Speech Communities and Cultures

Speech communities are tied to different cultures. I belong to a few different communities just as I belong to different cultures. For instance, I am a Southern California girl who says "like" and "I was all..." in place for more standard English. I also say um a lot. I can go between more formal ways of speaking, and I can talk in "supermarket lingo" as well as science talk. I can switch between all without having to think. I can analyze where I am and who I am with to decide what is appropriate, but sometimes there is slippage. Usually I get looks like, "What are you talking about?" Sometimes I even get told to not talk that way because it's like I am trying to sound smart (usually my mom when talking about science). She sees this as me trying to assert my knowledge that she does not possess over her to make her feel less than I am, which is not the case. I am not trying to sound smart. I just forget the different communities sometimes and have trouble keeping them separate in a way that is neutral to others.

So I guess I am not always neutral as I could be.

All of this is acquired, and all of this is arbitrary. I can say I am facing an aisle, and while I mean I am pulling product forward to make it look nice and full, to someone who has no insight into this language, I am speaking Latin to a Japanese citizen. The word face has so many meanings. It can be the face of a person or part of a geometric figure. I did not know what face meant in this context until I worked for a grocery store, and even then it only came after I was promoted to a GM clerk who stocked shelves. I learned this from what people said. I was able to pick up on the meaning just as I was able to discern the terms power panel and u-boat. This is all very specific to a culture and something I picked up and now use on a semi-daily basis.

Isn't it cool when school ties in with real life?

An Unfortunate Difference

The difference between being a science major and being a social science major, for me, sucks. Reading and getting info and being able to apply it is nice and all, but give me adventures in the field over papers and notes. In populations biology, we went camping twice and hiked into a canyon for five weeks. We got wet and dirty (and some of us sunburned). Hands on is just so much better. The nature of the social sciences, though, is different, I understand that. I just miss it. Guess I have to try and remedy that myself. Just because I don't have classes that go into nature and observe doesn't mean I can't for fun.

So that's where it stands, I guess.

Collide

--Howie Day

The dawn is breaking
A light shining through
You're barely waking
And I'm tangled up in you

I'm open, your closed
Where I'll follow you'll go
I worry I won't see your face
Light up again

Even the best fall down sometimes
Even the wrong words seem to rhyme
Out of the doubt that fills my mind
I somehow find you and I collide

I'm quiet you know
You make a first impression
I've found I'm scared to know
I'm always on your mind

Even the best fall down sometimes
Even the stars refuse to shine
Out of the back you fall in time
Somehow find you and I collide

Don't stop here
I lost my place
I'm close behind

Even the best fall down sometimes
Even the wrong words seem to rhyme
Out of the doubt that fills your mind
You finally find you and I collide

Euprymna scolopes

What is your favorite marine animal??


Euprymna scolopes is a small (to just 35 mm ml) sepiolid squid endemic to the Hawaiian Islands. While nocturnal like other sepiolids, it is unusual in that it ranges into very shallow water just 2-4 cm deep. Most other sepiolids are found in relatively deep water.

E. scolopes can be found at night nearshore over sand flats by wading with a light or lantern or snorkeling with a dive light. During the day it buries itself in the sand. When it emerges from the sand it keeps a "sand coat" on its dorsal surface which is presumed to give it camouflage when attacking prey. The sepiolid is relatively short-lived, just 3-10 months from egg to its semelparous death. Eggs are 2.0 mm in diameter and laid on the undersides of coral ledges in shallow water. Paralarvae grow very fast; Hanlon et al. (1997) found E. scolopes to breed and lay eggs in the laboratory just 2 months after hatching from the egg. Juveniles are frequently found with adults in shallow water. Adults are sometimes trawled offshore in mid-water in depths to 138 fathoms. They have been reared in the laboratory on live shrimp in Hawaii and on mysids at Woods Hole.

It has been proposed that E. scolopes can become an easily-reared cephalopod for laboratory research projects. Numerous laboratory studies have been done researching its symbiotic bacterium Vibrio fischeri which lives in the sepiolid's light organ to produce a weak light under the body of the animal. This gives it counter-shading and camouflage from predators.

Some of the things I love about the original Pokemon

-Dexter
-The randomness
-The Japanese culture references
-Misty (sans Togepi)
-actually seeing Ash learn and become better
-Team Rocket not being annoying and repetitive
-the original Team Rocket motto
-the original VA cast
-Misty vs. Ash
-Ash and Gary’s rivalry
-“Whose that Pokémon?” (original version)
-Pikachu’s Jukebox
-the original 151 (plus the next 100)

Stuff From My Childhood

Pokémon
Furby
POGs
ATC
Spice Girls
Aaah! Real Monsters
Rugrats
Doug
Eiffel 65
Animaniacs
Pinky and the Brain
Weird Al
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles
Bop It
Skip It
Beanie Babies
*NSYNC
Backstreet Boys
Britney Spears
Christina Aguilera
Zelda: Ocarina of Time and Majora’s Mask
Dragonball Z
Tenchi Muyo!
Toonami
States
Silent Ball
Four Corners
Freeze Tag
Power Rangers
Brass Button Bears
Tech Decks
Yo-yos
Gameboy Pocket, Camera, and Printer
Tamagotchi, Giga Pets, and virtual pets
Star Wars prequels
9/11/2001
Human genome
Puff the Magic Dragon
Gullah Gullah Island
Allegra’s Window
Eureka’s Castle
Blue’s Clues
Invasion of Iraq 2003
Invasion of Afghanistan 2001
Pres. Clinton’s impeachment trials
Chevron cars
Lincoln Logs
Columbine

Update (my ff.net profile)

August 11, 2009

I haven't updated my profile in quite a while so here goes.

Storywise I am currently working on two crossovers. One is Tenchi Muyo and Dragonball Z (Legend of the Triad 3) while the other is Tenchi Universe and Dragonball Z (yes, there is a difference). The second one I haven't started to post because I want to finish it before I do in an attempt to be more consistent with updates in case it garners any fans. The other story, A Hero's Sojourn, is something I am working on finishing this summer. I wrote it in 2001 when I was only 15, and I am trying to type it up from the written version now that I am older and a better writer (hopefully). It's part of a much larger series that I am going to try and slowly revise and type up. If you can believe it, it's loosely related to GS Distress and GS Distress II, two Pokemon fics I have up. I don't know if I will ever redo those two, but there is a third I haven't posted here on ff.net yet so I might do that one. Then it gets fun and becomes another crossover, this time Pokemon and Zelda: Ocarina of Time. All of these were written when I was in eighth grade (hence the lack of quality in structure, grammar, etc). The plots are good, though, I promise.

So why have I decided to go back and bother with old stories? Mostly it is because I never finish anything I start. The last year or so has made me want to finish things. Something made me realize that, wow, we don't have time in this world. So I'll be working on all of that plus going to school (possibly finally transferring to a university if they accept me), and working part time at a grocery store.

Artwise, I don't draw much anymore because it just doesn't interest me. I take pictures mostly of animals and nature when the opportunity arises. I will try and touch up old stuff and at least make face portraits of my OCs, but that's about it.

Speaking of OCs, below I will link to some pics on my DA of some of my characters.