I’ve been very busy with my classes and completing my senior research paper this semester. Not sure if I’ll be marching in May or not because I need to complete a couple stray classes this Summer, but we’ll see. In any case, I’ll have my Biology degree by August.
Not a whole lot going on in the gay rights world. Maryland’s same-sex marriage bill failed to get past the legislature. The 9th Circuit refused to lift the stay on Prop8, so we’re in for a long haul in that court battle, which won’t pick back up until this Fall. On the other hand, Obama signed the United Nations Gay Rights Resolution. The focus of this resolution is on developing nations where gay people are persecuted, even jailed or murdered for being gay (though it could be argued the US still has a long way to go in distancing us from that sort of behavior).
I’ve been reading a lot. Aside from textbook reading, I just finished Susan Orlean’s The Orchid Thief, which was awesome. I definitely recommend it! The movie Adaptation (2002) is loosely based on the book and stars Meryl Streep and Nicolas Cage. It’s kind of bizarre and takes liberties with the Orlean’s writing, but it gives a good visual supplement to a book that is profuse with rich imagery.
I’m nearly finished with Scott Rosenberg’s Dreaming in Code and, continuing Matheson’s bibliography from What Dreams May Come, I’m about halfway through The Other Side of Death by Raymond Bayless. I have to admit the latter is kind of dry. I’m also working through Thich Nhat Hanh’s You Are Here. Hanh is one of my favorite authors, but one does not simply read through his books – it’s more of an instructional book in leading a life of mindfulness in the Buddhist tradition. I’ve read maybe ten of his books so far.
My reading’s going to have to take a back seat starting this weekend – I have a Cosmos Black Nintendo 3DS reserved at GameStop and I’m really excited for the release! It will be the first consumer glasses-free 3D technology released in the US and the reviews so far are overwhelmingly positive. I’m especially excited about the augmented reality feature and the ability to take 3D photos. I’m also glad we’ll finally have a Virtual Console for the DS so that it will be possible to download past titles like Super Mario Bros. I’m a little disappointed with the launch titles, though I have already reserved copies of Nintendogs + Cats, Super Monkey Ball, and PilotWings Resort. I’m confident that coming titles like Zelda and Kid Icarus will make it all worthwhile.
Between all of this I’m honing my C programming skills and getting comfortable with Objective-C and the iPhone SDK. I have like a hundred plants growing. My gerbils are doing well. My mom and sister decided to keep our new pomeranian puppies, bringing the total up to 6 dogs, though having a huge number of animals in general has always been common in my familiy, lol. I get to visit them when I go home. They are precious poocademons as always ^-^
I’ll post more updates as things develop. I’m sure I’ll have a lot to say about the 3DS, my research, and my upcoming paleogenetics website. Oh, and UMaine Pride Week is April 11th to the 16th.
