First Kiss, Nickelback, Nostalgia...

One night last week, Son asked me how old he'd be when he first kissed a girl. So I asked Husband how old he was when he had his first kiss, and he said he didn't remember! We ended up having a long discussion (after Son went to bed), because I figured Husband was either a) lying, or b) such an insensitive clod that his first kiss didn't mean anything to him. Maybe, though, I was just seeing the situation the way a woman would (gee, I wonder why?), and maybe the first kiss isn't such a big deal for (some) guys. Or maybe it isn't such a big deal when you're really young when it happens. Or maybe I married an insensitive clod.

I remember my first kiss, but don't worry--I'll spare you the slobbery details. I also won't mention how old I was, because it's too dang embarrassing. But at any rate, it was a guy I met at a dance, we went out once after that, and that was it. But it was one of those cheesy adolescent milestones, and I'll never forget it.

What got me to thinking about all this, besides the conversation last week, was this neat little snippet from Photograph by Nickelback:

Kim's the first girl I kissed
I was so nervous that I nearly missed
She’s had a couple of kids since then
I haven’t seen her since God knows when

The nostalgia in that song is almost palpable. I feel it every time I go back home, and I wonder if it would be different if I still lived in my hometown, surrounded by memories and my old friends. At least, thanks in part to the internet, I've been able to reconnect with some of the old crowd. We're so different now, married with kids, jobs, and mortgages. And yet underneath all those trappings of adulthood, I think we're the same goofy, insecure teenagers we were back in the day. I know I wear my "adulthood" like a uniform, the face I show a certain segment of the world. But I take it off every chance I get.

So whatcha think, dear readers? Do you remember your first kiss? Was it a big deal? Is it something most people remember, or am I just pathetic? Do you think guys are less likely to remember something like that than women are? Please leave a comment and share your thoughts.

The Great Garage Cleanout of 2007

Memorial Day Weekend... the traditional kickoff of the summer season. People go swimming, have cookouts, camp, fish, and lounge around. But not at my house. Instead of having fun, we spent most of the weekend cleaning our garage. Not exciting, I know, but it's so nice to have the job done. Our garage hadn't been cleaned in two years and was an absolute disaster. See for yourself:

Before...


And After!


I hope any of you reading this had more fun this weekend than we did.

Aquarium critters

Time to take a break from garden pictures. Instead, today we have... aquarium pictures! Hubby and I recently redecorated our 100-gal saltwater tank, got rid of some overgrown corals (Kenya tree corals should not be left without supervision... they take over!), and cleaned things up a bit. I spent quite some time trying to get pictures of my fish, but they move way too fast, and they're afraid of the camera. I suppose it looks like some large, menacing reef creature to them. But the corals and other finless critters make easier subjects. So here we go:

Red-legged hermit crab, mugging for the camera:


Tridacnid clam: One species of these (but not the one I have) is what's known as a giant clam. They glow so beautifully under lights, because they have special algae on their mantles that luminesce and make energy from light. Without its algae--and a lot of light--the clam would die.


Blue sponge: My newest creature, which I just got Saturday. It's a lot prettier than the sponges under my kitchen sink! And in case you're wondering, sea sponges like this one are animals, but very primitive ones. Kinda like husbands...


Zooanthid polyps, a type of soft coral:


I'll keep trying to get good pics of the fish.

What happened on your birthday?

Thanks to Monkeygirl for posting this cool blog meme. It works like this:
Rules:
1. Go to Wikipedia and put in your birthday, without the year, in the search bar.
2. List on your blog 3 events, 2 births, 1 death and 1 holiday that happens(ed) on your birthday.

Here are mine for March 7:

3 events:

1. 321 - Roman Emperor Constantine I decrees that the dies Solis Invicti (sun-day) is the day of rest in the Empire.
   
2. 1850 - United States Senator Daniel Webster gives his "Seventh of March" speech in which he endorses the Compromise of 1850 in order to prevent a possible civil war.
   
3. 2006 - Apple Inc. is granted the patent to their revolutionary device, the iPod. (patent # D516,576)
   

2 births:

1. 1942 - Tammy Faye Bakker, American evangelist
   
2. 1946 - Peter Wolf, American musician (J Geils Band)
   

1 death:
1999 - Stanley Kubrick, American film director (b. 1928)

1 holiday:
Official "Metallica Day" in San Francisco, CA (enacted by Mayor Willie Brown in 1999).

Some of these are really fun. Metallica Day? LOL. I feel honored :-)

Funny (and probably all-too-accurate) EMS codes

I've been a bit too busy to do much writing lately, so I thought I'd share someone else's great blog post. Edwinleap.com has a hilarious post from Emergency Medicine News called Describing the indescribable, a list of emergency medical codes that should exist. My favorite:

20-702 Envenomation from attempting to cuddle with Pit Viper.

ROTFLMAO. The sad thing is, people really do this stuff! Some idiot up in Battleground, WA, nearly died from a rattlesnake bite a few years ago--a bite which happened when he was attempting to kiss the rattlesnake! If he had died, he'd have been a shoo-in for a Darwin Award.

I hope to actually write something in the next couple of days. I have some garden pics to post and a few comments about my night at the opera last Saturday. Oh, and I'll have to brag about my new computer, which arrived last night. But I'll be so busy getting it set up that I'll be lucky to find much time to write.

10 random facts/habits

Here are the rules: Each player starts with 10 random facts/habits about themselves. People who are tagged need to write on their own blog about their ten things and add a copy of these rules. THEN, you need to choose 10 people to tag and list their names. Don’t forget to leave them a comment telling them that they have been tagged and to read your blog!

In my case, I'm just going to post these here. If you read this and you want to play the game, go for it!

In no particular order...

1. I've seen Def Leppard in concert 20 times. Yes, really! And yes, you can laugh if you want. I have tickets to see them three more times this fall too. I've been a fan since 1983. I've often said that everyone should have a frivolous yet thoroughly engaging hobby. For some people, it's a sports team. For others, it's playing a sport or collecting something. For me, it's Def Leppard.

2. I was a contestant on Jeopardy a few years ago (2001, to be precise). And I lost. Cue the Weird Al song... "I lost on Jeopardy... Baby." Though I had thought about it off and on for years, I never really thought I'd do it. I auditioned on a whim, and in fact it was a fluke that I even knew about the auditions. The show had been postponed due to one of the political conventions in late summer 2000. I was channel-surfing before bedtime and caught the end of the show, which I hardly ever got to watch in its normal time slot, because I had a 2-year-old who demanded all my attention in the early evening. At the end of the show, they put up an announcement that Jeopardy auditions would be held in Portland. So I said, "What the hell," and signed up. The audition was in two parts. The first part was a written test, 50 questions spanning every conceivable topic from European history to Britney Spears. Each question would display on a TV monitor for 7 seconds, then disappear. Of the 80 or so people who auditioned, 11 of us passed the written test and proceeded to the second part of the audition, a mock game. They told us they were looking for enthusiasm, so that's what I gave 'em. It seemed to go well, but I didn't hear anything for about a month and assumed I was out. Then the call came. I should have prepared more in the month or so between getting the call and taping the show, but I didn't. And really, I don't think it would have mattered. I was beaten--soundly--by a guy who went on to win 5 games and enter the Tournament of Champions (back when 5 games was the limit, before they changed the rules and gave us Ken Jennings). But the whole experience was a blast, even though I was more nervous than I've ever been in my life.

3. I grow carnivorous plants. That's what happens when horror fans grow up to be gardeners. I don't watch as much horror as I used to (heck, I don't watch as much of anything as I used to), but I do like my hungry little botanical specimens. I have Venus flytraps (of course), sundews, North American pitcher plants, and Asian pitcher plants, the latter in hanging baskets above my kitchen sink. A friend came over once and asked me about the weird-looking plants in my kitchen. When I told her they were carnivorous pitcher plants, she literally jumped back! No, Little Shop of Horrors is *not* a documentary. But Audrey was my favorite character. As long as we're on the subject, here's your random Carnivorous Plant Fact Of the Day: The Venus flytrap was named that, because someone thought the traps resembled a certain part of the female anatomy. Really! And I guess Venus Flytrap sounded better than Vagina Dentata :-)

4. For a little while I was a teacher. I did student teaching at at Tokay High in Lodi, CA, at the ripe old age of 20, and it was a miserable experience. I worked as a substitute teacher in Lodi annd then in Vancouver, WA, but I hustled off to graduate school at the first opportunity. I still love to teach, but I don't have the patience or stamina for all the BS that goes with being a public school teacher.

5. Along with the rest of my family, I'm a diehard Harry Potter fan. I read the first book on a cross-country flight in 2000 and was hooked. I convinced hubby to read it, and he bcame positively obsessed. Our son is into it too, having discovered Harry Potter through the wonderful audiobook versions ready by Jim Dale. I anticipate the last book with equal amounts of excitement and dread: I'm eager to see how Rowling ends the saga, and I hope she ties up most loose ends and brings everything together for a satisfying conclusion. At the same time, I know she's going to kill off at least one of my favorite characters. After finishing book 6, I was in a foul mood for days! Yes, I take my literature way too seriously.

6. I've been online since late 1991, when I got my first computer account at the University of Washington. I remember telnet and ftp from a Unix command line, and I remember when the web was text-only. You had to telnet to a server running the Lynx browser. I also remember the day I installed the first graphical browser, Mosaic, in 1994. I was so excited about what I saw that I ran next door to my boss' office and said, "You have to see this!" Within a year, URLs were showing up in advertising and on ESPN's sports broadcasts. Now it's hard to remember life before the web. We truly live in interesting times.

7. In 2001 I had a tumor removed from my thyroid gland, leaving me with a cool semicircular scar on my neck. When it was red and really prominent, I explained it by telling people I used to date OJ Simpson. Yep, I'm tacky.

8. When I was little, my favorite stuffed animal was a big green and brown snake. It was about 6 feet long and about 4 inches in diameter. Because I was such an original, creative kid, I named it, "Snaky."

9. My first car was a 1975 Ford Maverick, yellow-ish with a black vinyl top. It was seriously ugly, but it had a good stereo, and it ran. When you're 16, that's enough.

10. And finally, since this little game also mentions routines, here's a snapshot of my workday routine:

• Up at 6-ish
• Shower, hair, makeup, clothes, etc.
• Out the door by 7
• At work by 7:30
• Email, meetings, more email, lunch, more meetings, more email
• Out the door at 6-ish
• Home a little before 7
• Dinner
• Chores, vegetation, recreation, etc.
• Pre-bedtime hangout with hubby and son
• TV, hang out with hubby, read, compute, or write
• Bed at 10-ish

It's not much, but it's my life.

Overheard in the living room...

Son: I'm being stupid on purpose!

There really isn't much to say to that, is there?

Eating my way through San Jose: Lobster corndogs, duck fat fries, and inexpensive elegance

I just finished a book of blog ideas called No One Cares What You Had For Lunch, so of course I'm going to tell you what I had for lunch. Well, not exactly. But I am going to write about food in San Jose. It seems like all I've done since I got here is eat. Library conferences are like that. Every time you turn around, a vendor is sponsoring a break, lunch, or reception, and I've always found it hard to turn down free food. I'll be lucky to fit into my jeans when I get home. But fear not--I'm not going to bore you with details about all the food-related events I've gone to. Instead, I'm going to bore you with my observations about food around here.

First, a restaurant recommendation: If you're ever in the convention center area of San Jose, be sure to eat at the Sonoma Chicken Coop at least once. Their theme is "inexpensive elegance", and they live up to that promise. The food is delicious, beautifully presented, and reasonably priced. I was so impressed with my beautiful chicken salad that I took a picture of it! (see above) I'm pretty sure I've never done that before, but then I'm pretty sure I've never been served something garnished with an orchid before either.

Now for another theme I've noticed: Expensive inelegance. Well, not exactly. But I've been to a couple upscale restaurants in the last few days, and they usually have at least one menu item that's an upscale version of distinctly downscale cuisine. Today's example (which I'm not making up): a lobster corndog. Really! What's next? A deep-fried twinkie with Grand Marnier sauce? The same restaurant also served (are you ready for this) duck fat fries. I noticed that no one asked for ketchup.

I'm not sure what this trend says about American eating habits, but I find it fascinating.

Weekend in California

I've taken a brief break from blogging, as I've been in California since Saturday morning and haven't had time to write. I still don't have much time, so this post will have more pictures than words.

I'm in San Jose for a library conference, which started today. I flew down a few days early to go back to my home town and visit friends. Since it was Mother's Day weekend, a lot of people were busy, but I got to hang out with a couple people and spend a beautiful afternoon on the beach in Santa Cruz. Saturday I walked around town and discovered that, though it's bigger than it used to be, Tracy is still boring. But it was fun to wander around some of my old hangouts. Saturday night I went to a choir concert, since Kristy was the accompanist. The theme of the concert was Music Through the Decades, and they sang songs from the 1910s through the 1990s. It was highly entertaining to hear a choir do a medley of disco songs! Here's a pic of Kristy and me from after the show:

Sunday I hung out with my friend Diana, then went to a Mother's Day gathering at Kristy's parents' house. It was nice to visit with her folks, whom I've hardly seen in the last decade or so, and her sister Gina, whom I hadn't seen in about 8 years. Here's Kristy and Gina, with Gina's very photogenic dog:

Monday was beach day! We were off to Santa Cruz for sun, sand, and the Giant Dipper! The Boardwalk was nearly empty, and most of the rides weren't running. But the Dipper was open--hooray! We probably rode that thing 5 or 6 times without waiting in line at all, and we were in the front car nearly every time. Have I mentioned that I love roller coasters? And that the Giant Dipper is my favorite roller coaster? A couple pics:


When we finally removed ourselves from the roller coaster (grudgingly) we headed out on the pier, where we were serenaded by a group of adorable but loud seals. For whiskery blobs of blubber, they're surprisingly photogenic:


Before we left our coastal paradise, we drove along the cliffs above town, where the views are breathtaking. Here are a few more pics:


That's about it for now. More about San Jose and the conference when I have more time. Right now I'm off to a dessert reception. Life's tough, huh?

A former Army doctor talks about war

I don't have much time (getting ready to leave for CA tomorrow morning), but I want to share a moving, eloquent blog post from a former Army doctor who served in Vietnam. This passage will give you the gist of his message:

And I hate it -- I absolutely hate it -- when I hear hard-on holding TV pundits and chest-thumping politicos who haven't the slightest clue what war does to people getting all teary-eyed about "sacrifice" and square-jawed about bravery. Not to mention people who get shocked when a soldier living in that world goes off the deep end. It's what happens. When we send kids to war, sticking little magnets on our bumpers, putting down the remote long enough to give the finger to peaceniks; when we force our young to leave their humanity behind (while telling them not to and pretending it's possible), we ought to be damn sure -- we ought to be god damn sure there's absolutely no other choice. The only people for whom war is glorious are those who never were in one.

I don't have the time to add my own commentary, nor is it necessary. His post says it all.

Gay Penguins in Lodi

Now that I have your attention, your shoes are untied. No, seriously... someone in Lodi (and apparently people in other cities around the country) is upset about a children's book called And Tango Makes Three. The book is based on a true story about two male chinstrap penguins in the Central Park Zoo who become something of a couple and even make a nest for a fake egg. The Stockton Record has a brief article about the controversy at http://www.recordnet.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070505/A_NEWS/705050321. The reader comments are more entertaining than the article.

As a librarian, I find nearly all censorship abhorrent, but this example seems especially ridiculous. Someone posted a comment about not wanting to have a sex talk with her three-year-old because of the book. Well, gosh, I don't think a picture book about a couple penguins requires a sex talk! Little kids aren't nearly as obsessed with sex as their parents. You can tell a three-year-old that the penguins are friends and let it go at that. In fact, in the not-too-distant past same-sex friends would hug and kiss routinely, and they weren't gay. It just seems to be our culture today that insists on sexualizing everything.

Maybe the authors intended for the book to promote "the gay lifestyle" (or as we liberals call it, "tolerance"), and maybe they didn't. But it really doesn't matter. The book's target audience will see it as just a cute story about penguins... unless we grownups insist on giving them other ideas.

Thoughts on the Virginia Tech shooting

This post originally appeared in my MySpace blog on April 20. I'm reposting here, as part of my effort to maintain my content in both places. Plus, as depressing as it is, it's one of my better posts IMHO (well, at least the second, personal part is).

I debated whether or not to write about the shootings at Virginia Tech. I usually don't write a lot about current events, because most of what needs to be said, gets said--plus a whole lot more. Events like this one get the usual saturation coverage, so why clutter my blog with more? Ah, well, I shall now clutter...

First, I read a great opinion piece in the Chronicle of Higher Education a couple weeks ago by Gary Lavergne, who wrote a book about the infamous shooting at the University of Texas in 1966. His book is called A Sniper in the Tower. I haven't read it, but it sounds interesting. Anyway, Lavergne's essay in the Chronicle, entitled The Legacy of the Texas Tower Sniper, compares that case with the current nightmare, especially addressing our need to place blame and find reasons for these senseless killings. The essay is available free from the Chronicle site, at http://chronicle.com/free/2007/04/2007041810n.htm. In case you don't want to read the whole thing, here's a paragraph from near the end, which summarizes his argument (and my own opinion too):

Before we identify and learn the lessons of Blacksburg, we must begin with the obvious: More than four dozen innocent people were gunned down by a murderer who is completely responsible for what happened. No one died for lack of text messages or an alarm system. They died of gunshot wounds. While we painfully learn our lessons, we must not treat each other as if we are responsible for the deaths that occurred. We must come together and be respectful and kind. This is not a time for us to torture ourselves or to seek comfort by finding someone to blame. Maybe as a result of the tragedy we will figure out how to more effectively use e-mail and text messages as emergency tools for warning large populations. We may come up with a plan that successfully clears a large area, with a population density of a midsize city, in less than two hours. Maybe universities will find a way to install surveillance cameras and convince students and faculty members that they are being monitored for their own safety and not for gathering domestic intelligence. All of those steps might be helpful in avoiding and reducing the carnage of any future incidents. But as long as we value living in a free society, we will be vulnerable to those who do harm -- because they want to and know how to do it.

Much of what he says here could be applied to 9-11 also.

Now, from the academic to the personal:

School shootings of any sort always take me back to 1989, when a nutcase named Patrick Purdy opened fire with an AK-47 on a schoolyard full of children in Stockton, CA. It happened just a few months before I left Stockton, and it remains one of my most painful memories from my time there. I had worked at the school two or three years prior to the incident, and I was just a few blocks away when the shooting occurred.

I remember scanning the list of the dead and wounded for familiar names. There were none, but that didn't make it any better.

I remember driving to the blood bank to donate blood (which I had never done before, because I was deathly afraid of needles, but it was the one thing I thought I could do to help). When I arrived, the line of blood donors stretched out the door and clear around the block. I decided they'd probably get enough blood, and I drove away with my faith in humanity slightly restored.

I remember Michael Jackson coming to the dilapidated county hospital in French Camp, where many of the survivors were receiving care. He tried to keep his visit quiet to avoid a media circus and nearly succeeded. When he was accused of molesting children a few years later, I had a hard time believing that could be true of someone who cared enough to visit wounded kids in a run-down county hospital, without a PR team in tow.

I remember news coverage of the memorial service for the victims, which drew thousands of people and, for one brief moment, seemed to bring together people of all ethnic backgrounds and socioeconomic levels, united in mourning for these children who were slaughtered so senselessly. In a city like Stockton, such unity was rare.

I remember watching CNN coverage, listening to commentators try to make sense of a senseless act. Purdy's family and friends said he hated Asians. They said a lot of other stuff I don't remember. But nothing they said came close to explaining why he murdered 2nd-graders in cold blood. And since he blew his own brains out, there on that schoolyard, we'll never really know why he did it. Maybe he didn't know why he did it either.

I still have the newspaper articles about the incident. I don't know why I keep them, since I can't bear to read them. And I still can't listen to White Lion's "When the Children Cry." It was popular around that time, and the lyrics hit too close to home.

I suspect the folks in Blacksburg, VA, will always remember where they were when they heard the news, and they'll remember pieces of the aftermath, just as I remember what happened in Stockton over 18 years ago. There will be newspapers they can't read and songs they can't listen to. And someday something similar will happen elsewhere that will bring the painful memories flooding back to them, as this incident has brought back painful memories for me. Tragedies strip away much of what separates us, leaving us with only our pain--and our common humanity.

MySpace vs. Blogger

I've let this blog go for awhile now, because I've been blogging on MySpace. Why? Because many of my friends are there, they comment on my posts, and it's fun to write for a known audience. Writing here is like tossing a message in a bottle into the Pacific: someone might find it, but you don't know who, and they'll probably never tell you. But Blogger also offers some advantages over MySpace: It's easier to access and read, it doesn't have the "home of the predators" stigma attached to MySpace, and it offers *much* better blogging tools (permalinks, trackbacks, tagging, and way more customization).

And then there's the difference in blog culture. As a rule, Blogger users are more tech- and blog-savvy and more interested in thought-provoking writing. MySpace users are more interested in what I did today, pop culture... you know, diary entries. Both are great, but they're different. Yet my MySpace blog wouldn't be an accurate reflection of me if I didn't include some opinions and, ahem, deep thoughts. And my Blogger blog seems incomplete without some of the personal stuff (and I do a lot fewer thought pieces than diary entries, which is why there hasn't been much activity here in awhile).

What to do?

After thinking about this for awhile, I've decided to mostly duplicate my work in both places. I may occasionally post something on only one blog or the other, but for the most part the content will be the same in both places. I don't think that will bother anyone, because I suspect the readership will be different in both places.

So, to catch up, I may copy some posts from here onto my MySpace blog, and I will very likely copy some posts from my MySpace blog here. But from this point forward, new entries will appear in both places. If anyone knows how to automate that process, please let me know. In the meantime, I'll be cutting and pasting.

ID and Fingerprints to Sell Used CDs? You must be joking.

Ars technica reports that several states, especially Florida, are putting new restrictions on the sale of used CDs. These laws are similar to those that govern pawn shops, requiring stores to request ID and even fingerprints from people who wish to sell their used CDs. Supposedly these laws will make it harder for people to sell stolen or counterfeit goods, but as the article notes, one can see the heavy hand of the music industry behind them. Back in the late 80s the industry went to court to stop the sale of used CDS--and lost. Now, when users can buy a used CD, rip it, then resell it easily, music execs are probably freaking out about piracy. I'd have more sympathy if prices for CDs were more reasonable, legally-purchased digital music came with fewer onerous restrictions, and the RIAA stopped extorting money from people they accuse of piracy, many of whom are innocent. I have no problem paying for music, but I do have a problem with a) being ripped off, and b) seeing the RIAA use copyright law as a tool of extortion while doing all they can to limit technological advances in the music industry.

OK, rant over. And if you're looking for a legal way to unload some unwanted CDs, I recommend LaLa. It's a great site that automates CD trading via posted want lists and have lists. There are also some cool social networking features built in. I've been using it since last summer, and I've gotten a lot of great music from other users. If you want to sign up, I'd appreciate it if you'd let me know, so I can send you an invitation. Then when you join, I get a free t-shirt :-)

Here's my want list:

Here's my current want list:
Click here to get any of my CDs for $1

Technology Typology Test

No, this isn't another Blogthings quiz, and you won't get a neat little snippet of code to post on MySpace. But you may find the results interesting.

The Pew Internet & American Life Project just released a new report on how people use information and communication technology--cell phones, the internet, various gadgets, etc.--and their attitudes toward these things. They surveyed a variety of people and classified the respondents into various groups based on what they used and how they felt about it. Then, based on the results, they created a Technology Typology Test, which you can take to see which category you fit into.

As for me? According to the quiz, I am a technology omnivore, along with 8% of the US population. I pasted in the full description below. Interestingly, I don't quite fit the norm for a technology omnivore: I'm too old and too female :-)

So what type of technology user are you?

Basic Description
Members of this group use their extensive suite of technology tools to do an enormous range of things online, on the go, and with their cell phones. Omnivores are highly engaged with video online and digital content. Between blogging, maintaining their Web pages, remixing digital content, or posting their creations to their websites, they are creative participants in cyberspace.

Defining Characteristics
You might see them watching video on an iPod. They might talk about their video games or their participation in virtual worlds the way their parents talked about their favorite TV episode a generation ago. Much of this chatter will take place via instant messages, texting on a cell phone, or on personal blogs. Omnivores are particularly active in dealing with video content. Most have video or digital cameras, and most have tried watching TV on a non-television device, such as a laptop or a cell phone.

Omnivores embrace all this connectivity, feeling confident in how they manage information and their many devices. This puts information technology at the center of how they express themselves, do their jobs, and connect to their friends.

Who They Are
They are young, ethnically diverse, and mostly male (70%). The median age is 28; just more than half of them are under age 30, versus one in five in the general population. Over half are white (64%) and 11% are black (compared to 12% in the general population). English-speaking Hispanics make up 18% of this group. Perhaps unsurprisingly, many (42% versus the 13% average) of Omnivores are students.