record attendance at the museum

Yesterday was my father's 60th birthday so some friends came over to celebrate.  The only reason this applies to the Colleyville Dragonfly Museum's blog is because the museum is hosted on the second floor of my parent's house.

As you can imagine...word has gotten around over the past few years that I am a pretend curator of a fake museum...and many* of the guests at the party were interested in seeing this fascinating collection of winged friends.  After cake and ice cream, a whopping five guests (and one curator) raced upstairs to the museum/my bedroom to engage in an entomological learning experience!

In the past, mostly children have visited the museum but this case was interesting because the age range of the guests was between 26 and whatever age Billy's mom is (probably close to 55 or so).  The visitors were genuinely excited and two even said they'd be interested in coming along on a field trip/quest for more specimens.  They asked questions about how I caught the dragonflies, how many species were in America and how they can be preserved (thankfully I either knew or bullshitted the answers...jk).  I was overwhelmed with their reaction to the museum and it was a great feeling to see that the work I've done was enjoyed by someone else as well as myself.

*= at least three were interested, two were possible tag-alongs

new direction

Well...my lifelong dream of moving to China to publish one blog post about dragonflies has been completed and now that that's out of the way I have relocated back to America.  All seriousness aside, though I did not stay the intended duration of my trip in China I do not consider it a failure.  While the trip didn't turn out how I had wanted it to (my blog about my China experience), I learned a lot of things I wouldn't have had the opportunity to learn were I stateside.  As well...obviously, I saw some badass new dragonflies!!

Coming back home felt somewhat like a setback in many ways and I knew I didn't want to be where I was.  Though it's not necessarily the most appealing form of motivation, being extremely frustrated with your situation can do the trick sometimes.