People: A tribute

Lately, I have been thinking about how great people are, and so today, I am (finally!) going to share some of the reasons why people are so great. As opposed to, say, trees, or animals, or microwaves, and such. Not that those things aren't wonderful and terrific and full of their own excellent and important qualities. But they aren't people. And here are just a few of the reasons why people are so great, in no particular order:

People are great for giving hugs. Admittedly, some animals are good for hugging. But they aren't very good at hugging back. And, turtles? Fish? Hamsters? Not really huggable. And while there are many tree-huggers out there, and I am a fan of trees, not very comfortable for actual hugging. Or at reciprocating. Hands down, people are the very best for hugging.

People are great for conversation. I have tried many many times to carry on a conversation with various appliances, gadgets, and other inanimate objects. It is never successful. Either they have nothing to say to me, or I'm a terrible conversationalist. My dog (okay, really my brother's dog) is better to talk to, but I still get the sense that she just doesn't find my conversation terribly interesting. It always seems like her mind is somewhere else. Primarily squirrels. But people--people are great for conversation. They talk back. And sure, they aren't always 100% attentive, but they engage. And they really do say the greatest stuff. Love me some conversation with some peeps.

Laughing is another great people attribute. Ever heard your computer laugh? It just doesn't happen. It might show you a video of someone laughing, but that is not the same at all. It is super fun to make people smile and laugh. (Another thing about my computer--it doesn't smile. I bet I could fix that...) Also, animals? Not big laughers, at least not that I've ever heard (Wikipedia disagrees, but honestly, I can't imagine a fish laughing. Maybe laughter doesn't translate across species?), which is really sad, because laughing is great.

People are a lot more fun to do things with, too. Animals are pretty good for that, but it does tend to limit the range of activities you can participate in. (Although, when is a game of "Let's not get eaten by the wild animals" not fun, eh?) Really, though. Computers? Not so great when it comes to going out to dinner. Definitely not planning on taking my microwave to the movies. Trees are such homebodies, it's hard to get them to go anywhere, and plants only ever want to do things when it's sunny. But people are almost always up for adventure, and I love adventures!

I think the best thing about people, though, is loving them and being loved by them. Nothing else on earth loves quite the same way that people do. 

Admittedly, we people are not perfect. But, there are a lot of things that people do really well, and I for one, am a huge fan of people (Doctor Who? Also a fan of people. Which means we must be pretty cool!). The world really wouldn't be as interesting a place without them. And so, thanks to all you awesome people out there. Keep up the good work.

My Summer Vacation

(Emily: Just in case, consider yourself warned).

This summer, I worked at an archive. I separated out a lot of paper, played web archive detective, and acquired some fun, albeit morbidish, stories. And I don't recall a single paper cut.


This summer I read a few books and played some games and got into a little bit of mischief. But only the good kind.

This summer I swam in Lake Michigan, trekked to Canada, got a little wet closer to home, caught me some frogs, and got a kitchen table. It is amazing what a difference kitchen tables make.

This summer, I became the Cake Fairy, a Conscience/Shoulder Angel/Shoulder Devil, editor, and coach. Friends are wonderful things!

This summer, I became part of an adventure team, and I have loved every minute of it. I'm really glad that even though the summer is over, the adventures aren't.

So, it has definitely been a fun-filled and happy summer, and I'm sad to see it come to an end. On the bright side, fall has so many possibilities...