#dertaglichvogel

Post the rules

Answer the questions given to you by the tagger

Write eleven questions of your own

Tag eleven people

1. If you could have any animal as a pet, which one would you get? I always wanted a chain catshark. But realistically, man I’d love a pet jumbo shrimp. I’ve never seen one alive but I love shrimp friends and what is better to hold than a really really big one

2. What is one goal you’d like to achieve in your life? Apart from the obvious ones I regurgitate every time I get tagged in these, I’ll say... I would like to see a Gibbifer californicus in the wild. I’ve been enthralled by them for years. 

3. What’s one song with a special memory attached to it? This was harder to think of than I expected. Most songs have special meaning to me, but few I guess have specific memories? I’m gonna have to say ‘School’s Out’ by Alice Cooper. It’s been a tradition since elementary school that my parents play that in the car when they picked me up on the last day each year, something we continued even when I graduated college. It was always such an exhilarating and joyous feeling, the car ride home knowing you’re free for the next three months and there’s a world of possibilities ahead, and I’ll never forget it. 

4. What’s your favorite tea flavor? I don’t drink tea, sorry!

5. If you could be a plant, what plant would you be? Honestly? Probably one of the plants that already are my favorites - milkweed and goldenrod. They’re not traditionally beautiful or showy to the masses, perhaps, but they’re unique and lovely and they are incredibly important members of ecosystems that provide food and homes for a diverse array of other organisms. I’d rather be meaningful than pretty. And anyway, folks who appreciate their value do think they’re beautiful. 

6. What song do you think related the most to you? There are a bunch of songs from my teenage years that still resonate deeply with me, especially during tough times. It’s why Korn was always my favorite band. They spoke to me in a way no other band could. Their song ‘No One’s There’ is still my favorite and I still cry listening to it. They have a lot of songs about feeling unloved, standing up and fighting even when things seem bad, pushing through the pain, and for much of my life I related immensely to those and that’s what got me though it. I also relate very deeply to the song ‘Letterbomb’ by Green Day, I think more now than earlier in my life. It’s hard to name specific songs tbh. There’s probably a lot. 

7. Name a song you love from the year you were born! You made me look up songs released in 1995 now and I’m traumatized cause Cotton Eye Joe is on there. No lmao I think, just from a quick glance, I’ll go with Bullet with Butterfly Wings by Smashing Pumpkins. Always loved that song, didn’t realize it was that old. 

8. What brings you happiness? Listening to music, finding insects and birds, food, doing anything that contributes to conservation, teaching others about nature.

9. What’s your favorite thing to bake/cook? Well I’m not great at it lol, I can make things good enough if I know how but I’m not over here inventing anything or being creative sobs. I really enjoy making pizza, I make it a very certain way with certain ingredients and I’ve honed it to perfection and I can actually do it well. 

10. Sunrises or sunsets? Both are nice, but I’m only ever up to see the latter.

11. What gives you that sense of freedom? Walking alone in nature

12. Do you wake up grumpy? Not if I get enough sleep, which I rarely did while in school (or work lbr). 

13. Your favourite books? The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy series by Douglas Adams, particularly The Restaurant at the End of the Universe. A close tie is the J.R.R. Tolkien legendarium, all books therein. Formative and inspiring book series to me growing up that I still hold close to my heart are the Cirque Du Freak series by Darren Shan and The Last Dragon Chronicles by Chris d’Lacey. For nonfiction, Bringing Nature Home by Douglas Tallamy and Summer World by Bernt Heinrich (Heinrich is a fabulous author who has written many many books about birds and insects and being a naturalist, but aren’t dry science, they’re his stories and experiences, and I highly recommend him - got to meet him once, it was awesome!). 

14 Did you ever sent a letter to someone? Of course! I used to have four pen pals when I was a kid, and while I don’t write paper letters much anymore I still have occasion to once in a while. 

15 Do you own typewriter? I do not

16 What’s your earliest memory? Oh gosh... I have some pretty clear memories from preschool, and maybe one or two scattered ones earlier, but it’s hard to tell whether you’re really remembering or just, psuedo-remembering from watching home movies, you know? But yes I remember my preschool and we used to play four corners in the big room, and I was so good I won most of the time. I remember the cardboard bricks of different colors and boys building lego towers and cleanup time. 

17 Do you like swimming? Love it, I feel like I’m returning to the sea from whence we all came lmao but I barely ever swim anymore since we only have a neighborhood pool and I just can’t stand the small children (or really, anyone watching me swim) screaming and not respecting personal space. If I can never afford a house I’m getting a pool first thing.  

18 Do you sleep with your door closed? Not generally, actually, I don’t think. But you bet the closet door has to be shut. 

19 Which town is your favourite? Can’t say I’ve been to a whole bunch of towns lmao. I love Hollis, New Hampshire though. I go whenever I can. Very rural (as much as New Hampshire can be, the rest is forested) and without any big chain stores, and it has most of southern New Hampshire’s farmstands and conservation land. I also adore Durham, New Hampshire, where I spent four years of my life going to college. It’s got a charm and a placidity to it, with the Oyster River running through its center. Full of college students, yes, but if you get outside Main St, it suddenly becomes much quieter and you remember that the natural world is always there, existing with or without you, and Durham’s a great place to go and connect with it. Plus, UNH is a gorgeous university with a forested campus and so much open land, and when you’re driving out at the end of the day, and the golden sunlight falls on the fields just right... you feel home.

20 Do you like photography? Yes, I pursue it both as a hobby and as a potential part of my career, and I use photography to contribute to many citizen science projects. 

21. How many flannels do you have? 2 I think

22. Are you a jumper person? I think sweaters look nice on other people but I don’t own any myself. 

My questions:

1. What is your favorite hobby and how long have you been doing it?

2. Do you think you’ve found your calling yet?

3. What’s one song that moves you every time you hear it?

4. When you see colorful, oval-shaped candies, do you hope it’s M&Ms or Skittles?

5. What’s a food you like that everyone else you know seems to hate?

6. 80 degrees Fahrenheit - too hot, too cold, or just right? (Assuming no humidity)

7. Gloves or mittens?

8. What cause would you stand up and fight for?

9. What’s your favorite sound in nature?

10. What would your ultimate vacation be?

11. Do you believe in luck/karma/superstition?

I hope they reach their destinations this time :U