Welcome to our new page, both new friends and old.
Hello there, if you are reading this then yes, you have made it to our new club web site. You have also successfully navigated your way to the ‘Articles’ section and clicked on it… this must be a good sign. I hope you like the site, and if you do not, well you can take it up with me in person at our next club meeting and I will give your complaint all of the consideration it deserves!
Hello, my name is Jamie and I am not an alcoholic at the moment, but I do like collecting the ‘shiny things’. I am 24 years old, and I have been apart of the South Bay Lapidary and Mineral Society for almost seventeen years. When I put it that way, that means I have been in the club longer than I have not. Has it really been that long?
Following up after my new found interest in rocks and minerals (spurred on by a second grade project), my dad took me to my first rock show. We soon joined the club. And while as I grew older I developed other interests, ultimately resulting in my undergraduate degree in Archaeology and my Masters degree in Museum Studies. Having some geological knowledge has been beneficial for me… I can tell the difference between mud covered wood and mud covered stone, which seems to elude some archaeologists. I can recommend that people not lick green rocks, yeah seriously please don’t do that. But I have always had a special love for the ‘shiny things’. I am not the most knowledgeable out there, and odds are I cannot tell you what kind of rock it is that you have there in your hand. I have been told to guess Agate, it is usually a safe and educated guess…
The world we live in now is a technical wonder, and when I ponder the future and where we will be in twenty, thirty years, my mind just cannot wrap itself around the concept. It is kind of like trying to understand the idea of ‘infinity’- our minds are not made to grasp that which is limitless. Having said that, we still cannot manufacture that which our Earth gives us. Rocks, minerals, gems, are the treasures of the Earth, and I have yet to see anything that can replicate their beauty. They are aesthetically and scientifically perfect. If we are looking for something ‘on fleek’ or ‘flawless’ we have no need than to look further than our nearest beach or desert.
As a result, it really is amazing to see that we can still stop and marvel at nature, at our surroundings, and the little stones that we pick up along the way in our journey called life. I personally have picked up my fair share of stones, but I have also accumulated something more. In our club, I have met some of the most wonderful people who I will always value and treasure, even more than my mineral collection. I remember those that we no longer have. I think of those who have moved away, and those who have gone on to do great things. I look at those who are new, and young, and excited to learn more. And lastly, I look forward to those who are to come in the future. In more ways than one, these people have become a family to me. They are a crazy and lovely bunch of uncles, aunts, and grandparents who I miss when I am away traveling, and look forward to seeing when I come home. They have loved me, supported me, and more than not they have teased the heck out of me!
For all of this, I would like to thank them. Those of you who do have computers and do go on the internet, if you are reading this… thank you. For those who are reading this that are not in our club, I hope that you are or one day will one day be apart of such a special group of people. It has been an honor and a privilege for myself.
Thanks for reading, and please come visit our page again! I promise there will be far more educational and interesting material to read in the near future!
Jamie
South Bay Lapidary and Mineral Society 