So, my mind started to wander as it does from time to time and I found myself thinking about when I was a kid, maybe about 10 years old, maybe younger.  Kids don't exactly have a good sense for years, so my mind has always just sort of guessed at these things.  Well, I decided one summer day that I wanted some money for whatever reason, but my parent's weren't in a giving for no reason mood, so I was told to go earn some.  Well, how's a kid supposed to make money?!  I somehow came to the conclusion that a garage sale was the answer!  Plenty of people had them, my mom enjoyed going to them... why not!  So I went into my room and started gathering up all the toys I no longer used and put them into a basket, took them outside to the field next to our house and put up a single misspelled "gerage sail" sign.  My mom suggested I put clothes out there too since I was at it... I declined since I hated that part of garage sales because, well, I was a kid.  So I sat there.  For hours.  Plenty of people drove by and saw my half hearted little attempt to make money, but no one would stop and see my box of awesome toys I was generously selling (for way too much/little, I'm sure).  After about the third hour, my mom hung a line of clothes up behind me and moved out a few other larger items, and a couple of young adults stopped by and didn't buy anything.  Those jerks.  Being a stubborn one however, I sat out there until it got dark, and even a little after that.  My mom finally came and got me and helped me carry my failed attempt back inside.

My somewhat pathetic attempt at being in sales didn't exactly end that day, but I certainly learned a few things.  I have since attempted (and on a few occasions successfully) sold things the modern way- online, but nothing that says I should grab a job that lives off commission, I'd probably starve if I did.  That's okay though, my back up career was always science... or rather, it was my first choice, but by no means a "get rich quick" sort of ordeal.  

I never made great grades in my science course, even though they were my favorite classes.  One year in high school I took that test that points you towards a career in something or another, but I was so dead set on what I wanted to do, that they might as well have just sent me a letter that read "why'd you waste our time kid, you know what you want to do... though heads up, you have no natural talent for it".  Took me 4 years to get an AA in biology, another 3 years to get my BS, and 3 MORE years to get an MS, but I got them... I worked my way through and I now have enough education to start a great career. Still waiting to hear back from the 39 jobs I've applied for, in 8 state and federal agencies, in every corner of the country.  But I'm optimistic, maybe one day my application will make it past the "pending" status.  

So why am I telling you all of this?  Well, I realized today while flipping through my facebook profile and hordes of pictures from travel, and fieldwork, holding exotic and amazing creatures in the palms of my hands- facebook is the highlight reel of my life.  My life isn't just a series of successes and adventures, hell 9/10ths of the time I'm indoors, playing video games, reading reddit, or well, looking at other people's highlight reels.  So this is just my way of balancing out the universe a bit.  I don't want to forget the failings of my life either, because who knows, maybe one day I'll become an awesome scientist, get a nobel prize and people will ohh and aahh at my success and feel ashamed of their failures.  But hell man, failure is the vast majority of even the most successful people's lives!  It's a beautiful thing if embraced for what it is, a learning experience.  

I posted on my facebook something the other day "success is like being pregnant, everyone congratulates you, but no one knows how many times you were screwed before you got there".  So this blog, it shall be a chronicle of my failures (with a comedic twist of course).