Archive for November, 2006

Bat’s Wrinkly Face Improves Sonar – Yahoo! News The strangely intricate wrinkles and grooves around the nostrils of many bats apparently could help them “see” in the dark by focusing their sonar, scientists in China have found.

November always seems to be a mixed bag. It’s sort of unassuming and sandwiched in between Indian Summer and the countdown to Christmas, yet it seems to pack a punch all its own. A lot has happened and November finds itself commemorating and inspiring, at the same time as having tinges of melancholy and weariness. Maybe it’s bracing for the holiday season, or the full force of gray skies, cold winds and shorter days, but I find that even though I’m celebrating a significant milestone in happiness, I’m feeling a bit melancholy myself today. For various reasons, some major, more minor. I recently ended two ongoing writing projects — and while they were a lot of work, I enjoyed them so it was a bit bittersweet to see them come to an end. Though this does now leave me a bit of breathing room. I travelled a bit, which tends to get stressful and then, of course, my car was stolen — a situation which is still very much unresolved and causing me a lot of frustration and bank account pain. These are all minor things, but in the gray of November, they can seem a bit more overwhelming. Today, though, I’m reluctantly dealing with the fact that it’s the anniversary of my father’s death. Not that it doesn’t come at the end of November each year, but somehow, it seems to sneak up and sucker punch me every time. I’m not sure what to say about all of this, or what the point is. But I guess it’s hard to admit it’s something that still is an open wound for me. Perhaps it always will be. My dad and I didn’t have a particularly close relationship, and there are a lot of things that I wish were a whole lot different. But in the end, I guess I sort of feel cheated out of opportunities to fix all that, to see what he might have thought about the things I do, how my daughter has grown up … how he’d react to my latest trials and triumphs. So I’m thinking about that loss and missing these things. Which I guess is normal. But still extremely difficult to accept. I’ve written about this before, in various ways, so I won’t rehash, but just say nine years ago today I lost my dad and part of myself at the same time, and I’m still trying to figure that out.

Although I’m busy feeling a bit raw, November brought along a lot of good things with it, namely the fact that the love of my life and I are taking the steps to grab even more happiness, and what’s been somewhat private between us for such a long time now is reverberating through the air — and I can’t help but feel elated, moon-eyed and lovestruck. Who said romance and hope was dead? This month I also experienced the Dylan, my fiancé had a birthday and I had a nice Thanksgiving surrounded by a lot of nice, if not crazy, people who are my new extended family. Accomplishments abound, with my buddy Julia successfully being a NaNoWriMo champ, and my buddy Jamelah running the blogging gauntlet that is NaBloPoMo. I’m proud of both of them and they’re way more dedicated than I could hope to be. I’m grateful for the fact that the great and wonderful in my life still outweighs the low points and I while I’m glad to see November pass the baton, I’m also glad that it brought some blessings along with it.

Whale attacks trainer at SeaWorld – Yahoo! News SAN DIEGO – Shamu the killer whale injured a trainer during a show at SeaWorld Adventure Park by grabbing his foot and pulling him underwater twice, authorities said.

Now maybe it’s just me, but doesn’t it seem like animals are just pissed and aren’t going to take it anymore? And really, who could blame them? Tell me you’ve never wanted to drag someone underwater or bite them?