Comments | helsgard: I found me!

helsgard

I found me!

Nov 12, 2010 15:21

My icon is now a photo of me. This was taken about 30 years ago and is one of my favorite photos. I thought it was lost - my entire life's photo collection went missing after the last move I made (boo hoo!) but fortunately a friend had a copy and sent me a scan. What am I wearing? A bright red Afghani tribal dress and a Afghani crown. And about 20 ( Read more... )

finding me, happy

Comments 6

galynthia November 13 2010, 02:16:00 UTC

That's pretty cool! I really love seeing what other cultures come up with. There are so many different ways to do things and make things (such as clothes) and its fascinating to see things done in new ways.

Thanks helsgard November 13 2010, 22:09:31 UTC

I was in the Society for Creative Anachronism (SCA) for a number of years exactly because I was really into what other people did with stuff, and I was too impecunious to travel. So I traveled in time. Also, as an engineer I am always thinking about how things used to be done so a) I don't repeat what someone else has figured out or b) I don't make the same mistakes or c) maybe something we used to do could be useful again because we have new materials or ways of making things. For instance, we have valves in the rocket engines we build. The valves have to perform in very hot, very dynamic environments. One of our machinists is a railroad enthusiast, and he discovered a valve used in steam trains back in 1890 that, with only a small modification and new metals, we can incorporate into the rocket. How cool is THAT? :-) Steam powered locomotives to space. I seem to remember an anime about that...
And your personal icon seems to indicate you like to travel, yes? I love the colors.

galynthia November 13 2010, 23:38:44 UTC

That is pretty cool! Why reinvent the wheel if you can tweak something else to make it do what you need?

I do love to travel. I am geologist so I get to travel a lot on work's dime, which is nice ^.^ . Unfortunately I have yet to figure out a way to convince them that sending me to Japan to watch theater is worth their money so sadly I do have to pay for that out of pocket. But its worth it!

Geologist! Very neat-o helsgard November 14 2010, 01:44:55 UTC

You DO get to travel, if you're like some of the guys I used to know. I knew a bunch of people in the oil exploration field and they had some wonderful -- and hair-raising, sometimes - stories. Some of the back country in Arizona (I'm from Tucson) is spooky. As in, it's still in the 15th century. Sometimes they'd come across very weird stuff, especially on the reservations, that made them think that perhaps spirits were real.
My husband started life working in the underwater world (he wanted to be Captain Nemo). For a while he designed and built a bunch of stuff for the people who explore the Gulf and other places looking for oil. So he had to work closely with the geologists to make certain what he was building was what they needed.
So do you have a specialty? Like dinosaur hunting, or looking for yellow cake? ;->

Re: Geologist! Very neat-o galynthia November 14 2010, 02:55:08 UTC

I work in environmental remediation so I get to go to some neat places but they're usually old industrial buildings that are falling apart or government bases rather then fun natural areas.

I bet the oil exploration is pretty cool though! There's not too much geology in what I do (since most pollution isn't more then 40 feet or so down) so sometimes I miss getting to explore those deeper regions.

But I bet your husband has seen some neat things though!

Re: Geologist! Very neat-o helsgard November 15 2010, 21:47:39 UTC

I had a friend whose hobby was photographing old industrial buildings, as art photography. There's just something about them that's sad and yet somehow ... (um, looking for right word...) hopeful? Purposeful? They were designed to do a job, and they did it, but now time has passed on to younger hands. Anyway, I imagine some of what you have to do is very difficult. I know the remedial sites out at Edwards AFB have been a tough job: chemicals which the only good thing about them is that they are not radioactive were dumped during the early 50s, when no one really understood what they were doing, and have gotten into the ground water. >shudderHave you seen the abandoned Six Flags New Orleans video on YouTube? Destroyed and abandoned by the hurricane, it's like seeing a live action set of "Spirited Away." Very eerie! Ah, there's the Takarazuka link: anime. I know that "Rose of Versailles" was first a manga (and yes I have the set) and then an anime (and yes, I have the set), and then there's "El Hakon" and I think "Legend of the Four ( ... )