Thursday, August 4, 2011

Belated Third Blogiversary!

My third blogiversary was actually last month, but that was right after my birthday, in the midst of my amazing Big Island vacation, shortly followed by my family coming to town (they're still here). As often happens, Real Life takes over and I fall behind on my blog. Anyway, I've done posts for both of my previous blogiversaries (bringing you my otter stuffed animal collection, and the ear snap), so I can't miss this one, late as I may be.

When I started this blog, I was quite naive and wasn't really sure the extent to which I wanted to stay anonymous. I made up names, used photos that didn't show my face (still have that Blogger profile picture on the left), and was vague on places I'd lived, gone to school, and worked. Before long, I started posting photos with my face, but always wearing sunglasses (except for photos of me when I was little). It became kind of a joke, I guess, and was even easier to keep up when I moved to Hawaii, since I'm always wearing sunglasses when I'm outside, where most of my worthwhile photos are taken. Well, I'm not as concerned anymore about anonymity and mystery. For my third blogiversary post, I'll share some facts about me that I've only beaten around before, and I'll share a photo of me that includes my eyes. They aren't facts that come up very often, but I might as well get them out in the open here.

I usually say that I'm from New England, but at least once in the comments on this blog I admitted to growing up in Massachusetts. Specifically, I'm from Natick, Massachusetts, a suburb of Boston known for its shopping mall (locally known, at least), army labs (Ben Affleck has been there, really!), and Doug Flutie (recently retired NFL player, raises money for autism). It's also home to the corporate headquarters of Matlab producer MathWorks, Inc. (nerd cred!) and was featured in Family Guy episode "Da Boom" as the town with the Twinkie factory where the family sought food and new residence after nuclear disaster.

For college, I went to Princeton University, which is in New Jersey. It was with the Princeton University Chapel Choir that I was lucky enough to sing in Carnegie Hall one night, which was amazing. We also got paid (very little) in the choir: How can you get college students to wake up early every Sunday morning? Bribe them with money and bagels. Hence my boasts in that one post of having once been a professional singer.

After graduating, I got a job at Horn Point Laboratory, a lab facility in Cambridge, Maryland for the University of Maryland Center for Environmental Science. Cambridge, MD is a very small, remote town, and I complained a lot about how little there was to do there. But it was lovely living and working on a tiny campus right on the wide Choptank River.

And now, without further ado, a recent photo of me, including my eyes:



I call it my "angry mermaid" photo. My mask was leaking and I was working on clearing it, and then I looked up to discover that the Housemate was apparently taking photos of me. I shot him this angry look to tell him not to take photos of me clearing my mask. I wasn't actually that mad, there just aren't many ways to say "Please stop pointing that camera at me while I try to clear my mask of water" when you're scuba diving. Afterwards, the Housemate admitted that I'd scared him, and he'd been afraid to take photos of me after that. Mission accomplished, sort of. This was taken on the Big Island last month, and I promise I'll share more photos of that trip soon.

Thanks to everyone for reading! I love having this blog as a way to document and share my thoughts, my interests, my exciting experiences, and my worries. I really appreciate everyone who reads and those who comment. Even though I haven't met any of you in person, I value the friendships I've made online through this blog.

7 comments:

C said...

I was directed here by Angie at Lariats and Lavender and I have high hopes... this seems like just my type of blog!

Eleni said...

Cool! I'm always happy to find another geeky girl :) And I look forward to checking out your blog!

Amber said...

Happy belated blogiversary! It seems like so many of the bloggers that I started following a little over a year ago have called it quits. 3 years is a big deal. And I love that angry mermaid photo. It's amazing how so much emotion can be seen through so much scuba gear.

Anonymous said...

Happy Blogiversary! Keep blogging. i love reading

Eleni said...

Amber - What can I say, I guess I like the sound of my own voice--er, typing. Sometimes I go stretches when I don't feel like I have anything to say (so I'll post photos or something), but there's always something to come along and fire me up. But I wish I could be as funny as you are!

onepercentofone - Thanks! I'll try my best :)

Sebastian Anthony said...

Ha, a guildmate posted a photo of him scuba diving last week, and I chastised him for being 'Mr Serious'.

He told me that it's impossible to smile while scuba diving as you lose the seal on the mouthpiece! So that's why all scuba divers look so serious...

Happy blogoversary :)

Eleni said...

Thanks :)

Yes, you have to be careful about smiling, and laughing. Any expression that modifies your cheek position is also dangerous, since you can lose the seal around the bottom of your mask and water will leak in.