Drabble Geeks

Geeks…Being Total Geeks.

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Drabble Geek

I am a self proclaimed geek. My interests include reading, writing and playing video games. Oh yeah, and fangirling over my favorite shows. Follow me on Twitter at @Drabble_Geek

How Does It Hold Up: Jurassic Park

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I almost feel ashamed to say this, but I think this is the best platform to say this. This is the first time I’ve ever seen Jurassic Park. I know, “how did I go twenty-six years before seeing this movie? Surely, you’ve seen some clips, right?” I went into this movie being told that it has some of the best CGI of an older movie, it was way better than the trash that was Jurassic World, and there is a book series. So now, this being the first time I’ve seen this movie, I’m here to say that this movie holds up very well.

Being a scientist, I’ll admit that I went into the movie trying to find problems with the science. I can’t help it; it’s what I do. Other than the one time they mentioned DNA and showed a picture of RNA, pretending someone can handle liquid nitrogen with their bare hands, and the slightly weird conversation about default sex, the science was pretty solid and believable. Yes, I did suspend my disbelief knowing that the science of bringing extinct species back to life had come this far in the 1990s, but it is still fascinating to look at the past understanding with where science currently is. Also, some of the ethical questions brought up in the movie are some of the same ethical questions we are looking at now with genetically engineering extinct species. Current conversations include bringing back the dodo, Woolly Mammoths, and some ancient type of tiger. I will admit that I am of two minds on this conundrum, in case anyone was wondering. I think if we can, we should bring back species that are extinct due to human influence, but those from natural selection, I don’t really see going too well. I have no justification or reasoning really, but that is currently where I stand.

Now, let’s talk about my main problem with the movie: Why did Dr. Sattler not get a gun? There was an entire locker full of guns as she was running around outside where we knew the dinosaurs had started escaping, yet they were thinking that only the men should have guns. There was a point where they bring up the sexism of the situation as the only physically-abled person available, but they still decided to run with this. Yes, it’s super minor in the scheme of everything, but that really pushed my buttons. You can give Dr. Sattler a gun and have Goldblum have his “French Girl” moment and have nothing about the movie change.

After seeing this movie, I am finally giving in to my exclamations that I will eventually see the eventual series and then eventually read the books. So, be on the lookout for my reviews of those. I’m actually really excited to see this series. Let’s see where this goes. I am skeptical about the number of sequels considering there are only two books, and there was a pretty solid out for any other movies. We’ll just have to see.

Wars on Nouns

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If you are anything like me, as in born within five or so years of me, you probably do not remember a world where the United States is not at what with… something. For example, I have no memory of a pre-9/11 world. My parents did a decent job of not really shining a light on the subject. I just knew that airport security is very serious.

(Story time: On my most recent plane trip, one the the TSA agents yelled to the entire line, paraphrasing, “Guys, y’all know you can’t have water bottles and get through security. Don’t act like you don’t know. This has been a rule for like 13 years.” I almost died laughing in line. There is always that one person. Alright, story time over.)

Anyway, like lots of people nowadays, I do have an almost morbid curiosity for what you could call true crime content and wanting to understand the thinking behind people doing the things they do. Now, when I came across a book discussing the United States’ role in the Middle East for the last twenty years, I was very interested since there have been conflicting views on the topic since I remember. In this century’s version of the Pentagon Papers, we have The Afghanistan Papers by Craig Whitlock of The Washington Post.

If you are interested in political history but do not care for much discussion of military strategy, I think you will enjoy this book. Rather than discussing the nitty-gritty of planning operations, we are able to see the big picture overview of how the American government was selling the “war” to its citizens versus what was actually said behind the scenes. One of the most interesting things to me was how Whitlock discusses how he genuinely believes that we would not have been in the Middle East as long as we were, and maybe still are, if there wasn’t what seems to be the intentional disregard for the culture of the area. Given the evidence laid out, I have to agree. From my admittingly lack of information on some of these procedures, there seemed to be a better way.

If you are interested, like I was, to see what we have been doing for the last twenty years as a country, I believe that you will like this book. Even if you do not agree with the takeaways Whitlock makes, I still think it is important to see how the information the general public was told was very different from what was being said behind closed doors. If nothing else, you can see how these continuous wars on nouns, don’t work and leave society wanting.

New Year, New Me!!!

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All jokes aside, last year sucked for me. Nothing outradious happened. I hope I don’t worry anyone too much. I am fully on track with completing my degree. It was just as I was getting to the last few months that I realized I wasn’t participating in the things that I like to do. I love reading and writing. Do I have evidence of that from the last year? No. Have I completed a couple of art projects that I like to do each year? No.

Keeping that in mind, my goals for this year is to do and complete projects that I like to do. This year, I am putting more effort into doing the things that I enjoy and not fall into the trap of going to school, going home, falling alseep, and then waking up to only go back to school. It might not seem like much, but looking back on my 2023, I barely had fun. For 2024, even though I will have some more responsibilities in some aspects, I will be saying no more to the things that I don’t need to do, so I can say yes to the things I actually want to do. This may not seem like much, but I am a people-pleaser. It’s going to be hard, but I am adamant that this happens.

A Very Hard Watch

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There has been a documentary series that was being talked about all over the internet. Ironically, I thought I would watch it myself instead of taking someone else’s word for it. The documentary I’m talking about is “Shiny Happy People.” To begin, this documentary is tough to sit through. It is not something to watch or read about if you are not in the right headspace to even think about this.

The documentary is centered around the Duggar family for those not in the know. For those who don’t know who they are, they are the family from the TLC show “19 Kids and Counting.” I never watched the show because I wasn’t interested in learning about a family that had 19 children, but at the same time, I could see the appeal. I watch people in what I would deem bad situations to understand or make myself feel smarter. Moving on from that, the Duggar family was part of what I would call a Christian fundamentalist cult known as the Institute of Basic Life Principles or IBLP.

This documentary is important since it discusses some of the dangers of Christian fundamentalism that have been creeping through the country and the world, in some cases. I will note that I do not care about your religious or spiritual beliefs if you do not hurt someone or yourself. The teaching of this group has led to the hurt and suffering of many people. Many survivors have spoken up to present their stories, which I was very glad were a part of the documentary series, instead of focusing only on the Duggars. Now, if you are in the right place, I would recommend watching. It is a tough watch, but a necessary one.

Triggers: sexual abuse, child abuse, child sexual abuse

What I’m doing now

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I figured that with the post; I would do something a little different. It seems that I am always working, either in the lab, writing a paper, or planning thousands of things. Because of that, I have to keep my mind somehow focused. My primary way of doing so is to listen to several podcasts or music. Also, I will give you a hint of a couple of things I am currently doing.

What I am listening too

So, since I am doing several things, having a podcasts to listen to is the perfect way to listen to something while doing something else. I use Spotify, so you can use everything there.

Daily News:

  • Up First
  • What A Day
  • Morning Announcements

Comedy and storytelling:

  • Distractable
  • Dungeons and Daddies
  • The Glass Cannon Podcast
  • Thanks, We Hate It

Horror and thriller:

  • Redwood Bureau
  • Spooky Boo’s Creepypasta and Scary Stories
  • Canadian True Crime
  • Freaky Folklore

Personal finance:

  • The Money Guy Show
  • You Need A Budget

Lifestyle:

  • Grad School Femtoring
  • Sounds Fake But Okay
  • A Productive Conversation
  • The Minimalists Podcast

What I am reading

When I am not working, I am reading. At least, I’m trying to get back into reading if you remember my previous post.

  • The Afghanistan Papers: a Secret History of the War by Craig Whitlock

I heard this book was good and I was interested, so I’m reading

  • The Nancy Drew series

For whatever reason, I decided I needed; to read this book series, all 300 books. I don’t know why, I just did. I’m making good progress through.

For a more up-to-date list of the books I’m reading, follow me on Goodreads under Drabble Geek with “DG” as the profile photo. I’ll friend everyone who asks.

What I’m doing

I’m a busy person. First and foremost, I am a Ph.D. student. It’s hard and grueling work sometimes, but it’s what I’ve chosen to do with my life. Secondly, I have a mission to encourage geekiness and nerdiness. Doing what I can to help people do what they want with the resources they have, is essential to me. Anyway, I can help people do that, and I want to. One way is to have this blog that I update as I can. Another way is by opening my services tab. It is still very much a work in progress to get it to the point I want, but check it out. I’ll help everyone I can in a first come, first serve manner. There are also other things that I am working on that are very much a work in progress, but you can also check that out in my “Projects” tab.

I hope everyone is having a great week and a fantastic Pride Month. I’ll hopefully come out with new content next week.

Semester 6 Grad School Reflection

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So… I’m back after disappearing for about a semester. Looking through my posts, I only wrote two posts between the last grad school reflection and this one. I haven’t even read a book in a while, which is disappointing, but this is just a wake-up call to get back on track with my yearly goal. I try my best to read at least 50 books a year, and I was about 15 books behind.

I think that this semester I had just burned out. I just didn’t want to do anything. I would go to school, do as much work as I could mentally manage, and then go home and lay around. I didn’t read, I didn’t write, and I did not take part in any of my hobbies. It utterly sucked, but there were some wins for the semester. I completed my preliminary exam, meaning I am now a Ph.D. candidate. Two, I am done with my classes. This means that I can put my full attention onto research and I don’t have to spend hours studying for classes. I’m hoping this lessens my mental burden on myself, but I’m not too sure, especially since I would like to graduate in two more years. In one way, I’m excited to start my life, but in another, I don’t want to do more adulting. Later this year, I’m getting dropped off my parent’s insurance, which terrifies me. Does this mean I will no longer have help making doctor’s appointments? I hate talking to people on the phone.

I took a month off from the semester’s end, hoping to regain some of my sanity. As of writing this, the semester ended a month ago, but I just didn’t feel like doing anything until now. I am mentally doing a lot better, which is a sign that I need to pace myself for the next two years. Let’s just see what happens in another half year.

The Invisible Cost

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Book two of the nonfiction grind includes more information that I feel like I should innately know. This week, I will discussing Invisible Women: Data Bias in a World Designed for Men by Caroline Criado Pérez. This book discusses the many different ways in which women are not accounted for, whether it be everyday living, work, and gaming. There were many aspects of which I had never even thought. Ever thought thought about how you are always cold in the work place? Well, women’s metabolic rate may have something to do with that. Ever thought about motion sickness? Well, there many be differences there as well. Again, is just these things that you never thought about, as well as things that are common, such as the unpaid labor that is often put onto women. Yes, I did know that, but I did not realize some of the downstream effects having the burden of much of the unpaid labor has on women. It was a fascinating read, for those who are interested, but also brought up was in which I personally could close the gap, because these were also things I never thought about. It’s definitely something to think about.

From the Lower Rung

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I’ve been on a slight nonfiction kick, so be prepared to learn for a bit. While I entered this book knowing I would most likely learn something, I never expected to learn as much as I did. Sure, I read the summary and synopsis, but that did not prepare me for the brain blasts I had multiple times and the profound effect this would have more me. The most recent book to add to my list was Caste: The Origins of Our Discontents by Isabel Wilkerson.

For those who don’t feel like reading the summary, this experience argues, quite effectively, I might add, that America was built on a caste system. It does this by comparing the historically well-known and long-lasting caste system found in India, as well as the short-lived one that is the Nazi occupation of Germany, by bringing up the eight pillars: divine will, heritability, endogamy, purity, occupation hierarchy, dehumanization, terror as enforcement, and inherent superiority. This book discusses many historical facts that I had never heard about but is both surprising to never hear about and not surprising that it was covered up. One surprising fact was that the dehumanization of people in Europe during the Nazi occupation was based on the horrendous Jim Crowe laws that proliferated through society after the American Civil War, but then again, why not copy a system that has been shown to work.

Yes, there are some antidotes directly from the author, but I agree that this is necessary since history is built on the human experience. As another African American female, I felt many of the antidotes on a spiritual level, as I have felt many similar feelings in similar experiences. On top of hearing this compelling argument, it also speaks to my experiences, which probably made it a more profound experience for me. There are also other perspectives that should be heard from this book. That is why I would recommend anyone interested in the systemic racial structuring of the United States to read this book. It is a perspective that I never thought of before, and it completely made sense to me.

Semester 5 Grad School Reflection

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This feels a bit like cheating that I am not writing this reflection until the night before the next semester begins, the day that this will be posted. But this is mainly because I did not have a break for either holiday, Thanksgiving, or Winter. I was working the entire time: either writing for my preliminary exam or a paper that I hope to have published within the next year or working on experiments. Want to know how little I had a break? I had to go in on New Year’s Eve and New Year’s Day. I pretty much went in every single day. I’m tired and want a break. Again, unfortunately, the new semester is tomorrow/today. I have no thoughts, really. I’m just tired.

Along that Yellow Brick Road Pt 7.5

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I’m back in the land of Oz, and this time, we are back with short stories. Unlike another one with a certain bug at the forefront, this one wasn’t complete nonsense. This one was in-universe for the entire series and actually felt like a children’s book.

Little Wizard Stories of Oz is exactly as the title says. They are short stories, bedtime stories if you will. There is no timeline that you have to keep up with, no characterizations that you need to remember, nor any thought to be had. It was cute, simple, and straight to the point. I could definitely see this short book being included in a stack you put on your child’s bedside table to read them asleep. It was cute. What more could I say?