven’t seen the true sand dunes in Arabia (but boy would I like to). I would be thrilled about the opportunity to see the southernmost tip of Africa (and the penguins) and the pyramids of Egypt would be super cool to see too. I have many places to visit, most of them I would find more fun to go to if I knew someone who lived there (or go with somebody since so far I have travelled a lot on my own). One of the perks with knowing science types, although there are limits where the labs are and where the conferences are held, would be that there are an easy "excuse" (read, actually do it!) to go an visit and see new places. (Although, conferences might be out of scope for a long time forward. But new found friends/people from the blogosphere might be a small reason on the side?)

I’ll end with a little hope and dream of my own. I would love to be able to look back at my life and note that I did accomplish something (maybe publish a book I have been working on for a while, although in non-English and probably for a small/minuscule target group). And I would love to have peace of mind and relax in the present and just enjoy it, without thinking through every decision I make a thousand times and feeling worried about it getting destroyed and ending in disaster. Oh, and can I wish for a great retirement check too? And peace on earth?

:)

PS. I realize now that I probably should blog a bit about money too.... I haven't done that before so maybe next post will be something like "the money of science, or not" ... ? After all, there are lots of us trying to find that marvellous place where money isn't the key worry part of existence, right?