Noobie on Board
Just plopping in here after 39 days of 'feet wetting' on iNat.
In a word: WHYBAML?
What? You're not up on social media acronyms?
Relax. I made that one up. Or, thought I did. Turned out it's already out there.
But the sentiment is true: Where Have You Been All My Life? (iNat?)
Maybe it would be better to say, 'Where have I been hiding from all this life?'
Well, not really hiding. Just a little lonely for others who also struggled with the fact that they find the bug that just landed on somebody's head, in most cases, more interesting than the person it landed on.
In any case, I'm so pleased to have found this place, this tribe, community or whatever we call it.
I've been very busy on the forums, and in the fields. Over the past month and a half my daily walking steps has changed quite dramatically. Downwards! Yikes!
But I'm outdoors more than ever -- just going much, MUCH, slower in scan mode.
Especially since I've gotten some gear to handle the bug level of things.
I celebrated my noobiness yesterday by getting the first observation of a species in our region. I've also been contacted by an Italian researcher the day before for permission to use one of my orchid shots for a paper he's working on.
I'm just warming up! The big challenge for me is finding the time to go exploring. I'm retired, but that doesn't mean I don't have a fair load of calendar commitments. Still, it's great.
And something else? A new, deeper appreciation for the area I live in. I knew it was a fairly diverse area, but compared to many others, its a prime location for so much diversity. Not as high as I remember when I was growing up here--but still, if you hit a pocket of that old nature... !
Enough time on this journal -- must get back to some more photo work. But I just wanted to say that I'm very happy to be here. I hope to 'meet' more of you as things move along.
Happy observing, good luck, and best wishes... naturally.
