To say that I'm "a bit" of a dilettante is to say that Donald Drumpf is "a bit" of a fucko. I get obsessed with things UP TO A POINT but as soon as they get to a certain level of difficulty (usually one involving math or physical fitness), I lose interest. For example:
GYMNASTICS. I was into gymnastics when I was a kid and mastered the early levels quickly, because I was flexible and strong. But then, wait...HOW many push-ups to I have to do after that 5K run? HAHAHA
ARCHEOLOGY. I'm a huge history nerd and the romance of archeology is powerful. Plus, I REALLY enjoyed all of the non-sex parts of Clan of the Cave Bear. I briefly considered a career in archeology - you know, in case my theatre career didn't pan out - until I took a youth university class in archeology that included a simulation dig. It was SO hot and SO dusty and then, when we actually found stuff, it was just BITS of stuff and there's a lot of carbon dating and other science involved in trying to piece together what the stuff is. What time is the next dig? It's at nope o'clock.
DANCE. I LOVED jazz dance and took it until all of my teachers told me that in order to progress, I had to also take ballet. Ballet is BORING AS FUCK.
MUSIC. I played the clarinet and saxophone in junior high and high school and LOVED playing the easy parts of marches. I was always, like, 4th clarinet and chose tenor sax because alto was too much like flute - waaaay too many notes. After Grade 10, there was a music theory component. FUCK THAT SHIT.
ASTRONOMY. I signed up for an astronomy course in university as my science credit, thinking that we would learn about constellations and such. In the first ten minutes of class, I realized I'd accidentally signed up for REAL astronomy - the kind with PHYSICS. "I'm smart," I told myself, "I can handle this course. I'll APPLY myself. Everything will be FINE." After being completely lost throughout the second class, I was quietly weeping in line in the cafeteria. The Pasta Pronto lady, Maria Pia, gave me a free coffee and told me that it wasn't so bad. "Not everyone so smart," she said. I dropped the class the next day. Thanks, Maria Pia.
All this to say that I feel I have a wide variety of interests about which I know very little. I never became, as Lady Catherine would say, "a true proficient" in any of these areas. But I am still a huge history nerd and, in the last decade or so, I've become a bit of a futurist nerd as well (possibly because the older I get, the more I realize how much I am going to miss by being all dead and stuff). All my favourite books over the last years have been about Mars or Neanderthals.
After nearly 13 years of listening to me go on and on about the stone age and terraforming, Katr found the ULTIMATE dilettante gift for my birthday this year. And it's called the Mini Museum. BEHOLD!
Okay, that photo doesn't look very mini. Here's one from the website, for scale:
Photo source: NOT ME! This is from the Mini Museum 2 Kickstarter page
The Mini Museum is exactly what it sounds like - a tiny museum, encased in Lucite, full of amazing items. It's got everything from molecules of Martian atmosphere to mammoth meat to a fragment of Hindenburg skin; dinosaur parts, a piece of raw emerald, a fragment of a Neanderthal hand axe; petrified lightning, a piece of chain mail, a fragment of Moon Tree; a piece of bronze age dagger, Libyan desert glass, a piece of Krayte Dragon vertebra from the original Star War film - OMG BASICALLY EVERYTHING AWESOME AND AMAZING.
I can't stop looking at it. It's seriously the coolest thing ever. Katr - you are the BEST AT GIFTS.
Katr also got me this cool microscope camera that you can hook up to your computer and take VERY DETAILED photos of the specimens, so get ready for some of those. Effie is super jazzed for that.
In largely unrelated news, I was one of the Playwrights Guild of Canada's "Featured Playwrights" recently and now that I've committed myself to writing a play about lesbians in space, I'm PRETTY sure being the curator of a Mini Museum is going to come in handy. I'm a lesbian...I have actual things from space in my house = RESEARCH COMPLETE! Dilettante - OUT.
Recent Comments