And now here's a blog for my actual updates! Finally...so I guess here's an actual real update from me, including stuff from 2025. I'll break it up into pieces so it's easier to read.
Travel:
2025 has been a crazy year for me. That year really did just fly right past, huh? I did a LOT of traveling, both for fun and for work. I will highlight these places eventually in my travel section but I wanted to mostly say I finally got to visit Arizona FOR REALS in 2025!!! And YES I got to see the Sunset Crater volcano! A snowstorm happened the day before I drove down, so she was covered in snow when I visited. Again, I will highlight my trips in my travel section later but it was definitely an incredible place! I want to go back to Flagstaff so bad...I've been thinking of either picking up a seasonal job at the Cononino forest or the Flagstaff monuments just so I can have time to explore the area more. I am hoping to have a chance to visit again in 2026 (BTW...all my headers for this site cycles through my travel photos I took in 2025).
All the travel I did got me to pick up a hobby in photography and get a dSLR camera as well. I mainly focus on landscapes, though I want to start just taking photos of anything that is interesting and get more artistic with it than just simply taking out my phone and taking a photo. Check out some few photos I took with the camera (Click to see full-view)
Mount St. Helens covered by clouds.
Mount Rainier covered in snow.
Blue fluorite specimen
Pretty cool, huh? It's like a compeltely new medium to get the hang of, so different than drawing, so the learning curve has been a lot for me, but it has been really fun learning something new. Eventually I hope to also get a macrolens to photograph and document my mineral collection too.
Grad school:
A few months ago, I had been hard at work with grad school applications - I want to get a PhD in geology! I think I should be hearing back in the spring. I've also been studying for my geology licensure exam so I can be state certified to practice if I ever need to hold an industry/private sector job (What would even happen if they revoke your geology license? Do they just take all your rocks away??) Anyways I am crossing my fingers that I get into my program of choice.
Writing my application essays made me think deeply about how much being a geologist means to me, and I am honestly so glad I found my true calling rather than continue going down the path of art industry. I am forever grateful to all my mentors and colleagues throughout the years for their neverending support!!! Seriously, my outlook on life got so much better once I decided to become a geologist. Looking forward to what the future with my career holds!
Art:
Speaking of art...my career in geology doesn't mean I was done with art forever. I even make art for geology programs and organizations. Last fall, I went to a local Zine fest and it was really cool. I've always been more a fan of indie and DIY art and have been looking forward to attend like all year. It was honestly inspiring seeing all the cool stuff local artists made and it makes me really REALLY want to pick up my side-project of creating geology-themed merch again. There's very few of that out there! And most do paleontology art...so I am so motivated to create merch and stickers and stationary and stuff of volcanoes amd geohazards and minerals and other geology stuff haha. I know the geologists and rockhounds would love it. Sooooo... I hope I can get a chance to table at a zine fest someday, too. My new year's resolution is to make at least one zine (or other DIY merch) each month so I can have stuff to sell at the local zine fest at the end of the year.
Speaking of which, I got a new inkjet printer for Christmas. Very excited to get it set up and start using it to make my own merch and stuff. I gave my previous one to a friend so I've been itching to print stuff out again and make buttons with the buttonmaker lol I just need some time to make some designs first.
Also, I think in February I will take some time to go through my art and figure out which ones to post on this website. I'm already so happy I got the gallery, tags, and pagination to work, so I'm kinda just taking a small break from the gallery part to work on other parts of the site. Much more...easier...parts...haha. I'm also very surprised over how much attention my gallery tutorial got - I really did not expect that! But I hope it inspires more artists to make their own sites and art galleries.
Final thoughts:
But yea other than that I am just filling out my site and experimenting with coding. Hoping to hear back for a job at a National Park too haha, I'll be moving up out of the entry level. Lastly, social media has been increasingly frustrating to use for me. I miss when it was just used to let me connect with my friends, without any stupid fucking ads and influencers and randos on my feed. It just feels like an interactive newspaper now, and if you have an opinion or complaint about some social issue and just vent about it, you're suddenly now regarded as an activist and people who disagree with you think it's an invitation to harass you. But I'm holding my tongue for now. Maybe later I will make a rant post about social media lol
Anyways, that's really all I wanted to share right now. Here's ROCK, signing out!