Autobiography: Science and Abandoned Houses

When I was a kid I liked to explore (heck, I still do).  That was before the time of the internet and when computers were prohibitively expensive, so I couldn't indulge my curiosity online.  Whenever my mom would take me to the library, I would check out a bunch of books about space, history, botany or whatever I was into at that point in time.  Then, like now, I would become obsessed with a subject and learn and experiment with my new-found hobby until I had beaten it into the ground like the proverbial dead horse.  Almost all of these projects of mine were solo endeavors.  It wasn't as if I was lonely, because even then I realized that most people aren't as interesting to me as I am.


Lucky for this headstrong explorer, we lived in the country.  When I say country, I don't mean the suburbs.  I mean one-stoplight-in-the-entire-county kind of country.  This was in an area and before a time where you had to watch your children like hawks to make sure they wouldn't get snatched up by a traveling pedophile.  So, I was allowed a great deal of freedom to play outside in the yard, in the woods out back, in the road, in the neighboring fields...you name it.  I took full advantage of this to start my budding career as a scientist.  This behavior was likely exacerbated by the fact that I was a huge Star Trek fan even then, and was determined to earn a spot on the Enterprise via my Spock-like scientific mind.  So, I proceeded to collect, press, categorize, and archive various plant specimens in the greater Heard County area.  I had no method to my madness and in reality had no idea what I was doing, but it was fun.  I also liked to take my notebook around and write down observations of the area as if I was Lewis or Clark documenting the strange wildlife of the New World.

As I got a little older I sort of got away from the scientific part and gravitated towards an interest in History.  We had a couple of abandoned houses in the area which I hesitantly began exploring.  I don't know what I was looking for.  I guess I just wanted to get an idea of how people used to live 40 years ago when those houses were inhabited.  And, let's be honest, I wouldn't have been averse to finding a human skeleton under the floorboards.  I investigated these areas piecemeal.  I was so scared of falling through the floorboards or being bitten by some unseen rattlesnake that I went about my work slowly.  Every now and then I found some pretty interesting stuff; costume jewelry in a tin can, rusty tools left out back, old pieces of furniture rotting in place.  When I was in high school I'd invite a couple friends to come exploring with me, but none seemed to have the interest in it that I did.  By that time I was no longer pursuing the Star Trek dream, but thought maybe I could be a female Indiana Jones.

I realize that I haven't changed very much from those days.  I just had 6 years of the military that sort of restricted what I was able to do.  There were moments, like my year at DLI, where I was able to indulge my whims.  It used to upset me that I would move from one hobby to another and usually go back and revisit previous hobbies from time to time as well.  Now I've gotten over it and accepted it as part of my personality.  I learn better this way I think, and I can't imagine a world in which I stop learning.