I was that kid!
I read this lovely post the other day, " We were all that kid " about a little girl who brought her collection of objects to a museum for the curator to look at. It made me smile, as it reminded me of myself, and how I ended up being this thing called a geoarchaeologist. As early as I can remember I was fascinated by the natural world. My biggest obsession was with rocks and gemstones, though I also loved insects. I still have a lot of my collection - the rocks and gems anyway. I did have a red tailed bumble bee and a stag beetle that I tried to preserve with my non-exist childhood conservator skills, but they didn't survive. I have a distinct memory of a school field trip to London. I bought a book from the NHM on gemstones, and I remember how it had all the chemical names of the minerals, and how I tried to learn them. I still remember my birthstone peridot is magnesium iron silicate. The NHM is huge with so many flashy displays and interactive things, but I was quite...