Automaton Zero Posted February 25, 2017 Report Share Posted February 25, 2017 Hello, I'm Zero, and I guess I'm kind of new around here. I'm a full-time student with two jobs who spends most of her free time playing piano, catching and raising insects, and collecting clocks. I've been reading Nerd Fitness articles for a while now, and it has encouraged me to implement small, gradual changes in my life. I've been really successful so far, and I recently joined Rising Heroes to get even more active and involved with my health. Unfortunately, I'm starting to feel my willpower waning. I'm about to finish the first round of midterms for this semester, and it's becoming ever more tempting to tell myself, "You have too much work to do, you don't have time to work out / cook a healthy meal / get adequate sleep!" Which really just translates to, "You're making excuses!" Well no more, I say! This sudden lapse in mental strength has shown me that it is dangerous to go alone through this lifelong fitness journey. I feel I would greatly benefit from people who both encourage me and hold me accountable. Since I know very few people that care about health and fitness (exactly one person, to be precise), I figured I could turn to Nerd Fitness instead. I'm still just a beginner when it comes to fitness, so I hope I can continue to grow in my knowledge and abilities through interacting with like-minded people. And maybe being a part of this community will finally push me to get out and go find a place to learn martial arts like I've always dreamed of doing. I look forward to seeing you all around! 5 Quote Link to comment
Vendettaressa Posted February 25, 2017 Report Share Posted February 25, 2017 Welcome! I feel the same way, so I conscripted my sisters as well because it turns out, they're all undercover fitness nerds! Never would've guessed. What are you studying in school? Quote Starting Afresh - Battle Log "You start off as a level one human with no class. At all." - Munchkin Player's Guide "What is the you that you've dreamed of? Who do you see in the mirror? Go on your path. Even if you live for a day, do something, put away your weakness." - BTS No More Dream translated Link to comment
Automaton Zero Posted February 25, 2017 Author Report Share Posted February 25, 2017 That's awesome! It must be great to have people so close that support you. I'm hoping that I might inspire some of my own family/friends to embrace their inner fitness nerds, eventually. I'm studying entomology. I used to be deathly terrified of insects until a few years ago when I somehow decided that they are actually the best thing ever and nothing to be afraid of. Quote Link to comment
Red1263 Posted February 25, 2017 Report Share Posted February 25, 2017 Hey hey! Welcome to nerdfitness! (Kudos to the LoZ title) entomology is always fun to talk about! The people around me often get grossed out when I mention a bug that lays eggs inside another bug! No idea why... Nerdfitness will give back whatever you put in to it. A vast majority of us do the 4 week challenges, if you choose to do that route and follow other people's threads then you'll definitely find a fast way to gain supporters. I'm looking forward to your progress! Feel free to ask anyone for help! sent from my phone whilst exploring new dungeons Quote Level 25 Final Fantasy Rebel My Epic Quest | My Journey | Currently on the Trial of Orthos Str: 60 | Dex: 23 | Sta: 66 | Con: 28 | Wis: 55 | Cha: 14 Goals for 2021: Spoiler Build my brother a Destiny 2 Lamp Learn how to do a Handstand Play 1 song on the acoustic guitar Clean up the Christmas Decorations and finish setting up my apartment (hang things up, plus some other few things that need to be organized) Re-introduce Pull-ups into my routine Build a shelving unit next to my Desk "No matter what, if you can hold your head up high, you've done the right thing." "When you stand with your family, your family stands with you." "Write what needs to be written." Link to comment
Automaton Zero Posted February 26, 2017 Author Report Share Posted February 26, 2017 Definitely, parasitoids are some of the coolest insects out there! I can't imagine why anyone would ever be grossed out by such a thing... I'm partial to bees and cicadas, myself. Such precious little bugs, they are. Thank you for the advice, I'll be sure to check out the 4 week challenges. If I don't do one this time around, I'll certainly attempt one during the next round. 1 Quote Link to comment
Vendettaressa Posted February 26, 2017 Report Share Posted February 26, 2017 Bugs... Bugs are bugs... Having grown up very sheltered, I didn't even realize someone had the option to study bugs as a career! What is that like? Quote Starting Afresh - Battle Log "You start off as a level one human with no class. At all." - Munchkin Player's Guide "What is the you that you've dreamed of? Who do you see in the mirror? Go on your path. Even if you live for a day, do something, put away your weakness." - BTS No More Dream translated Link to comment
Automaton Zero Posted February 26, 2017 Author Report Share Posted February 26, 2017 Don't worry, I had no idea I could study insects either, at least not until two years ago or so. Right now I'm working as a curatorial assistant at a research collection, which is basically a huge collection of millions of dead insect specimens. We gather data about when and where the specimens were caught, give them taxonomic classifications (or try to, at least), and loan out specimens to researchers and taxonomists. Eventually, though, I want to research live insects, and take care of bees. Pest management is another big field, and so is researching disease vectors like mosquitoes, but I'm not too interested in either of those. There's also environmental research, veterinary entomology, forensic investigation... I mean, I'm a bit biased, but I think it's a lot of fun. There's a lot of direct handling of insects though, both dead and alive, so it's certainly not for everyone. 1 Quote Link to comment
Red1263 Posted February 27, 2017 Report Share Posted February 27, 2017 Oh you must've been in heaven in that curatorial! I had a nitty gritty history with bugs. Had several different kinds in my backyard and my bros and I ran "experiments" on them, some might call it torture or inhumane, but I call it science! I used to do my research in college with my proof and we did DNA sequencing for newly discovered species of geckos. Another prof went out into the wild and caught them. So there's opportunities out there! sent from my phone whilst exploring new dungeons 1 Quote Level 25 Final Fantasy Rebel My Epic Quest | My Journey | Currently on the Trial of Orthos Str: 60 | Dex: 23 | Sta: 66 | Con: 28 | Wis: 55 | Cha: 14 Goals for 2021: Spoiler Build my brother a Destiny 2 Lamp Learn how to do a Handstand Play 1 song on the acoustic guitar Clean up the Christmas Decorations and finish setting up my apartment (hang things up, plus some other few things that need to be organized) Re-introduce Pull-ups into my routine Build a shelving unit next to my Desk "No matter what, if you can hold your head up high, you've done the right thing." "When you stand with your family, your family stands with you." "Write what needs to be written." Link to comment
Automaton Zero Posted February 27, 2017 Author Report Share Posted February 27, 2017 I was always too terrified of the bugs in my backyard to catch them, let along "experiment" on them. Of course, now that I'm studying them, most of the bugs I find go straight to the freezer and/or ethyl acetate jar (except mantids, because they make awesome pets). For science! That's so cool that you got to DNA sequence geckos! I might get the opportunity to do DNA sequencing on Pelecinid wasps this summer (I highly recommend googling them, they're pretty amazing). 1 Quote Link to comment
Red1263 Posted February 27, 2017 Report Share Posted February 27, 2017 Oh man! I often tell people I have a "History of War" with Ants (Fire Ants in particular). When I was little, I had discovered that my backyard had 2 anthills, one sugar/black ants (in california they're small) and one Fire ants. So one day, I decided to conduct an experiment... I eyeballed a spot between the two anthills and place a pile of pure sugar, then dug a trench/pathway leading towards both anthills, and I stood back and just waited. I don't remember how long I waited, but I saw two scouts from their respective colonies head towards the pile, but before actually getting there they noticed each other. Each turned around and walked away. Minutes later, 2 BATTALIONS of ants from each side, marched towards the pile of sugar and waged the most epic war of Red VS Black ants I ever saw!!! For every one fire ant, there were 2-3 sugar ants on top of him! It. Was. Brutal. The victors were the Sugar ants, and at the very end, I kid you not, The sugar ants were walking away, the very last sugar ant was carrying a head of a fire ant. Waving it around like a trophy! Pelecinid wasps look incredible! I really hope you do get to study their DNA. And I really hope it's more eventful than my experience, I mostly did Gel electrophoresis, some centrifuging, and computer logging. Although looking at the Gel through the UV was kinda cool, it sorta lost its flavor after some time. 1 Quote Level 25 Final Fantasy Rebel My Epic Quest | My Journey | Currently on the Trial of Orthos Str: 60 | Dex: 23 | Sta: 66 | Con: 28 | Wis: 55 | Cha: 14 Goals for 2021: Spoiler Build my brother a Destiny 2 Lamp Learn how to do a Handstand Play 1 song on the acoustic guitar Clean up the Christmas Decorations and finish setting up my apartment (hang things up, plus some other few things that need to be organized) Re-introduce Pull-ups into my routine Build a shelving unit next to my Desk "No matter what, if you can hold your head up high, you've done the right thing." "When you stand with your family, your family stands with you." "Write what needs to be written." Link to comment
Automaton Zero Posted February 28, 2017 Author Report Share Posted February 28, 2017 Haha, that is amazing! The social capabilities of ants never cease to amaze me. I'm actually taking a class right now on social insects, and it's absolutely fascinating. The fact that insects can perform such coordinated efforts through little other than pheromones is just incredible. I'd follow up with an insect related story of my own, but I think every story I have pales in comparison to the epic Sugar Pile War. Quote Link to comment
Red1263 Posted February 28, 2017 Report Share Posted February 28, 2017 It's weird isn't it? Even plants do the same thing! There was a particular plant species (no idea what the names are) that kept getting eaten by a particular species of caterpillars so what the plants did was secret some sort of hormone that attracted a special wasp that attacks that species of caterpillar! There's also a fungus that when inserted into an insect it'll take over its entire life! It'll stop whatever its doing and climb to a spot only to stay there for it to die and the fungus to literally grow out of its body! sent from my phone whilst exploring new dungeons Quote Level 25 Final Fantasy Rebel My Epic Quest | My Journey | Currently on the Trial of Orthos Str: 60 | Dex: 23 | Sta: 66 | Con: 28 | Wis: 55 | Cha: 14 Goals for 2021: Spoiler Build my brother a Destiny 2 Lamp Learn how to do a Handstand Play 1 song on the acoustic guitar Clean up the Christmas Decorations and finish setting up my apartment (hang things up, plus some other few things that need to be organized) Re-introduce Pull-ups into my routine Build a shelving unit next to my Desk "No matter what, if you can hold your head up high, you've done the right thing." "When you stand with your family, your family stands with you." "Write what needs to be written." Link to comment
Automaton Zero Posted March 1, 2017 Author Report Share Posted March 1, 2017 Incredible, right? I learned a lot about insect/plant and insect/fungus interactions in a class I took last semester. Some of that stuff can be pretty horrifying, especially the Cordyceps fungus you mentioned. My favorite is probably the diving ant. They gather food by literally diving into the digestive fluids of pitcher plants to retrieve arthropods that the plant has caught. And then there's the fact that some ants grow fungus farms and others herd aphids like cattle, a fact that I find downright adorable. 1 Quote Link to comment
Red1263 Posted March 4, 2017 Report Share Posted March 4, 2017 Ok I don't know why tapatalk didn't tell me you updated, but I caught it now. Cordyceps fungi!! I couldn't remember the name, just the (very interesting) symptoms. I've learned afterwards that it's very possible that this fungus is within us, it's just that it doesn't know how to do that to us... yet! (cue dramatic music) The diver ant sounds very familiar, although I don't think I've ever looked into it. I remember seeing a special on wilderness, and there was a species of ants that fed on a lemon plant, which in turn gave the ants a lemony flavor! I've found this very useful info, just in case I need to do [emoji14] sent from my phone whilst exploring new dungeons Quote Level 25 Final Fantasy Rebel My Epic Quest | My Journey | Currently on the Trial of Orthos Str: 60 | Dex: 23 | Sta: 66 | Con: 28 | Wis: 55 | Cha: 14 Goals for 2021: Spoiler Build my brother a Destiny 2 Lamp Learn how to do a Handstand Play 1 song on the acoustic guitar Clean up the Christmas Decorations and finish setting up my apartment (hang things up, plus some other few things that need to be organized) Re-introduce Pull-ups into my routine Build a shelving unit next to my Desk "No matter what, if you can hold your head up high, you've done the right thing." "When you stand with your family, your family stands with you." "Write what needs to be written." Link to comment
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.