insects i've met recently

Here are two insects I've met recently. Firstly a manuka chafer beetle which made its way into the house, I usually find them dead outside.  Bright shiny green, and quite large by NZ insect standards. Which is how I managed to take some half decent macro photos on my point-n-shoot camera.

And off it flew, that's its shadow following take-off!

 Second up was a cicada that spent the night in the laundry basket with the freshly washed clothes. In the morning I carried it outside, and it greeted the sun. Once sufficiently warmed up, off it flew too.

So why am I devoting one of my few and far between blog posts to insects? Well once upon a time insects were a passion of mine. I went to university with the aim of becoming a Landscape Architect, which in those days involved getting an undergrad degree first, but after the first entomology paper I was hooked.

When I was in my mid 20's  I had to make a couple of decisions that looking back were significant turning points in my life.

Firstly there was leaving my first husband and getting on a plane at Manchester Airport to return to New Zealand. In hindsight not that hard a decision to make, but it was still definitely a turning point. Once back home I enrolled to do a PhD in Entomology. Six months later, and having gained a good scholarship, with an excellent supervisor and with my mum terminally ill, I made another hard decision - to quit. I realised I was doing a PhD for the wrong reason, because mum wanted me to, and I didn't want the life it would entail - research or lecturing. I knew I wasn't cut out for either. Maybe I should have done an arts degree instead of science?

I've no regrets about the four years I spent at university doing the degree I did, even although I don't "use" it in my present life. Do you ever look back on your life, and pinpoint one or two major decisions that you made which changed the trajectory you were on?