Week 1 in the Forestry Department...

For a first week of school, things went pretty darned smoothly. I only got lost once in the forestry/wildlife building and only once in the monster buildings collectively called "McCarty Hall". I like all 3 of my classes, especially my botany class, which focuses on plant ecophysiology. Of course, I am a plant ecophysiologist with a particular liking for forests and ecosystem processes.

The only down-side to the week? The beginnings of a cold that's made me decide to stay home tonight instead of checking out the athletic facilities ... and a capoiera/breakdance group on campus that meets on Friday nights. I think I picked up the bug from one of my office-mates, a fellow ecologist who's also based in the forestry department who's been sick all week. Given the nature of the bug, I think I'm also going to be stuck at home this weekend, which is going to really hurt because I haven't gone shooting for almost 3 days... and not shooting for more than a few days has been known to have strange effects on me. Maybe I should swipe that discarded 3-D target or invest in one of those cheap bag targets, mount it on a chair, and start shooting at that when I can't go to the range for whatever reason.

I can't wait to start on a project. Right now I've got lots of ideas, mostly along the line of multi-scale studies on different types of ecosystems. Based on talking to some of the professors, I'm starting to think about looking at the different types of coniferous forests ranging from the predominantly longleaf/slash pines in Florida to the boreal forests out in Alaska and trying to develop a mechanistic model of evapotranspiration and carbon fluxes. I think I even have some strong candidates for my PhD committee... including a professor I mistook for a fellow grad student. Put it this way... a rugby player who runs the flux towers that the forestry (and botany) departments utilize and has worked with many of the people I collaborated with while I was at Cal State LA while he was in Barrow, Alaska.

Time to curl up and let my immune system do its thing so I can be at full juice on Monday... almost...

There's a really nifty video clip on http://www.martinarchery.com Just follow the link on the sneak peek for the 2007 Bengal and there's a little link to a video. Something about it was just rather... intriguing. While most people would rather admire tasteless fashion crap, I prefer the beauty of a well-shot arrow and a clean form. My bias is still much more towards the traditional bows, but there's still a different beauty in a compound bow. Just make sure it's not one of those scary-looking, gaudy target bows.

SFRC Orientation and Telcontar

Telcontar: I usually don't put links to videos, but these two pretty much helped inspire me to write the story...

http://youtube.com/watch?v=xCXzpTWMenc
http://youtube.com/watch?v=-gkiRE-DhMc

I'm not going to say too much else besides letting you guess how on earth two of my favorite singers influenced this story.

As far as the SFRC (School of Forestry Resources & Conservation) went, it was pretty darned good for an all-day orientation event. It was at the Austin Carey Memorial Forest, which is a nice short drive away from home, not far from the airport. It was a blast being able to meet fellow forestry people and realizing that they're not only very engaging and knowledgeable, but also quirky, although no group will ever come close to Caltech students in terms of being fun and quirky. Of all the orientations I've had to sit through, this was by far my favorite, not only because they actually fed us something besides junk food, but also because I was able to talk about my research without drawing blank looks and listen to my peers talk about their research and catching my attention.

The Austin Carey Forest is actually a fairly "typical" forest in this part of Florida with the upper canopy of mixed pines (mostly long-leaf but also slash) and a lower canopy that's either grasses or saw palmettos, depending on when the last fire was. It's also an AmeriFlux site and I'd love to see if I can get it added to SpecNet :) I have a distinct feeling that my research will ultimately be tied to fire and drought effects, at least based on what the professors told me about the site. I'm looking forward to doing field work here, at least if I do take on this site... but I'm still hoping to see if I can get some work in the Boreal forest and other SpecNet sites so I can really make use of the Spectral Network!

Tomorrow is the first day of school, which means I start studying again! I'm just hoping that my hunting instincts won't kick in too hard!

Stereotypes?

Q: What do you call a short person with glasses, a hat, a T-shirt, shorts, and something interesting to read?

A: A scientist!

Apparently there's something about that appearance that screams "scientist" to a lot of people. I went to get some take-out food, having decided that I've had enough spinach and bell pepper salad, and after I placed my order for something filling, the person at the counter looks at me and just says "Hey, you're a scientist, aren't you?" I was tempted to ask what science, but I decided against it because I just wanted my food, having been hungry for quite some time. The real fun, though was when I had to set my reading material down next to me so I could sign the receipt and the cashier looked horrified when she saw what I was going to read while waiting. I had an issue of Traditional Bowhunter with the page turned to a review of a really cool high-powered compact longbow, complete with broadhead-tipped arrows and a picture of a hunter with an animal they just shot. Is it me, or is it just that nobody seems to expect a 5'2" Asian female scientist in training to be interested in bow-hunting or to be able to draw more than about 30 lbs?

Dunheasa / Telcontar Update

I'm hoping I can finish the sequel to Journey to Dunheasa before school really kicks in. The sequel is still tentatively titled to Telcontar Restored but that's always prone to change. As of now, I'm standing in Dunheasa with the Eternal Huntress, wondering about the source of that unearthliy beautiful baritone voice that broke her concentration while hunting.

At this point, all I can say about Telcontar is that it's a much more challenging story to fully flesh out and write than the much more linear and focused Dunheasa. Telcontar is nonetheless a fun story to write, especially with one of the heroes who is a mixture of two of my all-time favorite singers (Dave Gahan of Depeche Mode and Alfonso Pichardo of Moenia) and several of my peers throughout my academic career.

Oh and here's another gratuitous picture what my "best round" at the range this morning with my trusty Chek-Mate. This time I used a set of practice arrows with reflective white cresting and semi-reflective shield-cut white fletching after losing far too many of my good carbon arrows... and the results weren't too shabby at 20 yards, but my form still needs a lot of work, as the large spread and two outliers indicate!

Some More Murphy's Laws...

#1 -- Any exceptionally well-made and expensive arrow, especially in a relatively fresh batch, will be shot into one or more of the following within a few days of creation: an active bee/hornet/wasp nest, large patch of poison oak/ivy/sumac, network of active black widow or brown recluse spider webs, and/or be buried under about 2-3 inches of vegetable litter with fire ant outposts everywhere. Or if it doesn't land in a bad spot, then it gets Robin-Hooded beyond repair. Conversely, the easiest arrows to retrieve from a miss due to tension, poor technique, or bad distance judgement are typically the older, not-so-well-made arrows that need to be repaired or replaced.

#2 -- The one time I decide to wear something appropriate for the temperature and humidity is the one time I also miss a lot of targets and need to go into dense underbrush to find arrows. If I'm wearing full desert camouflage treated with insect repellent and guarded against anyone trying to get a space on the walking bug buffet, I always hit the target.

#3 -- If I'm going to get munched on or stung, it will be right when I'm trying to retrieve said masterpiece from #1 and while wearing something that won't make me overheat.

#4 -- The one place I can set down my trusty bow away from the local fire ants and spiders will usually be right underneath a popular P-mail site for birds.

#5 -- My arrows tend to get driven further into the target (or wooden frame or tree) than the arrow that came from a 60 lb bow from the same distance. Hmm... maybe that 125 grain field point on an arrow designed for hunting could be the reason... most other target shooters use those insanely light arrows that just poke the target, not try to go through flesh, lungs, and other organs and tear them up along the way...

#6 -- The most likely location for a sting is somewhere that makes it almost impossible to concentrate... like the eyelid or hand. The most likely spot for a bite is that one spot that can't be reached and was covered in clothing with no obvious entrances there.

Even with all these little Murphy's laws, I still love outdoors traditional archery in the Florida wilderness. I'd rather have the occasional bite or sting than just sit indoors like some kind of potato, there's just too much to enjoy outdoors. I think I just need to bathe in a mixture of Deet, Bidrin, DDVP, and Naled... or go back to using soaps like Dial. Oh and I also need to treat my clothing with something to repel the local insect and arachnid life too. I like bugs, but I don't exactly appreciate them munching on me or attacking me when I try to retrieve an arrow because my form and/or aim were off.

I've also picked the classes I'll be taking this fall with a bit of help from my new adviser. It's hard when I'm limited to 9 (was originally 12, but the fellowship got turned into an assistantship) credits but at the same time, maybe I can finally have a report card that doesn't have 3 really solid grades and 1 horrible grade and really get the material in :) I'm definitely moving up in this world -- I now have my office space and a key into my new extended territory.

Time for me to do what I set out to do... with the understanding that there's always room for outdoors and exercise!

Where's the Nerds and/or Fellow Outdoors Types?

My natural early-morning activity: archery or hiking... or sleeping, depending on what I did the night before. Sitting through an orientation session with almost 1200 other graduate students while listening to a lot of talk about how great the football and basketball teams are.

Oh and another shocker for me -- many of the students I ran into didn't even have a research component to their program and were in some pretty strange fields like business and journalism. The closest thing to comfort for me was a small group of somewhat disoriented Chinese math and physics PhD students who were looking for "comforting" person. I probably provided about 30 seconds of reassurance when they saw my Caltech hat during the mandatory "say hi to your neighbors, tell your major, undergrad institution, and a hobby or two" bit, but I think I scared pretty badly when I indicated that I'm an ecologist with a focus in forestry and that I really fond of traditional archery and that I'm a member of Traditional Bowhunters of Florida. There's nothing scary about being someone who wants to bow-hunt species that are overpopulating the region because humans idiotically removed all the natural predators, is there?

After the mandatory sit-on-my-butt-for-too-long orientation, I had to deal with paperwork and clearing holds on enrollment. Not exactly fun, but I have to do it to start the real adventure (the PhD, not the bow-hunting) and I didn't really get to interact much more with my fellow graduate students. I'm guessing that I'll be much once I go to orientations in forestry and the School of Natural Resources and Environment when I can actually meet people who are at least semi- in my field.

I'm really itching for a bit of shooting actually, but not having anything really good to shoot at indoors, I think I'm just going to drool at some more classes to take the next few semesters.

TBOF 2006 Florida Fall Rendezvous

So... after being a bit miffed about having to miss out on some fun on Wednesday, I found out on Friday morning that there's another shoot I can go to and really have some fun. This shoot was in Ocala National Forest, which is a bit of a drive, but it was worth all the time, money, lost arrows, and insect bites.

Friday: Coon Shoot
This was a real fun event if I didn't score at all. It was a nice 10-shot shoot in the dark with a flashlight inside a jug to highlight the critter being shot at, which was almost always some small nocturnal mammal. This was the first fully dark shoot I had ever been to and let's just say I kept aiming at the jug with the light! I came pretty darned close to hitting this one darned albino squirrel, but I overestimated the height and managed to break a nearby tree limb instead. All in all, it was a real blast even if I lost 1 arrow... next time I get arrows, I'm putting on those reflective crests and/or glowing nocks!

Saturday: Fred Bear and Howard Hill
This was a series of 2 20-target ranges. The first one was Fred Bear, which involved lots of going through dense vegetation (thank goodness for Off! bug repellent). I had major target anxiety and only scored 55/200 on the Fred Bear, which someone later told me was "pretty damned good for a first-time foreigner" and that it was normal for people to lose about 2-3 arrows at this course. I lost 3 arrows, although one of them did come back to me. The Howard Hill course was also a very challenging range and was a lot more nerve-wracking because several of the targets are right against the lake, so if I miss, that arrow goes swimming with the fishies. Let's just say just about everyone loses at least 2-3 arrows at this range too the first time they shoot at it. I did a lot better on it, mostly because I had some really lucky shots, giving me 85/200 on the Howard Hill. The most amusing shot by far that day was this one large turkey that had its back on the archer. Let's just say this one was also very anatomically correct and I got it somewhere that caused lots of laughter. All in all, 140/400, although if breaking tree limbs and getting them embedded really hard with a light-draw bow were worth points, I would've gotten close to 300 points for all the damage I did to the trees. The Howard Hill took 3 of my arrows, including one that went into the water as a sacrifice to the water spirits. Not too bad for the combination of target anxiety, trying to adjust to the sauna, and not having much experience in real forest surroundings.

Sunday: Final Round @ Howard Hill
I didn't do too well, but it was still a blast. I got placed with other women who shot either recurves or longbows with non-wooden arrows who apparently also felt a bit self-conscious about their scores. I think my fear of the water and losing yet more arrows really hurt me on this one, but every time I remembered to focus on a tiny spot on the target, I had a pretty solid shot. There were a few arrows that I really drove in good, including this one where I shot pretty far into a cypress stump. We couldn't quite pull it out until I decided to put all my weight into the effort and I literally fell flat onto my butt like in the cartoons when someone tries to pull something out. My arrow survived! I also earned the nickname "Pooper Shooter" because I hit several targets either in or very close to the business end, especially that one turkey and this one raccoon where I thought I missed, but turned out that I hit it right under the tail. All in all, I scored 55/200 on this one, which wasn't all that bad for an early morning shoot! Overall I came out with 195/600, which looked pretty embarassing compared to all these people who were getting much higher scores, although the top scores were still in the 400s except for one or two insanely good people, but I still had way too much fun and now I've got a nice base-line to work on :) I also learned a few more tricks of the trade that'll (hopefully) turn me into an archer deadly enough to hunt safely!

Laughter Cures and Macho Syndrome

Somehow, my stomach has been rather... unhappy... at something I ate today (I blame the seasoning packet that came with the bowl of instant noodles -- most mushrooms, especially Asian ones, even in small amounts, will give me quite memorable stomach woes) and leading to the cancellation of some wonderful plans I had revolving around shooting defenseless targets with my trusty Chek-Mate Hunter I. Needless to say, I wasn't exactly happy about having to sit at home and grab my stomach and do all the usual stuff for major indigestion. Anyway, I decided to do anything to make me forget the pain in my digestive system. And no, it's not lethal or anything, but extremely annoying and is a real damper on anything fun (ie, going outdoors).

Part 1: Hilarious Web-Sites

So... I just poked my head into a couple of sites a friend of mine sent me. Note that some of them are quite crude/vulgar to the easily offended, so reader beware! Here's a list of the ones that made me laugh until something else started hurting:

http://www.tuckermax.com (funniest by a long-shot but also may be offensive)
http://maddox.xmission.com (also has a great book)
http://www.homestarrunner.com (non-offensive material)

I pretty much felt better instantly after reading/watching the material!

Part 2: The Moth Returns to the Flame

I have a scar on my left arm from a botched attempt to shoot a high-powered compound bow by BowTech (Equalizer if you want to know the exact model). It was still a safe fire, but that was before I had the strength to draw back 40+ lbs or the understanding of how a compound bow works. I have long since been mildly afraid to handle compound bows until a few days ago. A minor spike in whatever chemicals that induce macho behavior inspired me to start trying out different compound bows. Here's a list of compounds that I've tried and what I thought of them.

Hoyt Selena -- I shot it at about 47 and then 43 lbs at 24" draw. It was ok, but for some reason I still have a weird grudge against Hoyt, probably because my retinas are still scarred from looking at some of their target bows. I probably won't be able to give this bow a very fair assessment because I also got a pretty nice bruise that hurts when I touch it from this one at the 43 lbs draw weight. It also gave me some handshock when I fired it and there was just something about the grip that made me think "excessively girly". Also, after I shot this one, I deliberately had the draw weight set significantly below what I was comfortable with because I didn't want to have another accident where I forgot that I had to draw it back to the let-off point.

PSE Deer Hunter -- I shot this puppy at 37 lbs at 24" draw. Unlike any of the others I shot, this had a single cam (more like a wheel). I didn't really like the feel of this one, although it didn't have any glaringly bad features. It did give me quite a bit of hand-shock and it was a fairly slow bow. I think my Chek-Mate is faster than this one pound for pound!

Bear Odyssey -- I shot this one at about 38 lbs at 24" draw. This one was a pretty nice one with a nice grip that actually felt substantial and for a cheap introductory bow, it felt really good firing it. It had a nice smooth draw and I got very little shock when I fired it. It's also a very small bow and very light (about 32" axle-to-axle and a bit under 3 lbs). For a non-competetive bow (this one can go from 35-50 lbs draw weight) or hunting small critters (rodents and lagomorphs), I think this one would be pretty good especially since the weight range goes from 35-50 lbs instead of the typical 30-40 or 40-50 lbs. Another bonus: this bow is actually easy on the eyes too! If I had to get a compound, this one would be a VERY strong contender, especially since the price tag (about $200 for the bow + accessories) is pretty sweet.

Browning Micro-Adrenaline -- I shot this one at about 37 lbs at 23.5" draw. This was a pretty nice bow with a nice grip, not quite as nice as the Odyssey, but it had a nice punch to it. It had a bit more gradual draw, which I appreciated and fired fairly nicely. Overall, it's a bit more high-performance than the Odyssey and it's another strong contender. My only complaint about this one is that the balance didn't quite feel as good as the Odyssey.

Bowtech Equalizer -- I shot this one twice: once at 43 lbs @ 25" (that's when I got my scar) and once at about 39 lbs at 23.5" draw. By far this is the fastest thing I've ever shot. As far as the grip goes, this one was the only one that I liked more than the Odyssey. The other cool part is that pound for pound, this is probably the fastest short-draw bow (or any compound) on the market. Oh, and it's the only compound that has a grip that I like better than the Odyssey. A lot more. The down-side to this one? The nearly $700 price tag and possibly having to get a release aid to shoot this one comfortably because it did give me some finger pinch. But if I really want to start competing seriously and/or hunt anything larger than rodents and lagomorphs, then this is pretty much as top-of-the-line as it gets for a short-draw compound.

Conclusion:
I think I'm just going to stay with pure traditional for a while more even if there are some models of compounds I really enjoy... at least until I can put some more muscles in my upper body and build up some confidence in my ability to draw all 45+ lbs without letting go or hurting anything!

First Two Kills!

So today I now have two kills in my name. Both of these were just so darned unlikely that I couldn't believe it until I saw the stuff on my arrow and the impaled critter on the cardboard target face. If I had been prepared, I would've had my digital camera to take the pictures, but this time, you'll just have to take my word for it and given the nature of these shots, I don't think I could repeat those!

Kill #1: A huge dragonfly. Apparently it wasn't doing so well, as it didn't quite move in time to escape being hit by my nice self-fletched Carbon Express Heritage 150. It had a pretty nice "squish" effect since it was big enough to get hit by the arrow but was still smaller than my nice 125 grain field point. Bug stuff isn't so bad and I easily wiped it off when I got home.

Kill #2: A lizard. Yes, you may be asking me how the heck I pulled this one off, given that I'm in a hot, humid climate and lizards are pretty active. So basically this lizard decided that the small space between the cardboard target face and the foam backstop was a good place to take a nap. This makes sense because it's still fairly warm and it's inaccessible to any raptors that might be looking for an easy lunch. There's also plenty of bugs, so the lizard has a nice little hideaway. So what happens is I'm practicing and then I do my usual thing and as I'm pulling arrows, one arrow is covered in what looks like red fluid and some random other gunk. Ok, rotting plant material. Then I pull the arrow further out and my nice Heritage 150 and the 125 grain tip is covered in red stuff and when it fully comes out, a lizard drops out. It's got a pretty good size hole in it that matches my field point. I put 1 and 1 together and realize that I actually hit the lizard. Reluctantly in an attempt to show it some respect, I pick up the punctured body (and it was a nice chest shot too!) and place it away from the trail and bury it under some dead leaves. After that target, I made it a point to check for lizards.

Now, for those of you who know me, I actually do have a bit of a liking for reptiles, especially snakes and turtles, but I also do have a soft spot for small lizards because they're just so darned cute. To be honest, I have far more qualms about killing or hurting a rattlesnake than a rabbit. One of the coolest things to watch I think is just seeing how a snake or a hawk or any other predator catches a rabbit and eats it.

Two kills... and I wasn't even hunting for them. I guess that's Nature's way of taking out the "lazy" population!

My Masterpiece

So one of the things I discovered about going from an arid to a humid climate is that some items don't quite transport very well. Point in case being my wooden arrows, which are still usable, but I wouldn't rely on them in a tournament. They're perfectly good for me just to take it easy on the range with my Little Hawk or even my X-200 (although they're a bit stiff and heavy for the 30 lb bow). The fletching on my experimental carbon arrows kinda came off during transport as well (made a bad choice in adhesive apparently!), so I decided to re-fletch my carbon arrows and add some cresting just so they stand out a bit more. Fletching is very relaxing activity for me, although I do have to keep the windows open to make sure I don't accidentally get high from working with Fletch-Tite, which is a methyl-ethyl-ketone based adhesive. Here's the results of my re-fletching work as well as my trusty Hunter I fully equipped.

I can't wait to start shooting again! I've already taken a couple of trips just to get familiar with the Gator Bowmen range and have made my "required" sacrifice of 3 good arrows to any unfamiliar range, including one shatter and two in a nice bed of poison ivy. As far as these re-fletched arrows go, these are the best I've ever fletched myself and I would even venture to say they're even better than a lot of store-made ones I've encountered!

Hey, I Just Cracked my Book Open...

So in the last 2 days, I have accomplished the following:
1) Get my Florida Driver's license. The entire process from start to finish (leave home, do my thing at the DMV and then come back home) was about 2 hours. About 35-40 minutes was dedicated to driving and finding a parking space. I was shocked at how quickly things moved with an appointment and even more shocked that I got to watch the printing process. While I was at it, I also registered to vote in Florida. How hard could it be to cast a proper vote in Florida?

2) Get Florida law-approved car insurance so I could get the Florida license plate and take care of all that good stuff so I can get Florida residency. Suffice to say, as soon as I plop my butt down on the chair in the waiting area, the agent is already eager to go over the materials with me.

3) Get my Florida license plate and registration. I got referred to the local TAG agency and again, as soon as my butt touches the chair, I get called up and all the paperwork gets taken care of. This process was also insanely fast, with most of the time revolving around me running back home to bring back a piece of paperwork I forgot to bring and finding an appropriate tool to replace my CA license plate with my new shiny FL license plate.

And all through the process, everyone was professional, curteous, but they were also good-humored and extremely friendly. Gainesville is really growing on me!

Gainesville at Last!

I've officially made my move from southern California to Gainesville, Florida. Let's just say even though I'm now away from the people I've grown up with at Caltech and Cal State LA and already missing them, I'm still happy to be here. So far, it's been hot and humid, but I'm used to the hot part, having done field work in chaparral and gone to summer-time archery tournaments.

Today I decided to take a semi-random trip south to Marion and Levy counties because someone once told me that it was a beautiful drive through the country-side and there were some nifty state parks to check out, including Rainbow Springs (which I had poked my head into) and Goethe State Park, which is a beautiful forested area. I managed to miss a turn because someone managed to cut me off, but being a bit of an adventurer with a map and a full tank of gas, I decided to explore the area. Let's just say... I wouldn't mind living for a while somewhere as open and undeveloped! I'm already visualizing all of the time I'd spend outside mastering my skills as an archer!

I was hoping to get more work done on the Dunheasa/Telcontar series, but between family and general chaos of setting up, I haven't really done anything, but I think that little jaunt today gave me more inspiration... Stay tuned!

Random Picture of the Week

What else can I say about this wonderful recurve bow? I wish I could spend a bit more time with this bow... and maybe add 6-8 lbs draw weight on it!

Some Unspoken Rules...

1) If you're really waiting for a call, it will come under one of the following conditions: your phone loses reception, you desperately need to use the bathroom, someone else is bugging you, or you have to go into class or take an exam.

2) If you're waiting to talk to someone about something important, they will always show up right when you have to go to class, take an exam, use the bathroom, or are about to pass out from hunger. If the person is allergic or offended by a particular food, s/he will come right when you're eating exactly what they can't be around.

3) The expensive carbon arrow with a fancy light-up nock, 5" shield-cut barred fletching, and glue-in points will be destroyed by being Robin-Hooded by a home-made cheap arrow that's on its last legs.

4) Most hits on a 3-D target will either be hit by another arrow (see #3) or fall off when someone else hits the target. Misses will either land in the brush or in the one patch of poison oak.

5) The more antisocial you need to be, the more people like to crowd around you and harass you.

6) If there's a textbook you desperately need, it will cost about three times as much as normal. If you don't need a textbook, prices will drop to about one third of the normal price.

7) The more disgusting a bird's diet is, the more likely you have to park under its nest.

8) The rock you sit on while hiking on a trail is most likely a "p-mail" spot for dogs.

9) The taller the building and the slower the elevator, the more likely it is that you'll be trapped in the elevator with the flatulent person who ate bean burritos and sulfur-rich foods for breakfast/lunch/dinner... or the person who's wearing perfume/cologne that could kill anything with a sense of smell.

10) The probability of encountering bratty, screaming, outright disgusting children with retarded parents increases exponentially when carrying a strung bow.

...and the warrior passes the trial of fire...

In the last few days, I have...
1) Defended my thesis (e-mail me for a copy) before my thesis committee
2) Made revisions to my thesis and turned in the final copy
3) Finished the last revisions to my submission to Remote Sensing of Environment for the SpecNet special issue.

The thesis defense didn't feel so much like an actual presentation, given the large number of interruptions I got from my committee, but rather an exam to see if I understood what I did. To those of you who will have to do a thesis defense presentation/Q&A session, I have a few words of wisdom:

1) Coffee is your friend, but only in moderation. Same goes for Mountain Dew or Red Bull.
2) Eat a bit before going into the defense. Something like a piece of fruit or something else that's easy to digest is really good.
3) Reheasrse the day before and then relax the day of unless you're someone who can really improvise and/or know the material better than the back of your hand.
4) Committee members can ask some of the most random of questions. Prepare accordingly.
5) Tae Kwon Do forms, especially the Taeguk ones, can be comforting in times of stress, but don't get caught doing one right before the presentation.

A Few More Random Top n

So I'm on a brain break from prepping for my defense... and I suddenly felt the urge to add a few more random Top n lists.

Top 10 Bows I've Shot Personally, * indicates more than 10 shots on it, c indicates custom-made
1) c* Chek-Mate Hunter I (take-down recurve, my absolute favorite by a long-shot!)
2) (tied) c Chek-Mate King's Pawn (recurve) and c Chek-Mate Crusader (longbow)
4) * Martin Mamba (recurve)
5) * Martin Vision (longbow)
6) * Ragim Little Hawk (longbow, only complaint is I always hit my ceiling with it)
7) Bear Montana (longbow)
8) * Internature Viper (longbow)
9) Bear Super Magnum 48 (compact recurve)
10) c* Black Widow PSA (take-down recurve)

Top 5 Bows I Want to Try
1) Chek-Mate Longhorn (Turkish-style flatbow)
2) Saxon Hawk Signature (Turkish-style longbow)
3) Chek-Mate Raven (compact recurve)
4) Martin Serengeti (recurve)
5) Magyar Sport Vazul (Hungarian-style horsebow)

5 Least Favorite Bows I've Shot
1) Mathews Genesis (very light-draw compound in horrible colors)
2) Hoyt Gold Medalist (Olympic-style recurve in horribly bright colors that wake the dead)
3) Hoyt Aerotec (see #2)
4) Samick Mizar (see #2)
5) PSE Spyder (compound)

Random Top n

For some reason I just feel like posting a random set of Top n lists now that I've got a bit of a break from my thesis while waiting for my committee to give me more comments... so here goes.

Top 10 Warriors
1) Drizzt Do'Urden (R.A. Salvatore's Dark Elf Series) -- Dual scimitars, renegade dark elf, ranger... all-around favorite!
2) Catti-Brie (R.A. Salvatore's Dark Elf Series) -- Awesome archer with a really cool bow and sword, human girl raised among dwarves, lots of brains and personality... need I add much more?
3) San (Hayao Miyazaki's Princess Mononoke -- Warrior-princess raised among wolves, she's definitely not your dull princess who just looks pretty! Best moments: when she first shows up leading a raid against the human settlement with the wolves and when she's covered in blood.
4) Nausicaa (Hayao Miyazaki's Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind -- Pacifist warrior-princess but there's a really cool scene where she goes beserk and kills a whole bunch of Torumekian soldiers. Oh and she's also a scientist too, both in the movie and the manga :)
5) Artemis Entreri (R.A. Salvatore's Dark Elf Series) -- Dual-weapon assassin with a darkly fascinating style... quiet, efficient, deadly.
6) Aragorn (J.R.R. Tolkien's Lord of the Rings -- Quite a sight in combat... and quite the survivalist!
7) Eowyn (J. R. R. Tolkien's Lord of the Rings) -- Not much of her fighting, but I love how she just takes out the Nazgul in the Return of the King
8) Prince Ashitaka (Hayao Miyazaki's Princess Mononoke -- Pacifist warrior prince under a curse. Most spectacular moments are when he decapitates samurai with his arrows!
9) Legolas (J. R. R. Tolkien's Lord of the Rings -- Inhumanly awesome archer and can hold his own in hand-to-hand.
10) Wulfgar (R.A. Salvatore's Dark Elf Series -- Barbarian with that nifty war hammer that he can throw or swing at enemies.

Top 5 Mages
1) Raistlin Majere (Margaret Weiss & Tracy Hickman's Dragonlance Chronicles and Dragonlance Legends Series -- Creepy, intriguing mage who could've been a god.
2) Ged Sparrowhawk (Ursula LeGuin's Earthsea series) -- Harry Potter's precursor with much more personality and character.
3) Jilseponie Ault (R.A. Salvatore's Corona books -- Warrior/sorceress who can handle just about anything from fierce combat situations to diplomatic leadership to wilderness survival.
4) Howl (Dianne Wynn Jones' Howl's Moving Castle) -- Actually I prefer the one from Miyazaki's film of the same title. Who wouldn't envy a wizard who has a moving castle with multiple portal doors, infinite hot water, and the ability to turn into a scary bird-like creature?
5) Fizban (Margaret Weiss & Tracy Hickman's Dragonlance Chronicles and Dragonlance Legends Series -- Eccentric wizard who just can't seem to remember anything yet holds insane powers...

Oh and the picture posted on top is of my trusty Hunter I from Chek-Mate.

P(Darwin) = F(Thesis Progress, Stress)

The events portrayed in this entry are not to be attempted at home, not even by trained professionals. You have been warned.

So when pressure gets heavy and time becomes precious, especially with an upcoming defense and thesis submission deadline, mundane chores such as washing dishes tend to go undone for a few days at a time. Anyway, this time things got a bit worse than usual, as I found out when I found that my kitchen was now home to a flock of Drosophila melanogaster, or fruit flies, if you will. There's only one animal I despise more than Drosophila and that's the overrated, insanely fast reproducing coprophagous mammal in order Lagomorpha, family Leporidae -- namely rabbits. At least with those darned coprophages, killing them yields useful products such as meat and pelts, which can be used for nifty things like bowstring silencers and ornaments for my quiver, but killing Drosophila yields nothing beyond a split second of glee. But I digress. I also tend to keep a bit of ethanol under the sink for cleaning jobs where plain soap and hot water and good scrubbing doesn't cut it and I don't want to deal with really stinky or toxic stuff. Ethanol is a good cleaning agent and it also makes a good fruit fly killing agent too. So I was spraying the little buggers with a bit of ethanol (by the way, lab grade is best but in a pinch, according to a friend, cheap vodka or everclear does the trick too) and they're dying nicely. Actually if I still had my nice little Drosera capensis (sundew), it would've been a lot more entertaining way of killing the darned flies. But I've sprayed all their possible hideouts and the air so there's some ethanol vapors around. I was also getting hungry and I was about to cook something on the stove, which uses a flame, and I quickly decided against it because I didn't want to risk getting flambeed and ending up with a Darwin Award. So I just fixed myself a peanut butter sandwich and some fruit.

The score now is:
Me -- 1, Drosophila: 0

Thesis Revisions!

I just finished revising my thesis and really bulked up on actual content instead of tables :) Darn, this blog is turning into a real variable resolution TIN model -- too many mental processes in a short time!

And now off to relax briefly before I pedal to the metal again (and no, I'm not referring to my car or bike...)

Oh and I have a tentative title for the Dunheasa sequel: Telcontar Restored. I won't say much more about it yet until I write a few more pages.

Dunheasa FAQ Part 2 and a Few Alumni Pics

I've been getting a lot more questions about Dunheasa, so here are some of the most common ones.

Q: Is Moenia a real group and is that snippet of "Manto Estelar" an actual song or one that you made up? And why did you pick Moenia's songs of all things? What do they sound like -- any "mainstream" bands to compare them to?
A: Moenia is indeed a real group and "Manto Estelar" is one of their songs. I just really like their songs and I just happened to be listening to a lot of Moenia lately. The best comparison would be Depeche Mode (another band I really enjoy listening to), although a lot of their really early songs also remind me of Erasure. (Is my taste in music THAT far from mainstream to have almost everyone ask?)

Q: Did anything really happen between Joanne and Thomas? And is anyone attached to Captain Greywolf? If so, is it Brik-Roc or Moreth?
A: I'll let you (my readers) decide.

Q: Where do you get the inspiration for some of those names? What language(s) are they from and what do they mean?
A: A lot of Tolkien, some Gaelic and other random European languages I've been exposed to. Here's a break-down by characters I've been asked about most:
Cylithera -- I heard that name once somewhere, not sure where but I really like the name. In the world/languages of my writing, it roughly comes out to "Keeper of the Sacred Moonlight"
Iliiryana -- Inspired by a mishmash of Russian names as well as a bit of Gaelic and another character in my writing, Ilithara (see "Idiocy and Innocence" on my webpage). Again, in the world of my writing, her name comes out to roughly "Huntress of the Shadow", while "Ilithara" is "Dancer of the Shadow".
Soronthrel Cuthalion -- Almost straight from Tolkien, her name roughly comes out to either "Eagle-friend of the mighty bow" or "Eagle-maiden of the mighty bow".
Firianna Celethorn -- Inspired by a mixture of Gaelic and Tolkien's languages. Her name roughly comes out to "Little Hawk of the Silver River".
Telcontar -- Straight from Tolkien and it comes out to "Strider" or "Wanderer".

Come on people, you can also comment too, although I do enjoy the e-mails too!

Oh, and by the way, from top to bottom on the photographs: Elisa shooting my 30 lb Martin X-200, Yvette shooting my 40 lb Ragim Little Hawk (my personal favorite for now!), and me shooting my 40 lb Samick Woodsman. I took them out to do a bit of archery during alumni weekend. It was a real blast hanging out with them and sharing the joys of archery!