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.

China power!

So I'm still in China, still chugging away, always on the lookout for the next big dfly, the next superstar of the world.  Here are some candidates I've come across in the past few months.

Female Acisoma panorpoides (Asian pintail).

mora-borium

I know I said the museum was not accepting specimens due to my impending departure, but it turns out the lifestyle I've designed for myself as a hunter is too deep in my blood to obey the bureaucracy.  I broke the code; I captured a handful of dflies since I wrote about the moratorium.  I'm sorry but I will not apologize for this.

In the post describing the stoppage of specimen acquisition I forgot to mention a caveat stating "rare and unprecedented specimens will be admitted."  This was a standard clause I asked my lawyers to tell me to put in the blog even though I didn't intend to use it (I figured I'd be too busy getting ready for the move to hunt).  However, I have admitted multiple specimens and not all the specimens I have recently brought to the museum have fallen under either exceptional category.  Another dictum of recalcitrance...

summer break

Hi all.  Well, spring is here and summer is next.  You know what that means!  Neither do I, but I have other news anyway:  I am moving to China at the end of June.  This means a lot for the Colleyville Dragonfly Museum.  As some may know, the museum is located in the bedroom of my parent's house.  My parents have recently informed me that they are going to take over my room while I am gone.  Thus...admission to the museum will be temporarily suspended to the general public.  Case-by-case appeals for entry can be made by contacting me via a note on this blog entry.

Expansion of the museum will also be halted while I am away.  I realized today while walking that I have too much work to do before I leave for China and I cannot keep accumulating specimens--even the specimens I already have have not received enough care and attention; there are literally over 100 specimens sitting in shoeboxes on the ground because I have nowhere to put them right now.

I'm sorry for this distressing news.  Blog entries will probably continue as I try to share pictures and information about our winged friends.  My stomach has just informed me that I must eat or I will die, so this entry is going to be cut short.  Goodbye for now.