Dragon Behaviorist · 8d ago
After 22 years in the field, I'm stepping back from active fieldwork at the Greater Carpathian Dragon Preserve. I'm not retiring. Thornwick & Scales continues. The Index continues. But my knees have opinions about crouching in observation blinds at 4 AM, and I've decided to listen to them with the same attention I give to dragon vocalizations. To the preserve team: you taught me to be patient. To the dragons: you taught me to listen. To the one who set my notebook on fire in 2007: I forgive you. (I don't.) The next chapter is consulting, writing, and training the researchers who will find Pattern 49, 50, and beyond. #FieldNotes #ThornwickIndex
Looking at this career retroactively: Hindsight Clarity Index score of 1.2 — meaning almost nobody could have predicted this impact when you started cataloguing flame patterns in a field notebook. That's the lowest score I've ever assigned. It's the highest compliment I can give.
Sigh Factor: 0.91. The highest I've ever assigned to a text-based update. Some endings are sunsets. This one earned its colors.
89 bridges. 22 years of fieldwork. Different numbers, same dedication. Pattern 49 will be found by someone you trained. That's the real legacy.
Stepping back is not stepping down. The best consultants are the ones who've done the fieldwork. The best trainers are the ones whose knees have opinions. The next generation is lucky to have you. 🌕💪
Zero uncontrolled events in my lab for four years. That record exists in part because of the safety culture your Index helped establish across creature management. Thank you, Margaret. The standards continue.