Sunset over Lake Arenal, Costa Rica
Copyright (c) 1999 Wendee Holtcamp
Still don't know what I was waiting for
And my time was runnin wild
A million dead end streets and
Every time I thought I got it made
It seemed the taste was not so sweet
So I turned myself to face me
- David Bowie, Changes
Some changes are going on in my life, and thought I can't yet really talk about them yet I will soon! I am excited about the changes, and can't wait to share more. Of course, much of it is still up in the air, which is why I can't spill any beans. I can share this change, though: Starting this month, I will be writing my Animal Planet "Animals in the News" blog only once per week instead of five times per week now. I'll post every Monday. Please still stop by and read and leave comments - I love comments!
I also have been going through my house and really getting rid of so much stuff! I have donated car-loads full of stuff, and have been going through file cabinets and recycling many scientific papers I had gathered during my many years of grad school, and other old files and papers. I hadn't gone through some of this stuff in decades! I cleaned out my office and my bedroom closets, and some drawers (still more to go) and it feels symbolic. In the process I unearthed my boxes of slides from the pre-digital era of photography and one of these days soon I'd like to buy myself a slide scanner and get some of them online and perhaps start marketing my photography a bit more. Speaking of photography I took that photo in Costa Rica during one of the most exciting times in my professional life, while on assignment for Discovery Channel (Love & Death on Turtle Beach) and writing about leatherback turtles. I remember feeling so very alive! I put a framed copy of that photo in a frame in my bathroom to remind me of that feeling, 'out there under the stars, surf roaring furiously'...
I have tried to think up some New Year's resolutions (other than the standard one for the last couple years which is to love the Lord God with all my heart, soul, strength and mind) but nothing has really stuck yet. I did drag out my gratitude journal again, something I do on an on-again, off-again fashion. When I'm writing in it, I try to write down five things I'm grateful for that day. I also started re-reading Sarah Ban Breathnach's awesome Simple Abundance daybook, which is where I got the idea for a gratitude journal in the first place, years ago! I may try to start meditating for 10 minutes per morning but so far I've only done that once this year, so I'm not quite sure that should be my resolution...
Do any of you have any resolutions? Any in the past you have been able to keep and implement into your life?
As for the rest of my life, I am in the process of tweaking my book chapters with my editor at Beacon, and trying to get caught up on some articles and other things before the ch-ch-ch-changes. As always, it's a bit crazy busy around here! I am staring at my dry and crispy Christmas tree, which desperately begs to be taken down... but I love having my tree up more than anything! It makes the house look so vibrant and festive. My kitties are giving me some company now as I sit on the couch writing this, but I have some other work to do before the night is through, so I'll simply point you to my latest articles!
My BioScience magazine feature on pikas, the little cute mammals that live on the rocky talus slops in the West and are threatened by climate change, Silence of the Pikas recently came out in their January 2010 issue, just in time for the announcement by the US Fish & Wildlife Service on whether they'll be a federally threatened species.- Mimicking Mother Nature: Scientists and entrepreneurs are increasingly borrowing concepts from the natural world to help them create better, more sustainable products. National Wildlife Magazine. Dec/Jan 2010.
- The essay I originally wrote for OnEarth Magazine, My 30 days of Consumer Celibacy, appears as a chapter in the book Consumerism: Opposing Viewpoints
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Congratulations!
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