Happy Birthday, Sweetie!!

Today is mine and Lucie’s birthday.  Yes, we have the same birthday!  I’m older, though, and, you know…wiser.

Yeah, we’ll go with that.

I won’t tell you how old Lucie is, but she likes to kick, stretch and kick!  She’s….one year younger than me.

Today, we’ll celebrate by going out to dinner with the boys.  On Saturday, we celebrated with another friend who also has the same birthday (she’s a year younger than Lucie.)

We threw a big ol’ disco dance party at our friends house, with a dj and a disco ball and tamales and booze.  I don’t dance, myself, but Lucie loves too and this party was really for her.

We’ve got a bunch of photos, including a handful of instant fuji photos, which are fun.  I won’t share most of them because I don’t know who wants their face all over this blog.  I also won’t post the action photos of the extremely drunk friend-of-a-friend who twice knocked down the mirror ball!  Thank goodness we live in the age of Uber.

Anyhow.

Disco Lucie!

A cake for each of us. I don’t know what those numbers mean…

Happy Birthday to us!

I love you, Sweetie.  Happy Birthday!

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Well Okay Then

The results of the ancestry DNA test I ordered have come in.  What did they show?

Nothing very shocking.

According to 23andMe, my genetic, ethnic heritage is 100 percent European.  It’s pretty much what I expected.  I am a little surprised to find that only 26% aligns with the UK.  I expected a more even mix of German and British.  Here’s the chart:

All the broadly European stuff refers to DNA found commonly in several populations around the region.

There’s no mention of any specific amoeba heritage.  I was certain I’d find I’m a direct descendent of Edgar the Tiny.  Alas.

But, they did find 231 variants of Neanderthal DNA, less than number found in 90 of their customers. The only variant I had which is thought to correspond to Neanderthal physical characteristics is one for “having straight hair”.  I do, indeed, have very straight hair.

Also, they gave my my maternal and paternal Haplogroup which can be used to show the migration patterns of my direct maternal and paternal lineages.  My maternal Haplogroup is h1e1a.  It’s pretty common among their customers.  My paternal Haplogroup is R-Y3550 and is only found in 1 out of every 4100 of their customers.

I don’t really know yet what it means or how to use it.

Anyhow.

23andMe lets you download your own raw DNA data to upload to other services. So, I uploaded it to MyHeritage and their analysis was a little different.

It still pegged me as having all European ancestry.  But, the mix is different.  It’s not an exact science, for sure.

According to them, I’m more than 66 percent of English ancestry.  They don’t get into the yDNA or the mTDNA.

So.  That’s all.  I might, eventually, buy the health information reports.  For now, though, the information I have is more useful only as a high-tech, golly-gee, navel-gazing kind of thing.

And, finally, even if it doesn’t show me as directly descend from Edgar the Tiny, I think I might still adopt his Coat of Flagella.

Yeah.

Hard Edge

ah, well, no wonder –
he turns off the weather
he puts on a sweater

—-

© Steve Mitchell 2018

Numbers Game

Our hero, renowned for his skill with the bow and arrow, discovers, with his arrow in the neck of an angry boar and with two hungry wolves slinking up from the shadows, he is only adequate with the bow alone.

He vows, should he escape with his life, to give up the bow and arrow forever more, and, instead, to take up the bow and arrows.

 

every day
on the breeze dandelion
wishes

—-

© Steve Mitchell 2018

Wrestle

she writes
of the moon while somewhere
the moon

—-

© Steve Mitchell 2018

My Xtimes Great Grandfather Was Thag the Mighty Mighty

Well, here’s a thing I did:  I bought one of those genetic dna tests.

My autocorrect wants to call it a genetic dan test.  Really, Siri?  Should I capitalize it?  DNA….yeah, it likes that better.

Anyhow.  It was over the holiday weekend when everything was on sale, so I ordered the kit and spit into a little tube and mailed the little tube and they’re doing the science on my DNA.  I’ll get a report in a couple of weeks.

I don’t really know what all I expect to learn.  Ethnicity and ancestry are sort of arbitrary things.  Really, technically, considering how many generations my ancestors have lived in North America, it’d be accurate to say I’m of 100 percent American ancestry.  Or, you could also argue I’m of 50 percent Kansan descent.

Also, everyone on the planet really, ultimately, originates from Africa.

Also, everyone on the planet is genetically 99.99% identical.

Also, anyone who lived 3600 years ago, any person from prehistory, assuming they had offspring, is a direct ancestor to every person alive today.

Still, I’m curious.  People get curious.

Here’s my prediction:  I guess the report will say my ethnicity/ancestry DNA consists of about 50 percent UK and 50 percent western Europe heritage, with maybe a couple of percentage points carved out here and there for Northern Europe and Eastern Europe or the Iberian Peninsula.   Oh and some average amount of Neanderthal will probably be in there too (whatever amount is average.)

That’s my prediction.  That’s my guess.

I’ll see in a couple of weeks what the scientists say.

One WEIRD Trick Which Will ABSOLUTELY BLOW YOU AWAY!!!

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pull my finger

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No?

What?  It’s just my knuckle pops.  What?

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no trust in this world, I tell you..

Pencil Tap

what are we doing?

the writer queries

a cricket

—-

© Steve Mitchell 2018

Float On

dandelion seeds –
he forgets the bitter smell
of the stem

—-

© Steve Mitchell 2018

Docked by the Fire

+recharge cycle –
the scent of nutmeg and
everything else

—-

© RoboSteve 2018