Welcome!

Hi. If you've come here, you probably already know who I am, but who knows-- I might wind up with readers outside my friends, at some point, so I might as well have this first post here introducing myself.

My name is Diana, and no, I am not especially afraid of sharing that online. I actually use my real name in several places on the internet. I'm not scared of ghosts or things that go bump in the night, why should I be afraid of the nebulous dark things people tell me lurk on the internet? I'm rambling. I do that a lot, you'll find, as you read my blog. Fortunately for you, I tend to notice it fairly early on and get back to the subject at hand.

I am, as of this posting, a sophomore at the Colorado School of Mines, majoring in Engineering Physics. If that doesn't tell you that I'm crazy, well, stick around. You'll catch on soon enough. I say that I am a sophomore-- I'm not actually certain. See, I transfered in, and I can't for the life of me remember how many credits I have. But we'll stick with sophomore. It sounds better than freshman, given that I'm old enough for people to assume I'm a grad student. Not going to post my age-- I may not fear dark shadows on the internet, but I'm a woman, and it's my right to hide my age.

Actually, scratch that. I can't stand things that make fun of the supposed "war of the sexes." This is one of the topics I will be talking about on this blog, because it is one of the things that I think about a lot: gender. I am not a feminist; there are too many nutjobs that call themselves such for me to be pleased wearing the label. Other things I am likely to address include anything interesting I learn in my classes (whether they relate to my major or not-- I find a lot of the things I learn in Earth and Environmental Systems interesting, for example), interesting things I have learned elsewhere, political issues I have latched onto (that one is likely to be rare-- I really don't care for politics or for stating my opinion on them), or, and this one's going to be pretty prominent for a while, atheism and skepticism. See, I'm working on starting a group on campus that is affiliated with the Secular Student Alliance-- it's something I care about, that I think about a lot, and it's a big part of my life at the moment. So expect to read a lot about that.

Also, I'm 27. Women who lie about their age are silly.

Some of this blog might be personal, but mostly it is aimed at other people, and hopefully will be interesting for them. Hopefully I will succeed-- or rather, have succeeded, for you new people that found me somehow.